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WJTN News Headlines for Mar. 19, 2019

A Jamestown man is being held on $500,000 bail for allegedly beating his girlfriend's 16-month old child to death nearly five-years ago....  

City Police Chief Harry Snellings says a Chautauqua County Grand Jury late last week indicted 35 year-old Tyler Perez for the death of young Nayla Hodnett.  It take some time but, Snellings says his department never stopped working on the case since the incident occured in mid-April of 2014.

Snellings says Perez faces two felony charges, first-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder in the case.  He says Perez was arrested at a home at 408 Willard Street, and arraigned on the charges.  He was then taken to the county jail, pending further court action.


No one was hurt -- but, a horse was killed -- in a bizzare head-on crash between a tractor-trailer and Amish buggy on Interstate 86 in the town of Poland Sunday night....

State Police in Jamestown say the unoccupied buggy got away from the owner near the Kennedy exit, and managed to get onto I-86 going the wrong way in the eastbound lanes, about 10 PM.  Troopers say the driver of the eastbound tractor-trailer never saw the horse and buggy until it was too late.  Police say the horse died at the scene.  The unidentified truck driver, who is from Kentucky, was not hurt.  However, his rig sustained a lot of front-end damage.  Troopers say the eastbound lanes were closed for some time last night while the scene was cleared. 


The Jamestown City Council has gotten it's first look at a preliminary draft of the city's new Urban Design Plan that updates the first one, which was implemented in 2006.... 

The updated plan, which already includes some revisions, was presented to lawmakers last night by Senior City Planner Crystal Surdyk.  She says the new proposal is designed to take the plan to the next level and, has some ongoing and newer areas of emphasis -- including Washington Street.

Surdyk says there are three continuing themes in the plan, including continued renewal of the Chadakoin Riverfront, making the downtown more "walkable..." and, expand on programs and free events.  She says the new theme is on a new health and wellness district, which would likely include the new "Chautauqua Center..." which is being eyed for the Institute Street area of Brooklyn Square.  City Development Director Vince DeJoy adds there's also one other possibilty for that area -- that being a new location for the Jamestown YMCA.  The Goody-Clancy planning group is again working on what would be "Urban Design Plan 2.0."

The man who has been clerk in the town of Ellicott for nearly the past three decades will officially retire at the end of the month....  

Mike Erlandson attended his final town council meeting as clerk last night and will leave just short of his 28th anniversary with the municipality.  While he looks forward to retirement, Erlandson says he'll miss working for the people.

Erlandson who first won election to the post in 1991, says he has always strived to be "non-partisan" in his work and, believed as town clerk, you need to leave the politics "at the door."  He began his professional career in 1977 with the former S-M Flickinger Company and, later the Scrivner Corporation.  He says current Deputy Clerk Amy Bellardo will take over at the end of the month when he steps down on March 30th.  Bellardo has been with the town since 2014, and plans to run for the next term in November.


A Cornell University student from the Cattaraugus County town of Freedom has been endorsed by the four county Democratic Committee chairmen to run in the special election for the 57th State Senate seat....  

22 year-old Austin Morgan is the choice of the party chairs who met recently.  Chautauqua County Party Chairman Norm Green says there were a number of candidates who were interested in the running and, says Morgan doesn't have much political experience but, will bring a fresh perspective to Albany.

Green says he is impressed with Morgan, who will graduate this Spring from Cornell with a degree in Human Development.  He says Morgan is prepared, and "knows the issues," and has been a staffer in the Senate already.  Morgan will likely face County Executive George Borrello.  Unless a special election is called sooner, the prospective candidates are going through the petition process to get on the ballot in November.

 

 New York lawmakers want the state to kick in some money to help local governments pay for the rollout of early voting....  

Lawmakers voted earlier this year to allow voters to cast a ballot starting 10 days before an election.  That led to complaints from county officials who said they don't have the money to pay for the extra staff, training and record-keeping related to the change.  Last week, members of the state Senate and Assembly inserted funds for early voting in their state budget proposals.  


A new poll finds that most voters in the state say it was bad for New York when Amazon's dropped plans to put one of its second headquarters in Queens....  

The Siena College poll released Monday found that 67 percent of registered voters surveyed said the internet retailer's decision last month was detrimental to New York.  Sixty-one percent support the state and city again offering Amazon up to $3 billion in incentives to create 25,000 jobs if Amazon reconsiders.  The company scrapped plans to redevelop a Long Island City neighborhood for one of its second HQs after the deal met mounting opposition from local elected officials who mostly objected to the incentives package.  The poll of 700 registered voters was conducted March 10-14. It has margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.