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Saturday headlines
Mar 19, 2011 9:28 am
Town court prepares to take village cases
Melanie Lekocevic reports in the Daily Mail that preparations are underway in the Town of Athens for the town court to take over the Village Court’s cases with that department’s impending dissolution at the beginning of April. Grants will help provide things from new furniture like chairs, lecterns and filing cabinets, to computers and a new security system, saving Athens taxpayers money.
Holcim port’s future cloudy
Jamie Larson of the Register-Star has a story about how the announcement that Holcim Cement Company will be closing its Catskill plant and laying off its remaining workers has spurred discussions in Hudson and Greenport about the company's deep water port on the waterfront in the city of Hudson, which it currently leases to the O&G Industries trucking company for the storage and shipment of limestone aggregate. "Many Hudson residents feel the current operation at the port is incongruous with the city’s development plans for the waterfront outlined in the Draft Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan, a document currently being reviewed by the New York state Department of State," Larson writes. "Those in opposition to the current use of the port and the proposed new truck route to the port through an abandoned railroad bed causeway in the South Bay wetlands foresee a day when the city owns and regulates the large and visible port, but none believe that Holcim’s mothballing of the Catskill plant will lead to a speedy decision to sell the port."
AG tells feds Indian Point relicensing process must account for seismic, other safety risks
How safe is Indian Point, the nuclear plant 75 miles south of us at the north end of the Tappan Zee? Mid Hudson News Network reports that New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday, March 18 that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must take an even closer look at the Hudson Valley's only nuclear power plant as it continues the license renewal process. The AG called for incorporation of an immediate, full and open assessment of all public health and safety risks posed by the Indian Point nuclear power plant, including those posed by potential natural disasters such as seismic activity, into its relicensing process.
DiNapoli: NY home foreclosures down in 2010, but threat looms
The Albany Business Journal reports on how the number of new home foreclosure filings in the state fell sharply last year, but a growing number of mortgages are delinquent and could wind up in foreclosure, according to a report by state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The percentage of mortgages delinquent by 90 days or more averaged less than 1 percent before the housing crisis, but delinquencies grew fivefold to nearly 4.7 percent by the first quarter of 2010, DiNapoli said. He added that although the percentage of homes in 90-day delinquency has eased, the overall share of mortgages in the foreclosure process continued to rise to 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, five times higher than the share before the crisis. The problem is most severe in New York City, especially certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
State may trump town in motocross case
The Register Star has a story about a Stephentown Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in neighboring Rensselaer County over planned changes, and the addition of motorcross events, at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, conceded that the tougher state standard would probably prevail. The speedway would have to prove hardship to get the zoning variance it wants to build a new course away from its main track on Route 20.
Melanie Lekocevic reports in the Daily Mail that preparations are underway in the Town of Athens for the town court to take over the Village Court’s cases with that department’s impending dissolution at the beginning of April. Grants will help provide things from new furniture like chairs, lecterns and filing cabinets, to computers and a new security system, saving Athens taxpayers money.
Holcim port’s future cloudy
Jamie Larson of the Register-Star has a story about how the announcement that Holcim Cement Company will be closing its Catskill plant and laying off its remaining workers has spurred discussions in Hudson and Greenport about the company's deep water port on the waterfront in the city of Hudson, which it currently leases to the O&G Industries trucking company for the storage and shipment of limestone aggregate. "Many Hudson residents feel the current operation at the port is incongruous with the city’s development plans for the waterfront outlined in the Draft Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan, a document currently being reviewed by the New York state Department of State," Larson writes. "Those in opposition to the current use of the port and the proposed new truck route to the port through an abandoned railroad bed causeway in the South Bay wetlands foresee a day when the city owns and regulates the large and visible port, but none believe that Holcim’s mothballing of the Catskill plant will lead to a speedy decision to sell the port."
AG tells feds Indian Point relicensing process must account for seismic, other safety risks
How safe is Indian Point, the nuclear plant 75 miles south of us at the north end of the Tappan Zee? Mid Hudson News Network reports that New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday, March 18 that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must take an even closer look at the Hudson Valley's only nuclear power plant as it continues the license renewal process. The AG called for incorporation of an immediate, full and open assessment of all public health and safety risks posed by the Indian Point nuclear power plant, including those posed by potential natural disasters such as seismic activity, into its relicensing process.
DiNapoli: NY home foreclosures down in 2010, but threat looms
The Albany Business Journal reports on how the number of new home foreclosure filings in the state fell sharply last year, but a growing number of mortgages are delinquent and could wind up in foreclosure, according to a report by state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The percentage of mortgages delinquent by 90 days or more averaged less than 1 percent before the housing crisis, but delinquencies grew fivefold to nearly 4.7 percent by the first quarter of 2010, DiNapoli said. He added that although the percentage of homes in 90-day delinquency has eased, the overall share of mortgages in the foreclosure process continued to rise to 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, five times higher than the share before the crisis. The problem is most severe in New York City, especially certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
State may trump town in motocross case
The Register Star has a story about a Stephentown Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in neighboring Rensselaer County over planned changes, and the addition of motorcross events, at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, conceded that the tougher state standard would probably prevail. The speedway would have to prove hardship to get the zoning variance it wants to build a new course away from its main track on Route 20.