Courtney Ward reports for News10 in Albany that it is now official: the map of state Assembly districts will be different in 2020, 2022, and 2024. On April 24, New York state lawmakers voted for a new, third redistricting map, this one from the Independent Redistricting Commission. Most of the district lines are similar to the ones used in the 2022 election. “The single most effected district was the 101st. We called it the snake district; some called it an abomination. But it was a very, very long, thin district that reached from as far as southern New York near Westchester, all the way up to the Syracuse area. Some places or many places only a single town wide,” explained Charles Nesbitt, Vice Chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission. The 2020 maps were drawn ten years ago, and then, after the census count, the bipartisan commission could not agree on a map for 2022 and instead produced two different maps of state Senate, Assembly, and Congressional lines, which the Legislature rejected. Then Albany lawmakers drew their own maps of their own districts for the 2022 elections. Now a third set of maps will change the 2024 Assembly election. Read more about this story at News10 in Albany.

The Daily Freeman reports that gas prices are up again in the Hudson Valley, with the largest increases in Greene and Columbia counties. The GasBuddy.com website reported a 12-cent increase to $3.80 in Greene County last week, with a 14-cent increase in Columbia County. Gas prices were up seven cents in Ulster County, and five cents in Dutchess County. New York's average as of April 24 was $3.64, seven cents per gallon higher than last week. Nationally, prices fell by 0.8 cents per gallon last week. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said, “Typically, gas prices peak between May and June, and with the oil market showing significant cracks in strength, we may have seen the peak in the national average already occur, a few weeks earlier than average.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's audio daily news update.

Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to double the amount of new housing over the next decade is apparently dead and will not be in the state budget that is almost a month late. The story claims that suburban Democrats in the Legislature blocked the plan because it would establish a state-mandated overhaul to local zoning to incentivize residential development. Hochul and many other officials have said there is an affordable housing crisis across the state, and this plan was one way of addressing that problem. Instead, not-in-my-backyard attitudes are stopping needed new housing from being built. Progressive forces on the left did not like the plan because it did not significantly expand tenant protections. Last week Hochul said that, “after weeks of negotiations, the Legislature continues to oppose core elements of the Housing Compact..... I will continue to discuss other elements of the plan and policy changes that will increase supply and make housing more affordable.” Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for Housing Justice for All, said, “Rather than coming together to deliver for working families struggling to keep a roof over their heads, Albany leaders appear to be throwing their hands in the air.” Hochul's plan was to create 800,000 housing units over the next decade. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that a hiring event April 24-to-April 29 for the New Baltimore Travel Plaza indicates that renovations are almost complete and it should reopen soon after two years. Officials are not saying when, exactly, the travel plaza on Interstate 87 in Greene County will open, but they say it will be sometime in the second quarter of 2023. Shift supervisors, baristas, retail cashiers, and custodians are needed for new Chick-fil-A, Panera, Shake Shack, Starbucks, and C-Store businesses, while Burger King and Panera Bread are not listed in the announcement of new hires needed. The hiring event runs April 24-28 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and April 29 from 9 a.m. to noon at the New Baltimore Firehouse on Gill Road. New Baltimore’s service area first opened on April 3, 1957 and was last renovated in 1992. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Heather Bellow reports for The Berkshire Eagle that in February someone attempted to burn down a tree with an obscene sign supporting former President Donald Trump off Route 41 in Great Barrington, and police say they are close to figuring out the culprit. The tree had two signs, one said "F the left" and the other was a standard Trump campaign sign. A second tree next to that one, had signs that said "MAGA" and "Let's Go Brandon." The latter phrase is generally considered right-wing code for "F--- Joe Biden." Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti said, “We’re getting close.... We have some leads that we’re working on.” The arsonists left their gas can at the scene. Property owners Alyce and Michael Zucco declined to comment. Read more about this story in The Berkshire Eagle.

The Columbia Paper reports that Charlotte Shutts, a former president of the Friends of the Roe Jan Library, died in December 2022, has donated money for the library to retire its $232,000 mortgage. Shutts left instructions in her will that funds from her estate be used to retire the Roeliff Jansen Community Library's mortgage and that remaining funds be used to build an outdoor pavilion for community activities. Patricia Placona, president of the library’s board of trustees, said, “All those associated with the library – staff and patrons – have been the beneficiaries of Charlotte’s generosity over the years.... Now, her bequest means that the library community will continue to benefit from her forethought for years to come.” The Roeliff Jansen Community Library serves Ancram, Copake, and Hillsdale, and is located at 9091 Route 22. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.

Here is this week's WGXC Congressional Report, tracking the votes, statements, positions, and campaigns of the representatives and candidates for the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st Congressional seats in New York. Democrat Pat Ryan is representing the 18th Congressional District, Republican Marc Molinaro represents the 19th Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Paul Tonko represents the 20th District, and Republican Elise Stefanik represents the 21st District. Click here to listen to this report.

Tyler A. McNeil reports in the Daily Gazette that China's recent spy balloon has inspired some New York Democrats to draft a bill to ban foreign adversaries from purchasing farmland in the state. In the State Senate Saugerties Democrat Michelle Hinchey is introducing the proposal, and Assemblyperson Angelo Santabarbara is in the other Albany legislative chamber with the bill. Santabarbara said, “We saw a spy balloon go over our country, surveying property, land sites, information that was collected and that’s concerning.... So what we’re finding is that, I feel like we’re not seeing enough action in Washington, D.C., to address these issues.” Santabarbara wants the state to identify where potential adversary-owned properties are located, but Assemblymember Robert Smullen, a Republican, said, “We, in New York State, don’t have the resources to define whether or not a foreign entity is controlled by the Communist Party, for instance, or China.” Rep. Paul Tonko, a Democrat who represents the 20th Congressional District, did not comment to the newspaper about the story, but Republican Elise Stefanik, who represents the 21st Congressional District, noted she has already introduced a similar bill at the federal level. Stefanik said, “As my bill continues to gain support, I will work to ensure foreign ownership of American farmland does not undermine our national security, especially as our foreign adversaries increase their attempts to threaten our agricultural land and businesses.” Read more about this story in the Daily Gazette.

Rep. Elise Stefanik has a form on her website for constituents to give their opinions on the 2023 Farm Bill. Stefanik said, “Agriculture is the backbone of Upstate New York and the North Country. As Congress is working to draft this year’s Farm Bill, farmers across New York’s 21st District can use this input form to directly share their priorities with me, so I can bring them to the highest levels. Every five years, Congress passes a farm bill that affects a host of agricultural issues. Stefanik, who represents Rensselear County and the rest of the 21st Congressional District is not on the House Agricultural Committee, which drafts the farm bill. Marc Molinaro, the Republican representing the 19th Congressional District, is on the Agricultural Committee.

The Troy Record reports that Rep. Paul Tonko announced 15 community development and improvement projects in his 20th Congressional District that he submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations. This is what is sometimes called pork in Washington D.C. Each Congressional representative may request funding for up to 15 projects each Fiscal Year. Not all projects are guaranteed funding, but most get their dollars, under the guidelines issued by the Appropriations Committee. Tonko asked for two of his 15 projects for the southern Albany County town of Coeymans and the village of Ravena. Coeymans, if successful, would get $1,882,500 for their sewer system, while Ravena is asking for $3,000,000 to improve their drinking water systems. Read the full story in the Troy Record.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat representing the 18th Congressional District, reported $1,095,594 in campaign donations in the first three months of 2023, while Marc Molinaro, a Republican representing the 19th Congressional District, reported raising $638,670. The Federal Election Commission filings for Jan. 1 through March 31 come a little more than 100 days into the 2022-2023 congressional term, but show representatives spending much time focusing already on the 2024 election. On April 12, Democrat Josh Riley said he would run against Molinaro again, after losing to the Dutchess County-based Republican in 2022. Riley than announced he raised $250,000 in the first 24 hours of his campaign. While Riley's donations came after the filing deadline and won't be available for the public to see for months, he criticized Molinaro’s contributions, saying they came from “corporate special interests and far-right Republican members of Congress, including Claudia Tenney and several Freedom Caucus members who have proposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security.” Riley also promised, “I’m not taking any corporate PAC money because I’ll never sell out upstate New York." So far, Ryan does not have any announced opponents in 2024. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Andrea Macko in Porcupine Soup reports that Rep. Marc Molinaro announced many community development and improvement projects in his 19th Congressional District that he submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations. This is what is sometimes called pork in Washington D.C. Each Congressional representative may request funding for up to 15 projects each Fiscal Year. Not all projects are guaranteed funding, but most get their dollars, under the guidelines issued by the Appropriations Committee. Locally, Molinaro asked for $2.4 million for the Village of Athens to rehabilitate its wastewater plant and another $2.4 million for Greene County Highway and Solid Waste Department to improve Main Street in Leeds. Read the full story in Porcupine Soup.

Today's daily news audio update.

Click above to download or play the "Better Weather." Produced by Joe Demanso of the Catskill Makers Syndicate.

On April 21 the Florida Union Free School District Board of Education announced that the Orange County, NY school is hiring away Dr. Lisamarie Spindler from the Hudson school system to be their Superintendent of Schools beginning July 1, 2023. Spindler took the job of superintendent of the Hudson schools just last year. She is not quoted in the announcement from the school system in Orange County, New York. Nor does her new school's announcement even acknowledge her current role in Hudson. The announcement does claim that Spindler, "is eager to start her new role as Superintendent," even as she must first finish her single year as superintendent in the Hudson school system.

Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that on April 20 the New York State Public Service Commission released an audit of Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. that showed the company had a 900 percent increase in adjusted bills. A national independent firm, Overland Solutions, Inc, conducted the audit. It came after thousands of complaints about the adjusted and estimated bills Central Hudson recently sent customers, after switching away from meter readers. The audit said, in part, "Central Hudson’s practice of issuing bills monthly but reading meters every other month contributed to billing issues and a large increase in customer complaints and further noted that, as of June 2022, only 53 percent of Central Hudson’s electric and gas meters featured automated meter reading technology." State Senator Michelle Hinchey is trying to pass a bill to require monthly, accurate meter readings, and said, “Everything that we know to be true about Central Hudson’s sweeping mishandling of estimated billing and woefully inadequate customer service procedures is re-confirmed by this audit and verified in the PSC’s findings, making the need for my legislation to stop these negligent practices all the more urgent.” Read the full story in Porcupine Soup.

On April 19, Democrat Pat Ryan voted with Republicans to deny democracy to the citizens of the District of Columbia. Residents there elected their own representatives to pass laws for them, but last week Ryan and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives voted to overturn decisions by those elected officials. Ryan voted for Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act along with all the Republicans voting in the House, including local representatives Marc Molinaro and Elise Stefanik. Local Democrat Paul Tonko voted against the measure to overturn what the representatives elected by the people of the District of Columbia passed. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and several islands in the Pacific Ocean do not get to participate in the same representative democracy that the rest of America does.

Jammel Cutler reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Hudson's Common Council passed a resolution on April 19 designating May 5 as National Day of Awareness for Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons in the Columbia County city. Mayoral Aide Michael Hofmann said, “The day raises awareness for missing and murdered indigenous people around the country and Canada.... Native women and girls face a large amount of violence in their lifetimes and are more likely to die and to be seriously injured by domestic violence in this country. It is important for Hudson and all cities and towns to recognize this day.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Today's audio daily news update.

Nancy Kern reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the Riverkeeper activist group is warning not to swim in the Hudson River locally because of the large amount of raw sewage Coxsackie, Hudson, Athens, and Catskill pour into the water. “In the Twin Counties, the city of Hudson and Catskill both rely on combined sewers designed to carry only sewage in dry weather, but after rain that system is designed to overflow into the Hudson River and Catskill Creek,” said Riverkeeper Director of Advocacy Dan Shapley. “That’s raw sewage going into our water.” Riverkeeper, which partners on water monitoring by with Queens College and Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in routinely testing for fecal indicator bacteria, says that most Greene County and Columbia County tributaries sampled do not meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency safe-swimming criteria. Anyone swimming in the Hudson River locally might get bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and fever. Athens Town Supervisor Michael Pirrone does not seem worried about all the raw sewage his town is dumping in the Hudson River. “We have very few swimmers,” Pirrone said. “The only thing I would say, possibly, is that people who go boating park by the flats and go individually swimming. Athens has no beach, no signs that say swimming is permitted, so it’s very difficult to say what individual people may do.” Coxsackie Mayor Mark Evans claimsm "We’re not overflowing, or the overflows are very few and far between.” In Catskill, an engineer working on the village’s Combined Sewer Overflow Elimination Project says it will be five to seven years before the problem is solved. And, the paper reports, "Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson referred questions on the issue to City Department of Public Works Superintendent Rob Perry, who did not immediately return calls for comment Thursday." Many cities south of the area use Hudson River water for drinking. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Nancy Kern reports for Columbia-Greene Media that at the April 17 Greenville Central School District Board of Education meeting, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office said they will equip all of its police in local schools with body cameras. The cameras will record video throughout the school day but will only record audio when the device if the officer presses the button to record. Greene County Sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Feml said anyone filing a Freedom of Information Act could have access to the recordings, as they are public records and cannot remain private. Courts, ultimately, would rule on whether the recordings would be turned over the a requesting member of the public. Schools will use the recordings for disciplinary actions. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Nick Reisman reports at New York State of Politics that the Democrats that control the legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul still have not agreed on a new budget, though one was due April 1. Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay asks, "If we’re not getting a budget done on time, what else are we not getting done that ought to be done?" State Senator Tim Kennedy said, "We’re putting the budget together. We’re negotiating.... There’s a lot to it. It’s hundreds of billions of dollars and we’re making sure that at the end of the day, it’s the right budget for the people of New York." But Democrats have had months before April 1 to do all that was needed to be done. Local school districts won't be able to say that. They currently must make budget proposals based on state aid for voters to weigh in on in May 16 elections. But they won't know official funding for schools until the budget is unveiled. Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group said, "It’s just another body blow for how people view state government and at a certain level it increases their cynicism." Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Today's daily news audio update.

Jammel Cutler reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the West Coast hotel chain Casetta Group wants to open their first east coast hotel in Hudson. The company bought the Terry-Gillette Mansion at 601 Union St., for $3 million and is asking the Historic Preservation Commission permission to turn the property into a 40-room hotel. They also want to include a restaurant, bar, swimming pool, spa, and event space. Carolyn Schneider, co-founder of Cassetta Group, said, “Hudson felt right at home with our other properties. Casetta seeks properties in special locations and we focus on architecturally unique or historic properties. For this reason, the Hudson Valley was exciting to us, with the beauty of the city and buildings and its arts community. Our properties are typically in leisure markets in close proximity to larger cities, and so this was naturally a draw for us as well.” There is no timeline yet for when the hotel could open. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.