Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that a newly approved city resolution now requires the Hudson Police Department to report to the Common Council gender and racial data related to all traffic and pedestrian stops. Hudson Police Chief L. Edward Moore must now provide elected officials with monthly traffic-stop data, including the gender and racial identity of those stopped by police, as well as where they were stopped. Nationwide racial profiling and the council requesting a 25 mph speed limit in Hudson were among the reasons for the resolution. Fifth Ward Alderperson Dominic Merante was the lone vote against the measure, arguing the matter should be revisited at the February Council meeting. Concerns were raised by Merante and 2nd Ward Alderperson Dewan Sarowar that inquiring about gender could be perceived as insensitive. Police Chief L. Edward Moore was not included in the Common Council’s decision to create a traffic stop data requirement. “Transparency is a pane of glass,” Moore said Jan. 22. “It works both ways. We are always forthcoming with our direction and goals. If the city council were so, we would’ve had some sort of discussion.” Moore said the information being requested is not currently collected by the department. However, he did provide race and gender information for 490 of the approximately 1,000 tickets issued in 2020. Within that group, 73.5 percent were Caucasian, 20.2 percent black, 0.4 percent Asian or South Pacific and 5.9 percent were categorized as other, Moore said. The demographics are similar each year, he said, adding the department does not receive many race- and gender-based complaints. Moore said he is unsure how the department will collect racial and gender data, and he is not sure how people would react to being asked for their gender and race. “Some people will be fine with it, some people will say, ‘What do you need that for?’” Moore said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Morgan McKay is reporting for State of Politics the state Senate this week approved legislation almost unanimously that would put a 15 percent cap on delivery fees and a 5 percent cap on marketing charges levied by third-party food delivery companies, such as Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats. The bill would only be in effect until 90 days after the state of emergency ends with the COVID-19 pandemic. Melissa Fleischut, president of the New York State Restaurant Association, says the next step is to get the measure through the state Assembly. In a statement, a spokesperson for DoorDash said, "DoorDash has always supported restaurants. Pricing regulations could cause us to increase costs for customers, which could lead to fewer orders for local restaurants and fewer earning opportunities for Dashers. ...We are eager to engage with policymakers on solutions that better support restaurants, customers, and Dashers." The bill must be approved by the state Assembly before it becomes law, but several counties such as Albany and Westchester have already passed similar measures. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Diane Pineiro-Zucker is reporting for the Daily Freeman the Ulster County SPCA has been looking for two stray domestic peacocks for about three weeks and believe they may now be close to finding and rescuing the lost birds, SPCA executive director Gina Carbonari said January 23. Carbonari said the Ulster County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has received about five direct calls from the same locations in Uptown Kingston and “some random stuff through six degrees of separation on Facebook” indicating sightings of the peacocks. Feeding stations and traps have been set for the birds near where the SPCA believes they are located, but Carbonari declined to provide a specific location. They want to prevent large numbers of well-intentioned animal lovers from unintentionally interfering in the rescue effort. If anyone sees the birds, Carbonari recommended they, “leave the animal alone, just call in where the sightings are.” She said until they are found, the birds are going to do well with the cold weather since they have apparently adapted to living outside. “It does make it more difficult when you’re talking about birds that can simply fly away. It’s not quite the same as a dog [that] can’t fly away. It’s a different kind of operation for sure,” Carbonari said. Peacock sightings may be reported to the SPCA at (845) 331-5377. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

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Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting for The Columbia Paper at its year-end meeting December 30, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors approved to purchase body-worn cameras for Sheriff's Deputies at the cost of $500,000. Some believe more planning is necessary before the cameras can be activated. The idea of body cameras received favorable responses at the county Police Reform Panel meetings in December. Stockport Police Chief James Delaney said the cameras “protect the officer, they protect the town, and they protect the individual being interviewed by the police.” County Sheriff David Bartlett said the cameras allow “additional accountability,” and Greenport Police Chief Kevin Marchetto said they “protect us from lawsuits. It would be nice if insurance companies bought them for us.” At the year-end meeting, the board authorized an agreement with Axon Enterprises, Inc., for $100,000 per year for the purchase of body-worn cameras and related equipment and storage,” for five years. Hudson 3rd Ward Supervisor Michael Chameides noted, “For body cameras to be effective tools, there needs to be a good policy on how to use them.” In some cities and counties that do not have good policies, he continued, the camera footage can be edited before the public or the defendant are allowed to see it, if they get to see it at all. The regular use of body cameras can take several months to implement, so there is time to develop a policy in the interim. Chameides said, “It’s a matter of doing the work and having the engagement. If we can spend half a million on that, we can certainly have a few meetings about how to use it.” Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Mario Marroquin is reporting for the Poughkeepsie Journal Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said this week he wants to reform New York's unemployment insurance law. Cuomo is pushing changes that would make it easier for part-time workers to qualify for more benefits while reducing employers' contribution to the system, at the same time. As part of his $193 billion budget proposal, Cuomo included legislation that would expand unemployment insurance eligibility for those who are able to secure part-time work. The measure would take advantage of improved technology to track work by the hour instead of the day, a move the governor's office claims will eliminate a disincentive for the unemployed to seek part-time work. Existing unemployment insurance law reduces New Yorkers' weekly benefits by 25 percent for each day a person works regardless of hours worked. The new system aims to avoid penalizing part-time workers by tracking hours worked, allowing someone to work a few hours without getting penalized for a full day. If approved by the Legislature, New Yorkers working up to seven days per week but less than 30 hours total and earning less than $504 in gross pay will be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. The Department of Labor will immediately implement an emergency regulation that will apply the new part-time system this month, which will allow New York residents to file claims with part-time work after January 18. If approved by the Legislature as part of the budget, the change would become permanent. Read more in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Noah Zweifel reports in the Altamont Enterprise that after only holding office for one year of his four-year term, Mathew Harris resigned from the Berne Town Board, effective Feb. 1. Harris was a member of the Republican-backed Independence Party, and his seat will be filled with an appointment from the Republican-controlled board until an election next November. Harris cited non-specific professional and personal obligations for his resignation. A Navy veteran, retired from a career with the Department of Defense, Harris made the most news in the southern Albany County town discovering last year that Berne's planning board was not actually codified in the town’s lawbook, and had been operating for 50 years that way. Read more about this story in the Altamont Enterprise.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the village of Athens is projected to be the first municipality in Greene County to have electric-vehicle charging stations, Conservation Advisory Chairman Joshua Lipsman said. The Thomas Cole National Historic Site opened the first charging stations in the county this summer. The Athens charging stations are funded by a $10,000 grant from the Athens Community Foundation and will be installed in the municipal lot on North Franklin Street, Lipsman said. “What we’ve learned is there are electric-vehicle aficionados that find where the charging stations are and plan their travels based on that [information],” Lipsman said. “As soon as COVID lifted...people will come and park their electric vehicles near these charging stations or at charging stations. Hopefully they will shop and eat. It’s good for the village, it brings people who will spend dollars, it brings attention to the village and more importantly, it’s good for the environment.” The village board has yet to decide if it will rent or buy the stations, Lipsman said. Once that decision is made, the stations will likely be operational in two to three months. The board has not yet discussed if there will be a fee to use the charging stations, Deputy Mayor Gail Lasher said. The station at the Cole historic site is open to the public at a fee of $1 per hour for the first four hours and $4 per hour for any additional time. Read the full story at Hudson360 [dot] com.

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Natasha Vaughn is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media an overdose spike alert has been issued for Columbia County. Greener Pathways Program Director Carl Quinn said the county had one overdose around 5 p.m. January 20, in the northern part of the county and a second overdose occurred around 4:30 a.m. early January 21, in the eastern part of the county. Neither of the overdoses was fatal. Ulster County is also currently experiencing an overdose spike experiencing four nonfatal overdoses in a 24-hour period, Quinn said. He said it is possible the cases could all be connected. The cause of the overdoses is not known, but if they involve the synthetic opioid fentanyl, there could be more overdoses in the area. “... [It] would seem that if it was fentanyl it would be likely that there will be more overdoses,” Quinn said. “That’s part of the reason we want to get the alert out so quick[ly] is so that maybe we can prevent some of those from happening if people know that it’s out there.” This is the second overdose spike alert in Columbia County in January. So far, there have been 9 overdoses in Columbia and 11 in Greene County. None of the overdoses were fatal. Greener Pathways encourages people who need Narcan or fentanyl test strips to text NARCANKIT to 21000 and a Greener Pathways peer advocate will respond. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

MidHudson News is reporting Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, January 21, announced the extension of the open enrollment period for uninsured residents through March 31. Applications for coverage can be made through NY State of Health, New York’s Official Health Plan Marketplace, or directly through insurers. The extension will align New York with the federal Public Health Emergency which was recently extended to April 20. This extension allows people eligible for Qualified Health Plan insurance additional time to enroll for coverage in 2021 and means that enrollment remains open for all NY State of Health programs. New Yorkers can apply for coverage through NY State of Health online or by calling 1-855-355-5777, and connecting with a free enrollment assister.

Tom McParland is reporting for the New York Law Journal a group of attorneys is asking a state disciplinary panel to immediately suspend Rudy Giuliani’s law license pending an investigation into the former New York City mayor’s blocked effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in favor of former President Donald Trump. The complainant is the nonpartisan organization, Lawyers Defending American Democracy made up of former federal prosecutors and retired partners at major law firms. The group has alleged that Giuliani “violated multiple provisions of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct” while representing Trump and the Trump campaign. The complaint did not call for a specific remedy, but said that Giuliani’s “flagrant and persistent lying” warranted heightened scrutiny and sanctions because he sought to undermine Americans’ constitutional right to vote. The lawyers cited Giuliani’s false statements of massive, widespread voter fraud, as well as his baseless litigation to invalidate millions of votes in key swing states, and also referenced his call on January 6 for “trial by combat” just before mobs violently swarmed the U.S. Capitol building and disrupted the counting of the 2020 Electoral College votes. More than three dozen attorneys signed the complaint. State Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, last week urged the grievance committee to “swiftly launch a thorough investigation into whether Mr. Giuliani should be sanctioned for his conduct, and … strongly consider his disbarment, ...” The New York State Bar Association also announced on January 11 that it would consider removing Giuliani from its membership rolls. Read the full story in the New York Law Journal.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics a state Supreme Court judge January 21, ruled that a lawsuit filed against the National Rifle Association can move forward in New York City. State Attorney General Letitia James last year filed a fraud case against the gun rights organization, arguing it had misused its funds. The NRA denies the charges. The AG's case could lead to the dissolution of the NRA, based on a state anti-fraud law. The NRA last week announced it would move to Texas and declare bankruptcy while also moving to have the New York case dismissed. But state Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen disagreed, declining to end the case or have it moved to a different venue in Albany. “Today’s order reaffirms what we’ve known all along: The NRA does not get to dictate if and where they will answer for their actions,” James said. “We thank the court for allowing our case to move forward and look forward to holding the NRA accountable.” Read more at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media a petition signed by 254 Coeymans residents asking the Clean Air Law amendments be put to a public vote has been rejected. The petition, submitted on December 22, asked that a permissive referendum be held giving voters the chance to have a say on the amendments to the law that were adopted unanimously by the town board in November. The Clean Air Law, adopted in 2019 under the previous administration, limited the amount of waste that can be burned in the town to 25 tons per day. It tasked the town code enforcement office with monitoring air emissions. Current town officials argue the town did not have the equipment or the expertise to monitor air emissions. There were also concerns that a legal challenge in Maryland to a similar law in Baltimore could lead to costly court challenges to the Coeymans law. The Lafarge Cement Plant, which has a permit to burn tires to generate tire-derived fuel promised to take legal action to pursue all options to protect its permit. “People do not want dangerous toxins from the incineration of solid waste of any kind — tires, tire-derived fuel, AFFF or anything other than coal or other fossil fuels burned in cement kilns as an alternative to increase profits for multinational businesses and others who will benefit from this substitution,” Christine Primomo, an opponent of the amendments, said. The petition drew broad support across the political spectrum, with 51 percent of those who signed it registered Republicans, Conservatives, Independents or voters unaffiliated with a political party, Primomo said. The petition was rejected by Town Clerk Cindy Rowzee after she determined it to be invalid. “As the decision of whether or not a petition is valid rests solely on the town clerk. Our town attorney, James Peluso, and I discussed the petition at length and consulted town law in order to determine the validity of it," Rowzee said. It was found to be invalid because the local law to amend the Clean Air Law was not subject to permissive referendum, she said. The town board will not consider the petition, Town Supervisor George McHugh confirmed. Primono said, "We want to let the board know that the residents of Coeymans would like the opportunity to vote on these amendments. The board has the power to submit this question to the voters, but it has decided not to do it." Read the full story in The Ravena News-Herald.

Noah Zweifel is reporting for The Altamont Enterprise the Berne Town Board January 14, reappointed Chance Townsend as the town code-enforcement officer for one more year. The appointment was approved 3 to 1, on a motion by Deputy Supervisor Dennis Palow. The position remained unfilled after the January 6 reorganizational meeting because the motion put forward at that time lacked the votes needed to approve the appointment. Late last year it was reported that Townsend was uncertified because he failed to complete any of the required annual in-service training for for nearly two years. The board did not acknowledge its error in appointing Townsend illegally, but announced in December that it would advertise to fill the position, along with that of the town’s dog-catcher, based on resident feedback. Ultimately, both of the 2020 appointments were reappointed. Townsend’s certification was reinstated on December 17, according to the Department of State. Two other candidates for the code-enforcement position included Timothy Lippert, a Berne resident who formerly served as the town’s building inspector; and Kevin Flensted, of Westerlo, who serves as chief of the Westerlo Volunteer Fire Company. Prior to his Jan. 1, 2020 appointment, Townsend served as code enforcement officer for 13 months before he resigned in early 2019.due to frustrations with the board’s then Democrat majority. Under the current GOP-majority board, Townsend will receive a 24-percent raise this year. Read the full story in The Altamont Enterprise.

Porcupine Soup is reporting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation now has applications available for its cooperative Day-Old Pheasant Chick Program. The program allows people to participate in raising and releasing pheasants in advance of the fall hunt. The program is provided through DEC's partnership with hunters, 4-H youth and interested landowners. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement, “The Day-OId Pheasant Chick Program is a great way to learn about animal husbandry and wildlife management.” The program began in the early 1900s. At that time, the state Conservation Department distributed pheasant eggs and chicks to farmers and rural youth, a tradition that continues to this day. In 2020, DEC distributed more than 31,500 day-old pheasant chicks at no cost to qualified applicants able to provide a brooding facility, covered outdoor rearing pen, and an adequate release site. Chicks obtained through the DEC program cannot be released on private shooting preserves and all release sites must be approved in advance by the department. Applications must be filed with a DEC regional wildlife manager by March 25. For more information, call 607-273-2768. Read the full story in Porcupine Soup.

Today's daily news update.

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