Each week John Cross takes time to offer tips and suggestions on how to make wise spending decisions to get the most out of your financial resources.

Local musician KDYN joined WRFAs Anthony Merchant to discuss his songwriting, musical influences, what you bring to music from playing sports and much more

KDYN also performs a 3 song in-studio performance!

kdyn07.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085259146472

Len Barry of the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts joined WRFAs Anthony Merchant to discuss upcoming summer events at the Reg Lenna as well as the 2023 WRFA Great American Picnic and much more

reglenna.com

YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast features members of the local YWCA Jamestown team discussing a variety of issues and topics with various guests from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region.

On this episode, the Y’s Hillary welcomes Shatriya Smith, a queer Black handicapable woman, wife, mother and spoken word artist supported by her community as the Poet Laureate of Springfield, Illinois. She also serves as executive director of Springfield’s Garvey Tubman Cultural Arts and Research Center, which provides services for low income families and young people ages 5-13 for music classes and to teach them to become young entrepreneurs. She visiting Jamestown and scheduled to speak as a guest of the Jamestown Unitarian Universalist Church.

The Broadscast program covers a wide range of topics, including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues; racial justice and civil rights; empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls; and health and safety of women and girls. It is provided through funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel joins us for his monthly update to talk about economic development, migrant issues, Barcelona Harbor, and more.

PJ Wendel

JAMESTOWN, NY – On May 25, WRFA continued its series of Community Conversations, this time focusing on poverty in Chautauqua County. The discussion involved challenges and barriers for those living in poverty or near poverty in Chautauqua County.

Our panel included:

• United Way of Southern Chautauqua County, Executive Director Amy Rohler
• Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc., Deputy Director of Housing & Community Development Amanda Straight
• Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union, Loan Officer Elia Sostre

It was moderated by WRFA Public Affairs Director Julia Ciesla-Hanley.

The discussion was broadcast live on WRFA radio, with video streaming available on the WRFA Youtube Channel.

Funding for the Community Conversation is made available by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Rescue Plan Act stabilization grant fund.

(left to right) Amy Rohler, Amanda Straight, Elia Sostre, and Julia Ciesla-Hanley

Chautauqua County Legislature meeting (May 24, 2023)

The Chautauqua County Legislature has voiced their support for the State of Emergency declared by the County Executive that bars housing new immigrants in Chautauqua County.

Legislator Terry Niebel brought the motion to the floor, saying that more immigrants are being relocated to upstate from New York City, “The problem with this is, if some of these folks are relocated to Chautauqua County we’re just not adequately equipped to take care of 500 or, perhaps, a thousand new immigrants. In my opinion, the Legislature needs to support the County Executive’s State of Emergency.”

Legislator Susan Parker said she agrees that the process needs to be slowed down but doesn’t want to prohibit immigrants who come to the county on their own, “We have to have the infrastructure and all of the services and we can’t bankrupt the county in the process. But, my belief is that the ultimate goal could be to allow with the infrastructure… these people are coming, they’re eager to work, they want to work, they’re in search of work, and we need workers.”

Under a federal law passed in 1996, asylum seekers are required to wait at least half a year after filing an asylum petition before being able to obtain authorization to work. Governor Kathy Hochul, this week, called on the White House to expedite work authorization for the thousands of asylum seekers in New York City.

The Legislature passed a motion by a vote of 15 to 2 in support of the declaration. Legislators Susan Parker and Tom Nelson were the two no votes.

Michael Burham

The suspect in the death of a Jamestown woman will be extradited back to New York State.

WIVB reports 34-year old Michael Burham made an initial appearance Thursday in federal court in South Carolina. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina says Burham waived extradition and a preliminary hearing and will be heading back to New York to face a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Burham was arrested in South Carolina near the Berkeley-Charleston county line Wednesday afternoon. Authorities credit an observant Berkeley County resident who spotted Burham near his home and immediately called 911. Responding law enforcement agencies used K-9s to track Burham, which aided in his arrest. No one was injured when Burham was taken into custody.

A federal arrest warrant from the United States District Court, for the Western District of New York, was issued for Burham on May 22, 2023, after he was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Burham was also wanted for state warrants out of New York and Pennsylvania.

Burham was on the run after a spree of alleged crimes, which include rape and unlawful imprisonment. He was also wanted for kidnapping an elderly couple in Pennsylvania. The couple alleges,

Burham kidnapped them from their home, drove them to North Charleston, South Carolina and released them. The couple was not harmed.

Jamestown Police have also been searching for Burham as a suspect in the death of 34-year old Kala Hodgkin on May 11.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel at Barcelona Harbor while Army Corp of Engineers performs dredging work (May 2023)

The Army Corp of Engineers has started the dredging of Barcelona Harbor.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel said the harbor has essentially been shut down due to the sediment that filled in over the last several years.

He said while $1.1 million in federal funding was approved for the project, the timeline needed to be sped up so as not to impact the late Spring and Summer commercial fishing season, “In a call with the Army Corp, they said they were waiting for the state. In typical County Executive Wendel fashion, I picked up the phone, hit mute and took my camera off, and called the DEC and talked to Julie O’Neill who is a phenomenal partner in the DEC for the county. I said, ‘Julie, what are the chances that we could get in here earlier than July? It makes no sense.’ ‘Let me look at it County Executive,’ and within a couple days she came back and said, ‘Boom, we can get you in as early as May, does that work?'”

Wendel said his administration is continuing to work on engineering projects to deal with sediment issues in Barcelona and Dunkirk Harbors as well as Hanford Bay and Sunset Bay, “We do have engineering studies that we’re going to go for funding, putting in a request next year. Those engineering plans, once they’re in hand they help us leverage funding because there’s EPA funding coming out. There’s money, we’re being told, will be released shortly, so if we have those plans in hand, we’re at the front of the line ready to apply for funding and opportunities.”

Wendel added that Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District will be a big partner in these future projects.

In Jamestown, the Blue Star Mothers will hold its annual Gold Star Memorial Remembrance at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, May 27 at Veterans Memorial Park on West Third and Logan streets.

On Monday, May 29, the annual Memorial Day parade will take place in Jamestown. The parade starts at 10:00 a.m. and travels on Fourth Street to Prendergast Avenue and then onto the Buffalo Street entrance of the Lakeview Cemetery.

The Blue Star Mothers will hold a service in Soldiers Circle in the cemetery beginning at 10:45 a.m. directly following the parade.