Gail Heinsohn is reporting in the Chatham Courier results of PFOA tests performed in March at the Dewey Loeffel Superfund site in Nassau are in. While PFOA-related compounds were found in the groundwater, the levels were well below the Environmental Protection Agency’s provisional health advisory minimum, according to a report from Town Supervisor David Fleming. Fleming called for the testing because of the site's history of water contamination and ongoing water quality issues in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh. The EPA agreed to test both the groundwater and the effluent coming from the Dewey Loeffel water treatment facility, Fleming said. He said it appears filtration at the plant has had an impact on potential contamination. Between 1952 and 1968, an estimated 46,000 tons of toxic industrial waste were dumped at the Dewey Loeffel site. The EPA has verified the waste included industrial solvents, waste oil, PCBs, scrap materials, sludge and solids. Read the full story in the Chatham Courier.

Bethany Bump is reporting in the Times Union school spending plans in the 42 districts in the Capital region were overwhelmingly approved by voters in the annual budget vote and board elections held Tue., May 17. On average, Capital Region schools are prepared to spend and tax more than other districts around the state. Spending will rise 2.87 percent at schools across the region next year, compared to 2.1 percent statewide. Districts were generally able to avoid huge tax hikes in the coming school year due to a large increase in state aid. In Columbia and Greene counties, all propositions were approved, Tuesday. In Chatham, three Board of Education incumbents were re-elected by a wide margin. In Ichabod Crane, incumbent Michael Stead was unseated, while newcomers Matthew Nelson and Jeffrey Ouellette were the top vote-getters. Incumbent Anthony Welcome took third place. In Cairo-Durham, all four propositions passed, including the proposal to purchase a third of an acre of land to expand the Cairo-Durham Elementary School parking. And in Catskill, the Catskill Public Library budget passed on a four to one margin. Overall, local voter turnout appeared low. In Catskill, a total of 450 voters weighed in on the proposed spending plan; in Hudson, a total of 641 people cast a budget vote.

Jim Planck is reporting in The Daily Mail according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the owner of Zula, the plains zebra found dead in Greene County Mon., May 16, was not required to have a license. The animal escaped in the Palenville area last week, and it is believed the zebra fell to its death from a steep cliff. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday owner Richard Myer is not a USDA licensee. She said the zebra was privately owned, which is not regulated by the Animal Welfare Act. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has now gone on record expressing concern about the incident, and is encouraging the USDA to look into the matter. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Nick Reisman in NYStateofPolitics.com reports that gridlock is the latest excuse from Albany for the lack of ethics reform. "Lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly differ on a range of anti-corruption measures, including an amendment that would strip those convicted of corruption of their pension," he writes. Recently, leaders of both parties and both legislative houses have been sent to prison on corruption charges, but Albany has passed no ethics or transparency reforms this session. While the legislators are not passing bills, several are under investigation, but, they say, that has not put a cloud over Albany. “I don’t think it affects anybody���s mood or morale,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said. “We have a responsibility. We have 15 days left in the session and we know we have work to get done.” Read the full story in NYStateofPolitics.com.

Valerie Volcovici reports for Reuters that the Constitution Pipeline Company LLC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals May 16 against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ruling last month denying a water permit for the project. The proposed 124-mile natural gas pipeline would lie largely along the I-88 corridor from Schoharie County to Pennsylvania. "We are ultimately seeking to have the court overturn this veiled attempt by the state to usurp the federal government's authority and essentially 'veto' a FERC-certificated energy infrastructure project," the pipeline owners said in the statement, referring to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Last week, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called on FERC to delay its December 2014 approval of the project until completing a probe into whether Constitution partners illegally cut trees and disturbed wetlands along the pipeline path before approval of permits. Read the full story at Reuters.

Assemblyperson Pete Lopez (R,C,I-Schoharie) hosts education forums in Cobleskill next week, and May 18 in Saugerties. The event, at 6 p.m. May 18 in the Saugerties High School auditorium will include Dr. Peg Luksik. Dr. Luksik has more than 35 years of experience in special education and elementary education and she has taught at every level from pre-school to college," Lopez said. "She has extensive experience in both traditional classrooms and alternative educational settings. Dr. Luksik has also worked for the U.S. Department of Education and is uniquely qualified to discuss these issues.”

Congress has passed on hearings over the water in Flint, Michigan, and Matthew Hamilton reports in Capitol Confidential that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said May 16 that the State Assembly does not yet need to hold hearings on the Hoosick Falls water contamination problem. “The state took proper action and we want to look more at the results,” he said at an unrelated event. “We didn’t say that we wouldn’t do them, we just don’t think it’s necessary absolutely at this point. We think the state has taken action to resolve the issue in Hoosick Falls and other places around the state that may have those issues.” Perfluorooctanoic acid has poisoned the Hoosick Falls water, and Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, has called for a congressional investigation of the state and federal responses to the situation in the Rensselaer County town where the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant superfund site in the village of Hoosick Falls is the original source of the problem. Read the full story in Capitol Confidential, a Times-Union blog.

Local weather forecast

Today: Mostly sunny. High near 67. Wednesday night, mostly cloudy. Low around 46.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
THURSDAY: A chance of showers, mainly after 11 a.m. Partly sunny. Hihg near 66. Thursday night, partly cloudy. Low around 46.
FRIDAY: Sunny. High near 72. Friday night, partly cloudy. Low around 50.

Sunrise today: 5:30 a.m.
Sunset today: 8:13 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 14:43 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

CATSKILL Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors Human Services Committee meeting, 5 p.m.; Sewer Sub-committee meeting, 6 p.m. at County Office Building, 401 State Street, Hudson (828-1527).
GREENE COUNTY Legislature regular meeting, 6:30 p.m.; Planning Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.; both at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
GREENE COUNTY Planning Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. in Room 427, County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
HUDSON Zoning Board of Appeals meeting (tentative), 6 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St., Hudson (828-1030).
STUYVESANT Zoning Revision Committee meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Dr., Stuyvesant (758-6248).
TACONIC HILLS Board of Education meeting, 6:30 p.m. at high school, 73 County Route 11A, Craryville (325-0390).

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

The Atlantic magazine reports that there are some days in Iraq when students have tests in school, and the country's entire Internet is shut down. For the second year in a row the government ordered Iraqi telecom companies to shut down to the Internet to prevent cheating, according to human-rights groups. An Internet analytics company called Dyn logged a pattern of three-hour long blackouts during the testing period there. Access Now, a digital rights advocacy group, reports that there have been 12 government-mandated Internet blackouts around the planet this year. Uzbekistan’s government also shut down the internet during school exams in 2014, and the same thing happened this year in Gujarat, a state in northwest India. But, usually, unrest or elections are the reasons behind Internet shutdowns.

From will4congress.com

Will Yandik, a Livingston farmer and journalist, is running in the Democratic primary for the 19th Congressional District seat currently held by retiring Congressman Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook). Yandik talked with Tom Roe May 17 on "All Together Now!" about what sort of representative he would be in Washington D.C., and his views on agriculture, the Farm Bill, Rural Broadband, the environment, and other issues before the June 28 primary election.

Click here to download or play this interview.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Tue., May 17 (3:42). (Produced by Alanna Medlock.)