Some of the stories that made the news from Fri., Jul. 8 through Sun., Jul. 10:

Greg Hudson reported in The Daily Mail the Greenville Town Board has passed a law to amend the town's zoning code to include regulation of commercial solar farms. Because of a recent change in the state law, commercial solar providers are talking to homeowners about setting up large commercial solar arrays on their property. “We had guidelines in our zoning about residential solar, but nothing for commercial,” Supervisor Paul Macko said. “This is much larger-scale than what people are allowed to put on their roofs.... Companies want to have access to 5, 10, 15, sometimes 20 acres of land to lease for solar harvesting.” The board voted unanimously in favor of the new commercial regulations.

Mid-Hudson News Network reported the proposed Dutchess Community College 2016-17 budget includes a $168 hike in tuition, an additional $1.3 million infusion from the county and the hiring of five additional educators. All this comes as enrollment is down by approximately 1,000 students. Dutchess County Legislator Joseph Incoronato, a Republican and fiscal conservative, called the budget unsound at a legislative committee meeting last week. He said the $64 million spending plan shows revenues are down by $3.2 million and spending is up $3.4 million. Legislator Joel Tyner, a fiscal liberal, suggested the county should use some of its $57 million rainy-day fund to negate the need for a tuition increase. DCC President Pamela Edington told county lawmakers the school must plan for the long term. The full Legislature will take up the college’s proposed budget at its regular meeting this week.

Emilia Teasdale reported in the Columbia Paper the Ichabod Crane Board of Education held its annual reorganizational meeting last week. At that meeting, Anthony Welcome was elected and sworn in as board president, and John Chandler was selected and sworn as vice president. During the regular meeting that followed, the board was advised that the district's new professional review plan has been drafted and submitted to the New York State Education Department for review. Melissa Murray, the district administrator in charge of the Annual Professional Performance Review, said everything in the plan was the product of the collective bargaining process with the teachers' union. Once the plan is reviewed and approved by the Education Department, the document will be posted at Ichabod Crane [dot] org. According to Murray, Ichabod Crane is one of 190 districts, out of nearly 700 statewide, that have submitted their evaluation plan in time for the start of the new school year.

Events are planned this week in response to the recent killings of two black men by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota. On Mon., Jul. 11, Showing Up for Racial Justice Hudson will call on the Hudson Police Department at the department's headquarters on Warren Street, to demand a public condemnation of the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile; and request that police provide an outline of the steps they will take to ensure the safety of everyone within their jurisdiction. The Staley B. Keith Social Justice Center will hold a vigil in memory of Sterling and Castile beginning at 6 p.m., Tue., Jul. 12, at the Columbia County Courthouse. And Hudson Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton announced on Facebook plans for a community conversation at 5 p.m., Wed., Jul. 13, at the Hudson Senior Center with havemembers of the law enforcement community, including the Hudson Police Department, New York State Police, and Columbia County Sheriff's Department. Hamilton invited the community to attend, "...to discuss the recent spate of devastating deaths we've witnessed around the country, and the effects we're suffering individually and as a community.....Let's open up the dialogue and, together, begin to heal."

Greg Hudson reported in The Daily Mail residents and elected officials gathered Fri., Jul. 8, under rainy skies to break ground for a new 10,000 square foot firehouse and emergency shelter in Prattsville. The building that currently houses the Prattsville Hose Company on Main Street was severely damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in August, 2011. “I want to thank all the members of the Prattsville Hose Company,” said former Fire Chief Tom Olsen. “I look forward to standing here with all of you in the spring of 2017 as we open the doors.” Rep. Chris Gibson, state Sen. George Amedore and Assembly member Pete Lopez all spoke, acknowledging the extraordinary progress made in the recovery effort during the past five years.

Michael Ryan reported in the Windham Journal the Windham Town Board has approved a request to form an independent Architectural Review Board, which will function separately from the local planning board. The board was created after residents raised concerns that not enough was being done by community leaders to protect the town’s fragile historic district. The district starts at the Windham Village Cemetery, passes through downtown and ends on the west side of Main Street just past the Catskill Mountain Country Store and Restaurant. Town officials will define the duties and authority of the new board in the coming weeks, including a possible minimal stipend for members.

Local weather forecast:

Today: Mostly sunny. High near 77. Monday night, partly cloudy. Low around 56.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
TUESDAY: Partly sunny. High near 84. Tuesday night, mostly cloudy. Low around 64.
WEDNESDAY: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. Mostly sunny. High near 90. Wednesday night, partly cloudy. Low around 70.

Sunrise today: 5:30 a.m.
Sunset today: 8:31 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 15:01 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

ASHLAND Town Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, Main Street, Ashland (734-3636).
CAIRO Town Board public hearing on the Local Law for Defense and Indemnification of Employees and Officials, followed by general meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 512 Main St., Cairo (622-3120).
CANAAN Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 1647 Co. Rte. 5, Canaan (781-3144).
CATSKILL Village Board meeting, 7 p.m. at the Firehouse, 1 Central Ave. (behind Walgreens) (943-3830).
CLAVERACK Planning Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 91 Church St., Mellenville (672-7911).
COPAKE Environmental Committee meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
GREENE COUNTY Legislature County Services and Public Works committee meetings, 6 p.m. at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
GREENPORT Town Board special meeting, 5 p.m. at Town Hall, 600 Town Hall Dr., Greenport (828-4656).
GREENVILLE Town Board special meeting, 7 p.m. at Greenville Town Hall, 11159 Route 32, Greenville (966-5055).
HUDSON public hearing to hear public comments on the city of Hudson’s community development needs, and to discuss the possible submission of one or more Community Development Block Grant application for the 2016 program year, 6:30 p.m.; Common Council Informal meeting, 7 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St., Hudson (828-1030).
HUNTER Village Board meeting, 8 p.m. at Village Hall, 7955 Main St., Hudson (263-4020).
NEW BALTIMORE Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 3809 Rt. 51, Hannacroix (756-6671).
PHILMONT Village Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 124 Main St., Philmont (672-7032).
PRATTSVILLE Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 14517 Main St., Prattsville (299-3125).
TAGHKANIC Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 909 Route 82, Taghkanic (851-7638).

Click here to download or play an audio version of this report.

Wired reports Facebook has launched "Secret Conversations," a beta feature that a small number of users are now testing that encrypts messages end-to-end, so know one can read the communications except for the sender and receiver. All of Facebook's 900 million users will be able to opt-in to encrypted messages later this summer. Facebook and its WhatsApp will both be encrypted, the largest services on the internet providing secure communication. Viber added encryption for its 700 million users, and Google announced in May that its messaging app Allo would also offer opt-in end-to-end encryption. Facebook is using Signal, which was created by the non-profit Open Whisper Systems, and is also available as an app on its own. “This... brings access to encrypted messaging to nearly a billion more people,” says Matt Green, a Johns Hopkins computer scientist. “If you make a list of all the messaging services that have end-to-end encryption and the ones that don’t, we’re starting to live in a world where the ones that don’t are mostly in China.”

Greg Hudson reports in The Daily Mail that Greenville passed a law to amend the town's zoning code to include regulations of commercial solar farms. Because of a recent state law change, commercial solar providers are talking to homeowners about setting up large commercial solar arrays on their property. “We had guidelines in our zoning about residential solar, but nothing for commercial,” Town Supervisor Paul Macko said. “This is much larger-scale than what people are allowed to put on their roofs.... Companies want to have access to 5, 10, 15, sometimes 20 acres of land to lease for solar harvesting.” The board voted 4-0 in favor of the new commercial regulations, with councilmen Richard Bear, John Benson, Greg Davis and supervisor Macko in favor and Councilman Ken Stern absent. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Click here to play or download an audio version of this report.

Andrea Sears reports that School may be out for the summer, but kids who rely on free and reduced-price meals at school don't have to go hungry. The federally funded Summer Food Service Program fills the food gap when schools are closed.

In the five boroughs, said Triada Stampas, vice president for research and public affairs at the Food Bank For New York City, the program is open to all children, providing two free meals a day at locations throughout the city.

"With summer meals, there is no enrollment form, no identification, no documentation required to participate," she said. "It really is open to any child, 18 and under."

Free summer meals are available to children across the state, although some locations may have eligibility requirements. Parents can locate the nearest site by calling 311 in New York City or 211 in the rest of the state. However, many families aren't aware of the program, and Stampas said the Food Bank sees a spike in the number of children relying on other food services in the summer.

"So, we know that families that struggle to put food on the table have a harder time when school is out," she said, "because their reliance on a food pantry or soup kitchen tends to increase."

When the Food Bank surveyed people using food pantries and soup kitchens, they found two-thirds were not taking advantage of the summer meals program for children, and most didn't even know about it.

As with free meals in schools, food provided through the summer meals program must meet U.S. Department of Agriculture standards for nutrition. According to Stampas, research has shown that gaps in nutrition can have long-term consequences for kids.

"Poor nutrition can show up as obesity, as diminished academic achievement," she said. "It can turn up as diminished health on a number of indicators."

She said Summer Food Service Program meals are available until schools open again in September.

More information is online at fns.usda.gov.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Sun., Jul. 10 (6:45). (Produced by Tom Roe.)