[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Government shutdown, as imagined in a now-viral image."][/caption]Billy Moore of the Times Union's Capital Confidential crew, reporting from Washington, has a great take on what this week will mean in the nation's capital, where people are wagering on whether the government ends up shut down or not by the time midnight rolls around this coming Friday, March 4. "In the four months since the November election, congressional partisans have been positioning each other to shoulder the blame for a government shutdown. By the end of this week, either an agreement will be reached on how to extend government funding for a few more weeks or the shutdown will begin of less than essential services.


Continued...

He notes that security and armed forces won't be affected but "most federal employees would be furloughed and government services closed" depending on whether the President and Senate accept $100 billion in immediate cuts for the current year being proposed by House Republicans. And that's before next year's figures get discussed... or other current matters including patent reform and repeal of a reporting requirement for small businesses, and highway funds. "The essence of the spending fight is that Republicans want to cut and Democrats want a deal that protects government services," Moore says, voicing his opinion. "The public agrees with Republicans generally and with Democrats on the specifics." He suspects there will be a band aid solution of several weeks, pushing the real decisions down the line.

The National Weather Service has declared a Flood Watch through tonight as rain in the Hudson Valley, Catskills, and Berkshire/Taconic region could dump one to two inches of rain as a warm front moves in. A second area of rain with scattered thunderstorms is then forecast to move in from the southwest in the afternoon and early evening hours. The rainfall combined with the nearly saturated grounds from the one to two inches of rain that fell on Friday, as well as remaining snow cover, will exacerbate the flood threat, the NWS said. The mild weather and rain has allowed for the formation of ice jams and the buildup of water behind them can result in flooding upstream, as well as downstream if they give way.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="A Price Chopper of the sort that developers are planning for the border between Ghent and Chatham, with public information hearings set to make the process of approval transparent."][/caption]What's happening with the new Price Chopper planned for the Route 66 corridor? The Register-Star's Fran Heaney reports that a couple of weeks ago, the town of Ghent and village of Chatham planning boards held a joint meeting on February 16 to hear updated plans for the proposed 45,000-square-foot store store, to be located on the seven-acre parcel adjacent to the existing Price Chopper. Initially, the store hoped to connect to the village of Chatham sewer system. Engineers from both Ghent and Chatham have looked at the plans, especially with the stormwater concerns associated with the site. The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over the wetland in front of the store and have approved the driveway entrance, while the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation has control of the wetlands in the rear of the building. In addition the project's developers have prepared plans for substantial stormwater drainage under the parking lot and a stormwater detention system for stormwater drainage into the two wetlands. The new building will be completed with "a palette of warm earth tones, smoked glass windows and stone base, reminiscent of a country barn." Ghent Planning Board members discussed a connection between the existing Price Chopper and the new site, which will be built on an easement owned by Francis Greenburger, the force behind Art Omi and a major New York real estate owner. While Board members voiced their desire for landscaping, Price Chopper has plans to build a 6-foot stockade fence along the property line. A new Price Chopper of a similar design is being built in Lenox, Massachusetts. The company is designing a LEED certified building based upon U.S. green building standards. The town will hold one more informational meeting on the plans, which the developers are stilling adapting to meet planners' concerns, which has not yet been set. A public hearing date will be set following the informational meeting.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Hudson's riverfront plans, currently under review, are the subject of a new legal brief "shot across the bow" by local environmentalists."][/caption]Jamie Larson of the Register-Star has a story up about the new legal brief filed with the New York State Department of State by the attorney for the environmentally-minded local citizens group Valley Alliance, outlining what the group believes to be the remaining major issues of concern in the city of Hudson’s long awaited Local Waterfront Revitalization Program. The Valley Alliance is focused on issues relating to the protection of the city’s south bay wetland and discontinuing or limiting the use of lands in that wetland by the Holcim cement company (formerly St. Lawrence Cement), which owns the deep water port and the O&G trucking company. The major point of contention is the potential use of the old “causeway” railroad bed that cuts directly through the bay for the trucking of aggregate to the port. “We want to see an LWRP pass as soon as possible,” Valley Alliance cofounder Sam Pratt is quoted in the story, “but that’s predicated on having a good LWRP.” “If the current draft of the LWRP is not revised,” Alliance attorney Warren Replansky states in the brief, “the City and State could be in violation of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). To avoid further delays in the passage of the plan, the Valley Alliance attorney recommends that “all references to the Causeway as a preferred alternative route be eliminated.” Pratt added that after the Alliance and the group Scenic Hudson met with officials at the New York State Office of Coastal Resources in January, they felt that the dialogue has been productive and their concerns are being heard. But they wanted to file the brief to “put some meat on the bones.” City and state officials have been going back and forth for months making changes to the LWRP, trying to find acceptable common ground on it can come back to the city’s common council for a vote, expected in the next few months.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The Maetreum, in Palenville, is proving that state and federal religious tax exemptions apply to town and county taxes in Catskill and Greene County, as well."][/caption]The Watershed Post reports on a Palenville case where a local judge has found that a group of self-described witches may have gotten special treatment from the town of Catskill – and not in a good way. "In a strongly-worded decision issued on Tuesday (February 22), Judge George J. Pulver, Jr. of the Greene County Supreme County ruled that the town's denial of a property tax exemption for the Maetreum of Cybele smacks of discrimination," WP's Lyssa Harris writes. “Consistent with [the Matreum's] claim that it is being discriminated against, respondents' counsel attempts to hold petitioner to a higher standard than other religious organizations,” Pulver wrote in the decision, referring to Greene County attorney Carol Steven's decision to not recognize federal tax exemption status for the religious organization. Denying Catskill's request that he dismiss the case, Pulver wrote that the town, through its attorney, made “vague” and “subjective” arguments about the religious practices of the Maetreum in an attempt to justify its decision.


Continued...

He also ordered Greene County to refrain from foreclosing on the Maetreum's Palenville property for unpaid property taxes, which the organization refused to pay saying they were tax exempt, until the completion of the lawsuit. "The decision is the biggest victory for the pagans in their years-long battle with Catskill over whether or not they are exempt from property taxes as a religious group," Harris concludes of the case stretching back to 2007, when a town attorney advised not to accept the Maetreum's state and federal tax exemption. "In 2009, the Maetreum filed this lawsuit in the state Supreme Court accusing the town of religious discrimination... In his most recent argument to the Supreme Court, Vincelette wrote that because religious activity at the Maetreum was limited to 'occasional events,' the use of the property was not religious. Pulver's decision demolished that reasoning." The argument that religious events at the Maetreum are too infrequent “has no basis,” Pulver wrote in his 14 page decision, and is a “subjective standard” that “is so vague that it would wreak havoc if it were generally applied to religious organizations in Greene County.” The judge, however, declined to order the town to grant the Maetreum a tax exemption, writing that the Maetreum had not proven that it deserved one.

Germantown pilot's body recovered from crashed jet
The Register Star and other local newspapers report that the Federal Aviation Administration is saying that the body of 38-year-old Michael Faraldi, a podiatrist at Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and Germantown resident, was removed around 3 p.m. Sunday, February 27, from the wreckage of his vintage 1969 military jet in the Hudson River, just north of the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge. Faradi had been piloting his plane from Nashville to the Columbia County Airport in Ghent when he seems to have had mechanical difficulties.

Parent pickets county courthouse over gun decision
The unfortunate neighbors' spat in Catskill, where a new resident was allowed to keep her gun permit after stating fears of a neighbor she says has made threats against her, resurfaces in a Daily Mail story about one neighbor now picketing the county court building about the judge's gun decision.

Ulster Savings Bank continues to try to sell Friar Tuck Inn
The Daily Freeman reports today that Michael Shaughnessy, executive vice president of Ulster Savings Bank, is saying that the bank hopes to complete the sale of the closed Friar Tuck resort in the Catskill community of Kiskatom “in the not-too-distant future.” A couple of auction sales for the property in December fell through but the bank has renewed its marketing of the property and Shaunessy says various groups interested in the property are at different stages of their own purchase reviews.

Courthouse renovations
Carole Osterink of Gossips of Rivertown has an update on the recent stories about plans to renovate the Columbia County Courthouse later this year, with a tight focus on preservation concerns voiced in city meetings late last week.


Mexican pot still popular
The Times Union's Dan Freedman reports from Washington on increases in marijuana use, both from a surge in illegal domestic production and a similarly illegal rise in imports from Mexico.

The National Weather Service says we will have freezing rain this morning...changing to rain later in the day. High 48F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 90%. Tonight will be windy with a few showers early then partly cloudy overnight. Low around 25F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Town meetings tonight
HUDSON Police Committee at 6:00 p.m., Fire Committee at 6:45 p.m.
PHILMONT Local Development Corp meeting at 7:00 p.m., Village Hall, 124 Main Street
COLUMBIA COUNTY Budget/Salary Committee at 10:00 a.m.
Public Works Committee at 6 p.m.

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 11:54 a.m./Low, 6:31 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET 6:32 a.m./5:43 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET 4:07 a.m./1:53 p.m.

Birthdays
FEBRUARY 28 Vincent Minelli, Frank Gehry, Brian Jones, Cindy Wilson (B-52s) and Guy Maddin.


Tune in today
WGXC MORNING SHOW Mark Lacoy, Casson Kennedy, and Kaya Weidman introduce WGXC to the community this morning, 6 a.m.
DEMOCRACY NOW! 8 a.m.
WGXC MORNING SHOW Philip Grant, Alan Skerrett, and Norman Keyser interview Kaya Weidman from WGXC (9:30 a.m.), and Kathleen Packard, former WGXC Radio Council member and current president of Greene County Chamber of Commerce (10:45). There will be other features about WGXC. 9 a.m.-noon.
WGXC AFTERNOON SHOW Richard Roth, Joan Geitz, and Dharma Dailey interview the youth behind the "WGXC Theme Song" and other interviews and features on the new listener-supported radio station. 4-7 p.m.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="L-R, Andrew Joffe, Ann Forbes Cooper, and Joan Geitz perform a radio play at WGXC's first broadcast live from the Catskill Community Center, Sat. Feb. 26. Photo by David LaSpina/David Bush."][/caption]Since Saturday, WGXC has been broadcasting on 90.7-FM. If you have tuned in, at times the signal may have sounded spotty or weak. We're working all the time to make it sound better, and here is an explanantion from Andy Gunn, a technical advisor for WGXC who is on the board of free103point9, which holds the license:

Right now you might be wondering why you can get the signal in some places, but can't get it in others. There are a few reasons. For one, WGXC has a directional antenna. Which means the signal is stronger in some directions, over some other directions. This is because we have to protect [the signal's of] some other broadcast stations in the area. There is also an initial period where the Federal Communications Commission mandates we operate at half-power while some paperwork is filled out. That may take a few weeks, but once that paperwork goes through, we will be allowed to turn the transmitter to our fully allowed power. You should be able to receive the signal better once that happens. That said, there are always some initial glitches, so be patient while we work out the kinks in the system. Hopefully we wil be able to get the signal up and strong in as many areas as we can. In the meantime, reports of where the signal is strong and where it is weak will help us determine where we might need to fix a few things. You can call the WGXC studio line at 518-828-0290 with reception reports, or e-mail info@wgxc.org or tweet @wgxc. We hope we can get you a strong, clear signal in the very near future.

Hundreds, including locals, rally in Albany
The Register-Star had a big story by John Mason following Columbia County residents, and workers, who traveled to Albany on Saturday for the big rally there, like others across the nation, in solidarity with state workers in Wisconsin, where the new governor, Republican Scott Walker, is pushing to strip collective bargaining from public employee unions.

Germantown pilot feared dead; search resumes
The Daily Mail updated local reports on the vintage military jet, privately owned, that went down into the Hudson just north of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge on Saturday afternoon, noting that its pilot appears to have been a Germantown man, 38 year old Michael Faraldi, was flying the 1969 British-made BAC 167 Strikemaster, now flown in air shows, from Nashville via an airfield in Johnstown, Pa., and headed for the Columbia County Airport in Ghent. Police were still dragging the river for Faraldi's remains on Sunday.

REPORT: EPA, drilling industry know hydrofracking dangers are greater than has been understood
The Daily Freeman and other regional publications were running stories about the New York Times report published February 27 about the many grave health posed by gas drilling, proposed for parts of New York and other areas in the Northeast, noting that internal documents obtained by the Times “from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.”

Work on courthouse could begin this year
Francesca Olsen of the Register Star reports from this past week's Columbia County Public Works Committee that "architectural drawings are at 90 percent completion and everyone's expecting bids for renovation work to go out and construction to begin by the autumn of this year" on repairs to the historic county courthouse in Hudson.

The Sting, Part II
Sam Pratt has a riveting piece on his blog that follows up on the January underage drinking busts of several Warren Street establishments in Hudson by taking an assessment of growing charges that the cases, along with an attempt at follow up "stings" in February, may have been a set-up.

New York lags in “race to top” of education
Kathy Kahn of HV Biz reports from a recent talk by Jonathan Drapkin, president of the Hudson Valley think tank Pattern for Progress, where he noted how “New York ranks No. 1 in spending per student and 34th nationwide in outcomes. Although the business community is concerned about the taxes it pays, there is seldom any involvement by the business community in the activities of school districts. Why not?” Drapkin noted the major reductions in school aid projects, loss of federal stimulus funds, and the fact that elected officials are loathe to raise property taxes any higher as a call for business leaders to enter the discussion... and realize new solutions are needed to save education and other key elements of the state's social fabric.

It turns that while protesters amassed outside the offices of freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson in Kinderhook and Saratoga on February 24, the congressman himself was traveling overseas with a congressional delegation visiting troops and meeting with military leaders. The Glens Falls Post-Star has a story based on a Gibson press release about how the delegation left Iraq on Thursday, Feb. 24, and was traveling to an unspecified other foreign country, with the locations and itinerary for the remainder of the trip not being released "to protect security," according to Stephanie Valle, the congressman's spokeswoman. Gibson serves on the House Armed Services Committee and was traveling with Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, and Mo Brooks, R-Ala.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="A new report analyzes the possibilities for replacing current fuels with wood, and finds it won't work on a large scale. Image from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies website."][/caption]The Watershed Post has a story on a recent report about the forests of the northeast United States and whether they could ever replace fossil fuels as our main source of energy from the Millbrook-based Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in which the outcome of trees vs. fuels doesn't look so good for the trees. "Under best-case scenarios, however, the energy generated sustainably from forest biomass in the Northeast could replace only 1.4% of the region’s total fossil fuel energy," WP quotes the Cary report. "There is a misconception that Northeastern forestland is a vast, untapped resource. This is simply not true. Unrealistic growth in biomass energy facilities could lead to serious degradation of forest resources. While forest biomass is part of the renewable energy toolkit, it is by no means a panacea." Still, using wood for certain energy purposes, such as heating commercial buildings, might help reduce carbon emissions enough to make it a good strategy, the report says.

Remember how, two years ago, all the talk was about foreclosures. What happened to that? Jamie Larson of the Register-Star has a story about discussions concerning a potential new law and other code amendments addressing foreclosure issues in the City of Hudson, discussed by that municipality's Common Council Legal Committee on February 23. "A somewhat bizarre situation highlighted a discussion about a proposed new law to create a final chance for residents being foreclosed on to buy back their property within 30 days after the city takes ownership," Larson writes. "According to City Attorney John Connor an issue has arisen where a relative of a homeowner believed to be deceased is trying to pay the city back in installments for a property foreclosed upon some time ago. A vexing legal issue the city has run into while addressing the foreclosure is that there is no official record of the owner’s death on file. Fourth Ward Alderman Sheila Ramsey said she would have to double-check with her daughter but she recalled attending the man’s funeral." The law is also set to establish a firm deadline for the city to end litigation with someone that has not been able to come up with funds to pay back taxes for more than two years, in addition to ending limitations to a homeowner’s ability to stay in their home by better defining the steps of foreclosure proceedings and giving former owners one last chance to buy back a property." We will let you know what else is happening on a local level concerning these issues, which seem to have fallen from the attention of state and federal legislators, if not specific agencies.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch created a pledge that was signed by many state politicos last fall demanding a nonpartisan solution to every decade's redistricting battles. He heads for Albany now to call his signers on it."][/caption]What's happening in the battle on whether the state's redistricting gets handed over to a nonpartisan panel or done as its always done, by state Senate partisans? Kenneth Lovett of the Daily News reports that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver "quietly introduced Gov. Cuomo's plan for an independent commission to come up with a legislative redistricting plan." Cuomo's goal is aimed at breaking the cycle of majority parties using political clout to redraw the lines in favor of incumbents. The governor's measure is currently facing a major stall in the state Senate, where Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos reversed his pledge to support non-partisanship by blocking Democratic attempts in the senate to co-sponsor Cuomo's bill there. "Despite a lukewarm response when Cuomo unveiled the plan last week, Silver last week discreetly submitted the proposal to the Assembly's government operations committee," Lovett reports. "The move comes in advance of a planned Tuesday trip to the Capitol by former Mayor Ed Koch, who has led a reform effort and will call on lawmakers to approve an independent redistricting commission." Silver was criticized during the campaign for not signing onto Koch's pledge to support an independent group to redraw political districts, while Skelos DID sign it. Under Cuomo's bill, congressional and state legislative district lines would be drawn by a bipartisan commission made up of people long removed from public office. The lines are redrawn every 10 years and are next due to be done before the 2012 elections.

The Times Union's Casey Seiler has a story on how Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team has handed off a package of 79 recommendations designed to save $2.3 billion from the health care program in the 2011-2012 fiscal year. The February 24 vote came at the end of six hours of discussion on the proposals, which ranged from elements as monumental as a global spending cap to more granular ideas such as tighter controls on prescription footwear. "The swiftness of the move to a vote -- a second day of discussion had been planned for Friday -- left several members of the panel feeling bruised," Seiler writes. "Lara Kassel of the advocacy group Medicaid Matters said she was 'shocked' by the decision, and chose to abstain." "More time for the sake of more time is not something that I think is beneficial to any of us," said James Introne, Cuomo's deputy secretary for health, just before the vote. The major elements of the package include a 4 percent cap on the state's share of Medicaid, which would be pegged at slightly more than $15 billion. The gross cost of New York's Medicaid program, including federal funds, would be almost $53 billion. To enforce the cap, the state Department of Health and the Budget Division would be charged with monitoring month-to-month spending, and would be empowered to impose "utilization controls" and rate reductions if those agencies determined it was about to be exceeded. The plan would also initiate a rapid expansion of the use of managed care programs: Within three years, almost all Medicaid recipients would be entered into a program in which all major aspects of their care would be centrally monitored. The plan, sent to Cuomo, must now pass muster with both bodies of the state legislature.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Catskill School District is looking at drastic cuts this year, but hoping that public forums on March 1 and 14 will help the community decide what programs it wants to hold on to, from early education to sports."][/caption]Catskill Central School District officials are holding the first of two community budget forums on potentially drastic cuts including the end of kindergarten and pre-K classes on Tuesday, March 1, and have expressed hope that people will attend and present their ideas about what should or should not be included for funding in the next school year. Jim Planck of the Daily Mail writes that, "Community participation is perhaps especially essential this year, as the Board of Education has come at the budget from a 'bottom up' approach, meaning that the existing draft budget has had everything and anything that can be removed from it accordingly taken from it... All optionals have been excluded, so Tuesday’s upcoming forum is the opportunity for the community to suggest to the board which of those excluded items or programs should be put back in and restored with funding." The story goes on to note how the school board has invited Catskill residents, business owners, and taxpayers to the forum, which will be held in the Middle School auditorium starting at 6:00 p.m. for a stated length of no more than two hours. Each speaker will be alotted two minutes, and — per the format designed by Questar BOCES Assistant Superintendent Dr. Andrew DeFeo, who will be the function’s moderator — is to address only one topic in that time, with no other speakers then addressing that topic until all other topics of the night have been raised. Once all topics have been spoken of, speakers who have not yet spoken and wish to readdress a particular subject will be alotted their two minutes, and once everyone who wants to speak has spoken, all will be provided opportunity to return for a two minute segment on a second topic. There will be a registration form, which includes a spot where the speaker’s concern must be briefly stated, and the board has stressed that only budget subjects will be listened to, and that other areas, such as personnel matters or concerns of other nature, will not be received. A second forum will be held on Monday, March 14.

At least 50 concerned citizens came together outside Congressman Chris Gibson’s office in Kinderhook on February 24 to protest his recent vote in support of federal budget cuts, which he has said he made despite having qualms about many of the cuts he was voting for. Francisca Olsen of the Register-Star reported that the protest was sponsored by MoveOn.org and Columbia County Voice, and gave residents the opportunity to sound off on what they see as partisan cuts to programs that benefit the community. A similar protest, more focused on specific cuts designed to decimate Planned Parenthood, was held simultaneously in Saratoga and reported on in The Saratogian. Much was made of the recent Congress' decision to cut the Corporation for Public Broadcasting but keep funding deals for agency advertisement funding for Nascar races. Small groups of Gibson supporters, most from outside Columbia County, in Kinderhook, and Saratoga in that city, held up signs of their own. They were organized with the help of local Tea Parties, as reported here in recent days.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Former Hudson Alderman Quintin Cross, at the time of his arrest on a variety of counts in 2007, as seen in a Times Union Lance Wheeler photo from the time."][/caption]Andrew Amelinckx of the Register-Star has a story up about how Quintin Cross, the former Hudson alderman who spent more than two years in prison, may have been given an invalid sentence. The 27-year-old, currently on parole, was arrested in January 2007 by the New York State Police and charged with seven felonies and four misdemeanors including forgery, identity theft, grand larceny and falsifying business records for using credits cards in the names of then-Hudson Mayor Richard Tracy, Hudson Police Chief Ellis Richardson and the city of Hudson. He later pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree grand larceny through a plea deal offered by the District Attorney’s Office and was sentenced by Nichols to six months in jail, along with five years of probation, 1,500 hours of community service and restitution of more than $16,000. Cross violated probation in January 2008 by failing to make restitution payments and by missing a probation meeting. This first violation and its aftermath are at the heart of the question of whether Cross should have served prison time for a second violation of probation that occurred in May of that year. This continuation of Cross’ original sentence, according to the probation department’s and Howard’s reading of the law, was invalid because Cross had already served more time than was legally allowed by the state’s sentencing parameters. The maximum sentence allowed in connection with a five-year term of probation is six months. Based on this, Nichols wouldn’t have been able to later sentence Cross to 1 1⁄3 to 4 years in prison for his second probation violation (for cocaine use) since Cross wouldn’t have been on probation at that time. “The statute and law appear very clear to me,” said Howard. “Aside from the fact that I committed the crime, I expect justice to be done. I’m calling on the District Attorney to rectify the sentence expeditiously in the interest of justice.”

Start your engines: Wilzig wins track battle
One of Columbia County's stranger stories, on a par with the Minnesota man who built his own stretch of interstate to drive on by himself, is coming to a close. Jamie Larson of the Register-Star reports that Taghkanic resident Alan Wilzig has won his battle with a group of neighbors over his right to complete and operate a large personal racetrack on his rural property, and charts the perambulations his case has taken since getting local permits five years ago, having those reversed by an appeals court, and going right to the top of the state's judicial system.

As season wanes, flu takes last shots
The Times Union reports that while the influenza season is in high gear as cases of the illness have reached their highest levels statewide since the season's start in October, the good news is that influenza is following its typical pattern of hitting hard just before spring emerges. The state Health Department said for the week ending Feb. 12, 1,383 influenza cases were reported, up from 1,291 the week of Jan. 29. Only a fraction of actual flu cases are tested, but the statistics are a barometer of how pervasive the virus is in the community.

Saugerties man charged with rape
A 40-year-old Saugerties man was arrested by Catskill police early Thursday, Feb. 24, for allegedly raping a woman in the presence of a two-year-old child. Colin DeVRies reports in the Daily Mail that Luis A. Sanchez was charged with first-degree rape, a class B felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor, following an incident in Jefferson Heights.

An early sign of spring
Gossips of Rivertown's Carole Osterink reports that "for everyone who misses the summer and autumn ritual of going to the Hudson Farmers' Market on Saturday morning, a new indoor Spring Market is starting on Saturday, March 5. The Register-Star goes on to note how the markets will be taking place at the fellowship hall at Christ Church Episcopal, 413 Union St. in Hudson.

Recovery threatened by rising oil prices
The Albany Business Journal riffs on a recent Wall Street Journal story about how the troubles in the Mideast are pushing oil prices above $100 a barrel, and gas prices above the $4 level for the summer, and possibly as high as $5 per gallon.


Radio rebirth at WGXC
The Daily Freeman has a big front page story about... us! We're wondering if our hometown publications will be doing the same.

The National Weather Service says today will see a wintry mix with much wind . Rain and freezing rain this morning will later change to a mix of rain and snow. High around 40F. Winds NE at 20 to 30 mph. Snow accumulating 1 to 3 inches. Schools are closed for a id-winter break anyways. Tonight will be windy. Cloudy skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 19F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Tomorrow will be dry and party cloudy, in the low 30s.

Town meetings tonight
CLERMONT Zoning Board of Appeals, 7:30 p.m. at town hall
COLUMBIA COUNTY Budget/Salary Committee at 10:00 a.m.
Public Works Committee at 6 p.m.

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 8:41 a.m./Low, 3:37 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET 6:37 a.m./5:39 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET 1:43 a.m./10:53 a.m.

Birthdays
FEBRUARY 25 Rudolf Steiner, Zeppo Marx, Doug Yule, and Carrot Top.

Tune in today
THE MORNING SHOW With Mark Lacoy and Casson Kennedy, 6-8 a.m.
DEMOCRACY NOW with Amy Goodman, 8-9 a.m

State police say a Germantown man, aged 31, committed suicide on Thursday afternoon, February 24, by jumping off the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. A trooper at the Catskill barracks confirmed the fatal leap to the Daily Freeman, who posted a breaking news story on what happened at about 1:00 p.m., when the focus was on the closing of bridge traffic between Columbia and Greene counties. Later, the Register-Star's Andrew Amelinckx ran a story that included quotes from witnesses who said they saw a man carrying a metal briefcase walk from the Columbia County side of the 76-year old span and leap over the south side of the its edge late Thursday morning. The 31-year-old man, whose name hasn’t been released yet, had a history of mental illness, according to the New York State Police, and would have walked past a suicide hotline phone as he stepped onto the bridge. “When it seems like there is no hope, there is help,” it reads. The Coast Guard sent a cutter, but was unable to get to the site due to the shallowness of the water. The man’s body was taken from the scene by Yadack-Fox Funeral Home of Germantown. Amelinckx reports that several people said they had seen the man walking on state Route 9G in the past several weeks, wearing a suit without an overcoat and carrying his briefcase as he walked on the side of the road. It was because of that briefcase, left on the walkway, that police say they closed the bridge in both directions from about 11:45 a.m., when the incident occurred, until about 1:30 p.m., during which time they brought in a bomb squad to check the briefcase's contents, "erring on the side of caution" only to find it contained the Germantown man's papers. The bridge extends 5,040 feet across the river, with a ship clearance of 145 feet.