WCDO Radio News

State comptroller Tom DiNapoli office says it had blocked more than 12,000 bogus refunds worth 43.7 million as of the start of the week.  Many of the incorrect returns misrepresented income or listed too many dependents.  Dinapoli says each year his staff uncovers more inventive tax schemes, forcing them to use sophisticated data-driven methods to expose them. Tax day this year is Monday.

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Measles continues to spread in New York State with cases occurring in New York City, Westchester County, Orange County, Sullivan County, and Rockland County. Outbreaks are also occurring in the states of New Jersey, California, Washington, and Michigan and several foreign countries. There have been no cases of measles in Delaware County to date.  For additional information you can check the CDC’s website for up-to-date outbreak information cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

The City of Norwich Spring Cleanup of yard debris will be coming soon.   City officials stated that clear bags must be used; Brush must be tied with string; branches and no longer than 6′ or 3″ inches in diameter. Debris must be placed between the sidewalk and the curb. Pickup occurs in May, exact dates will be released shortly.

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Community events for the Susquehanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals begin tomorrow with a volunteer appreciation event from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon at the shelter on State route 28 in Cooperstown. Volunteers and fosters are invited to stop by for coffee, donuts in observance of National Volunteer Appreciation Week.  More information about the Shelter & their activities are available at 547-9371.

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The Chenango Arts Council hosted the 2019 Chenango Area Student Art Show, Lucy Funke and Chenango Music Scholarship awards ceremony last Friday. The Lucy Funke Scholarship was awarded to Riley Webster of Sherburne Earlville & Andrea Dempsey of the Oxford Academy, the Chenango Music Scholarship goes to Matthew Ryan of the Sherburne Earlville district, The Chenango Area Student Show winners in a variety of categories were Riley Webster of Sherburne Earlville, Guin Warren of Norwich, Ashley Spooner of Afton, Samantha Emerson of Oxford, Shanee Baker Bush of Oxford & Madisyn Stowell of Sherburne Earlville.   All eligible pieces will be entered in Congressman Anthony Brindisi’s Congressional Art Show in Utica; the winning entry will have a chance to be displayed in Washington for a year. 

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The Delaware County Department of Public Works will be closing County Route 44 in the Town of Sidney to through traffic on Monday at 7:00 am for bridge repairs. The road will be closed at Bridge 44-1 which is located 0.25 miles north of the intersection with State Route 357.  It is expected that the road will be remain closed until Friday, April 19th. The detour will be Covered Bridge Road to State Route 357. 

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The Copes Corners Park Spring Fest committee for the Town of Butternuts is soliciting craft, artist, product, and general vendors for its 5th annual Spring Fest on May 4th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  The cost for a 12-foot by 12-foot space is $20.  An application for vendor space is accessible from the “forms and documents” tab at copescornerspark.org. Questions may be directed to Lynne Ohl at 783-2518 or ohlle93@yahoo.com. Completed applications must be mailed by April 22, with the accompanying vendor fee, to Town of Butternuts, P.O. Box 318, Gilbertsville, NY 13776.

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State Attorney General Letitia James will host a round-table discussion regarding the opioid epidemic in Binghamton this afternoon.  James has invited local Elected Officials, Treatment Providers, Addiction Experts & Impacted Individuals.  The discussion will begin at 2:30 pm at the Office of the Attorney General at the State Office Building at 44 Hawley Street in the 18th Floor Community Room.

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As New York State Leaders consider making the recreational use of Marijuana legal across the state, the New York Sheriff’s Association, and other law enforcement agencies are against that idea.  Delaware County Sheriff Craig Dumond commented on what happened in Colorado after they became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana:

(Sheriff Dumond 4-12-19)

A study by the American Journal of Psychiatry showed that people who use marijuana are 3 times more likely to use opioids; another study showed an increase in Psychosis and schizophrenia among daily users, and states with recreational marijuana saw a jump in murders & Aggravated Assaults attributed to its use.

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The 14th annual Otsego County Conservation Association Earth Festival will take place on tomorrow from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Milford Central School.  The Earth Festival will be featuring exhibits, workshops, vendors, food and entertainment.  More information is available at occainfo.org.

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The General Clinton Canoe Regatta officials announced that they will have their 12th Annual Dan Elwood Memorial 5k Run and the Tracy Richmond 1 Mile Walk for Hospice on Saturday, May 25th, at 9:00 AM at General Clinton Park, in Bainbridge.  There is a  $20 pre-registration fee, which will be accepted until Saturday, May 18th,  after that,  entrants may register the day of the race beginning at 8:00 AM for a fee of $25. T-shirts will be given to first 100 entrants. Pre-registration forms may be sent to: Dan Elwood Memorial Race c/o John Harmon, 3617 State Hwy 206, Bainbridge, NY 13733.

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Binghamton Police Detectives arrested 19 year old Antonio Jones of Taftville, Connecticut for 2nd degree Attempted Murder & 2nd degree Assault in connection with the March 17th Shooting incident at 66 Chenango Street.  Jones is accused of participating in the shooting incident, into a parked car; he missed the intended male target and shot a female passenger, who suffered non-life threatening injuries.   Jones was held in Binghamton City Police Lock-Up for arraignment in City Court, he was remanded to the Broome County Jail. Anyone with information is asked to contact Binghamton Police at 772-7080.

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The Binghamton Rumble Ponies Home Opener will be tonight at NYSEG Stadium, Team Spokesman Eddie Saunders comments:

(Eddie Saunders 4-11-19)

Tickets for tonight’s game are available at the NYSEG Stadium Box Office or online at BINGRP.COM.

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The State DOT announced that construction is resuming on the $152 million 2nd phase of the 1-81/Route 17 Prospect Mountain reconstruction project in the city of Binghamton. The project is reconstructing nearly 9 miles of highway, replacing bridges and reconfiguring ramps to significantly improve traffic patterns in one of the Southern Tier’s busiest corridors. The improvements will also enable the DOT to request federal designation of a 4-mile stretch of Route 17 as I-86.  The project is reconstructing the interchange of I-81 Exit 4 and Route 7 by replacing the viaduct bridge over the Railroad tracks and Broad Avenue. Additionally, 2 new bridges are being built over the Chenango River in the city of Binghamton. The Work is scheduled to be complete by December 2020.

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Fire damaged the Leatherstocking Market and Fuel store at 134 Delaware County Route 11 near Pindars Corners this morning.  Several area fire companies responded, no injuries have been reported; the cause of the fire is under investigation, the owners hope to have the store re-opened as soon as possible.

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April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month & Delaware County Sheriff’s Office is teaming up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for a high-visibility enforcement effort today through April 15th. Law enforcement officers will intensify their efforts to stop texting and other forms of distracted driving by issuing citations for distraction violations. The “U Drive U Text U Pay” campaign aims to spread the message about the dangers of distracted driving, and to remind drivers of the consequences of their distracted actions.  According to NHTSA, between 2012-2017, nearly 20,000 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver. In fact, there were 3,166 people killed in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2017.

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The annual Big Wheels Golf Tournament, held at the Delhi College Golf Course, will take place on Friday, May 10th this year.  The event serves as a primary fundraiser for programs and services which provide assistance to Delaware County senior citizens.  The entry fee this year will be $65, Registrations for the tournament can be obtained by contacting the Delaware County Office for the Aging at 607-832-5750.

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State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced that Pharsalia Town Supervisor Dennis Brown faces criminal charges for allegedly stealing more than $123,000 in town funds, to pay credit card bills and pad his salary an additional $20,000 a year.  Brown was charged with 2nd degree Grand Larceny, scheming to defraud, defrauding the government, corrupting the government and public corruption for allegedly using the town’s credit card for vacations in Myrtle Beach and New York City, fees for PayPal, Amazon and iTunes, and designer handbags, liquor and cooking classes, & his home telephone, internet and electric bills.  The Comptroller’s inquiry into Pharsalia began with an audit in 2018 which led to the criminal investigation.

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The Greene Fire Department responded to a small fire at Raymond Corporation in Greene.  The preliminary investigation reported that a welding smoke unit caught fire, no one was injured, employees returned to the building at about 9:30 pm. The Greene Fire Department was assisted by the Oxford, Coventry Fire Departments.

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CHENANGO UNITED WAY’s Annual Celebration is this morning at 8:00 at the Canasawacta Country Club in Norwich. More information about the United Way is available at 334-8815.

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The annual Take Back the Night March will be held in Oneonta this evening.  The march begins at the SUNY Oneonta campus at 6:30PM and ends in downtown Oneonta, it will conclude with a candlelight vigil and musical performance is scheduled at Kim Muller Plaza beginning at 8:00PM.

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The Bainbridge-Guilford Central School will hold a Board of Education Meeting on Thursday, April 11, 2019 in the District Conference Room at 6:30 PM. The business portion of the meeting will start at 7:00 PM.

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New York Police Agencies & the New York Sheriff’s Association have come out against Governor Cuomo’s plan to stop publishing Mugshots to their websites & to newspapers.  Delaware County Sheriff Craig Dumond told WCDO News that his department will release Mugshots in the manner they always have:

(Dumond 4-9-19)

New York State Police have stopped placing mugshots on their website & in their Press releases on April 1st.

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The Investigation of Scott Lisincchia revealed that he had drugs in his system, at the time when he was the driver in Schoharie limo crash that killed 20 people last October.  Lisincchia reportedly had marijuana and traces of an anti-seizure medication in his system; he was one of the 20 killed in the crash.  The owner of the Prestige Limo Service that Lisincchia worked for, Nauman Hussein, faces grand jury proceedings tomorrow.  The National Transportation Safety Board and state police are continuing to investigate the crash.

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State Attorney General Letitia James provided taxpayers with tips to help avoid fraudulent tax schemes, and how to report any suspected scams intended to steal personal and financial information.  Currently, Scammers are impersonating representatives from the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, the Taxpayer Advocate Service in an attempt to collect phony tax debts; & some Scammers claim consumers owe past tax debts and insist that consumers pay using a prepaid credit card or gift card;   New Yorkers should report potential scams to the Office of the Attorney General by submitting a complaint online or calling the consumer hotline at 1-800-771-7755.

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The State Education Department needs to improve its efforts to ensure school districts are following state requirements for school safety planning, according to an audit released by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.  The audit found that the Department did not do enough to make certain that the requirements under the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act were being met by school districts, many of the districts could not demonstrate they had adopted annual safety plans, held public hearings on the plans, or appointed required personnel to safety teams or trained employees on the plans.

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State Police continue to investigate the November 1983 murder of 19-year-old Bessie Williams of Johnson City, who was reported missing to the Johnson City Police Department when she did not return home after picking up her paycheck at the Quality Inn Lodge in Endwell.   On April 11, 1985, State Police responded to a report of human skeletal remains near King Street in the Town of Barker.    A forensic examination determined the remains were those of Bessie Williams, and the manner of death was homicide.  State Police have been attempting to identify a suspect whose vehicle was towed by citizens in the fall of 1983, from a field bordering the wooded area where her remains were discovered, he was described as an intoxicated white male, 25 – 30 years old, 5′ 7″ to 5’10” with medium build, wearing work boots, jeans and a blue wind breaker, the vehicle was a late 1970s white hatchback.  Many leads have been followed up, the case is still open.  Anyone with information is asked can call State Police at 561-7400.  

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State DEC Officials remind New Yorkers that there is a burn ban in the state through May 14.  Officials stated that open burning of household trash releases dangerous compounds including arsenic, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and lead, into the air, & that open burning is also the single greatest cause of wildfires in New York, a few have already been reported in the Mohawk Valley Region.  More information is available at dec.ny.gov/chemical.

State Police arrested 54 year old William Davis of Franklin for DWI, after a trooper was dispatched to State Highway 357 in the town of Sidney for a 1-car rollover.  The trooper located Davis’s vehicle down an earth embankment and on its roof.  Davis was uncooperative with the trooper’s investigation and did not want to be seen by EMS even though he had blood on his face and hands,  He arrested & arraigned in the town of Sidney Court and remanded to the Delaware County Jail on $1,000 cash bail or $2,000 bond.  His next court date in the town of Sidney is Thursday, He will also to appear at a DMV refusal hearing on May 3, 2019 in the city of Oneonta.

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State Police arrested 45 year old Steven Whitehead of Unadilla for DWI, after a trooper observed Whitehead’s vehicle with an equipment violation while on Interstate 88 in the town of Sidney.  A traffic stop was initiated on River Road, Whitehead was arrested & was released on appearance tickets for town of Sidney court on April 25th, and he was turned over to the village of Sidney Police Department where he was wanted on a warrant.

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The State DEC and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission have scheduled a meeting in Hancock, today from 6:00 to 7:00 PM to update the public on the ongoing 3-Year Joint Fisheries Investigation Plan for the Upper Delaware River Tailwaters. The meeting will be held at Hancock High School, 67 Education Lane in Hancock.

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The next meeting for the General Clinton Canoe Regatta committees will be held this evening at 7:00 PM.  The meetings will be held at Galaxy Bowl in Bainbridge.

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Greater Chenango Cares, the joint-service training mission of the Air National Guard and other members of the armed services, will provide medical, dental, vision and veterinary care to residents of the Southern Tier again this year.  The no-cost clinics will take place at Norwich High School from July 11th to the 20th, more information can be found at facebook.com/GreaterChenangoCares.

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Opportunities for Chenango will hold a Community Open House Saturday at 44 West Main Street in Norwich.  The event runs from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Games, refreshments and program information will be available. More information is available at 334-7114 or ofcinc.org.

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The Delaware County Chamber of Commerce announced 2 Job fairs to be held next week.  The 2019 Job & Resource Fairs in Grand Gorge will be held on April 10th and at the DCMO BOCES campus in Masonville on April 11; Chamber President Ray Pucci comments:

(Ray Pucci 4-5-19)

More information is available by calling the Chamber at 746-2281 or online at delawarecounty.org

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The Sidney Chamber of Commerce announced their award winners for this year.  Lorrie Roach is this year’s recipient of the Citizen of the Years award & ABC Center for Performing Arts is this year’s Recipient for Business of the Years.  Both will be honored at the annual Dinner in June.

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The 2nd annual RoboRAVE New York open-platform robotics competition happens in Oxford tomorrow.  Over 72 regional and international teams have registered for the event, including participants from France, Egypt, and Canada.  The competition is at Oxford Academy High School from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM, and is free to spectators and open to the public. 

The Living Healthier Expo will be held beginning at 11:00 this morning at the Foothills Performing Arts Center at 24 Market Street in *Oneonta.  Topics of discussion include Rabies, Lyme Disease Prevention, Chronic disease Management, mental health awareness & substance abuse.  Additional information on the health expo is available online at www.lheotsego.com.

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The Chenango Arts Council announced the return of its annual Chenango Area Student Art exhibition today.  Mary Beth Miller of the Chenango Arts Council comments:

(Mary Beth Miller 4-5-19)

Miller said that 6 entries will be submitted to Congressman Anthony Brindisi’s office for a chance to appear in the 2019 Congressional Art Show in Washington, DC.  The exhibit is scheduled to run through April 19th at the Arts Council’s Mariea Brown and Raymond Loft Galleries in downtown Norwich, More information is available at 336-ARTS.

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The Out Of The Woodwork Players Present “Ann of Green Gables” tonight, Saturday Night & Sunday at the Bainbridge Town Hall Theater.  Spokesman Will Drew explains:

(Will Drew 4-5-19)

Show times are 7:30 pm tonight & Saturday & Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm.

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The 9th annual “Spay-ghetti Dinner and Silent Auction” for “All Animals Matter”, will be held Saturday from 4:30 to 7:00 pm at the Norwich VFW at 61 East Main Street, Norwich.  This year’s event will also feature adoptable dogs and cats from the Delaware Valley Humane Society of Sidney.   Proceeds will benefit “4 Paws Friends Club.”

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