ALBANY, NY (09/14/2010)(readMedia)-- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Acting Commissioner Jamie Woodward today announced that a Cheektowaga man faces felony tax crimes charges for his role in trafficking 280,502 untaxed cigars and six pounds of loose tobacco.

Charged in the case was Jasem Hasan, 52, 1174 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga. Hasan was arrested on September 3 by state Tax Department investigators following an investigation. During the arrest agents found the untaxed cigars, which represent an estimated $45,000 in unpaid taxes to the state of New York.

Hasan was charged with Attempt to Evade Tax, a class E felony, punishable by up to four years in state prison; Tax Fraud in the Third Degree, a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in state prison; Possession of Untaxed Cigars and a charge of being Unregistered as a Tobacco Distributor, both misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in prison.

CHEEKTOWAGA, NY- Traffic is traveling again on Dingens Street after the road was closed Tuesday morning while crews searched for a possible oil leak in an underground pipeline.

The 91-mile pipeline, that runs from Ontario, Canada, is shut down and is expected to re-open this afternoon.

Crews working on a sewer installation project found about a gallon of petroleum-based product Monday morning.

Larry Springer, A spokesman for Enbridge, Inc. says so far there is no evidence of a leak, but the company is continuing to test both the pipeline and the substance that was found on a protective casing around it.  

The company says all of the product has been cleaned up.

It's the third pipeline Enbridge has shut down since July.

Enbridge also owns a pipeline that leaked near Chicago last week and one from Indiana to Ontario that spilled oil into a southern Michigan waterway in July.

By Tom Campbell

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. – Necessitated by a Union Membership that’s grown by as much as 15% over the past three years, Laborers Local 210 will be moving in November from a leased Harlem Road location that has served as its home since 1999 to a much larger building the Buffalo Building & Construction Trades Council-member Union has purchased on Tyrol Drive - which is also located in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga.

“Our lease was coming up (at 2750 Harlem Road) and we’d been looking (for another location) for some time.  Our Union has grown and we’re now in a position to own our own place.  So we decided to buy a brick building on Tyrol Drive, which fits our needs for our benefits funds office and our Union offices,” Laborers Local 210 Business Manager Sam Capitano told WNYLaborToday.com this morning.