DOWNLOAD or PLAY the audio version of the local news headlines for Mon., Feb. 6 (7:31). (Produced by Philip Grant.)

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

Victoria Addison reported in Columbia-Greene Media members of the Hudson community turned out Fri., Feb. 3, to show support for Muslims, immigrants and refugees in light of a recent presidential order. That order banned travel from seven Muslim majority countries, suspended all refugee admission into the U.S. for 120 days and indefinifetly stopped the admission of Syrian refugees into the country. Residents assembled at the Islamic Center, located on North Third Street in Hudson, Friday evening for the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement's event. The crowd heard from a variety of speakers including state Assembly member, Democrat Didi Barrett. She said, "Thank you all for being here and thank you for being such an incredible community. We need to stand together. This is a moment in time we will all remember." In a related story, at approximately the same time that the Hudson vigil was taking place, a federal district court in Seattle ordered the ban be lifted nationwide. On Sunday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco rejected a Justice Department request that the Seattle judge's ruling be blocked until after an appeal from that order is decided. A reply from the administration is due Mon., Feb. 6.

Bill Mahoney reported at Politico New York the new highway signs encouraging travelers to download a state tourism app, criticized for being ugly, expensive and illegal, seem to be working. Last year, the state erected more than 500 signs near highway exits across the state. The signs mostly contain basic tourism messages like “I Love NY” and “Taste NY.” They don’t identify specific locations, but tell people to visit the state’s tourism website or download the app. Since the app was launch in 2015, it has been downloaded move than 103,000 times and the download rates have increased since the signs were installed. Representatives of the tourist spots listed said they hadn’t measured the impact the app has had, but that past experience has taught them that state tourism pushes can be successful.

Ariél Zangla reported in the Daily Freeman the staff at U.S. Rep. John Faso’s office in Washington, D.C., have received so many phone calls since the Kinderhook Republican was sworn in that they had to increase the number of messages that could be recorded on the office's voicemail system. The congressman's Washington and district offices have received more than 13,000 inbound calls, emails or letters on 300 distinct issues so far, said Courtney Weaver, Faso’s communications director. Weaver said the office has one of the highest inbound rates of communication for a freshman office. Weaver noted Faso’s staff has also met in person with walk-ins, and that the congressman has an active social media presence. Activists have complained that Faso does not publish his schedule online, in sharp contrast to his predecessor, fellow Republican Chris Gibson.

Melanie Lekocevic reported in The Daily Mail the Athens Republicans have nominated candidates to run for mayor and village board in the March election. The incumbent mayor, Democrat Chris Pfister, will not seek re-election, and resident Peter Alberti hopes to take Pfister's place. Alberti has served two terms as a village trustee. He is a lifelong resident of Greene County. Originally from Cairo, he moved to Athens in 1999. Alberti is employed by the Town of Athens Highway Department, and is deputy fire coordinator for Greene County Emergency Services. He is a past chief of the Athens Volunteer Fire Department. The GOP also selected incumbent Marla Butler and newcomer Shannon Spinner to fill the two vacant seats on the village board. Butler is seeking her second term. Spinner is the daughter of Tony Paluch and has been a resident of Athens since the age of 7. She is a social member of the West-Athens Lime Street Fire Company.

Mid-Hudson News [dot] com reported two toxic chemicals found in the drinking water systems of the village of Hoosick Falls and the city of Newburgh have been classified by the state Department of Environmental Conservation as hazardous substances. PFOA is used in the making of Teflon. It was found in the water in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh, both communities located in Rensselaer County. Both PFOS and PFOA were found in Newburgh's Washington Lake reservoir. The primary source of the chemical was found to be from firefighting foam used at Stewart Airport Air National Guard Base, located nearby. PFOA and PFOS have both been linked to serious health problems, including cancer, thyroid issues and high cholesterol.

Daniel Zuckerman reported in The Daily Mail Greene County Executive Fiscal Administrator Diane Bartholomew is taking a new job in Nevada. Her resignation is effective February 25. County Treasurer Peter Markou made the announcement at the county Legislature committee meetings last week. Bartholomew is joining the Clark County School District in Las Vegas as its deputy chief financial officer. "I cannot tell you how much it actually hurts me to lose her. She is one of the most capable women that I have ever, ever worked with," Markou said. Bartholomew joined the county treasurer’s office in 2010 after serving five years as treasurer for the Cairo-Durham Central School District. Bartholomew said she will miss the people of Greene County and her adult son, who lives in Albany, but she will especially miss Markou and Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden. "They don’t want to hold me back. I appreciate the support that they’ve shown me," she said.

Local weather forecast:

TODAY: Partly sunny. High near 34. Monday night, snow likely, mainly after 4 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 25.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
TUESDAY: The National Weather Service in Albany has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook. A storm system is expected to bring a mix of wintry precipitation with light accumulations of snow, sleet and freezing rain, beginning Tuesday morning. Snow and sleet are likely before 10 a.m., then rain and sleet between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., changing to rain after 1 p.m. High near 37. Tuesday night, rain mainly before 4 a.m. Low around 36.
WEDNESDAY: A chance of rain before 4 p.m. Mostly cloudy. High near 49. Wednesday night, mostly cloudy. Low around 22.

Sunrise today: 7:01 a.m.
Sunset today: 5:17 p.m.
LENGTH OF THE DAY: 10:15 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). HUDSON Development Corporation special meeting to build consensus on a response to the Sustainable Community Associates and clarify the HDC position on the KAZ redevelopment project, 2 p.m. at 1 North Front St., Hudson (751-1044).
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).

PUBLIC PROTESTS and VIGILS

PLANNED PARENTHOOD Protests, Sat., Feb. 11. Actions both in support of and against Planned Parenthood at various locations in the Hudson Valley. Details pending.
NATIONAL GENERAL Strike, Feb. 17 through Feb. 20, nationwide. No work. No school. No shopping. A peaceful display of resistance and solidarity.

DOWNLOAD or PLAY the audio version of the local news headlines for Sat.-Sun., Feb. 4-5 (6:01). (Produced by Tom Roe.)

Laura Castro Lindarte reports at Capitol Confidential that 70 members of the House of Representatives sent the President a letter requesting rural broadband be funded in his forthcoming infrastructure proposal. Locally, Republican Elise Stefanik and Democrat Paul D. Tonko, who both represent areas just north of the WGXC listening area, signed the letter, but John Faso (R-Kinderhook) did not. "Many rural areas in the country – including upstate New York – do not have a good broadband infrastructure, increasing the technological divide between urban and rural America," the letter said. “In the 21st Century, high-speed internet access is no longer a luxury amenity, but rather an essential service for homes and business in this interconnected world." Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times-Union blog.

Lance Wheeler recorded and uploaded video of "A Vigil for Solidarity and Sanctuary: Safe Communities for All" in the parking lot of the Hudson Islamic Center, 35 North Third Street on Fri., Feb. 3. The vigil was organized by the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement.

Marie J. French and David Giambusso report in Politico New York that two companies with oil terminals in Albany say they have no plans to work with the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline. The two proposed 178-mile pipelines would move crude oil from the Port of Albany to New Jersey, and gasoline, diesel, and other fuels north to Albany. In filings with the state, Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings, said it would build a pump station at the Global Partners terminal in the Port of Albany. But both companies say they have no plans to work with the pipeline. “Buckeye has no involvement in the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline project and is not aware of any potential connection of the Pilgrim Pipeline to the facility,” the company wrote in a Dec. 31 letter to DEC. “Pilgrim New York must acquire access to multiple properties along the pipeline route, a herculean task in light of the uniform opposition to the Project in both New York and New Jersey,” Global wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to DEC. Read the full story in Politico New York.

Daniel Zuckerman is reporting in The Daily Mail tempers flared during a meeting Wed., Feb. 1, of the Greene County Legislature's Public Safety Committee. The subject: The size and cost of the proposed new county jail. The proposal under consideration calls for the construction of a 130-bed facility in Coxsackie at the cost of $52 million. Legislators Harry Lennon, Democrat of Cairo, and Michael Bulich, Republican of Catskill, argued about the overall cost and the proposed number of beds, both critical questions for lawmakers, Zuckerman writes. Much of the cost could be reduced by shrinking parts of the jail including the lobby, utilities and the cells, Bulich said. "You’re worried about the bed space and that you’re not going to save any money, a significant amount of money, by going down to 100 beds," Bulich said. "We have a responsibility to the taxpayers in this county to build this facility," Harry Lennon said. "I certainly don’t want to go out there and build a facility that’s going to be in the first five years too small." Catskill representative Kevin Lennon, a Democrat, questioned why legislators were not invited to attend an eight-hour meeting last week with representatives from the architectural firm RicciGreene Associates to discuss the project. "I’m wondering why we have to make a decision to spend this kind of money and we weren’t invited," Kevin Lennon said. Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden denied that anyone was excluded from the meeting. Republican Bill Lawrence, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, agreed with Groden. He said the idea that secret meetings are being held is ridiculous. Lawrence was also surprised to hear Kevin Lennon say there was discussion about restoration of the existing jail in Catskill. "There’s been no discussion of renovating the current jail," Lawrence told the paper. The discussion Wednesday was held in advance of a meeting next week with representatives of the state Commission on Corrections. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Roger Hannigan Gilson is reporting in the Register-Star the town of Hillsdale has rejected state broadband findings and in response, has created its own. The map created by a grassroots group shows lower connection speeds than what are being used by New York to fund broadband initiatives. "The state broadband maps are riddled with errors," Hillsdale Broadband Committee member Tod Wohlfarth said. The state made its map using data from the Federal Communications Commission, which gets its information from internet service providers. The Hillsdale committee used data collected by town internet users., and does not show a single household with download speeds above 25 megabytes per second, the state-defined minimum for sufficient broadband. The state map, however, shows large areas within the town with sufficient speeds. Don Meltz, an independent planning consultant said, "What we’re finding out is there may be a discrepancy there," he said. "There are areas in Hillsdale and parts of Copake that don’t appear on the map as underserved, but are." Columbia Economic Development Corporation President and CEO F. Michael Tucker said the county was preparing a letter to the state about inaccuracies in the state’s information regarding internet speeds. The information from the Hillsdale Broadband Committee would be considered for the letter, Tucker said. Read the full story in the Register-Star.

Matthew Daly and Kevin Freking report in Time Magazine that local Congressperson John Faso (R-Kinderhook) voted Feb. 1 to eliminate a regulation that prevented coal mining debris from being dumped into streams. Faso voted with all but nine Republicans to kill the water protection measure. Faso also voted Feb. 1 with all but four Republicans to eliminate another rule that requires companies to disclose payments to foreign governments related to mining and drilling projects. According to fivethirtyeight.com, Faso has voted 100 percent with President Donald Trump's positions since taking over Chris Gibson's seat this year. Read the full story in Time Magazine.

Local weather forecast:

TODAY : Mostly sunny, with a high near 26, and a low around 16.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
SUNDAY: There's a chance of snow showers, with a high near 34, and a low around 22.
MONDAY: Partly sunny, with a high near 29.

Sunrise today: 7:04 a.m.
Sunset today: 5:14 p.m.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Friday, February 3 (3:55). (Produced by Neva Wartell.)