Delhi Firefighters responded Wednesday evening to a fire at 161 Main Street in the village, at a homeless shelter.  4 occupants escaped without injury, the building is a total loss, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

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More than a dozen Fire Departments responded to a blaze at 116 Franklin Avenue Extension in the Town of Fenton early this morning.  The fire was reported at about 1:40 AM, there are no injuries reported, the cause of the fire is under investigation.

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Governor Kathy Hochul today announced New York State’s success in awarding $900 million in Child Care Stabilization Grants to child care programs statewide. The grants are part of a $2.3 billion package of investments in New York State’s child care industry funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. The Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) awarded funding to nearly 15,000 eligible child care providers over four months, from August through November.  Over 219 Million Dollars will go to the Southern Tier Counties child care programs.

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The Otsego County Health Department Reported 116 new COVID 19 cases Wednesday, they reported 299 active cases, 11 hospitalized and a positivity rate of 8.2% over the previous 7 days.  COVID Vaccines are available in Milford; appointments can be made at appointments.bioreference.com/nystatecovidtesting

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New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement after a jury voted that Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and its affiliates were liable for the public nuisance charges made by New York state in its opioid trial in State Supreme Court:  A subsequent trial will be held to determine how much Teva and others will be required to pay.   Attorney General James has already negotiated deals with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen for a global value of approximately $26 billion, the cases against Mallinckrodt and Rochester Drug Cooperative are now moving separately through U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

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The Center for Agricultural Development & Entrepreurships Farmer’ Survey deadline is tomorrow.  The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and allows farmers to identify their top food system priorities.  The survey represents the 2nd phase of CADE’s data collection process, from 17 focus groups which were conducted between March and October in partnership with Cornell University, SUNY Cobleskill, and other researchers. The survey can be found at cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com, more information is available at cadefarms.org.

A.M. NEWS Thursday 12/30/21

The City of Oneonta Police Department is investigating a bank robbery at the NBT bank at 1 Wall Street Wednesday at about 11:00 AM.  A single male suspect demanded the teller to hand over an undisclosed amount of money, he  is described a 5’8 to 6’ tall, wearing a dark colored hooded sweatshirt, dark colored pants and is about 220-250 pounds with a heavy build.  He was last seen walking in an easterly direction on Wall Street.  The public is encouraged to contact the Oneonta Police Detectives with any additional information at (607) 432-1111.

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The American Red Cross is holding a blood drive today at the A.O. Fox Hospital Tri-Town Campus Lab between 1:30 PM and 6:30PM in the Conference Room N-112. Another Blood drive will be held in Cooperstown from 12:00 Noon until 5:00 PM at the Otsego County Office of Emergency Services, 140 County Highway 33W, Appointments may be made at redcrossblood.org or by calling 1-800-RedCross.

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Delaware County Public Health reported 117 new COVID cases for Tuesday & Wednesday, with a positivity rate still at 9.5%.  They have 272 active cases, 10 hospitalized & 336 quarantined, there have been 85 deaths from the virus in Delaware County.

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Chenango County Health Department has scheduled a Moderna and Janssen booster clinic today at the South Plaza Clinic site in Norwich.  The vaccination appointments link can be found at co.chenango.ny.us/public-health, other vaccine clinics can be found at covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov.

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Governor Hochul signed into law a bill which allows for New York air ambulances to carry blood products. The measure followed an injury of Travis Flanagan in Greene, who was severely injured & was airlifted from Greene to Syracuse in an air ambulance based in Pennsylvania that carried blood on board; New York was the only state in the nation whose regulations prohibited medical helicopters from carrying blood.  Flanagan appeared at a press conference in Binghamton yesterday with Assembly members Donna Lupardo & Joe Angelino & State Senator Fred Akshar.

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The Greene Fire Department reported last night that they responded to a bridge washout at Wylie Road & Paradise Valley Road.  Greene, Afton, McDonough & Coventry fire Departments were also responding today to reports of downed trees & power lines from last night’s storms.  NYSEG reported about a dozen Chenango County customers were without power this morning.

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Otsego County Department of Emergency Services reported that State Route 51 remains closed south of the village of Morris to the Butternuts Town Line is still closed.  In the town of Morris, portions of Dimock Hollow Road, Gulf Road & Pittsley Road are closed.  In the Town of Butternuts, Dunham’s Cross road is closed, in the town of Pittsfield Cobb & Hawks roads are still closed, all roads in the town of Unadilla that were affected by flooding, are now open.

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The Oneonta Common Council announced the appointment of Brian Knapp as the new Chief of the Oneonta Fire Department.  Knapp replaces interim chief Michael Mancini who was appointed following the retirement of Patrick Pidgeon in February.

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SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced that Alberto Cardelle will be the new President of SUNY Oneonta, starting September 6th.  Cardelle replaces interim President Dennis Craig, following the resignation of Barbara jean Morris late last year. Cardelle previously served in a variety of position at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts.

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Hartwick College Athletics officially renamed their annual Golf Tournament after coach and alumnus, Nick Lambros, from the class of 1959.  “The Classic Nick Lambros Golf Tournament” will be held on Saturday, September 25 at Oneonta Country Club with a 1 p.m. shotgun start.  For more information or to register for the tournament, go to hartwickalumni.org, or call 431-4431.

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The Delaware County Fair board is looking to hire someone to handle some of their expected garbage during Fair week, Spokesman Jason Craig explains:

(Jason Craig 7-21-21)

Craig also announced that the Walton Police Department arrested 3 unidentified juveniles for damaging the Fair Secretary’s Office; they will be hiring a company to come in & for clean-up & repairs.

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The State Health Department & Governor Cuomo are urging New Yorkers who have not yet been vaccinated, to do so as quickly as possible, as the highly infectious Delta Variant of COVID 19 has caused the state’s infection rate to quadruple in recent weeks, to 1.75% of those tested on Tuesday.  1452 tested positive Tuesday, and over the last few days, Patient Hospitalizations, patients in ICU Beds & those on Ventilators are starting to increase again.  There were 5 deaths attributed to COVID Tuesday.

A.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY 7-21-21

State Attorney General Letitia James announced an agreement with McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, that will deliver up to $1.1 billion to New York State to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic. The agreement is the largest monetary settlement; it will remove those 3 companies from New York’s ongoing opioid trial, currently underway in State Supreme Court.

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The State Department of Labor released preliminary local unemployment rates for June.  The State’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased .1% to 7.7% in June; Locally Chenango County had 4.6% unemployment, Delaware County 4.9% & Otsego County 4.9% in June.

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Sidney Police Department responded July 13th to Walgreens for a report of an employee having personal property stolen from them by customers, on Monday, Sidney Police arrested 28 year old Russell LeBlanc of Delhi & 37 year old Jamie Benham of Sidney for 1 count each of Petty Larceny & Conspiracy.  Benham was released on an appearance ticket to appear back in court at a later date, State Parole was notified of LeBlanc’s arrest, who issued their own warrant for his arrest, LeBlanc was arraigned in Village of Sidney Court, where he was released on his own recognizance to appear back in court at a later date, he was then turned over to State Parole officers who remanded him to the Delaware County Jail.

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