Latest news with #Lockport
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Barrington man arrested, accused of selling stolen appliances from his home
Suspiciously low prices on brand-new ovens tipped police to a man accused of selling stolen appliances in Lake County. Jeffery Hendon, 36, was arrested after an undercover detective bought an oven from him on social media. The sheriff's office shared photos of the 71 LG ovens and dryers detectives found at the man's home in Barrington, Illinois. All were still in the box. The office said the appliances were stolen from a Lockport warehouse in February. Investigators said they also discovered a large stash of homemade explosives inside Hendon's home.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
U.S. Army vet, laid-off federal employee, campaigns for Congress in NY-24
Aug. 4—LOCKPORT — Alissa J. Ellman thinks that her current representative in Congress isn't doing the job right, isn't representing the community and isn't listening to constituents. So she's running to do the job herself. Ellman, 41, said she decided to run for Congress in New York's 24th Congressional District after seeing how Rep. Claudia L. Tenney, R-Cleveland, has aligned herself with President Donald J. Trump and supported legislation like the "One Big Beautiful Bill" that makes cuts projected to kick thousands of New Yorkers off Medicare and Medicaid. Ellman shared a story of heading to a Tenney congressional office for a protest organized by the Lockport-based Democracy Center. She said she went inside the office with an older woman who was asking the aides about the future of Medicaid coverage for her older, disabled son. Ellman recounted the woman expressing concern that her son would lose health care coverage, lose access to the residential treatment he'd been benefiting from for years, and would be reliant on her into her advanced age. "Her aide pushed a pamphlet of propaganda at her about Donald Trump, and said 'Claudia Tenney wants you to know she supports every single decision Donald Trump is making right now,'" Ellman said. "And it just broke my heart in that moment." She said that pushed her to read up more about Tenney, and she didn't like what she read. "I just thought, 'this person is terrible,'" she said. "We really need new representation, we need a working class person to represent the working class people that live in New York 24." Ellman thinks she is that person. Born and raised in Allegany County, she's an Army veteran who served through the early part of the War on Terror. She worked for the New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs and then became a contractor with the U.S. Department of Defense and Halliburton in Kandahar. After seven years in the military and military-adjacent work, Ellman went to college and got a teaching degree, working as a special education teacher in Lockport, which she did for about a decade before encountering serious health problems. "I became extremely ill, I took a leave of absence from my job and I found out I had a pheochromocytoma, which is a rare adrenal cancer and it probably was brought on by toxic exposures and burn pits in Afghanistan," she said. After years of recovery and proceeding through the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellman took a job in the Buffalo office of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in the education division, helping veterans make use of their educational benefits like the G.I. Bill. Ellman did that work for months — until she was laid off by the Trump administration's "DOGE" efforts. "I was working there diligently and doing a very good job until I was laid off at the end of February without so much as an email," she said. "They just logged me out of my computer." That summary firing pushed Ellman into the spotlight for the first time. She joined Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., at this year's presidential address to Congress and stood as an example of a federal worker fired without cause. She said she's exactly the kind of "normal" local resident, impacted by federal decisions, who can bring a perspective relevant to people in NY-24, something she said Tenney lacks. "When I look around us, I am sad about that, because I don't think Claudia Tenney knows what it's like to be working class. When you don't know that, it's very difficult to represent or understand the interests of working class people," she said. She noted she's a native of the district and has lived in Lockport for years, well before it was included in the current district, and contrasted that with Tenney, who has moved around central and western New York for years as she has pursued offices at the state and congressional levels. Ellman pitches a moderate message. She said she has concerns that leftward reactions to conservative pushes could pull the country in the wrong direction. But she maintains that opposition to the Trump administration's priorities is key, and core to what she wants to do in Congress. She said she believes that Trump's priorities, and the material impact those decisions are having on Americans now, will drive voters to Democrats like her. "I care about what working class people have to say, they deserve real representation in government, and honestly that includes anybody who voted for Donald Trump," she said. "The reason they voted for him was because they want change, and they are hoping that what he's going to do is what he said he would. I'm not convinced that's exactly what's happening." Ellman said she thinks farmers are opposed to the indiscriminate immigration crackdown that is taking away migrant farmhands, and to the tariffs that are wreaking havoc on bottom lines and long-term plans for all businesses. She said she thinks the thousands of rural residents who voted for Trump didn't want to see their Medicaid or Medicare coverage lapse, or their local hospitals close because of a reduction in the number of patients they're treating with insurance. And she said she thinks of the older mothers, concerned about their dependent children's futures who are coming to their local congresswoman's office to ask for help. "If I was sitting in that position, if I was in Claudia's position, I would be bending over backwards to reassure them, to find a solution or an answer for them, and to explain as thoroughly as I could what they needed to do to provide for their families," Ellman said. The message can't be entirely "oppose Trump," however, Ellman said. She called for a Democrat "Project 2029," a response to the controversial legislative and power-positioning plan established by key players in the Trump administration known as "Project 2025." "There has to be some sort of plan, and that needs to be our own Project 2029," she said. "You need to gather experts to understand the nuances, and as far as I have been able to tell, we don't have one." Ellman's own plan includes a better tax structure and enforcement for corporations and large companies. "Amazon uses the roads a lot more than just you or me, and they should be paying the exact same tax rate, if not more, than you or me," she said. She said she wants to see health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid restored to their previous funding levels, and widely believes that health care should be within reach for all. She wants to see the social safety nets, like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, preserved for future generations. Ellman said she owns a gun herself, and is supportive of the Second Amendment. She's up against at least two other Democratic candidates for NY-24: Diana Kastenbaum and Steven W. Holden Sr. If all three are successfully able to establish their campaigns and complete the petition process, they'll appear against one another in a primary in about 10 months, in June 2026. They'll go up against the Republican nominee, presumably Tenney who has no declared GOP opponents as of now, in November 2026.
Yahoo
27-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
City's west side marina project still in search of funding
Conversations about improvements to the west side of the city eventually mention the construction of a 'West Side Marina' on the canal near the Stevens Street bridge. Officially known as the Lockport Heritage Harbor Project, the plan to develop boat slips closer to downtown was part of a state economic development initiative in 2019. A boat launch and parking area already exists between the Genesee Street and Stevens Street bridges. Following a driveway off of West Genesee Street, along the side of Reid Petroleum, reveals the extensive graveled area where vehicles with boat trailers can easily maneuver and unload. Mark Devine, 3rd Ward alderman, said that when the city was working on the Downtown Revitalization Plan, he championed harbor development at the location, which was outside the downtown's official boundary. 'I was very, very adamant about putting in the marina down there,' he said. 'It could bring in people from Lake Erie and any of the Great Lakes. I don't know what happened. All of a sudden, that project got dropped.' The Lockport Heritage Harbor Project is officially in 'deferment,' said Jackie Schillinger, senior communications strategy manager for the New York State Canal Corp. The project was part of the state's Reimagine the Canals Initiative, Schillinger said. 'We were looking at projects across the canal system,' she said. 'The purpose was to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change, increase tourism, and provide economic development.' Devine recalled that the project was to include eight to 10 docks. 'It wasn't going to be like North Tonawanda, but it was going to be substantial enough,' he said. 'They just wanted to get something in there that they could expand on in the future. This was so that people didn't have to go through the locks, but they could hang out in Lockport. It takes a lot of time to go through the locks.' The Lockport Heritage Harbor Project entered the initial development stage with the canal corporation, and Schillinger said a scope of work was developed, 30% of the design was completed, and initial soil borings were collected. Schillinger said that preliminary work identified that 'the terminal wall of the site has significant needs,' referring to the reinforced canal bank that runs the entire length of the current parking area. Estimates made last year identified costs of at least $8 million, she said. Due to budgetary pressures, Schillinger said the canal corporation reviewed Reimagine the Canals to see which projects could be deferred, and the marina on the west side was put on hold. 'We have been working with sister agencies to identify outside sources of funding,' she said. 'As those are secured, the project will advance to additional design phases.' She said the canal corporation had explored funding for the project through New York's Department of State, Department of Conservation, Empire State Development Corp., and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Vicki Smith, director of planning and development for the Greater Lockport Development Corp., did not respond to a question about whether the GLDC was involved in seeking funds for the project. 'It's going to be a great project,' said Dave Kinyon, chairman of the Lockport Locks Heritage District. 'We just hope that it happens sooner rather than later. It's very much needed.' Kinyon said boaters have told him that Wide Waters Marina is disconnected from the city's amenities. 'The harbor project will make Lockport a much more attractive place for boaters,' he said. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Challenger Learning Center's summer programs ready to launch
Children naturally want to space out during their summer vacations, and Challenger Learning Center's space camp next week is just the opportunity. The space exploration and technology center offers one-week camps at its location at 160 Washburn St. in Lockport starting on Monday. Later sessions focus on robotics and Lego architecture. 'Space camp is kind of our flagship program, along with robotics,' said Michael Schian, executive director. 'Every camp week we have two half days, with younger students in the morning, and older students in the afternoon. We try to keep the activities updated from year to year. So if someone did it last year, it would be different now.' Mark Gerlach, Challenger's program and IT manager emphasizes that camp is not like school. 'It's important to us that rather than having kids sitting at tables doing three hours of experiments, we're breaking it up,' Gerlach said. 'It will never feel monotonous, and we try to add things that appeal to every type of learning. We're including planetarium time, which has the qualities of a light show.' At Challenger, kids enter a space simulator that goes through a launch sequence that sends them to a simulated space station. The planetarium simulates the night sky, showing the universe and allowing students to fly around the solar system. 'We keep things updated with the James Webb telescope and what NASA puts out on black holes, Schian said. 'We're utilizing our space mission simulator as the culmination of learning lots of things about STEM. All the different roles and jobs that are reflected in the simulator are explored.' Schian said campers handle roles in mission communications, navigation, weather, life support, medical, biology, geology, rover engineering, and operating a bot. Campers also explore astronomy, using the center's planetarium to look at Mars in detail. They learn where to find Mars in the night sky, its properties, and what it would be like to live there, he said. 'They are having the opportunity to assume the mantle of an important role and getting immersed in the whole thing,' Schian said. 'They get to feel like an important person or an astronaut for the time that they are there.' Hadley Douglas, summer camp program coordinator and a newly graduated aerospace and mechanical engineer, said each day offers special opportunities to handle and understand technology. 'We're launching rockets, we're doing simulations, making rovers, trying to land rovers,' she said. 'We design rockets and put them in the wind tunnel to test them.' Douglas said their heat shield testing experiment, in which kids put an egg in front of their shield and use a blow torch to see if the egg is protected, leaves kids with their jaws dropped. 'We're building terrariums so they can see how a closed system works on their own,' Douglas said, explaining that long-term conditions for going to Mars could require building a greenhouse for growing food. 'We have a whole Mars simulator. It takes them way out into the future to learn about life on Mars,' she said. Lockport High School graduate Trent McCarthy, a member of the school's award-winning robotics team, works as a summer camp program coordinator. McCarthy, who plans to study computer engineering, said activities like working with robotic arms in space camp, fed his interest in his college major. 'We try to balance physical stuff with science,' said Douglas. 'There's outdoor games that get them up and moving, like our astronaut training obstacle course.' STEM camp offers other challenging projects that can be applied to aerospace projects and other disciplines. 'We're building habitats and we're going to build boats,' she said. 'We're going to go through how to make a boat out of a bunch of different materials. If the water is turbulent, how does it do and how do we make them better?' It is one of many projects that allow students to get their feet wet in the field of science. For more information, go to Space Camp isn't accepting online reservations, call 716-434-3196 to see if spots are open.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Yahoo
Motorcyclist dead after colliding into deer in Lockport
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — One person is dead after a collision involving a deer occurred overnight Monday in the Town of Lockport. Officials said a person was riding a motorcycle when they hit a deer, left the road, and then hit a telephone pole overnight on Purdy Road. Police received reports of the accident just before 7 a.m. where they found the motorcyclist deceased. The name of the motorcyclist is being held pending notification to family. The investigation remains ongoing. Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 as a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
