Jim Planck is reporting in The Daily Mail police have new information in the Audrey May Herron disappearance. Herron, the 31-year-old married mother of three from Freehold, disappeared in August 2002, after finishing her shift as a licensed practical nurse at the former Greene County Long-Term Health Care Center in Jefferson Heights. Neither Herron, or her black 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee have ever been found. State police Senior BCI Investigator Peter Kusminsky said Wed., May 11, the state police are actively investigating a couple of new leads. He said police were looking at an area on Cauterskill Road and Cauterskill Creek in Catskill Tuesday, but nothing relevant to the case was found. Kusminsky said the circumstances and locations of the other leads could not be divulged, because the investigation remains active. State police ask that anyone who might have information about the case call (518) 622-8600. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Roger Hannigan Gilson and Katie Kocijanski are reporting in the Register-Star U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Wed., May 11, he will seek to retrieve untapped federal funds to expand broadband service in New York. The funding was scheduled to be rerouted to other states after Verizon Wireless failed to use the money in New York. The funding came from the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund. The six-year award, totaling $170 million, was intended to expand broadband service to rural areas. The money was offered to Fairpoint Communications, Frontier Communications, Verizon Wireless and Windstream, Schumer said. The reason behind Verizon’s failure to use the federal funds is unknown, Schumer said. The Connect America Fund money was available for the eastern two-thirds of Columbia County and the area of Greene County that borders Delaware County, according to the FCC. Columbia and Greene counties have the worst broadband coverage in New York, according to July 2014 data from the state Broadband Program Office. Read the full story in the Register-Star.

Matthew Hamilton is reporting at Capitol Confidential former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam Skelos, will be sentenced on federal corruption charges Thu., May 12, in Manhattan. The two men were arrested in May 2015 on charges they conspired in an effort to trade legislative favors for personal and political benefits. They were convicted in December. Federal prosecutors argued the Long Island Republican exerted political influence to benefit the environmental technology company AbTech, which scored a $12 million contract for a stormwater-remediation project in Nassau County, and Glenwood Management, a major real estate firm with financial and personnel ties to AbTech. Prosecutors argue federal guidelines call for a 15-year sentence for Dean Skelos, and a 12-year sentence for Adam Skelos. The defense is seeking community service. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison in a separate federal corruption case a little more than a week ago. Former Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson will be sentenced next week on federal charges of obstructing justice and lying to federal investigators. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Melanie Lekocevic in the Greene County News reports that the U.S. Department of Labor ruled CSX Transportation violated a federal safety act when it suspended a Selkirk-based employee who reported numerous alleged safety hazards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined CSX more than $32,000 in damages and attorney’s fees for its action against the whistleblower. The employee, a union official, sent a letter September 6, 2013, to his supervisor detailing alleged safety hazards and violations of the Federal Railroad Safety Act. Management gave the whistleblower a five-day suspension on December 18, 2013, “for an alleged safety infraction,” OSHA officials claim. Then in March 2014, the employee raised the issue with a complaint to OSHA. CSX must pay $27,735 in attorney’s fees and $5,000 in punitive damages, as well as expunge his employment records of the suspension. Read the full story in the Greene County News.

The Albany Times-Union reports that honey production statewide increased nine percent in 2015 with more than 3.6 million pounds produced. New York is the top honey producer in the Northeast, and now has entered the top ten nationwide. and for the first time in a decade among the top 10 states nationally. State officials say beekeepers earned almost $10.6 million last year, up $1.2 million from 2014. Read the full story in The Albany Times-Union.

Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail a new countywide public transportation system will be available to Greene County residents beginning next month. The system will operate as a partnership between the county and Ulster-Greene Arc. All Ulster-Greene Arc routes will be open to the public as of June 1. Greene County Transit will offer five daily routes, Monday through Friday, plus a Catskill shuttle run. The system will also offer daily routes, including one to Hunter on Wednesday and another to Windham on Friday. Director of Greene County Economic Development, Tourism and Planning, Warren Hart, said the merger with Arc had been in the works for a while. He said public feedback on the system is not only encouraged, it is needed. Hart said seven new buses will be operated by Arc, and all the buses will come equipped with a wheelchair lift for handicapped accessibility, two-way radios, dual GPS systems, back-up cameras, an internal security camera system and a public address system. The transit system’s website will launch at the beginning of June. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Matthew Hamilton in Capitol Confidential reports that the New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the state not allowing farmworkers to organize. Cuomo, it seems, agrees with the NYCLU, saying in a statement May 10 that the flaw in the state labor relations law is “unacceptable,” and may be a violation of the state Constitution. “I agree with the NYCLU that the exclusion of farm workers from the labor relations act is inconsistent with our constitutional principles, and my administration will not be defending the act in court,” Cuomo said. “We will not tolerate the abuse or exploitation of workers in any industry. This clear and undeniable injustice must be corrected.” The New York Farm Bureau was not happy with Cuomo's statement. “The NYCLU’s assertions regarding farmers and their treatment of their employees are erroneous, insulting and disparaging and we are frustrated that the governor’s statement does not even recognize this fact,” Farm Bureau President Dean Norton said in a statement. “Up until now, he has publicly praised the dairy industry and agriculture in general for the good jobs that they create. It should also be pointed out that farmworkers are not the only employee class that does not have the ability to collectively bargain by virtue of the nature of their job. The governor’s position, in choosing not defend the state’s labor law, represents a disservice to farmers that make up the backbone of our rural economy.” Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.

Local weather forecast

Today: Sunny. High near 78. Thursday night, a chance of showers, mainly after 5 a.m. Partly cloudy. Low around 50.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
FRIDAY: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 3 p.m., then showers likely. High near 66. Friday night, a chance of showers, mainly before 8 p.m. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy. Low around 48.
SATURDAY: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Partly sunny. High near 68. Saturday night, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 37..

Sunrise today: 5:35 a.m.
Sunset today: 8:07 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 14:31 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

CHATHAM Village meeting, 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 77 Main Street, Chatham (392-5821).
CLAVERACK Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 91 Church St., Mellenville (672-7911). COPAKE Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mountainview Road, Copake (329-1234).
GALLATIN Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 667 Route 7, Ancram (398-7519).
HUDSON Industrial Development Agency meeting to consider potential PILOT agreement with Redburn Development, 10 a.m.; Planning Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.; both at City Hall, 520 Warren St., Hudson (828-1030).
KINDERHOOK Planning Board workshop meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
LIVINGSTON Town board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 119 County Route 19.
NEW BALTIMORE Planning board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 3809 County Route 51, Hannacroix (756-6671).
STUYVESANT Town board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant (758-6248).
WINDHAM Town board meeting, 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 371 State Rt. 296, Hensonville (734-4170).

Photo from lawanddisorder.com

The New York Times reported that Michael Ratner, the civil liberties lawyer who also hosted the "Law and Disorder" radio show (which originated on WBAI and airs on WGXC at 10 a.m. Mondays), died May 11 from complications of cancer, according to his brother, Bruce, the property developer and an owner of the Brooklyn Nets. Ratner, 72, may be best known for successfully challenging the United States government’s detention of terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay without judicial review. He also headed the Center for Constitutional Rights, and sued New York City to end wholesale stop-and-frisk policing. "Law and Disorder," with co-hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Steven Smith is a weekly syndicated radio program discussing access to rare (on the radio) legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, the right to dissent, and torture.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Wed., May 11 (3:41). (Produced by Alanna Medlock.)

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