Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail four construction firms are under consideration for the proposed Greene County Jail project. The firms that applied to manage construction of the new county lock-up are BBL Construction Services of Albany, Turner Construction Company of New York City, Gilbane Building Company of Providence, Rhode Island, and the Pike Company of Clifton Park in Saratoga County. Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said interviews with representatives of the four firms are scheduled for next week. Groden said the plan is to have the project out for bid by January 2017. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

John Mason is reporting in the Register-Star Columbia County's Emergency Management Services has been named EMS Agency of the Year for 2015. The county EMS system includes the Greenport, Valatie, Northern Dutchess and Community rescue squads. According to officials, the cooperative has responded to more than 12,000 standby assignments and more than 2,000 911 calls since it was established. Columbia County EMS has reduced response time an average of almost seven minutes per call. Before the new system was created, the county had 10 individual ambulance agencies, all operating independently. The county EMS brought them together to ensure all areas of the county are covered at all times. Read the full story in the Register-Star.

William J. Kemble is reporting in the Daily Freeman public input sessions will be held this week on a corridor management plan for state Route 9G, from county Route 78 to the state Route 199 traffic light. According to a representative of the Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council, there are two primary goals for the workshops. One is to educate the public, and the other, to obtain feedback. Elements of the plan include prohibiting a right-on-red turn at the intersection of Route 9G and Kelly Road; evaluating a possible speed limit reduction near Budds Corners Road; adding a pedestrian-bicycle sidewalk or trail between Bard College and Montgomery Place; and, developing a trail through the Tivoli Bays Wildlife Management Area to connect Bard with the village of Tivoli. The sessions will be held at noon, Wed., May 11, in the multipurpose room of Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College, and at 6:30 p.m., Thu., May 12, at Tivoli Village Hall. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Matthew Hamilton is reporting at Capitol Confidential state lawmakers are being pressed to develop and pass legislation before the end of the session requiring lead and copper water testing at the tap in New York schools and, if necessary, remediation of contamination. No formal legislative proposal exists yet, but advocates, including those from the New York League of Conservation Voters and the New York Public Interest Research Group, say they are in talks with lawmakers and the governor’s office. The goal of legislation enacting a five-point action plan is not just to test for contamination but also to make testing consistent statewide. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.

Katie Kocijanski is reporting in the Greene County News harsher penalties could soon be imposed on convicted animal abusers in New York if a new amendment to Buster’s Law is passed into law. "Kirby and Quigley's Law," would make the killing of a pet during the commission of a crime a felony. The measure is named for two family pets shot and killed during a burglary in Florida, Montgomery County in February. State Sen. George Amedore, a sponsor of the legislation, said the enhanced penalty would "serve as a deterrent to make criminals think twice before executing an animal or face additional jail time.” If found guilty a person could be sentenced to two years in state prison and be subject to a $5,000 fine. The measure was passed by the Republican-controlled state Senate for the third time in March. Republican Jim Tedisco is the sponsor of Kirby and Quigley’s Law in the Democrat-controlled state Assembly. According to Tedisco, the Assembly majority will not even consider the bill. Read the full story in the Greene County News.

The Daily Freeman is reporting the sixth annual Senior Citizen Day will be held at Historic Catskill Point Fri., May 20. The event is sponsored by the Greene County Department of Human Services. Department representatives will offer information about services available for residents over the age of 60, and local organizations and businesses will have information about services of interest to older citizens. The event will take place between noon and 3 p.m. Parking will be at Dutchman’s Landing. Shuttles will be available.

Rick Karlin is reporting in the Times Union lawyer Peter Henner from New Scotland has filed suit in State Supreme Court in Albany County to halt the review of bids in the Cuomo administration's $500-million program to expand broadband access across the state. Henner alleges the guidelines used by Empire State Development to award the competitive bids were based on unreasonable grounds and without proper consideration. The broadband initiative is promoted as an effort to expand the number of New Yorkers who get broadband service,. The state will provide grants to entities that can bring broadband to those who are under-served or not served. Henner and other critics are concerned the program could allow bidders to skip areas or regions that are remote and costly to reach. "Millions of New Yorkers do not have access to a reasonable Internet connection, which is synonymous with access to broadband. These New Yorkers are severely disadvantaged," Henner wrote. Henner also mentioned in court papers several residents within the greater Capital Region currently without broadband, which complicates their ability to operate businesses. Judith Elliot-Brown of Greenville, works with computer-aided design files, but is hindered by the slowness of her satellite Internet link. She lives less than a mile from a line operated by Mid-Hudson Cable. Another company, 4750 Realty, has manufacturing space in Durham. But they were told that getting high-speed Internet there would require a $15,000 installation fee and a five-year, $9,000-per-year commitment. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Local weather forecast

Today: Areas of frost before 7 a.m. Otherwise, sunny. High near 67. Tuesday night, mostly clear. Low around 40.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
WEDNESDAY: Sunny. High near 72. Wednesday night, clear. Low around 43.
THURSDAY: Sunny. High near 76. Thursday night, a slight chance of showers after 2 a.m. Partly cloudy. Low around 50.

Sunrise today: 5:38 a.m.
Sunset today: 8:05 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 14:27 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

CATSKILL Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
CHATHAM Board of Education hearing on 2016-17 budget and special business meeting, 6:30 p.m. at high school, 50 Woodbridge Ave., Chatham (392-2400).
CHATHAM Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at 488 Route 295, Chatham (392-3262).
COXSACKIE Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, Reed St., Coxsackie (731-2727).
GERMANTOWN Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 50 Palatine Park Road, Germantown (537-6687).
HILLSDALE Town Board public hearing to establish Conservation Advisory Council, 6:45 p.m.; regular meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, Main St., Hillsdale (325-7563).
HUDSON Waterfront Advisory Steering Committee meeting, 6 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St., Hudson (828-1030).
ICHABOD CRANE Board of Education public hearing on 2016-17 budge, 7 p.m.; school board candidate forum, 7:30 p.m. at high school, 2910 Route 9, Valatie (758-7577).
LEXINGTON Planning Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 3542 Rte. 42, Lexington (989-6476).
STOCKPORT Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 2787 Atlantic Ave., Stottville (828-9389).
TACONIC HILLS Board of Education public hearing on 2016-17 budget, Central Office, 73 County Route 11A, Craryville (325-2800).

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

Gizmodo pulls back the curtain on the supposedly neutral, computer-based algorithm of "trending" news on Facebook, which turns out to be none of those things. The site interviewed several former contract workers for Facebook who were curators, chosen to pick which stories Facebook features as trending news who said they were told to increase the profile of certain stories, and to ignore others that were popular among users. "In other words, Facebook’s news section operates like a traditional newsroom, reflecting the biases of its workers and the institutional imperatives of the corporation. Imposing human editorial values onto the lists of topics an algorithm spits out is by no means a bad thing—but it is in stark contrast to the company’s claims that the trending module simply lists 'topics that have recently become popular on Facebook,'" Gizmodo wrote. The story's allegations that conservative news was played down by Facebook seems less impressive. One anonymous former Facebook news curator says, “I’d come on shift and I’d discover that CPAC or Mitt Romney or Glenn Beck or popular conservative topics wouldn’t be trending because either the curator didn’t recognize the news topic or it was like they had a bias against Ted Cruz.” That sounds like a problem in any newsroom, not particular to Facebook. Another quote says, “Every once in awhile a Red State or conservative news source would have a story. But we would have to go and find the same story from a more neutral outlet that wasn’t as biased." Did they follow the same procedure with first-sources from the far left? Probably the curators searched for more sources, and sources they knew and could trust, just like regular journalists. Facebook's news curation may have a bias against conservative news, and tends towards mainstream sources and stories, just like many other news outlets, and that part of the story seems very accurate. See the full story in Gizmodo.