WCDO Radio News

1 man was dead, another 1 was wounded & the shooter was taken into custody, after Binghamton Police responded to the report of a shooting at 1 Mozart Street in the city yesterday at about 11:30 AM. Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said that officers found 1 victim dead and another man shot in the arm, they recovered a long gun believed to have been used in the shooting, he said. The surviving victim might lose his arm. Chief Zikuski said 2 people who know the deceased victim parked a vehicle in front of the Mozart Street residence, knocked on the door, and the gun was fired. The investigation is ongoing.

Oneonta City Police arrested 25-year-old Benjamin Williams of Oneonta for 6 counts of 2nd degree assault, & possession of obscene sexual performance by a child. Williams is accused of injured the infant on several occasions; Police also discovered child pornography on 2 devices. Williams was arraigned in Oneonta City Court he was remanded to the Otsego County Jail on $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 bond for each of the felony charges, the infant was taken to Bassett hospital in Cooperstown for a variety of injuries including a broken leg.

2 teenagers are accused of shooting an 11 year old in Johnson City Tuesday night. Police reported that the 17 and 16-year-old boys are charged with felony assault, the 16 year old was also charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon. The 11 year old victim was treated at Upstate University Medical Center in Syracuse and later released, the injuries were not life threatening.

Governor Cuomo today announced the second round of funding is available through the state’s Farm to School Program, which helps school districts establish stronger relationships with local growers and producers and increase their use of homegrown specialty crops. $500,000 in grants is available for projects that help schools buy and serve healthy, locally grown foods on school menus. Last year, 6 Farm to School programs were awarded, benefitting 45 school districts from Western New York, Mohawk Valley, Capital Region, North Country, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier. The funding helped the districts employ local or regional Farm to School coordinators, purchase supplies and equipment needed to increase the capacity of the school kitchen and food service staff to prepare and serve locally produced specialty crops, and to make capital improvements to better transport and/or store those crops. A list of awarded projects from 2015 may be found here.

The Oneonta City Department of Public Service announced that they would continue with flushing water mains on the low service today through Friday. Flushing will affect residents & businesses in the area around Fox Hospital, during flushing, water pressure may be decreased & water may change in color. More information is available at 432-2100.

State Police at Deposit arrested 21-Year-old Scott Primavera of Guilford, Connecticut for felony criminal possession of marihuana, after a traffic stop for speeding on State route 17 in the Town of Hancock. A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of over 16 ounces of marihuana. Primavera was arraigned in the Town of Hancock jail and was remanded to the Delaware County jail on $1,500 cash bail or $3,000 bond.

Binghamton & Johnson City Police Chief Joseph Zikuski announced that Johnson City Police Officer David Smith was shot & killed yesterday morning at about 7:05 AM near Wilson Hospital.  The suspect was 43-year-old James Clarke of Greene, who died yesterday morning in surgery.  Officer Smith arrived near the entrance of Southern Tier Imaging to a reported disturbance, when he arrived; Clarke attacked him, took his service weapon & shot Officer Smith during the struggle.  Police back up arrived & shot Clarke several times.  The investigation is continuing.

Binghamton & Johnson City Police Chief Joseph Zikuski confirmed this morning at about 7:05 AM; an officer with the Johnson City Police Department was shot and killed near Wilson Hospital in Johnson City.  The shooting suspect was in surgery & was confirmed dead moments ago.  The suspect's car was located on Hudson Street, Bomb-detecting dogs and bomb squads were called to the scene, and Harrison Street was blocked off to the public, and Hospital staff have evacuated from 30 and 22 Harrison Street.  WCDO will have further details as they become available.

State lawmakers are voting on the rest of the budget bills today, making this the 4th straight year that New York will have an on-time budget.  Area state senator Jim Seward comments on the tax cutting aspect of the budget;

(Seward budget 3-31-14)

State senator Tom Libous also commented that tax cuts, education aid and the slowing down of common core implementation is in this budget:

(Libous Budget 3-31-14)

The budget also contains 10 million dollars in start up money for the new Binghamton University school of Pharmacy building, to be built in Johnson City near Wilson Hospital.