Siblings die in police shootouts 4 years apart
The Lee Welch murder/suicide story that involved the murder of a Poughkeepsie city police officer is given an eerie shadow in the Daily Mail and Register-Star via an Andrew Amelinckx story about how a brother of Welch's, Aaron Brevoort, was killed during a similar shooting standoff with police in Springfield, MA on March 13, 2007, when he was wanted for violating parole in Columbia County for a 2006 third-degree burglary conviction for which he served 10 months in prison. Both were 28 at the time of their deaths.

Reassessment notices in the mail
The Town of Claverack is moving ahead smoothly with its reval, an issue that frightens many local towns, with the Register-Star announcing that disclosure notices have been mailed to all property owners in the town with a reminder that property owners should check their full home value and start putting evidence together if thinking of filing a complaint, for which informal reviews will be held March 3 through 19. Appointments will be required.

Green light on fed stimulus funds
The Times Union notes that the organization Environmental Advocates approved of the $5 billion left for stimulus projects in the state, with much of it going to public transportation. Not mentioned is what Congress will now allow... or cut from promised monies.

Killings in Poughkeepsie spur call for tougher domestic violence laws
Advocate calls for increased outreach efforts to assist victims of crimes involving domestic violence, as well as funding for a Special Victims Unit that handles the prosecution of all domestic violence-related crimes, continue to rise in the face of the Lee Welch murder/suicide last Friday, according to the Mid Hudson News Network. Maybe even the promised cuts to such services may now be reversed.

A new attack against a looming green menace?
The Watershed Post and Berkshire Eagle have stories up about the insatiable emerald ash borer, an invasive insect that is death to ash trees that has already been spotted in the Catskills, noting that a new methodology of treatment called "trunk injection" is moving folks away from calls to eradicate all ash trees in the state as a means of "protecting" them.

The National Weather Service says today will have abundant sunshine. High 38F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight will have mainly clear skies. Low 16F. Winds light and variable.

Town meetings tonight
ATHENS Village Meeting at Community Center, 2 First St., Athens
HUDSON Department of Public Works Committee meeting starts at 6:00 p.m.; Legal Committee meeting starts at 6:45 p.m.
KINDERHOOK Historical Committee at 7:00 p.m., Town Hall
COLUMBIA COUNTY County Government Committee at 6:00 p.m.

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: Low, 1:23 p.m./High, 7:11 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET 6:40 a.m./5:37 p.m.
MOONSET/MOONRISE 9:17 a.m./12:38 a.m. Thursday

Birthdays
FEBRUARY 23 George Friedrich Handel, W.E.B. Du Bois, Dakota Fanning, and Johnny Winter.

Tune in today
WGXC MORNING SHOW Hosted by Casson Kennedy and Board Operator Mark Lacoy. 6-8 a.m.
DEMOCRACY NOW! International news. 8-9 a.m.
WGXC AFTERNOON SHOW Hosted by Richard Roth and Ann Forbes Cooper, with Board Operator Tom Roe. 4-7 p.m.
14th HOMELESSNESS MARATHON Joan Geitz anchors WGXC's coverage of the 14th Annual Homelessness Marathon live from Kansas City. Geitz will have updates on the hour throughout the marathon.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Kripalu, in the Massachusetts Berkshires, is looking to expand its influence nationally."][/caption]Following a top-level management shakeup, the 150-acre Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the nearby Berkshires, is reinventing itself with an eye to grow its regional and national impact beyond the 32,000 visitors a year it currently draws to its new-age retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. According to a story in the Berkshire Eagle, David Surrenda, 64, an entrepreneur and specialist on holistic practices in the workplace, was named the organization's new CEO in October 2010 and is now conducting a top-to-bottom review of operations that has already forced 60 layoffs and will include marketing, fundraising, curriculum and staff deployment. Salaries, frozen for several years, are also being reviewed by a compensation specialist for potential upgrades. Surrenda, the Eagle notes, is a New York City native who attended camp in Columbia County, earned his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1969, and then moved from work at VA hospitals in Massachusetts and California, where he treated Vietnam War veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, to leading a number of holistic-oriented academic programs in CA universities. Kripalu bills itself as the largest holistic and yoga center in North America, training and graduating at least 500 yoga teachers a year, and with 30 affiliated yoga studios and 6,000 certified yoga alumni worldwide. "Some Kripalu devotees call it the Mother Ship, while the busy programming office is referred to as Mission Control," the story by reporter Clarence Fanto reads. "Kripalu's ambitious goals include partnerships with other institutions in the area, including Berkshire Health Systems and individual health professionals. Nursing homes, schools, community centers, and even Weight Watchers International are on the list for exploratory discussions." Surrenda said he sees Kripalu as becoming a leader in changing the nation's healthcare in light of congressional stalemate on the issue. "Kripalu, which originated as an ashram led by yogi Amrit Desai in 1972 at two remote locations in Pennsylvania, relocated to Stockbridge in 1983 on the site of the former Shadowbrook Jesuit novitiate, which was closed in 1970," Fanto writes. "The guru, married with three children, was forced to resign in October 1994 after admitting to inappropriate sexual liaisons with three female acolytes, violating his oath of celibacy. Many of the 350 residents left after the scandal, and Kripalu morphed into a retreat and educational facility.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="U.S. Representative Chris Gibson defended his call for more nuclear power in the state in a Times Union editorial this past Sunday."][/caption]Freshman Congressman Chris Gibson has an editorial in this past Sunday's Times Union, "More energy means more nuclear power," in which he countered his arguments for "all of the above" energy development by noting that, "my intent will never be to force a nuclear plant on a community that doesn't want one.” In his piece, Gibson announced that he is forming a bipartisan energy advisory panel to help promote "the comprehensive implementation of wind, solar, hydropower and other renewable energy sources, responsible natural gas and oil exploration, and the significant expansion of nuclear power." The chief reason? To end reliance on foreign oil. "As our economy begins to grow again, we will need a significant amount of new energy. Increased supply also means a lower price -- adding to the bottom-line for consumers and businesses," Gibson continues. "Nuclear energy provides about 20 percent of electricity generation in the United States, the federal agency reports, with 104 operating reactors around the country. In New York, six reactors provide more than 30 percent of our electricity. Our state has the potential to be at the forefront of nuclear power expansion." Gibson lambastes coal as being too dirty and talks up cleaner means of creating nuclear plants these days. Read the full piece here...

By Gus Murphy

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="A wind turbine of the sort put up on a farm in Gallatin recently, as seen on the Hudson Valley Wind Energy website."][/caption]Jamie Larson of the Register-Star has an evocative story up about how the Sky Acres Angus Farm, off rural Route 7 in the rural Columbia County town of Gallatin, put up a new wind turbine last Friday, Feb. 18 after 18 months of planning and zoning approval, a grant from the state and a little neighbor to neighbor diplomacy. Finally, Mason writes, farmer Ray Wendover was able to put his 140 foot windmill up with the aid of a neighbor, Douglas Passeri and his crew from Hudson Valley Wind Energy. This is the second turbine installed by Passeri and his son Douglas Jr. who also live in Gallatin. Friday, they were being assisted by consulting installers from Alternative Power Solutions. The farm, with its long open view of the surrounding hills, enjoys an average wind speed of around 9 mph but it can get much faster in a hurry. The turbine only needs a wind speed of 7.2 mph to get going and can store energy from windier days to make up for the calmer ones. The Wendovers, Mason points out, are only permitted by law to yield 110 percent of their electrical needs from the turbine which they sell to the utility company at wholesale for processing and then buy back at retail. “I don’t want to be dependent on other people,” said Ray Wendover, whose main business is running Wendover Landscaping out of Dutchess County. “This whole farm is so I can retire some day and have no bills.” Wendover received roughly $16,000 from the Department of Agriculture and Markets for the turbine through former congressman Scott Murphy’s office. The New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) also offsets the cost somewhat by providing incentives for wind energy companies.

Welch had a troubled, violent past
Andrew Amelinckx of the Register-Star takes up the story of Lee Welch, the Catskill man who killed his wife, a cop, and himself with bullets to the head near the Poughkeepsie train station on Friday, February 18, with a look at past crimes, including a domestic incidence in Hudson where he threw a rock through a car window at his wife and child.

Schumer, business leaders talk expansion
The U.S. Senator met with local business and community leaders at the Greene County IDA offices in Coxsackie on Monday, Feb. 21, according to the Daily Mail, where among other things he voiced support for a local nuclear power plant.

NYSUT ad sets up stark choice: kids vs. the wealthy
The state teachers union has a hard-hitting new ad out, pitting kids education against maintenance of tax breaks for the wealthy. A Times Union story implies that the Wisconsin class wars are moving east, as well as all across the nation.

Gas drilling hearings set for this week
The hearings are with the Delaware River Basin Authority, and focused along those counties which border Pennsylvania. But they're still part and parcel, according to the Watershed Post, with what remains one of the state's (and nation's) top environmental issues of the day.

Global Foundries plans second building, another 1500 employees
The Albany Business Journal has been running a piece about the Saratgoa County microchip manufacturer's expanding plans, which many have said will include satellite "feeder" businesses in Columbia and Greene counties... So this is the high tech future of the region?

Domestic violence activist and victim says more is needed to fight the scourge
Mid Hudson News Network has a story about how the murder/suicide in Poughkeepsie demonstrates the need for stronger domestic violence laws, which advocates are saying also needs more program help, instead of the cuts currently being proposed.

The National Weather Service says today will be mostly sunny with times of sun and clouds. High 29F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight, mainly clear skies. Low 7F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.

Town meetings tonight
HUDSON Economic Development Committee meeting starts at 6:00 p.m.
PHILMONT Planning Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Village Hall, 124 Main Street
STUYVESANT Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall
TAGHKANIC Planning Board meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall
COLUMBIA COUNTY Economic Development Committee at 5:00 p.m.

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: Low, 12:25 p.m./High, 6:12 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET 6:41 a.m./5:36 p.m.
MOONSET/MOONRISE 8:38 a.m./11:28 p.m.

Birthdays
FEBRUARY 22 Arthur Shopenhauer, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ishmael Reed, Drew Barrymore, and Ernie K-Doe.

Tune in today
WGXC MORNING SHOW Reed Ismael and Jackie Thomas read the news, take calls, play music, introduce volunteer's work, and more. 6-8 a.m.
DEMOCRACY NOW! International news. 8-9 a.m.
BLIND SPOT David LaSpina and David Bush host a show about photgraphy. 2-3 p.m.

Before Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo put forth his budget earlier this month, state legislators were talking of ways to bring down education costs through consolidation of services. Now, the New York Times is reporting that the governor is proposing to eliminate financial incentives that have long rewarded districts that join together to use services provided by 37 regional educational agencies known as the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES. Now, Winnie Hu is reporting that, "Under Mr. Cuomo’s proposal, districts would no longer be partly reimbursed for sharing many noninstructional services, including payroll and business office support; labor relations and negotiations; personnel recruitment; public relations; school food services and management, and coordination of substitute teachers, extracurricular activities and sports. Currently, individual districts get back 36 percent to 90 percent of what they pay for services provided by BOCES, state officials said, with the payments determined by districts’ wealth." While districts would still be compensated for instructional and some noninstructional services from BOCES, Hu continues, the governor now wants to change the reimbursement formula to lower the minimum rate to 10 percent from 36 percent. The estimated cost savings from the governor’s proposal would be $34 million in the first year, the 2012-13 school year, officials said. In response, superintendents and BOCES officials argue that the districts are already facing a $1.5 billion reduction in state aid and a tax cap that would limit their local revenue, and they believe the state should be increasing incentives for the districts to lower costs, not reducing them. The battlelines keep thickening...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="161" caption="TSL Youth Director Bonnie Scott Jones has been hired to expand the Hudson institution's kid programming."][/caption]Time and Space Limited in Hudson has announced the hiring of a new TSL Youth Director, Bonnie Scott, and a special open house event this coming Saturday, Feb.26 from 11 a.m. to noon to introduce her to the community in the TSL Youth Space on the ground floor of the facility on Columbia Street in Hudson. Bonnie Scott Jones, a graduate student in Childhood Education at the Bank Street College of Education in New York City, as well as a practicing public interest lawyer, has worked with children in public and private schools, and in out-of-school enrichment programs. She began teaching at TSL last summer, and has now led three “TSL Kids Create” workshops: City Build, Waterfront Model Making, and Making Moving Toys (Automata construction). Her next "TSL Kids Create" class will be a Design and Build workshop beginning in March. She works in a variety of mediums, including wood, clay, stained glass, and photography.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's own legal counsel may have written the tough no-recount election law interpretation that cost him his long-held supermajority this year."][/caption]Celeste Katz of the New York Daily News has a piece about the recent case that saw incumbent Democrat Frank Skartados concede the seat for the 100th Assembly District last week while only 15 votes behind the man he defeated two years ago, Thomas Kirwin. According to Katz, Skartados' lawyer, who had been Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's adviser, wrote the vague state law that may have cost Silver his powerful and long-held veto-proof Democratic supermajority. Kathleen O'Keefe, while she worked as Silver's chief election counsel, interpreted state election law NOT to include mandated recounts in close elections, setting the stage for a Brooklyn appeals court to rule unanimously in favor of Kirwan when it tossed out about 60 contested affidavit ballots that many felt would have swung the election back to Skartados.


Continued...

According to Katz, "O'Keefe, reached yesterday, headed off any questions. 'I have no comment, [and] I'd rather you didn't call me,' she said before hanging up. Silver did not return a call." She then goes on to note that "even Kirwan's lawyer James Walsh - though thrilled with his client's victory - said he would have interpreted the law differently if he'd been in O'Keefe's place in the 100-day-plus struggle." "If I were her, I would've [tried to] open up all the machines - especially [in] Dutchess County with its higher concentration of registered Democrats," Katz quotes Walsh saying.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Brookwood Secure Juvenile Facility, in Claverack, could be pegged for closure according to a Register-Star story, from which this photo was also taken."][/caption]How will impending budget cuts affect juvenile delinquent programs? Will it be as bad for remediation efforts as things are looking for early education, our culture, and even domestic violence programs? Jamie Larson writes in the Register-Star that even though no specific center closings have been announced, the Brookwood Secure Juvenile Facility on Spook Rock Road in Claverack is one of the facilities potentially in the governor’s crosshairs. And even though Cuomo has stated his intentions to give communities negatively impacted by the loss of area jobs at a facility millions of dollars in economic development grants, his budget office has tasked the New York state Office of Children and Family Services, the office in charge of such facilities, with creating a report on just how much can be cut and how. A spokesperson for the budget office said the current goal is to reduce the state’s overall juvenile detention capacity from 1,209 to around 833. Furthermore, OCFS Commissioner Gladys Carrion said that closing under-utilized facilities is consistent with the current trend of declining populations at OCFS facilities at a Joint Legislative Fiscal Committees budget hearing on Feb. 16. The commissioner voiced support for another part of Cuomo’s plan for OCFS in which $70 to $73 million will be reinvested into community-based alternatives to detention and youths in the care of OCFS. Let's all see how THIS shakes out over the coming year.

The shift in tone from suburbia to exurbia, and homeowners' returned wish to be able to walk to stores, libraries and other municipal services, is the subject of an increasingly powerful state agency, Empire State Future, in charge of a new state law, the New York Public Infrastructure Policy Act. Kathy Kahn of HV Biz has a story on how ESF Executive Director Peter Fleischer is now saying that the state’s going to force more municipalities to think twice when it comes to planning infrastructure projects within their borders. Kahn reports how Fleischer recently outlined what the new law will do to help increase municipalities’ desire to think “smart” in order to qualify for funding, directing 10 state agencies, authorities and public corporations – from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Environmental Conservation – to screen infrastructure programs to stop sprawl and to rate, on the basis of benefit, whether a project is considered a smart investment or one that will contribute to the problem. "While Fleischer said some areas of the mid-Hudson region would remain rural by nature, towns and villages that are growing in population must find ways to make those expanding communities more pedestrian and public transportation friendly," Kahn writes. "The Public Infrastructure Policy Act will require municipal planners to justify to the state agencies encompassed by the legislation to deem them worthy of funding based on their planning." The law was signed in September, 2010.

The Albany Business Journal has a story up about how the Capitol District's business community is more optimistic about the economy this year, as 94 percent plan to hire staff or maintain their current headcount, compared to 90 percent in 2010, according to a survey released on Feb. 18. "Forty-nine percent of Albany area companies expect their business to grow in 2011. That’s a sharp increase from two years ago when 28 percent of businesses forecasted growth as the recession forced industries to slash spending survive," reporter Robin K. Cooper writes of the 25th annual Business Climate Survey by Marvin and Co. CPA firm and the University at Albany, which also found that 42 percent of Capital Region companies grew last year, the highest total in three years.


Continued...

"Private and public investments in technology are beginning to have an impact on the region... The survey showed that 24 percent of companies believe the tech sector is contributing to growth in 2011, compared to 22 percent last year." The survey include a wide range of construction, finance, manufacturing, retail and professional companies. More than half had grow sales of less than $1 million a year and 17 percent expect sales to exceed $5 million this year. Local companies ranked the high cost of health care as their primary concern in 2011. It was the 15th year out of the past 16 that health care took top billing. The lingering recession was the second biggest worry, followed by taxes and government regulations.

The Daily Freeman has an update on the upcoming Catskill school district community meetings designed to allow the public to share thoughts, ideas and suggestions to be taken into consideration during the preparation of the 2011-12 budget, which in initial talks has included the dropping of all electives, Pre-K and kindergarten classes, sports, music and art, and rising class sizes. The forums will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. next Tuesday evening, March 1, as well as on Tuesday, March 14 in the Catskill Middle School auditorium. According to information from the district, the forums will provide a “listening opportunity” for the Board of Education. Community members will be "given the chance" to discuss budget issues that do no relate to personnel, and given "up to two minutes to speak to the board," though the formal ground rules of the event will be laid out at the start of the forum. People who speak at the forum must identify themselves and fill out a form listing their key points, according to the district. Those forms will be provided at the events.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="140" caption="Dick May, as seen on his Seeing Greene blog site."][/caption]Dick May's Seeing Greene came out with a new blog entry on Friday, February 18, that serves up another fine lecture on the semantics of news prose and how simple uses of metaphor, simile, and allusion can shift the meaning of a story... and how all our non-fiction reading is rippled by untruths... even if only the use of grammatical tricks to make large entities, such as nations or political parties, appear the same as individuals. "Related to personation’s de-personalizing effect is intimidation. Personation promotes a brand of metaphysics that not only is goofy, but also is conducive to personal paralysis," May writes. "Since so much of history is made not by people but by big, extra-human, super-human willful entities, surely it would be presumptuous for us Lilliputians to entertain thoughts about exerting influence. Personation works, cumulatively, against feelings of personal responsibility and personal efficacy. Blended with personation’s de-personalizing and intimidating effects, in more than a few cases, is political spin. Journalists (as well as pundits and advertisers) use Personation as a tool of special advocacy. Intentionally or not, they use Personation so as to excuse, praise and damn." As for any local news, we'll be waiting for Dick's next entry...

Help sought in search for missing teen
The Greene County Sheriff's Office is distributing flyers to local businesses in hopes of locating 13-year-old Raven Barger, who disappeared from his New Baltimore home on Friday night, Feb. 18, around 7:30 p.m. when his parents checked his room and found him gone, with the window open. The 5 foot 5 inch, 155 pound teen has left home before but has never disappeared for this long, according to a report in the Times Union.

Catskill man who killed police officer shot self twice, autopsy shows
All the local papers are leading with another installment in the story of Lee Welch, the Catskill man who shot killed his wife, Jessica, and then killed a Poughkeepsie police office after having his three year old daughter wrestled from his arm. Now it seems he shot himself twice in the head before dying.

Justice drops charge against highway chief
Hillsdale Justice Russ Immarigeo dismissed the second degree harassment charge against Hillsdale Highway Superintendent Richard Briggs February 14, Diane Valden reports in The Columbia Paper. Briggs, 41, of Hillsdale, was charged last August 13 because of a complaint signed by a Highway Department employee who alleged that he made sexually suggestive statements. Hillsdale Town Supervisor Art Baer and the Town Board cast a vote of no confidence in Briggs in August, Valden reports, even before he was charged, and called for his resignation. Baer told The Columbia Paper Wednesday that he and board, “were disappointed that the matter did not go all the way through the judicial process.”

Catskill declares snow emergency for Monday
The village of Catskill declared a snow emergency effective 8 a.m. this morning, Feb. 21, 2011 to remain in effect for 72 hours, until 8 a.m. on Thu., Feb. 24, according to The Daily Mail. Residents must follow posted alternate parking regulations and any vehicle parked on the roadway in violation of parking regulations which hinders the removal of snow will be ticketed and towed at the owner’s expense.

Study: NY ranks No. 23 for CO2 output
This Albany Business Journal piece is a nice surprise, given the concentrations of cities and manufacturing still in our state. The worst offenders for power generators? Texas, by a huge amount, then Florida, Ohio and Indiana. Cleanest? Ah... Vermont!

It is President's Day. Lots of places are closed.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory through 3 p.m. Monday and they predict snow, mainly before 1 p.m. High near 27. Light wind becoming north between 10 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New snow accumulation of one to three inches possible, to add to the one to three inches our area saw overnight. Tonight, partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 12F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.

Town Meetings
AUSTERLITZ Town Hall closed during day, comprehensive Plan meeting tonight at 7:00 p.m., 812 Route 203, Austerlitz

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 5:15 p.m./Low, 11:54 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET 6:43 a.m./5:34 p.m.
MOONSET/MOONRISE 8:04 a.m./10:13 p.m.

Birthdays
FEBRUARY 21 Andres Segovia, Anais Nin, W.H. Auden, Nina Simone, David Foster Wallace, and Jerry Harrison.

Tune in today
WGXC Morning Show Host Philip Grant and Board Operator Norman Keyser read the news, take calls, introduce segments, play music, and update the weather. 6-8 a.m.
Democracy Now! International news live at 8 a.m.

Colin DeVries of The Daily Mail did some strong local reporting this weekend, interviewing neighbors of the Catskill couple involved in a deadly shooting near the train station in Poughkeepsie on Friday, February 18 that left a veteran police officer, Catskill resident Lee Welch, and his wife Jessica Welch dead of bullet wounds, and two children orphaned. According to the Welch's neighbors, according to DeVries, the couple were “good tenants” who “didn’t bother nobody.” Welch, 27, fatally shot his wife following an argument spurred on by his breaking of a restraining order he was under to stay away from her, their three year old daughter and her young son from a previous relationship. He then shot police officer John Falcone, an 18 year veteran of the Poughkeepsie police force, after the officer took the three year old from Welch's arms and attempted to restrain him as he fled toward the Poughkeepsie train station. After he shot Falcone, Welch then turned the gun on himself, taking his own life with a bullet to the head.


Continued...

No city police officers discharged their weapons, according to reports. The Welch's neighbnors said that the family moved to the rental home on Tool House Road property in April last year, and that Welch was employed with the Save-A-Lot distribution center in Coxsackie until he recently began collecting disability payments. But he also noted that Welch had started "always beating on his wife,” and was charged with third-degree assault against his wife, who was granted an order of protection, in late January. Welch violated the order and was charged Jan. 31 with felony criminal contempt and remanded to the Greene County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail. Jessica Welch, 28, had then moved to Westchester County, according to reports, and was meeting Welch at the Poughkeepsie train station on Friday to take back her Chevy Blazer. The neighbor added that Welch had destroyed furniture in the house Thursday, leaving a slashed bed outside the home. A press conference on the matter was expected from Poughkeepsie police on Sunday, February 20.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The New York Broadband Speed Test will be used to help determine what rural areas need help getting on the Web or improving their Internet service. Click this image to access the site."][/caption]Columbia Economic Development Corporation is encouraging local residents to participate in a simple online speed test to help ensure accuracy and completeness of the local broadband map. An online speed test can be found at www.nyspeedtest.org. The results will help to facilitate deployment of high speed Internet, increasing economic competitiveness and quality of life for rural communities. New York State has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for broadband mapping and planning activities. Mapping broadband speeds of New York State residents is included in these activities.