Belmont/Communal
The Allegany County Department of Health is investigating a confirmed measles case involving an unvaccinated Belmont resident who began showing symptoms on August 1 and tested positive the following day. The individual reported recent travel to Ohio and is isolating at home until no longer contagious. County health officials are working to identify locations where the public may have been exposed and are contacting people known to have had contact with the resident during the infectious period. Measles is highly contagious, and officials are urging anyone with symptoms or possible exposure to call ahead before visiting a doctor's office in person.
Belmont/Nonprofits
The Allegany County Area Foundation, headquartered in Belmont, announced it is distributing $387,240 in scholarships to local students for the 2026-2027 academic year. Recipients come from nearly every school district in the county, including Alfred-Almond, Andover, Belfast, Bolivar-Richburg, Cuba-Rushford, Fillmore, Friendship, Genesee Valley, Scio and Wellsville, plus Houghton Academy, area homeschool families, and Allegany County students attending Portville schools. The foundation runs more than 50 individual scholarship funds through a single online application, supporting students headed to four-year colleges, two-year programs, trade schools and shorter credential programs. Foundation staff credit decades of donor support for making the awards possible each year.
Alfred/Nonprofits
Trustees at Union University Church in Alfred say their campaign to restore the sanctuary's 1930 Moller pipe organ, known as the 'Rosebush' organ, has cleared its original $25,000 goal by $3,500. The organ was given in memory of Sara Burdick Rosebush, a talented musician whose sons donated it to the church nearly a century ago. With mechanical repairs largely funded, trustees have opened a second phase of fundraising to cover roughly $6,500 in remaining costs, including returning the facade pipes to their original gold bronze finish after decades painted first white and then brown. Restoration work is being handled by organ builder Jason Klinger of Middleport. The church says the project will preserve both the sound and appearance of the century-old instrument for the congregation and community.