Rick Karlin is reporting at Capitol Confidential the New York State Association of School Business Officials has analyzed information submitted to the Office of the State Comptroller by school districts across the state and found that the average property tax levy increase proposed for the 2017-18 school is 1.82 percent. The group found that 98 percent of the districts are proposing increases below the cap, and just 15 districts are planning override budgets. Those are spending plans that require a two-thirds majority of voters to exceed the cap. The law requires school districts to submit on March 1, to the Office of the State Comptroller data needed to calculate their tax caps and their proposed taxes for the next school year. Ninety-six percent of the state school districts completed the filing on time this year. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential.

Daniel Zuckerman is reporting in The Daily Mail Greenville resident, and the editor and publisher of the Greenville Pioneer, Andrea Macko, has given out blue light bulbs to to honor the late Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Haverly. The light bulbs are for people to display and light up this week in their homes and businesses in honor of Haverly, who died in a car accident while on duty last week. Greenville Town Supervisor Paul Macko was unaware of the gesture, but called it a great idea and said he wanted to get a blue bulb for his own home. “I think it’s a wonderful idea and a wonderful gesture,” Macko said. Macko knew Haverly well and said he was a good father to his children. Memorial services for Haverly were held Mon., Mar. 6, at St. John the Baptist Church, and all flags in Greenville were displayed at half-staff in Haverly's honor. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Debby Mayer is reporting in The Columbia Paper the Germantown Town Board last month approved an upgrade to the town's 20-year-old wastewater treatment plant. Mary Beth Bianconi, senior project manager with Delaware Engineering, P.C., of Albany, attended the board's public meeting February 21, to review the need for the plant’s renovation, the history of research done for funding, a timeline and costs. Bianconi said the town applied for state financing, but was found to be ineligible. That funding is intended for towns with environmental problems and a lack of funds; Germantown suffers from neither. As for next steps -- public hearing will be scheduled, followed by a state environmental quality review. The town expects the project to go out to bid next winter and ground would be broken in the spring of 2018. The cost of the options presented at the meeting would total anywhere from $1.9 million to $2.43 million. There are no immediate plans to expand the sewer district, so only households that use the service will pay for it. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Mid-Hudson News is reporting state Senator George Latimer, a Democrat representing New York's 37th Senate District, has introduced legislation that would classify bomb scares phoned into religiously affiliated community centers as hate crimes. Currently, similar bomb threats to houses of worship are considered hate crimes, but same threats made to community centers are not. Latimer wants to close that loophole. “These are not jokes; these are not things to take trivially,” Latimer said. “These are intimidating actions and they need to be treated with a higher degree of penalty for conviction.”

Ariél Zangla is reporting in the Daily Freeman U.S. Rep. John Faso says he backs a bipartisan investigation into possible Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election. However, the Kinderhook Republican said, the probe must be done in a way that will not compromise national intelligence. “I’ve said from the beginning that an investigation into Russia’s influence on the 2016 election must be handled in a secure manner so that our vital national security information is not leaked and used against us by our enemies,” Faso said. He believes the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is the most appropriate venue for the inquiry, because committee members will diligently follow the investigation where ever it leads. When asked if Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have perjured himself during his confirmation hearing, Faso said it was way too soon to accuse anyone of perjury. He said it is important to recognize that the Russian government has been attempting to influence opinion in the West for many years. “The Russian government is not our friend and Vladimir Putin is certainly not our friend,” Faso said. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

The WGXC Radical Radio 2017 Winter Pledge Drive continues! WGXC must raise $20,000 to keep WGXC Hands-on Radio on the air, live and local during the coming months. Your support will make all the difference. Call (518) 697-7400 or go online to wgxc.org [slash] donate. Thank you for supporting creative community radio in New York's Greene and Columbia counties.

Local weather forecast:

TODAY: Showers likely. Cloudy. High near 47. Tuesday night, showers likely, mainly before 2 a.m. Cloudy. Low around 40.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
WEDNESDAY: A slight chance of showers. Increasing cloudy. High near 55. Wednesday night, a slight chance of rain showers before 1 a.m., then a slight chance of rain and snow showers between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., then a slight chance of snow showers after 4 a.m. Partly cloudy. Low around 33.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny. High near 45. Thursday night, mostly cloudy. Low around 23.

Sunrise today: 6:18 a.m.
Sunset today: 5:53 p.m.
LENGTH OF THE DAY: 11:34 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS
Today is the first Tuesday of the month.

WGXC suggests calling ahead to confirm time and location.
All numbers are in the 518 area code unless otherwise noted.

ATHENS Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 2 First St., Athens (945-1052).
CATSKILL Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
CLERMONT Town Board meeting (rescheduled), 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 1795 Route 9, Clermont (537-6868).
DURHAM Town Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Town Building, 7309 State Rt. 81, East Durham (239-8260).
HILLSDALE Zoning Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 2609 State Route 23, Hillsdale (325-1702).
HUNTER Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5748 Route 23A, Hunter (589-6150).
ICHABOD CRANE Central School District Board of Education meeting, 7 p.m. at high school, 2910 Route 9, Valatie (758-7577).
LEXINGTON Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., at Municipal building, 3542 Route 42, Lexington, (986-6303).
LIVINGSTON Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, 7 p.m., at Town Hall, County Rte. 19, Livingston (851-9441).
STOCKPORT Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 2787 Atlantic Ave., Stottville (828-9389).
TAGHKANIC Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 909 Route 82, Taghkanic (851-7638).

POLITICAL EVENTS
HUDSON VALLEY PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY, 6:30 p.m., Mar. 9 at Newburgh Armory Unity Center, Newburgh. Meeting with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman organized by Community Voices Heard.
NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION Day of Action, Mar. 13. Action at State Capitol in Albany by the NYCLU against policies of the Republican administration.

DOWNLOAD or PLAY the audio version of the local news headlines for Mon., Mar. 6 (9:19). (Produced by Philip Grant.)

Some of the stories that made the news from Fri., Mar. 3 through Sun., Mar. 5:

Amanda Purcell reported in the Register-Star firefighters from various companies in Columbia County battled low temperatures while fighting two house fires Sat., Mar. 4. In Hillsdale, firemen from Copake, Craryville, Austerlitz, Claverack, Ancram and Egremont, Massachusetts, were called out to a house fire on Route 22 in Hillsdale around 3 p.m. No injuries were reported. In Clermont, flames destroyed a mobile home on Lasher Road, near the border of Columbia and Duchess counties. The home became fully engulfed in flames shortly after 5 p.m. Fire companies from Clermont, Livingston and Tivoli responded.

Josefa Velasquez and Dan Goldberg reported at Politico New York the state does not yet have plans for what to do if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. Last week Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters there is no back-up plan. However, Cuomo's chief counsel, Alphonso David, two days later said the administration was looking into using state funds to help residents keep the financial help they currently receive from Obamacare. But on Fri., Mar. 3, David said the Cuomo administration is not yet pursuing proposals to reject the repeal and replacement of the ACA, given that Republicans in Washington have not put forward a single, specific proposal. Republicans in Congress have suggested changing the ACA’s tax credit from an income-based subsidy to tax credits based on age. According to a leaked draft of that plan, tax credits would range from $2,000 per year for people under 30 to $4,000 per year for people over 60. As of Jan. 31, 2016, nearly 150,000 people in New York relied on roughly $300 million in subsidies to purchase private health insurance from the state health exchange.

The Daily Freeman reported Meredith J. Kane was elected chair of The Olana Partnership’s Board of Trustees in January. Kane is serving her sixth year as a trustee. She will succeed David Redden, who stepped down after serving 10 years on the board. Kane is a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison. The board also elected three new trustees and re-elected six current trustees to three-year terms. The new trustees are Kate C. Gubelmann, Ricky Lark and Kelly M. Williams.

Jeanette Wolfberg reported in The Columbia Paper at a recent Hudson Board of Education budget workshop Business Administrator Sharifa Carbon presented a summary of what to expect in the district's 2017-18 budget. “We don’t have to make decisions tonight,” said Superintendent Maria L. Suttmeier. “This is just an overview.” Voters will decide the fate of the spending plan on May 16. Carbon estimates spending during the upcoming school year will increase one percent, to $46.37 million, paid for by $21.95 million in state aid and $22.55 million in property tax revenue, plus additional revenue from unspecified sources. The board will hold further budget workshops on March 13 and March 27 at Hudson High School.

Emily Masters reported in the Times Union 65 percent of police and prosecutors statewide missed a mid-February deadline to report how many untested rape kits are collecting dust on their shelves. The list of police departments that failed to report included the city of Hudson, the towns of Cairo, Stockport, Windham, the villages of Athens, Catskill, Chatham, Coxsackie and Philmont, plus the Greene County District Attorney and the Greene County Sheriff's Office. The Columbia County District Attorney, Columbia County Sheriff's Office and towns of Durham and Greenport all reported. The Columbia County Sheriff's Office disclosed it currently has 9 untested rape kits in its possession. The other agencies were among the 45 percent in the Capitol Region to respond and disclose they they have no untested kits. A new state law meant to clear testing backlogs and mandate timely testing of rape kits obligates law enforcement to report the data. However, confusion about the deadline, how to count the kits and if reporting was mandatory may have led to a low participation rate.

Emilia Teasdale reported in The Columbia Paper the Chatham Village Board unanimously voted to raise water and sewer rates, beginning this month, after a public hearing where several residents questioned the need for the increase, Residents will now pay .045 cents per cubic foot of water used, and .045 cents for sewer service. The water rate outside of the village is now .09 cents per cubic foot for water, plus special new rates for Price Chopper and the Chatham School District. Mayor Tom Curran said increased costs are the reason for the rate hikes, with the village needing to build a tank at the open reservoir, which has been leaking 50,000 gallons a day for several years.

Matthew Hamilton reported at Capitol Confidential the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, in its annual report released Fri., Mar. 3, warned judges of the perils of social media. The commission cautioned that, “a judge must be wary of inviting or engaging in social media dialogue with lawyers, litigants, witnesses or others who may be involved in pending litigation.” A St. Lawrence County judge was admonished by the commission last year after the judge posted a Facebook critique of a case involving a local town council candidate. Last year, the commission processed more than 1,900 complaints, making it the third busiest year in its nearly 40-year history. Seventeen judges resigned from office either amid or after a commission investigation in 2016, while one was removed from office.

Amanda Purcell reported in The Daily Mail President Donald Trump's recent executive order to reverse regulations intended to protect U.S. rivers has sparked outrage from New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. The Waters of the United States Rule was signed by President Barack Obama in 2015, and issued under the 1972 Clean Water Act. It gives the federal government broad authority to limit pollution in major bodies of water as well as in streams and wetlands that drain into those larger waters. Schneiderman is leading a coalition of attorneys general in opposition to the executive order. Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, said the rollback could have an adverse effect on the Hudson River, which includes the shores of Columbia and Greene counties. "There are plenty of areas on the Hudson and its tributaries that would lose 45 years worth of protections if this illegal rule goes forward," Gallay said. The rule has faced criticism from farmers, real estate developers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. U.S. Rep. John Faso applauded Trump’s executive order, calling the rule a "dangerous expansion of the agency’s regulatory authority over 19th [Congressional] District family farms, businesses and property owners." The Kinderhook Republican said the rule unfairly targets farmers with miles of unnecessary red tape.

It wasn't too long ago that most local government meetings had at least one local newspaper reporter in the audience. Now, not so much. Last year The Delaware County Times stopped publishing. The Schoharie News bought the 34-year-old Mountain Eagle newspaper from the local Columbia-Greene Media newspaper chain. They also run The Daily Mail and Register-Star, and they also stopped publishing the Greene County News and River Chronicle last year, and laid off a reporter at The Windham Journal. All Columbia-Greene papers also cut back much local coverage last year. Here's a bit about the remaining local newspapers:

Click here to listen to an audio version of this report.

The Columbia Paper
Office in Ghent; owned by Parry Teasdale, an American video artist and a founding member of the early video collective Videofreex. He was also involved with Lanesville TV, one of the first unlicensed TV stations in the country, in Greene County in the 1970s. Teasdale was also editor of The Woodstock Times and The Independent.
Covers Columbia County. www.columbiapaper.com
Letters to editor: The Columbia Paper, P.O. Box 482 Ghent, NY 12075-0482 or letters@columbiapaper.com. Info: 518-392-1122.
The Columbia Paper is an independent newspaper.
Publisher: Parry Teasdale.

The Daily Freeman
Office in Kingston; owned by Digital First Media, of Denver, Colorado.
Covers all of Ulster County and parts of Greene (Catskill, sometimes Cairo), Columbia County (Germantown, most notably), and Dutchess County. www.dailyfreeman.com
Employees are represented by the Kingston Newspaper Guild.
Letters to editor: Daily Freeman, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, N.Y. 12401 and letters@freemanonline.com. Info: 845-331-5000.
Owners Digital First Media operate many other newspapers across the country, including The Oneida Daily Dispatch, The Saratogian, and Troy's The Record.

The Daily Mail
Office in Catskill; owned by Johnson Newspaper Corporation, of Watertown, New York.
Covers Greene County, but, lately, more national news many hours after it is posted elsewhere on the internet. www.thedailymail.net
Letters to editor: The Daily Mail, 414 Main Street, Catskill, NY 12414 and editorial@thedailymail.net. Info: 518-943-2100.
Owners Johnson Newspaper Corporation operate many other newspapers across New York, including Columbia-Greene Media's Register-Star (which covers Columbia County), The Windham Journal, Ravena News-Herald, and The Chatham Courier. The Daily Mail traces back to The Catskill Packet, which began publishing in 1792, and is not related to The Daily Mail in London.
Publisher: Mark Vinciguerra.

Times Union
Office in Albany; owned by Hearst Communications, of New York City.
Covers Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties, and some other regional issues, as well as news from the capitol. www.timesunion.com
Employees are represented by the Albany Newspaper Guild.
Letters to editor: Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY. 12212 or tuletters@timesunion.com. Fax: 518-454-5628.
The Hearst chain operates many other newspapers, magazines, television networks, and internet sites. Founded in 1857 as the Morning Times, the Times Union was bought by Hearst in 1924. Hearst was founded by William Randolph Hearst, portrayed in a faux-biography by Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane."
Publisher, CEO: George R. Hearst III

The Mountain Eagle and The Schoharie News
Offices in Schoharie and Stamford; owned by Middleburgh village mayor Matthew Avitabile.
Covers Schoharie and Delaware counties. www.theschoharienews.com
Letters to editor: theschonews@gmail.com.
The Schoharie News bought the 34-year-old Mountain Eagle newspaper from the local newspaper chain Columbia-Greene Media in 2016. The Delaware County-based Mountain Eagle and The Schoharie News are now owned by Middleburgh village mayor Matthew Avitabile who says he will not run for another term.
Publisher: Matthew Avitabile.

At one time multiple television media voices were on the air from Albany, but now joint operating agreements mean that there are just three. WRGB and WCWN share facilities and content, My 4 Albany and NewsChannel 13 create the same newscasts, and WTEN, the ABC affiliate, and WXXA, the Fox channel, run the same newsroom. Here's a bit of background on each station's ownership, in the first of a series looking at who owns the local media. The owners of local television stations, for instance, give more to Republicans, but each have a local Democrat they send money.

Click here to listen to an audio version of this report.

WRGB, Channel 6, CBS affiliate, transmitter in Schenectady.
WCWN, UHF Channel 43 (PSIP virtual channel 45), transmitter in Voorheesville.
Both stations are owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group that is based in Maryland. Sinclair political donations go mostly to Republicans (66 percent), but also to Democrats (34 percent), per OpenSecrets.org. Locally, Democrat Paul Tonko, who represents the area where there transmitter is located, got a $1,000 political contribution from Sinclair. Sinclair owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 163 television stations in 77 markets, according to Wikipedia. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 38.7 percent of U.S. television households.


WTEN, Channel 10, ABC affiliate, transmitter in located in Voorheesville.
WXXA, Channel 23, Fox affiliate, transmitter in Voorheesville.
WTEN is owned by Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Media Group, and operates Fox affiliate WXXA-TV, which is owned by Shield Media, through joint sales and shared services agreements. The two stations share studios in the Bishop's Gate section of Albany. Nexstar runs 171 television stations across the U.S. Nexstar gives 36 percent of its political contributions to Democrats, and 64 percent to Republicans, per OpenSecrets. Democrat Paul Tonko, who represents the area where there transmitter is located, got a $1,000 political contribution from Nexstar.


WNYT, Channel 12, NBC affiliate, transmitter in New Salem.
WNYA, Channel 13, MYNetworkTV affiliate, transmitter in New Salem.
WNYT is licensed to Albany, and is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting as part of a duopoly with Pittsfield, MA-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYA that began in 2013. The two outlets share studios in Menands just outside Albany. WNYA My 4 Albany is licensed to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Hubbard is based in St. Paul, Minnesota and runs 14 television stations in the U.S., and many radio stations. Hubbard's political donations in 2016 went to 18 Republicans and three Democrats. Hubbard donated $6,400 to New York Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, per Open Secrets.

The WGXC Radical Radio 2017 Winter Pledge Drive continues! WGXC must raise $20,000 to keep WGXC Hands-on Radio on the air, live and local during the coming months. Your support will make all the difference. Call (518) 697-7400 or go online to wgxc.org [slash] donate. Thank you for supporting creative community radio in New York's Greene and Columbia counties.

Local weather forecast:

TODAY: Partly sunny. High near 42. Monday night, a chance of sprinkles, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy. Low around 34.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
TUESDAY: Sprinkles likely before 10 a.m., then showers likely after 10 a.m. Cloudy. High near 51. Tuesday night, showers. Low around 41.
WEDNESDAY: A slight chance of showers. Partly sunny. High near 55. Wednesday night, mostly cloudy. Low around 29.

Sunrise today: 6:22 a.m.
Sunset today: 5:51 p.m.
LENGTH OF THE DAY: 11:29 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS
Today is the first Monday of the month.

WGXC suggests calling ahead to confirm time and location.
All numbers are in the 518 area code unless otherwise noted.

ATHENS Town Board meeting, 6:45 p.m., Athens Community Center, 2 First Street, Athens (945-1052, ext. 2).
ATHENS Zoning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Athens Community Center, 2 First Street, Athens (945-1052).
CAIRO Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at town hall, 512 Main St., Cairo (622-3120).
CLERMONT Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 1795 Route 9, Clermont (537-6868).
COEYMANS Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 18 Russell Ave., Ravena (756-6006).
DURHAM Town Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at town building, 7309 Route 81, East Durham (239-6122, ext 1).
GREENVILLE Board of Education budget meeting, 6 p.m.; full meeting 7 p.m., at high school, Route 81, Greenville (966-5070). HUNTER Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5748 Route 23A, Tannersville (589-6150).
LEXINGTON Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., at Municipal building, 3542 Route 42, Lexington, (986-6303).
LIVINGSTON Zoning Board meeting, 7 p.m., at Town Hall, County Rte. 19, Livingston (851-9441).
SCHOHARIE County Planning Commission meeting, 7 p.m. at county office building, 284 Main St., Schoharie (295-8770).
TAGHKANIC Zoning Commission meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 909 Route 82, Taghkanic (851-7638).

POLITICAL EVENTS
HUDSON VALLEY PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY, 6:30 p.m., Mar. 9 at Newburgh Armory Unity Center, Newburgh. Meeting with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman organized by Community Voices Heard.
NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION Day of Action, Mar. 13. Action at State Capitol in Albany by the NYCLU against policies of the Republican administration.

Jersey Mike's Rail Videos published this video to YouTube this week, a reverse railfan window view out the back of Amtrak Empire Service Train #281 as it travels along the Hudson Line from Rhinecliff to Hudson. Max speed on this portion of the line is 95 mph.

Local Republican State Senators Kathleen Marchione, George Amedore, James Seward, and Sue Serino were among the state lawmakers spending the most on bulk rate postage last year according to state records. Ahead of elections, state lawmakers spent almost double on bulk rate postage last year than in 2015, with taxpayers paying the bill again, The Daily News reports. Serino spent the most of the locals, $126,514.41, fourth highest in the state. Amedore spent $112,716.39, Marchione $102,860.32, and Seward $100,292.80. Much lower on the list were Assemblymembers Didi Barrett, a Democrat, who spent $43,437.56, Pete Lopez, a Republican, who spent $19,472.14, and Steve McLaughlin, a Republican, who spent $6,379.07 on bulk rate postage in 2016. Bulk rate postage is used to send fliers, letters, and postcards to voters, and are supposed to be used to information, not campaigns.

Mid-Hudson News reports that immigration officials have detained Joel Guerrero of New Paltz because he missed a 2011 court date after a conviction for misdemeanor marijuana possession. Guerrero holds a green card, and is being held in a federal immigration detention facility in New Jersey, facing possible deportation. Guerrero legally immigrated from the Dominican Republic 20 years ago. His wife, Jessica, is from the Poughkeepsie-New Paltz area, and is six months pregnant with their first child. “If he voluntarily leaves, he won’t have the deportation on his record and we would have more options in terms of countries where we would be able to actually go,” she told Mid-Hudson News. “If this happens and he is deported, I will absolutely go with him. He is my husband. We are having a child together. This is my life. It’s not what I want but I couldn’t be apart from him.” Read the full story in the Mid-Hudson News.

Emilia Teasdale reports in The Columbia Paper that the Chatham Village Board voted unanimously to raise water and sewer rates, beginning March 1, after a public hearing where several residents questioned the need for the increase, Now residents will pay .045 cents per cubic foot of water used and .045 cents for sewer service. The water rate outside the village is now .09 cents per cubic foot for water, and there are special new rates for Price Chopper and the Chatham School District. Mayor Tom Curran said increased costs are the reason for the rate hikes, with the village needing to build a tank at the open reservoir, which has been leaking 50,000 gallons a day for several years. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Roger Hannigan Gilson is reporting in The Daily Mail one of the newly named phase 2 Broadband for All recipients has suggested it may opt out of the plan. The Germantown-based internet provider GTel Teleconnections was awarded $5.3 million in state funding Tue., Feb. 28, to expand its network, but General Manager Jason Shelton said the company was not happy "with the patchwork area they were assigned." GTel requested $7.6 million in its application and planned to use the money to provide service to all of Germantown, Clermont, Livingston, Taghkanic and Gallatin, Shelton said. Instead, GTel received less funding than it requested, and both Frontier Communications and FairPoint Communications received grants to expand broadband service in GTel's area. GTel currently serves 76 square miles of territory in and around Germantown, and may not find it economically feasible to run lines the way the state plan reads, Shelton said. The company may have to run lines through another service provider's territory, but be unable to hook up properties on the other service provider's land. "So now we’re going to have to go back to the engineering table and see how cost-effective it is to do," Shelton said. When asked if GTel would reject the state’s plan, Shelton said, "At this point, I don’t really have an answer one way or another because I don’t know how the engineering plans will [play out]." The company would most likely be able to come back with a decision in a couple of weeks, he said. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

The WGXC Radical Radio 2017 Winter Pledge Drive continues! WGXC must raise $20,000 to keep WGXC Hands-on Radio on the air, live and local during the coming months. Your support will make all the difference. Call (518) 697-7400 or go online to wgxc.org [slash] donate. Thank you for supporting creative community radio in New York's Greene and Columbia counties.

Local weather forecast:

TODAY: Mostly sunny, with a high near 19. Wind chill values as low as -8. Saturday night skies should be clear, with a low around 0 and wind chill values as low as -15.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
SUNDAY: Sunny, with a high near 29. Wind chill values as low as -15. Sunday night, mostly cloudy skies, with a low around 13.
MONDAY: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46.

Sunrise today: 6:23 a.m.
Sunset today: 5:50 p.m.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Friday, March 3 (4:14). (Produced by Neva Wartell.)