Katie Kocijanski is reporting in the Register-Star St. Patrick’s Parish Church in the village of Catskill will soon close its doors for good. The Roman Catholic Diocese made the announcement in Albany, Mon., May 23. Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger broke the news to the congregation. The church, located at 159 Bridge Street, was built in 1885. It has been in poor structural condition for many years. “The funds are simply not available for the major work that would be needed to restore the church’s building and the rectory,” Scharfenberger said. Catskill Village President Heather Bagshaw expressed her disappointment at the announcement. The Bridge Street church has a long, storied history in the village and in Greene County. Bagshaw said, “As a Catholic who attended elementary and junior high at St. Patrick’s Academy, I am deeply saddened by this announcement.” Read the full story in the Register-Star.

Kate Seckinger is reporting in The Daily Mail long-time local newspaper columnist Richard “Dick” Nelson has died at the age of 76. Nelson was a sports and outdoor journalist for more than 50 years, writing for Columbia-Greene Media until his death, Mon., May 23. Nelson was born in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and began his career in the 1960s as a feature writer and outdoor columnist with the "Garden Spot News" and "Greenpoint Gazette." He moved to Greene County in 1975, and started writing a weekly outdoor column for "The Daily Mail." His outdoor column appeared as often as three times a week over the years. Nelson wrote a weekly golf column, as well. He also wrote for the "Times Union," "Amsterdam Recorder," and the "New York Daily News." Nelson was a parishioner of Sacred Heart Church in Palenville, a past grand knight of the Knights of Columbus, a member and past president of the state Outdoor Writers Association of America and the owner/manager of the J.R. Shooting Preserve. Nelson is survived by daughter, Margaret Muller, and son Richard Nelson Jr., a granddaughter and grandsons. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Lorna Cherot Littleway is reporting in the Columbia Paper organizers of the Oldtone Roots Music Festival have withdrawn their application for a permit to stage a four-day, post-Labor Day music event in Hillsdale. The festival features traditional mountain fiddling, bluegrass, hot swing, classic country, brass, cajun and contra music. Organizers met recently with members of the Zoning Board and the public and several residents raised concerns about traffic and safety. Festival planners intended the stage the event at Bridlewood, located at 35 Sir William Farm Road. They anticipated approximately 1,100 participants, including up to 800 campers for the advertised family-friendly event. Town officials expressed disappointment that Hillsdale will not be hosting the festival. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.

William J. Kemble is reporting in the Daily Freeman advocates for low-income residents say a state Public Service Commission directive to change energy-assistance programs will help reduce the number of gas and electric shut-offs, but more is needed to make a significant impact. The commission’s order requires utilities to provide $248 million toward rate reductions, more than double their current contribution of $136 million. Under the new requirement, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp.’s portion of the subsidy will increase from $4.2 million to $12.1 million. The requirement gives eligible customers anywhere between $23 and $72 off their electric bills and between $34 and $67 off their gas bills. Current discounts for these customers are fixed at $18 each for gas and electric bills. Spencer Resnick, an organizer for Energy Democracy Alliance member group Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, said the order is a victory of sorts, but noted the crisis has not been resolved. He said the voices and input of working-class communities must be central to any solution. Resnick said, "This is the first in a string of decisions that impact our members, and we expect the commission to continue to engage them.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Roger Hannigan Gilson is reporting in the Register-Star Hudson Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton has announced the Furgary Boat Club, located in the city's North Bay, will soon be open to the public. The announcement was made during an open house held to discuss the future of the North Bay on Sun., May 22. Hamilton said the fences that currently surround the site would be removed within a couple of weeks, and then fishing will be permitted. The actual shacks, however, will continue to be roped off because of structural weaknesses and to avoid further deterioration. At the announcement, a group of former Furgary residents expressed displeasure with the plans. The privately owned shacks were constructed without permission in the late 19th and 20th centuries along the shore of the Hudson River, within city limits. The structures were cleared of residents in 2012, because the owners never had property rights to the state- and later, city-owned land. Read the full story in the Register-Star.

Matt Hamilton is reporting at Capitol Confidential Republican John Faso is going after primary rival Andrew Heaney in his latest television ad, slamming Heaney for falsely attacking his record. Both Faso and Heaney are competing for the Republican line in the race for the 19th Congressional District seat currently held by Chris Gibson. Faso's ad intersperses clips and a narrator highlighting Heaney's past, a recent column in the Times Union that called Heaney’s attacks "serious hypocrisy” and the Post’s Fred Dicker discussing how Faso is “being smeared.” Faso’s campaign recently sent Heaney a cease-and-desist letter demanding his campaign stop “knowingly spreading falsehoods” in ads and statements. In response, Heaney urged the Faso campaign to sue. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.

The Daily Freeman is reporting the New York State Police will be on the lookout for motorists and passengers not wearing their seatbelts, beginning this week through Sun., Jun. 5. The effort is part of the annual “Buckle Up New York Campaign.” The focus of the campaign is on both drivers and passengers who are not buckled up as the summer travel season begins. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

The Times Union is reporting Dutchess County eighth-grader Alexandra Snyder joins 284 other contestants this week for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Alex, 13, a student at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, won the 34th annual Capital Region Spelling Bee in February, by correctly spelling the word, "validity." She has studied karate since she was 8 and is a black belt who competes on a tournament team. Alex also runs on the school's track and cross country teams. The national competition begins with preliminary tests Tue., May 24, in Oxon, Maryland, outside Washington D.C. Rounds two and three are Wednesday. The finals on Thursday will be broadcast live on ESPN 2. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Local weather forecast

Today: Scattered showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1 p.m. Cloudy. High near 72. Tuesday night, a chance of showers, mainly before 7 p.m. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear. Low around 56.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
WEDNESDAY Mostly sunny. High near 84. Wednesday night, partly cloudy. Low around 60.
THURSDAY: A slight chance of showers between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m. Mostly sunny. High near 83. Thursday night, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 62.

Sunrise today: 5:25 a.m.
Sunset today: 8:19 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 14:54 hrs.


PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

CANAAN Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 1647 County Route 5, Canaan (781-3144).
CATSKILL Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
CHATHAM CENTRAL Board of Education meeting, 6:30 p.m. at high school, 50 Woodbridge Ave., Chatham (392-2400).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors County Government Committee meeting, 5 p.m. at 401 State St., Hudson (828-1527).
COLUMBIA Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors meeting, 8:30 a.m. at 4303 Route 9, Hudson (828-4718).
GERMANTOWN Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 50 Palatine Park Road, Germantown (537-6687).
GREENE COUNTY Tourism Advisory Committee meeting, 10:30 a.m. at 411 Main St., Room 427, Catskill (943-3223).
GREENPORT Planning Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Greenport Town Hall, Town Hall Drive, Hudson (828-4656).
GREENVILLE Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 11159 Route 32, Greenville (966-5055).
HUDSON Development Corporation meeting (tentative), 12 p.m. at 1 N. Front St., Hudson (751-1044).

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

Once upon a time, the few opponents in Congress to the low-power FM bill then pending in Washington D.C., made up a fake compact disc and distributed it to legislators, claiming it contained the sounds of interference that low-power stations would cause over the signals of much more powerful full-power stations. Of course, giant full-power FM stations would interfere with small low-power FM stations, if radio engineering was incorrect, not the other way around. Now that Congress has allowed two different low-power FM bills to pass, and thousands of stations to go on the air, Radio World reported May 12 that the Federal Communications Commission made their first ruling on this issue. A Birmingham, Ala. FM station, WDJC, raised repeated concerns about interference from three planned LPFMs stations, all with religious-based programming. Kimtron Inc., part of Crawford Broadcasting claimed their high-definition digital signals were endangered by the low-power stations, but the FCC did not buy that argument, and still, no one has proved that low-power FM stations interfere with full-power stations.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local headlines for Mon., May 23 (6:42). (Produced by Philip Grant.)