A traffic stop led to charges for a 21 year old Boonville man. Boonville Police report that Joshua Nellenbach was stopped on East Schuyler Street due to the trailer he was towing not having tail lights. Further investigation revealed that the trailer was reportedly not inspected of registered. He was issued tickets for the violations returnable to Village of Boonville Court May 29th.
A New Bremen man has announced his candidacy for the Lewis County Board of Legislators. The Johnson Newspapers report that Bryan Moser has announced plans to run for the District 4 seat currently held by John Boyd. Moser, who is a registered Republican, will likely run in a GOP primary against fellow Republican Thomas Schantz, who had earlier announced his candidacy. Legislator Boyd, who is a Democrat, has not yet announced his decision to run for re-election, but has reportedly indicated that he may not seek a 7th term on the Board. Meanwhile, Legislator Jerry King has announced plans to seek a 5th term representing District 10, which includes the towns of Leyden and Lewis. No one has announced plans to challenge him for the Board seat. All 10 seats on the Board of Legislators will be up for election this November.
State Senator Joe Griffo launched an effort for residents to sign his new on-line petition urging the rejection of Federal budget proposals that would cost New York taxpayers billions of dollars annually. Griffo stated that for decades, there has been a major imbalance between what New York sends to Washington each year, and what the state gets in return from the Federal government. New Federal budget proposals would worsen this imbalance by ending a longstanding policy of allowing taxpayers to deduct their state and local tax liability, including property taxes, from their federal taxes. Estimates show that the measure would result in a nearly $15 billion tax increase for New York families, an average increase of more than $4,500 per taxpayer. The average Federal tax bill for affected taxpayers would increase 30 percent. The Senator also pointed out that the Mohawk Valley and North Country would be hit especially hard by the misguided proposals, with more than 66,803 taxpayers being saddled with an average new tax increase of $2,350. The petition to oppose this Double-Tax Plan can be found on the Senator's website at www.griffo.nysenate.gov.
The New York State Assembly voted 82 to 53 this week in favor of the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act. The bill grants collective bargaining rights to farm laborers; requires employers of farm laborers to allow at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week; provides for a 10 hour work day for farm laborers; requires overtime rate at one and one-half times normal rate; makes provisions of unemployment insurance law applicable to farm laborers; provides for eligibility of farm laborers for workers' compensation benefits; requires employers of farm laborers to provide farm laborers with claim forms for workers' compensation claims under certain conditions & requires reporting of injuries to employers of farmworkers. The bill moves on to the State Senate, which voted down a similar bill in 2010 by only 4 votes.
Governor Cuomo introduced legislation that establishes a financial restructuring board for local governments. Under this plan, the Board would consist of the State Budget Director, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Comptroller, and one private sector restructuring professional. The Budget Director will establish the standards to determine which local governments qualify as fiscally distressed. Once identified as fiscally distressed, local governments would be able to request the assistance of the Board, and work together to identify a specific restructuring plan. This restructuring plan would be an option for the local government to accept or reject, however once the municipality accepts funding for the plan, they can no longer unilaterally opt out.
An incident early yesterday morning led to charges for a 24 year old Castorland woman. Lewis County Sheriff's Deputies report that Ashley Hutchins was charged with disorderly conduct following an incident at The Central bar in Glenfield, where she reportedly got into an altercation with her boyfriend & then damaged another vehicle that was not involved in the altercation. When Deputies arrived on the scene, Hutchins was allegedly sitting in the vehicle excessively laying on the horn of the vehicle & yelling profanities at her boyfriend. Hutchins was arraigned in Village of Lowville Court & was remanded to the Lewis County Jail on $250 cash bail or $500 bond. Pending further investigation into the incident, she was additionally charged with criminal mischief 4th degree for the alleged damage to the vehicle & criminal obstruction of breathing for allegedly choking her boyfriend, as well as harassment 2nd degree. Hutchins was issued appearance tickets returnable to Town of Martinsburg Court to answer those charges.
