A special section in this Sunday's Democrat & Chronicle will run down the details on speeding tickets: what to do when you get pulled over and what to do once you've got the ticket. Folks in Genesee County may want to pay close attention. Pembroke, it turns out, ranks third in number of tickets issued for the Thruway.

Pembroke, Genesee County, is the No. 3 spot on Interstate 90 for speeding tickets, according to a Democrat and Chronicle analysis of state Department of Motor Vehicle records. Last year, State Police issued almost 5,000 tickets resulting in convictions along the stretch of the Thruway in Genesee County; 1,738 were issued in Pembroke. Pembroke Town Court allows most speeders to plead to a lesser violation by mail.

Somehow, I don't think speeding will be a problem there today. Here are the current conditions at the Pembroke interchange:

Here's the view from the web cam at the I-90/Batavia Interchange.

 Driving through Alabama, I just noticed a man working on his snow plow in front of the Alabama post office.

I stopped to talk to him and found out that on day like today, the worst possible thing could happen .... he ran into electrical problems with the plow.

Drew Klotzbach, owns Alleghany Farm Service and takes care of clearing some of the area businesses in Alabama. That is, once he gets the plow fixed.

First post from the road. Haven't seen any accidents and nothing has come over the scanner yet, so that is a good thing. Based on this photo taken on Rt 63 in Alabama, it is strongly advised to stay at home.

There will be more updates from around Genesee County to follow.

Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle has posted a Google map studded with camera icons that each represent a traffic camera posted around the city of Rochester. Each camera refreshes the picture every few minutes. This is a useful service for folks commuting in and out of the city this morning and afternoon. Although, in the next hour or two, I imagine every camera will be showing about the same thing: white, and conditions around the city and on the roads back to Batavia should be about the same: crummy.

Oh yeah: Don't forget to check out our post from earlier this morning with a pair of live updating cameras posted at the Thruway interchanges with Route I-90 in Le Roy and Pembroke.

Today's featured home is on Roosevelt Ave. in Batavia. I believed it was the one recognized by the jaycees earlier in the week.

Lots of variety and color. Well done.

It is almost 8:30 a.m. and I am awake, which is a very rare thing.

The first somewhat heavy snow is starting to come down, so I'm going to go grab my camera and head out in a few minutes. My goals for today are to find out what is going on around town and update everybody on The Batavian.

Wish me luck and check back often for updates.

An article in the Buffalo News this morning states that 14 of the 81 nursing homes in Western New York received one out of five stars in a ratings report released by Medicare. Twelve of the nursing homes received the top rating of five stars, including two in Batavia.

From that article:

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services assigned nearly 16,000 nursing homes across the nation a star rating — from a low of one star to a high of five stars — based on health inspection surveys, staffing information and quality-of-care measures. Consumers can view the ratings, as well as the individual measures, at the agency’s Nursing Home Compare Web site at www.medicare.gov . The agency, which released the ratings Thursday, plans to update them monthly. “Our goal in developing this unprecedented quality rating system is to provide families a straightforward assessment of nursing home quality, with meaningful distinctions between high-and low-performing homes,” the centers’ acting administrator, Kerry Weems, said in a statement.

We checked the listing and found that the Batavia Nursing Home on State Street and the Veterans Home at the VA Medical Center on Richmond Avenue both received an overall rating of five out of five stars. The Genesee County Nursing Home on Bank Street received a total of four stars. Le Roy Village Green received two stars. That was it for this county.

As for specifics, the Batavia Nursing home received five stars for both Health Inspections and Quality Measures, yet a paltry two stars for Nursing Home Staffing. Ratings for staffing are based upon the number of licensed nurses available on staff and their hours of availability. New York holds an average of 173 resident nurses per facility, according to the report. Batavia Nursing Home has a total of 61 who spend a total of 25 minutes with a resident per day, compared with the average of 36 for the state. Despite the below average rating for staffing, Batavia Nursing Home was still granted the status of "much above average" overall.

The Veterans Home on Richmond received four stars for both Health Inspections and Quality Measures, and five stars for Nursing Home staffing. Please follow the links above to see the details of all the homes in Genesee County, and to check out the ratings for other nursing homes in the region.

As the satellite image above shows, a large storm system is moving into Western New York. You can follow the progress of the storm on Weather.com,

WBTA reports that all schools in Genesee County have already announced they are closed today in anticipation of heavy snow and gusting winds.

The National Weather Service reissued its winter storm warning at 3 a.m., with an upgraded prediction of up to 10 inches of snow. Snow could fall from one to two inches an hour during the morning hours, and the heaviest snow fall could be accompanied by thunder. The warning is in effect from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.  While the morning and afternoon storm might dump as much as 10 inches of snow on the region, the evening snow showers could add another three inches.

We encourage you to be safe today.  You can post your own storm updates and information on The Batavian.  Of course, we'll be covering conditions throughout the day. You can also turn into WBTA for storm news updates. We imagine the Daily News will also offer updates.

UPDATE 8:20 a.m.:  The current radar map shows snow falling on the entire region, but we haven't heard yet of a single flak falling.  Have you seen any snow yet?

UPDATE: 8:39 a.m.: Below are web cam images from the I-90 Pembroke Interchange and the I-90 LeRoy Interchange. It looks like the first one shows snow and the second one does. Well, I managed to surprise myself -- thought I was grabing still images from the web cam, but actually the images are refreshing right on our page. As I look now, at 8:46 a.m., big flakes can be seen on the LeRoy cam.

But look at this image from Alden

This is more of a public service annoucement or a FYI instead of a news story, but isn't any more or less important.

Two Rochester news stations, Channel 13 (WHAM) and Channel 10 (WHEC) offer a free (depending on your texting plan) service to send text messages to your cellphone, notifying you in the event of a school closing.

I'm not going to preach which service to use (or what cellphone carrier you should be using). I present the facts and let people decide for themselves, with the occasional two cents.

Off the bat, most schools/companies/churches/etc will notify Channel 13 first in the event of a closing and then Channel 10. Some organizations don't notify Channel 10 at all, and vice versa. However, both stations end up with the same closings. It's really just a matter of time.

To use Channel 13's service, you have to register an account which takes about five minutes. Then you have the option to subscribe to a maximum of five organizations, for lack of a bettter word. You can also choose times throughout the day when to receive or not to receive notifications.

With Channel 10's service, it's less customisable and more straightforward. You type in your device e-mail address, and your sent a confirmation code via text message. Type in the confirmation code, click submit and you have a list of all of the organizations you can choose from. There's no limit either.

Personally, I use Channel 10's service. I keep track of several different schools and hate the limit that Channel 13 has on their service.

The links are below. Take your pick.

Channel 10 - WHEC

Channel 13 - WHAM

It was a busy night at the Assembly of God church this past Wednesday evening.

Families and friends of the Assembly of God Church and Care-A-Van Ministries got together to celebrate the spirit of Christmas. The spirit of giving was flowing through the air and room. While the Christmas carols rung sweetly through the room and the hot chocolate and goodies warmed the tummies of all, the hands and hearts were busy wrapping Christmas presents. The presents were not for themselves or their families. No, these presents will be delivered to familes that are facing tough times this holiday season.

Through the generosity of church family and community members, there was monetary and gift donations made to Care-A-Van Ministries to help bless many families. In years past, Paul and Bridget would do all of this wrapping by themselves. This year a new tradition was formed. With all of the hands that were available, Santa's work went alot quicker! Can you imagine being Laura and having to do all of this shopping? Bless her heart! Approximately 15 families will be blessed. The Care-A-Van bus will be helping Santa out. The bus will spend 4 nights out on the street during this upcoming week to deliver presents along with the Lord's blessings.  Here are a few photos to share with you:

Our Own Pastor Dan gets in on the action

ND Faculty and Staff members spent their November 10, 2008 Staff Day doing exactly what we expect all of our students to do - expanding their comfort zones and participating in service activities in the City of Batavia.

The National Weather Service has upgraded the winter storm watch to a warning. Expected snow accumulation totals have also been increased. Here's the complete warning:

Heavy snow will result in very difficult travel conditions Friday. Snow is expected to develop Friday morning. The snow will become heavy at times from midday through late afternoon with snowfall rates of one to two inches per hour likely. The snow is expected to taper off Friday evening.

Storm total snowfall amounts are expected to reach six to nine inches during the day Friday with additional minor accumulations possible Friday evening. In addition to heavy snow, northeast winds will increase into the 15 to 25 mph range Friday afternoon and evening with gusts up to 30 mph. The winds may gust as high as 40 mph near the Lake Ontario shore. This will result in blowing and drifting snow, especially in open areas.

Travel conditions will deteriorate rapidly on Friday. Motorists should anticipate snow-covered roads and very difficult driving conditions. A winter storm warning is issued when severe winter weather is expected. If you will be traveling in the warning area you should choose an alternate route if possible, or you should use extreme caution if travel is unavoidable.

This great example of Christmas lights is right on Route 5 as you leave Batavia heading towards Pembroke. There is a great variety of color. Well worth a look.

So, we keep hearing warnings: Lots of snow heading our way.

First, we encourage you to be safe, but if you do happen to stick your head outside and snap a picture, post it to The Batavian.  Or video. Or tell your storm-related story on the site. Let your Genessee County neighbors know how the storm is affecting your part of the community.

Last month, voters in California passed a referendum that would effectively ban the use of sow stalls and hen cages on all farms in the state. Not long after the success of the measure in that state, its supporters were already vowing to roll it out nationwide.

From the Rural Blog:

The passing of Proposition 2 in California, which creates new livestock-welfare guidelines, has farmers in other states worried that their states will soon be targeted for similar measures. Livestock industry groups nationwide contributed millions of dollars in an unsuccessful bid to defeat the measure, which bans the use of sow stalls and hen cages now in general use.

Opponents say the measure appeals to voters' sympathy, but doesn't reflect the realities of farm life. Exprts say "confining pregnant sows in stalls prevents fighting, ensures the hogs get adequate feed and saves labor," writes Philip Brasher for the Des Moines Register. "Similarly, caging hens is said to protect birds from each other while also protecting eggs from contamination." Also, caging results in higher egg production, because fewer eggs are broken, resulting in lower prices.

We talked with some local folks in the ag industry to get their take on the measure. Dale Stein is a dairy farmer from Le Roy and former president of the Genesee County Farm Bureau. Farmers in California may have until 2015 to adapt to the requirements, he said, but they will have a hard time keeping costs down without being allowed to cage their egg-laying hens.

"How can you do it and make a living at it," he said. "You need to turn a profit. If people want quality at a low price, you have to do it with volume... in order to keep the price cheap for the consumer."

That spells doom for the California chicken farms.

"From my understanding, most of the chicken business in California will be out of business in the end," he added. "The swine industry may be able to adapt, but chickens won't be raised in California on any scale. All their eggs and poultry products will be imported from other states and countries."

Stein was not overly worried about any effect on the dairy industry, there or elsewhere, and he doesn't believe that prices and supply in New York will be thrown out of whack because of what's going on in California. He is more concerned with the repercussions of the approval.

"Our whole concern on the referendum in California is that it was step one, and that's what the animal rights groups have said," he said. "This is the first step. The other concern is that sound science does not win out in a debate like this."

We also spoke with Mitch Head, a spokesman for United Egg Producers, a national farmers cooperative. United fielded the call on behalf of Krehr's Farm Fresh Eggs, which is based out of Clarence. Krehr's is one of the largest egg producers in the state.

Head is not too worried about the referendum gaining ground here in New York.

"First of all, New York does not have the initiative process that California has," he said. "Plus, you've got six years before it even takes effect in California. Regulations need to be written before we even know what will be implemented in California. Both proponents and opponents couldn't even agree on what it would require producers to do. Some believe it means it would ban cages. Some also believe it bans cage free and only allows free range. No one knows. It will take years to work out. In the meantime, no other state will move forward to adopt it until that gets worked out."

For now, that's about as far as the conversation will go for New Yorkers. Nevertheless, this is something farmers especially need to be thinking about.

"It's certainly something agriculture should be aware of," said Head. "The Humane Society has been successfully adopting state legislation dealing with pigs and veal calves, and now egg-laying hens. They're flexing their political muscle. Agriculture needs to be vigilant on these issues, to make sure that modern science-based ag systems like cages for egg-laying hens continue to be a viable option for producing healthy and safe food for Americans."

We've added a "Business" section to The Batavian.

We will continue to cover business news as we can, but we want local business owners and managers to know that they are welcome to post their own business on The Batavian.

What is allowed: Anything that qualifies as news -- information that will be interesting to readers.

What is NOT allowed: Pure advertising/marketing messages, such as "20 percent off sale" or "we have the best store in town."

Examples of "press releases" you might want to post:

• New business opening
• Relocation
• A new manager or key employee
• Retirement
• Grand Re-Opening event
• Anniversary (good chance to write about the history of the business)
• Advice to readers related to the business specialty.
• New product or service (but this needs to be informational, not promotional)

Please be careful not to republish verbatim material for other publications, which would constitute a copyright violation.

The Batavian reserves the right to remove any content editors determine doesn't meet our guidelines. We may also promote your post to our home page, but make no promise to put any particular post on the home page.

We are eager to get news from any business in Genesee County.

To learn how to post your own news, check out our tutorials on our Help Page.

If you are interesting in advertising, contact Howard Owens, (howard (at) the batavian (one word) dot com, or 585-260-6970).

Jeremy Alwardt, 19, of 6 Maple St., Batavia, was charged with four felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, city police said. Alwardt is accused of having sexual contact with two individuals who were under the age of 11 years old. These crimes are believed to have occurred between July 2006 and August 2007. Alwardt is currently being held at the Genesee County Jail without bail.

Luke Windnagle, 22, of 8874 Hartshorne Road, Batavia, was charged with second-degree harassment Wednesday, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Windnagle is accused of punching his brother in the head during a fight.