Madison Ruffo

Ellicottville School District has roughly 640 students. Of those, about 30%–nearly 200 students–don’t have reliable internet access. That’s twice the national average, but on-par for Cattaraugus County–which has the least internet access in New York State. District Superintendent Bob Miller said that connectivity is a major concern as the district pursues a hybrid learning model in the fall.

“We do have a number of families that have neither internet service nor cell phone service, which makes it a tremendous challenge for those kids to do things digitally,” said Miller.

Acting Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti announced Wednesday that the Sheriff’s Association will be presenting New York State legislators with ten proposals to protect law enforcement and civilians in the area.

The Erie County Sheriff’s Department proposed a plan to the County Legislature to consolidate the area’s jails at a meeting on Tuesday. However, it could be years until it comes to fruition.

Go. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that New York public schools will be able to reopen this fall.

On June 5, Cecil Foster­, a professor at the University at Buffalo, wrote a letter to administration condemning the college’s lack of anti-racist action amid the recent police killings of persons of color and subsequent protests.

The Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival will not be at Sahlen Field come this Labor Day weekend. Festival founder, Drew Cerza, announced on Wednesday that it will be replaced with “America’s Greatest Chicken Wing Party.”

“This is an unprecedented reimagining of an American food festival. No other such event has ever attempted something like this before,” said Cerza.

A string of shootings over the weekend are the latest incidences of an increase in gun violence across the city in recent weeks.

The Buffalo Zoo is set to reopen its doors next week after a three-month closure due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The following precautions will be in place until further notice:

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership — the regional chamber of commerce — sent a survey to over 12,000 local private and public-sector businesses to assess how workplaces across the region are fostering diversity and inclusion.

The Taste of Buffalo announced Wednesday what their food festival will look like online, without patrons.

New York state's malls, gyms and movie theaters are not cleared to reopen, a devastating blow to those industries, which were preparing to reopen in Phase Four. 

Island Kids Childcare Center closed its south location on Grand Island March 21 after 255 of its 285 children – nearly a 90% – started staying home with their parents. This decrease came as New York State went on PAUSE amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For most New Yorkers unemployment benefits have been blessing, for those who were already collecting other benefits it’s proving to be a curse.

New York State has seen an influx of unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic started, with 1.5 million total claims last week according to the Department of Labor. The congestion caused by the high volume of claims has pushed back payment dates for many New Yorkers. This resulted in a lump sum retroactive payment.

Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen proposed a resolution this week to rename a street or section of the city in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement.

When Martin Gugino was pushed by a Buffalo Police Officer on Thursday, it was added to the City of Good Neighbors’ laundry list of police brutality cases. 

Since 2006, there have been 15 documented cases of police excessive use of force in Buffalo, according to WKBW. 

Below are some of those cases.

Self-haircuts and “quarantine bangs” are now a thing of the past as local barbershops and hair salons opened their doors on Wednesday. This came as Western New York entered Phase Two of New York’s plan to gradually reopen.

Western New York is expected to move into Phase 2 of reopening on Tuesday, allowing hair salons and a variety of retail establishments to resume business with certain precautions in place.