From Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential:

Rep. Scott Murphy’s re-election campaign buried a tidbit in two e-mails they sent soliciting campaign cash before a deadline: Murphy has brought on Mitch Wallace as his campaign manager. A Wisconsin native, Wallace has been involved in several campaigns there and in other states. Also this weekend, Murphy’s Republican opponent Chris Gibson met with over 200 volunteers at West Mountain. A narrative account written... by Gibson’s press aide Rob Clark is reproduced in the link below. Read the entire story at Capitol Confidential.

Amphibian Adventure!
A Fund-Raiser for WGXC Community Radio

May 21, 2010: 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Greene County Agroforestry Resource Center
6055 Route 23, Acra, NY 12405
518-622-9820

Support your local community radio station and listen to the sounds of our resident frogs – all in one, fun evening! This family-friendly program will include a brief, indoor presentation on frogs and salamanders by Dr. Richard Wyman and an evening walk to the ponds at the Siuslaw Model Forest to hear the dulcet tones of spring peepers and other evening sounds. This program will be recorded for broadcast on WGXC!

23rd annual River Basin Sports Striper Contest update.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Blight on tomato leaf."][/caption]Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University Agriculture Department, shares these tips for anyone who would like to grow tomatoes in the wake of last year's blight (h/t Rural Intelligence):

The good news for gardeners is that they are starting with a relatively clean slate this year. Phytophthora infestans, the fungus-like pathogen that causes late blight in tomatoes, potatoes and other tomato-family plants (Solanaceae), currently requires living plant tissue to survive overwinter in the Northeast. That’s why the disease is relatively rare in the region. The bad news is, potato tubers are living plant tissue. So any late-blight-infested potato tubers that survived in your soil, compost pile or root cellar could harbor the pathogen and give it an early start again this season. “Destroy leftover potatoes and any volunteer potato plants as soon as they sprout,” McGrath urges. “Do not wait until you see symptoms. By then, new spores likely will have already developed and spread to other gardens or farmers’ fields.”

Other tips
Keep plants dry. The late blight pathogen thrives in cool, wet weather. That’s because it requires moisture to infect plants, grows best when it’s cool, and clouds protect spores from lethal UV radiation when they are dispersed by wind. Even in absence of rain, the pathogen can infect plants if the relative humidity is 90 percent or more. If plants need watering, water the soil – not the foliage.

Be vigilant. Inspect plants at least once a week – more often if weather is cool and wet. Immediately remove and bag foliage you suspect might be infected.

Act quickly. If symptoms continue despite removing infected foliage, consider removing plants entirely – sooner rather than later.

Dispose of plants properly. To reduce disease spread, remove infected plants during the middle of a sunny day after leaves have dried, if possible....Seal plants in garbage bags and leave them in the sun for a few days to kill plants and the pathogen quickly before placing in the trash or burying underground or deep in a compost pile.

Read the entire story here.

John Mason in Register-Star reports Monday that TMT Metal Fest Promoter Kenneth Randeze e-mailed the Register-Star Friday that he has moved the festival’s location from Ghent to Aug. 26-29 at Indian Lookout Country Club in Pattersonville, Schenectady County.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Tom Poelker with Nancy Pelosi."][/caption]Jimmy Vielkind of Capitol Confidential was at the Democratic Rural Conference this weekend in Niagara Falls:

As expected, Eric Dinallo won the straw poll for attorney general here at the Democratic Rural Conference with Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice finishing second and Sean Coffey finishing third. Dinallo had the support of 21 county chairs entering the straw poll, and earned 166 votes. Rice earned 79 votes, Coffey 52, Sen. Eric Schneiderman 33 and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky 22 votes.

[caption id="attachment_1142" align="alignright" width="112" caption="WGXC's Kaya Weidman records NY State Senate candidate Didi Barrett at Hudson Children's Book Festival."][/caption]

Just as WGXC's Kaya Weidman was about to sit down and interview Fidel Mareno, who was going to talk about Native American rights and the American Indian Pow Wow Aug. 14 in Stephentown, Didi Barrett showed up. We had asked the Democratic candidate for New York State Senate representing Columbia and much of Dutchess counties (a seat held by Republican Steve Saland) to stop by our table in Hudson High's gym, but everyone arrived at the same moment, and then a recorder failed. Indeed, it was a whirlwind day with so many folks stopping by the WGXC table at the festival, which was even busier then in its first year. Eventually we got another recorder working, and a conversation between Barrett, Mareno, and WGXC staff ensued about absentee voting, Native American rights, and other issues.
[caption id="attachment_1144" align="alignleft" width="112" caption="Fidel Mareno speaks with Didi Barrett at the Hudson Children's Book Festival."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1142" align="alignright" width="112" caption="WGXC's Kaya Weidman records Robert Yellow Fox at Hudson Children's Book Festival."][/caption]

Later Weidman sat down with Robert Yellow Fox, and spoke about Eagleton School, a private year-round residential, psycho-educational treatment facility for boys and young men ages nine (9) to twenty-two (22) years, with Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Development Disorder, Communication and Cognitive Delays, Behavioral Disorders, Emotional Disorders, and Learning Disabilities. Listen to their discussion here or paste this link:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/05
/RobertYellowFox_HCBF_WGXC_050110.mp3

WGXC's Emily Bennison also made recordings of children's authors during the event. Click on the author's name to listen to mp3 audio interview.

Anne Broyles
Ann Jonas
Barbara Slate
Danielle Joseph
Donald Crews
Ellen Jensen
Gail Carson Levine
Zetta Elliott

From From Gail Heinsohn in The Columbia Paper:

As he stated he would at the April 5 town board meeting, Lebanon Valley Speedway owner Howard Commander has filed suit against town officials, seeking a state Supreme Court determination as to whether the campers parked on his property trigger state requirements for a campground. The effect of the lawsuit, according to town Zoning Enforcement Officer Stan Koloski, is to stay the town's efforts to enforce zoning restrictions that the Zoning Board of Appeals believes apply to camping at the racetrack. Read the entire story in The Columbia Paper.

Recommended happenings.
FRIDAY
Sideshow clothing store opening at 7 p.m. with Bleeding Hearts belly dancers, Evan Randall, and Stephen Bluhm. 707 Warren St., Hudson.
Avondale Airforce and Battle Ave Tea Club at 9 p.m. at Market Market Cafe, Route 32 North, Rosendale. $5.
Mick Taylor Band and Voodelic at 9 p.m. at Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker St. (Rt. 212), Woodstock.
SATURDAY
Hudson's Children's Book Festival, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with hundreds of authors and WGXC, Hudson High.
"Upstate II" opening, 6 p.m. with Melora Kuhn, Catherine Mosley, Erik Schoonebeek, and Allyson Strafella at Nicole Fiacco Gallery, Hudson. Through June 5.
"Double Duos" 7 p.m. talk, 8 p.m. performance featuring Michael Benedict (vibes), Keith Pray (alto sax), Mike Lawrence (bass) and Brian Patneaude (tenor sax) at the Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second St, Athens.
RE:Vision Forward Motion Theater 8 p.m. at Hudson Opera House.
Club Helsinki in Hudson opens at 9 p.m. with Spottiswoode & His Enemies.
SUNDAY
"Remember the Ladies" open house at noon at Thomas Cole House. Free.

Hilary Hawke in The Daily Mail reports:

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced a legislative hearing for renewal and modification of the existing Lafarge Title V Air Permit application on May 11, 6 p.m. at the Ravena-Coeymans Selkirk High School Auditorium. All New York State contaminant-emitting facilities must have either a Title V Air permit, a state facility permit or a registration certificate. Lafarge’s permit expired in 2006 and it has been running under an extension since then. The company, which manufactures Portland cement and operates a limestone quarry, has extensive plans for modernizing the plant, the kilns and for reducing emissions. Administrative Law Judge Richard A. Sherman will preside over the hearing session and will accept unsworn statements on both the Title V application and the draft permit. Any member of the public potentially affected by the proposed project is invited to attend and provide oral or written comments. DEC originally gave public notice for the project in November 2009 and provided a 30-day comment period, later extended to 68 days, which ended on January 11, 2010. Rick Georgeson, DEC Region 4 spokesman, said the agency scheduled the May 11 hearing based on 44 comments, all in written or e-mail form, received during the public comment period. He also said 32 individuals expressed interest in further hearings. Georgeson said that after the May 11 hearing, “DEC will issue a response to the public comments. Going forward DEC can either issue or deny the Lafarge permit or issue a permit with added conditions.” The final decision can take anywhere from months to years. Read the entire story in The Daily Mail.

From Colin DeVries in Windham Journal:

In an effort to save a key piece of the Mountaintop’s economic puzzle, county and local officials are rallying to keep the Devil’s Tombstone Campground open through 2010. A county resolution was unanimously approved Wednesday requesting that New York State reconsider closing the Devil’s Tombstone Campground in Hunter....The campground, located amidst Route 214’s Stony Clove, has been slated for closure along with six others throughout the state due to a massive $8 billion state budget deficit. “The North-South Lake and Devil’s Tombstone campgrounds bring people here from outside of region and the state,” said Michael McCrary, president of the Town of Hunter Chamber of Commerce. “If they close the campground we can’t put it in any of our promotions.” Officials are now rallying to come up with solutions to keep the campground open... Another alternative posed was the use of national service groups to maintain the campground and keep it operating, particularly the federal Corporation of National and Community Service’s AmeriCorps program. Read the entire story at Windham Journal.

From Watershed Post:

This just in from the DEP: The agency that polices New York City's upstate watershed will open 12,000 acres of city-owned watershed land to recreation. A total of 71,000 DEP-owned acres in the New York City watershed are now open to the public, according to a press release from the agency.

The 71,000 acres includes approximately 30,000 acres of property designated Public Access Areas which were opened in the last three years, where public hiking, fishing, hunting and trapping is allowed without DEP permits. The remaining acres require a DEP permit for access.

From Maury Thompson in the Post-Star:

U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, voted to reject a congressional pay raise for the coming federal fiscal year....Members of Congress receive an automatic annual cost-of-living adjustment, unless Congress votes specifically to reject it, as the House did overwhelmingly this week....Salary for House members would remain at $174,000 annually. Read the entire story in the Post-Star.

Diane Valden in The Columbia Paper attempts to see the point of view of Hillsdale farmers Jim Clapp, 76, his wife Ida, 74, and their son Charles, 49, who were each charged last week with 33 misdemeanor counts of failure to provide proper sustenance to some of their dairy animals by Columbia-Greene Humane Society investigators and Sheriff's deputies. (They pled not guilty Wednesday.) While the Clapps are not talking, Valden did speak to local veterinarian George Beneke who was at the Clapps' Sunny Mead farm when humane society officials visited:

“It's complicated,” he said of the situation. The Clapps “have had it tougher than a lot of other farmers,” said Dr. Beneke, who has over 40 years of experience in the field. “They haven't had any excess money for treatment and vaccinations, and I wished they had wormed them, but there was feed in front of those animals, though there was not money for grain,” he said. “Some of the animals looked very well and others looked very thin, but there are a lot of thin animals in the county right now, if you look closely,” Dr. Beneke said. “They were trying to do the best with the feed stuffs they had--haylage and corn silage--but some of it had spoiled. Though they tried to use only the best of it, it was very difficult.” Before the sale of the milking herd, the three of them were trying to take care of 175 head, which is more than they should have been doing, he said. The family hoped to make it through the winter, waiting for the spring grass so they could pasture the animals. The dead animals died of gangrene, mastitis, giving birth and scours--none of them died of starvation, the vet confirmed. “Their judgment could have been better,” says the vet who remained sympathetic to the difficulties the family faced. Still “it takes some source of income” to pay for an adequate parasite treatment and vaccination program, he said. Ron Perez, humane society president and investigator, agreed the “economic woes” of dairy farmers is a factor in the case, but he said that the Clapps are experienced dairy farmers and should have asked for help from the humane society and the local dairy community. Read the entire story in The Columbia Paper.

Five candidates are vying for two seats for the Hudson City School District, Board of Education: Carrie Haddad, Joshua Hatala, Justin Cukerstein, Peter Merante, and Mary Daly. Unmuffled says:

Daly is the only incumbent in the field. This is her third run for the board. Her first attempt, in 2004, was unsuccessful; she was subsequently elected in 2005. One vacancy is the seat formerly held by Jack Mabb, who resigned from the board following his election as Stockport Town Justice in November 2009. That opening is for a one-year term, and the winner will be seated immediately following the election. The second opening -- Daly's current seat -- is for the standard five-year term, effective July 1. In addition to electing two members of the BoE on May 18, voters will also be asked to approve the district's $41 million spending plan for the 2010-11 school year and approve a $6 million bond referendum to finance a major roof replacement on four of the district's five buildings. Read the entire story at Unmuffled.

Franceseca Olsen in the Register-Star reports that Columbia County Board of Supervisors’ Space Utilization Subcommittee, which is trying to find a location for Department of Social Services within 60 to 90 days, meets today at 4:15 p.m. at 325 Columbia St., Hudson. Olsen reports that at a Columbia Economic Development Corporation meeting this week, BOS Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown, and Supervisor (and county budget/corporate compliance officer) Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, "vocally opposed the CEDC’s plan to use $14,000 to fund a study of the economic impact on moving DSS out of Hudson." The CEDC will pay Camion and Associates from New York City, “for the purpose of conducting a study on the economic impacts derived from the location of ... DSS.” Read the entire story in the Register-Star.

UPDATE: Register-Star's Olsen attended meeting and says, "the Board of Supervisors’ Space Utilization Subcommittee Thursday evening... voted unanimously to, 'limit site selection to only within the city of Hudson without documenting the need for DSS to remain within the city limits.'"

MAY 1 IS DEADLINE FOR WGXC PROGRAM APPLICATIONS

From The Business Review (Albany):

Greene County Bancorp Inc., [parent to The Bank of Greene County], reported a five percent increase in net income for its third fiscal quarter. The Catskill, N.Y.-based company had net income of $1.23 million, or 30 cents a share, for the three months ended March 31. This compares to net income of $1.15 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. For the nine months ended March 31, net income was $3.6 million, or 88 cents a share, up from $3 million, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Read the entire story in The Business Review (Albany).

The Millay Colony for the Arts offers four-day workshop retreats on the Colony's sylvan setting. Each class includes twelve hours of workshop time, all meals, and ample time to work, ruminate and explore our lush surroundings. Private bedrooms and spacious private studios are provided.
June 30 - July 3: Family: Artmaking with Nina Katchadourian
July 30 - August 2: Archives and Ephemera: Poetry with Ronaldo Wilson
Sept 30 - Oct 3: Weather as Muse: Video with Bernadine Mellis
Oct 30 - Nov 2: After Copenhagen: Ecopoetics with Jonathan Skinner

William J. Kemble in The Daily Freeman reports that on Monday Catskill officially moved the July 4 Dutchmen's Landing waterfront site on the Hudson River to downtown Catskill. They will shoot the fireworks from either the Catskill High School track or a platform along the Catskill Creek. Read the entire article in The Daily Freeman.