Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail the Catskill Village Board's objection to the proposed purchase of the former St. Patrick’s Central Catholic High School by the Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties emerged during a public meeting, Wed., Jun. 8. At that meeting, the village board was presented with a petition declaring opposition to the project signed by 198 property owners in the Woodland Avenue neighborhood where the building is located. The petition stated the residents generally disapproved of any future use of the property which would require a building or special use permits, a variance or rezoning. Village President Heather Bagshaw said, “We are all in agreement we do not want this project to go forward.” Village Trustee Vincent Seeley suggested the planning board hold a special session to see how the property can be developed and what zoning rules are needed. The MHA is currently under contract to purchase the 10-acre site for use as a centralized facility to serve Greene County. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

The Daily Freeman is reporting a herd of goats from Rhinebeck will return to work clearing weeds for the state Bridge Authority this summer. Authority Executive Director Joseph Ruggiero said, “The goats did an outstanding job last year. Not only are they cute and furry, they eat almost anything and make our job a lot easier.” A dozen goats will reside under a section of the Walkway Over the Hudson and the Mid-Hudson Bridge and clear the land of poison ivy, weeds and all other overgrown vegetation. Areas cleared by the goats last year grew back much more slowly than previous attempts at brush clearing, officials said.

Matthew Hamilton is reporting in the Times Union a new report from a prisoner advocacy group has leveled a number of abuse claims against staff at the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility. The abuse allegedly occurred in the wake of the escape of two men from the lock-up last June. Hamilton writes the Correctional Association of New York report describes an increase in abusive behavior by employees, excessive use of solitary confinement and rampant racism. The association recommends the prison be shut down along with Attica, another facility marred by allegations of abuse. Among the most common allegations: Retaliation for speaking out through the grievance process or to the media, officers interfering with individuals' food, and officers writing false disciplinary tickets. Pleas for officers to be required to wear body cameras and for more minority officers to be stationed at the prison in rural Clinton County also are common in the report. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Karrie Allen reports in the Chatham Courier that Chatham schools need a new superintendent, and on June 7, the board explained how the process of hiring will work. The board wants to announce a new superintendent in mid-January, and have hired consultant Lucy Martin to meet with the administration, students, teachers, noninstructional staff, and the community beginning with a Sept. 12 with school staff. “We want good, honest feedback; we need to hear it all,” board President Melony Spock said during the meeting. Read the full story in the Chatham Courier.

Julia Reischel reports in The Watershed Post that the Onteora Central School District Board of Education voted 5 to 2 on June 7 to switch the school’s Indians mascot, changing their team names to the Eagles. The Ulster County school district previously changed the name in the year 2000, which exploded into a bitter culture war with death threats, vandalized tires, and national coverage in The New York Times. Jack Warren, a senior at Onteora High School and the vice president of Onteora’s Human Rights Club, said, “There are plenty of people who are upset, and they have every right to be; the mascot meant a lot to them. But it was time for it go to. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t mourn the loss of it.” In Greene County, the Coxsackie-Athens school also uses the Indians nickname. Read the full story in The Watershed Post.

Scott Waldman in Politico New York reports that since blood results were released June 3, residents of Hoosick Falls, and politicians representing them, continue to call for hearings in Albany about the water poisoning. The story says the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo has not released the full results, telling reporters instead that the results range from "non-detect" to "greater than 200 parts per billion," although Hoosick Falls residents are saying they received much higher results. Richard Klapp, a professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health wants the state to show the geographic distribution of test results, to find areas where exposures may be higher. On June 7, U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice of Long Island, became the highest-ranking Democrat to call for hearings on how the state and federal government handled the Hoosick Falls crisis. Rep. Chris Gibson previously announced support for hearings, and on June 9, State Assemblymember Steve McLaughlin (R-Melrose) waged a Twitter war against Cuomo's lack of action on the water issue in Hoosick Falls, and Kemp Hannon, the chair of the New York State Senate's Health Committee, about why he is not holding hearings. Waldman reports there is little interest anywhere in Albany for hearings. "Senate GOP Majority Leader John Flanagan walked away from a reporter on Monday rather than answer a question as to why he had not called for legislative hearings into water quality issues around the state. On Tuesday, Basil Seggos, acting commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, left his bag behind because he skipped out of a committee hearing so quickly before a reporter could ask him questions," Waldman wrote. Now Hoosick Falls is not the only community now facing PFOA contamination in New York, with nearby Petersburgh suffering a similar problem in its municipal water supply. And Newburgh has recently tested positive for a high level of PFOS, or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, which is similar to PFOA. Read the full story in Politico New York.

Today is Day 9 of the WGXC All Together Now! 2016 Summer Pledge Drive. WGXC programmers, volunteers and staff are in the process of raising $20,000 to keep WGXC Hands-on Radio on the air, live and local during the coming months. Your support will make all the difference. Call 518-697-7400 or go online to wgxc.org [slash] donate. Thank you for supporting creative community radio in New York's Greene and Columbia counties.

Local weather forecast

Today: Sunny. High near 70. Friday night, mostly clear. Low around 47.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
SATURDAY: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny. High near 76. Saturday night, the National Weather Service in Albany is forecasting the potential for severe thunderstorms, with potential damaging wind gusts and hail. Mostly cloudy. Low around 60.
SUNDAY: Isolated showers. Mostly sunny. High near 73. Sunday night, partly cloudy. Low around 53.

Sunrise today: 5:18 a.m.
Sunset today: 8:31 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 15:13 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

Today is the second 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 meeting, 10 a.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).

February marked 20 years since then-President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which deregulated several media industries, and has led to fewer media choices for consumers. Just five years after the act passed Salon reported that just two radio companies — Clear Channel and Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting — controlled one-third of all radio advertising revenue, and The Hill reported that only four phone companies — Verizon, SBC, BellSouth and Qwest — handled 95 percent of local telecommunications service. Today, 97 percent of Americans have at least three choices for mobile phone service. A study from the Federal Communications Commission in 2006 called "Review of the Radio Industry" found that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States increased. At the time the Act was passed in 1996 there was a large pirate radio movement committing civil disobedience on the airwaves to prove that there was room for more stations on the air. A Philadelphia-based pirate group that organized others reported getting calls from commercial radio owners at the time who, forced by the economics the Telecommunications Act created, were being forced to sell their stations to large conglomerates. A Future of Music study in 2002 found that, "Since passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Clear Channel (now called iHeartMedia) has grown from 40 stations to 1,240 stations — 30 times more than congressional regulation previously allowed." And that study also found four parent companies control two-thirds of the nation’s radio news format listeners with, Viacom and Disney’s ABC Radio, also control major television networks. Since 1996, joint operating agreements have halved the number of television news organizations in most markets. So while there may be more media choices 20 years after the Telecommunications Act passed, in many formats, those "choices" are controlled by just a handful of companies. Common Cause has said, “In many ways, the Telecom Act failed to serve the public and did not deliver on its promise of more competition, more diversity, lower prices, more jobs and a booming economy.... Instead, the public got more media concentration, less diversity, and higher prices.”