Lissa Harris in Watershed Post reports:

Greene County legislators aren't the only ones asking questions about IDAs lately. Just released: A damning report on state Industrial Development Agencies, a team effort by NY Jobs With Justice and Urban Agenda. The report, un-subtly titled "No Return On Our Investment," blasts IDAs for playing shell games with taxpayer money, investing in businesses that cut jobs instead of creating them, and failing to deliver on promises of economic development. Naturally, IDA directors aren't too happy about the report. The Poughkeepsie Journal reports:

"This is a very broad tarring of IDAs," said Lance Matteson, CEO of the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency. "I think that it is objectively clear that this a skewed, distorted, one-sided but very slick report."

Want to judge for yourself? Here's the report:

No Return on Our Investment

[caption id="attachment_2699" align="alignright" width="224" caption="Craig Remaley, owner of Mountain T-Shirts in Catskill, speaks with Congressional candidate Chris Gibson Aug. 24, 2010."][/caption]WGXC uploaded audio from Chris Gibson's appearance at 1 p.m. today at Mountain T-Shirts in Catskill. At the event, Gibson took questions from the audience of about 40 in the middle of the screen printer's workshop and said that he and incumbent Scott Murphy will debate Thursday night in an internet forum upstate. Both men are running for the U.S. District 20 seat in Congress, Murphy the incumbent Democrat, and Gibson the challenging Republican. At Mountain T-Shirts Gibson said he would not join any caucus including the Tea Party Caucus if elected, and called for a repeal of the health care bill recently passed by Congress. Click here to listen to audio mp3, or paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/ChrisGibsonanswersqueustionsinCatskill_WGXC_082410.mp3

The details of the Meet the Candidates Forum hosted by the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Organization 6 p.m. August 26: The forum will not be open to the public, but credentialed media are being encouraged to cover the discussion. The event will be held at The Hyde, 161 Warren St., in Glens Falls with invited members of the ARCC Young Professionals Organization. The public, however, will be able to view the debate in its entirety thanks to a video of the event that will be made available on YouTube by the ARCC YPO.)

Pete DiStefano, owner of DiStefano’s Barber Shop, plans to sue the Village of Catskill for for reparations of lost revenue because the village moved the Saturday morning farmers' market to Main St. this summer, closing a part of the main strip to all vehicles, routing them around at least a block away. Susan Campriello's story in The Daily Mail includes this remarkable exchange between Village Trustee Brian Kehoe and DiStefano:

“I think it is a shame that you are bringing this suit,” Kehoe said. “So do I,” DiStefano responded. DiStefano said the village had more than two months to consider a petition signed by several Main Street merchants who urged the board to move the market and allow traffic to pass on Main Street. DiStefano said he also spoke with Village President Vincent Seeley about the traffic issue and Seeley said the market would not be moved.

WGXC has a booth at the market. Read the entire story in The Daily Mail.

Prometheus Radio Barnraisings

Barnraisings are our favorite way to build a radio station. In the spirit of the Amish barnraising tradition, in which an entire community gathers to support one family and build together, Prometheus holds radio barnraisings to build community along with stations. These events bring together local station volunteers with low power radio advocates from around the region and sometimes the world. Engineers, students, journalists, lawyers, musicians, activists and other folks gather to build a studio, raise an antenna mast, and put the station on air for the first time - all over the course of three days.

Meanwhile, volunteer facilitators lead workshops on a wide variety of topics relating to new radio stations. Subjects include FCC regulations, radio engineering, citizen lobbying and media reform advocacy, programming, fundraising, and movement-building. We are planning for our first full power radio station barnraising in Fall 2010! Stay tuned for more details.

Prometheus Radio Project teams with WGXC 90.7-FM, a project of free103point9, to hold our 12th community radio barnraising and our first full power barnraising! Radio barnraisings are weekend-long radio-building and movement-building events. Individuals from the local community and participatory media folks from around the country come together to share ideas, experiences, and skills in the launching of a community radio station.


Prometheus has held eleven community radio barnraisings to date:

* WRYR-LP in Deale, Maryland with South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development- February 16 – 18, 2002
* KRBS-LP in Oroville, California with the Bird Street Media Project- April 12 - 14, 2002
* KOCZ-LP in Opelousas, Louisiana with the Southern Development Foundation- November 15 – 17, 2002
* KYRS-LP in Spokane, Washington with the Thin Air Community Radio- October 24 – 26, 2003
* WCIW-LP in Immokalee, Florida with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers- December 5 - 7, 2003
* WSCA-LP in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with Portsmouth Community Radio- September 10 - 12, 2004
* WRFN-LP in Pasquo, Tennessee with Radio Free Nashville- April 1 - 3, 2005
* WXOJ-LP in Northampton, Massachusetts with Valley Free Radio- August 5 - 7, 2005
* WRFU-LP in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois with Radio Free Urbana- November 11 – 13, 2005
* KPCN-LP in Woodburn, Oregon with Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste- August 18 – 20, 2006
* WMXP-LP in Greenville, South Carolina with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement- June 8 - 10, 2007

Prometheus has also been active internationally, working with groups in Guatemala, Nepal, Colombia, Jordan, Kenya, and Tanzania.

For more information on the WGXC/Prometheus Radio Barnraising Sept. 24-26 in Hudson click here.

Sam Pratt created an app for mobile phones to monitor Hudson-centric blogs including Carole Osterink’s The Gossips of Rivertown, Trixie Starr’s Gay Hudson, Scott Baldinger’s GoToHudson, Lisa Durfee’s Tainted Lady Lounge, John Farley’s The12534. Download it at: http://m.wbx.me/hudson

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="175" caption="Photo from The Gossips of Rivertown blog, showing Hudson Fire Department putting out a ceremonial fire Saturday night shortly before a large fire nearby kept the Hudson, Greenport,and Catskill departments involved or alerted."][/caption]
Several WGXC staff and volunteers were at the goodbye party for Patrick Doyle and Catherine Smith, the owners of Basilica Industria (the site of a WGXC fundraiser last New Year's Eve), Saturday night, when the following happened, reported by Carole Osterink in The Gossips of Rivertown:

The group then gathered in the courtyard north of the building for a bonfire--a feature of so many events at Basilica Industria over the years. No sooner was the bonfire ignited than the Basilica was descended upon by City of Hudson Fire Police, the Fire Chief, and Engine 30 from the Hoysradt Fire Station on Warren Street. The firefighters extinguished the bonfire. It wasn't immediately clear to the spectators that the presence of the Fire Department wasn't part of the theater of the evening, but it became clear when Doyle was issued a citation. Doyle had contacted the Fire Department to arrange for a permit for the bonfire, but he was unable to reach anyone and his calls were not returned, so he decided to go ahead with the bonfire anyway. Doyle is scheduled to appear in court on September 8.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="175" caption="Photo from ColumbiaPage, of Hudson firefighters fighting a house fire Saturday night at 518 Columbia St."][/caption]
Saturday night in Hudson, there were several fires and police actions, most notably a large fire at 518 Columbia St. a few moments after the Basilica incident, that, according to the Register-Star and ColumbiaPage reporting and photos (at left) and this reporter's eyes, called or alerted Hudson Fire Department, Hudson Police, the Greenport Rescue Squad and the Greenport and Catskill Fire Departments from shortly after 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Doyle was a political activist in Hudson for the past ten years. New Basilica owners Nancy Barber and Bill Stone watched the ceremonial fire extinguishing in person.

Mike McCagg in ccScoop writes about the proposed power line to be placed in the Hudson River, from near the Albany county line down to New York City. McCagg quotes Scenic Hudson's Hayley Mauskapf, an environmental advocacy associate, about the proposed 420-mile power transmission line would be buried along the bottom of the Hudson River from near Selkirk down the river into Yonkers and Manhattan:

“We see that there is a potential to bring some renewable energy to New York State and to get rid of some of the coal or nuclear sources we have,” said Scenic Hudson’s Hayley Mauskapf, an environmental advocacy associate. However, she added, “a project of this type and magnitude is unprecedented in the Hudson Valley, so of course we have some concerns.” Among those are the impact of the electromagnetic field, the installation process effects, the thermo effect and the impact of the re-suspension of PCBs in the river sediment, she said.

McCagg's story says the $1.9 billion plan will bring 1,000 megawatts of renewable wind and hydropower from Quebec to Westchester County, New York City and Bridgeport, Conn. Read the entire story in ccScoop.

YouTube video shows abandoned Catskill Game Farm, which closed in 2006, being overtaken by weeds. Posted by paulslemoine June 5, 2010. (H/T Watershed Post.)

WGXC Online Radio had a live webstream Aug. 22, 2010 from the Cannonball Factory for a WGXC fundraiser with Vetiver, DJ Lunar Moss, Arp, and Nina Violet.

AUDIO RECORDINGS
Arp opening set mp3 recording is here or paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/Arp_Cannonball_WGXC_082210.mp3

Nina Violet's set recording is here or paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/NinaViolet_Cannonball_WGXC_082210.mp3

A recording of Vetiver's performance, and the closing DJ set from DJ Lunar Moss is here or paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/VetiverDJLunarMoss_Cannonball_WGXC_082210.mp3

Tanya Holonko and Diane Hencke speak about natural pet foods at Greene County Eco Fair at Agroforestry Center.

Hal Zucker speaks next about sustainable lifestyles at Greene County Eco-Fair at Agroforestry Center in Acra.

Mark Bomba from Alteris Renewables speaks about solar power at Greene County Eco-Fair at Agroforestry Center in Acra, NY.

Officials from Club Helsinki in Hudson have been tweeting and posting on Facebook that they now have a beer and wine license. The Bindlestiff Family Circus performs tonight.

Joe Laquatra from Cornell University is beamed in with a presentation about Home Energy Efficiency at Greene County Eco-Fair at the Agroforesty Center in Acra. Watch video above or listen to audio at www.wgxc.org or:
http://comm.free103point9.org:8000/cairo.mp3.m3u

Watch video above of Sarah Charlop-Powers from NYSERDA speaking about making your home energy efficient at Greene County Eco-Fair in Acra. (Note: Twitcam text lists incorrect information about content of this video.)

Watch live video of Kevin Bailey's talk from 11:30 a.m. Aug. 21, 2010 at Greene County Eco-Fair at Agroforestry Center in Acra.

Wide variety of talent tonight at the Cairo Open Mic, the monthly event sponsored by the Cairo Library and WGXC. This week, part-time Cornwallville resident Esther Cohen was giving a writing workshop, and brought several members of her class to read. Michelle Curtis began the evening, followed by Nancy Henry, Dean Lavin, Cohen herself, and Tony Fallon. Then the band American Monarchy made their debut, featuring Mike Mottl on vocals, David Auger on guitar, Nick Anader on bass, Matt Schlosser on drums, and Alex Jacobs on rhythm guitar. Then Harry Gottlieb played classical guitar, and Claude Haton, Steve Anader, and Matt Schlosser jamming on some classic rock songs. Click here to listen to an mp3 recording, or paste the following url into your computer's media player:

http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/08/CairoOpenMic_WGXC_082010.mp3

William J. Kemble in The Daily Freeman says the emerald ash borer beetle that kills ash trees is in Woodstock:

"The Comeau Trails Tasks Force (members) were out and they reported to our office that they found what might have been an emerald ash borer on the Comeau property in an ash tree," he said. Alan White, executive director of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, said the beetle, native to China, has no known natural enemies in the United States. "It was first detected in 2002 in Michigan," he said. "There were millions of dollars invested in trying to control it in Michigan and, then, in Ohio and various other states in the Midwest and, frankly, there wasn’t a lot of success." White said a finding of the beetle on private property along state Route 212 in Saugerties led to a wider search that found the insect in other areas. "That inventory and survey process indicates that there are active populations of emerald ash borer...in the southern tip of Greene County and, then, it basically travels down the Hudson River just north of Kingston," he said. "A number of those detections that they made were far enough west that it appears to me to be a fair assumption that the town of Woodstock needs to start thinking about what that means." Read the entire story in The Daily Freeman.

Rick Karlin in Capitol Confidential reports:

"[T]he New York Public Interest Research Group has scanned into their website and updated the latest versions of financial disclosure forms for incumbents and challengers for the legislature. These are filed individually with the state Legislative Ethics Commission and frankly they don’t provide a lot of detail, especially regarding the monetary value of the stocks, outside employment or other sources of wealth and income that some lawmakers have." Read the entire story in Capitol Confidential.

Locally:
Tim Gordon
Peter Lopez
Marcus Molinaro
Stephen M. Saland
James L. Seward

Second annual Eco-Fair in Cairo, NY, WGXC co-sponsors for second year. Workshops on a variety of environmentally friendly topics tba. Click on this PDF for more information. Sponsored by Cairo Chamber of Commerce. WGXC will be at the Eco-Fair with Max Goldfarb's M49 solar-powered radio truck. Tour the solar-powered radio truck with Goldfarb outside the Agroforestry Center in Acra, and WGXC will be webstreaming the speakers from inside the Agroforestry Center all day. Tune in WGXC Online Radio at www.wgxc.org.

Schedule
11:00-11:30 Opening
11:30-12:00 Kevin Bailey- Sycaway Solar and Wind
12:00-12:30 Erin Brady – Emerald Ash Borer is Here!
12:30-1:00 Sarah Powers-NYSERDA, Making your Home Energy Efficient
1:00-1:15 Pete Lopez NYS Assemblyman - The Importance of Sustainability
1:15-2:00 Dr. Joe Laquatra, Cornell University- Energy Efficiency & Healthy Homes
2:00-2:30 Mark Bomba- Alteris Renewables
2:30-3:00 Hal Zucker-Sustainable Living
3:00-3:30 Dr. Tanya Holonko DVM – Environmentally Friendly Ways to Have Healthy Animals
3:30-4:00 Overview of the Cairo Durham E..A.R.T.H. club. (‘ Establishing Environmental Action and Responsibility for Tomorrow’s Habitats’) The club’s mission is to help students learn about the environment and to become aware of the role which they can assume as responsible global citizens and future leaders.