HUDSON - Al Wassenhove, head of the Save Pine Haven group, presented the county Board of Supervisors with more than 3,000 signatures opposing any plan to move the Pine Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center out of Philmont, at the board's meeting Wednesday. "I invite each of you to search the recesses of your conscience and stand on the side of Pine Haven remaining in Philmont as a county-operated and -owned home," Wassenhove said.

CAIRO-DURHAM - The Cairo-Durham Board of Education moved some teachers between the district’s two elementary schools, to the consternation of some Durham parents. The story in The Daily Mail by Jim Planck does not say why specifically the teachers were moved, though C-D Superintendent of Schools Sally Sharkey is quoted saying, “The students will benefit from this,” said Sharkey, adding that the teachers bring “a lot of strengths” with them. The story implies that parents were upset because they first heard rumors of the teacher reassignments before the school told them.

ALBANY — An appeals judge has issued a temporary restraining order to prevent a new coalition from taking control of the New York Senate at least until Friday afternoon. Democrats want to block any change in Senate leadership after Republicans and two rogue Democrats launched a power struggle Monday. The ruling late Thursday afternoon by Appellate Division Justice Karen Peters blocks Sen. Pedro Espada, one of the dissident Democrats, from acting as Senate president. A five-judge panel is scheduled to consider arguments Friday afternoon on whether to let that stand. Peters is a former trial-level Supreme Court judge who sat in Kingston. She also formerly served as an Ulster County Family Court judge. Meanwhile, attorneys are set to argue Friday morning before State Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara in Albany on who legally is in charge of the Senate.

STOCKPORT - The Stockport Town Planning Board on Tuesday approved the creation of a park that developers claim will have one of the best views of the Hudson River and the rolling hills of Greene County anywhere in the region. Following an hour-long public hearing and review, the board approved a proposal from Scenic Hudson for a six-acre park to be located off Rod and Gun Club Road in the hamlet of Stottville. The park will be located on the former Saurasitis Farm. -- CCscoop.

HUNTER — A longtime physical education teacher in the Hunter-Tannersville school district has had his teaching and administrative certificates suspended for a year because of relationships he had with two female students about 20 years ago. A state Education Department hearing panel ruled on July 25, 2008, that Randy A. Mudge lacked the necessary moral character to teach in public schools in New York and should have his certificates suspended. Mudge appealed the decision, but the appeal was dismissed last month by state Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills. In his decision, dated May 18, Mills said the record established during the original hearing showed Mudge had improper relationships with the two female students and had groomed them for physical relationships while he was their teacher and coach. Those improper relationships occurred during the spring of 1989 and the spring of 1992, and each girl in question was a senior at Hunter-Tannersville High School at the time, according to Education Department records....

POUGHKEEPSIE - IBM unveiled initiatives Thursday that will help keep the Hudson River vital and alive. here are plans to create a supercomputer named Watson that is supposed to play Jeopardy and be able to correctly answer a question in three seconds, and IBM wants to make the medical industry more efficient and create technologies that will better manage our energy grids. IBM has been doing research for nearly a decade in the region on these applications, but as Big Blue looks to future, it does so competitively by making changes in its workforce, laying off workers in the region, and causing those over 50 to worry, fearful of losing their jobs.

Across the United States today, television stations will power down the analog signals that have sent TV shows into homes for six decades. Friday represents the deadline for the country’s transition to fully digital television broadcasting. Throughout the day, TV stations are switching off analog and in many cases moving to new positions on the channel dial. In Albany, Ch. 6 TV is one of the few stations around the country allowed to continue with an analog signal. That means you will still be able to hear CBS programming on 87.7-FM, at the very bottom of your FM dial.