Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson has introduced legislation to address some of the issues related to the federal disaster assistance process. If passed, Gibson said the legislation would create a process for disaster assistance applicants to receive notice of what financial help they are eligible for, and what the impact would be for accepting or declining certain types of aid. Applicants would also be told if they are entitled to receive additional forms of assistance and what the repayment requirements or penalties might be. Gibson said most residents were not aware of the complex rules that govern disaster assistance when they applied for help in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy. “This constituent-driven bill brings fairness and clarity to a system that’s vital to rebuilding our communities,” Gibson said. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Julia Reischel is reporting at the Watershed Post a fire started by a man in the Ulster County town of Shandaken Mon., Apr. 25, burned five acres of forest on the south face of Garfield Mountain in the Catskill Forest Preserve. Within 20 minutes of being set, the blaze was out of control, according to a press release from Shandaken Police. The man has been charged with negligently starting a forest fire, a state environmental violation. Twenty local fire companies and police agencies worked for 6 hours before getting it under control. Shandaken is one of New York state's designated fire towns, where burning is heavily regulated throughout the year because of the high risk of sparking forest fires. Read the full story in the Watershed Post.

Brian Nearing is reporting at Capitol Confidential the state Department of Environmental Conservation is charging the operators of a 538-foot ship from the Marshall Islands with dumping oil in the Hudson River at Rensselaer on Fri., Apr. 22, Earth Day. The South Wind transports scrap metal around the world. The ship's captain told DEC Environmental Conservation Officers the spill was caused by a backup of pressure in the ship's waste oil tanks. Crew members collected the spilled oil and at least 20 gallons was discharged directly into the river. The captain and owner of the ship were issued violations, including failure to contain waste oil, unlawful disposal of used oil, and failure to report an oil spill. The oil dissipated before the spills response team could contain it. According to the DEC, the oil dump had a minimal environmental impact. The incident remains under investigation. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential.

Yancey Roy in Newsday reports that State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman OK'd online voter registration in Suffolk County. The Long Island county would be the first in the state to allow online voter registration. Assistant Solicitor General Kathryn Sheingold wrote in the opinion that state election law would allow an electronic signature on a voter registration form. Schneiderman said the opinion opened, “a new era of truly online voter registration, an incredibly exciting step that will help make the state election process more accessible and simpler for all.” Read the full story in Newsday.

The Daily Freeman reports that rain April 26 dampened a wildfire at Sam’s Point in the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, but it was still active in the afternoon, and has now burned an estimated 2,000 acres. Christopher Tarantino, public information officer for the state Incident Management Team, said that the brush fire would likely burn throughout the night despite rainfall. He also worries about the dry forecast for the rest of the week. Flames have risen as high as 80 feet, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office sent 70 firefighters more firefighters to the scene April 26. Read the full story in The Daily Freeman.

Timothy Knight in The Watershed Post reports that former State Assembly Minority Leader John Faso, who is running for the Republican nomination in New York's 19th Congressional District, was also a lobbyist for the Constitution Pipeline since serving in Albany. The Constitution Pipeline, one of four proposed to criss-cross the area, was denied permits by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation on April 22. The pipeline would have run from northern Pennsylvania to Schoharie County, largely along I-88. Faso, who is based in Kinderhook, defended the natural gas that would flow through the pipelines. "The reason [New York state has had] an almost 25 percent decline in carbon dioxide is because we replaced coal with natural gas," Faso said. Millbrook oil executive Andrew Heaney and Hamden businessman Robert Bishop are running against Faso in a June 28 primary election. Read the full interview with Faso in The Watershed Post.

Local weather forecast

Today: Partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny. High near 61. Wednesday night, clear. Low around 32.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny. High near 59. Thursday night, a slight chance of showers after 3 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 39.
FRIDAY: A slight chance of showers. Partly sunny. High near 59. Friday night, a slight chance of showers before 9 p.m. Partly cloudy. Low around 39.

Sunrise today: 5:54 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:51 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 13:57 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

ATHENS Village Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Community Center, 2 First St., Athens (945-1551).
CATSKILL Village Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Washington Irving Senior Center, 15 Academy St., Catskill (943-1343). COLUMBIA County Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee meeting, 5 p.m. at 401 State St., Hudson (828-1527).
COPAKE Hamlet Revitalization Task Force meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mountain View Rd., Copake (329-1234).
HUDSON Common Council Public Works Committee meeting, 5:30 p.m., Legal Committee, 6:15 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
PHILMONT Village Board Workshop meeting, 7 p.m., Village Hall, 124 Main St., Philmont (672-7032).

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

On April 25 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Justice Department announced approval of Charter Communications merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, deals valued at $88 billion. The two Internet service providers combined could control 70 percent of the nation's 25Mbps-and-up broadband subscriptions, Ars Technica reports. Last year's FCC Net Neutrality ruling considered internet service a public utility, and in this public utility, one company owns more than two-thirds of the market. The Justice Department only approved the merger with the prohibition that the combined company may not enter into anti-competive deals with programmers that would keep shows and movies off streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. The FCC says Charter agreed not to impose data caps on users for seven years, and must abide by the net neutrality rules even if the rules are overturned in a federal appeals court case. “The cumulative impact of these conditions will be to provide additional protection for new forms of video programming services offered over the Internet,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said. Free Press President Craig Aaron disagreed. "Customers of the newly merged entity will be socked with higher prices as Charter attempts to pay off the nearly $27 billion debt load it took on to finance this deal," Aaron said. "Charter and Comcast now have unprecedented control over our cable and Internet connections. Their crushing monopoly power will mean fewer choices, higher prices, no accountability and no competition." The new company will be the second-largest broadband provider, with 19.4 million broadband subscribers, and third-largest video provider, after Comcast and DirecTV, with 17.3 million customers.

Dan Udell recorded the sometimes-contentious April 19 Hudson Common Council meeting, that seemed to have lost its way around senior center funding. WGXC airs an excerpt of this recording at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 26 on the "WGXC Evening News," a new, expanded one-hour broadcast. Local news headlines, breaking updates, national headlines from Public News Service, plus an interview with a different local newsmaker every day are included. Today: Holisitc Practicioner Fran Sussman talks about her work and experience with Lyme disease, interviewed April 25 on "Roots, Runners, Rhizomes" hosted by Sarah Falkner and Lauren Giambrone on WGXC. We tune in the contentious April 19 Hudson Common Council meeting about senior center funding. Reports about several pipelines proposed to criss-cross the area are also included. Radio News looks into what the FBI paid to hack the San Bernadino terrorists' iPhone.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Tue., Apr. 26 (2:38). (Produced by Alanna Medlock.)