Update On The Tonya Smith/Donald Masti Case

The case against Tonya Smith of Painted Post, has ended in Steuben County Court.  A court official tells Wvin News that  Judge Phil Roche reserved a verdict.  There is no word yet on when the verdict will be decided.  Tonya Smith is accused of being the driver in a fatal DWI accident, that caused the death of 56 year old Donni Masti in Bath, in 2019. 

A Brief Lockdown In Hornell Schools Today

Hornell Schools were briefly under a lockdown around 12 noon, but the schools are no longer in lockdown mode.  Hornell Police say the schools were under a lockdown for less than five minutes, and that for that short period of time, all of the schools in Hornell were under lockdown.  The cause of this, according to Hornell Police Chief Ted Murray, was that there was an unfounded complaint call about a shooting situation in the Town of Hornellsvillle, North of North Hornell, and from what they can tell at this point, there was no shooting at all.  “9-1-1 ended up with a report earlier today of an incident that was outside the City of Hornell, alleging that there was a violent incident that occurred,” Chief Murray told to Wlea News.  “Just as a precautionary measure, we always do this, we locked down our schools.  So we did that as a precaution.  Since then, we’ve found out that the incident that was reported, was completely unfounded, and there was no violent incident, and there was no situation of violence.”  State Police are investigating.

It’s Political Petition Deadline Day

Today is the deadline for political petitions to run for office, to be turned in, both in Steuben County and to the state.  Those who were turning in petitions to run for state senate or congress, have to go by the new maps approved by Governor Kathy Hochul.  Steuben County Democrats say there will be a Democrat candidate running against Republican Assemblywoman Marjorie Byrnes, the candidates name is Sara Spezzano, who is from the Monroe County Town of Wheatland.  Democrats are also running Tioga County retired Air Force Col. Max Della Pia for Congress, to run against Congresswoman Claudia Tenney.  Also, both Tenney and Della Pia have both filed their petitions.