Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail a project that would have created a walkway along Canal and Factory streets in the village of Catskill has been put on hold. The Catskill Village Board held two public hearings this week to consider a proposal to make Factory Street one way westbound from Main Street to Water Street, and to close Canal Street to vehicular traffic. After much discussion, the board decided to not close the streets to drivers. The initial request to close the two streets came from a proposal made in June by Planning Board Chairman William Zwoboda [Zwhoh-BODA], and Elizabeth LoGuidice [LOW-ju-diss], a community educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties. Their suggestions came from the plans for a village walking loop connecting Water Street and the Black Bridge. A number of residents and business owners came out for the public hearings Wed., Aug. 24, to voice their opposition to the plan. Other residents suggested a traffic feasibility study be conducted to count the number of cars that regularly travel up and down Main Street. Editor's note: LoGuidice is an active WGXC programmer. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Victoria Addison is reporting in the Register-Star a black bear was spotted in the yard of a Ghent resident early Wed., Aug. 24, where it destroyed a bird feeder. Audrey Craft, who lives near the woods on Harlemville Road, said she first saw the bear at 6:30 a.m. This is the first time Craft has seen a bear in Ghent, although she did hear something about a bear sighting nearby, on Konig Road. She said, “I wasn’t scared, just amazed that there was one here in Ghent. The bear was here for about a half hour.” Craft said she does not plan to refill the bird feed for a few days to discourage the bear from returning. Read the full story in the Register-Star.

Patricia Doxsey is reporting in the Daily Freeman Columbia and Ulster counties are two of six counties among the 57 located outside of New York City with vaccination compliance rates for school-age children below 95 percent. According to the report issued Thu., Aug. 25, by the New York State Comptroller's Office, during the 2014-15 school year, the compliance rate in both counties was 94 percent. Dutchess and Greene counties each had a 98 percent compliance rate among students attending school. According to the report, higher than average vaccination exemption rates contributed to the below-average immunization rates in the counties that missed the 95 percent threshold. In Columbia County, the exemption rate was 3 percent, in Ulster County, 2 percent. Greene County's exemption rate was 1.2 percent. State law requires all children be vaccinated against a variety of communicable diseases, including measles, before entering school. However, the law allows for exemptions for medical and religious reasons. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Bill Mahoney is reporting at Politico New York on what a suggested legislative pay raise could mean in real dollars. He writes it could be a record high, even when adjusting previous salaries for inflation. At a meeting last month of the Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation, it was suggested lawmakers could early nearly $117,000 next year, a 47 percent increase in their current annual salary. Any increase would require approval by at least one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's three appointees to the commission. Several of them have expressed skepticism about raising lawmakers' pay at all. According to Mahoney's calculations, over the past 50 years, lawmakers have earned an inflation-adjusted average of $91,000 per year. With their raise to $79,500 in 1999, the legislative salary was equal to nearly $115,000 today, Mahoney writes. If the suggested increase is approved, the new amount would result in the biggest difference between legislators' salaries and the amount earned by a typical New Yorker. On average, lawmakers have made about 1.71 times as much as the typical New York household, but the suggested increase could raise that ratio to more than twice what a representative New York household brings in. Read the full story at Politico New York.

Darrah Cloud and David Simpatico write in The Poughkeepsie Journal about Paul Ricciardi and Jeff Mousseau, who have started performances again at the Ancram Opera House. “There was something about the building,” Mousseau said. “The nature outside is a part of what’s inside. We wanted to create dynamic artistic experiences in which people really connect, to the work and to each other, then release them out into this landscape which is so rich, so that the experience stays with them longer.” The opera house opened as a Grange Hall in 1927, and Sept. 3 singers Carol Lipnik and Joseph Keckler perform. Ricciardi and Mousseau previously worked at the Kennedy Center and at Stageworks/Hudson, and taught at SUNY Albany and CUNY. Read the full story in The Poughkeepsie Journal.

Chris Bragg reports in The Albany Times-Union that the year that the leaders of both legislative branches, from both parties, were sentenced to prison on corruption charges, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed on Aug. 24 a tepid ethics reform bill mostly aimed at non-profit government oversight groups rather than politicians. The bill imposes new restrictions on outside spending groups in New York elections, and also requires disclosures from nonprofit lobbying groups and donors. The bill, "was passed by the Legislature in the late-night hours of the final day of the legislative session in June. Many aspects of the measure received little or no public discussion before it was printed and voted upon," Bragg writes. And the legislation does not address the larger ethical issues such as the so-called "LLC loophole" in election law. "Through enhanced enforcement and increased penalties for political consultants who flout the law, this new legislation will root out bad actors and shine a spotlight on the sordid influence of dark money in politics," Cuomo said in a statement, though the story noted few others lauded the legislation. Read the full story in The Albany Times-Union.

Robert Freeman, the executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, writes in The New York Daily News that while anyone can use the state’s Freedom of Information Law to look up information about any state employee except for police officers or correction officers, who are exempt under section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law. That law says that personnel records about police and correction officers that “are used to evaluate performance toward continued employment or promotion” are confidential. Freeman writes that the Committee on Open Government has recommended for years that the exemption from disclosure should be changed, as, under the current system, "the public has no right to know when a police or correction officer violates a rule or otherwise is found to have engaged in misconduct," Freeman writes. Read the full story in The Daily News.

Local weather forecast:

Today: Isolated and severe thunderstorms are expected Friday morning, mainly before 10 a.m. Cloudy through mid-morning, then gradual clearing. High near 88. Friday night, mostly clear. Low around 61.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
SATURDAY: Sunny. High near 86. Saturday night, mostly clear. Low around 62.
SUNDAY: Sunny. High near 87. Sunday night, scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight. Partly cloudy. Low around 65.

Sunrise today: 6:15 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:37 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 13:21 hrs.


PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

HUDSON Historic Preservation Commission public hearing on the application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for renovation of the rear addition and garage at 314 Union Street, Hudson, as part of its regular meeting, 10 a.m., at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Thu., Aug. 25 (4:56). (Produced by Alanna Medlock.)