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.
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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.
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New York State of Health reported that 1,130,600 New Yorkers have completed their applications and 782,472 have enrolled for coverage since the launch of the Marketplace on October 1st. The deadline for individuals and families to enroll in coverage through is today, more than 70% of those who have enrolled were uninsured at the time of application.
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22-year-old Brad Goodrich of Greene was released from Wilson Medical Center after being treated for internal injuries and faces vehicular homicide charges for allegedly driving drunk and causing a crash that killed his passenger. Goodrich had a blood alcohol content of 0.25% when his vehicle crashed into a utility pole on March 7th on Hogsback Road in Greene, 23 year old Brandon Archer, was pronounced dead at the scene. Goodrich was indicted by a grand jury on March 20th & faces arraignment today in Chenango County Court, for aggravated vehicular homicide, 2nd degree manslaughter, 2nd degree vehicular manslaughter, DWI, and reckless driving.
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Chenango County sheriffs department arrested 62-year-old Maxie James Godfrey of Oneonta, who is accused of paying an undercover DEA agent, to murder 1 person & requesting the agent murder a 2nd individual. Godfrey had asked other inmates at the Otsego county jail about murder for hire, the DEA supplied an agent to pose as a hit man; they met at the Jail, where Godfrey was arrested and is being held at the Otsego County jail on $10,000 bail.
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The state Attorney General’s office is trying to dismiss 2 lawsuits that seek to force a decision on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York. The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, and the bankruptcy trustee for Norse Energy, filed separate legal challenges recently, arguing that the Cuomo administration is unnecessarily delaying a review of hydrofracking. Hydrofracking has been under a moratorium in New York since 2008, when then-Governor David Paterson began the environmental review process. A hearing on the lawsuits is currently scheduled for April 25th in state Supreme Court in Albany.
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The state Gaming Commission’s Facility Location Board will put out requests for applications today for 4 privately owned casinos in 3 regions of the state: the Albany area, Catskills and Southern Tier. 9 bidders have already come forward with their plans, working out to 3 bidders in each region. The application process will end on June 30th.
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