The Catskill Dail Mail's intrepid reporter Colin DeVries reports today that the Friar Tuck hotel was sold for $2.5 million in an online auction on Thursday, a year after the failed bankruptcy auction began a long period of limbo for the resort.

Michael Shaughnessy, executive vice president of Ulster Savings Bank, said on the day of the sale that the bank was pleased with the sale although they did short-sell the hotel property. Outstanding mortgage debt on the property exceeded $3.2 million when Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings began in September 2009.

A Nov. 19, 2009 bankruptcy auction’s sole bid of $4.5 million was never completed and ultimately resulted in the bank’s repossession of the property six months later.

Shaughnessy could not release the name of the buyer but said it was a real estate investment group that was cleared by the auction company, international real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

The sale did not include the timeshare properties, though the bankruptcy-court-appointed trustee in charge of liquidating the property, Marc Ehrlich of Troy, hoped the buyer of the hotel property would express interest in acquiring the contiguous timeshare property.

The hotel property, as advertised on auction.com, includes 170 acres and 12 buildings including the four-story, 372-room hotel built in 1971 and was founded and previously owned by the Caridi family.

While the bidders had anonymity through the online auction process, the name of the purchaser may be available after the 30-day closing period.

ALBANY – Mid-Hudson News Network reports this morning that audits released by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office have pointed out that the Catskill Central School District did not enforce its purchasing policies and failed to implement effective information technology controls to protect its computer systems, and suggested that the Hudson City School District needs to do a better job seeking Medicaid reimbursement – for local as well as state taxpayers.

DiNapoli's audit says the Catskill district should develop policies and procedures to safeguard taxpayer dollars and protect its computer assets. The auditors found that the district needs to improve its internal controls over the procurement of goods and services not subject to competitive bidding requirements. District officials did not comply with and enforce the district’s purchasing policies for the procurement of goods and services when competitive bidding was not required by law, the audit said. The auditors said that 13 of 30 purchases reviewed, totaling $53,482, were made without the benefit of price comparisons. Procedures were not in place to monitor compliance with the district’s procurement policy and instances of noncompliance were not reported to the board. They also found that the district could also improve its internal controls to more effectively safeguard the district's computer system and data. For a full copy of the audit, visit www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2010/catskill.pdf

In Hudson, DiNapoli's audit found that the district lacked written policies and procedures to define the responsibilities for collecting data, monitoring student eligibility, documenting services, submitting and reconciling claims, and monitoring the receipt of payments. As a result, the contractor processed claims for only 122 of the district’s 307 Medicaid-eligible students. The auditors estimate that the district did not claim eligible services totaling at least $460,256, which would have resulted in the district receiving about $115,064 and New York State receiving $115,064 in potential Medicaid reimbursement revenue.
For a full copy of the audit, visit www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2010/hudsoncity.pdf

There have been quite a few stories of late moving past talk of racial divides running the nation's political engines, focusing more on generational demographics - and issues -- being the culprit for current trends. One of the best summaries we've seen of all this came in an opinion piece from Andrea Stone of AOL, of all places.

"As the baby boomers who gave us the term 'generation gap' turn 65, a new divide is opening between young and old over everything from health care to gay rights to the right to get high," Stone writes on November 18. "Republicans and Democrats alike insist it's time to stop piling debt onto future generations, yet political observers say the electoral clout of seniors may prove the biggest obstacle to reining in government spending. And just as in the 1960s, when many older Americans stood on the sidelines of the civil rights and women's movements, polls show seniors are the least enthused about allowing gays to serve openly in the military or get married."

"On social policy, we have a generation that consumes a huge portion of the federal budget yet doesn't approve of other Americans receiving benefits," Stone quotes Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "On cultural issues, there is a huge disconnect between retirees and much of the rest of the country."

For the whole piece, click here.

Doron Tyler Antrim of The Daily Mail reported earlier this week that
Cement producer Holcim, formerly known as St. Lawrence Cement, is "temporarily" cutting 70 hourly positions at its Catskill plant effective until January, according to a Tuesday, Nov. 16 announcement from Plant Manager Deon van den Berg. The layoffs will affect 65 workers — nearly two-thirds of the Catskill plant's current workforce — and five others on short-term disability or workers compensation. The recent layoffs were the second such action taken by Holcim in as many years. In May 2009, 35 workers were temporarily laid off. Two months earlier 26 positions were eliminated.

“The reason for this temporary layoff include slow market conditions, the normal seasonal slowdown in construction and escalating costs,” van den Berg said in an e-mail to members of the Holcim Community Advisory Committee, a regular gathering of local leaders and plant officials. Dennis Smith, an equipment operator and chairman of the local International Brotherhood of Boilermakers union, said in an e-mail that the layoffs are effective until Jan. 3, “but could be longer.” Earlier this year, Smith said layoffs and combining of responsibilities have contributed to worsened safety at the facility — a charge that plant management has denied.

An analysis of federal records compiled by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, however, show the Catskill plant has been hit with more than 300 safety violations since Holcim took over in 2008 — 97 of which were deemed serious enough to cause injury or illness. Fines levied with the violations totaled more than $493,000.

The records show in March 2009 the plant was forced to take workers off the job for failing to provide them with the minimum eight hours of annual refresher training. The violation came with an $18,000 fine.

Holcim is a major financial backer and sponsor of several local events, including the recent Festival of Trees, the Athens Street Festival, the Cat’n Around Catskill street art project and the Catskill Spring Rush triathlon.

Holcim (U.S.) Inc. owns 10 cement plants around the country and employs 2,200 workers. Its Swiss parent company, Holcim Ltd., is one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers and suppliers of crushed stone, sand and gravel and recently announced that its third-quarter profit was $561 million, down 19 percent from the same period last year.

The Watershed Post, out of Delaware County, is reporting that New York's one-time cash crop, hops, is on the rise again... as based on the fact that the Greene County Industrial Development Agency and Cornell Cooperative Extension announced on Tuesday, Nov. 17 that the state will fund a hops-growing experiment in Athens next year, in the hope that the nation's growing love of craft beer will make the crop a bonanza.

Both the Daily Mail and the Daily Freeman have the story, too. The Daily Mail Brian Lawlor, commissioner and CEO of New York State Homes and Community Renewal:

The strategy outlined taps the potential of the hops industry and microbrew business to create jobs, meet the demand for quality local food and beverages, and revitalize rural New York.

Recently, Crossroads Brewery in Athens opened a tap room for off-premises sales.

And in Catskill, a large enterprise named Beer World opened in a former dug store on Route 9W, drawing accolades from suds-lovers for its wide selection of microbrews divided up by states, as well as nations, and even regions within our own New York.

It seems every media outlet in the state is trying to pay attention to just where the final state staffing cuts being called for by outgoing Gov. David Paterson in his final weeks will be hitting. The Watershed Post summarizes that The Times Herald-Record has the scoop on the first wave of DEC layoffs: 140 workers at the agency got their pink slips today... and that residents and environment groups in the western Catskills and Southern Tier are watching closely to see how many layoffs hit the division of mining, which is the branch that monitors gas drilling (the affected areas DO NOT come under the Eastern Catskills, Capital region, or Hudson and east, according to noted regional geologist Robert Titus of Hartwick College, per interviews published earlier this year).

“There’s a lot that’s still murky about this, other than that it stinks all around,” said Steve Madarasz, spokesman for the Civil Service Employee Association.

One pol quoted in the article says the DEC is being "decimated," but actually, it is worse than that. Decimation, a punishment the Roman Army used for deserters and cowards, killed off one out of every ten soldiers in a mutinous unit. The story notes that the DEC is losing 21 percent of its workforce, compared to 2008.

Jay Braman of the Kingston Daily Freeman has also reported that Belleayre Mountain Ski Center Superintendent Tony Lanza told employees on Tuesday, Nov. 17 that state Department of Environmental Conservation officials have directed him to make “substantial cuts” to the workforce.

He said he doesn’t expect the staff reductions to affect programming planned for the 2010-11 ski season.

Lanza said rumors that as many as 48 employees will be laid off are inaccurate. “There is no number yet,” he said.

Lanza said the state agency, which owns Belleayre, will determine how many employees have to be cut and that he will decide who specifically gets laid off.

Earlier this month, state Environmental Commissioner Pete Grannis was fired in a public disagreement with a plan by Gov. David Paterson to cut the agency’s staff and budget.

According to the Albany Times Union, Grannis told the state Assembly on Thursday that the pending cuts will be disastrous to the state's environment.

"DEC is in the weakest position that it has been since it was created 40 years ago."

The agency stands to lose 140 jobs as part of Paterson's plan to lay off about 900 state workers by year's end.

Among those getting layoff notices are 48 of the 55 full-time year-round employees at the state-run Belleayre Ski Center in the Catskills.

Assemblyman Kevin Cahill of Kingston said the Belleayre job cuts would have a negative impact on a community where the ski center is a big economic driver.

"One of the great successes is that Belleayre is turning into a year-round resort," Cahill said. "This will have a tremendous impact on that, and on the ability to have a successful ski season."

Iwanowicz said the employees would be re-hired as part-time seasonal workers, giving the ski center the same staffing level as last year during the winter season. Stuart Gruskin, executive deputy DEC commissioner, said there would be further discussion of future staffing levels at the resort.

Grannis told reporters before the hearing that the environmental impact review of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale region in southern New York will slow down as a result of budget and staff cuts. Permitting of new gas wells in the region has been on hold since 2008, pending the completion of the review.

"We can't do as much work with a lot fewer people," Grannis said. "The work will continue but it will take longer to complete that task."

Stay tuned as this story reaches across into local parks and other state departments over the coming weeks...

There’s local beauty in this year’s National Book Awards, which were announced on Wednesday, November 17.

Winner for best fiction this year, Lord Of Misrule, comes from McPherson Press of Kingston. The book that became the celebrated long shot for this year’s big prize, like the horses racing in its tale of small-time horse racing in the early 1970s, is by the same novelist the small company published for their first book back in 1974, Jaimy Gordon.

And best Non-Fiction book went to rock icon/poet Patti Smith, who performed a major benefit for Friends of Hudson in 2003 that helped the local organization's successful fight against St. Lawrence Cement, now Holcim, who wanted to expand a plant in Columbia County, for her memoir "Just Kids."

Actual publication date for the Gordon tome was Monday, November 15… with books only having shipped a couple of weeks ago. Just as the awards finalists were announced in October, publisher Bruce McPherson was forced to decide how many of his works to print beyond his usual run of a couple thousand.



There’s peculiar magic at play in the way this all came about. Because it turns out that McPherson not only met Gordon when the two were still living in Providence Rhode Island (he moved to the Hudson Valley in 1977), but basically published the new book – her third novel with him (and fourth overall) – when she was still uncertain whether to let it live.

“My very old friend and first publisher Bruce McPherson, of McPherson and Company, had read the manuscript early on, and I seem to have promised him that he could have the book if I hadn’t sold it to a trade press by such-and-such a date,” she told an interviewer with the National Book Foundation at its finalists’ announcement on October 13. “By such-and-such a date, towards the end of last summer, I hadn’t even looked at the book. Bruce therefore, without another word, sent me the unrevised draft in unbound galleys.”

The result, says Gordon – who teaches at Western Michigan State in Kalamazoo, MI – was surprisingly positive, from her initial reaction to the book she’d started in the late 1990s on a writing retreat on Cape Cod to the current acclaim.

“After I recovered from my shock, I read the thing. The reckless young woman was still there, but to my relief she didn’t dominate the book, and in the meantime I had become more and more like two other major characters in Lord of Misrule, Medicine Ed and Two-Tie, lonely and childless old men deeply tired of the daily work they do, facing their last years without the protections of family,” she told the NBF. “It took me by surprise how much I liked Lord of Misrule when I read it again, just as if somebody else had written it. I even cried twice —that was when I thought I probably had something. The manuscript still needed some work, but I easily saw how to fix it.”

Gordon's novel follows five characters – “scarred and lonely dreamers in the American grain,” according to McPherson -- through a year and four races at Indian Mound Downs, downriver from Wheeling, West Virginia… one of many disappearing tracks at “the rock-bottom end of the sport of kings” where sits a “ruthless and often violent world of cheap horse racing, where trainers and jockeys, grooms and hotwalkers, loan sharks and touts are all struggling to take an edge, or prove their luck, or just survive.”

The other fiction finalists are Peter Carey's "Parrot and Olivier in America," Nicole Krauss's "Great House," Lionel Shriver's "So Much for That" and Karen Tei Yamashita's "I Hotel.”

Smith's “Just Kids” is a memoir of her relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe and life in the bohemian New York of the 1960s and ’70s, published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Unemployment rates were little changed from September to October in Mid-Hudson Valley counties, according to state Labor Department data released on Thursday. The jobless rate in Greene County was 7.7 percent last month, up from 7.5 percent in September but better than the 7.9 percent rate of October 2009. In Columbia County, joblessness stood at 6.8 percent in October, compared to 6.7 percent in September and 7.2 percent in October 2009.

Unemployment rates in other local counties in October were:
• Ulster County: 7.4 percent last month, unchanged from September and down from 7.6 percent in October 2009.
• Dutchess County: 7.3 percent in October, the same rate as in September and a slight improvement from the 7.8 percent rate of October 2009.
• Delaware: 7.7 percent, compared to 7.6 in September and 8.1 in October 2009.
• Orange: 7.6, compared to 7.7 and 7.7.
• Sullivan: 8.5, compared to 8.2 and 8.5.

CLC gets grant for trail linking Copake and Hillsdale
The Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC), in conjunction with the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association (HVRTA), are getting a $121,965 grant from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to fund preliminary designs and final construction plans for a five-mile addition to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail from the current terminus in Copake Falls into the hamlet of Hillsdale, according to a CLC press release. The project will link Taconic State Park in Copake Falls, the Roeliff Jansen State Park, The Roeliff Jansen Community Library, the Hamlet of Hillsdale, the Hillsdale Community Wetland, and the Rheinstrom Hill Audubon Sanctuary on a trail corridor already owned by New York State. "Extending the trail would bring enormous economic, recreational and development opportunities to Hillsdale," says Art Baer, Hillsdale Town Supervisor. "It is an important first step in the implementation of our recently completed Hamlet Design and Development Plan." Named after the Harlem Line from New York City to the Village of Chatham on the New York Central Rail Road, the trains stopped running in 1976 and the tracks were removed, leaving a 46-mile corridor ideally suited for a rails-to-trails project. In 1989, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (NYS Parks) purchased 20.38 miles of the right-of-way in southern Columbia County and northern Dutchess County.

Voters pass bus proposition, elect Hafensteiner
Hilary Hawke in The Ravena News-Herald reports Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk voters passed by 82 votes a reworked bus proposition that previously failed in a May vote, and elected Sarah Hafensteiner to fill the Board of Education seat vacated when Rosemary Puckett resigned over the summer. Hafensteiner won by four votes over Rodney Krzykowski, 230 to 226, with Judith Sylvester (192) and Darcy Micelli (179), following. The bus proposal was $100,000 and one bus less that voters shot down in May.

Hannaford to open supermarket in New Lebanon
From The Business Review:

Hannaford supermarket chain signed a lease with the owner of the Valley Plaza Shopping Center in the Columbia County town. The full-service supermarket and pharmacy will be built on the site of the Capital District Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., next to the Route 20 plaza that contains the former New Lebanon Supermarket. OTB will move into the former New Lebanon Supermarket.

This weekend
Deer hunting season opens Nov. 20.
The Estate of Dominick Dunne at Auction Nov. 20 at Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers, Hudson.

Birthdays
Nov. 19 birthdays include Jeane Kirkpatrick, Allison Janney, and Jodie Foster.

The ever-busy Ariel Zangla-Girard of the Kingston Daily Freemanreported from Wednesday's county legislature meeting in Catskill that Greene County has finally hired a new administrator who  says he will be involved in the community and economic development, with a focus on bringing jobs to the county.

The Greene County Legislature on Wednesday unanimously approved hiring of Shaun S. Groden, 53, as the new administrator, succeeding Dan Frank, who has served as interim administrator since January 2008, when Douglas Brewer retired. Groden’s three-year term as administrator begins Jan. 17, 2011, and he will be paid $132,000 per year.

Groden currently is the county administrator and controller of St. Clair County, Mich. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from SUNY Brockport and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Prior to becoming county administrator in St. Clair County, Groden was the owner of HSHI Inc, a privately held hospitality corporation in Rochester. His resume also lists work in economic development.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Groden said he and his wife, Catherine, had a list of attributes they were searching for when they decided to move. He said Greene County had a “quality of place” and was an area that afforded his wife, an accountant and controller, the opportunity to find independent employment.

“We absolutely love the area,” Groden said of Greene County.

Groden said he and his wife, who have three adult children, are looking for a home in the county and that they hope to move as soon as possible.

County Legislature Chairman Wayne Speenburgh, R-Coxsackie, said Groden was the unanimous choice of the 13 legislators who sat in on the final round of in-person interviews with the final three candidates for the administrator’s job.

“We’re excited,” Speenburgh said. “We’re optimistic he’s going to be a very good fit for Greene County.”

[caption id="attachment_3924" align="alignright" width="300" caption="L-r, Christina Malisoff, Sam Sebren, Dharma Dailey, Richard Roth (seated), and Allan Skerrett host first "Tell It Like It Is" show on WGXC Nov. 18, 2010."][/caption]

WGXC programmers have begun been airing radio shows: so far John Cleater's "1969," and Norman Douglas and Andrew Amerlinckx's "Difficult Histories." That last show and "Tell It Like It Is," which aired this morning, are both part of WGXC's "Morning Show," both in the 10 a.m. hour, where longer material will air. "Tell It Like It Is" is hosted by Christina Malisoff, Allan Skerrett, Sam Sebren, and Richard Roth, and will feature a regular Columbia County events segment from Ellen Thurston. The debut show featured Thurston's event segment, and a similar effort from Sebren covering Greene County events, an interview with Vanessa Baehr ("The Spinstress") of Ouroborus Hoops about hula hooping, a segment about natural gas hydraulic fracturing from Sebren, and a roundtable discussion with the entire group and WGXC's Dharma Dailey about "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman's Nov. 4 talk at the Community Theatre of Catskill. Click here to listen to an mp3 recording of the program, or paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/11/TellItLikeItIs_WGXC_111810.mp3

WGXC is making progress toward getting on the air, with a groundbreaking at the tower site in Cairo Nov. 16. Plans now have the antenna hung on the already-existing tower, and the transmitter from Energy-Onix in Valatie installed in the "Equipment Shelter" under the tower the week before Christmas. After a few weeks of testing, WGXC will be on 90.7-FM sometime in January, unless there is a construction delay, or some other problem. WGXC's online radio webstream still contains recordings of past WGXC events, local town meetings, and recordings of local musicians, but, increasingly, also includes the same live programs listeners will soon hear on 90.7-FM. Hosts are learning how to use the studio equipment with their first shows just on the internet. Now, when you tune in WGXC Online Radio at www.wgxc.org, more and more you will hear live programs from WGXC hosts as they figure out how to make radio.

[caption id="attachment_3925" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Foundation for WGXC Equipment Shelter, which will hold transmitter from Energy-Onix in Valatie. Foundation poured Nov. 17, 2010."][/caption]

Ariel Zangla-Girard of the Kingston-based Daily Freeman reported on Thursday morning, November 18, that Greene County treasurer-elect Peter Markou is set to assume his new duties a month early.
On Wednesday, the Greene County Legislature unanimously adopted a resolution appointing Peter Markou as acting county treasurer effective Dec. 1 to Dec. 31. Markou, the current Catskill town supervisor, won the four-year term as treasurer in the Nov. 2 election, but was appointed to assume the position early due to the retirement of Willis Vermilyea earlier this year and the resignation of current acting Treasurer Thomas Tracey.

Markou said he was happy with the appointment. He said he will remain Catskill town supervisor until Nov. 30, when his duties will be assumed by Deputy Supervisor Patrick Walsh. Markou said he is also in the process of negotiating with a group of grant writers to assume his consultant duties with the Hudson Development Corp. and the Hudson Community Development Planning Agency.

The Hudson Register-Star includes a full story on Markou's farwell to that job in its Nov. 17 issue. “I think there are challenges and opportunities that will arise,” Markou said of the treasurer position in a story in The Daily Freeman. He said he wants to get into the office, take a look at the county budget and audit and then meet with department heads to see if there are any cost-saving measures that can be implemented.



The issue of the appointment of an acting treasurer to replace Vermilyea sparked a disagreement between the county and Gov. David Paterson over who had the right to fill the vacancy. The county argued it had the right to make the appointment under Local Law 6 of 1981, but the governor’s office said Paterson had the power to fill the position under County Law Section 400 (7).

Upon Vermilyea’s retirement, a majority of the county Legislature appointed Tracey to serve as acting treasurer. Some Democratic legislators questioned the county’s right to make the appointment, prompting Paterson to appoint Alan Pavese of Durham to the position, but Pavese never served in the position. Pavese ran unsuccessfully against Markou in the election.

The governor’s office did not respond to an e-mail in time for this story, as published in the Daily Freeman. Prior to Markou’s appointment, Legislative Minority Leader Sean Frey, D-Durham, and Legislator Forest Cotten, D-Catskill, each said they agreed with the appointment, but again raised concern with the county doing so under Local Law 6 of 1981.

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[caption id="attachment_3890" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Pleased to be the first radio cartoonist of the day, veteran stripmeister Gus Murphy, formerly of the late and lamented Phoenicia Times and Olive Press, as well as The Mountain Eagle that covered the region in the 1990s, will now be supplying regular strips to WGXC. We will bunch a few works from the tumultuous past weeks to start and then upload as Mr. Murphy's caustic works appear each week... Enjoy!"][/caption]

Police standoff in Windham
Late Wednesday afternoon a man took at least a hostage above the Windham Hardware store, shutting down Main St., Route 23, for several hours. Albany-based television station WTEN broke the news at 6:44 p.m., and The Daily Mail followed with a report at 7:12 p.m., both with just the basic details. WTEN's Taryn Fitsik updated the story at 10:58 p.m. for the 11 p.m. news, and added the detail that one person inside the building may have been involved in an home invasion earlier in the day in Athens. Perhaps WTEN is referring to a home invasion at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning in Cairo. That Cairo break-in story was one of three today The Daily Mail posted as they got the information (the other was a wind alert), instead of waiting until 2 a.m., as is their custom. YNN reporter Solomon Syed's Twitter feed broke the outcome of the standoff first: "Standoff ends in #Windham at 10:40pm. 4 suspects taken into custody. Firearms found on the scene. Mile-wide blockade cleared on Rt. 23." YNN's website reported at 11:40 p.m.: "Police tell us the four people that were holed up inside a Windham home came out without incident. There were four people, 3 males and one female, inside the house during the stand-off with police. Police say they believe one or more people inside the home were involved in a home invasion in the Town of Carol [sic]. It is possible that not all of those that were in the home will be charged. Police say no one was injured during the stand off. Route 23 has since been reopened." Read the full account in The Daily Mail here.

JetBlue expands Stewart service
Mid-Hudson News reports JetBlue Airways doubles its daily flights between Stewart Airport and Orlando beginning next June. Jetblue currently operates one daily flight each from the Newburgh airport to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. Last week, Delta Air Lines also added a second flight, from Stewart to Atlanta, beginning early next year.

Birthdays
Nov. 18 birthdays include Hank Ballard, Margaret Atwood, and Chloe Sevigny.

[caption id="attachment_644" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="Marc Molinaro at Space360 in Hudson April 21, 2010."][/caption]Molinaro named to Cuomo's transition team
Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo today announced that Assemblyman Marc Molinaro (R,C,I-Red Hook), who represents Columbia County, was named to a transition team to recruit, review, and recommend candidates for key positions in the next administration, according to Molinaro's staff. Molinaro will serve on the State and Local Government Reform Committee of the transition team. “The magnitude of the challenges confronting our state may be immense, but so are the opportunities before us to implement meaningful, long-lasting policies to improve the quality of life and quality of government in New York,” Molinaro said in a statement. “I am honored to serve with so many distinguished individuals committed to improving New York.”


Cement plant announces more layoffs
Doron Tyler Antrim in The Daily Mail reports Catskill cement producer Holcim will "temporarily" cut 70 hourly positions effective in January. "In May 2009, 35 workers were temporarily laid off. Two months earlier 26 positions were eliminated," Antrim reported.


Loaf opens Saturday
The Lick ice cream parlor on Warren St. closes each winter, and now the space is being used and the Lick logo changed just slightly into Loaf, a bakery. The 253 Warren St. location opens this Saturday, Nov. 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is taking orders for Thanksgiving pies at loafhudson@gmail.com.


Healthcare Consortium receives FCH grant
The Healthcare Consortium was awarded a $20,000 transportation grant from the Foundation for Community Health in Sharon, CT to provide transportation for residents of Ancram and Copake to and from health-related appointments in 2011.


Meetings tonight
In Kinderhook, John Mason in the Register-Star reports that Kinderhook residents are invited to an upstairs in Village Hall "Public Information Meeting" on the reconstruction of Hudson Street and Albany Avenue at 7 p.m. tonight. "The proposed reconstruction will extend on Hudson Street for about 600 feet from Sylvester Street to the traffic light at Route 9 and on Albany Avenue for about 1,600 feet from Route 9 to Sunset Avenue," Mason reports.


In Craryville, the Taconic Hills school board says it will vote on a replacement for John Mastropolo, who resigned in September, at a meeting tonight at Taconic Hills High School in the board room. The board has been holding all proceedings around the seat, which is usually elected by voters, in secret, held in executive session. The board is choosing between Christine Perry, Sally Williamson, and Joan Spencer. This meeting is also at 7 p.m., and note the meeting's agenda says the board will first vote on the replacement seat, and then the public gets a chance to comment, not before for a seat the public usually chooses at the polls. In a story about this issue, Mason in the Register-Star writes, "According to Robert Freeman of the state Committee on Open Government, the only court decision dealing with how school boards may select new members found that such decisions should be made in open, not closed, session."


Voting to raise your taxes and fees
Doron Tyler Antrim reports in The Daily Mail that the entire Greenville town board voted to raise building permit fees $6000. The board is made up of Supervisor Paul Macko, Diane Fallon, Ken Stern, Richard Bear, and Louis Kraker.


Birthdays
Nov. 17 is the birthday of Martin Scorsese, John Boehner, and Kimya Dawson.

[caption id="attachment_3839" align="alignright" width="300" caption="187 permanently protected acres in Hillsdale, NY. Photo from Columbia Land Conservancy."][/caption]
Family protects 187 acres in Hillsdale
Mother and daughter Irene E. Gibson and Irene L. Gibson are permanently protecting 187 acres of their Hillsdale property, signing a deal with the Columbia Land Conservancy placing a conservation easement on their land. The property includes a prominent wooded hillside, highly scenic open farm fields, rocky ledges, and outcroppings, and stream corridors and 21 acres of wetlands near Taghkanic Creek Headwaters. The creek, a DEC-designated Class C Trout stream, runs through the protected property for 6,582 feet. The Gibsons donated the development rights of their property to CLC but retain title to their property, and can sell or pass the property on to heirs. They can still farm on the land, and are not required to allow public access. CLC holds 148 easements that protect 20,930 acres.


Schumer gets new job as Democrats’ messenger-in-chief
Jennifer Dlouhy New York on the Potomac reports Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced New York senior Senator Chuck Schumer is now in charge of coordinating the party’s communications and messaging for the next two years. "Reid described the change as part of a new mission 'to strengthen our strategic operations' and 'better integrate our legislative- and message-crafting functions into a central, coordinated nucleus managing policy, press and politics,'" she reported. Read the entire story here.


Birthdays
Nov. 16 birthdays include W.C. Handy, Terence McKenna, and Dwight Gooden.

[caption id="attachment_1383" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Chris Gibson opens his campaign headquarters in Kinderhook May 12, 2010."][/caption]Gibson wants three committee seats
Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential reports:

Congressman-elect Chris Gibson [of Kinderhook] is a 24-year military [veteran], but his top choice for a committee assignment is Agriculture.

“In order, Agriculture, and the House Armed Services Committee,” Gibson said in an interview earlier this week. “There is no guarantees. Obviously I’d be a good fit for the House Armed Services Committee given my background. I would like to see that as a third committee; that’s unusual, to get three committees, but not unprecedented. I want to serve on Agriculture, on Energy & Commerce, because I want to be involved in removing the impediments to growth — taxes, regulation and health care costs — and I want to be involved to try to help our farmers. So I derive my priorities for committee assignment based on campaign goals that I enunciated and where I can best position myself to make a difference.”

Gibson spoke at multiple farm events about the need to improve milk pricing mechanisms in the 2012 Farm Bill. Rep. Scott Murphy, the Glens Falls Democrat who Gibson defeated, serves on the Agriculture and Armed Services.

Birthdays
Nov. 13 birthdays include Frances Conroy, Humayun Ahmed, and Amory Lovins.

Board of Ed vacancy, bus proposition on the ballot
Hilary Hawke in The Ravena News-Herald reports on Nov. 15 Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district voters will fill a vacancy with either Sarah Hafensteiner, Rodney Krzykowski, Judith Sylvester, or Darcy Micelli and reconsider a scaled-down version of a bus proposal that was defeated by voters last May. The proposal was reduced from $538,378 to $437,141. Voting is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at RCS High School.

Look what you did
Diane Valden in The Columbia Paper has one of the best leads in local memory:

It’s official: Salvatore Cascino did all the bad things the town said he did, and now he has to fix them.

That's the opener for a story about the November 3 decision from Acting State Supreme Court Judge Jonathan D. Nichols permanently forbidding Cascino from ever again engaging in "certain illegal activities" on his 300-acre property Copake Valley Farm, along the east side of Route 22.

Birthdays
Nov. 12 is the birthday of Wallace Shawn, Neil Young, and Booker T. Jones.

[caption id="attachment_3780" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Joseph Costa, George Lagonia, Jr., Ronald Morales, Superintendent Mark Sposato, and school employee. "][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_3781" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Clifford Campbell, Harvey Weber, Donald McComb, Robert McComb, Kevin Maisenbacher, members of Taconic Hills School Board. "][/caption]

Taconic Hills School Board holds entire meeting in executive session
The Taconic Hills School Board held an entire meeting in executive session to fill a usually-elected open seat on the board. The meeting in the conference room inside Taconic Hills High School Wednesday evening was held entirely in executive session, except for the pledge of allegience (pictured), unanimous votes to open and close the meeting, and another to go into executive session. The vote to go out of executive session, happened in executive session, according to the board. Previously that day in a story in the Register-Star, John Mason called executive director of New York’s Committee on Open Government Robert J. Freeman and asked if the board is violating the state’s open meetings law by doing everything in regard to filling this seat behind closed doors. Freeman quotes the Gordon vs. the Village of Monticello, Supreme Court, Sullivan County, Jan. 7, 1994 case: “The matter of replacing elected officials,” states the decision, “should be subject to public input and scrutiny.” Freeman said he has advised school boards that, “they conduct executive sessions [for this purpose] at their peril.” The Taconic Hills board insisted on meeting privacy and would not even reveal the names of potential candidates for the seat to replace John Mastropolo, who resigned in September. As the board began interviewing Christine Perry for the post -- she told this reporter and Mason her name in the hallway outside the executive session -- the board finally released the list of who sent letters of interest: Tom Bailey, June Simons, Kim Czyzewski, Gail Wheeler, Scott Decker, Annie Christensen, Sally Williamson, Perry, Kenneth Dow (withdrew today), Robert Garon (withdrew Oct. 21), and Joan Spencer. Perry, Williamson, Spencer, Dow, and Decker were granted interviews in executive session, though Dow withdrew today and Decker never arrived and could not be reached by school officials. The board also told the media -- not the public -- the seven questions they were asking of candidates inside the executive session: general items such as what budget cuts should be made, and "What are the most pressing issues facing school boards today?" The board will decide who fills the seat at a meeting next Wed. Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. Voters won't have any input on who holds this seat until it expires May 17, 2011.

Three bat species see 90 percent population drops in NY
Little Brown, Northern, and Tri-Colored bats suffered 90 percent population declines in New York since the first appearance of the "White-Nose Syndrome" began plaguing the hibernating animals in their caves in 2006, according to a recently completed survey by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Indiana bats have declined about 60 percent and "White Nose Syndrome" has now been documented in 32 caves and mines in New York. "Caves and mines that avoided infection in the early years of the disease, perhaps by chance, are now infected," said Acting DEC Commissioner Peter Iwanowicz. "This year's survey included hibernation sites that had not been visited by DEC in decades. What we found was disturbing. We now have sampled sites that represent the full range of environmental conditions across the state – and none have been spared. It is likely the sites not yet inspected are infected as well." DEC is asking members of the recreational caving community to avoid any caves or mines known to house hibernating bats. Population numbers have held steady after steep, first-year declines at Howe Cave and Haile's Cave (located in the greater Capital Region) at roughly 10 percent of their pre-disease count. "Infected animals were present at these two sites, so it's too early to say the decline here has halted," said DEC bat biologist Carl Herzog, "but these two caves represent the most hopeful results in an otherwise negative report."

Hudson city budget
Carole Osterink in The Gossips of Rivertown reports on Wednesday night's Hudson Common Council meeting where Mayor Rick Scalera revealed the 2011 city budget. Her analysis:

"The mil rate (the tax per $1,000 in assessed value) is 12.198420, down from 14.770500 in 2010--a 17 percent decrease. The total taxable value of properties in Hudson increased from 303,174,231 to 373,232,346, so the taxes on a hypothetical property assessed at $150,000 in 2010 and $250,000 in 2011 will increase from $2,215.58 to $3,049.61--an increase of 38 percent.... There will not be salary increases for elected officials, Department Heads, PT 40-hr employees as well as PT hourly employees. The Police Union has previously negotiated a 3% increase for 2011 and CSEA is currently in contract discussions with the city.3. In the Assessor's office the part-time clerk position was cut and added was $68,000 toward the overall cost of a professional revaluation.... The city bus operations will be changed over in early January as we now will work within a Cooperative Agreement with the county. The Bus will continue to provide transportation from the City to the surrounding retailers in Greenport and back with expanded hours from the current schedule.... A public hearing on the budget will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 17." Read the entire story here.

Lindsay Suchow's take on the proposed budget is here in Register-Star.

EPA subpoenas Halliburton, seeking fracking secrets
Environment News Service reports:

The U.S. EPA has issued a subpoena to Halliburton, requiring information about the chemicals used by the energy and engineering company to fracture shale rocks, releasing the natural gas they contain. Halliburton was subpoenaed after failing to voluntarily meet EPA's requests for information needed for a congressionally mandated hydraulic fracturing study to investigate the potential adverse impacts of the practice on drinking water and public health. EPA's Office of Research and Development will conduct the scientific study to examine the possible relationships between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and drinking water quality. Halliburton has been given until December 1 to submit the requested information. The agency is under a tight deadline to provide initial results by the end of 2012 and the thoroughness of its study depends on timely access to detailed information about the methods used for fracturing. EPA expects to begin the study in early 2011. On September 9, EPA asked nine national and regional hydraulic fracturing service providers - BJ Services, Complete Production Services, Halliburton, Key Energy Services, Patterson-UTI, RPC, Inc., Schlumberger, Superior Well Services, and Weatherford - for information. The agency is seeking information on the chemical composition of fluids used in the fracking process, data on the impacts of the chemicals on human health and the environment, standard operating procedures at their hydraulic fracturing sites and the locations of sites where fracturing has been conducted. Except for Halliburton, the companies have either fully complied with the September 9 request or made unconditional commitments to provide all the information on an expeditious schedule, the EPA said. Halliburton responded only that it would use its "best efforts" and "endeavor to complete its response" by the end of January 2011, according to a letter written by Peter Silva, the EPA's assistant administrator for water to Halliburton Chairman and CEO David Lesar accompanying the subpoena. "EPA believes that Halliburton's response is inadequate and inconsistent with the cooperation shown to date by the other eight companies," Silva wrote.

Long Island company buys old Ceramaseal building in NL
Paul Crossman in Chatham Courier reports that RISA, "a metal fabrication company that makes and installs various products from iron, steel and other metals and turns them into products like staircases, railings and doorways," is attempting to get permits from the Planning Board, and finish their State Environmental Quality Review application before buying the Ceramaseal building in New Lebanon. The company representative claims up to 50 new jobs for the area within a year. Read the entire story here.

Veteran's Day
Schools are closed today.

Birthdays
Nov. 11 is the birthday of Stanley Tucci, Dave Alvin, and Kurt Vonnegut.