Parry Teasdale is reporting in the Columbia Paper Columbia County officials will meet next week to discuss the options for stopping pollution from the waste treatment plant that serves 30 or more businesses in the Gerald R. Simons Commerce Park in Ghent. The action comes in the wake of an $8,000 fine levied against the county by the state Department of Environmental Conservation last month. The county has until August 1 to come up with a plan to correct the release of treated solid waste that exceeds permitted levels. The plan must include an estimate of the cost to replace the plant, according to a consent order from the DEC signed by county Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murrell on February 17. The county owns the park and operates the sewage treatment plant for businesses located near the county airport along state Routes 66 and 9H. The plant processes an average of 20,000 gallons of wastewater a day, operating well below its daily limit of 50,000 gallons, according to County Attorney Robert Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons denied untreated waste has been released. According to a report in the Times Union, the latest fine levied against the treatment plant was the fourth one issued by the DEC. The plant was built in 1992 and the DEC says compliance violations go back to the year 2000. The county has until December 2019 to have a new system that meets the standards in place. The newly established county sewer committee will meet Wed., Mar. 30 at 401 State Street in Hudson. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.

The Daily Freeman is reporting Will Yandik has been endorsed by the Greene County Democratic Committee in his bid for the 19th Congressional District seat. Yandik is the deputy supervisor in the town of Livingston. He has also been endorsed by the Columbia County Democratic Committee. Yandik and former gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout are expected to face off in a Democratic primary on June 28. Greene County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Doreen Davis said committee members cited Yandik's work in agriculture, his focus on the aging and his commitment to making progress in such areas as broadband Internet service as the basis for their endorsement. Yandik said in a prepared statement that he was honored to receive the committee's backing. “I’m running for this seat because this is my home, and we need a member of Congress who understands the issues that affect upstate New York.” A fourth-generation family farmer and journalist, Yandik also teaches biology at Columbia-Greene Community College and writes about senior and retirement issues for the AARP Bulletin. The committee also endorsed Palatine Town Supervisor Sara Niccoli in the 46th state Senate District race. Niccoli will face first-term incumbent George Amedore in the November general election. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Casey Seiler is reporting at Capitol Confidential a lawsuit contesting U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s natural born status and his eligibility for the presidency has been dismissed. The state Appellate Division’s Third Department took less than 24 hours to uphold a lower court decision, Thu., Mar. 24. The suit was brought last month against Cruz and the state Board of Elections by two downstate men who questioned the Texas Republican’s placement on the state's Republican presidential primary ballot. Cruz was born in Canada, but his mother was a U.S. citizen. The suit does not question Cruz’s citizenship, just his natural born status. The dismissal was based entirely the petitioners' failure to file the challenge on time. While specific challenges were due by Feb. 4, in this case they were submitted on Feb. 17. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.

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Andrea Sears reports from New York News Connection for Public News Service that from Grand Central Station in New York City to the public library in Ithaca, advocates for people in prison on Wednesday gathered to call for action to end solitary confinement in the state.

Jared Chausow, a member of the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, says last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration settled a lawsuit by agreeing to virtually eliminate solitary confinement for minors and pregnant women in New York.

"But it does leave the vast majority of the 5,000 New Yorkers in prisons and jails right now, who are in solitary confinement, in the exact same conditions, or similar conditions as before," he points out.

Chausow notes some people remain in solitary for months, years and even decades.

A bill called the Humane Alternatives to Long Term Solitary Confinement Act is pending in both houses of the New York State Assembly.

Chausow says the bill could finally pass this year. But he points out it isn't necessary to wait for legislators to act.

"Governor Cuomo has the power right now to end the torture of solitary confinement and replace it with humane and effective alternatives," he stresses.

Extended isolation has been shown to have serious and lasting effects on the mental and physical health of people in prison.

Spending 23 hours a day in a tiny, windowless cell can exacerbate preexisting mental illness, which Chausow says is already common in the prison populations. But he points out that extreme isolation can also cause mental illness.

"Putting a human being in a cage alone for days, weeks, months and even years and decades, can literally make people lose their minds," he states.

The United Nations classifies solitary confinement lasting longer than 15 days as torture.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on March 23 nineteen recommendations to State and National Registers of Historic Places, including locations in Columbia, Dutchess, Rensselaer, and Ulster counties. From Cuomo's press release the local locations:

Columbia County
Columbia Turnpike East Tollhouse, Hillsdale – The 1830s-era building served as the easternmost of a series of toll houses on the Columbia Turnpike, which was a critical transportation route from the Massachusetts border to its terminal point at Hudson between 1800 and 1906.

Dutchess County
Attlebury Schoolhouse, Stanford – Constructed in 1910 after the hamlet of Attlebury’s 19th-century school burned in an accidental fire, the modest one-room, frame schoolhouse served not only as a center of education but also a hub for the rural community.

Rensselaer County
The former First Methodist Church of Lansingburgh, Troy – Now home to the Joy of Troy Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the meetinghouse-style church was built in 1849; extended at the rear to accommodate the installation of an organ in 1875; and in 1903 a thorough Colonial Revival updating was undertaken.
The William Connors Paint Manufacturing Company, Troy – The late 19th century industrial complex is significant for its association with a successful ready-mixed paint manufacturing enterprise, which made paint available in a wide range of colors sold in sealed cans.

Ulster County
The Fitch Brothers Bluestone Company Office, Kingston – built in 1870, the Second Empire-style building constructed of bluestone served the bluestone quarrying, transportation, processing, and shipping business that employed over a thousand men at its height and was a cornerstone of the local economy.

Local weather forecast

Today: Rain before 9 a.m., then showers likely, mainly between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. High near 62. chance of precipitation is 80 percent. Friday night, partly cloudy. Low around 33.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
SATURDAY: Sunny. High near 54. Saturday night, partly cloudy. Low around 36.
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny. High near 58. Sunday night, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 42.

Sunrise today: 6:47 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:14 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 12:26

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

HUDSON Historic Preservation Commission public hearing for comment on an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the construction of a prefabricated, two-story gambrel garage at 210 Allen Street and 210 Partition Street, and full commission meeting, 10 a.m., at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local headlines and weather for Thu., Mar. 24 (6:37). (Produced by Philip Grant.)