radioNOVO News NY News Roundup for August 26, 2026

Good morning.Joint federal and state environmental teams are expanding radiological testing across Western New York following aerial surveys in Erie and Niagara counties. The Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department of Environmental Conservation have screened hundreds of properties for legacy industrial radioactive waste, referring two-hundred-fifty properties for additional testing. Officials report the contamination stems from heavy chemical and metal-processing waste deposited several decades ago.In Central New York, the State Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation has launched an inquiry after an Onondaga County SWAT officer fatally shot an armed man during a five-hour standoff in Elbridge. Authorities say deputies responded to the Rolling Hills Mobile Home Park after sixty-two-year-old Frederick Marty allegedly fired shots from inside his residence. Sheriff Toby Shelley reports the standoff ended late Sunday night when Marty pointed a rifle at a police drone and a SWAT officer, prompting a deputy to open fire.Also in Central New York, a grand jury in Syracuse has indicted a former substitute school bus driver on forty-three counts related to child sexual abuse material. Prosecutors say Luke Underwood, who previously drove routes for both the Homer and Tully Central School Districts, faces felony charges for possessing and promoting child abuse material following a state investigation.Downstate in the Hudson Valley, Ulster County Sheriff's deputies have confirmed that the deaths of a couple found inside their Plattekill home was a murder-suicide. Investigators report sixty-six-year-old James Brugger, a retired area firefighter, fatally shot his fifty-four-year-old wife Melinda before taking his own life following unresolved domestic issues.And looking across the Empire State, a major agricultural tradition is making a big return to Syracuse. Holstein dairy cattle will compete at the Great New York State Fair for the first time in six years, with fair officials anticipating the largest showing of Holsteins at the fairgrounds in nearly a decade.For more news, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News, a service of Seven Mountains Media.