Jim Planck is reporting in The Daily Mail New York State Department of Transportation representatives were on hand at Hunter Town Hall Tue., Apr. 19, to give an overview of the pending two-year project on Route 23A in Kaaterskill Clove. DOT [Dee-Oh-Tee] Project Manager Richard Filkins said the project is budgeted at $3 million and is designed to address both current and future problems. Filkins said the work will focus on slope repair, include a five-day road closure, either this year or next. Because DOT is only authorized to use state highways for the designated detour, the likely route during the closure will be over Route 296 to Hensonville and Windham, then down the mountain on Route 23 to Cairo and beyond. This will make the trip from Haines Falls to Catskill 40 minutes long, a trip that typically takes 20 minutes. During the rest of the time, there will be one-way alternating traffic at the construction locations. No more than two of the 10 work sites along Route 23A will be blocked at a time. DOT will hold a meeting with town and county emergency response personnel before the work begins to work out the details for how ambulances will get through the closure sections overnight. Work will begin this year at the site by the cliff face above Molly Smith's. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Matthew Hamilton is reporting at Capitol Confidential state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Wed., Apr. 20, his office fielded more than 1,000 complaints from voters statewide during the presidential primaries on Tuesday. The most common complaint received via the AG's hotline was from people who attempted to vote, but were told they were not registered. Other complaints came from potential voters who were told they were not registered to vote in the primary of their choice, or where about poll workers allegedly denying voters affidavit ballots when requested and a lack of privacy at polling places, accessibility issues and unclear instructions from poll workers. Schneiderman said his office has opened an investigation into alleged improprieties by the New York City Board of Elections after some 125,000 Democratic voters were purged from the rolls in Brooklyn. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential.

Marie J. French reports in The Albany Business Review that one of the four pipelines proposed to criss-cross the WGXC listening area won't be built. Kinder Morgan announced April 20 that it won't build the $5 billion Northeast Energy Direct pipeline to carry natural gas from New York to Massachusetts. The company blamed low energy prices, saying the project was canceled because of, "insufficient contractual commitments from customers in the New England market." Kinder Morgan spokesman Richard Wheatley said the company had filled about half of the pipeline's capacity, apparently not enough to move forward. The Northeast Energy Direct pipeline had not yet received federal or state approvals for construction, which would have run locally from run from Wright, in Schoharie County, to Dracut, Massachusetts. Read the full story in The Albany Business Review.

The Daily Freeman reports unemployment rates fell throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills, according to figures from the state Department of Labor released April 19. Dutchess and Columbia counties March 2016 unemployment rates were 4.1 percent, down significantly from 2015 when the Dutchess County had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate, and Columbia had a 4.8 percent rate. Greene County's rate fell from 6.7 percent in March 2015 to 5.5 percent this year. Statewide, the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, down from 5.7 percent this time last year. Read the full story in The Daily Freeman.

John Mason in The Windham Journal reports that Greene and Columbia counties are both cited as areas of “greatest concern" in a report from the New York State Comptroller’s Office. Almost every year since 2008, foreclosures have been higher-than-normal in New York, and the number of pending foreclosures rose 27 percent in 2015. In Greene County, pending foreclosures rose 105 percent over the last two reported years, and Columbia County also showed an more foreclosures over those years. Greene County Treasurer Peter Markou said, “We have a lot of properties, especially in the resort communities, that have been abandoned for years,” he said. Read the full story in The Windham Journal.

Locally, the ground is dry, and a residential brush burning ban remains in effect through May 14. In the past week there have been reports of brush fires in Hillsdale, Jewett, New Baltimore, Catskill, Greenville, Clermont, and Tannersville. The National Weather Service also has an "Elevated" Fire Weather Outlook for much of Connecticut, and Western and Central Massachusetts. On April 19, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation warned that most of the state was at high risk for brush fires. "Red flag warnings have been issued for the Upper Hudson Valley/Lake Champlain area, the Hudson Valley Region from Albany south, the Catskill Mountain region, in New York City and on Long Island," the DEC statement said. The National Weather Service predicts rain for Friday, and again on Monday, so some of the fire risk may be abated.

Audrey Matott is reporting in The Daily Mail the Greenville Board of Education has chosen to opt back into the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program for middle and high school students. The district launched a pilot food service program during the 2014-15 school year, but it proved too costly and without full federal aid the program accumulated a deficit. Board member Duncan Macpherson said, “While the students seemed to like the food better, the loss of federal aid was just too much of a loss.” The board made the decision to opt back in at this point in order to participate in cooperative food purchasing agreements for the 2016-17 school year. The elementary school has always been enrolled in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

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

Andrea Sears reports from New York News Connection for Public News Service that Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he supports holding a state constitutional convention, but advocates want more than words.

Every 20 years, New Yorkers get to vote on whether or not to hold a convention, and that ballot is coming up again next year. After all the corruption scandals in Albany, said Bill Samuels, head of the government watchdog group Effective New York, a constitutional convention could address such issues as campaign financing, term limits and redistricting.

"We shouldn't be afraid of one," he said. "We should let the people take a step back and analyze and put before the voters things that could improve our government and make our legislature the best in the United States."

Cuomo had said he would include $1 million in the state budget for planning a constitutional convention, but when the budget passed on April 1, the money wasn't there.

The governor's office has said Cuomo still is committed to holding a convention but the leadership in the state Legislature wasn't interested. Samuels said this is an issue where past governors have shown strong leadership.

"(Nelson) Rockefeller was for it. Mario Cuomo was for it," Samuels said. "The governor, like he does in many things, says he's for it but then doesn't do anything."

If voters approve a convention next year, three delegates would be elected from each Senate district the following year and the convention would take place in 2019.

After the leaders of both houses of the Legislature were convicted on corruption charges last year, reform became a top concern for New York voters. But for a convention to be an effective tool for reform, Samuels said, the work needs to begin now.

"The question," he said, "is whether the governor allocates money to really plan for it, and gets out and stumps for it and shows that he really is a reformer."

According to the governor's office, Cuomo is considering forming a preparatory committee by executive order, as his father had done when he was governor.

More information is online at nyconstitution.org.

Local weather forecast

Today: Sunny. High near 74. Thursday night, a chance of showers, mainly after 1 a.m. Increasing clouds. Low around 53.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
FRIDAY: A chance of showers before noon, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between noon and 2 p.m., then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2 p.m. Cloudy. High near 74. Friday night, showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8 p.m., then a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 49.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny. High near 59. Saturday night, mostly clear. Low around 36.

Sunrise today: 6:03 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:44 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 13:41 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee meeting, 5 p.m. at 401 State St., Hudson (828-1527).
COLUMBIA Economic Development Corporation Governance and Nominating Committee meeting, 8:30 a.m. at 4303 Route 9, Hudson (828-4178). GHENT Town Board meeting, 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
GREENE COUNTY Industrial Development Agency meeting, 8 a.m. at IDA Office, 270 Mansion St., Coxsackie (731-5500). 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).

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for the evening of Fri., Apr. 15 (3:06). (Produced by Alanna Medlock.)