Today's audio daily news update.

More than 60 local residents protested outside of Assemblymember Didi Barrett's office in Hudson on April 8 because of her sponsorship of legislation that would undercut the state's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Michael Richardson of River and Mountains GreenFaith, one of the organizers of the protest, spoke on WOOC saying, "PLAY OR DOWNLOAD BRIEF EXCERPT." The proposal from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Barrett would align New York with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and federal government and calculate methane gas emissions over 100 years. But New York's Climate Act requires the state review to take place every 20 years, so is more accurate. Barrett voted for that Climate Act, but now argues that her legislation helps consumers by not "strapping steep costs on the back of everyday New Yorkers." Instead, Barrett's plan delays the costs of climate change to future generations. Hochul last week reportedly backed off the proposal in budget negotiations, but until the budget is signed and this year's legislative session is over, the Barrett bill could still get enacted.

Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that Democrat Josh Riley announced April 11 that he will try again in 2024 to beat Republican Marc Molinaro to represent the 19th District in Congress. Riley lost by a 1.5 percentage to Molinaro in the 2022 election, and was one of the races that flipped a seat giving the Republicans control of the House of Representatives. Riley is quickly gathering support to ward off other challengers, with the chairs of seven of the 11 county Democratic committees in the 19th District signing a letter of support for his campaign. The 19th Congressional District was previously represented by Democrat Antonio Delgado, who abandoned the job to become lieutenant governor. Democrat Pat Ryan then won a special election to hold the seat for a few weeks, but then ran for the 18th Congressional District after redistricting changed the maps. Molinaro has voted with conservative Republicans in his first months in office. Riley said the difference in rerunning the same election in 2024 is that Molinaro “now has a record to run on.” Daniel Buttermann, of Oneonta, also filed to run in the 19th District in February as a Democrat. Molinaro's campaign released a statement in response to Riley's announcement saying, “There’s nearly 600 days until the 2024 election. I’m focused on delivering bipartisan results for upstate New York. I will run on this record if my opponent is Josh Riley, Daniel Buttermann, or someone who has yet to announce.” Riley lives in the 19th Congressional District near Binghamton, while Molinaro lives outside the district, in Dutchess County. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that on April 10 the Department of Environmental Conservation began to remove the thousands of tires from Green Tire Recycling on State Route 81 in Climax in Greene County. Nine months ago, the the Town of Coxsackie asked a judge to shut down the illegally operating tire dump. "DEC will continue to work with the Town of Coxsackie to hold the facility’s owners and operators responsible,” the Department of Environmental Conservation said in a statement on April 10. New York State Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott had authorized the town to charge the cleanup to the owner's property tax bill, but Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea said the taxpayers will pay instead. Mott first ordered Green Tire Recycling closed on August 30, 2022, but property owners Corey Mergendahl and Sharon Lampman, and Green Tire Recycling owner Shane Foster have ignored court orders. On March 10 of this year March 10 Mott held Mergendahl, Lampman and Foster in contempt of court with a fine of $250 and a judgement of $100. Read the full story in Porcupine Soup.

Heather Bellow reports in The Berkshire Eagle that Great Barrington's Select Board on April 10 voted 4-1, with member Ed Abrahams voting no, for a special permit to allow planes to keep taking off from and landing at Walter J. Koladza Airport. Berkshire Aviation Holdings Inc., the airport owners, must abide by a slew of conditions, including cutting back their flight school operations during the summer months. Abrahams, the lone no vote, said, “We missed an opportunity to really listen to various opinions and try to reach a compromise.... Without a permit, the town controls growth. With it, we are at the mercy of the courts upholding our issuing of conditions normally reserved for the FAA and [Department of Transportation].” Two neighbors and an abutter have jointly sued the town in Land Court for allowing the airport to operate, but the judge paused the case until April 29 to wait for the permit hearing result. Read more about this story in The Berkshire Eagle.

Today's daily news audio update.

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

Nick Reisman reports at New York State of Politics that lawmakers in Albany passed, and Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law, a second extension to the April 1 budget deadline. The leaders of the Senate and Assembly and governor now have until April 17 to strike a deal on the budget. The main impasse is whether or not to make changes to the state's bail law, where those considered innocent until proven guilty are held by the state. Passing the extension included a measure to keep paychecks coming to the state's 83,000 workers. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Mid-Hudson News reports that Ulster County Assemblyperson Sarahana Shrestha, a progressive Democrat, is blaming Governor Kathy Hochul for the delay in the state budget. Shrestha said Hochul is not compromising on bail reform issues. She said, “It’s not in good faith because if it was in good faith, maybe she should have talked about bail reform and everything else all at the same time. Why is she holding up everything else just to get this thing out of the budget process first." Both Hochul and the progressives want to get rid of bail with the state holding people considered innocent by the courts, but Hochul seems to want more judicial discretion, while Shrestha and other progressives want better clarification on how judges are to interpret any law so that minorities get a fair deal. Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that Gov. Kathy Hochul on April 10 nominated Rowan Wilson to serve as New York's chief judge. Hochul's previous nominee, Hector LaSalle, was rejected by both the Senate judiciary committee and the full state Senate. Wilson, if confirmed, would be the first Black chief judge in New York history. Wilson is currently an associate judge on the state Court of Appeals, and Hochul also nominated attorney Caitlin Halligan to fill his spot there. Hochul also nominated Joseph Zayas to serve as chief administrative judge of the court system. Hochul may have an easier time getting Wilson confirmed as Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, a critic of the LaSalle nomination, came out backing the new nominee, saying, “I commend Governor Hochul for selecting Judge Rowan Wilson and Caitlin Halligan for appointments to the Court of Appeals. I am particularly excited about the prospect of Judge Wilson leading our state’s highest court as Chief Judge." Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Paul Kirby reports in the Daily Freeman that after a Texas judge ruled April 7 that it knows better than the Food and Drug Administration and effectively removed approval of the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S, Ulster County-based Rep. Pat Ryan re-introduced a bill on April 10 which would reaffirm that the FDA, “has clear and pre-emptive authority to regulate abortion medication” and “not extremist courts.” But unless he can convince several Republicans to vote in committee and on the floor for his bill, it won't go anywhere in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Ryan originally introduced the bill last fall, when the Democrats controlled the House and he represented the 19th Congressional District. Now Ryan represents the 18th Congressional District, and the Republican majority leaves him virtually powerless to pass legislation to make mifepristone accessible to women in New York and elsewhere. “Mifepristone is a safe and effective medication that has been prescribed by doctors … over two decades since the FDA approved it. However, the Texas decision has nothing to do with science or medicine and everything to do with radical groups whose only goal is a national abortion ban,” Ryan said. “My priority is protecting abortion access for women in New York and across the country. This legislation will reaffirm the FDA’s approval authority and protect doctors who use telemedicine to prescribe medication abortion.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

From WOOC's Mark Dunlea: "More than 60 local residents protested outside of Assemblymember Didi Barrett's office in Hudson on Saturday, April 8 over her sponsorship of legislation that would undercut the state's effort to undercut greenhouse gas emissions. Michael Richardson of River and Mountains GreenFaith, one of the organizers, discussed the protest.

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.

Chris Churchill reports in the Times Union that despite an indictment on 34 charges, Rep. Elise Stefanik is standing by former President Donald Trump. Stefanik wrote on April 4 that, “The shameful arrest of President Trump is an unprecedented and chilling chapter in the left’s weaponization of the justice system against their leading political opponent.... Trump will defeat this latest witch hunt.” It is a reverse course for Stefanik, who usually backs the blue and the legal system. Stefanik has previously called for the arrest of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and often makes reference to “the Biden crime family.” Stefanik is standing with Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia woman who believes in Jewish space lasers, and George Santos, the serial liar, in backing Trump. Stefanik was among the first Congressional representatives to endorse Trump's 2024 election campaign. Stefanik now represents Rensselaer County in New York's 21st Congressional District. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Brendan J. Lyons reports in the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a brief April 7 in support of a Democrat-led court fight seeking to force the redrawing of New York's congressional boundaries in time for next year's election. The boundaries were redrawn after the 2020 census with court orders and controversy, and aren't scheduled to be drawn again until after the 2030 census count. The state's Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee brought a lawsuit in a state appellate court in Albany to have the Independent Redistricting Commission redraw the lines before the 2024 Congressional elections. James said in a statement that, “Our state’s constitution makes it clear that an independent body, with participation from the general public, is charged with drawing maps for congressional districts,.... Relying on a process with no accountability and with limited time for public input is not how we engage the public and ensure their interests are addressed throughout this process.” But so far the Democrats have not persuaded the court, as on Sept. 12, state Supreme Court Justice Peter A. Lynch rejected the petition and said there was no authority for the redistricting commission to issue a second map. So the Democrats are now appealing, under the blessing of the state's highest elected Democrats, Hochul and James. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman that Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Marc Molinaro together wrote an opinion piece asking for the Biden administration and state leaders to do more to clean the harmful polychlorinated biphenyls from the Hudson River. General Electric dumped PCBs in the Hudson River for decades, and they recently finished cleaning up some of the toxins, but not all. Ryan and Molinaro wrote that the company needs, “to make good on its stated mission by acknowledging that the cleanup performed to date fails to meet the basic legal and moral test of protecting public health and the environment.” They want Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, federal trustee agencies, and the U.S. Department of Justice to negotiate “a comprehensive settlement with GE to clean and restore the river.” Ryan and Molinaro represent the 18th and 19th Congressional Districts, respectively. Currently, the EPA is finalizing a five-year review of the cleanup so far, which was of the upper Hudson River above Troy. Now GE is supposed to study the lower portion of the river between the Troy Dam and the mouth of the New York Harbor to determine the next steps in the cleanup. GE must fund water, sediment, and fish tests along that stretch of the Hudson for PCBs and other contaminants beginning this year, under the terms of a legal administrative agreement reached in 2022. “We have one opportunity to restore the Hudson River and ensure that those who were responsible must be held accountable,” Molinaro said in an interview April 7. “We will not have this opportunity again.... The value and impact of the Hudson River is real, what people believe the Hudson River to be is important....To know that it was damaged by pollutants, that we had this chance to restore its value and vibrancy and we didn’t push to the end is a mistake that future generations will not forgive.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's audio daily news update.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman that Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Marc Molinaro together wrote an opinion piece asking for the Biden administration and state leaders to do more to clean the harmful polychlorinated biphenyls from the Hudson River. General Electric dumped PCBs in the Hudson River for decades, and they recently finished cleaning up some of the toxins, but not all. Ryan and Molinaro wrote that the company needs, “to make good on its stated mission by acknowledging that the cleanup performed to date fails to meet the basic legal and moral test of protecting public health and the environment.” They want Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, federal trustee agencies, and the U.S. Department of Justice to negotiate “a comprehensive settlement with GE to clean and restore the river.” Ryan and Molinaro represent the 18th and 19th Congressional Districts, respectively. Currently, the EPA is finalizing a five-year review of the cleanup so far, which was of the upper Hudson River above Troy. Now GE is supposed to study the lower portion of the river between the Troy Dam and the mouth of the New York Harbor to determine the next steps in the cleanup. GE must fund water, sediment, and fish tests along that stretch of the Hudson for PCBs and other contaminants beginning this year, under the terms of a legal administrative agreement reached in 2022. “We have one opportunity to restore the Hudson River and ensure that those who were responsible must be held accountable,” Molinaro said in an interview April 7. “We will not have this opportunity again.... The value and impact of the Hudson River is real, what people believe the Hudson River to be is important....To know that it was damaged by pollutants, that we had this chance to restore its value and vibrancy and we didn’t push to the end is a mistake that future generations will not forgive.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Sten Spinella and Matt Martinez report in The Berkshire Eagle that the March 14 nor'easter caused a lot of damage to local forests, and tree professionals in Berkshire County are overwhelmed now during their busiest season. Noah Kelley, co-owner of Kelley Brothers Tree Service, of Pittsfield said, “Usually somewhere in late March, early April is when we just get hammered with calls. It’s not a bad problem to have; it just always happens the same way each year. We always think we’re ready for it, and we’re not.” But this year has been worse. Shaun Grady, Pittsfield traffic superintendent, said the city has been busy with downed tree branches for the past three weeks, calling in extra help from Northern Tree Services. They are most concerned about “hangers,” or dangling limbs that can pose a threat to residents or electric lines. While some fallen trees and limbs are dangerous, others have more emotional resonance. Jim Stakenas, who lives across the street from the Clarksburg Town Hall, lost a large maple tree in his backyard, though it did not cause any damage. “My family and I love that maple in the backyard,” Stakenas said, “and we feel a loss there. But we were fortunate.” Read more about this story in The Berkshire Eagle.

Noah Eckstein reports in the Times Union that ice boating on the Hudson River might be a thing of the past because of climate change. The Encyclopedia Britannica says the Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club formed in 1865. Red Hook resident Richard Aldrich is a member of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club, founded in 1885 by John A. Roosevelt. “I’m still attached to the way things were,” he said. The Hudson River Ice Yacht Club did not do any ice boating this past winter because of warm temperatures and thin ice. Dan Shapley, co-director of the Science and Patrol Program at the activist group Riverkeeper said, “The trend is already there. We have many fewer winters with ice and we will have many fewer days below freezing in the future. The New York Climate Change Science Clearinghouse predicts about 114 days a year between 2023 and 2027 with the minimum temperature at least 32 degrees. But that will be closer to 40 days a year below freezing by 2099. “It used to be we’d get skunked one year out of every 10, or one year out of 20,” said John Sperr, an ice boater since 1982 and treasurer of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club. “What’s happening now is we get one good year out of every eight or 10 years. There’s just no more dependable ice in the Hudson Valley and the problem is global warming.” So Sperr plans to move to Maine, where it will be colder. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that it is spring now, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is reminding New Yorkers to remove or secure all outdoor food sources to black bear visits. The DEC estimates that bird feeders are involved in more than 80 percent of the bear incidents around homes they recommend not filling them up until November 1. DEC Wildlife Biologist Jeremy Hurst said, “They can easily find [food] in bird feeders, garbage cans, pet food, in any livestock feed that you store outside.... So really those are the targets that we want to remove from the outside space and make sure they are not a problem for bears.” Anyone getting repeated visits from bears should call the DEC Region 4 office which covers Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Schoharie counties, at 518-357-2234. “We may need to intervene to try to teach the bear that this is not appropriate behavior,” Hurst said. Read more about this story at 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.