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Press release:

The Intensive Care Unit at United Memorial Medical Center and the Intensive Nursing Care Unit at Unity Hospital both received Silver-level Beacon Awards for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN).

These two awards bring Rochester Regional’s total earned to seven, which is the most for any health system in New York State. The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes hospital units that use measurable practices to improve patient and family outcomes and experience.

“It’s an outstanding accomplishment to have seven Beacon Awards bestowed on our health system family. These awards further exhibit our commitment to nursing excellence,” said Debbie Stamps, EdD, vice president, Quality, Safety & Innovation at Rochester Regional Health.

“Our nurses, in every location, deserve recognition for the amazing work they do each day, hour, and minute on behalf of our patients and their families.”

Previous Rochester Regional Health Beacon Awards for Excellence:

•  Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at Rochester General Hospital: Silver-level

• Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital: Silver-level

• Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU) at Rochester General Hospital: Silver-level

• Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Unity Hospital: Silver-Level

• Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at Rochester General Hospital: Gold-level

Rochester Regional can reapply for these prestigious designations at the expiration of each three-year term.

Kmart in Batavia has again dodged the budget cutting ax of parent company Sears, as the 124-year-old retail giant continues to see sales revenue drop across the country.

This morning, Sears announced that it's closing 28 Kmart locations, but the Batavia store is not on the list.

In July, Sears announced it was closing 35 locations, and neither Kmart nor the local Sears outlet made the list. In all, the company has closed 180 locations in the past year.

The announcement after Sears made its latest revenue report to stockholders, revealing an 11.7-percent drop in sales on a same-store basis. The company lost $251 million for the quarter.

In March, another legendary retail chain, JCPenney, announced it was closing stores across the nation, but Batavia's store was not on the list. 

Kohl's Department Stores has also been struggling with declining retail sales, but that company's CEO said that rather than close stores, it will shrink existing stores.

A 17-year-old resident of Basom has been indicted on two counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree. The youth is accused of using a recording device to surreptitiously view, broadcast or record, under the clothing being worn by another person, showing the sexual or other intimate parts of the person.

He's also accused in the second count of surreptitiously using a camera to record or view a person in a location where the person expected privacy without the person's consent. The first count stems from an incident reported Jan. 31 and the second count from an incident reported June 7, both in the Town of Oakfield.

Press release:

Start-Up Genesee will hold the next “Think & Drink” event from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31^st at The Harvester Center at 56 Harvester Ave. in Batavia, NY. 

The launch of the Think and Drink series hosted by Start-Up Genesee officially kicked off on Sept. 1 at The Harvester Center where regional business leaders and elected officials gathered to recognize and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit in Genesee County.

“A lot has happened at the Harvester Center since the last Think and Drink event was launched almost a year ago,” said Tom Mancuso, owner of Mancuso Business Development Group. “I think this speaks to the entrepreneurial spirit of our community and the fact that this facility and space helps bring out that type of creative thinking.”

Guests are asked to meet at the Moon Java Café, which will be followed by tours of businesses and viewings of available space as well as demonstrations of the various business services available at the Harvester Makerspace. This event is free and open to the public.

The tour will include remarks from business owners, Renee Smart of Moon Java Café and James Dillon of the Harvester Makerspace. They will provide insight and share their experiences on how entrepreneurs can successfully work in shared spaces.

Resurgence Brewing Company, which recently announced it is opening a brewery in Batavia at Ellicott Station, will provide samples of its various craft beer selections. Resurgence specializes in making sour, wild and barrel-aged craft beers.

Sponsors for the event include Canandaigua National Bank & Trust, FreedMaxick, Merrill Lynch, Del Plato Casey Law Firm LLP, the University at Buffalo New York State Center of Excellence in Material Informatics and Bioinformatics & Life Sciences, Tompkins Bank of Castile and Tompkins Insurance.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Rachael Tabelski at 585-343-4866 or rtabelski@gcedc.com.

Common Core spring results show improvement for Batavia City School Students, a point Superintendent Christopher Dailey emphasized during a conversation today, but that isn't the most important stat he looks at in evaluating student proficiency.

The most important number to him, he said, is the district's 95-percent graduation rate.

"The tests are supposed to be an indicator of graduation readiness and I've yet to see that kind of link because we graduate a lot of kids who go on to do great things," Dailey said.

In English Language Arts, the district improved from a 34-percent pass rate last year to 36 this spring. The statewide pass rate is 40 percent, but Dailey noted that in both ELA and Math, City Schools perform on par with other small city school districts.

In Math, the district improved from 36 percent to 38 percent with a 40-percent statewide rate.

In ELA, 40 percent of the girls passed and 29 percent of the boys. The pass rate for girls in Math was 35 percent and 40 percent for boys.

The test was given to students this spring in grades three through eight.

Dailey said Common Core provides more data points to measure how the district is doing and what it might need to address to meet the educational needs of students, but it isn't the only data point.

"If you look at like schools, we're doing OK, but not good enough," Dailey said. "We still need to improve and we will."

Other Genesee County districts:

• Byron-Bergen, from 42 to 49 percent in ELA, and 49 to 48 percent in Math;
• Le Roy, from 39 to 43 percent in ELA, and 45 to 50 percent in Math;
• Pavilion, from 30 to 34 percent in ELA, and 45 to 42 percent in Math;
• Alexander, from 34 to 33 percent in ELA, and 47 to 43 percent in Math;
• Oakfield-Alabama, from 33 to 41 percent in ELA, and 50 to 49 percent in Math;
• Elba, from 30 to 27 percent in ELA, and 36 to 41 percent in Math;
• Pembroke, from 39 to 36 percent in ELA, and 50 to 45 percent in Math.

For complete countywide results, click here.

The three-peat Section V champs Batavia Blue Devils get to play in another big-time stadium in their first game of the season Sept. 3 and boosters are hoping for a big local turnout.

The Blue Devils will face Johnson City at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Kickoff is 2 p.m.

Tickets are available at Batavia High School in the Athletic Director's Office. Summer hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are $8, or $10 at the door. Checks for tickets bought locally should be made out to Batavia Coaches Association.

Students are encouraged to sign up in the AD office. A ticket and a ride on the spectator bus will be $10.

Rae C. Cook, 28, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Cook is accused of punching and kicking a roommate in the face during an argument at midnight, Monday. 

Passiona C. McConnell, 39, of Bank Street, Batavia, is charged with curfew violation. McConnell is accused of allowing her two juvenile children to violate the Batavia Municipal Code curfew.

Minnie M. Henry, 29, no permanent address, Batavia, is charged with criminal mischief and harassment, 2nd. Henry was arrested on a warrant and detained in jail.

A 17-year-old resident of Main Road, Le Roy, is charged with trespassing. Deputies responded to a complaint of several individuals trespassing on property at 7875 E. Main Road, Le Roy. The youth was identified as an alleged trespasser, arrested and issued an appearance ticket.

A truck fire at Z&M Ag and Turf in Oakfield this morning caused quite a bit of smoke. Lori Forsyth, who provided the picture, said it inundated her house on Batavia Elba Townline Road. The fire was reported at about 9:15 a.m. and Oakfield fire responded. The fire was out quickly.

A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until 8 p.m. For parts of Genesee County, including Batavia.  

The storm has been detected by radar over Clarence and is moving east at 40 mph.

Wind gusts of 60 mph are possible.  

Wind damage including downed trees, branches and power lines is possible.

An attempt by Scott F. Doll to get his 2010 murder conviction overturned has hit a final state-level roadblock, with New York's Court of Appeals turning down a request for either a hearing or a new trial based on Doll's lack of legal right to seek the appeal.

An attorney for Doll, Timothy Murphy, argued in January 2016, before Interim County Court Judge Micheal Pietruszka, that his client should get a new trial because of what he believed was a mishandling of fingernail scrapings from the murder victim, Joseph Benaquist, and the possibility of third-party blood DNA on one of the boots of Benaquist.

Pietruszka denied the appeal and Murphy appealed to the Fourth Department of the New York Court of Appeals and a judge there ruled that the department wouldn't hear the appeal or grant a new trial.

Today, a judge with the state's Court of Appeals issued a ruling that said Doll was asking for an appeal on issues that were not appealable. 

For previous Scott Doll coverage, click here.

Genesee County's unemployment rate ticked up a percentage point, even though the number of people reported as unemployed in the county remained steady at 1,300.

The rate rose year-over-year from 4.1 percent for July to 4.2.

There are 29,000 people in the county with jobs.

The total labor force -- the number of people working or looking for work -- is 30,300, down from 30,600.

Nationally, the unemployment rate is 4.6 percent. That's what's known as the U-3 number. The number that accounts for people who have stopped looking for jobs out of discouragement and part-time workers who would like full-time employment for the nation is 10.4 percent. That rate has been falling steadily since 2009 from a high of nearly 18 percent. (source, The Wall Street Journal)

That kind of detail is not available for job markets as small as Genesee County.

Wage growth nationally remains stagnant. 

The state's unemployment rate is 4.9 percent.

The GLOW unemployment rate is 4.9 percent, a tick higher than a year ago. The region's labor force has dropped from 98,300 to 96,900.

A caller in the area reports seeing a person with a shopping cart full of merchandise who walked from Walmart to Pawn King.

The caller suspects the items were stolen from Walmart.

A trooper is responding.

UPDATE 3:45 p.m.: When the trooper pulled up, the subjects left Pawn King and were last seen walking toward Office Max. They left the merchandise on the counter at Pawn King.

The 1776 Volunteer Riders presented checks yesterday of funds raised at a June 3 ride to the PTSD Clinic at the VA Hospital and Crossroads House. Each agency received $1,600.

Photo and submitted by Jeff Allen.

Press release:

Byron-Bergen Jr./Sr. High School sophomore Siomara Caballero travelled to Toronto in July to compete with more than 5,000 other young athletes from across the United States and Canada at the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG). As part of Team New York, a group of girls and boys representing the state’s Haudensaunee Confederacy, Caballero won Bronze medals in the 1200m, 2000m and the 3K cross-country races in her age group. She took the Silver Medal in the 800m race. Her team collected a total of 13 medals throughout the games.

The NAIG is the largest sporting and cultural gathering of indigenous peoples in North America. It hosts 14 sport competitions, including track and field, lacrosse, archery, baseball, basketball, and soccer, in a variety of world-class venues during the week. It is also a celebration of a rich cultural heritage, featuring indigenous artists, music, foods, and history.

“It felt good to be a part of a movement that is trying to increase awareness for indigenous youth in sports,” Caballero said. “I felt that I learned more about my family's history and culture. I enjoyed getting to know the other kids on my team, and representing the Haudensaunee people.” (Haudensaunee tribes include the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.)

Caballero is an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Wolf Clan. She became interested in NAIG in 2014, and qualified for the team in 2016.

“I put in a lot of time preparing for the games and I feel that my hard work payed off,” she said.

At Byron-Bergen, she runs varsity cross-country in the fall, plays JV basketball in the winter, and participates in varsity track and field in the spring. She has been a Genesee Region All-Star in XC and track and field for the past two years.

“My favorite memory from the games was trading pins with other athletes,” she said. “We all started with a set of team pins designed to represent the areas and tribes we were from, and we traded throughout the week. I was able to collect pins from kids from all over the U.S. and Canada. It was a great way to interact with people that I might not have otherwise spoken to. I had a lot of fun!”

She looks forward to a busy year at Byron-Bergen, with athletics and a full academic schedule. She is taking classes at Genesee Community College as part of the STEM accelerated degree program, and is in several clubs, including PageTurners, Spanish Club, and Math League.

“After I graduate from high school,” she said, “I would like to major in math or science in college. I want to be a role model for my younger sister and brother, so they can know that anything is possible with hard work.”

She hopes that her sister will join her at the next NAIG in 2020.

“I would like to thank my parents and family for their support and for spending the week in Toronto cheering me on,” she said.

Press release:

“I applaud President Trump for standing by the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women, and sharing with the American people his commitment for meeting key objectives in Afghanistan. His candor that we are not building a nation, but are stopping terrorists before they can ever darken our door again here at home is appreciated.

“It is time for other allies like Pakistan to contribute to victory. It is also time for us to engage the enemy on our terms with the guidance of our best military minds, and not under time constraints and quotas established by politicians.

“Tonight, Donald Trump demonstrated one of the reasons why America elected him to be President. That is to confront and defeat America’s enemies making our nation and its citizens safe in the world.”

Here's three shots of the eclipse by Doug Yeomans. If you got shots of the eclipse or shots of Genesee County residents taking it in, email them to howard@thebatavian.com.

Photo submitted by Bob:

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Murphy:

For a couple of hours this afternoon, the whole nation, it seemed, was thinking about only one thing: the eclipse -- the first total solar eclipse viewable for any portion of the continental United States in 40 years, and pretty much, you weren't seeing that one unless you were in the Southwest.

Batavia was no exception to the eclipse mania that swept the nation with the Richmond Memorial Library handing out 1,000 eclipse viewing glasses and several hundred people sticking around the library for the viewing party. There was a long line for glasses at the library before the eclipse even started. 

The common comment among eclipse viewers, "I'll probably never see another one in my lifetime," even from people clearly young enough to look forward to the 2024 total eclipse when WNY will be directly in the path of totality.

Today, in Batavia, we only got to see about 76 percent of the sun blocked by the moon.

In 2024, it will be 100 percent, and because it's an early spring eclipse with the Earth closer to the sun, it will last twice as long.

There was a great community spirit at the library today, which people commented on.

"With everything going on in the world today, I thought it was kind of nice that people are getting together for something positive and fun," said Greg Ireland, who was sat on the grass outside the library with his family, including his two young children, whom he gave a small lesson in how the solar system works.

"I think it's very nice," Ireland said. "There's a lot of people having fun, families, activities for the kids. It's a good, positive thing for Batavia."

Debbie Wynn-Dunn said she came out because it was a chance to enjoy an extraordinary event with her family.

The rareness of the event also brought out Kathy Starkweather.

"I think anything that happens in our lifetime, that is unusual or not a very common event, is worth seeing," Starkweather said. "I love seeing all the families out here, parents with their kids experiencing something rare."

Nancy Gerspacher praised the library for putting the event together.

"It’s just something that happens that is phenomenal that you want to see, and it was very good of them to bring glasses and let people do this here," Gerspacher said.  "The library is a very good format to help everybody."

The path of totality for the eclipse in April 2024.

Growing up, Carmen DelPlato got to know just about all of the 200 or so songs his older brother John wrote, which he describes as very Beatlesque.

"John used to sing me when I was a kid frequently so I could sing along with him," DelPlato said. I'm a bit biased but I think the songs are pretty good."

They're good enough, DelPlato thinks, that more people should hear them, so he's created a Kickstarter campaign to raise $1,800 to pay for studio recordings of eight of the songs. For a contribution of $10 or more, you could own a bit of Batavia's rock music history.

"We're doing this to share his music so it can be heard because when he goes the music goes with him," DelPlato said. "We're not out to make money. You can't make money in the music business unless you have a lot of money and we don't have a lot of money."

The DelPlato family is a musical family. Carmen's maternal grandfather, Francesco Marcello, was a musician and composer who wrote marches. One of them, family legend has it, was played for Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

His mother, Mary, was also a songwriter. Some of her Christmas songs have been featured on The Batavian the past couple of years, such as this one.

Carmen is the youngest of nine children -- John, Charley, Danny Jr., Joe, Vincent, Mary Ellen, Michael and Carmen. Carmen professes to no musical talent. John, Charley, Mary, and Vinny all played music. Mary Ellen is also a songwriter.

The boys in this large family often had to share rooms, two and three to a room, in their house on Hutchins Street, but there was still space for a music room with drums, guitars and keyboards. There was also a piano in the living room.

The musical talent has been passed down to Carmen's nephew, Anthony, who will produce and play on the recordings of John's songs. He has a degree in recording.

"He can play many instruments," Carmen said. "He can sing, which makes it easier and cheaper than otherwise to pay other musicians."

To make your contribution to the recording effort, click here.

A one-car accident Saturday night in the Bergen fire district took the life of the car's sole occupant, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

The accident was reported at 8:05 p.m. at 321 Bovee Road, Riga.

Bergen fire and Mercy EMS were dispatched. The driver of the vehicle was deceased when first responders arrived on scene.

The female driver has yet to be positively identified by the medical examiner.

Investigators say the vehicle was eastbound on Bovee Road when the driver lost control. The vehicle spun sideways, crossed the south shoulder and struck a tree on the driver's side.

The stretch of roadway is flat and straight.

The investigation is ongoing.

(Initial Report)

The Batavian's news partner 13WHAM assisted in obtaining information for this story.