Today's daily news update.

Andrea Macko reports at Porcupine Soup that a Rensselaerville man is the latest local to be arrested for his part of the attempted coup in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. Troy Weeks, 37, who used to live in Greenville, was arrested on Jan. 10. He was charged with obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. The criminal complaint against Weeks says, in part, "law enforcement identified an individual who pushed against police and stole a can of oleoresin capsicum spray from a police officer while located near an entrance to the U.S. Capitol." The Federal Bureau of Investigation says they found him through an Instagram account belonging to a woman with the last name of Weeks. An estimated 979 defendants have been charged so far in the attempted coup, including several from the Hudson Valley. Read the full story at Porcupine Soup.

The Catskill Central School District Board of Education selected Melissa A. Barrow to be its next superintendent of schools at its meeting on January 11. Barrow takes over on February 12. “I am honored and excited to be selected as the next superintendent of the Catskill Central School District. I look forward to working with the Board, staff, and families to continue to build upon the strengths of the District while creating new opportunities for student success,” said Barrow. She was most recently assistant superintendent of student programs, assessment, and evaluation in the East Ramapo Central School District in Rockland County. Before that, Barrow was an instructional supervisor, then director. She boasts of increasing the graduation rate there of English language learners by 26 percent and recently established a High School Newcomer Academy to support new students as they transition to high school. Board President Deborah Johnson said, “Melissa Barrow stood out among a strong pool of candidates. Her skills, experiences, and enthusiasm make her the right person to lead Catskill CSD. The Board looks forward to working with Melissa.” Twelve parents, staff, and community members assisted the Board in interviewing four semi-finalists for the job.

Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that the Catskill Advisory Group believes the 700,000-acre Catskill Park needs "intensive management" because of so many new visitors since the beginning of the pandemic. Attendance in the park doubled between 2018 and 2021, according to the report from the group. Locally, this can be seen in the town of Hunter where hundreds of cars illegally park along both sides of the narrow Route 23A just before Kaaterskill Falls throughout the summer and fall. All those visitors, the report says, "has resulted in the degradation of certain natural resources, public safety hazards on mountainside roads, overcrowding at trailheads, litter, illegal camping and more," and has "stretched thin local services such as fire, ambulance, police, and mountain rescue teams." The group was formed in October 2020 with town leaders, local businesspeople and members of conservation groups, to study and make recommendations about the increase in visitors. But the Department of Environmental Conservation, which manages the 700,000-acre Catskill Park, has staffing levels similar to the 1980s. The report recommends the DEC continue to use permit systems in the most crowded areas of the park, and adding a small AM radio station to alert arrivals of important information. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Today's daily news update.

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Phillip Pantuso and Lana Bellamy are reporting for the Times Union U.S. Reps. Marcus Molinaro and Mike Lawler January 12, joined other members of the state GOP congressional delegation now calling on U.S. Rep. George Santos to resign. Freshman Hudson Valley representative Molinaro said Santos should not continue to serve in the 118th Congress. He said in a statement, “George Santos’ dishonesty has eroded his ability to represent his neighbors and serve in Congress. I don’t see how he can continue.” When asked for clarification, Molinaro's communication director Dan Kranz, texted: “Yes that statement means he thinks he should resign.” Molinaro failed to respond directly when asked about a $1,000 campaign contribution accepted by his campaign from then-candidate Santos. In a statement from his office, Lawler, Molinaro's 17th congressional district colleague, also said Santos should step down. “It is clear that George Santos has lost the confidence and support of his party, his constituents, and his colleagues. With the extent and severity of the allegations against him, his inability to take full responsibility for his conduct, and the numerous investigations underway, I believe he is unable to fulfill his duties and should resign.” Six of the 11 Republicans in New York’s congressional delegation are now calling on Santos to quit: Lawler, Molinaro, former state GOP Chair Nick Langworthy, Nick LaLota, Brandon Williams and Anthony D’Esposito. However, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair, who represents the 21st District in the North Country, has said nothing about Santos since the first New York Times story in December raising doubts about the biographical claims of the Long Island congressperson. Stefanik’s office did not respond to multiple requests on Jan. 12 for comment about Santos. During his run for Congress, Santos’ campaign donated $12,000 to at least a dozen Republican candidates, seven of whom won their races. Three of the New York Republicans who received political contributions from Santos, U.S. Rep. D’Esposito, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips and Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, have returned the cash or pledged to do so. A fourth, Suffolk County Legislator Anthony Piccirillo, said he would donate the money. Santos has said he will not resign and will only leave office if voted out. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media a section of Greenport's Becraft Firehouse has been ordered closed by the town code enforcement officer, citing structural damage. The firehouse is located at 257 County Route 14. The part of the building closed by code enforcement houses the fire department’s tanker truck, so the department has moved the truck to the Livingston Fire Department, more than five miles away. “It’s definitely affecting response times,” Fire Chief John Onufrychuk Jr. said. “Firefighters need to drive roughly eight minutes south to Livingston and eight minutes back north with the truck. If the call is in the northern end of Greenport, that’s another eight to 10 minutes of response time,” the chief said. In December, large cracks were found in the cement block outer walls. “If you push hard enough on the front wall, where the garage door is located, you can see it move,” Onufrychuk said. There is also water damage above the ceilings in the fire truck bays. Emergency repairs are slated to begin soon, but those repairs will not last forever, the chief said. The company is exploring a plan to build a new firehouse on the site, a proposal similar to the $1.7 million plan rejected by fire district voters in November 2011 that would have added a three-bay garage adjacent to the existing building. The Becraft station building was built in 1931. A single truck bay was added in the early 1960s and a second was added in the 1970s, Onufrychuk said. Greenport is the second busiest fire district in Columbia County, logging close to 250 calls in 2022. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Diane Valden reports for The Columbia Paper that a representative of RUPCO, the Rural Ulster Preservation Company, recently toured the old Roe Jan School in Copake to consider for possible housing. The main Roe Jan building was built in 1932 and has more than 97,000 square feet of space on 39.3 acres of land. The building has been vacant since 1999, when the Taconic Hills School District moved its students to a new K-12 campus on County Route 11A in Craryville. Ancram Town Board member Bonnie Hundt, a member of the Roe Jan Workforce Housing Task Force, said she contacted RUPCO about the availability of the old school and to get their assessment of its possibilities. Hundt said the nonprofit “seemed to be quite interested” in the Roe Jan building which has extensive grounds, noting the organization prefers “rehabbing as opposed to building new.” Board member Amy Gold, who went on the tour with the representative, said that the original intent was to assess the building for workforce housing. She said though the building “is in terrible disrepair” and much of it would have to be torn down, the representative thought there were elements of it that could be salvaged to maintain its historical designation. Gold said the RUPCO rep said "he could see it as a multi-use project with senior housing, affordable housing, a community center and shops." Hundt said at this point the Roe Jan Task Force is just gathering information and is awaiting final word from RUPCO about whether a housing project at the old school is something the non-profit wants to pursue. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Randy J. Stine reports in Radio World that the National Association of Broadcasters is not happy with new rules the Federal Communications Commission proposed to strengthen the process for identifying governmental entities sponsorship of programming. The new rules are proposed after several foreign governments broadcast propaganda in the United States. For instance, in 2015 a California company, G&E Studio, broadcasting in more than a dozen major American cities, was discovered to be backed by a subsidiary of the Chinese government. G&E Studio is 60 percent owned by a subsidiary of Chinese state-run radio broadcaster China Radio International. The National Association of Broadcasters does not seem to have an ideological opposition to the proposal, but objects because broadcasters have to spend time and money to fill out forms and prove who owns their stations. An NAB statement on the issue said, "We share the FCC’s goal of ensuring that the public understands when it is watching or listening to foreign government-sponsored propaganda. While there are very few instances of this type of programming airing, we continue to work with the commission to right-size its rules concerning on-air identification. The FCC can achieve its goals by placing regulatory burdens only on those airing such programming rather than the entire industry. The vast majority of broadcasters never has and never will air propaganda on behalf of a foreign government.” So the FCC should just trust broadcasters to ask for regulatory burdens? Wouldn't a company broadcasting propaganda be incentivized not to ask for regulatory burdens? A first FCC attempt to adopt new disclosure requirements was overturned by federal appeals court in July 2022, with the court ruling the FCC had no authority to impose a verification requirement. Anyone can make a comment on the FCC's proposal MB Docket 20-299 by Jan. 24 by using the commission’s online system.

Today's daily news update.

Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that at least three New York Republicans who received political contributions from new Long Island Rep. George Santos are returning the cash, but Marc Molinaro is not one of them. Santos is under several investigations for a mountain of lies about his personal life, family, and campaign financial accounts. Santos loaned his campaign more than $700,000 when he reported only $55,000 in assets in 2020, and then donated $12,000 to at least a dozen Republican candidates. So far at least three Republicans -- Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, and Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney -- have returned the donations, but Molinaro, who received $1,000, has not. Molinaro just began representing the 19th Congressional District, which includes Greene and Columbia counties. Molinaro released a statement saying only, "I came to Congress to be upstate New York’s voice in Congress.... The revelations from my colleague are disappointing and distract from the important work ahead of us. He must deal directly with his constituents — openly, and unflaggingly honestly. I learned a long time ago — as a kid mayor — be honest and transparent, they deserve no less.” On Jan. 9 the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint about Santos with the Federal Election Commission, accusing Santos of illegally using campaign funds to pay personal expenses and of concealing the source of more than $700,000 that the New York Republican loaned his campaign. Many New York Republicans have called for Santos to resign, but Molinaro has not. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

In Rep. Marc Molinaro's first week in Congress he has broken several campaign promises, and while running as a moderate, he has voted as a conservative. On March 15, 2022, Molinaro, a Republican, wrote on Twitter, "Day one I introduce a bill to implement broader protections and services for those with disabilities." Molinaro has yet to introduce such a bill. During his campaign against Democrat Josh Riley the former Dutchess County Executive said he believes abortion should be “rare, safe, and legal,” but Molinaro has voted on the so-called pro-life side twice in his first week in office. On Jan. 11 Molinaro voted for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, voting with Republican Elise Stefanik, and against local Democrats Paul Tonko and Pat Ryan. Molinaro and Stefanik also voted for a resolution "expressing the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches," while Tonko and Ryan voted against. None of those bills are expected to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate or be signed by President Joe Biden into law. Molinaro did co-sponsor H.R.22, which would stop the sale and export of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.

WRIC reports that New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced her reelection campaign in an email to supporters on Jan. 12. “I wanted you to hear it first,” the email said. “Kirsten is running for reelection to the United States Senate in 2024.” Gillibrand is 56 and has been New York’s junior senator since 2009, when Hillary Clinton vacated the seat to become Secretary of State. Gillibrand is best known for championing bills against sexual harassment and military sexual assault, and led the charge asking Senator Al Franken to resign after sexual harassment allegations surfaced against him. Before she was senator, Gillibrand was the representative for the 19th Congressional District, including Greene and Columbia counties. Read more about this story at WRIC.

Today's daily news update.

Click above to download or play the "Better Weather." Produced by Joe Demanso of the Catskill Makers Syndicate.

Robert Gavin reports for the Times Union that former Rensselaer County Republican elections commissioner Jason T. Schofield, on Jan. 11, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of voter fraud in U.S. District Court, admitting to fraudulently filing absentee ballots in 2021 using the personal information of at least eight voters without their permission as well as the unlawful possession and use of a means of identification on five occasions in May, September and October 2021. His guilty plea is part of a larger, ongoing investigation by the U.S. Justice Department that led to the earlier guilty plea of now ex-Troy City Council Member Kimberly Ashe-McPherson. When the judge asked attorney Danielle Neroni if her client had a viable defense, should the case have gone to trial, Neroni indicated that Schofield was pleading guilty, at least to an extent, against her advice. “This is Mr. Schofield’s decision,” Neroni said. “He wants to go forward. This is his choice.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett said on two occasions, Schofield acted on the request of Ashe-McPherson, who pleaded guilty to a federal charge in June. He did not have the lawful authority to use the voters’ names and dates of birth in the applications for absentee ballots, Barnett told the judge. Schofield is facing 10-to-16 months behind bars; it could be as little as zero to six months depending on the circumstances at the time of sentencing on May 12. Schofield agreed to waive an appeal on any sentence of 21 months or less.  He is believed to have agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. The Rensselaer County Legislature voted on December 13 to reappoint Schofield to his county job while the federal criminal case was pending, but he has since resigned. He was named elections commissioner in April 2018, the same month he resigned from the Troy Board of Education, where he served for 15 years and was president for seven. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media voters in the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district January 9 approved a $15 million capital project on a vote of 166 to 128. The price tag will cover the cost of renovations at all four district schools, at the district’s transportation building and at the district’s warehouse. “We want to take a moment to say thank you to the residents of our community for supporting these needed improvements,” Superintendent Brian Bailey said. “This project will allow us to keep growing as a district, for not only our students and their future, but for our staff and community as well. We can’t wait to get started on this important work for our RCS community.” Project specifics include reconstruction of the parking lot at the high school and middle school campus, new outdoor lighting, ventilators, skylights, exterior masonry work and other structural and safety upgrades throughout. The driveway and parking lots at the elementary schools will also undergo work. The project will be financed using funds from the district's capital reserves, and from a 15-year bond. State aid will reimburse RCS for 72.1 percent of the cost of the project. Property owners will see an increase of 5 cents for every $1,000 of the assessed value of their property, or a $5 tax hike for a home assessed at $100,000, and $10 a year for a home assessed at $200,000, according to the district. Having secured voter approval, the final construction plans will now be submitted to the State Education Department, with authorization anticipated by the spring or summer of 2024. Construction would then begin in the spring of 2025, and the project completed in the summer of 2026. Read the full story at TheUpStater [dot] com.

The Daily Freeman is reporting the Mid-Hudson Library system has announced it is the first public library system to be certified through the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program. According to a statement about the certification, “The Mid-Hudson Library System has addressed issues related to policy, facility operations, technology, and service and program design, all with an eye toward environmental sustainability, social equity, and economic feasibility.” The grant-funded Library of Local program offers participating libraries collections of books, audio-visual materials, tools, seeds, and programming that not only fosters connections amongst one another but also organizes around climate adaption work. The Library of Local program was created in partnership with Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley. The Sustainable Libraries Certification Program was developed to assist libraries, including public, academic and school librarians to make better choices on behalf of the local and global community, the news release said. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Lawrence Hurley at NBC News reports that. on Jan. 11 the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a New York gun control law put in place after the high court’s ruling in June that dramatically expanded the right to bear arms outside the home. New York's new gun law will remain in effect at least until its current legal challenge plays out. Previously, a federal judge invalidated parts of New York's gun law, and the Supreme Court also left that ruling in place. The Supreme Court's two most conservative judges, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, did not dissent in the new ruling, but in a statement attached to the brief order, they said that the decision is not "expressing any view on the merits of the case" and the challengers "should not be deterred." The New York law banned guns at “sensitive locations” such as healthcare facilities, churches, parks, entertainment venues and other places where people gather. Read more about this story at NBC News.