Diane Valden is reporting in the Columbia Paper after more than two months behind bars, Larchmont resident and Copake landowner Salvatore Cascino [kah-SHEE-no] is free and engaged in his favorite activity, dumping. Valden writes that based on the observations of passersby and collected photographic evidence, Cascino is dumping with a vengeance, filling in the federal wetlands located along the east side of Route 22 in Copake. The dumping is taking place in full public view and he is not letting a cease and desist order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers slow him down. Cascino owns a 300-acre property along the east side of Route 22, which he calls Copake Valley Farm. During the past 18 years, he has been racking up violations of federal, state and town laws for illegal dumping, building and excavating at that location. Cascino was just released May 4, after serving 60 days in the Columbia County Jail. He was found guilty of criminal and civil contempt for repeatedly failing to comply with numerous court orders related to structures and dumping on his property. In an April letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he was ordered to immediately stop dumping in the federal wetland. To date, Cascino has not responded to the Army, or to queries from the Columbia Paper. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.

Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail an improved emergency services radio communications tower will soon be built on Hunter Mountain. The Greene County Legislature Public Safety Committee Mon., May 16, awarded a contract for the tower's construction to Pyramid Network Services of East Syracuse. Pyramid's was the lower of two bids submitted, at nearly $728,000. The Hunter tower relocation funds are part of a $3.5 million grant awarded to the county last fall by the New York State Interoperable Communications grant program, coordinated through the state's division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. Greene County Adminstrator Shaun Groden said the existing Hunter tower is the oldest tower in the county. It is more than 30 years old. Groden said the Hunter tower is one of the structures that will be replaced. Another tower leased by the county in New Baltimore will also be replaced. The new tower will be built in a new location, on land donated by the Hunter Mountain ski resort. The tower is expected to finished by Labor Day weekend. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Dan Goldberg is reporting at Politico New York New York state insurers selling health insurance plans on the individual market are asking the Cuomo administration to raise average premiums by more than 17 percent next year. The increase is a result of rising medical costs, decreasing federal funding and unwise assumptions about the health of consumers. The new rates would take effect in January, the fourth season for Affordable Care Act plans. The requested premium increases range from 6 percent for MPV and HealthNow, to Crystal Run's proposed 89 percent bump up. The state Department of Financial Services has the final say on premium increases. Last year, insurers requested an average increase of nearly 11 percent, but that was eventually reduced to 7.1 percent. Rate increases do not necessarily mean consumers pay more for plans, because the vast majority of people shopping on New York's health exchange receive federal subsidies in the form of tax credits. According to Goldberg, anyone who qualifies for a subsidy and signs up for one of the two least expensive silver plans should be protected from premium increases. Read the full story at Politico New York.

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

Andrea Sears reports that advocates for immigrants to the United States are rallying in Washington, D.C., this morning to condemn plans for a new round of deportations.

According to news reports, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ordered field offices to launch a month-long "surge" of raids targeting mothers with children who have been ordered to leave the country.

Carlene Pinto, immigration campaign manager for the New York Immigration Coalition, calls the plan "disgraceful."

"It is counterproductive and hypocritical that right now, we have an executive action that is being decided by the Supreme Court that would essentially grant deferred-action programs to this same community of people that are now being targeted," Pinto says.

In March, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told a Senate committee that a similar series of raids in January had helped slow an increase in undocumented immigrants from Central America entering the country.

But Pinto says most of those being targeted are fleeing extreme violence in their home nations, and returning them simply puts them back in harm's way.

"We do have, confirmed from 2015, 84 people that had been deported," she says. "And were victims and died shortly after being deported."

Pinto points out that, throughout the world, people facing immanent, pervasive violence migrate out of fear, for their lives and the lives of their children. She says many of those crossing the U.S. borders are no different.

"How are we not assessing the situation in Central America and then figuring out that these people that are fleeing these conditions also should be looked at as refugees," Pinto says.

Advocates for immigrants are calling on the Obama administration to halt the deportation raids and ensure that those fleeing violence are offered temporary protected status.

John Ferro in the Poughkeepsie Journal reports that when Bard College took ownership of the Montgomery Place estate in January, the school also got a couple of old dams. On May 16 Bard received $1 million in state funding Monday to help let a few of the state's 6,700 dams create electric power. Bard was one of three colleges that received a $1 million grant from New York State, and will create at least three hydroelectic projects, though maybe not on campus. “Innovation is at the core of Bard’s mission," Bard President Leon Bottstein said in a statement, "and this award helps us to continue to innovate in environmental issues and energy conservation, and to signal the importance of these issues to the entire higher education community.” Read the full story in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Eric Anderson of The Albany Times-Union reports that the weird spring weather is causing concern among local farmers. March was 7.7 degrees above normal, and then it snowed in April. There has been a drought, and now damp conditions have some farms too muddy to plant. Ed Miller of Goold Orchards in Castleton the freeze in April killed 80 to 90 percent of the apple blossoms that opened early in the March warmth. David Holck, county executive director for the federal Farm Service Agency in Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties, told the paper that one local farmer told him , at this point, he's planted less than half the corn crop as usual. Blueberries, strawberries, peaches, and apples have been damaged by the cold. "A lot of the planting is behind schedule," said Steve Ammerman, spokesman for the New York Farm Bureau. "We've had a fair amount of rain. We need more warm days." Read the full story in The Albany Times-Union.

Local weather forecast

Today: A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for the WGXC listening area. There will be widely scattered thunderstorms Thursday afternoon. Some of the the thunderstorms may contain small hail. Partly sunny. High near 67. Thursday night, partly cloudy. Low around 47.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
FRIDAY: Sunny. High near 73. Friday night, partly cloudy. Low around 50.
SATURDAY: A chance of showers, mainly after 2 p.m. Mostly cloudy. High near 69. Saturday night, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 50.

Sunrise today: 5:29 a.m.
Sunset today: 8:14 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 14:45 hrs.


PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

AUSTERLITZ Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 812 Route 203, Spencertown (392-3260).
CAIRO-DURHAM Board of Education meeting, 7 p.m. at high school, 1301 Route 145, Durham (622-8543).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee meeting, 5 p.m. at 401 State St., Hudson (828-1527).
GHENT Town Board meeting, 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
HUDSON Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting, 6 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St., Hudson (828-1030).
KINDERHOOK Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 3211 Church St., Kinderhook (784-2233). STUYVESANT Joint Zoning Law workshop, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Dr., Stuyvesant (758-6248).
WINDHAM Planning Board public hearing on site plan review application for Crown Fuels, 7:10 p.m. at Town Hall, Main St., Hensonville (734-4170).

The Indiana University Libraries announced May 3 a $25,000 grant from the National Recording Preservation Foundation to preserve rare, original recordings of "The Orson Welles Show," the live radio series produced beginning Sept. 15, 1941. The university says that internet chatter seems to indicate only eight of the 19 shows in circulation, but Indiana U. says they will restore 14 original lacquer discs, and other supposedly lost recordings. The university will create a website for the recordings, where users will be able to stream audio, search Welles' scripts, and access expert commentary. Mike Casey, IU's director of technical operations for the Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative, said they have 324 lacquer discs and about 100 accompanying paper scripts from old radio shows. "Most lacquer discs have an aluminum or glass base with a black lacquer coating," he said. "It contains the grooves that carry the sound. This is not a safe way to store a treasure -- lacquer discs are inherently chemically unstable and sometimes fail catastrophically."

Monthly Town of Catskill meeting audio from WGXC live webstream. There are several minutes of the recording missing near the beginning, along with a few sound problems at the beginning, but the sound improves.

Click here to download or play audio of this meeting.