Photos by Tom Rivers: Neeko Caterisano pops confetti at the end of the Holley’s commencement on June 28, 2025 in the school auditorium. Caterisano is one of 67 members of Holley’s Class of 2025. The Orleans Hub covers most of the local school graduations and many other activities around the county.

The Orleans Hub reached its 13^th anniversary on April 1. The online news site has been covering Orleans County, posting articles every day since it first started.

The Hub continues to report the news at a time when many larger news organizations have ceased operations or significantly cut back on reporting.

The Orleans Hub posts about 3,500 articles a year, or about 10 a day. This post is number 45,302.

We also have 30,000 followers on Facebook on the Orleans Hub News page and another 3,500 on Facebook through Orleans Hub Sports. We also have 3,150 following Orleans Hub news on Twitter and about 2,000 on Twitter through the Hub Sports. We recently started an Instagram page and have nearly 1,000 followers.

We’re trying to get the news out the public.

The Orleans Hub is owned by Brad London of Albion. He also is the advertising manager. He acquired the Hub when Karen Sawicz retired on Jan. 1, 2025.

We survive through advertising, and many of our advertisers have been with us since we started. We appreciate them. We also receive revenue by posting obituaries and the $80 we charge is much less than most news organizations.

We are focused on Orleans County, which hasn’t had a printed newspaper based in the county since The Journal-Register shut down on May 30, 2014. The weekly Albion Advertiser closed in May 2013. The Orleans Hub didn’t knock these papers out of business. They had been struggling for years.

The newspaper business has been a very challenging environment the past two decades, with more than 3,000 closing since 2005, according to the Associated Press. The papers have lost a good chunk of their advertising and classifieds, and also their paid subscription base. Another 136 closed or merged in the United States between July 2024 and September 2025.

While some communities are served by online-only sites, these publications like the Orleans Hub are hurt by an archaic state law that doesn’t allow them to be considered “official newspapers” for legal notices. Those notices must be in print newspapers with a “paid circulation.”

We would welcome the opportunity to carry these notices to better serve our readers and to receive some of that revenue. We don’t charge to access the site. We want the news to be available to everyone.

Most of the towns, villages, school districts and even Orleans County use The Daily News of Batavia to publish legal notices. The Daily News has some coverage in Orleans County, but not nearly what is posted by the Orleans Hub. We also consistently have 7,000 to 10,000 “unique visitors” or readers each day. Last year we averaged 7,500 unique visitors and were at nearly 9,000 the first three months of 2026.

The Orleans Hub welcomes local municipal leaders and our state legislators to advocate for getting legal notices to be an option in local online-only news sites. Let’s give the local government leaders the option to decide where these notices can be best be seen by the most people. Right now, the Orleans Hub isn’t a legal option.

It was quite a spectacle when this 200,000-pound, oversized industrial load passed through Albion on Sept. 25, 2025. The big load is shown headed north on Gaines Basin Road. The shipment was manufactured by Batavia’s Graham Corp. for the Navy and headed to the Erie Canal, where it was then taken by a very large barge.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Crosby’s in Holley in Route 31 at the Batavia Street intersection is just below $4 for regular unleaded gas on Sunday.

The price for regular unleaded gas fell by 2 cents in Orleans County in the past week (from $4.03 to $4.01) while the average price jumped 14 cents in new York State and 13 cents nationally.

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $4.12, up 13 cents from last Monday. This is the first time since August 2022, the national average is over $4, AAA said this morning. A year ago, the price was $3.26.

The New York State average is $4.07, up 14 cents from last Monday. The average was $3.930 a week ago, $3.228 a month ago and $3.139 a year ago.

Today’s average diesel price is at $5.914 in NYS compared to $5.750 a week ago, $4.390 a month ago and $3.941 a year ago, according to AAA.

Here are the average prices in counties around Western New York:

• Orleans, $4.008
• Genesee, $3.979
• Monroe, $4.044
• Niagara, $3.958
• Erie, $4.027
• Wyoming, $3.986
• Livingston, $4.033
• Chautauqua, $4.000
• Cattaraugus, $3.861
• Allegany, $3.977

A week ago, Orleans was the only WNY county above $4, but now five of those counties are topping $4 a gallon for regular unleaded. Hamilton County in Adirondacks has the highest price in the state at $4.366.

AAA released this statement today: “The national average for a gallon of regular exceeded $4/gallon last week for the first time since August 2022, and prices continue to rise. Today’s average of $4.12 is 80 cents higher than a month ago.

“Crude oil prices remain high, coming in at $108-$109 per barrel this morning, as the conflict in the Middle East continues. In 2022, gas prices remained elevated from March through August, after Russia invaded Ukraine, peaking in June when the national average reached a record of $5/gallon for one week.”

 “Demand is also on the rise as Easter travelers head to warmer destinations. While Orlando was the top destination for air travelers, many families were driving from New York to Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina based on local AAA bookings.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion once again is displaying more than 1,000 orange flags during the month of April to show the prevalence of sexual assault each day.

RESTORE Sexual Assault Services, a program of Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, put the orange flags on the front lawn of the Pullman church at the corner of East park Street and South Main Street.

The flags are out in April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Restore notes that an American is sexually assaulted every 68 seconds.

RESTORE serves Monroe, Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming and Livingston counties. The RESTORE 24-hour hotline is available at 585-546-2777.

For more information on RESTORE, click here.

HOLLEY – A spectacular double rainbow appeared on Saturday evening in Holley.

Ken Verhagen took these photos on Powerline Road.

This screenshot from the livestream shows the two eaglets in the nest today at 8:40 a.m.

BASOM – This image taken from an eagle cam shows two eaglets. The first eaglet was spotted on Thursday morning and a second eaglet hatched on Friday.

The Friends of the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge encourage people to check the livestream (click here) and see the eagles. There is another egg in the nest that could hatch anytime.

The first egg was laid at 5:06 p.m. February 20; the second at 5 p.m. February 23; and the third at 2:34 p.m. February 27.

Eagle eggs typically take 35 days or so of incubation before hatching.

This screenshot from the livestream shows the eagle in the nest tending the flock today at 8:32 a.m.

Kimberly Stawicki sent in this photo she took this morning while enjoying the sunrise over Glenwood Lake in Medina.

Friday the high temperature reached over 70 degrees and today is forecast for a high of 66 with showers and thunderstorms possible after 2 p.m. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall, the National Weather Service in Buffalo said, with three quarters of an inch to one inch possible.

The temperatures will plunge to an overnight low of 42, and a high of 47 on Sunday, which is Easter with a chance for another tenth to quarter inch of rain.

The highs are then forecast for 42 on with showers, 33 on Tuesday with snow showers likely, and 50 on a sunny Wednesday.

Douglas Adams

MURRAY – A local resident has been charged with making a terrorist threat against the Palmyra-Macedon High School in Wayne County.

Douglas Adams, 18, lives at Countyline Mobile Home Park in Murray. He allegedly posted a photograph of the school with a caption showing a gun pointed at a school with a threatening message.

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office was contacted at 8 p.m. on Monday by the New York State Intelligence Center about a reported threat made toward Palmyra-Macedon High School on social media, Sheriff Chris Bourke said today.

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office immediately coordinated with the Palmyra Police Department, NYSIC, and the National Threat Operations Center, he said.

Orleans County deputies responded to a residence on Jay Drive in the Town of Murray. The investigation determined that there is no known credible or ongoing threat to the public or to Palmyra-Macedon High School at this time, Sheriff Bourke said.

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office turned over evidence to the Palmyra Police Department which led to the arrest of Adams on April 1 by the Palmyra Police.

Adams was charged with Making a Terroristic Threat (Class D Felony) and Aggravated Threat of Mass Harm (Class A Misdemeanor).

This incident was investigated by Lieutenant Adam Hazel, Deputy Jeff Cole and Investigator Brian Marsceill.

“The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office reminds the public that all threats of violence are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly, regardless of intent,” Bourke said. “Anyone who becomes aware of potential threats is encouraged to report them immediately to law enforcement.”