WCDO Radio News

Officials gathered in New Berlin to break ground at the site of the new fire house and Chobani Community Center, located on South Main Street in the village.  The fire station will have 6 garage bays, offices and rooms for training and storage and a space for community meetings.  The village received a $150,000 grant from the state, plus donations from Chobani for $650,000 & Preferred Mutual Insurance for $150,000.

A.M. NEWS THURSDAY 10-22-20

Otsego County Department of Health reports 5 new cases of COVID 19 Wednesday, and 10 cases reported over the past 5 days, 5 of those cases have been traced back to a recent wedding. Since October 1st The Health Department reports 12 cases related to 2 separate weddings. The County reports 942 total confirmed cases,  19 are active cases with 2 hospitalizations, 7 deaths,  746 probable and confirmed cases linked to SUNY Oneonta & 21 confirmed cases in Hartwick College students

9 Fire Departments & state Police responded early Sunday morning to a fire at Jones Road in the town of Otsego, that resulted in 1 fatality. 2 adults & 3 children escaped the blaze, 1 adult male went back in to the burning house to save a 77 year old male, who later died at Bassett Hospital, and the deceased has been identified as Robert Huestis. The cause of the fire is under investigation, no foul play is suspected.

Former State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno has died. Bruno led the state Senate for 14 years, before being convicted on corruption charges, which were later overturned on appeal. Bruno died of Prostate Cancer, he was 91.

A.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY 10-7-20

Governor Cuomo announced that New Mexico has been added to New York State's COVID-19 travel advisory. No areas have been removed. The advisory requires individuals who have traveled to New York from areas with significant community spread to quarantine for 14 days. The full list is available at coronavirus.health.ny.gov.

This morning SUNY Oneonta received test results for additional students screened on campus for COVID-19. 44 new cases were confirmed & College staff worked until late Tuesday night to contact affected students and move them to isolation on campus. The total number of confirmed cases within our campus community now stands at 289. A total of 125 students are in isolation and 54 are in quarantine on campus.

The Delaware County Sheriff's Department investigated a domestic dispute in the Town of Stamford Saturday, which resulted in the arrest of 66 Wayne Johnson of Stamford for Menacing, unlawful imprisonment, & endangering the welfare of a child. Upon arrival, Deputies learned that Johnson was intoxicated & had threatened to use a firearm to hurt a number of people in the residence, and he had also blocked all points of entry into the house. Johnson was virtually arraigned, & was issued appearance tickets for Stamford court at a later date, and order of protection was issued for the victims.

The Town of Masonville announced that tonight's board meeting, scheduled for 7:00 PM has been cancelled, no rescheduled date was announced.

A.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY 9-2-20

Otsego County Department of Health continues to investigate a large outbreak of Coronavirus involving SUNY Oneonta students, with 53 new cases were reported Tuesday, 50 of the cases were in SUNY Oneonta students, 2 cases in the community and 1 case in a Hartwick College student. SUNY Oneonta reportedly had 295 cases on Tuesday afternoon, the county now has 357 total confirmed cases, there are No hospitalizations.

Starting today, renters across the state impacted by the pandemic can apply to a new COVID Rental Assistance Program, for tenants who lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New Yorkers can access program applications at hcr.ny.gov/RRP starting; the Program will provide eligible households with a one-time rental subsidy that will be sent directly to the landlord. Applicants will not need to repay this assistance.

The Unadilla Summer Concert series will begin tonight at the Community House Lawn starting at 6:30 PM.  The concert is free & will feature Country Express, face Masks and social distancing is required.

The free concert tonight sponsored by the Bainbridge Community Foundation at General Clinton Park featuring Fetish Lane has been cancelled by order of the Chenango County Health department.  The Foundation & Chenango County officials are working a viable solution for future concerts in this year's Summer Series.

Congressman Anthony Brindisi will Host a Telephone Town Hall Today at 5:00 p.m.   Constituents are encouraged to RSVP at brindisi.house.gov/live to receive the call or dial-in at 5:00 p.m. to 855-614-0159

While state leaders deal with the Coronavirus, the state's
new fiscal year starts today & a budget deal is needed.  State Budget Director Robert Mujica said that
the operations part of the budget is reduced because the state is not seeing
any revenue now, likely through July 15th:

(Robert Mujica 4-1-20)

Governor Cuomo said that the Leaders in both house of the
legislature are meeting with their caucuses today to work out an agreement,
which he hopes is passed by midnight tonight.

The Otsego county Chamber of Commerce is asking members to
take the County Economic Business Impact Survey to help better understand the
needs of our local business community during the COVID-19 crisis.  The survey can be found at
surveymonkey.com/r/otsegocovid19impact.

The Community Foundation for
South Central New York announces the opening of the COVID-19 Response Fund with
an initial distribution of $80,000 from their own special funds, an appeal to
current donors to the Foundation has already raised an additional $43,000.  The Foundations’ COVID-19 Response Fund will
support organizations providing essential services in the most rural counties
served by the Foundation; Chenango, Delaware, Otsego, and Tioga Counties,
Interested donors can contribute online at donorswhocare.org.

Congressman Anthony Brindisi and
local health experts & officials will hold another Telephone town hall on
Thursday afternoon at 5:00 pm.  Constituents
are encouraged to RSVP at Brindisi.House.gov/live to receive a call.
Constituents can call 855-614-0159 to join at 5:00 p.m. Thursday, Additionally;
the call will be streamed with closed captioning for the hearing-impaired at
Brindisi.house.gov/live.

Governor Cuomo said the Albany
Jewish Community Center was evacuated and searched Sunday morning after it and
several other centers around the country received anonymous emailed
threats.  Police evacuated about 100
people, searched the building and declared it safe, similar threats were
emailed to 18 other Jewish Community Centers around the country.  The FBI is investigating.  There have been 42 anti-Semitic incidents
around the state since the beginning of the year.

Governor Cuomo is reportedly
back-pedaling on the controversial Bail Reform Laws, as more & more people
are being released without bail & committing crimes shortly after leaving
the court house, Assemblyman Cliff Crouch said that he hopes that the issue
gets corrected:

(Crouch 2-24-20)

Senate Leader Andrea Stewart
Cousins also said recently that the Bail Reform laws need to be discussed and
more violent crimes need to be removed from the law to give judges the ability
to remand dangerous people to jail.

Commerce
Chenango has teamed up with SFCU to host a series of Roundtable Workshops, with
the 1st one scheduled for the morning of January 28th in Norwich, Commerce
Chenango CEO Kerri Green explains:

(Kerri
Green 1-20-20)

The
workshop will be held in the Commerce Chenango Community Room at 15 South Broad
Street in Norwich, starting at 7:30 AM through 9:00 AM, more information is
available at 334-1400.

Bills
are being drawn up in both house of the state legislature to rescind or delay
the controversial Bail Reform bill that went into effect January 1st.  Hundreds of criminal charges that used to
result in suspects being held on bail, are now having the suspects released
back into their communities, several committed crimes within hours of their
release.  Governor Cuomo made no mention
of the controversy in his State of the State address on January 8th.