Raymond Pignone in Columbia-Greene Media rewrites the newspaper's story about the March 20 public hearing on The Woods, the Clover Reach Partners’ housing project. The first story the paper ran about the public hearing had the headline "Bald eagles to be protected under proposal," even though the story purported to be about a public hearing, where a majority of residents opposed the projects, and evidence was introduced about the project's danger to bald eagles. The new story begins quite differently: "A majority of residents at a March 20 hearing on The Woods, the Clover Reach Partners’ housing project, want the planning board to tell the developer to go back to the drawing board, obtain an independent environmental review, answer residents’ questions, show evidence supporting the proposal and do more to protect wildlife habitats." The project would build 16 expensive single-family homes on 22 acres along Summit Lake in Philmont. Many speakers at the meeting questioned why the planning board failed to do a full environmental review for such a large project. Local poet Karen Schoemer said, “This is out of Henry David Thoreau. When we clear land, deforestation will change the habitat and the ecology. I’ve had 10 sightings of juvenile bald eagles, so I know they are there. These birds are entrenched and it’s against the law to disturb them. It’s hard to understand why the planning board did not go for a full review. We have to hold the planning board up to the standards of law and subject this project to a full environmental review.” The new story did not refer to the first story, or explain why the newspaper now ran a different account. Read more about this story in HudsonValley360.com.

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The Daily Freeman reports that Dutchess County says it will create more than 600 affordable rental units through the county’s new Housing Trust Fund. The governor, and many local officials, have identified the lack of affordable housing as one of New York's largest problems. Dutchess County Executive William O’Neil says six projects in southern Dutchess County will receive a share of $8.9 million through the initial funding round of the Housing Trust Fund’s Housing Creation and Preservation program. Households making between 30 percent and 80 percent of the Dutchess County area median income, which for a family of four is $112, 400, are eligible for the new housing. A Housing Needs Assessment study reported renters earning less than $50,000 faced the greatest housing challenges in Dutchess County. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Andrea Macko reports at Porcupine Soup that employees at the Greene County Family Court are collecting donated prom dresses to give away to local students. Kari Hendrickson, a Family Court intern and student at the College of St. Rose, said, “The chief clerk of Greene County Family Court, Paula Wright, myself and the other intern, Katie Hammond, wanted to do a fundraiser to give back to the community we serve.... Katie and I are both Master of Social Work interns at Family Court and wanted to start a fundraiser that following interns could participate in as well.” They are looking for more than just dresses, also accepting donations of tuxedos, shoes, or accessories from now until April 16. Anyone with an item to donate can arrange for pick-up by contacting Hendrickson or Hammond via email at hendricksonk752@strose.edu or knhammond@albany.edu. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

Mid-Hudson News reports that Columbia, Dutchess and Westchester all had 3.3 percent unemployment rates in February, which was the Hudson Valley average. Greene County was at 4 percent and Delaware County was at 4.5 percent. Columbia County's unemployment rate was the same in January, and slightly higher, at 3.5 percent, a year ago. Greene County's rate improved from 4.1 percent a month ago, and 4.5 percent a year ago. Ulster County was at 3.5 percent, better than the 3.8 percent rate in January, and the 4 percent rate a year ago. Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

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Steve Hughes, Rachel Silberstein, and H. Rose Schneider reports in the Times Union that just after another school shooter killed seven in Tennessee March 27, the main hospital in Albany had its own gun incident. A gun was reported in the afternoon at Albany Medical Center Hospital, which then went on lockdown. Eventually police found Dino Savoca barricaded in his 97-year-old mother's room at the hospital with a BB gun and a shotgun. Police exploded a “flash-bang” distraction grenade outside the hospital, to arrest Savoca without incident. He pleaded not guilty on charges of second-degree kidnapping and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both felonies, as well as second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor. Police said Savoca, "did not want to leave his mother and pointed what appeared to be a handgun at an individual who had arrived to the patient’s room to transport her to the different facility." Police later searched his Colonie home and found the gas turned on and candles and incense burning. Albany County Public Defender Eric Kauppila said the office would not seek a mental health evaluation. The New York State Nurses Association said it "is deeply disturbed by the safety breach that took place last night at Albany Medical Center," and said the union has previously proposed active shooter drills, metal detectors, and additional security in the Emergency Department. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Matt Martinez, Scott Stafford, and Heather Bellow report in The Berkshire Eagle that at least three Berkshire County schools got threats phoned in on March 28, the day after a major school shooting in Tennessee. The three schools saw lockdowns and a large police response after the threats to Pittsfield High School, Drury High School in North Adams and Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington. Police said all the threats were hoaxes. All three schools resumed classes after the lockdowns were lifted. Read more about this story in The Berkshire Eagle.

Diane Valden in the Columbia Paper reports that the Town of Copake is fixing its long-dormant ice skating rink, and upgrading it for pickleball courts in the summer. At a March 9 meeting, the town board approved almost $80,000 for the improvements. The town will start with two pickleball courts, but has room for two more if demand warrants. While ice skating has been around 4,000 years according to Wikipedia, pickleball is new and Copake Highway Superintendent/Park Superintendent Bill Gregory said it has “somehow become incredibly popular in Copake and everywhere else.” Read more about this story in the Columbia Paper.

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Liz Montgomery reports for Porcupine Soup that Catskill High students left school early on March 27 because of a broken pipe discovered beneath the building. High school students have been shifted to remote learning for the rest of the week. Superintendent Melissa A. Barrow said, “A broken pipe was discovered under the building that was used by our science classes. The broken pipe is in an isolated area in the high school crawl space.” All after-school sports will meet in the middle school gym for the rest of the week, the school said. In December, the Catskill middle school building was closed for several weeks and students moved to the high school after an old valve attached to a water main broke. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that the Association of Towns and the New York Conference of Mayors issued a joint statement March 27 applauding Gov. Kathy Hochul's incentive-heavy approach to adding affordable housing in New York. "Housing growth targets, transitoriented development, and state funding all remain, with the addition of a strong, community driven and incentive-based program in which municipalities throughout the state will be poised to participate," the groups said in the statement. The state budget is due April 1, and there should be major housing funding in the plan. "There is no silver bullet solution to the housing crisis," said Sochie Nnaemeka, the state director of the Working Families Party. "But there are proposals currently on the table that would protect tenants from exorbitant rent increases, stem the rising tide of evictions, and end outdated zoning laws that have foreclosed on opportunities for generations of Black, brown, and working class New Yorkers." Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

On March 27, Assemblymember Chris Tague crowed about how he, "authored, introduced and passed a legislative resolution memorializing March 25-31, 2023 as Farmworkers Awareness Week in the state of New York." But while Tague was honoring farmworkers today, a month ago, he was one of the loudest advocates for not allowing farmworkers to get paid in the same way as other workers. On March 27, his press release called Tague, "A staunch advocate for New York State agriculture." On Feb. 22, a Tague press release said, "I am deeply disappointed that Commissioner Reardon did not listen to common sense, or most importantly, the farmers and farm workers impacted and reject this downstate-driven policy that has no place in our farms." Tague was commenting on the state, ten years from now, getting farmworkers overtime pay in the same way as everyone else. Currently, farmworkers have to work 60 hours to get overtime pay, while all other workers get overtime after 40 hours. The New York State Department of Labor is easing in the change gradually, so it will be another decade before New York farmworkers get overtime pay the same way that everyone else does. Tague, a Republican, represents Greene and Schoharie counties in the Assembly.

I am so happy to announced today I passed a legislative resolution memorializing March 25-31, 2023 as Farmworkers Awareness Week in the NYS! This week commemorates all the ways farmworkers have enriched our lives, and we thank them. Without farms, there is no food. pic.twitter.com/tVd4wTbFN5

— Chris Tague (@chrisWCtague) March 27, 2023

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Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman that xylazine, a powerful veterinary sedative, is showing up regularly in overdoses in Ulster County. Ulster County Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith said, “It’s not a new drug per se.... But it’s something we’re just starting to hear more and more about.” The drug is called “tranq” or “tranq dope,” and is a central nervous system depressant that can cause drowsiness and amnesia, can slow breathing and the heart rate, and can cause blood pressure to drop to dangerously low levels. Vets have used it on animals since 1972, but it is not approved for human use. “Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Anne Milgrim said in a March 20 public safety alert. On March 26, New York Senator Chuck Schumer said, "I am asking the DEA, which has just issued the alert, to focus on stopping Xylazine, this evil drug in New York City. The DEA has diversion control teams. They are agents in law enforcement, but they're also chemists and other kinds of doctors, and they can swoop in on an area and deal with a drug problem." In Ulster County, toxicology reports showed the presence of xylazine in two of the 66 opioid-related deaths in Ulster County in 2020 and four of the 71 opioid overdoses in 2021, and ten in 2022. The drug is especially dangerous because as a sedative and not an opioid, Narcan will not reverse the effects of xylazine. Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa said, “We definitely know it’s out there, it’s just a matter of detecting it.... We are talking about it and we’re going to definitely talk about it more in the future because it’s an issue that people need to know about.” While Schumer is proposing legislation on the federal level, in Albany state Sen. James Skoufis introduced legislation last week to designate xylazine as a schedule III depressant-controlled substance, which he said would make its possession a crime. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Heather Bellow reports in The Berkshire Eagle that a report released March 23 showed a record spike in incidents targeting Jews in Massachusetts and New England in 2022, with three in the Berkshires. There were anti-semitic incidents in West Stockbridge, Adams, and Williamstown in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s new audit on incidents against Jews. There were 152 incidents in 2022 in Massachusetts, 41 percent higher than the 108 reported in 2021. Peggy Shakur, interim regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, explained about the incident in West Stockbridge, where a couple were waiting to enter a parking space at the Olivia’s Overlook trailhead, saying, “The woman pulling out of the space they were waiting for started spewing antisemitic insults at them with no provocation and no indication that they were Jewish, which it turns out they were." Former Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington last year said her office has seen “a shocking rise in hateful incidents over recent years targeting Jewish, Black and Latino communities here in Berkshire County.” Read more about this story in The Berkshire Eagle.

The Daily Freeman reports that Rep Marc Molinaro will speak at the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce Breakfast at the Diamond Mills Hotel and Tavern at 7:30 a.m. on April 12. Molinaro represents the 19th Congressional District, and says he will discuss the workforce shortage, combating inflation, and encouraging business development in the Hudson Valley in the address. It costs $30 for members, and $40 for non-members to attend the event and hear Molinaro speak. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Mid-Hudson News reports that the Metro-North trains on the Harlem and Hudson lines have new schedules beginning March 26. There is a little less weekend service to make more time for track repairs through June 10. Regular weekend service resumes on June 11. There are also a few minor adjustments to weekday service on all Harlem and Hudson lines. Read the full story at Mid-Hudson News.

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