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• Dan Fischer writes:

"Personnel problems continue to plague Batavia City Hall. The city council held a hasty secret meeting this morning to deal with, "a personnel matter," City Manager Jason Molino said today. He declined further comment.

The executive session was called for last night and took place at 7 this morning. Just barely within the required time frame. The meeting lasted a little less than an hour.

In the last six months, three key city hall department heads have either quit or retired."

• School budgets in every Genesee County district were approved yesterday. Elba had the closest vote (144 to 109).

• Investigation into the Byron blaze that claimed the lives of four family members continues. The apartment building where the fire broke out has been demolished, and a "makeshift memorial" has been erected by the roadside.

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• Investigation into the fire that killed four at a Byron apartment complex Monday continues today. Fifty-one-year-old Sherri Reis is confirmed dead, along with her three children: Timothy Reis, 17; Emily Reis, 19; and Virginia Reis, 21.

• Polls are open at Batavia city schools from noon to 9:00pm today for the school budget and school board votes.

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• Batavia, Bergen, Elba and LeRoy fire crews backed up Byron in a blaze at an apartment complex at 6964 Town Line Road in Byron this morning. At least one person is confirmed dead, and at least three others were reported trapped in the building that could not initially be accessed by fire personnel. No cause has yet been determined.

UPDATE: Byron Fire Chief John Durand confirmed that four people died in the blaze: possibly a mother, her teenage son and two college-aged daughters. Names were not released, pending identification by the Monroe County Medical Examiner.

• Meanwhile, the Batavia Fire Department was called to the Terry Hills Country Club restaurant on Clinton Street Road for report of a fire in the kitchen. Fire crews found that food left over in the oven had produced some smoke, and the restaurant was ventilated.

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• After ten interviews over the phone, four candidates for the position of city police chief will come in for personal interviews with City Manager Jason Molino, who told WBTA that he hoped to have the position filled within the next month. Meanwhile, an ad was posted this week for a new fire chief.

• "A Batavia couple has separate cells in county jail this morning," says Dan Fischer. Police say that 22-year-old Ryan Krupp took prescription drugs from his girlfriend's apartment.  She didn't like that he was arrested and got belligerent with police. Now, she's in jail, too. No mention of the charges.

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• A new hangar will go up at the Genesee County Airport, and it will cost some $695,000. The county legislature approved the contracts to two Rochester firms and another from Fishers. A state grant will cover $300,000. The hangar will have ten bays that the county will rent out for between $280 and $350 per month.

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• The United Memorial Medical Center could face a tough road ahead in getting its construction projects financed. "Organized labor," writes Dan Fischer, is blocking the state legislature's renewal of a law that allows non-profits to borrow from Industrial Development Agencies at low finance rates. The unions insist that the law include a provision that says projects funded through IDA financing must pay "prevailing union wages," which could put costs too high to manage. (This seems like a complex story. I would like to find out more about it. Such as: How can the labor unions block the law? And why wouldn't IDA-funded projects already be required to pay prevailing union wages?) UPDATE: Found more information here at the Buffalo News.

• A deck of playing cards illustrating 52 (unsolved) homicides and missing persons cases from around the state will be issued to prisoners across the state, including those at Genesee County Jail. Inmates may call a toll free number printed on the card if they have information.

• The Genesee County Legislature will meet tonight at 7:00pm at the Old County Courthouse.

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• Muckdogs General Manager Dave Wellenzohn will stand atop a lift above the entrance to Dwyer Stadium starting this Friday morning and through to the premiere of his radio show — I presume on WBTA — at 8:15am Saturday morning. All in the name of promoting the team.

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• A 19-year-old Harvester Avenue resident was charged with menacing, city police said. Officers were responding to a report of an underage drinking party when the young man allegedly answered the door with a knife in his hand.

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• More than a few state grants have been awarded to Genesee County recently, including: $93,000 for the town and city to take a look at consolidating services, $250,000 to help with the law enforcement dispatch consolidation already underway and another $150,000 that will go to the city for sidewalk improvements.

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• Iraq war veteran Mathew Hebell, 22, received full military honors at his funeral services held yesterday in Batavia. Hebell died recently after his car crashed into a pole on Richmond Avenue.

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• A Batavia man was charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a child this morning. A resident of Columbia Avenue told police that the man refused to leave her home.

• Seventy-five sheep have gone missing from a Wyoming County pasture in the town of Arcade.

• Residents within the city of Batavia School District can vote on the Richmond Memorial Library budget today from noon to 9:00pm. The total budget is about $1.15 million — some $40,000 more than last year, or an additional $5 for a $100,000 home. Tracy Stokes is running unopposed for the only open seat on the library's board of directors.

• Speaking of budgets and what the public thinks of them — the Batavia City School District will hold a budget hearing at 7:00pm at Jackson School on South Jackson Street tonight.

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• Two Batvia men are in jail on charges of criminal trespass following separate incidents. Witnesses told police that Gregory Seppe, 49, was rummaging through a garage on East Avenue. Thomas Culver, 29, was arrested following an investigation into the unlawful entering of a home on State Street in April.

• The Charter Review Committee for the city of Batavia will meet tonight at 6:30pm in the Council Work Room of City Hall.

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• City police officer Ed Mileham was among four area lawmen from Genesee County honored at the Law Day Law Enforcement Awards, sponsored by the Batavia Kiwanis Club and the Genesee County Bar Association.

• A United Auto Workers strike in Detroit could have major repercussions in Western New York as a potential "solution" could mean closing an American Axle forge plant in Tonawanda. An article from the Associated Press on the happenings can be found here. It does not say how many workers would lose their jobs. Are there any Batavians who work at that plant? What do you think of this possible outcome? More of the same? Terrible and unexpected?

• Michael Merrill has been named interim Medical Director at United Memorial Medical Center. He "takes over for Louis Green, who died unexpectedly earlier this year."

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• Assemblyman Stephen Hawley announced his bid for re-election to represent the 139th District in the state Assembly.

• Batavia will receive nearly $400,000 in state grant funds. About $150,000 will be used to build a booking facility at the Genesee County Jail that would be shared by both county and city forces. Another $150,000 is slated for sidewalk improvements. And about $90,000 will cover the cost of a new ambulance for the city.

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• A Bank Street resident was charged with identity theft for allegedly using someone else's name to purchase cellphone service.

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• Batavia's Water Bureau put out a notice that a disruption in the water line this afternoon could cause discoloration of the water around State and Bank streets near Batavia High School.

• Other city business from the council meeting last night: A failed attempt to consider changes to the city's event policy regarding overtime fees paid by the city. And a new lease for copy services was signed.

Wouldn't it be cool to sing the National Anthem prior to a professional baseball game?

Well, here's your chance to see if your rendition  more closely matches Whtiney Houston or Roseanne Barr (warning, you really don't want to click that link unless you're completely deaf).

WBTA is sponsoring a contest that will allow the winner to sing the Anthem prior to the July 4 Muckdogs game. (More info: Last item in the April 28 news update.)

The auditions are at Noon on Saturday, May 17.  We're not clear on the location, but we think at Dwyer Stadium.

Speaking of WBTA --  previously we reminded you about their Saturday auction.  No online word on who won what items (if you won something, leave a comment), but the site says there is another auction June 6.  Why is this important? Because everybody loves an auction!

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• The City Council meets tonight at 7:00pm.

• Auditions for the Batavia Muckdogs/WBTA National Anthem Contest will be held at noon on Saturday, May 17 at Dwyer Stadium.

• Several hundred people turned out for the State of the City address.

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• Batavia City Council President will give the State of the City address at an all-night event in conjunction with the Chamber's Business Showcase.

• Kiwanis Club of Batavia will hold its annual Law Day Dinner Thursday, May 1.

WBTA will broadcast all 38 home games for the Batavia Muckdogs this season, the local radio station announced this morning (the station's web site doesn't offer permalinks, so eventually that announcement will scroll down and off the page ... for anybody who finds this item weeks from now).

The station will also broadcast some away games. Wayne Fuller will handle play-by-play.