State Police arrested 38 year old Nathan Mower of Harpursville, for criminal possession of stolen property, and arrested 43 year old Kristina Shuldt of Windsor for criminal possession of stolen property, after investigating a theft of a safe and over $50,000 cash from a home in the Town of Windsor on August 3rd. Mower and Shuldt were arraigned in the Town of Windsor court and remanded to the Broome County jail with no bail set at this time. The investigation is ongoing.
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State Police arrested 18 year old Nathaniel Shaffer-Groover of Kirkwood, 17 year old Joshua Goetz of Windsor, NY and 16 year old Conor Collins of Kirkwood for 2nd degree burglary. Troopers responded to a Broome County 911 report of a burglary in progress at a residence on Dunbar Road in the Town of Windsor, after a caretaker saw teenagers stealing from it and fleeing in a red pickup truck. The 3 teens are accused of stealing a TV, binoculars and bullets; they were arraigned in the Town of Windsor court and remanded to the Broome County jail in lieu of $2,000 cash bail or $4,000 property bond.
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Assemblyman Pete Lopez of Schoharie formally announced his bid to seek the Republican & Conservative nomination for the 19th Congressional District being vacated by House of Representatives Member, Chris Gibson of Kinderhook. Assemblyman Lopez travels extensively around his Assembly district each year, he has served in the State Assembly since 2007.
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The Oneonta common council will hold their next regular meeting this evening. The meeting will begin at 6:30; the council will continue discussing the 2016 city budget.
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The Cancer Services Program of Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie counties will offer free health screenings to women 40 and older who are uninsured today in Sidney. The screenings will be available from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Family Planning of Sidney, 37 Pleasant Street in Sidney, appointments are requested at 1-888-345-0225.
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The American Red Cross is continuing with blood drives in Oneonta & Oxford today. A blood drive will be held from 1:00 to 6:00 PM at the Saint James Church at 305 Main Street in Oneonta, and the Oxford Blood drive will be held from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the New York State Veterans Home in oxford

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Former State Senator Tom Libous of Binghamton was sentenced in Federal Court today to 6 months of home confinement, a $50,000 fine and two years of probation. Libous was convicted in July for Providing a False Statement to the FBI during an investigation of his son Matthew. Libous’s attorney pleaded for leniency as Libous’s cancer has worsened & was told by his cancer doctors that he has maybe a year to live.
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Governor Cuomo today urged New Yorkers to protect themselves from identity theft and beware of scams on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and throughout the entire holiday shopping season. Cuomo said that Criminals would take advantage of the holiday shopping season to scam consumers and steal their money and identity. He urges New Yorkers to never give out any personal financial information to phone callers or through email to unknown entities. For more information or to file a complaint against a business, visit the New York Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection website at http://www.dos.ny.gov/consumerprotection/ or by contacting the Division’s hotline at (800) 697-1220. The Consumer Assistance Hotline is open Monday to Friday, excluding Federal Holidays, 8:30am to 4:30pm.
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The State Comptrollers office has completed their 3rd audit since 2000 of the Town of Sidney; the town supervisor does not review bank statements or canceled check images to verify that only those disbursements approved by the board are made, & that the board did not perform annual audits of the supervisor’s records. The Audit found no improper disbursements or unreasonable payroll payments, but the opportunity exists for inappropriate disbursements without oversight. The audit also questioned the Town paying 2 vendors for disbursements being paid over $16,000 a year. The Comptroller’s report stated that the Sidney Town Supervisor should Continue to review bank reconciliations and canceled check images, Approve payroll before checks are electronically signed and Maintain control over his signature & Perform a cost benefit analysis to determine if the bookkeeper Should be performing disbursements duties currently performed by the two vendors. The Board should perform the required annual audit of the
Supervisor’s records.
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The New York State Department of Labor released today preliminary local area unemployment rates for October 2015. Between September and October 2015, the State’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 5.1% to 4.8%, its lowest level since November 2007. Locally, Chenango County’s unemployment rate was 4.6%, Delaware County was at 4.7% and Otsego County registered 4.3% unemployment for October.
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The state DEC Announced that $2,000,000 in grants are available to organizations for projects to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species in New York State’s waterways, The grants are the latest action in the state’s comprehensive efforts to combat aquatic invasive species and aim to foster outreach to users of water bodies, install decontamination stations and provide steward training programs in high priority areas. Applications & more information are available at dec.ny.gov.
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Chenango County will be held next week, sponsored by Opportunities for Chenango. OFC Spokesperson Donna Wood-Craig told WCDO News about the panelists for the discussion:

(Donna Wood-Craig 11-24-15)

The community talk will be held at the Guernsey Library on December 1st at 6:30 and is open to all interested parties.