There are competing bills in the New York legislature currently to name a state vegetable. Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Rockland County, wants onions; Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, Seneca County is pushing for corn, according to Joseph Spector in the Poughkeepsie Journal. "Onions are one of the most important vegetable crops in New York in terms of crop value," Carlucci says. Nozzolio, the corn advocate, has several GOP sponsors in the Assembly.

By Gus Murphy

Carole Osterink's Gossips of Rivertown published photos taken the morning of Friday, April 9, after a reader observed an orange and blue cement truck at the southernmost edge of the paved area beyond Basilica Industria, dumping leftover cement into South Bay at 8:45 a.m. "He went down to investigate and took these pictures," Osterink reports. "Aerial photographs from the 1940s suggest that it was once common practice to clean out cement trucks and dump the slurry in South Bay along Route 9G. It seems the practice continues."

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Columbia County offices, as envisioned at the old Wal Mart in Greenport."][/caption]Francesca Olsen of the Register-Star and @ Issue, a Tuesday morning WGXC news program, reported out of at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce’s annual Legislative Breakfast Friday morning, April 8, that Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Roy Brown has announced plans to buy the vacant Walmart in Greenport, and sell both the old Ockawamick building in Philmont and county buildings located at 401 and 610 State Street in Hudson. "Plans are to consolidate county offices in the Walmart building and 325 Columbia St," Olsen added. "There are also plans to vacate the current home of the Department of Social Services at 25 Railroad Ave., freeing it up for the city of Hudson to use as a court facility." The former Walmart was first brought up as a possible option for space consolidation last December by county Director of Planning and Economic Development Ken Flood. "The county’s Capital Resource Corporation, a quasi-governmental organization whose board can provide tax-exempt bonding to civic and nonprofit organizations, voted earlier this year to put down a refundable, $50,000 deposit on the Walmart property so it stayed off the market for 90 days while the BOS evaluated the option," Olsen writes. "The 90 days runs out June 8. Brown said the project would be an '18-month consolidation effort.' He said he plans to bring the recommendation to the board’s public works committee this month, and hopes the board will pass a resolution accepting the idea, and the property’s purchase, at its full meeting in May." Brown also mentioned the county plans to create an express bus line from Hudson to the new facility, which would cut down on cab costs for DSS clients without transportation — which the county is mandated to pay for.

Rich and Scott Sitcer, two master builders from Coxsackie, are helping kick off Greene County's drive to have a successful Lemonade Day on May 1 by hosting a lemonade stand building workshop over the next two weekends. The Sitcers will lead sessions on building stands at the GNH Lumber centers in Coxsackie at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday April 9, and in Greenville on Sunday, April 17, again at 9:00 a.m. While participants will not be building their own stand at the workshop, this free workshop will address materials and the secrets of making your stand different from the rest. "“My brother Scott and I wanted to support Lemonade Day because it shows kids the results of a good work ethic,” said Rich Sitcer. “The harder you work at something, the more successful you’re going to be. I know because that’s how we’ve run our own business since the beginning. And using a local business like GNH shows how important small businesses are.” Both workshops will present three full-scale models to illustrate some of what it will take to build a winning stand. “I challenged my brother, as well as our co-worker Barrett and even myself to come up with our own stands to show.” One of three contests Lemonade Day entrepreneurs are eligible to win is for the Best Lemonade Stand Contest by sending pictures in after the event Sunday May 1. Details are provided in the workbooks young entrepreneurs find in their free bright yellow backpacks once they sign up. “Remember you can still signup at any of our sixteen locations,” said Bob Phibbs, Lemonade Day Greene County Champion. “Those include The Bank of Greene County, the National Bank of Coxsackie, Greene Business Alliance, Catskill Community Center, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the Greene County YMCA. Lemonade Day is Sunday May 1.

By Gus Murphy

Grocery store, zoning collide
Doron Tyler Antrim writes in the Daily Mail that plans for a new Hannafords in Cairo are running up against the town's first comprehensive plan. "Although some parts of the company’s plan are likely to be tweaked as it begins the planning board approval process, Hannaford representatives say one critical aspect is non-negotiable," Antrim writes. "They say the company is unwilling to build its grocery store closer to the road and have the parking lot in the rear of the property, which is a requirement in the zoning law for new commercial development on Main Street." Hannaford could seek a waiver of any zoning rules before the Zoning Board of Appeals, a five-member body that will not be appointed by the town until after the law’s passage.

Teachers’ union, district at impasse
Andrew Amelinckx writes that the Hudson City School District's teacher’s union and its board of education have come to an impasse on contract negotiations.The teachers union and board have met on three occasions over the past three months trying to negotiate a new deal before a current contract expires July 1. According to Jack Howe, the district’s superintendent, if the contract expires it could result in “an additional $900,000 per year” or a 4.7 percent per year increase in the district’s budget for teacher salaries and benefits. According to the teachers' union, the district asked the union to agree to “no salary increase and no movement on the salary schedule for the 2011-12 school year.” The HTA countered by asking how many faculty positions would be saved and was told it would be five of 22 jobs set to be cut. The union rejected the proposal and proposed its own plan, which the board and Howe have denigrated in public. The HTA’s proposal involved the creation of a loan of sorts, with each teacher deferring one day of pay from one paycheck a month for 10 months. The district would hold the salary and pay it out at a later date. The union estimated that this would be around $696,000, which the district could then use to pay a step increment increase, plus a 1 percent raise to all teachers. The board is expected to vote on their budget on Monday, April 11, and include the elimination of 20 teaching positions. Everyone's expecting a contentious meeting.

Catskill appeals judge's ruling in pagan case
Julia Reischel writes in The Watershed Post that Judge George Pulver of Greene County has set a date for a bench trial in a tax status case that has slipped into discrimination charges. The Maetreum of Cybele, a pagan group from Palenville, are claiming that the Town of Catskill has discriminated against them by refusing to grant them a religious property tax exemption. According the the Greene County Clerk's Office, a notice of appeal was filed on March 28 in the tax case against the Assessor of the Town of Catskill. The town appears to be asking for a higher court to review a tough-talking February ruling from Greene County Supreme Court Judge Pulver, which the judge denied Catskill's request to dismiss the case. Pulver will hear evidence in the case and rule on it himself on July 20.

County leaders accuse state of adopting “smoke and mirrors” budget
Mid Hudson News Network reports that top county officials from across the Hudson Valley are calling the newly adopted state budget “smoke and mirrors.” In a discussion among regional business executives on April 7 at the annual Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress Presidents’ Day Breakfast in Poughkeepsie, the Executive Director of the New York State Association of Counties, Stephen Acquario, complained that the state was passing off its bills to counties and towns. "When the state mandates that the counties must pick up the tab on various services, it destroys their autonomy and siphons significant dollar amounts out of the communities that need that money the most," he said.

Supes mileage cost $17K in 2010
Francesca Olsen of the Register-Star and WGXC's @ Issue news show reports that Columbia County paid out $17,506.55 to the Board of Supervisors for mileage reimbursement in 2010. Sixteen supervisors received mileage reimbursement, mostly for traveling to Hudson for county committee meetings. They were reimbursed at 50 cents per mile, at an average of $1,094 each. "The county’s current vehicle use policy does not lay out specific mileage-logging requirements for supervisors and the supervisors queried for this story were not aware of a BOS-specific policy," Olsen writes. "A new policy... is expected to be adopted in the next few months." She adds that Board of Supervisors Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown, did not log mileage because he has his own county-issued vehicle.

The National Weather Service says today will see clouds and some sun in the morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 59F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight will have some clouds. Low around 40F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow sunny with a high of 65F.

Town meetings today
HUDSON Historic Preservation Commission 10 a.m.

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 6:07.m./Low, 1:22
SUNRISE/SUNSET 6:26 a.m./7:28 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET 9:03 a.m./12:41 a.m. Saturday

Birthdays
April 8
Yip Harburg, Betty Ford, Jacques Brel, Seymour Hersh, Vivienne Westwood, Steve Howe, Barbara Kingsolver, and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend.

CADE (Part 1): Building Artisan Slaughterhouses to Feed the Demand for Grass-fed Meat from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

Locally, the need for slaughterhouses to process local meat has often been discussed in agricultural and business circles. Yesterday, regional and national media also covered the story. In the Watershed Post blog -- which covers the Catskills including Greene County -- Lissa Harris posted an interview with Chris Harmon, the director of the Oneonta-based Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE), was posted Thu., Apr. 7 about the need for more slaughterhouses. In the video above, Harmon explains how his group has been working with Larry's Custom Meats, a meat processor based in Hartwick (in Otsego County, west of Greene County), to build a new USDA-certified slaughterhouse. In The New York Times Thursday, the lack of slaughterhouses in a rural, agricultural setting is not unique to the Hudson Valley. David Ferry in The Times writes about the San Francisco area where, "Only one slaughterhouse remains... in Petaluma, and there are just a smattering of them in all of Northern California. Ranchers must often truck their grass-fed cattle hundreds of miles to the nearest plant, and they face backlogs in the busy season that can lead to waits lasting many months. This means fewer — and more expensive — local skirt steaks at the butcher shop, and more carbon with that grass-fed burger." In 2009 in the Register-Star, Andrew Amelinkcx reported, "There are two USDA certified slaughterhouses in Columbia County, Van Wie in Stockport and Hilltown Pork, Inc.," and he talks with Robert Beckwith, co-owner of Hilltown Pork, who says they were at full capacity, and anyone who wanted an animal slaughtered would have to join a waiting list. Last year, Ecklund's Farm in Delaware County added a mobile slaughterhouse because of the demand in the area.

It must be Spring, as Coxsackie's Hi-Way Drive-In reopens this weekend on Route 9W in Greene County. Images from the films "Unknown," "Red Riding Hood," "Battle: Los Angeles," and "The Green Hornet" will flicker across the outdoor screens there for the first time this year.

Hundreds sign petition calling for RCS Board of Ed to listen to taxpayers
Hilary Hawke of the Ravena News-Herald reports a new twist in local school budget battles. Taxpayers in the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk School District submitted a petition asking their school board to make budget decisions, and not leave things up to school administrators. "Keeping the increases at acceptable levels or 2% over last year's expensed lines, with exceptions for known higher increases such as health insurance and fuel, should cover increases of goods," the petition reads. Hawke added that its presenter later called the district's proposal to eliminate a community swimming pool and varsity sports a "cheap shot", and pointed out that public calls for cutting district administrative costs had been ignored.

Tug of War over Prisoners Continues
Carole Osterink of Gossips of Rivertown writes that Senator Stephen M. Saland was one of nine state senators who filed a lawsuit on Monday, April 4, against the New York Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment and the New York State Department of Corrections. "The complaint seeks to reinstate the policy of counting prisoners as residents of the communities where they are incarcerated," she writes. The main argument seems to be that prisons use services.

Silver: Millionaire's Tax is Not Dead
Karen DeWitt of WXXI reports that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says he hasn't given up on extending the state's tax on millionaires, even though it was not a part of the recently approved state budget. Silver pointed out that the current temporary income tax surcharge on New Yorkers making $200,000 and up does not expire until the end of the calendar year, so there's plenty of time to revisit the issue. "It will be debated now, it will be debated in January, it will be debated next March as well, with the next budget," said Silver in a radio interview with DeWitt.

Sound the alarm: Chatham, Ghent fire departments recruiting
Paul Crossman of the Chatham Courier writes that the Chatham and Ghent volunteer fire companies are inviting people in the community to come out, visit their local fire departments and learn what it takes to be a volunteer firefighter. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday. According to Chatham volunteer firefighter David Chapman, who is also a Village Board member, this is an extremely necessary event, since over the years the number of active volunteer firefighters has been steadily dwindling. “We have no one to fight fires,” he said. “I know that sounds extreme, but we had an alarm last week for a house fire … and under 20 people showed up.”

Police: Grand Prix leads cops on wild 50-mile car chase
Julia Reischel of The Watershed Post reports on the Albany man who drove a stolen Pontiac Grand Prix for a 50-mile car chase through Albany, Greene and Schoharie counties, leading police and deputies from multiple jurisdictions before finally crashing in the Schoharie County town of Broome. The attempt to stop 44-year-old Joseph V. Wagner started in the Albany County Town of Guilderland, raced through Greene County on Rte. 32, where the Greene County Sheriff's Department blew out two of the car's tires with spike sticks, then back through Albany County and into Schoharie County, where he ran off the roadway and flipped over. The entire chase reportedly lasted about 45 minutes

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption=""Reparations," by Woodstock-based artist Norm Magnusson, digitally repairs a work by Richard Prince back to its original form as published by Patrick Cariou in his 2000 book, "Yes, Rasta.""][/caption]Here's a major art AND copyright story with a local angle nestled right in the WGXC listening area. Last month, a New York federal court ordered artist Richard Prince, who lives in Albany County, to destroy a group of paintings for having breached copyright laws. Prince, known for his appropriations of pop culture imagery, as well as his million dollar auction prices, was sued after reworking a series of photographs by the French photographer Patrick Cariou. The ruling, which may lead to an appeal, could cost Prince and his gallery, the Gagosian, quite a lot of money. Eight works from a 2008 show sold for more than $10 million, and 7 others were traded for other works of art together worth $6m and $8m. Prince, who settled a similar copyright infringement case in the 1980s for an undisclosed amount, tried using a "fair use" defense and described the original photos he slightly altered as being "not strikingly original’ or ‘distinctive’ in nature.” Prince, who moved to the Rensselaerville area in 1996 and started making "upstate art," donated a showcase installation of his art and 80 acres to the Guggenheim in 2005. In 2007 the piece, entitled "Second Home," was struck by lightning and destroyed.

Over the next two weeks, Darrow School’s Samson Environmental Center will be host to a botanical wonder: the blooming of a rare corpse flower. Varieties of the Indonesian plant, also known as the konjac arum, boasts the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world, and the third largest flower of all known plants. The corpse flower gets its name from its distinctive odor, which many liken to the smell of rotting meat. It is a relative of the calla lily and the jack-in-the-pulpit, grows wild in the rainforests of Southeast Asia from a large underground corm. The plant first flowered in cultivation in London in 1889. Fewer than 50 of the largest variety of corpse flower, the titan arum, are known to have bloomed in the United States, with the smaller konjac arum typically found only in botanical gardens, museums, and private greenhouse collections. The large green bud of the konjac arum grows at a rate of about an inch per day, until it finally blooms into a central stem that can reach up to four feet tall, as well as a huge, purplish-brown blossom that resembles an asymmetrical collar. Darrow School’s Samson Environmental Center, built in 1988, also houses the Living Machine, an innovative wastewater treatment facility that uses a natural ecosystem to clean wastewater from campus dorms and buildings before returning it to the Hudson River watershed.

Deficient bridges in region on par with state percentage
Mid Hudson News Network has an update of where we stand in terms of our state's crumbling bridge infrastructure. They report that of 17,365 bridges in the State of New York, 12 percent are structurally deficient. Columbia County has the largest number of deficient bridges in the region at 18 percent. Ulster County is at 14 percent, Dutchess has 13 percent, and Greene is at about 12 percent. "Structurally deficient means they are in need of immediate attention. They need to be monitored more closely because they are starting to deteriorate in ways that could become critical,” said Transportation for America organization spokesman David Goldberg. “It doesn’t mean they will fall down tomorrow, but it does mean that if they are not taken care of, then they will be weight restricted, heavy vehicles won’t be allowed to go across them. Then they usually narrow it down to maybe only one lane of traffic at a time can go across and then ultimately they close the bridge.” The average life of a bridge is 50 years; New York’s bridges average 46 years old.

Hannaford unveils sketch plan for market
Doron Tyler Antrim writes in the Daily Mail that Hannaford made its first appearance before the Cairo planning board on Wednesday, April 6, introducing a sketch plan and other details of its proposed new supermarket. Representatives unveiled the company’s plan for a 36,000-square-foot store and pharmacy and 6,000-square-foot retail center to be built in the Great American plaza, whose owner, Ellsworth “Unk” Slater, has agreed to a buyout. The company’s plan calls for subdividing the roughly seven-acre parcel and carrying out a two-phased construction effort, eventually replacing the current Great American plaza.

Ichabod whittles tax hike to 3.9 %
John Mason writes in the Register-Star about the latest development in the budget process at Ichabod Crane School District in Kinderhook, which has already seen a decision to close two elementary schools and trim staff by 32.5 positions. Now the projected tax levy hike for the coming school year is at 3.9 percent and Superintendent Lee Bordick said that's partly because of state aid figures being better than expected, and partly because he originally overestimated expenses. He added, however, that he didn't see rehiring of staff or keeping schools open. Those decisions were based on declining enrollment, he adds, and not budget considerations.

Will a Robin Hood save Nottingham timeshare?
Cathy Woodruff of the Times Union has a piece about the bankruptcy of Catskills's Friar Tuck Resort in terms of its time share owners at Nottingham Village. She focuses on one couple who used their timeshare apartment to trade/rent for vacations they would take elsewhere. For a $300 yearly maintenance fee, plus a $150 exchange fee each year; apartment owners could rent their spaces or trade for use of similar timeshares in other locations. But now that the Friar Tuck is in bankruptcy, it is unclear whether hundreds who bought into Nottingham Village will have anything to show for their money when the Chapter 7 liquidation process is done. Two attempted bankruptcy sales of the resort complex by Ulster Savings Bank, which foreclosed on a $3.5 million Friar Tuck mortgage last September, have failed. In both cases, winning bidders walked away after a closer look at the property.

This Just In
Gossips of Rivertown was the first to have the story that there has been a court decision in favor of the City of Hudson in a lawsuit filed by the "North Dock Tin Boat Association, Inc.," which sought to stop the transfer of the land on which the Furgary Boat Club is located from the State of New York to the City of Hudson. The Register Star goes deeper into the matter, including questions about what happens now to the century-old shacks, many with electricity, located by the city's sewer plant and beloved by many as a funky remembrance of Hudson's older societal structure.

Baseball back at G’port park
Daniel Weissner reports in the Register-Star about a Hudson City School District Board of Education decision this week to rescind its prohibition against having Hudson High School baseball teams from playing home games at Greenport Town Park. "The district has been working to clean up its athletic fields, which were marred by potholes and flooded with water, for four years," Weissner writes of an April 4 meeting that saw more people addressing ballfield issues than funding cuts and rising class sizes. "The district does not pay to use the Greenport park..."

The National Weather Service says today will be partly cloudy, with some spotty sunshine. High 59F. Winds light and variable. Tonight will also be partly cloudy with NO sunshine. Low 34F. Winds light and variable. Tomorrow will be sunny with a few clouds. High around 60F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Town meetings tonight
ANCRAM Planning Board meeting at 7:00 p.m., town hall
AUSTERLITZ Planning Board meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall, 812 Route 203, Spencertown
COPAKE Planning Board meets at 7:00 p.m., Town Hall
GHENT Planning Board meeting at 7:00 p.m., town hall.
KINDERHOOK Zoning Board of Appeals at 7:00 p.m. at town hall
WINDHAM town meeting at 8:00 p.m. at 8:00 p.m., Town Hall, Hensonville

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: Low, 12:47 p.m./High, 6:27
SUNRISE/SUNSET 6:28 a.m./7:27 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET 8:17 a.m./11:47 p.m.

Birthdays
April 7 William Wordsworth, Walter Winchell, Billie Holliday, Ravi Shankar, Daniel Ellsberg, Francis Ford Coppola and John Oates.

WGXC's Pledge Drive continues today!
WGXC MORNING SHOW Board Operator: Mark Lacoy; Host: Casson Kennedy. 6-8 a.m. Paul Smart phone-in at 7:15 a.m.
DEMOCRACY NOW! 8 a.m.
WGXC MORNING SHOW Board Operator: Christina Malisoff; Hosts: Ellen Thurston, Joan Geitz, others. 9 a.m.
TELL IT LIKE IT IS Board Operator: Christina Malisoff; Host: Sam Sebren. 10 a.m.
CROSSROADS Jazz and more from Alan Skerrett. Noon.
THE ART OF THE HUDSON VALLEY Hosted by Chad Weckler. Scheduled guest: Henry Hudson, owner of Waterfront Studio and recording producer. As it is also pledge drive, Weckler will also be joined by Ann Forbes Cooper and Richard Roth. 2 p.m.
YOUTH SHOW Karen Schoemer and Loretta Schoemer. 3:30 p.m.
WGXC AFTERNOON SHOW 4 p.m.
THE JAZZ DISTURBANCE Hosted by Cheryl K. With special guest pianist Kevin Hays interviewed at 8 p.m.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="252" caption="Tim DeChristopher, from his website."][/caption]Environmentalist Tim DeChristopher, and founder of Peaceful Uprising, who was recently convicted on two felony counts for disrupting an auction of more than 100,000 acres of federal land for oil and gas drilling, spoke at Bard College Mon. Apr. 4. WGXC Christina Malisoff and Sam Sebren recorded DeChristopher's lecture, and interviewed him afterwards. On December 19, 2008, DeChristopher posed as a bidder at a BLM land auction in Salt Lake City, and purchased 22,000 acres of land to prevent the Bush administration from selling oil and gas exploitation rights on vast swaths of federal land. He faces up to 10 years in prison, but is touring universities talking about environmental issues. Bard Center for Environmental Policy brought him to speak in the school's Multipurpose room in the Campus Center. Click here to listen to Sebren interview DeChristopher after the talk.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="From Capital District Against Fracking Facebook page."][/caption]WGXC's Dharma Dailey interviewed Siobahn Burke, co-founder of Capital District Against Fracking. The group, along with many other New York State environmental groups, are organizing a large rally against hydraulic fracturing gas drilling on Mon., April 11 in Albany. Click here to listen to the interview.

Awareness key to progress against sexual violence
The Daily Freeman has a story about a presentation given by Dutchess County Family Services where it was acknowledged that many abuse victims still never report the crime and that creating greater awareness of what's involved in sexual abuse may get more victims to step forward. District Attorney William Grady said a big step forward is more humane treatment of the victim, who should no longer traumatized by having to wait in a public emergency room with a police officer. Local hospitals, he added, are finally starting to set up private ways of treating such patients. The event was attended by law enforcement and social services officials. Also announced was an upcoming “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event, in which men literally walk a mile in women’s shoes to raise awareness about sexual assault and support survivors. The event is scheduled for 1 p.m. April 30 at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.

Ulster starts ball rolling to form inter-county emergency communications system
Mid Hudson News Network reports that the Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee of the Ulster County Legislature has approved the first step toward joining other Hudson Valley counties in the formation of an emergency communications consortium. The six-county group is working towards fulfilling a state directive to address communications with a regional approach. The goal is to enable emergency services agencies to communicate on the same radio channels in the counties of Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester. Maybe Columbia and Greene should start a similar effort?

Redistricting reforms constitutional, group says
Stephanie Lee of the Times Union writes that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s call for a nonpartisan redistricting system has been deemed constitutional... by leaders of a redistricting reform campaign. "Organizers of ReShapeNY presented a legal memo from Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP that defends the constitutionality of the governor’s proposed bipartisan legislative committee, which would draw redistricting lines without consideration to political advantage," Lee writes. "ReShapeNY is organized by good-government groups that include Citizens Union, the New York Public Interest Group and the League of Women Voters." Cuomo’s plan is backed by 89 members of the Assembly, where Democrats hold the majority of the seats. The challenge to his plan's constitutionality comes from Senate Republicans, who have proposed to create a redistricting panel that wouldn’t draw lines until 2022. New lines will be drawn in 2012, in wake of the just-released census data.

Albany NanoTech awarded $57.5M for solar research
Robin K. Cooper of the Albany Business Journal reports that the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering will receive $57.5 million in federal money for solar-cell research and development. The U.S. Department of Energy announced the award on April 5. SUNY Albany will use the same technology it uses for computer-chip innovation to help make New York a hub for photovoltaic research, the university says. Sen. Charles Schumer had pushed for $100 million in federal funds to help form a Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium with more than 80 corporate and university partners, which mirrors similar efforts in the Mid-Hudson Valley being pushed by Congressman Maurice Hinchey.

The New York Law Journal reports on how New York's Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has told judges and court employees in a Web address that cuts imposed on the courts in the new state budget are "unprecedented" and will do "great harm" to the system." Judge Lippman has said that "hundreds" of layoffs may be necessary to help the courts meet $170 million in spending reductions imposed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers in the 2011-12 state budget. "The most painful cuts, I regret to say, will be in the continued reduction of our already depleted work force. While we have not yet determined the exact number of court system layoffs that will be necessary, it will undoubtedly be a very significant number across the broad range of administrative and court operations." Judge Lippman said in his nine-minute address yesterday that only four times in the past 15 years have the Judiciary's spending requests been cut. He said reductions in those four years averaged about 1 percent. The $170 million cut in the current fiscal year represents a 6.3 percent reduction.

‘Councilman on the Corner’ tonight
The Register-Star has a piece about a new “Councilman on the Corner” series of town hall-style meetings kicking off in Kinderhook at 7:00 p,m. on Wednesday, April 6. The sessions have been called by Kinderhook Town Councilman Peter Bujanow to take place in the McNary Center at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on Sylvester Street in the Village of Kinderhook. The councilman will speak and answer constituents’ questions on a variety of topics, including shared services, fiscal management, recreational services, local infrastructure, and public safety.

Group to outline biking trail project
Doron Tyler Antrim of the Daily Mail reports on a recently formed organization that is planning an expansion of mountain biking trails in the Cairo hamlet of Round Top. The Round Top Mountain Biking Association will host a public meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6 at Blackhead Mountain Lodge on Crows Nest Road. Frank Maguire, mid-Atlantic regional director for the International Mountain Biking Association, will be the meeting’s guest speaker. The project calls for building new biking trails in the hamlet for recreational use and competitions,and eventually wants to connect all the trails, linking them with the area’s resorts as a boost to the local economy. Riedlbauer’s Resort and Winter Clove Inn, both in Round Top, have hosted competitive mountain bike races in the past. And last summer, for the first time in the U.S. since 2005, the Mountain Bike World Cup was held not far from Round Top at Windham Mountain.

Retired priest arrested for fleeing police
Andrew Amelinckx has an update on the case of Father Francis G. McCloskey, who was arrested and jailed on April 4 following a “low speed chase” that lasted for about 10 minutes. He notes that the suspicions that led to the chase involved an overdue rent-a-car. When apprehended McCloskey, the former Copake Falls parish priest, now living in the Greene County community of Purling, “seemed dumbfounded” and was somewhat incoherent, according to police. It turns out he has previous traffic counts in Hudson and Onandaga County. The priest was charged with third-degree fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle, a class A misdemeanor, and reckless driving and remanded to jail in lieu of $1,000 cash or $2,000 bail bond pending further court action. McCloskey remained incarcerated as of press time. Kenneth Goldfarb, spokesman for the Albany Diocese, called the situation with the retired priest “gravely unfortunate.” McCloskey has been associated with Oh, Saratoga!.

Greene man gets 18 years in prison for cocaine sale
The Daily Freeman has a police blotter item on a Greene County man sentenced to 18 years in state prison for felony sale and possession of crack cocaine. Clide Wilson, 53, was found guilty of one count of criminal sale of crack cocaine and two counts of criminal possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell in January, following a trial before Greene County Judge George Pulver.

EPA: Housatonic not natural
Trevor Jones of the Berkshire Eagle has a fascinating story about new views of the Berskshire's main river in Western Massachusetts. "The dimensions and pattern of the Housatonic River are unsustainable after centuries of man-made changes, according to river experts -- one of a number of factors that may play a role in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s future remediation efforts of the area," he writes. The statement came at the first of three nights of workshops designed to relay the agency’s perspective on the history of the river, the impact of PCBs and the cleanup options for the river. Richard DiNitto, one of the EPA’s speakers, went over the history of the river, and how humans have impacted it in recent centuries. What appears to be a naturally occurring river, he said, is one that has actually been channeled and dammed, while industrialization and deforestation have also played a role in the condition of the river. These changes, along with other factors, are impacting the flow and surrounding ecology of the river, according to Keith Bowers, president and founder of Biohabitats, a company that specializes in environmental restoration, conservation planning and regenerative design.

Untapped potential: NY's maple industry
The Albany Times Journal reports that Cornell University researchers say New York’s maple industry could be increased by $80 million yields from its current level; of $12 million in annual revenue. New York producers tap less than 1 percent of all available maple trees, says Michael Farrell, director of Cornell’s Uihlein Forest,a 200-acre, 5,000-tap maple research and extension center in Lake Placid. He was speaking in backing of Sen. Charles Schumer’s Maple Tap Act, which is part of the 2012 Farm Bill. The bill would provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture access to $20 million a year in grants to support maple research, education, marketing and business development. The idea is to make New York a greater competitor to Quebec, which controls 80 percent of the global maple syrup market. There, 40 million trees are tapped each year, compared with 1.8 million trees in New York. “It makes sense to invest in an industry that is sustainable, has high returns and that has a growing demand currently being supplied by another country,” Farrell said.