Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that Gov. Kathy Hochul and leaders in the state Senate and Assembly still can't agree on a budget, and are going to vote for a second budget deadline extension on April 10, giving them another week to negotiate. Sources told reporters that the spending bill that will pass April 10 is identical to the first extender except there is also $9 million set aside for AIDS drug assistance to offset the impact of changes in the Medicaid program. Passing the bill is necessary to meet the payroll for 83,000 state workers. Changes are still being discussed to the state's bail laws too, Hochul explained, saying, "We're working very hard, because my priorities have been clear from the beginning: I'm going to work to make sure the judges have the discretion they should have." Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Chris Gelardi reports at New York Focus that the New York Civil Liberties Union, Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, and Rutgers Law School’s Constitutional Rights Clinic filed a class action lawsuit against the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on April 5, because prison officials are still putting inmates in solitary confinement even after legislators largely outlawed the practice. Several recent media reports back up the allegations that the prison agency has been sending people to prolonged solitary confinement on illegal terms. The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act was enacted in March 2022. Karen Murtagh, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services, said in a statement that, “This litigation seeks one thing and one thing only.... Enactment of the HALT law as written.” The story says, "A New York Focus analysis in October found that over six months, state prisons sent people to prolonged isolation almost 1,200 times — nearly one in five solitary sentences — for infractions that definitively did not fit within those parameters" of the HALT law. Read more about this story at New York Focus.

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.

The Daily Freeman reports that tolls increase May 1 on the New York state Bridge Authority’s Hudson River crossings including the Kingston-Rhinecliff, Mid-Hudson, and Rip Van Winkle bridges. The bridge authority is raising the tolls by a dime for each of the next four years for E-ZPass customers. Those with the pass will now pay $1.65 to cross the bridges from west to east. Anyone driving through without the E-ZPass will have their license plate read electronically, and will be sent a bill by mail after May 1, that is 15 cents larger than before, an increase to $2. Bridge Authority officials say that, “Tolls are reinvested back into capital improvements on the Authority’s spans, ensuring these critical pieces of infrastructure can continue serving the Hudson Valley for decades to come." Read more about this story at the Daily Freeman.

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Raga Justin reports in the Times Union that with Democrats in Albany locked in negotiations to produce a new state budget, state Senator Jake Ashby, a Rensselaer County Republican, has a proposal for the state's bail laws he hopes breaks the deadlock. Ashby would eliminate cash bail altogether, but give judges discretion to hold dangerous alleged criminals. People accused of crimes are considered by the courts innocent until proven guilty, but the current bail system puts these innocent people in jail. Ashby's proposal would remove all references to cash bail from New York’s criminal code. Judges, though, would get sweeping oversight over when to remand someone accused of a crime before their trial. And his proposal would create a Commission on Public Safety Reform, to analyze court data to give judges an objective standard they could use to determine how to evaluate someone’s perceived risk of harm to themselves or others, or their potential to leave the court's jurisdiction. Ashby said, “It takes money out of the equation, and it gives judges the discretion that they need.... I think it makes the attempt to solve or alleviate some of the concerns on both sides.” Katie Schaffer, the director of organizing at the progressive Center for Community Alternatives, called the measure a “mass incarceration” bill and said, “Sen. Ashby’s proposal would dramatically and unconscionably expand pretrial incarceration in New York state, undermining our constitutional right to the presumption of innocence.... We urge New York’s Legislature to reject this radical and regressive proposal as well as the governor’s effort to jail more Black, brown and poor people pretrial.” Gov. Kathy Hochul has not commented on Ashby's proposal, but on April 5 said, “I support the fundamental premise behind the bail laws. But we need to make sure that judges understand that they have the discretion to make the right decision in the right case.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Jammel Cutler reports in Columbia-Greene Media that The town of Canaan's park will get spruced up with a $6,000 grant from the Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley to remove invasive species and restore plantings. On Earth Day, workers will begin adding native wildflowers and shade tree planting and removing European Water Chestnuts from the park pond. Dylan Cipkowski, Canaan’s Climate Smart Community Task Force member, said, “The pond is an essential part of the park.... It creates a lot of beauty, and it’s a wildlife habitat and it’s used by people for fishing. The Water Chestnut grows at a fast rate and outgrows other native species of plants, making it hard for them to persist in ponds, lakes, and rivers. That impacts wildlife, fish and people. The Water Chestnut makes it hard for people to fish.” Canaan will add Blazing Star, Brown Eyed Susan, and other native flowers, and grasses such Bluestem and Dwarf Fountain to the seven-acre park. Partners for Climate Action co-founder Bob Dandrew explained why Canaan won the grant, saying, “The project in Canaan was attractive to us because it involves volunteers from throughout the community,” Dandrew said. “We believe that it will be inspiring to other towns in the county.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com..

Courtney Ward reports for WTEN that it is spring, and the Department of Environmental Conservation is warning about the possibility of muddy trails. There is still snow and ice melting at higher elevations and the DEC is asking hikers not to hike above 2,500 ft. until the trails have dried and hardened. And the agency warns that hiking on muddy trails damages the environment. DEC Forest Ranger Peter Evans said, “So really pay attention to what you’re doing.... Make sure that if you are going to try to cross a brook or something like that, you take not only the current weather pattern, but the weather that’s going to be happening in the afternoon and early evening into account.” Read more about this story at the WTEN website.

One sign of spring is the reopening of the drive-in movie theatres, and the Hi-Way Drive In in Coxsackie announced on social media this week that they will start screening films again next weekend, on April 14. They will announce the first films they are showing on April 11. The Greenville Drive-In has not yet announced when it is opening, but that is typically in May.

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Brendan J. Lyons reports for the Times Union that it has been over two years, and now a third growing season, since New York legalized recreational cannabis, but New Yorkers are still not allowed to grow their own plants. Growing cannabis in gardens won't be legal until after the state Office of Cannabis Management has issued “regulations governing home cultivation of cannabis, which will occur within 18 months of the first adult-use retail sale.” The first legal retail sale was in December, so it could be sometime in 2024 before home growing is legal. Right now, only medical marijuana patients with prescriptions are allowed to legally grow at home, which was allowed last September. Right now, New York has 120,827 registered medical cannabis patients. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

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.

Nick Reisman reports in New York State of Politics that more than a year and a half before the general election, and with no idea who her opponents will be, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union has endorsed Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's bid for re-election. The union represents about 45,000 New York state residents in the retail, grocery, pharmacy, food service, food processing, cannabis, warehousing, nursing homes, nonprofits and agriculture industries. Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, who lost his effort to be governor last year to Democrat Kathy Hochul, has hinted he might attempt to win the Republican nomination. No Democrat has announced a campaign to beat Gillibrand in the primary election, which is more than a year away. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Raymond Pignone reports in Columbia-Greene Media that the Mountain Top Cares Coalition group in Maplecrest is getting a $150,000 grant from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts, a national organization working on the opioid epidemic in the United States. Patrick Magee, executive director of Mountain Top Cares Coalition said, “This assistance and support of our mission will have a great impact on our ability to provide services to our community.... These efforts will help us support our clients.” A 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said that overdose fatalities increased by more than 30 percent from 2019 to 2020. Locally, sheriff's put out warnings repeatedly after local overdoses. The Mountain Top Cares Coalition won one of only 15 grants out of 428 applicants from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

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Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Marcelle indicated April 5 he is considering splitting the trial of four defendants charged with a felony count of unlawful imprisonment in the beating of Columbia County resident Harold Handy. Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputy Kelly Rosenstrach; her husband, gym owner Alex Rosenstrach; IRS agent Bryan Haag; and local contractor Corey Gaylord allegedly beat Handy at a 2020 party at the Rosenstrach residence in Kinderhook that was attended by several local law enforcement officers. The four were first indicted on gang assault charges, but Judge Richard Koweek dismissed those charges in late 2021. Jury selection was scheduled to begin last November when news that Handy’s civil attorney and a civil attorney for at least one of the defendants had discussed a settlement conditioned on the defendants not being indicted. But Handy may not have known about those lawyer negotiations. On April 5, the new judge in the case, Marcelle, said he would allow defense attorneys to ask Handy in court whether he had been aware of the alleged talks. The answer to that question may determine if there is just one trial, or if it is split in two between the Rosenstrachs, and Haag and Gaylord. Marcelle also said he would consider dropping all the charges against the four defendants. Handy was beaten nearly to death. The judge said lawyers have until April 14 to make arguments for or against dismissal of the charges. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Mary Dempsey reports in Columbia-Greene Media that there were more student fights at Hudson Junior Senior High School on April 4. Police were arriving at the school for another matter, and came upon students fighting. School officials did not reveal any details of the fight nor any disciplinary action. There have been several reports of fights at the school recently. Hudson Superintendent of Schools Lisamarie Spindler made a statement asking for parents to stop the repeated violence at the school, saying, “I have urged parents and guardians to speak with their students about the importance of proper behavior, of abiding by staff directions and of exercising appropriate judgment to avoid escalating inappropriate incidents.... I also urged them to monitor their children’s social media use and to talk with them about appropriate behavior on, and in response to, social media channels.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Liz Montgomery reports for Porcupine Soup that on April 3, the Town of Cairo voted to approve a visit from National Parks Service to the town's 387-million-year-old fossil forest, in an effort to get it listed as a National Natural Landmark. The fossil forest is an extensive root system of trees that existed during the Devonian Period millions of years ago. In 2019 a group of scientists from Binghamton University, the New York State Museum, and Cardiff University said it is the oldest fossil forest on the planet. Right now, the former sandstone quarry behind the town's highway department is not open to the public. Sylvia Hasenkopf, president of the Cairo Historical Society, discussed how long it might take for the forest to be named a National Natural Landmark, saying, “It has been my experience in working with the National Parks programs that the collection of information, the preparation of the designation packet, and the presentation to the review board takes two to three years once the process has begun in earnest." Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Nancy Kern reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the New York State Thruway Authority holds a public information meeting April 18 at the Robert C. Antonelli Senior Center in Catskill to discuss their plans to replace a Cauterskill Road Bridge at I-87 next year. An April 5 statement from the Authority said, "The existing structure will be replaced with a new bridge featuring increased vertical clearance, safety guiderail, snow fencing and a new riding surface. Approximately 870 vehicles per day travel over the Cauterskill Road Bridge.” The work replacing the 68-year-old bridge will cause substantial detours. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

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