John Mason is reporting in the Register-Star the plan to allow hotels to be sited in Hudson's southern waterfront district was given an environmental pass by the Common Council at its formal meeting Tue., Mar. 15. The council also had to declare itself lead agency since no other bodies can amend the city zoning laws. The measure under consideration by the council will create a new zoning district in the southern waterfront area that will include "hotel" as a conditionally permitted use. The area affected is bounded by South Front Street to the west, Cross Street to the north, Tanner's Lane to the east, and the Industrial District to the south. The measure now goes before the city and county planning boards. Following that review, the council must hold a public hearing before a vote can be taken. The Redburn Development Companies have plans to purchase the former Kaz warehouse building, now the Stageworks performance space, located within the proposed new district at 41 Cross St., and convert the building into a 55-room hotel. Read the full story in the Register-Star.

The Daily Mail reports election results from March 15 village elections in Tannersville and Hunter. For Trustee Repiublican Leigh McGunningle got 33 votes, and Democrat Brian Walsh got 17, with two unnamed write-in votes. In Hunter, Trustee Alan Higgins got 55 out of 60 votes cast, according to the paper's Facebook page.

Results for the Coxsackie Village election are now available:

Trustee
Joseph Ellis (DEM, REP): 46
Dianne... https://t.co/C84x3qP17R

— The Daily Mail (@CatskillDM) March 16, 2016

The Daily Mail reports that in Athens, two incumbents, village trustees Peter Alberti, a Republican with 234 votes, and Gail Lasher, a Democrat getting 175 votes, won re-election for the two open seats on the Village Board. Shannon Spinner, a Republican, finished third, with 154 votes. In Coxsackie, Dianne Ringwald, a Republican, got 49 votes, and Joseph Ellis, running on both Republican and Democrat lines got 46 votes, with four unnamed write-in votes.

The Register-Star reports Columbia County election results from March 15 village elections. Kinderhook voters chose James Dunham, on the Van Buren Party line, with 310 votes over Rima Bostick, running on the Responsible Party line, with 125 votes. Richard Phillips, with 293 votes on the Van Buren Party line, and Robert Baumeister, with 183 votes on the People Party line, took the two open trustee seats, beating Peter Hunter, with 150, and Stephen Bean, with 149 votes, both on the Freedom Party line. Incumbent Village Justice David Dellehunt, running unopposed, got 338 votes.

Village races in Philmont and Valatie were uncontested. Two candidates seeking the two, two-year seats open on the Philmont Village Board of Trustees were the village's former clerk/treasurer, Eilene Morris, running on the Heritage Party line, who got 43 votes. And incumbent Brian Johnson, on the Heritage Party line, got re-elected to his seventh, two-year term with 44 votes. In Valatie incumbents Angelo Nero got 43 votes, and David Williams got 42 votes, both winning another two-year term.

Karrie Allen in The Chatham Courier reports that on March 15 Lenore Packet and Gunnar Wordon, incumbents on the Chatham United Party line, were re-elected to the Village Board for another two years, virtually unopposed. Packet, on her third term in Chatham, got 82 votes, and Wordon received 80 votes, for his second term, and first election after being appointed for Adrienne Morrell. There were also two write-ins votes, though the paper does not say who was named. Read the full story in The Chatham Courier.

The Catskill Democratic Committee Facebook page reports that incumbents Vincent Seeley and Stanley Dushane retained their seats on the Catskill Village Board. Seeley, a registered Republican running on the Democrat and Independence lines, got 290 votes, Dushane, a Republican, got 237 to keep their seats. Republican Joel Shanks finished third with 191 votes, and Democrat Lillian Johnson got 170 votes.

Matthew Hamilton reports in Capitol Confidential that it is Sunshine Week in Albany, a period to focus on government transparency, but there is little movement on ethics reform there. “In Albany, unfortunately, the curtains are tightly drawn when it comes to what the public can see in all these deliberations,” NYPIRG’s Blair Horner said of the three ethics proposals in the state capital. “… When it comes to ethics — where within a year both legislative leaders have been arrested, indicted and convicted of corruption in a state where there are no public hearings about it — what we see are nothing from the state Senate and almost sort of a dartboard approach to what the outside income limit should be in the Assembly.” The Assembly Democratic Majority released its ethics plan March 11 that includes a proposed cap on lawmakers’ outside incomes at $69,600, a number Common Cause NY’s Susan Lerner called arbitrary. In the Senate, the Republicans don't want any income limit. "It's a horrible idea. It's a horrible idea. The last thing we need is a bunch of full-time politicians to make public policy that dictate how much government needs to be in all of our lives," said Senator George Amedore (R-Rotterdam). Instead the Republicans' ethics plan creates eight-year term limits on leadership positions and strips pensions from public officials convicted of corruption. Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan would limit lawmakers' outside income to 15 percent of a lawmaker's base salary, less than $12,000 a year. The Assembly is also discussing closing the so-called LLC loophole, which allows single donors to give unlimited amounts of money to campaigns. "At the heart of both the [Dean] Skelos and [Sheldon] Silver scandals were limited liability companies that were either allowing no-show jobs or funneling in business or campaign contributions to both," New York Public Interest Research Group Legislative Director Blair Horner said about the recent New York scandals.

The Columbia County Board of Elections has announced new voters can register by Fri., Mar. 25 for the Presidential primary. The primary will be held Tue., Apr. 19, from noon until 9 p.m. for all eligible Democratic and Republican voters. Eligible voters include those who have been enrolled in either party since October 2015 or voters newly registered in Columbia County who have chosen to enroll in either of those parties. The Columbia County Board of Elections is located at 401 State Street in Hudson. The board is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Board can be reached at (518) 828-3115, or online at Columbia County NY [dot] com.

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 advocates of greater government transparency in New York are opposing two proposed changes to the state's Freedom of Information Law, or FOIL, in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget bills.

When people or organizations are forced to sue for access to public records, said John Kaehny, executive director of the group Reinvent Albany, they almost always win. But one proposed change would make it harder for them to recover attorneys' fees.

"The main reason the public won't go to court is because of the cost of the attorneys' fees," he said, "and unfortunately, we see this bill as a step backwards that will essentially weaken FOIL."

Organizations including the New York Public Interest Group, the NYCLU and Common Cause New York have sent an open letter to legislative leaders asking them to significantly improve or reject the proposals.

The second proposal would create an exemption in the law for information about what is termed "critical infrastructure." According to Kaehny, the law already says any information that would endanger the life or safety of any person isn't subject to disclosure.

"The concern here," he said, "is that this exception will be used as an excuse not to provide the public with records about big infrastructure projects like, say, the Tappan Zee Bridge."

With the growing number of state elected officials being forced from office for corruption and unethical behavior, Kaehny said, the Freedom of Information Law is the most basic transparency tool the public has.

"You would think that the governor and the Legislature would want to strengthen that in reaction to public dismay and anger over the corruption scandals," he said, "but that's not what's happening right now."

Kaehny pointed out that, perhaps ironically, this is officially "Sunshine Week" - when the need for public access to public information is highlighted and celebrated nationally.

The open letter is online at us4.campaign-archive1.com.

Local weather forecast
Today: Patchy drizzle before 3 p.m., then showers likely, mainly after 5 p.m. Mostly cloudy. High near 61. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. Wednesday night, occasional showers, mainly before 2 a.m. Low around 43. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
THURSDAY: Isolated showers between 11 a.m. and noon, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after noon. Some of the storms could produce small hail and gusty winds. Partly sunny. High near 59. Thursday night, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 38.
FRIDAY: A chance of rain showers before 11 a.m., then a chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy. High near 42. Friday night, mostly clear. Low around 24.

Sunrise today:7:03 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:04 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 12:01

PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

CATSKILL Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors Human Services Committee meeting, 5 p.m. at County Office Building, 401 State Street, Hudson (828-1527).
GREENE COUNTY Legislature regular meeting, 6:30 p.m.; Planning Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.; both at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
GREENE COUNTY Planning Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. in Room 427, County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
HUDSON Zoning Board of Appeals meeting (tentative), 6 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St., Hudson (828-1030).
STUYVESANT Zoning Revision Committee meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Dr., Stuyvesant (758-6248).
TACONIC Hills School Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at high school library, 73 County Rte. 11A, Craryville (325-0390).