The US Census Bureau’s American Communities Survey shows that Greene County has the lowest household median income in the entire Hudson Valley region. The 2005 to 2009 report contains estimates in a number of categories of data and officials emphasize that true numbers will be available with the full 2010 census which has yet to be released. We have listed some of what's been found already, including educational achievement, poverty level figures, basic industry and commuing trend data, as well as who's identifying with what, ancestry-wise.



Income data released from the latest surveys show Putnam County at the top in the Hudson Valley, with a median household income of $88,036, Rockland Countyat $82,368, Westchester County at $79,585, Orange County at $69,255, Dutchess County at $68,472, Ulster County at $57,485, Columbia County at $54,573, Sullivan County at $48,586, and Greene County at $46,213.

Population figures for the area were at 62,217 total for Columbia County, with 56,951 listed as white, 3,099 as black, and 1,962 as Hispanic; 292,187 in Dutchess County, with 235,182 white, 27,836 black, and 25,759 Hispanic; 49,071 in Greene County, with 44,369 listed as white, 3,040 as Black and 2,527 Hispanic; 376,548 in Orange County, with 297,557 whites, 36,184 Black and 59,983 Hispanic; 99,111 in Putnam County, where 88,544 are listed as white, 2,193 as black, and 10,000 as Hispanic; 297,298 in Rockland County, with 229,106 white, 33,701 black and 38,500 Hispanic; 75,921 in Sullivan County, with 63,442 white, 6,467 black and 8,900 Hispanic; 181,510 in Ulster County, with 160,559 white, 10,444 black, and 13,237 Hispanic; and finally 949,050 in WEstchester County, where 671,487 are listed as White, 141,378 as Black, and 177,306 as Hispanic.

In terms of education, 27.6 percent of adults in Columbia County had a B.A. or higher, compared to 19.2 percent in Greene County.

Industry-wise, 24.7 percent worked in education, health care, or social assistance in Columbia County, 11.2 percent in retail, 9.9 percent in professions, 9.1 percent in construction, 8.3 percent in public administration, 9 percent in manufacturing, and 5.9 percent in the arts or tourism. In Greene County the breakdown was 24 percent in health, education and social services, 10.7 percent in construction, 10.4 percent in retail, 10.3 percent in the arts or tourism, 9.2 percent in public administration, and 9.7 percent in professional work, which category includes waste management.

20.7 percent of of Greene County's employed worked in government jobs, and 9.7 percent characterized themselves as self-employed. 21.5 percent were employed in government in Columbia County, with 10.4 percent listed as self-employed. Health insurance and full employment figures were not included in the data.

77.3 percent of workers in Columbia County said they drove alone to their place of employment each day, versus 7.9 percent who carpooled, 5 percent who walked, and 2.5 percent who took public transportation. In Greene County, the figures were 79.6 percent driving alone, 9.2 percent carpooling, 3.3 percent walking, and under 1 percent taking public transportation.

Poverty-wise, 12 percent of all in Greene County are listed as living below the poverty level, with 19,5 percent of all kids under the age of 5, 15 percent of everyone under the age of 18, and 65.5 percent of families headed by a single woman with children under the age of 5. In Columbia County, 9.5 percent of all people are living under poverty level, with 14 percent of all children under the age of 18, 7 percent of those under 5 years old, and 24.7 percent of households headed by single women with kids under five at such levels.

7.1 percent of Columbia County families were listed as speaking languages other than English at home, with 2.6 percent speaking Spanish. In Greene County, there was also a 7.1 percent figure for those speaking other than English in their homes, with 3.2 percent speaking Spanish.

In the odd category of Ancestry, which did not include non-European categories other than "Arab," Columbia County saw 7.5 percent of its residents identify themselves as American, 7.4 percent as Dutch, 11.6 as English, 5.7 percent as French, 23.7 percent as German, 19 percent as Irish, 15.9 percent as Italian, and 5.9 percent as Polish. In Greene County, 12.3 percent identify themselves as American, 6 percent as Dutch, 8 as English, 3.5 percent as French, 19.1 percent as German, 20.4 percent as Irish, 18.5 percent as Italian, and 4.2 percent as Polish.

More on all these figures as they come out, and we get to them, over the coming months.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Fracking: How it works."][/caption]The Obama administration supports a full study of the effects of gas drilling in the watershed that provides drinking water for Philadelphia and New York City, but it doesn't want to wait until it's finished for drilling to begin... according to a story in yesterday's New York Times. Gen. Peter "Duke" DeLuca of the Army Corps of Engineers outlined the position in a letter written to Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) in late November but only received this week and released on December 14.
Hinchey and local environmentalists want the commission to keep its drilling moratorium until its staff does a "cumulative impacts" study, a process that could take years. Drilling supporters want the commission to move ahead as quickly as possible and dislike that the commission has blocked drilling in eastern Pennsylvania and New York State while drilling continues rapidly in the rest of the region and country. The Delaware River Basin Commission, controlled by the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and New Jersey along with DeLuca, last week issued proposed regulations which would allow drilling to resume once they are finalized after several hearings during a 90-day comment period. The proposed new regs backoff from earlier, stricter proposals on Marcellus Shale drilling but are still more restrictive than existing rules in the rest of Pennsylvania, according to The Times. Proponents of such drilling see it as both an economic development boon and a means towards a new energy source. New York City and Philadelphia have rallied against drilling out of concern it could contaminate their water supply. Many are also concerned that the immense water needs of the industry could lower river levels and restrict water supplies. The region under which the Marcellus Shale lies reaches into the western Catskills and southern Mohawk Valley.
For the full story click HERE.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The Columbia County Courthouse in Hudson, where the trial of Salvatore Cascino and Bronx County Recycling saw Judge Jonathan Nichols toss one of two charges related to alleged illegal dumping against the defendents, based on their counnsel's argument that the Clermont site involved had long been used for such purposes."][/caption]One count of a two count indictment against Salvatore Cascino and his Bronx-based waste hauling company was thrown out by the judge after the defense rested its illegal dumping case in Columbia County Supreme Court in Hudson Tuesday. Andrew Amelinckx of the Register Star has been on top of the unfolding courtroom drama, gripping in a modernist environmental sort of way, and reports from yesterday's action that Judge Jonathan Nichols Nichols, dismissed the first count against the defendants, agreeing with the defense's point that neither Bronx County Recycling nor Cascino had commenced operation of a new facility when they dumped at the Clermont site. The state attorney general's representative disagreed, equating dumping with commencing an operation. “When disposal takes place,” he argued, “you have the operation of a facility.” The judge countered, however, that based on the prosecution’s logic, anyone who dumped at the site was operating a solid waste management facility. The defense interjected that it was William Cole, as owner of the property, who should be considered the operator. It came out that Cole was given immunity from prosecution in the case.

The judge is allowing the second charge, endangering public health, safety, or the environment, to go to the jury.

Tuesday's defense witnesses for the Clermont-based case included two DEC officials, longstanding wildlife pathologist Ward Stone among them, who had investigated dumping at the site in the 1980s and 1990s. The defense argument is basically that the dumping under fire was a longtime accepted use, making it difficult to discern the origins of polluting matter such as gasoline, which they say was in negligible amounts.

The trial continues today at 10 a.m. with final summations and the jury deliberating on the one count left in the case.

For the full story click HERE...

[caption id="attachment_5439" align="alignleft" width="174" caption="Dollar General store opened mid-December on Fairview Ave. in Greenport. Photo by Tom Roe."][/caption]A Dollar General store opened this week on Fairview Ave. in Greenport. A two-mile stretch of that road also includes a Yankee $ store, a Dollar Tree, a Big Lots!, a Goodwill, a Salvation Army, and signs where Save a Lot and Just a Dollar stores used to be. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported last week that "Dollar General reported $11.8 billion in sales with more than 8,800 stores in fiscal year 2009. Competitor Family Dollar reported $7.9 billion in revenue in its fiscal year ending Aug. 28 and has about 6,800 stores. Dollar Tree, which has about 3,800 stores, had $5.2 billion in revenue in fiscal 2009, which ended Jan. 30."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="170" caption="Melissa Leo. Photo from Wikipedia."][/caption]Nominated
GOLDEN GLOBES Local residents nominated for Golden Globe awards include Melissa Leo, Robert De Niro, and Steve Buscemi (who have at least part-time residences in Ulster County), and David Straitharin (Dutchess County) per The Daily Freeman.


On the air
DAVID PATERSON The outgoing governor keeps up his recent spate of radio appearances/job tryouts today, appearing first at 11 a.m. on an Editorial Board Roundtable Hosted by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle with a live webcast of the streamed at: www.democratandchronicle.com and a 4 p.m. in-studio interview on WSYR 570's Jim Reith Show. To listen, go to: http://www.570wsyr.com/main.html.


Town meetings tonight
TOWN OF CAIRO Regular town board meeting third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 512 Main St., Cairo.
GREENE COUNTY LEGISLATURE Monthly meeting, expected to vote on $99.8 million 2011 budget. 6 p.m., 411 Main St., Catskill.
CITY OF HUDSON Planning commission meeting (tentative) at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St.


Weather
COLD Below 20 degrees all day. Occasional snow showers, forecast around one inch.


Birthdays
DECEMBER 15 Alan Freed, Tim Conway, and Dave Clark.

The New York State Board of Elections released the 2010 general election results, now certified by State Board of Elections. Except that the 7th Senate District and 100th Assembly District are still in litigation, so they aren't exactly the final results. Follow the jump for details.



The election totals showed that Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, the Democrat-Independence-Working Families candidate for Governor, won election over Republican-Conservative-Taxpayer candidate, Carl P. Paladino, by a plurality of 1,363,515 votes.

In addition to certifying the election of Governor-elect Cuomo and Rochester Mayor Robert J. Duffy as Lt. Governor, the Board of Canvassers also certified the election of Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman as Attorney General. Also the Board certified the re-election of United States Senator Charles E. Schumer and the election of United States Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand to the 2-year unexpired remainder of the term of former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Board, which met in the offices of the New York State Board of Elections, also certified the state's 29 Congressional contests, the vote for 61 of 62 State Senate races and 149 out of 150 Members of the Assembly and for contests for State Supreme Court Justice in various Judicial Districts. For details please see the Board of Elections website, www.elections.state.ny.us. The 100th Assembly District and the 7th Senate District results are still in litigation and will be certified at the earliest opportunity following the completion of all court actions.

The Board of Canvassers is comprised of the four commissioners of the State Board of Elections. Serving as joint clerks to the Board were the two co-Executive Directors of the State Board of Elections. The State Board of Elections is responsible for the preparation and tabulation of the election results as certified by the local County Boards of Elections for certification by the State Board of Canvassers.

Attorney General Cuomo and Mayor Duffy polled 2,610,123 votes on the Democratic line, 146,646 votes on the Independence Party line and 154,847 on the Working Families Party line for a combined total of 2,911,616 votes.

Mr. Paladino and Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards, candidate for Lt. Governor, polled 1,290,017 votes on the Republican line, 232,264 votes on the Conservative Party line and 25,820 votes on the Taxpayers line for a combined total of 1,548,101 votes

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins received 59,928 votes, 9,928 more than the required 50,000 votes needed to qualify the Green Party as an official party for the next four years. The Green Party will hold the sixth ballot position in future elections. As a result of the balloting, the Conservative Party, which polled 232,264 votes for its gubernatorial candidate, will move up to the third position, the Working Families Party will move up to the fourth position with 154,847 votes and the Independence Part will drop to the fifth position with 146,646 votes.

Libertarian Party candidate, Warren Redlich, received 48,386 votes, missing the 50,000 vote mark for official party status by 1,614 votes. Jimmy McMillian of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party received 41,131 votes. New York City Councilmember Charles Barron of the Freedom Party received 24,572 votes. Anti-Prohibition Party candidate Kristin Davis received 20,429 votes.

Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli was elected to his first full term after having been appointed to replace the former Comptroller Alan Hevesi who left office in the middle of his term. Mr. DiNapoli's plurality was 202,245 votes. DiNapoli received 2,089,739 votes on the Democratic line and 182,983 votes on the Working Families Party line for a combined total of 2,272,722 votes. Harry Wilson, the Republican-Conservative-Independence candidate received 1,674,402 votes on the Republican line, 243,491 votes on the Conservative line and 152,354 votes on the Independence line for a combined total of 2,070,247 votes. Julia A. Willebrand, Green Party candidate, received 104,469 votes. John Gaetani, Libertarian candidate, received 27,897 votes.

State Senator Eric Schneiderman, Democratic-Indepedence-Working Families candidate for Attorney General, defeated Staten Island District Attorney and Republican-Conservative candidate Dan Donovan with a plurality of 570,180 votes. Schneiderman received 2,174,058 on the Democratic line, 126,556 votes on the Independence line and 178,850 votes on the Working Families line, for a combined total of 2,479,464 votes. Mr. Donovan received 1,627,799 on the Republican line and 281,485 votes on the Conservative line for a combined total of 1,909,284 votes. Carl E. Person, Libertarian candidate, received 36,547 votes and Ramon J. Jimenez, Freedom candidate, received 18,128 votes.

United States Senator Charles E. Schumer, seeking his third six-year term, polled 2,686,606 Democratic, 177,462 Independence and 183,707 Working Families votes for a combined total of 3,047,775 votes to defeat Jay Townsend who received 1,239,537 Republican and 240,800 Conservative votes for a total of 1,480,337 votes. Colia Clark, Green candidate, received 42,341 votes. Randy A. Credico, Libertarian-Anti-Prohibition candidate, received 24,869 votes.

Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand was elected to complete the remaining 2 years of the unexpired 6-year term of former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who accepted the President's nomination as U.S. Secretary of State. Senator Gillibrand was appointed by Governor David A. Paterson to fill the interim term. Senator Gillibrand received 2,479,310 Democratic, 175,631 Independence and 182,648 Working Families votes for a combined total of 2,837,589 votes. Joseph J. DioGuardi, Republican-Conservative-Taxpayers candidate received 1,582,603 combined votes. Celia Lawrence, Green candidate, received 35,487 votes. John Clifton, Libertarian candidate, received 18,414 votes. Joseph Huff, Rent is 2 Damn High candidate, received 17,018 votes. Vivia Morgan, Anti-Prohibition candidate, received 11,785 votes. Bruce Blakeman, Tax Relief candidate, received 4,516 votes.

The 2010 General Election brought out 4,756,679 voters throughout the state. This represents a turnout of 44.5 % of registered voters. This is the fourth lowest turnout for a gubernatorial election since 1932. (1. 2006/38%; 2. 2002/41.7%; 3. 1998/44.1%)

The Daily Mail leads with a report this morning that about a recently-hired Greene Correctional Facility officer being charged with the rape and robbery of a Buffalo-area woman last week. According to the story, Buffalo authorities say Christian M. Ott, 27 and a native of North Tonawanda awho was hired as a corrections officer trainee at Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie last July, allegedly raped and robbed a woman after burglarizing her North Tonawanda apartment early Thursday morning. He was arrested hours after the incident near his home on First Avenue in North Tonawanda, according to the Niagara County district attorney’s office and has been charged with numerous felony and misdemeanor charges related to the incident. Ott was in possession of a knife and shotgun at the time of the arrest, officials said. He was sent a letter Friday from DOCS, terminating his employment effective Dec. 17, and is currently facing up to 25 years in prison. For the full story click here.

A preview into how arts funding will come under new scrutiny in the coming term dominated Monday night’s meeting of the Hudson Common Council, according to a report in today's Register-Star. According to their coverage, there was much discussion about whether the city should obtain expense and income records for all of the city’s concert promoters and art groups which host performances, with Alderwoman Ellen Thurston, D-Hudson 3, suggesting the city request a full report of income and expenses for organizations which receive vouchers to put on events in the city. The resolutionfinally introduced from the informal meeting, however, stated that all organizations receiving money from the city be required to “provide a narrative” after a sponsored event illustrating how everything went and how it could be improved in the future.

At the meeting, a resolution was also introduced to authorize the city treasurer to pay $10,000 to Rob Caldwell of Musica to put on four concerts at the Henry Hudson Riverfront Park; $1,000 to Operation Unite for the city’s annual Black Arts and Cultural Festival; $1,000 for Stageworks Productions’ Mettawee Puckets performance; and $500 for the BeLo3rd group’s Taste of Hudson food festival. The entire discussion was a harbinger for more contentious budget cutting and oversight talk expected to dominate all aspects of the news over the coming year. For the full story, including the cultural support voiced by all involved, please click here.

Fired as DEC commissioner two months ago, and a legendary state assemblyman for decades before that, Pete Grannis has joined Environmental Advocates of New York as “special counsel.” The Times Union reports today that just after his canning — primarily the result of Grannis’ pushback against the Paterson administration’s DEC layoffs — EA Executive Director Rob Moore called it “the final insult of the Paterson administration toward environmental protection.” At that time, Grannis said he believed the circumstances of his departure would allow him to lobby his former employer without the standard two-year bar. Even so, EA spokesman Erica Ringewald said Grannis wouldn’t be appearing before DEC. Former Park Commissioner Carol Ash made a similar move by joining the Alliance for New York State Parks, although since she jumped instead of being pushed from her state post, Ash will not be able to lobby her old agency. For the full story about the battlelines being shaped over environmental issues during the upcoming Cuomo administration -- which seems ripe for a fight, click here.

Andrew Amelinckx of the Register Star, who will also be co-hosting the Difficult Histories program on WGXC starting Christmas Eve, continued his spot-on reporting on the criminal trial of Salvatore Cascino and his Bronx-based waste hauling company on two class A misdemeanors for allegedly illegally dumping debris in Clermont and releasing petroleum into the environment in today's paper. The latest developments saw finalization of the state's prosecution case, involving testimony from state Department of Environmental Conservation officials, and the start of Cascino's defense, led by veteran Albany-based attorney Dennis Schlenker, which drew several former DEC officials, and other county and private consultants, who spoke to the Clermont site's previous history as a dumping site where ordered remediation steps, including capping, were never finished. Key tension for the day seems to have come when Schlenker sought to have one of his own witnesses, a 31-year DEC official, declared "hostile" and disallowed, which the judge overrode. The witness spoke about how the refuse he investigate 20 years ago on what is known as the old LaMunyan landfill was on a different piece of property now owned by William Cole.

The state Attorney General’s Office indicted Cascino and his company in April on charges of operating an unpermitted landfill and fourth-degree endangering public health, safety, or the environment for allegedly releasing petroleum into the environment and illegally dumping more than 70 cubic yards of solid waste at an unpermitted facility off Route 9G, just south of Firehouse Road, in Clermont between Dec. 31, 2007 and July 2009.

The case is now being heard by a jury in Columbia County Supreme Court in Hudson, with Judge Jonathan Nichols presiding. Court was to resume at 9 a.m. this morning. For the full story click here.

The Greene County Town of Cairo's three-year effort to write its first zoning law inched forward again at the latest in a string of work meetings in town hall on Monday night,where the Cairo Zoning Commission’s yielded changes to its draft zoning map in reaction to previous publicly stated or privately written comments. The Daily Mail reports today that the changes include an expansion and renaming of the hamlet commercial district along Main Street from the intersection with Route 32 until Route 23 near the Bank of Greene County; a shift in setbacks between the outer and downtown Main Street commercial areas; a plan for sidewalks up to Route 32; the elimination of junkyards and large propane storage and distribution facilities from permitted uses in the commercial/mixed-use district on Route 145; various allowances, and creations of new districts, for existing industrial and commercial properties; and the creation of municipal districts for the former town landfill, the town park, town hall and the town highway garage. The commission's next work meeting is set for Dec. 27 at 6 p.m. Public comment on the law is until Jan. 10, 2011. Copies of the law are on file in the town hall and public library at 512 Main Street, and can be viewed online at www.planningbetterplaces.com/cairo.
For the full story click here.

The Vice President of Ulster Savings Bank today explains what went wrong with a recent online auction sale of Catskill's Friar Tuck Inn and Spa last month and vows to continue sales efforts over the coming months. The Daily Freeman story quotes Michael Shaughnessy, executive vice president of Ulster Savings Bank, saying that the winner of an online auction through Auction.com failed to come forward within 15 days to submit a down payment for the resort on state Route 32, then noting that the bank’s broker is now working with some backup buyers to try to negotiate the resort’s sale. There are eight or nine potential buyers, three of whom had been registered to bid during the Nov. 18 auction, Shaughnessy said. “We’re still hopeful we’re going to sell it,” Shaughnessy said Monday of the resort property. He said the bank hopes to sell the resort for at least the $2.5 million that was bid on it during last month’s auction.

The bank foreclosed on the Friar Tuck Inn resort in April after the owners tried to file for bankruptcy protection in June 2009 and then tried unsuccessfully to sell the property at auction in November 2009. At the time the property was foreclosed on, the bank was owed about $3.8 million on the resort’s mortgage.



Shaughnessy previously said the bank would take a loss on the sale of the resort, but said the financial institute is not in the real estate business and did not want to continue carrying the resort and the insurance, taxes and security on the property.

The Friar Tuck had been owned by cousins Ricky and Ross Caridi. The auction they arranged last year failed after the winning bidder, identified only as an Oklahoma City business, failed to come forward with the funds to pay for the property.

The winner of last month’s auction was not identified.

The Friar Tuck resort has 376 guest rooms, 52,000 square feet of exhibition space, banquet facilities, conference rooms, two outdoor pools, an indoor poll and an indoor Jacuzzi, among other amenities.

National Public Radio reporter Rick Karr came to Hudson in late September for WGXC's "Station Barnraising," but current events pushed the piece he recorded then to the side. Now, current events have brought it back, as Karr packages his recordings from Hudson with what is going on nationally with the LPFM bill to allow more community radio stations across the country currently struggling in Congress. This evening "All Things Considered" aired Karr's reporting which quotes Bill Lawrence, a Republican Greene County Legislator from Cairo who will be one of WGXC's "Morning Show" hosts; WGXC Executive Director Galen Joseph-Hunter; free103point9 board member Andy Gunn; and also a clip from a crowd during the WGXC/Prometheus Radio Project Station Barnraising in September. Click here to listen to the story. Click here to read Watershed Post coverage of NPR story.



Transcript from NPR:
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block.

Thousands of new voices could soon hit radio airwaves across the country, that's if the Senate takes up and passes a community radio bill in its lame duck session.

The measure could increase the number of noncommercial stations broadcasting in the U.S. by nearly a quarter. Media reform advocates say the new stations could do wonders for political and civic discourse, but as Rick Karr reports, the bill won't do anything until it clears a major hurdle in the Senate.

RICK KARR: A few weekends ago, dozens of people came to downtown Hudson, New York, to build a new community radio station.

(Soundbite of electric saw)

KARR: They cut lumber for studio tables and soundproofing baffles, they screwed together racks to hold broadcasting equipment, and they learned the best way to strip the insulation off of audio cables.

Unidentified Man #1: Yeah, I just - what I do is I just score the edge of the rubber and then sort of twist it back and forth.

KARR: They were all volunteers working to get WGXC on the air. The station's filling a void for nearly 75,000 people in Columbia and Greene counties.

Greene County legislator Bill Lawrence says the area used to have a commercial radio station that actually reported local news.

Mr. BILL LAWRENCE (Legislator, Greene County, New York): Back when I first became a legislator in the early '80s, we had great reporting, investigative reporting actually, and I thought they did a good job of doing both sides of a story. We lost it. They went regional, and we've sort of lost that local input.

KARR: Long story short, San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications bought the station and cut local programming.

Lawrence has volunteered as a co-host of the new station's morning show. And in case you're thinking he's some kind of crunchy, touchy-feely hippie, he's a Republican. WGXC's general manager Galen Joseph-Hunter is not, and she says that's the point.

Ms. GALEN JOSEPH-HUNTER (General Manager, WGXC): He and I couldn't disagree more politically. But he approaches his point of view with respect for others and with humor. And hopefully everyone on the station will have those qualities.

KARR: Joseph-Hunter admits that perfect bipartisan cooperation on the air may be a bit of a utopian dream. But the idea that neighbors can get along if they're all on the air together is at the heart of the push for more community radio in the U.S.

Activists have been asking for more licenses for community stations for more than a decade. And just as WGXC has supporters from across the political spectrum, the nationwide movement has support from liberals and conservatives.

Michele Combs is senior spokesperson for the Christian Coalition.

Ms. MICHELE COMBS (Senior Spokesperson, Christian Coalition): I think that this is really a family issue. It's affecting a lot of good churches and a lot of good schools out there and a lot of people who this is how they get their news, and this is how they get their information.

KARR: Supporters on the left tend to cite what new stations could do for immigrants or underprivileged inner-city communities. Advocates on all sides of the political spectrum see community radio as an antidote to media industry consolidation.

Senator MARIA CANTWELL (Democrat, Washington): And that level of consolidation yields a lot of clout.

KARR: Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington is co-sponsor of a bill that would let as many as 1,000 new community stations go on the air, but it's stuck. It passed the House with bipartisan support, and her co-sponsor in the Senate is Arizona Republican John McCain.

But a couple of anonymous senators have used parliamentary procedure to effectively veto its chances for an up or down vote. Cantwell says it's yet another example of minority rule on Capitol Hill, which happens to lots of bills that have bipartisan support.

Sen. CANTWELL: A lot of these bills would pass 98 to two, or, you know, 95 to five, if we got rid of what are called secret holds, where one or two members hold something up really on behalf of some special interest.

KARR: The special interest in this case is the National Association of Broadcasters, the trade group for commercial radio. It's been opposing an increase in the number of community stations for more than a decade.

An NAB spokesperson declined to comment on whether the group was behind the secret holds in the Senate. He did say the NAB is worried that hundreds of new stations might cause interference with the signals of existing stations.

Cantwell says rigorous testing has shown that the trade group's objections are unwarranted. Besides, she says, the need for the new stations outweighs the concerns of broadcasting conglomerates.

Sen. CANTWELL: What my constituents, and I think many Americans, want to see is a diversity of voices and an array of information being distributed from radio stations that can have a very, very unique perspective.

KARR: Supporters of WGXC in Hudson, New York, say that's what they want from their community station.

Unidentified People: Ten, nine, eight...

KARR: After they built the station's studio, they counted down to the moment when it hit the airwaves.

Unidentified People: Five, four, three, two, one.

(Soundbite of applause)

KARR: Now, it's up to the U.S. Senate to decide whether or not other community stations can throw the switches on their transmitters.

Unidentified Woman #1: Transmission.

KARR: If the bill doesn't pass this month, Cantwell says she'll introduce it again next year.

For NPR News, I'm Rick Karr.

Town meetings tonight
TOWN OF COXSACKIE Regular meeting second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 16 Reed St., Coxsackie.

Birthdays
Dec. 14 birthdays include Spike Jones, Don Hewitt, and Ellen Willis.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="260" caption="Image from Wikipedia."][/caption]

Lynn Sloneker via Twitter reports from tonight's Hudson School District board meeting:
"BoE appoints Steven Spicer principal of John L. Edwards Primary School, effective Jan. 3, 2011, at his current salary of $103,636 per anum... 'pending the completion of a school and community question and answer forum with the parents, faculty and staff of JLE,' Thursday.... Thomas Gavin appointed principal of Hudson High School by BoE, effective Jan. 3, at his current salary of $118,002.00 per anum.... Spicer present for the vote; no Gavin. JLE PTO reps not pleased. What's the point of a Q&A with a candidate if he already has the job?... BoE also amended employment agreement with JLE interim principal Carol Gans to end 02.18.2011, allowing a 6-week transition between admins.... Thomas Gavin appointed principal of Hudson High School by BoE, effective Jan. 3, at his current salary of $118,002.00 per year... 'pending the completion of a school and community question and answer forum with the parents, faculty and staff of JLE,' Thursday.... No action on Abitabile tonight. He is currently acting assistant principal at Hudson High."

UPDATE: Spicer answers Gavin's wife's letter-to-the-editor in Register-Star with his own.

The U.S. Senate voted today 83 to 15 to pass the the tax cut and spending package agreed to between President Obama and Congressional Republicans. New York's senators split on the bill, with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, formerly of Hudson, voting against the plan, saying keeping low taxes for the wealthy will add too much to the national debt. Sen. Charles Schumer, took a different tact, voting for the bill but complaining as he did. “It is unfortunate that Republicans have dictated an ultimatum that we either provide tax breaks for millionaires or else jeopardize our fragile economic recovery,” Schumer said in a statement quoted in The Wall Street Journal. “These millionaire tax breaks have exploded the deficit without creating jobs. We cannot allow them to become permanent.” Though voting differently, their statements were similar. "Right now, we need to focus on the middle class, who are always left behind, not the people at the very top, who are doing just fine in this economy,” Gillibrand explained in a statement reported in The New York Times. Turns out, they may both be wrong. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has created this helpful graph to explain where the savings and spending in the plan are going.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="337" caption="From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities."][/caption]
Earlier: Murphy favors tax cut and increased spending plan.

Carline Murphy, WGXC volunteer, recorded an audio mp3 for the Hudson Teen Theatre performance of "Tripping to the Tune of the 12th Night" at Hudson Opera House. Click here to listen to an mp3 audio recording, or paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://www.wgxc.org/media/uploaded_files/2010/12/TeenTheatre_TwelthNight_121210.mp3

Debora Gilbert in The Columbia Paper has a story about the potential Dec. 31 demise of the 12-year-old Hudson Family Literacy Program (HFLP) without $17,000 in funding. The program helps kids and their parents, many from non-English-speaking families, and, "is based on research that shows a child's first and most important teacher is his or her parent, and that the early childhood years before school are critically important learning periods," Gilbert writes. “The concept was to work with kids and families,” said John L. Edwards Elementary School Principal Carol Gans. “That's the big difference between Even Start and Head Start, which just works with kids. We started with the family from birth,” Gans told The Columbia Paper. HFLP serves 30 families of 107 people at no cost to the families. Services include an early childhood class for two- and three-year-olds, after-school tutoring, summer day camp, counseling, adult education, GED and Regents exam help, transportation to and from school, and aid with employment. HFLP helps parents with adult education, and advises new immigrants on citizenship applications and drivers licenses, and with so many immigrant families in Hudson it seems to work. "So far, 35 participants have become citizens, and two are first-time homeowners who will move into houses on Columbia Street early next year because they were introduced by HFL to the county chapter of Habitat for Humanity," Gilbert writes. “We've connected people with resources in the community they don't know about,” HFL Director Sophia Becker told The Columbia Paper.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="144" caption="Chatham's Crandall Theater helped same a soggy Winterfest yesterday, December 12, with a free movie screening for all."][/caption]The Chatham Business Alliance is thankful that the local Chatham Film Club stepped in yesterday, December 12, to sponsor a free screening of the movie “How to Train Your Dragon” at the Crandell Theatre, given the driving rains and 70 mile per hour winds that literally put a damper on its annual Winterfest yesterday. According to today's Register-Star, elements of the event had to be canceled or re-arranged. Draft horses, who were going to pull a carriage for free carriage rides, were called off. Yet despite the weather, local Girl Scouts continued to sell cookies and hot cocoa... and everyone vowed to pray for better, less rainy weather next year.

As goes the Capital District, so goes Greene... at least according to the county's Industrial Development Agency Sandy Mathes, who is quoted in a Mid Hudson News Network story today saying that companies are starting to inquire about the possibility of locating in Greene County as part of the supply chain for a high tech microchip manufacturing plant opening up in Saratoga County, and helping feed the remaining IBM plants further down the Hudson Valley.

“I’m hoping that our strategy of positioning Greene County as the location for the supply chain for the Global Foundry project being exactly in the middle between them to the north of us and then IBM in East Fishkill to the south seems to be bearing some fruit, so there's a lot of tire kicking going on and over the next three to six months, some real estate decisions are going to be made from that supply chain that we hope we can a little piece of,” Mathes said.

Global Foundries, established last year, has manufacturing centers in Germany, the United States and Singapore that "deliver advanced technologies to market in high volume and mature yield faster than any other foundry in the world" and has been setting up business "near the major hubs of semiconductor activity in the US, Europe and Asia." The company's Fab 8 development in Saratoga County is part of a $6B development commitment for the United States and is being touted by the company as "the largest commercial capital expansion project in the USA." The company is a spin-off of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a Silicon Valley company that prides itself on being the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors and one of the largest supplier of graphics processing units in the world.