Buffalo news

• Viral photo prompts BPD to defend parking in coffee shop’s handicapped spots

  18-05-2016 23:52 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Homer Simpson would be proud of a doughy situation the Buffalo Police Department is currently defending.
  Department officials acknowledged Wednesday on the station’s Facebook page that a photo of two police cruisers parked in handicapped spots at a local coffee shop has been going viral.
  Many concerned viewers have even reached out to News 4, but many others are asking Buffalo Police directly why police were parked there when no crime had transpired.
  Offic
  
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• Caught on Camera: Vandal damages East side grocery store

  18-05-2016 23:38 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A vandal tries to break into a grocery store on buffalo’s east side and it’s all caught on camera.The owners of the apple tree market on genesee street say it happened late Tuesday night.
  The suspect was caught on camera throwing a large rock through the glass door. The Owner of the Appletree Halal Market says this area of town is always very peaceful.  This is the first time they’ve seen any sort of crime in the three years it’
  
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• Local man gets more than a decade behind bars for sex trafficking

  18-05-2016 23:28 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A Buffalo man who profited hundreds of thousands of dollars over trafficking women for sex will head to prison for 13 years after his conviction and subsequent sentencing.
  Prosecutors say Kenneth White, 39, used force to compel multiple women — at least one who wasn’t 18-years-old — to perform sex acts for money across the nation, including in Buffalo. Authorities say he lured in his victims online, then abused them to keep them compliant.
  Betw
  
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• Legislative proposal could make declawing cats in New York state illegal

  18-05-2016 22:53 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — “When people call us if they already have the cat, they say this cat is driving me crazy I don’t know what to do with the scratching, we will provide education,” said Gina Browning, SPCA Serving Erie County Public Relations Director.
  Despite alternative measures, some pet owners still decide to declaw their cats to avoid scratches to themselves and their furniture. Others feel the procedure is unnecessary and cruel. In New York state it could potent
  
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• Senior citizen dies in afternoon crash in Orchard Park

  18-05-2016 22:27 via wivb.com
  
  ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) — Police in Orchard Park are working with New York State Police to investigate a Wednesday afternoon crash on Route 219.
  Authorities closed Route 219 northbound at Armor-Duells Road at 1:24 p.m. during the response to the two-car crash. Orchard Park Police say during the response, they learned a 71-year-old victim died at the scene.
  A 58-year-old from Springville was rushed to the Erie County Medical Center. Both victims were drivers and there were no passeng
  
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• Local expert on vaping: “They think it’s harmless”

  18-05-2016 22:06 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)- American middle and high school students now prefer e-cigs and vaping to any other tobacco product.
  “They think it is safe. They think it’s harmless, it’s a harmless high,” said UB nursing professor, Nancy Campbell-Heider.
  The jury is still out on the long term dangers of vaping compared to traditional cigarettes, but doctors all agree there’s enough data now to keep it away from patients.
  “We do know for a fact that there&rsquo
  
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• Following murder conviction, local man gets 25-to-life for killing violinist

  18-05-2016 21:53 via wivb.com
  
  MAYVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) — A family found justice for well-known violinist Mary Whitaker Wednesday after prosecutors announced one of two people who attacked her, leading to her death, is heading to prison for at least two decades.
  Two people have officially been convicted of killing Whitaker after knocking on her door and shooting her in a brutal robbery. Jonathan Conklin, 45, received a recent conviction of second-degree murder, and faced sentencing on Wednesday.
  A judge in Chauta
  
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• SURVEY: Adderall Abuse

  18-05-2016 17:47 via surveymonkey.com
   
   
  
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• NY settles fertilizer display cases with Lowe’s, Home Depot

  18-05-2016 17:38 via wivb.com
  
  ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s attorney general has reached settlements with The Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Home Centers LLC requiring they separate lawn fertilizers containing phosphorous from others and post signs telling consumers about legal restrictions on the groundwater pollutant.
  Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says the agreement follows investigations in 2014 that found violations at 19 of 21 Home Depot stores and 16 of 18 Lowe’s stores.
  The companies’ w
  
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• Buffalo man pleads guilty to series of burglaries, attempted murder

  18-05-2016 17:24 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A Buffalo man could spend at least 18 years in jail after admitting to a series of charges involving burglary, attempted burglary, attempted murder and criminal weapon possession.
  The crimes started when Brandon Frontuto, 21, burglarized a Cheektowaga home in September. More than one month later, he robbed an auto repair shop and shot someone there. The victim lived.
  Just one day after that, Frontuto burglarized the Pierce Arrow building in Buffalo, stealing too
  
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• Safe Kids Day at Women & Children’s Hospital aims to curb preventable injuries

  18-05-2016 17:06 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A million children around the globe die every year from preventable injuries, which are the leading cause of death for children in the United States. Women and Children’s Hospital is hosting an event that’s trying to change that.
  The Safe Kids Day event that’s being held on the lawn across from Women and Children’s Hodge Avenue entrance from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday offers information and activities to raise awareness of many preventable in
  
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• Jamestown Police looking for men who brutally assaulted walker

  18-05-2016 17:00 via wivb.com
  
  JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (WIVB) — Police are looking for answers after a man was brutally assaulted along the Chadakoin River early Monday morning.
  Just before 2 a.m., police say a man was walking on a makeshift pathway between Institute St. and N. Main St. when two men attacked him. Due to police investigation, Jamestown authorities have not yet released details of the assault.
  Authorities do believe the assailants have told other people about their crime.
  Jamestown Police are asking anyone w
  
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• Accused Purdy St. shooter refuses plea deal in court

  18-05-2016 16:38 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A 19-year-old who police say killed a man on Purdy St. has refused a plea deal after being charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal weapon possession.
  Leonard N. “Pooter” Robinson was indicted on the charges mentioned above in January after he was accused of murdering Antoin Vance, 42, and shooting Dominique Jackson, 24, with an illegal pistol in November.
  Police say Carresian Holloway, 19, drove the getaway car involved in t
  
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• Garden centers ready for the pre-summer rush

  18-05-2016 16:24 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Summer gardening season is upon us in Western New York, and from perennials to edibles, people have started stocking up on everything they need to make their outdoor spaces bloom this year.
  Garden centers, such as Badding Bros Farm Market on Transit Road in East Amherst, have seen business pick up in recent weeks, with customers looking for items that are safe to plant this time of year.
  “All of our perennials are hardened off, they’ve been outside, they
  
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• Police: Man steals pizza delivery driver’s car, crashes and hides up Tonawanda tree

  18-05-2016 15:39 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Police in Tonawanda say they caught a car thief up a tree after he crashed the stolen vehicle.
  Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, officers say Buffalo resident Zayvaughn Boutwell, 22, stole a pizza delivery driver’s car at Delaware Ave. and Hodge St. and began to take it north into Tonawanda.
  Boutwell was later seen driving erratically on Niagara St. in the city when officers tried to catch up with him, according to authorities.
  As the chase continued, police say
  
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• Rochester police officer being dragged by vehicle shoots driver

  18-05-2016 15:20 via wivb.com
  
  ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say a Rochester police officer shot and wounded an auto theft suspect while being dragged by the vehicle after trying to arrest the man.
  Police Chief Michael Ciminelli says the officer spotted a stolen car in Seneca Park late Tuesday afternoon and approached the suspect, who broke away and fled on foot.
  The man ran back to the car and started to drive off as the officer leaned into the vehicle. Ciminelli says the car moved forward and dragged the officer,
  
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• Convicted Wyoming County sex offender accused of sex act with teen boy

  18-05-2016 14:02 via wivb.com
  
  PERRY, N.Y. (WIVB) — New York State Police say a convicted Level II sex offender has been charged with a felony after an alleged incident in the Wyoming County village of Perry.
  Last month, State Police say Gainesville resident Eric Hartman, 39, talked with a teenage boy through social media and eventually met up with him. At that time, the 16-year-old performed a sexual act on Hartman, according to State Police.
  Hartman was charged with third-degree criminal sexual act and endangerin
  
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• Colombia battles world’s biggest drugmaker over cancer drug

  18-05-2016 13:47 via wivb.com
  
  BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s government is giving pharmaceutical giant Novartis a few weeks to lower prices on a popular cancer drug or see its monopoly on production of the medicine broken and competition thrown open to generic rivals.
  Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria’s remarks in an interview Tuesday are the strongest yet in an increasingly public fight with the world’s biggest drugmaker that could set a precedent for middle-income countries grappling to contain
  
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• Over 200 families feared buried by landslides in Sri Lanka

  18-05-2016 13:41 via wivb.com
  
  COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and more than 200 families were missing Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said.
  Sixteen bodies have already been recovered and about 180 people have been rescued from the enormous piles of mud unleashed at around 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to military spokesman Brig. Jayanath Jayaweera.
  Villagers recalled
  
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• Baby found safe after car with her inside stolen in Detroit

  18-05-2016 13:37 via wivb.com
  
  DETROIT (AP) — Police say a 3-month-old girl has been found safe after her father’s car, with her inside, was stolen from outside a Detroit liquor store.
  Police say the father told investigators he left the car running with Dakota Grimes sleeping in the back around 1 a.m. Monday while he ran into the store on the city’s east side. He returned to discover the white 2006 Chevrolet Impala — and his daughter — missing.
  Shortly after an Amber Alert was broadcast, th
  
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• Sanders wins Oregon, battles Clinton in Ky.; Trump wins Ore.

  18-05-2016 13:15 via wivb.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders has won Oregon’s presidential primary and battled Hillary Clinton to a razor-thin margin in Kentucky, vowing to stay in the race until the end as Clinton aimed to blunt his momentum and prepare for a fall campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
  Tuesday’s primary in Kentucky was too close to call with Clinton leading Sanders by less than one-half of 1 percent. Closing in on the Democratic nomination, Clinton declared victory in Kentucky no
  
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• Spending time in church could improve health

  18-05-2016 13:00 via wivb.com
  
  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WIVB) — Research says spending time in church could help your health.
  Ministers have argued for years that religion has a way of helping heal our souls and bodies. A new study finds the more church, the better, at least for certain women.
  Researchers at Harvard University followed 74,000 nurses for twenty years. They filled out questionnaires along the way. More than 13,000 died in that time, about half from cancer or heart problems.
  Those who went to church mor
  
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• Fire spreads to 4 other buildings

  18-05-2016 11:56 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Five different properties were affected by a suspicious two-alarm fire on the east side early Wednesday morning.
  After the fire started on Clark St., it eventually spread to Paderewski Dr. and Lombard St. Most of the damage was contained to the original building.
  BFD on the scene of a large fire at Paderewski and Lombard. pic.twitter.com/ggxXkSrJKz
  — Chris (@CBNEWSPHOTOG) May 18, 2016Three of the buildings effected were vacant.
  From the two occup
  
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• Western New Yorkers weigh in on state law to ban declawing animals

  18-05-2016 05:44 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)- Declawing a cat could soon be illegal in New York State. Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, has pushed for a law to criminalize the practice since 2015.
  There’s a movement across the state to prevent cat owners from declawing their pets.
  “To take it’s claws out is just cruel and painful and I’m for any law that prevents cruelty,” said Mary Richert, of Buffalo.
  Richert has two cats and told New 4 that neither has been declawe
  
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• Lancaster mascot controversy outshines more important issues

  18-05-2016 05:09 via wivb.com
  
  LANCASTER, N.Y. (WIVB) — Controversy continues to surround the Lancaster Central School District’s mascot change.
  Last year, the school board retired the Redskins mascot after complaint about it being offensive, but voters are more upset that this issue outshines the issues that matter most.
  Lancaster residents, parents and teachers are hoping to move the school forward and focus on the issues that really matter.
  With more than $101 million in the school’s budget, many voters w
  
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• Man kills wife because ‘she was ill and couldn’t afford medication’

  18-05-2016 05:00 via wivb.com
  
  PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) – An 86-year-old man is charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot his wife in the head, saying she was ill and they couldn’t afford medication.
  William Hager was arrested Monday after he called the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.
  Deputies say Hager led investigators to a bedroom where the body of his 78-year-old wife, Carolyn Hager, was on the bed covered in a blanket. She had a bullet wound to the head. He told them she had been ill
  
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• Coast Guard releases boating statistics

  18-05-2016 04:53 via wivb.com
  
  WASHINGTON, DC (WTNH)  –  New statistics released by the U.S. Coast Guard show boating accidents and deaths were up in 2015 over 2014 but there were fewer injuries.
  Despite the increase in deaths from 610 to 626 nationwide, 1 2.6 percent increase, it was the third-lowest number of fatalities on record.   Accidents were up 2.3 percent from 4,064 to 4,158.  Injures were down from 2.678 in 2014 compared to 2,613 in 2015, a 2.4 percent decrease.
  The statistics sho
  
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• Clinton, Sanders locked in tight contest in Kentucky primary

  18-05-2016 04:46 via wivb.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were neck-and-neck in Kentucky’s presidential primary Tuesday, as Clinton sought to blunt the momentum of her Democratic rival ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump.
  The race was too close to call a winner in Kentucky. With almost all the votes counted, the margin between the two candidates was less than one-half of 1 percent as Clinton tried to avoid ending the primary season with a string of l
  
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• 2016 budget results for local school districts

  18-05-2016 04:31 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Voters hit the polls across western New York to decide upon the fate of their school budgets for the upcoming school year.
  See all budget results below as they come in. Click here if on the News 4 App.
   District:
  Pass/Fail:
  Spending Package:
  Change in $:
  Property tax:
  Changes for district:
  Akron
  Pass
  $30.99 million
  Inc. 6.52%
  0.73% inc.
  Elect 3 Board members.
  Albion
  Pass
  $33.9 million0 change
  To cut 1 clerical job, bus purchases, choosing one Board member,
  
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• A year to go and Hotel Henry is already getting booked up

  18-05-2016 02:59 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – The twin towers of the H.H. Richardson Complex have stood watch over Buffalo’s West Side for nearly 150 years, originally built as the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane. More recently it was known as the old Buffalo Psychiatric Center, until it was abandoned in 1974.
  Now known as the Richardson Olmsted Complex, it is a National Historic Landmark, and state officials are investing $100 million to restore the 100-acre campus in three phases—with the firs
  
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• From Japan to Buffalo: LeBlanc leading Bisons on the mound

  18-05-2016 02:50 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) —  Wade LeBlanc is more well-traveled than most minor league pitchers who wind up with the Buffalo Bisons.
  The journey at first sounds familiar. The 31-year-old lefthander has spent time with five major league teams over seven years in the bigs.This season, he’s off to a great start, with a 4-1 record and a 1.88 ERA, good for fourth in the International League.
  But other pitchers haven’t dropped everything and signed with a Japanese team, moving a wife
  
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• Lorigo: County executive wasted $25K in ‘political witch hunt’

  18-05-2016 01:14 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The appointment of Erie County’s Republican majority leader to a post as the attorney for his hometown of West Seneca set off a firestorm in the legislature earlier this year.
  Three months later, the accusations came to light, and called into question whether the county executive used tens of thousands of public dollars for what’s being called a political witch hunt.
  Legislative Majority Leader Joseph Lorigo was pursuing an additional post as the attorney
  
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• Lawsuit accuses IDA board member Marconi of ‘clear bias’

  18-05-2016 01:03 via wivb.com
  
  AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Lord Amherst Hotel has been under construction for years.
  It’s been delayed by financing, community push-back against Amherst Industrial Development Agency, town’s economic development.
  Now, there’s a new hurdle: a lawsuit that calls into question the AIDA’s board for conflict of interest, failure to follow state law and ethics violations.
  Tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars has been spent on trying to prevent the Lord Amherst Hot
  
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• Solar City funding pushed back, rising concerns over state funds

  18-05-2016 00:28 via wivb.com
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Amid a wide-ranging federal investigation into quid pro quo politics, concerns over contractor payments are once again circling around the Buffalo Billion initiative, and in particular how it would affect the future of the Solar City project.
  Problems with payments earlier this winter led to a short work stoppage at the site on South Park Avenue, when bills for the work were long past due, and there was no money flowing from the state.
  In late February, more than 300
  
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