Debby Mayer is reporting in the Columbia Paper the Germantown Planning Board will hold a special meeting Thu., Feb. 11, to once again consider details of the pending application of Primax Properties. Primax is looking to build a Dollar General retail store on Route 9G. In December, the board hired Ted Fink of Greenplan Inc. as an advisor on the application, and Fink's comments on the proposal will be reviewed and discussed at the upcoming special meeting. There remain several sticking points with the Primax application, the major issues being sidewalks and the building's appearance. The developers are prepared to lay a walkway in front of the store, but it would not connect with other sidewalks, so there is a request that Primax extend the sidewalk to the corner of Route 9G and Main Street. The appearance of the structure comes down to aesthetics -- the town wants a building that is narrower and lower than the one designed and something that is consistent with Main Street. According to the project engineer, the driveway and storm water runoff plans are almost complete. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.

Gail Heinsohn is reporting in the Chatham Courier the Chatham Board of Education will hold a hearing on whether it should grant veterans of the U.S. armed forces exemptions from school taxes. The board rejected the proposal last year. Veteran and former Canaan Town Supervisor Gary Flaherty said at a board meeting Tue., Feb. 9, Chatham is one of two districts in Columbia County that has not enacted the exemptions. Flaherty said the financial impact on non-veteran taxpayers in districts where the exemptions are in place is four dollars a month. The exemption would apply to all veterans with wartime service, and additional exemptions would be granted for those who saw combat and those who were disabled. “Literally hundreds of vets” called him and said Chatham “should have granted the exemption” last year, said Flaherty. The board and school administrators were divided on the question, but it was eventually agreed that a hearing on the veteran tax exemptions will be held prior to the next school board meeting on February 23. Read the full story in the Chatham Courier.

Larry Rulison is reporting at The Buzz Gov. Andrew Cuomo is opposing KeyCorp.’s $4.1 billion acquisition of First Niagara Financial Corp. and has lobbied federal officials to kill the deal. Cuomo is arguing the deal would have an adverse impact on the retail banking market in the Buffalo area because it would consolidate one-third of all deposits in that region into the hands of just one bank. Cuomo also noted the merger would result in the loss of thousands of jobs at the corporate and branch levels alike. In the letter dated Wed., Feb. 10, Cuomo wrote there was "little hope these individuals will find alternative work in the retail banking field due to the oversaturated market conditions." The governor also said consumers in Buffalo already lack access to reliable bank deposit services and the consolidation would only make that problem worse. First Niagara's stock price dropped following word of Cuomo's letter. Read the full story at The Buzz, a Times Union blog.

Two bills in the New York State Senate would prohibit the state from doing business with anyone boycotting Israel, and set up an actual list of such companies. Senate Bill S6378A would, "prohibit state contracting with, and state investment in, persons and businesses that promote or engage in activities to boycott American allied nations." Local state senators Steve McLaughlin, George Amedore, and Kathy Marchione have already voted for this bill. The other, S6086, "relates to purchasing restrictions on persons boycotting Israel and the investment of certain public funds in companies boycotting Israel; requires the commissioner of general services to compile a list of companies boycotting Israel and establishes that such companies will be considered non-responsive bidders." That bill is currently referred to the finance committee. The first bill sanctions any company boycotting any American ally, but currently the only boycotts of American allies are of Israel, largely over its war crimes against Palestinians. Both bills have similar proposals in the New York Assembly, Assembly Bill A9036 and Assembly Bill A8220, both currently in the Government Operations committee. The National Lawyers Guild has issued a statement on these bills saying, "While people may have differing opinions about the issues pertaining to Israel and Palestine, debate on issues of public concern is the lifeblood of the First Amendment, and the State of New York should not be in the business of punishing those who line up on one side or the other of such debates."

Brian Nearing reports in The Albany Times-Union that the local division of Pamal Broadcasting Ltd. is making cuts at several of its local radio stations. Bob Green from Magic (590-AM and 100.5-FM) is retiring, and Marissa Lanchak of WFLY (92.3-FM) and Camen Hsieh of Jamz (96.3-FM) are leaving their stations. “We have made some budget cuts as the radio industry continues to evolve. We are trying to make our business more efficient,” Albany Broadcasting Company's General Manager Bryan Hollenbaugh said. Albany auto dealer James Morrell is the principal owner of the company that includes B95.5-FM, The Cat (100.9-FM), and WIN (104.9-FM). Read the full story in The Albany Times-Union.

Today is Day 1 of the WGXC High Five Pledge Drive. Tune in for a full slate of remote broadcasts, and turn out for special events. Your tax-deductible contribution will help sustain WGXC as a public platform for information, experimentation, and engagement. Thank you for supporting creative community radio in New York's Greene and Columbia counties.

Local weather forecast
Today’s forecast is specific to Cairo, in Greene County:


A chance of snow showers, mainly before 4 p.m. Partly sunny. High near 23. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent. Thursday night, partly cloudy. Low around 7. Wind chill values as low as -2.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
FRIDAY: A slight chance of snow showers after 3 p.m. Increasing clouds. High near 26. Wind chill values as low as -2. Friday night, a chance of snow showers, mainly before 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 10.
SATURDAY: Partly sunny. High near 11. Saturday night, partly cloudy. Low around -96

Sunrise today: 6:57 a.m.
Sunset today: 5:22 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 10:26


PUBLIC MEETINGS

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

CAIRO-DURHAM Board of Education meeting, 7 p.m. at high school media center, 1301 Route 145, Durham (622-8543).
CHATHAM Village meeting, 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 77 Main Street, Chatham (392-5821).
COPAKE Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mountainview Road, Copake (329-1234).
GALLATIN Town Board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 667 Route 7, Ancram (398-7519).
HUDSON Planning Board meeting (tentative), 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St., Hudson (828-1030).
KINDERHOOK Planning Board workshop meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
LIVINGSTON Town board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 119 County Route 19.
NEW BALTIMORE Planning board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 3809 County Route 51, Hannacroix (756-6671).
STUYVESANT Town board meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant (758-6248).
WINDHAM Town board meeting, 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 371 State Rt. 296, Hensonville (734-4170).

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local headlines and weather for Wed., Feb. 10 (7:00). (Produced by Philip Grant.)

School closings and delays for Wed., Feb. 10

Germantown Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Germantown Library | CLOSED.
Hawthorne Valley School | Delayed two hours.
Millbrook Central School District | Delayed three hours.
Pine Plains Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Red Hook Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Rhinebeck Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Saugerties Central School District | CLOSED.
Sullivan BOCES | Delayed two hours. The adult program and offices will open at 10 a.m.
Taconic Hills Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Webutuck Central School District | Delayed two hours.

Source: timesunion.com and cancellations.com.

Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail the town of Cairo is in need of a second source of water. Cairo Town Supervisor Daniel Benoit said Tue., Feb. 9, the Town Board discussed the need for at least one additional source of water for the town at a meeting last week. The newly elected supervisor said the board is looking into the possibility of making use of the wells located on the former Cedar Terrace Resort property on Main St. The property has been owned since 2013 by Julie and Steve Freeman. Benoit said officials are looking into how much water is actually there and if it could be leased for the town. The town's main water well, located in Angela Canna Town Park, did not work properly last year. Faced with low water levels and an unreliable well, Benoit said officials found a temporary alternative, but it could not be the long-term solution. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting in the Columbia Paper voters in the Hudson City School District approved two propositions in a special election, Tue., Feb. 9. Proposition 1 authorized the sale of the former Claverack School to artist Jeffrey Gibson for a minimum price of $380,000. The building formerly housed the district's administrative offices, and most recently it served as the temporary county courthouse. Proposition 2 was a $19.9 million bond issue to fund the expansion of the M.C. Smith Intermediate School, as well as capital improvements to all three of the district's buildings. A total of approximately 1,100 voted in the election. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.

Governor Andrew Cuomo Mon., Feb. 8, announced $2 million in state funding for the largest state-supported solar project for healthcare organizations statewide. The project will provide St. Peter's Health Partners and the Center for Disability Services with clean power. The 21-acre solar installation, which will contain 16,000 solar panels, will be located on vacant land in the town of Greenport. The solar-generated power will offset about 10 percent of power consumed by St. Peter's and the Center for Disability Services. "This project represents a major step forward in growing the clean energy economy both here in the Capital Region and across New York," Cuomo said. The funding will help support the Governor’s Clean Energy Standard to meet 50 percent of the state's electricity needs with renewable resources by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The 5.3 megawatt project will provide the same amount of power each year as would be needed for 850 average-sized homes. It will reduce greenhouse gases by nearly 2,000 tons annually, equivalent to taking about 375 cars off the road. Construction has begun, and the system is expected to be operating in August 2016. Total investment in the project is approximately $12 million, including $2 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Read the full press release at Governor [dot] NY [dot] gov.

Gail Heinsohn is reporting in the Chatham Courier the Chatham Town Board will hold a workshop session at town hall, Thu., Feb. 11, to meet with members of the Morris Memorial Association and Chatham Central School District. The purpose behind the meeting is to work out a plan to have a committee or commission take over the town's recreational summer program, according to Town Supervisor Maria Lull. She said the Morris Memorial Association currently runs all other activities at Crellin Park. The youth- and community-based non-for-profit hosts a variety of programs in the Morris Memorial building, in Crellin Park and at the Chatham middle and high schools.

Click here to play or download an audio version of this report.
Andrea Sears is reporting for Public News Service New York state officials say "alarming levels" of radioactive tritium have been detected in ground water from test wells at the Indian Point Nuclear Power Station. According to news reports, the contamination at one well had jumped to over 8 million picocuries per liter, 400 times the EPA maximum for drinking water. Entergy, which owns the facility, emphasized that the tritium was detected in ground water, not drinking water. But Paul Gunter, director of the Radioactive Oversight Project for the group Beyond Nuclear, says that distinction is not reassuring. "Today's ground water is somebody's drinking water someday," says Gunter. "Water recycles; it's not made. It's a gift." The tritium-tainted water reportedly came from a spill during a maintenance exercise. Tritium is considered a health risk that can lead to cancer. Governor Cuomo has ordered state environmental and health agencies to conduct their own investigations of the tritium release, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is sending a radiation-protection specialist to the facility. But Gunter points out this isn't the first leak, and probably not the last. "There are miles of buried pipe that it's just earth-on-pipe," he says. "They don't even want to risk digging them up to inspect, because they'll just break them with the backhoe." Gunter says his group sees the tritium release as symptomatic of the NRC's broader inability to regulate the nuclear power industry.

Local weather forecast


Today’s forecast is specific to Cairo, in Greene County:

Today: A chance of snow showers. Cloudy. High near 36. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. Wednesday night, a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 19. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS
THURSDAY: A chance of snow showers, mainly before 5 p.m. Mostly cloudy. High near 24. Thursday night, partly cloudy. Low around 9.
FRIDAY: A chance of snow showers, mainly after 1 p.m. Partly sunny. High near 26. Friday night, a chance of snow showers after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 9.

Sunrise today: 6:57 a.m.
Sunset today: 5:21 p.m.

LENGTH OF THE DAY: 10:24


PUBLIC MEETINGS

Today is the second 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, 6:30 p.m at the Athens Community Center, 2 First St., Athens (945-1551).
CATSKILL Central School District Board of Education meeting, 7 p.m. at high school library, 341 Main St., Catskill (943-4696). CATSKILL Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing followed by regular meeting, 6 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
CLERMONT Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 1795 Route 9, Clermont (537-6868).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors special Economic Development Committee meeting, 6:45 p.m.; special Finance Committee meeting, 7:15 p.m.; full board meeting, 7:30 p.m., all at 401 State St., Hudson (828-1527).
COPAKE Hamlet Revitalization Task Force, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
GHENT Zoning Board meeting, 7 p.m. both at Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
HUDSON Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting, 6 p.m. at Bliss Towers, 41 N. 2nd St., Hudson (822-9743).
JEWETT Town Board meeting, 7 p.m., at Municipal Bldg. 3547 Co. Rt. 23C (263-4626).
KINDERHOOK Town’s 9 and 9H Corridor Committee meeting, 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
KINDERHOOK Village Board meeting and budget hearing, 7:30 p.m. at 6 Chatham Street, Kinderhook (758-9882).

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local headlines and weather for Tue., Feb. 9 (7:28). (Produced by Philip Grant.)

School closings and delays for Tue., Feb. 9

Berkshire Union Free School District, Warren St. Academy | Delayed two hours.
Cairo-Durham Central School District | Delayed two hours. No morning pre-K, no morning BOCES.
Catskill Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Chatham Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Chatham Kids Club | Delayed two hours.
Coarc Adult Transportation | Delayed two hours. Staff report.
Columbia Christian Academy | Delayed two hours.
Coxsackie-Athens Central School District | Delayed two hours. No breakfast.
Germantown Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Grapeville Christian School |Delayed two hours.
Greenville Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Hawthorne Valley School | Delayed two hours.
Hudson City School District | Delayed two hours. No morning pre-K. No morning BOCES. No breakfast. Tutoring center closed.
Ichabod Crane Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Millbrook Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Mountain Road School | Delayed two hours.
New Lebanon Central School District | Delayed two hours.
O.K. Kids Inc. | Delayed two hours.
Pine Plains Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Questar III Catskill Academy | Delayed two hours.
Questar III Columbia-Greene Educational Center | Delayed two hours. No morning BOCES.
Red Hook Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Rhinebeck Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Saugerties Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Sullivan BOCES | Delayed two hours. The adult program and offices will open at 10 a.m.
Taconic Hills Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Tech Valley High School | Closed. Staff delay two hours.
Ulster-Greene ARC (Catskill) | Delayed two hours.
Webutuck Central School District | Delayed two hours.
Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District | Delayed two hours.

Source: timesunion.com and cancellations.com.

Patricia Doxsey is reporting in the Daily Freeman U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson announced Mon., Feb. 8, the creation of a formal committee to explore the possibility of a run for governor of New York. Gibson said he will make a final decision following the completion of his congressional term, at the end of the year. The announcement came as no surprise. The Kinderhook Republican said in early 2015 he would not seek re-election to Congress, but was considering instead a run for statewide office. In the statement released Monday, Gibson said it is clear that people across the state are looking for a new leader in Albany. “For too long, Governor Cuomo has led with fear, intimidation and bullying. New York has been embarrassed by corruption and lags behind in too many important categories. We can do better,” Gibson stated. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Katie Kocijanski is reporting in The Daily Mail Greene County Highway Superintendent Gary Harvey says all county bridge projects are proceeding on schedule to either begin construction or to be completed this year. Harvey made his report to Greene County Legislature’s Public Works Committee, Mon., Feb. 8. “In Greene County, we are responsible for 135 bridges. That’s a lot,” he said. One project the department is managing is the installation of a sidewalk along Woodstock Avenue in Palenville. Another walkway will run along Route 23A, from the Rip Van Winkle Country Club up to White Road. Bids for the bridge preservation projects for Windham, Leeds and Durham will be advertised in the coming weeks, Harvey said. A public hearing with the town of Catskill on the Cauterskill Road bridge project was held in January. Harvey said the department is awaiting the comments received, and the construction estimates are being worked on. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.