Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail Crossroads Brewing Company is looking for grant funding to help with its expansion into Catskill. At its meeting last week, the Catskill Village Board voted to support the brewery’s bid for a $322,000 community development block grant from the state of New York. Catskill Village Trustee Jim Chewens said, “This is a no-brainer for us. The business is looking to bring its canning and brewing operations to Catskill. They are looking to use the money to assist with the purchase of new equipment for their move.” Crossroads purchased Columbia-Greene Media’s former printing building, located on Water Street. The award-winning brewery's second location will be sited adjacent to the Black Bridge, part of the Catskill Creek Walking Loop. The Athens brewery will remain open, co-owner Ken Landin said. The hope is the Catskill location will allow the company to expand its beer distribution statewide. A public hearing on the community development block grant proposal will be held September 14. Ed. note: Landin is an active WGXC programmer. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting in The Columbia Paper the region could face shortages of EMS providers and firefighters, according to information presented to the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee this month. P.J. Keeler, the county EMS coordinator, reported the service already has problems finding paramedics and EMTs. Demand for them is growing in the region, he said. Keeler suggested reasons for the shortage include both pay scale and the job's increasing physical, technical and ethical demands. He said, “The demands are so great that after a certain point, people physically are unable to do it.” Paramedic and EMT duties have also increased. “Things you couldn’t do years ago are now expected,” Keeler said. To alleviate the shortage he would like to see more promotion in high schools of emergency medical service as a career. And Keeler said he would like a more consistent EMS policy countywide. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Roger Hannigan Gilson is reporting in the Register-Star a brush fire burned approximately one acre of land on Lockwood Road in Hillsdale, Mon., Aug. 29. A nearby house was not touched. Craryville Fire Chief William Baker said the structure was never in any real danger. Baker said his department was dispatched just before 1 p.m., and the fire was out less than 30 minutes later. No one was injured in the incident, which remained under investigation as of late Monday afternoon. August is late in the season for brush fires; most brush fires happen from mid-March through mid-May, according to the National Weather Service in Albany. Read the full story in the Register-Star.

Casey Seiler is reporting at Capitol Confidential the state Department of Environmental Conservation Mon., Aug. 29, declared the municipal landfills in Hoosick Falls, Petersburgh and Berlin to be potential state Superfund sites. The DEC said in statement released Monday afternoon, “Preliminary investigations indicate that the sites may contain perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which New York State listed as a hazardous substance on January 27, 2016, making these sites eligible for potential placement on the State Superfund Site Registry.” The agency said further investigation will determine if PFOA was disposed of in the landfills and whether any resulting contamination poses "...a significant threat to public health or the environment.” The state declared the Saint Gobain Performance Plastics site in Hoosick Falls to be a Superfund site in January, immediately after declaring PFOA to be a regulated substance. Seiler reports the DEC insisted there is no connection between the timing of its announcement and the legislative hearing scheduled to begin Tuesday. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.

Greg Hudson is reporting in The Daily Mail bridges in Durham, Leeds and Windham will undergo repairs this month. The work is being done by the Greene County Highway Department. The repairs will close or alter traffic patterns on the bridges for four to five weeks. The bridges are located on Route 23B in Leeds, a historic structure also known as the Stone Bridge, on County Route 27 in Durham and on County Route 65 in Windham. Work will be done on the roadbed, bridge railings and support bearings for each span. Greene County Highway Superintendent Robert Van Valkenburg said the cost for all three projects is an estimated $2.5 million, with state and federal funds paying 95 percent of the cost. While work is being done, the bridges may be closed to traffic in one or both directions. Van Valkenburg said, “The project should take four or five weeks and there may be some traffic issues to go with it, but the end product with be better bridges for Greene County." Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

CBS Sports is reporting for the first time since 1964, New York has won the Little League World Series. The team from Endwell, Broome County, won the title game 2 to 1 over the team from Seoul, South Korea in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Sun., Aug. 28. South Korea was looking to capture its second title in three years. “It was all of our last years in Little League, so it’s just awesome to know we all came together and we’re the best team in the world,” Conner Rush told his hometown paper, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. Rush's single in the fourth inning scored the game’s first run. New York beat the team from Goodlettsville, Tennessee for the U.S. Championship on Saturday. South Korea beat the team from Panama to win the International Championship. The last New York team to win the Little League World Series was a club from Staten Island, 52 years ago. Read the full story at cbssports.com.

Scott Waldman is reporting at Politico New York the state Senate Tue., Aug. 30, will hold the first of three legislative hearings on the Hoosick Falls water crisis and statewide water quality issues. The hearing Tuesday will be chaired by state Sen. Kathy Marchione and held at Hoosick Falls High School. Marchione delayed calling the hearings until after the Assembly and members of Congress said they were necessary. On Sept. 7, the state Assembly and Senate will hold a joint hearing in Albany on water quality issues. And on Sept. 12, the assembly will hold a water quality hearing on Long Island. Hundreds of Hoosick Falls residents have been found to have elevated levels of PFOA in their blood stream. The chemical was used for years by local factories and made its way into the local water supply. Among the questions expected to be asked during the hearings: Why did it take so long for local, state and federal regulators to sound a public alarm? What will St. Gobain and Honeywell be expected to pay for? And why is there no bio-monitoring program in place for the impacted communities? Read the full story at Politico New York.

Local weather forecast:

Today: Patchy fog before 9 a.m. Otherwise, sunny. High near 79. Tuesday night, partly cloudy. Low around 60.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
WEDNESDAY: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4 p.m. Partly sunny. High near 86. Wednesday night, a chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8 p.m., then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m., then a chance of showers after 2 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 64.
THURSDAY: A chance of showers, mainly before 2 p.m. Partly sunny. High near 78. Thursday night, partly cloudy. Low around 57.

Sunrise today: 6:20 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:31 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 13:11 hrs.


PUBLIC MEETINGS

Today is the fifth Tuesday of the month.
WGXC suggests calling ahead to confirm time and location.
All numbers are in the 518 area code unless otherwise noted.

COLUMBIA Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors meeting, 8:30 a.m. at 4303 Route 9, Hudson (828-4718).

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Monday, Aug. 29 (2:59). (Produced by Alanna Medlock.)