The New York State Senate continued to pretend to play "senate" instead of actually doing the people's work on Sunday, according to Capitol Confidential. Casey Seiler of the Times-Union's blog believes the two sides are nowhere near reaching any agreement....Kaatskill Condos, a housing project at the former Irving Elementary School in Catskill, is in foreclosure, according to The Daily Freeman. Rhinebeck Savings Bank is seeking to cover more than $2 million in mortgage debt from the project from Estate Capital LLC, formerly Hudson Valley Development Group. The 1907 school building would have been turned into 12 condos....The Columbia Paper largely rehashes the current kerfuffle between Columbia County Board of Supervisors chairman Art Baer (R-Hillsdale) and the city of Hudson, but reports that the county may buy the former Charles Williams School from the city for $400,000. The county may turn the property into temporary emergency housing for the homeless....The Town of Cairo is making more moves move away from open and transparent local government. The Daily Mail reports that comments made during public hearings at Cairo Planning Board meetings would be limited to five minutes. They say they are doing this to shorten the meetings, which have been consistently running past 11 p.m. The Town Board is also considering a proposal that would redact the names of anyone making a complaint in town documents. They may vote on that proposal at their regular meeting July 22.

"A Sound Map of the Hudson River" by Annea Lockwood CD cover image. (Lovely Music)

July 5, 2009: 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
at Catskill Point
1 Main Street, Catskill, NY 12414


Curated/Organized by: WGXC/free103point9

Join WGXC and free103point9 for an evening of listening at Catskill's Historic Catskill Point on the Hudson River. Sound Mapping will feature a live performance from members of the New York Society of Acoustic Ecology (NYSAE), a conversation between artists Alexis Bhagat and Annea Lockwood, and Annea Lockwood's canonical work “A Sound Map of the Hudson River.” Free admission. Audiences are encouraged to bring picnics. This is a family-friendly event, children are welcome.

This event is presented in conjunction with WGXC: Hands-on Radio in Greene and Columbia Counties, a project of free103point9. Special thanks to Patty Austin, Dick Brooks, and Greene County Economic Development, Tourism & Planning for facilitating the use of Catskill Point.

6 p.m.: Moving Water, New York Society of Acoustic Ecology (NYSAE)

Moving Water is a two-part interactive performance. The first part is a tuning of the audience-- NYSAE members will guide participants through "Ear Cleaning" exercises and help to activate their ears for focused listening to the immediate soundscape. In the second part, NYSAE conducts the audience in an improvised sound-making performance, documenting the resulting mixture of gestures and sound in the field of shared space. The audience will be split into groups and instructed to make sounds of varying timbre and texture around the theme of moving water. Through the listening exercises and performance, NYSAE aims to provide the audience with listening tools to take away from the event as well as preparing them for Annea Lockwood's subtle and beautiful work.

Performers from NYSAE: Andrea Callard, Jamie Davis, Jonny Farrow, Todd Shalom and Andrea Williams.

6:40 p.m.: Introduction and interview with Annea Lockwood conducted by Alexis Bhagat.

7 - 9 p.m.: A Sound Map of the Hudson River: Annea Lockwood, recording, mixing; the Hudson River

A Sound Map of the Hudson River is an aural journey from the source of the river, in the high peak area of the Adirondacks, downstream to the Lower Bay and the Atlantic Ocean; Lockwood traces the course of the Hudson through on-site recordings of its flow at 15 separate locations. Annea Lockwood has recorded rivers in many countries to explore the special state of mind and body which the sounds of moving water create when one listens intently to the complex mesh of rhythms and pitches. The listener will find that each stretch of the Hudson has its own sonic texture, formed by the terrain, varying according to the weather, the season and downstream, the human environment whose sounds are intimately woven into the river's sounds.

At Catskill Point (July 5, 2009,) interviews conducted by Lockwood about the Hudson River are simultaneously transmitted and accessed by attendees though portable radios with headphones. Note: a version of this project is available on CD through Lovely Music. See: http://www.lovely.com/titles/cd2081.html.

About the Artists

The New York Society for Acoustic Ecology (NYSAE) is a membership organization that advocates listening and promotes public dialogue about the urban sound environment. NYSAE creates and encourages new ways of encountering sound and provides resources and information on acoustic ecology. Through projects, lectures, performances, exhibitions, festivals, publications and broadcasts, NYSAE addresses historical and contemporary local, national and international sound issues. Please visit: www.nyacousticecology.org.

Alexis Bhagat's work is dedicated to the destruction of authorship and authority through the cultivation of new forms for radically poly-vocal sound, transmission of promiscuous conversation, and obsessive never-ending correspondence. He is the curator of ((audience)), a nomadic festival of surround sound compositions.

Annea Lockwood was born in 1939 in Christchurch, New Zealand where she received her early training as a composer. After completing a B.Mus (hons) she went on to study composition at the Royal College of Music in London, with Peter Racine Fricker (1961-63); at the Darmstadt Ferienkurs fur Neue Musik (1962-63); and with Gottfried Michael Koenig at the Musikhochschule, Cologne, Germany and in Holland (1963-64). Returning to London in 1964, she freelanced as a composer-performer in Britain and other European countries until moving to the USA in 1973. There she continued to freelance and teach, first at CUNY, Hunter College, then, from l982 and at present on the faculty of Vassar College, NY.

During the 1960s she collaborated frequently with sound-poets, choreographers and visual artists, and created a number of works which she herself performed, such as the Glass Concert (1967), later published in Source: Music of the Avant-Garde, and recorded on Tangent Records, then on What Next CDs. In this work a variety of complex sounds were drawn from industrial glass shards and glass tubing, and presented as an audio-visual theater piece. In synchronous homage to Christian Barnard's pioneering heart transplants, Lockwood created the Piano TranspIants (1969-72), in which old, defunct pianos were variously burned, "drowned" in a shallow pond in Amarillo, Texas, and partially buried in an English garden.

During the 1970s and '80s she turned her attention to performance works focused on environmental sounds, life-narratives and performance works using low-tech devices such as her Sound Ball (a foam-covered ball containing 6 small speakers and a radio receiver, originally designed to "put sound into the hands of" dancers). World Rhythms (l975), Conversations with the Ancestors (1979, based on the life stories of four women over 80), A Sound Map of the Hudson River (l982), Delta Run (1982, built around a conversation she recorded with the sculptor Walter Wincha, who was close to death), and the surreal Three Short Stories and an Apotheosis (l985, using the Sound Ball) were widely presented in the US, Europe and in New Zealand.

She turned to writing for acoustic instruments and voices, sometimes incorporating electronics and visual elements, in the 1990s, producing pieces for a variety of ensembles: Thousand Year Dreaming (1991) is scored for four didgeridus and other instruments and incorporates slides of the cave paintings at Lascaux; Ear-Walking Woman (1996), for pianist Lois Svard, invites the pianist to discover a range of sounds available inside the instrument, using rocks, bubble-wrap, bowl gongs and other implements; Duende (1997) a collaboration with baritone Thomas Buckner, carries the singer into a heightened state, similar to a shamanic journey, through the medium of his own voice.

Much of her music has been recorded, on the Lovely, XI, ?What Next?/OO Discs, Rattle Records (NZ), Harmonia Mundi, CRI and Finnadar/Atlantic labels. -http://www.lovely.com/bios/lockwood.html

The Town of Copake is currently $7,200 in the hole, and may face a $160,000 deficit, according to The Columbia Paper. The story lists several reasons for the shortfall in revenue, but this is the most startling: "Fines and forfeiture revenues for the year were expected to come in around $105,000, but halfway through the year only $11,220 has been received, with an $82,000 shortfall expected by the end of the year." Huh?....The Register-Star reports that Republican and Conservative John Porreca will face Democrat Donald Moore to replace Hudson Common Council President John Cody, who is not seeking re-election....The Shamrock House of East Durham may face be auctioned off due to a foreclosure caused by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, Dick May reports in his Seeing Greene blog....Greene County may lose $700,000 in tax revenue they have already budgeted because of the New York State's Senate's continued play-acting, according to The Daily Mail. Instead of doing any actual work on Friday, the Senate worked together for a few minutes Friday to wish one of their own Senators, Owen Johnson, a happy 80th birthday, according to Capitol Confidential.

LIVE TONIGHT:

Angus Martin 9 p.m. at the Black Swan 66 Broadway in Tivoli, 845-757-3777.

Nearly two decades after the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Columbia County Courthouse in Hudson still is not accessible, reports The Register-Star. Judge George Cerisia, the chief administrative judge for the Third Judicial District, threatened county supervisors and officials with the state fixing the building. This comes after a physically disabled reporter recently crawled up the stairs to cover the murder retrial of Warren Powell....Former Athens village trustee Chris Pfister, a Democrat, will challenge Ray Brooks, R-Athens, for his seat on the Greene County Legislature, according to The Daily Mail....Meanwhile in Albany, the State Senate continues to play pretend senate. Capitol Confidential says Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is looking into withholding senators pay until they start acting like senators. CCScoop reports that Columbia County and its municipalities will lose more than $7.5 million in sales tax collections if the State Senate cannot resolve its leadership squabble, though the story does not say when this loss of revenue will begin.....Karen Feldman, a Columbia County lawyer and political activist, is among 60 New Yorkers that sent a letter to the U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney warning her against a “divisive primary fight which forces voters to choose between two tremendously capable, hard-working women,” Capitol Confidential reports. Maloney just announced she will challenge U.S. Senator Kirstin Gillibrand next year....The New York Times reviews New York artist Rachel Harrison's “Consider the Lobster” show at The Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College.

NYC Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is officially challenging Senator Kristin Gillibrand in the 2010 Democratic primary, according to The Daily News. Politicker NY reports that Joe Trippi (in 2004, he was National Campaign Manager for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign) will be her chief strategist and media consultant....Capitol Confidential reports that Gov. David Paterson has called the New York State Senate into extraordinary sessions through the holiday weekend until July 6. The blog also says the Senate held another one of its pretend sessions on Wednesday....Chronogram Magazine's July issue is out, with reviews of exhibits this summer at Art Omi and the “Ahoy: Where Lies Henry Hudson?” at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild....Catskill Republicans endorsed incumbent Councilman Robert Antonelli and former councilman Joseph Leggio to run for positions on the Town Board, and Town Justice Robert Carl according to The Daily Mail....The Salvation Army soup kitchen, on Third Street in Hudson, has been serving 2,000 meals a month recently, according to The Register-Star.

Once again, the New York State Senate failed to do the people's business today, according to Capitol Confidential. The Times-Union's excellent blog also reports that the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department has issued a decision that vacates the statutory stay pending appeal. This means that Governor Paterson can keep ordering extraordinary sessions while the Republicans appeal a judge's ruling that all 62 Senators must meet....The unmuffled blog has reports on the salaries of Hudson High sports coaches, extra-curricular advisors, and other news....Hudson Republicans endorse Geeta Cheedie, a democrat, in the First Ward, Tracy Decker for supervisor in the Second Ward, William Hollenbeck in the Third Ward, Samuel Santiago in the Fourth Ward, Richard Goetz as alderman and Bart Delaney as supervisor, and Mayor Richard Scalera, who is also being endorsed by the Democrats, according to The Register-Star....Coxsackie approved the Small Wind Energy Facility Law Monday, allowing personal wind systems that generate up to 100 kilowatts with a $150 building permit, according to The Daily Mail.

The Prometheus Radio Project is among the organizers of the day to help bring low-power FM to communities throughout the United States. Join people from across the country to tell Congress to open up the airwaves for more community media!

TAKE ACTION - Tell your Congressional Representative to support HR 1147.

1. Look up your Congressional Representative at Congress.org

2. Find out if they have already supported the Local Community Radio Act.
See a list of cosponsors at govtrack.us and search for Bill number HR 1147.

3. Call the Congressional Switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative's office.

If your representative is not a cosponsor tell he/she to support expanding Low Power FM all across the country and cosponsor the bill.

If your representative is a cosponsor ask him/her to reach out to Congressional Leadership to let them know that this is an important priority around the country.

Background:
In 2000, the FCC established Low Power FM radio service and the same year Congress acted to limit LPFM, pending the results of an interference study. This study was released in 2003, after an expenditure of $2.2 million in taxpayer dollars, and proved that LPFM would not provide interference to existing stations. There are currently over 800 LPFM stations operated by schools, churches, civic groups, and other nonprofit organizations across the country. However, it's time, as the authors of this study and the FCC recommended, to expand LPFM to its intended service parameters. The Local Community Radio Act (HR 1147/S592) would expand Low Power FM radio stations and open the airwaves up to potentially tens of thousands of new community radio stations across the country.

New York Senator Kristin Gillibrand will have more than one challenger in the democratic primary next year. Manhattan's Jonathan Tasini and Ithaca oral surgeon Scott Noren have already declared, The Star-Gazette reports. Tasini is a labor activist, and won 16 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton in the 2006 primary. Noren says he's a Democratic version of Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and will focus on health care and campaign finance reform. Nine-term Long Island House member Carolyn Maloney is attacking Gillibrand in a way that makes everyone think she will run, and Suffolk County legislator Jon Cooper has formed an exploratory committee, and may attempt to be the first openly gay U.S. Senator....A WAMC caller today called the New York State Senate a "Confederacy of Dunces" for their continuing efforts to not do the business of the people of New York. Monday, Judge Joseph Teresi ordered all 62 senators must report into the Senate chamber, at the same time, for extraordinary session at 10 a.m. Tuesday, according to Capitol Confidential. Teresi said, some could reach the conclusion that lawmakers placed, “their own interests ahead of all other citizens of this state to the benefit of their own personal and selfish interests, that those same people may also find that conduct as rude, inconsistent and egotistical.”...The Register-Star reports that Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale and Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera have formed the City/County Homeless/Transitional Committee to study the homeless problem in Hudson and Columbia County. Baer has chosen Director of Social Services Paul Mossman, Richard Keaveney, R-Canaan, Columbia Opportunities Executive Director Tina Sharpe, Lynn Kutrki who works on homeless issues for the Department of Social Services, and Fran Reiter, who lives part-time in Columbia County and was deputy mayor for Planning and Community Relations in New York City during the first Guiliani administration. Mayor Scalera, Alderman Wanda Pertilla, D-2nd, Supervisor Rev. Edward Cross, D-Hudson 2nd, Supervisor William Hughes, D-Hudson 4th, and the citizen member, Linda Mussmann, owner of the Time and Space Limited Warehouse, and local community activist, make up the Hudson half....The Greenville Press (no web site) reports that Cairo town officials are naming scapegoats to explain why they didn't get any of the Federal stimulus money to fix their sewers. The story features the sort of finger pointing that seems to prove that Cairo is seen by other government officials as a dysfunctional town, with board members accusing each other of incompetence and meddling. The story also mentions the several lawsuits the town is facing for various actions, as well as a Comptroller's Office audit that shows, "a roughly 90 percent error rate." The sewers in Cairo have been broken for more than eight years, so the blame, it would seem, could be spread among many current and past officials.

The New York State Senate continued to pretend to play Senate on Sunday, instead of doing an actual work for the people of New York, according to Capitol Confidential....WAMC's Alan Chartock interviews many members of Congress inside the station's listening area, but brought in NYC Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney last week on his "Congressional Corner" show. Maloney has been blasting New York Senator Kirstin Gillibrand ahead of an expected primary challenge. Listen to the interview here. Devtob from The Albany Project said of the Maloney chat that, "the [Congressional Corner] interviews are generally slow-pitch softball, but Maloney's was worse that that -- it was as if Chartock and she were on the same team and he was tossing batting practice." Maloney does not attack Gillibrand much -- devtob speculates it is because WAMC covers her former Congressional district, the NY-20, which includes Greene and Columbia counties -- but Chartock talks about the importance of primary elections. Chartock previously supported John Sweeney against Gillibrand in 2006, and (though he now claims he supported Maloney) Caroline Kennedy rather than Gillibrand to fill Senator Hillary Clinton's Senate seat....Mid-Hudson News has an unbylined story about a State Supreme Court ruling dismissing Entergy’s petition to overturn a decision by the State Department of Environmental Conservation that said that Indian Point’s cooling water intake system causes adverse environmental impacts on Hudson River fish. The story quotes an Entergy spokesman, and another pro-Indian Point group, but not Riverkeeper or any Hudson River advocacy groups....The Greene County Local Courier (no web site) reports that Greenville Republicans have nominated Paul Macko for Supervisor, Richard Baer and Kenneth Stern for council, Richard Hempstead for Highway Superintendent, Ronnie Campbell for Town Clerk, Mary Yeomans for Tax Collector, and Richard Schreiber for Justice. Current Town Supervisor Kevin Lewis is running for the Greene County Legislature seat that Ken Dudley is leaving. The paper also reports that Coxsackie hired Jason Shaw as village attorney and Laurel Mann as code enforcement officer.

The New York State Senate played pretend Senate again yesterday, according to Capitol Confidential (the Albany Times-Union's political blog)....Art Baer, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman (R-Hillsdale), told The Columbia Paper that the Greenport School on Route 66, which will be vacant at the end of this school year, may also be a viable option to house the homeless instead of the St. Charles Hotel in Hudson. The county recently proposed moving a transitional housing facility for homeless women and families, and a Department of Social Services satellite station into the 139-year-old hotel....The Rural Intelligence blog is reporting that the Preservation League of New York State is conducting a members-only tour (you can sign up on the spot) of two of their “Seven to Save,” both in Columbia County—the Plumb-Bronson House in Hudson (above) and the Jan Van Hoesen House in Claverack today. The tour departs at 1 p.m. from the Plumb-Bronson House, on the grounds of the Hudson Corrections Facility (enter through gate south of Hudson on Worth Avenue/Route 9). Admission is free for members; non-members may join for a $35. The tour will be followed by a Historic Hudson Lecture at 4 p.m. at Stair Galleries, 549 Warren St. in Hudson, for $10.

New Congressman Scott Murphy (D-NY20) voted for H.R.2454 (the American Clean Energy and Security Act) Friday, which passed the House 219 to 212. It was the first time Murphy's vote mattered, as 44 Democrats voted against the measure that works to slow the pace of global warming. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth also opposed the measure, saying it didn't begin to solve the earth's problems. The bill sets a limit on emissions of heat-trapping gases while allowing emitters to trade pollution permits, or allowances, among themselves....The New York State Senate again failed Thursday to act on any items important to the people of New York. Senate democrats, however, did manage to hold a moment of silence for Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett....Austerlitz adopted zoning regulations, according to ccScoop. Anyone who would like to serve a five-year term on the town's new Zoning Board of Appeals, should send applications to the Town of Austerlitz, P.O. Box 238, Spencertown, NY 12165 by July 9.

Baer says St. Charles off the table, for now
http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2009/06/26/news/news01.txt

HUDSON - Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, said Thursday that the county would no longer consider moving a transitional housing facility for homeless women and families, and a Department of Social Services satellite station into the 139-year-old St. Charles Hotel. Instead, the county will try to move the homeless facility to the former Charles Williams School in Hudson, which Baer, and County Commissioner of Social Services Paul Mossmann, Supervisors The Rev. Edward Cross, D-Hudson 2nd, William Hughes, D-4th, Richard Keaveney, R-Canaan, toured Thursday morning.

Local school graduation levels lower in Greene
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/doc4a42f8f283f80989196276.txt

GREENE COUNTY - The percentage of students finishing high school in the traditional four years rose in exactly half of the region’s 18 districts last year and fell in the other half, according to data released this week by the state Education Department. In Ulster County, the 2004 cohort — students who were freshmen in the fall of that year — had a better four-year graduation rate than the 2003 cohort in six of the nine school districts. But there were declines in three of the four Greene County school districts, and a significant rise only in the Germantown school district in southern Columbia County.

Republicans select Coyne, Suttmeier, Ostrander, Miller and Feeney
http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2009/06/26/news/news3.txt

CAIRO - Cairo Republicans selected Town Supervisor John Coyne, Councilman Raymond Suttmeier and Tax Collector Emily Feeney and Douglas Ostrander Sr. (for town council), and Leland Miller for Town Justice. Councilwoman Alice Tunison and current Justice Thomas Baldwin are not seeking re-election.

Senate squabble jeopardizes Austerlitz land sale
http://www.ccscoop.com/news/09june/25-landsale/landsale.html

AUSTRLITZ - The State Assembly on Tuesday approved the sale of two acres of park land in the Town of Austerlitz to the Austerlitz Fire Company, but the chaotic battle for power between Republicans and Democrats in the State Senate has put the issue on hold. The land would be used to construct a new Austerlitz fire station.

New York State Senate fails to act again
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/16151/senate-democrats-pile-on-paterson/

ALBANY - The New York State Senate continues its failure to do anything, again not passing any legislation Thursday. Gov. Paterson threatened to not pay the Senators. But one Senator bragged that he was getting paid more for not working for the people of New York. "Each day spent in Albany, every Senator is paid an additional stipend of $160.00, which is paid by the people of New York," said Democratic/Republican Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. Instead of passing bills, State Senator Kevin Parker, an indicted Brooklyn Democrat, told reporters Paterson is a "coke snorting, staff-banging governor." Rudy Guiliani may be running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Molinaro to hold public meetings
Assemblyman Marc Molinaro (R,I,C–Red Hook) and staff will host mobile office hours throughout his district this summer. The schedule for Assemblyman Marc Molinaro’s summer 2009 mobile office hours in Columbia County is as follows: Hillsdale Town Hall, July 7, 9-11 a.m., Main Street; Austerlitz Town Hall, July 7, 12-2 p.m., Route 203; Ghent Town Hall, July 9, 9-11 a.m., 2306 State Route 66; Stockport Town Hall, July 9, 12-2 p.m., 2787 Atlantic Avenue; Philmont Village Hall, August 4, 9-11 a.m., 124 Main Street; Greenport Town Hall, August 6, 9-11 a.m., 600 Town Hall Drive.

LIVE TONIGHT:

"Cats the Musical" at Columbia-Greene Community College, Main Building, Dining Room, Fri-Sat, 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Adults $12, Seniors $9, Juniors $8, Under 6, free. For reservations call 731-3340.

The 12534 blog shows off an image of the St. Charles Hotel, from an old postcard. Columbia County officials are trying to turn the 139-year-old hotel into a homeless shelter and Department of Social Services satellite office.

With contentious debate, Taghkanic ZBA signs off on Wilzig proposal
http://www.ccscoop.com/news/09june/24-wilzig/ZBA.html

TAGHKANIC - The Taghkanic Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday voted 3-1 that the controversial sporting course/racetrack proposed by Alan Wilzig is a recreational use permitted by the town zoning code, with Moisha Blechman as lone dissenter. "The majority of the ZBA... finds the recreational sporting course proposal qualifies as a recreational use.... The findings are complete and will be forwarded to the Town Clerk,” said board Chairman James Romaine.

Camadine bid sets up challenge at GOP caucus
http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2009/06/24/news/news3.txt

CAIRO - Former Greene County lawmaker Michael Camadine will challenge incumbent John Coyne for the Republican nomination for Cairo town supervisor at the party's caucus tonight. Camadine lost to Democrat Harry Lennon in the 2006 race for county legislature.

Tivoli Day
http://tivolitype.blogspot.com/2009/06/tivoli-day.html

TIVOLI - Due to a lack of ... ahh ... preparation, Tivoli Day has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 1. Do not despair. It will be worth the wait. As details are dreamed up, we'll keep you posted.

Gillibrand proposes milk price plans for farmers
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/June09/24/milk_price-24Jun09.html

It costs dairy farmers $17.58 to produce a hundredweight of milk yet at the present time, the market is paying only $13.33 and Senator Kristen Gillibrand wants to do something to aid Hudson Valley dairy farmers and those around the rest of the state. Gillibrand is proposing legislation that would double the amount of money farmers get from the MILC program retroactive to the low point of the crisis in March. She will also introduce legislation that would index the MILC rate of $16.94 to inflation. Westtown, NY dairy farmer Brian Ford said Gillibrand’s proposals are a start. “What she’s doing is a band aid, help for now, but we’re running into big company manipulation,” he said. “Two companies have 80 percent of the (milk processing) market share so where do we stand. There are government regulations, but these big companies get around that but we saw that with Wall Street. Who’s watching whom?”

State Senate Mess Deepens
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=813062

ALBANY -- After more than two weeks of deadlock, all 62 members of the state Senate showed up in the chamber Tuesday in response to Gov. David Paterson's call for a special session. At the end of a frenzied day that included dueling sessions in the same chamber, it was unclear if any of the legislation passed by either faction would stand up to legal scrutiny. "I've been a public servant here for over 20 years," Paterson said in a news conference about an hour after both sides stood at ease, "and what I've seen in the last two weeks in the Senate disgusts me. The Senate's inaction is a dereliction of duty. They've clearly forgotten who they serve."

State appraisal rules contributing to housing slump?
http://blog.timesunion.com/business/realtors-association-askes-for-delay-of-appraisal-rules/13916/

That's what the National Association of Realtors thinks. It is asking Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to delay the implementation of new appraisal rules, because it believes the changes are having a detrimental effect on the housing market.

Hudson and Baer continue squabble over DSS, homeless
The city of Hudson continues its battle with Columbia County Board of Supervisors chairman Art Baer. Last night, according to The Register-Star, the Hudson City Common Council voted unanimously to enact a new local law establishing a one year moratorium on the “expansion of existing, and the creation of new, transitional housing and homeless shelters, in excess of four units, within the city.” The vote was meant to trump a recent effort by county officials to convert the historic St. Charles Hotel, on Park Place in Hudson, into a transitional housing facility and Department of Social Services satellite station. The new law now faces a public hearing, and then a likely disapproval from the Columbia County Planning Board, that would then require a super majority vote of the Common Council. And Schoolhouse Rock would then have to turn the whole thing into a song. Members of the Common Council told The Register-Star they would scrap the whole thing if they get a good deal from Baer to use the Charles Williams school, on the corner of Robinson and Second streets, for the homeless shelter. Before he called such negotiations blackmail, but now Baer is chirping about this idea. “(Charles Williams) is a breakthrough, no question about it," Baer said in The Register-Star. "We are not interested in any solution, that in any way, would detract from the viability of the city of Hudson.” The day before, again in The Register-Star, the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce officially opposed the hotel plan. And, also in The Register-Star, Columbia County building and facilities Chairman Roy Brown announced that an “Opinion of Cost” solicitation for a Department of Social Services center is being prepared for both the renovation of the former Ockawamick School building and a new, 40,000-square-foot office building and parking garage at Columbia Street and Fourth Street in Hudson. And Brown met with Kinderhook Town Supervisor Doug McGivney met with Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera about a potential purchase of the One City Center property. Finally, The Register-Star is reporting that Baer is facing something of an insurrection in his home town of Hillsdale, where 85 residents signed a petition to put Baer's bid to buy the former Hillsdale library building for the town up to a vote.

State releases grad data; HCSD four-year rate up
http://educationinhudson.blogspot.com/2009/06/hcsd-grad-rate-up-still-below-statewide.html

Unmuffled reports that the the Hudson City School District's graduation rate was 66 percent, up seven percent, but still lowest in Columbia County. Other rates: Chatham Central School District, 85 percent; Germantown Central School District, 92 percent; Ichabod Crane Central School District, 82 percent; New Lebanon Central School District, 87 percent; Taconic Hills Central School District, 81 percent. The statewide average was 70.9 percent, according to the New York State Education Department.

Copake expects to become shining example
http://www.columbiapaper.com/index.php/the-news/312-by-diane-valden

The Copake Town Board will install solar panels on the Town Hall roof offsetting 1,246,256 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over 25 years. Planting 129 acres of trees would have the same effect.

Live Tonight:

Black History Curriculum Guide Unveiled. "Been Laborin' Here All These Long Years and Fruits of Our Labor" will be introduced in the auditorium of Montgomery C. Smith Middle School at noon.

Comments Sought On County Mitigation Plan for Hazards
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/06/22/news/doc4a3ee06fa3308319822587.txt

CATSKILL — Greene County is seeking comments on a draft hazard mitigation plan that would make the county and its towns and villages eligible for federal aid to lessen the impact of disasters. Warren Hart, the director of the county’s Economic Development and Planning Office, said comments will be incorporated into a final draft before the proposed All-Hazards Mitigation Plan is adopted by participating municipalities. Each municipality will adopt an annex, a portion of the countywide plan that specifically deals with that municipality’s area. The county will adopt the overall plan, he said.

Greene County Names New Historian
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/06/21/news/doc4a3db29369062082871403.txt

CATSKILL — David C. Dorpfeld of Coxsackie has been appointed Greene County historian to replace Raymond Beecher, who died last year. Dorpfeld will be paid a salary rate of $1,800 per year for a term that will expire at the end of 2009. “We’re never going to replace Mr. Beecher, but I think Dave will do a very outstanding job because he’s passionate about history,” said county Legislature Chairman Wayne Speenburgh, R-Coxsackie. Speenburgh said Dorpfeld is retired from a state job and has been a part of the Greene County Historical Society for more than 30 years. He described Dorpfeld is a “very nice man” who volunteers two days a week at the Vedder Memorial Library in Coxsackie.

Senate GOP goes ahead with 3 p.m. session
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/15870/senate-gop-goes-ahead-with-3-pm-session/

ALBANY – According to a press release, the New York State Senate plans to take up 74 bills today at 3 p.m., including a revenue extender affecting Greene County.

Senators look into rising gas prices
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/June09/22/gasprice_sens-22Jun09.html

MID-HUDSON – Prices at the pump have risen by as much as 60 cents per gallon in the last two months and New York’s two U.S. senators want to look into it. On the one hand, it could be the annual summertime spike in prices, but there could be another factor, said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

(WGXC volunteers meet with Prometheus Radio group members in Haines Falls. Left-to-right, Tom Roe, Galen Joseph-Hunter, Echo Roe, Maka Munoz, Kaya Weidman, Dharma Dailey, Sharp, Andalusia Knoll, Jake, Steve Pearce, Quinn Dailey, Dee Dee Halleck, Pete Tridish, Sakura Saunders.)

What's new with WGXC?

WGXC may not have a huge public profile at the moment, but many things are going on behind the scenes so we can launch a new community radio station on 90.7-FM next year. Folks are working on policy manuals, financial plans, and the new WGXC Newsroom blog. We are getting closer to announcing a studio in the city of Hudson, and are working with the Catskill Community Center to put a studio in Greene County. A permanent, multi-page WGXC web site is under construction and will be revealed soon with an events calendar, audio and video archives, and more. Designers have created a logo, a slogan ("hands-on radio"), and will produce a brochure soon. We will learn whether we get the PTFP grant (which pays for 50 percent of new equipment for non-commercial radio stations) in September instead of October. And this past weekend, several folks from the Prometheus Radio Group in Philadelphia spent time in Germantown, Acra, and Haines Falls talking about radio with WGXC volunteers.

WGXC summer events:

Sun. July 5, 6-9 p.m. Annea Lockwood and NYSAE at Catskill Point. Join free103point9 for an evening of listening at Catskill's Historic Catskill Point on the Hudson River. Sound Mapping will feature a live performance from members of the New York Society of Acoustic Ecology (NYSAE), a conversation between artists Alexis Bhagat and Annea Lockwood, and Annea Lockwood's canonical work "A Sound Map of the Hudson River." Free admission. This event is presented in conjunction with WGXC-FM, a project of free103point9. Catskill Point, 1 Main St. at Hudson River, Catskill, NY.

Fri. July 17, 8 p.m.-2 a.m. "RIP: A Remix Manifesto" film/Eclectic Method performance. Screening of remix documentary film "RIP: A Remix Manifesto" and performance from Eclectic Method - London natives Jonny Wilson, Ian Edgar and Geoff Gamlen - who make audio-visual mash-ups featuring television, film, music and video game footage sliced and diced into blistering, post-modern dance- floor performances. Live web stream on WGXC Online Radio. At Jason's Upstairs Bar, 521 Warren St., Hudson, NY. 518-828-UPUP.

Thu. July 23-Sun. July 26 WGXC at Greene County Youth Fair. Presented by the Greene County Agricultural Society, with cows, goats, dogs, chickens, horses, and more. Live performances, workshops, and speakers. WGXC will record performances and interviews, and hopefully create a live online radio stream of the event. WGXC is looking for youth to host the event, interview participants, and run the radio show. A complete schedule of events, performers, speakers, and more will be announced soon. Live from Cairo Town Park.

Sun. Aug. 16 at Rip Van Winkle Wacky Raft Race Sponsored by the Greene County Economic Development, Tourism and Planning to benefit Community Action of Greene County. WGXC is looking for hosts for the event, to interview participants, and run a radio show. Live from Dutchman's Landing in Catskill.

Please let us know if you would like to help organize, set-up, be an on-air personality, clean-up, work with youth, or otherwise volunteer at any of theses events.

Please let us know if you would like to organize any fundraisers for WGXC.

E-mail info@WGXC.org to volunteer or for more information.

Mid-Hudson Cable will air a recording of the community workshop held at Shiloh Baptist Church in Hudson on June 3 about the potential move of the Department of Social Services out of that city. The recording, by Dan Udell, will air at 8 p.m. tonight, and on Monday, June 29 and Monday, July 6 on the cable provider's Ch. 11 public access channel, according to a press release from Linda Mussmann of TSL and the Bottom Line Party. Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera, Supervisor Ed Cross (D-Hudson2), Supervisor Bill Hughes (D-Hudson4), Supervisor Roy Brown (R-Germantown), Supervisor Joe Finn (D-Hudson3), Supervisor Bart Delaney (R-Hudson5), and Columbia County Public Works Commissioner Dave Robinson appear at the workshop. Mussmann also has created a web site about the move, http://dsswatch.blogspot.com, will help organize a protest rally at 6:30 p.m. before the next Board of Supervisors meeting will be Wednesday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m....A public hearing on the revised Ancram Comprehensive Plan will take place tonight at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall, according to ccScoop. This is the second public hearing after 40-50 comments earlier this year....The Kinderhook Democrats choose their slate for this fall's election, according to The Register-Star, with incumbent Natalie Kolb, Town Justice; newcomer Todd DiGrigoli, Town Board; incumbent John Ruchel, Highway Superintendent; newcomer Helen Schneider, Town Board And incumbent Doug McGivney for Town Supervisor.

Art Baer, the chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, sat down with The Register-Star after taking a lot of heat in that paper the last few months without much comment. Baer, R-Hillsdale, generally continued his fight with politicians in Hudson in the 90-minute interview, blaming the criticism on meetings being held in that city, and saying that Hudson officials think only of themselves. Baer has been criticized for proposing the county move the Department of Social Services from Hudson to Ockawamick and close and relocate the Pine Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center from Philmont. Just this week he stirred up another storm by advocating moving homeless people into the 139-year-old St. Charles Hotel in Hudson. "His major frustration has been his inability to communicate with the public," The Register-Star wrote. “We don’t have media, we don’t have coverage,” Baer said to the media.....The Daily Mail reports that Catskill's revised subdivision law will be available for public review next week, with a public hearing soon after....The Austerlitz Town Board adopted a zoning law Thursday, according to The Register-Star. Town Supervisor George P. Jahn also said that the Pine Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Philmont should not be moved to Kinderhook at the town's meeting....The Town of Durham wants to put a cell phone antenna at 44 McAfferty Road, according to The Daily Mail. Some residents, who probably put cell phones next to their brains occasionally, say the 90-foot-high tower will give them cancer. The town kept the public hearing open until June 30.

Time to end name game
The Greenville Press, no web site, no links

RENSSELAERVILLE - Linda Fenoff reports in The Greenville Press that 40 members of the Chase family hold elected, appointed, or paid positions in Rensselaerville. The town's Budget Committee wants a job description for all appointed town positions. A nepotism law failed there last year, but the code of ethics was updated. The budget committee has also recommended that the Town Board use a zero-base budget, starting each budget proposal from zero rather than basing each year's budget on the past year.

Greene Rooms
http://seeinggreene.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html

GREENE COUNTY - Dick May's Seeing Greene blog digs deeper into one of his favorite subjects, the Friar Tuck Resort on Route 32. Friar Tuck recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and, according to May, owes, "Ulster Savings Bank ($3.1 million), tax authorities ($400,000), a fuel supplier ($266,000), and food providers." May uses the story to troll Trip Advisor for consumer reviews of local resorts. He finds that Friar Tuck, Catskill's Quality Inn, and Hunter's Kaatskill Mountain Club get bad reviews, while Freehold's Sunny Hill; Acra's Lange’s Grove Side and Acra Manor; Windham's Catskill Lodge, Catskill Maison, Hotel Vienna, and Thompson House; Hunter's Hunter Inn and Scribner Hollow Lodge all get glowing notices.

Central Hudson Raising Rates
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/06/19/news/doc4a3b0de85bb6a375184110.txt

POUGHKEEPSIE — Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. won permission from the state Public Service Commission on Thursday to raise the rate it charges for electricity delivery by 8.5 percent and the rate it charges for natural gas delivery by 23.5 percent. The rate hikes, which take effect July 1, were approved in a unanimous vote by commissioners, who agreed with the recommendations of state Administrative Law Judges David Prestemon and Jeffrey Stockholm that Central Hudson be allowed to raise its revenue projections by $38 million for electricity delivery and $13.6 million for natural gas delivery.

Unemployment Down In Greene County
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/06/19/news/doc4a3b0c0387195406564277.txt

ALBANY — New York’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 8.2 percent in May, up from 7.7 percent in April, the state Labor Department announced on Thursday. The may rate is the state’s highest since February 1993. Locally, the unemployment rates rose from April to May in Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, Orange and Sullivan counties. Joblessness decreased slightly in Greene and Delaware counties. In New York City, the May unemployment rate was 8.7 percent, an increase from 7.8 in April 2009 and a significant jump from 4.8 percent in May 2008. The highest rate outside New York City — 9.7 percent — was in Steuben County. The lowest unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in Tompkins County.

LIVE TONIGHT:

First Gay Pride Festival in Greene County, all day, Catskill with Chrissy Budzinski, Anthony Michael, Nedra Johnson, Cantinero, The Young Brothers, Amy Serrago, and others.

Downtown Ensemble with Brian Dewan, accordian, Bill Hellerman, voice, Yvette Perez, vocals/keyboard, and Peter Zummo, trombone, 8 p.m. at Hudson Opera House. $15.

Register-Star reporter Jamie Larson claims Columbia County Board of Supervisor Chairman Art Baer, "asked the Register-Star to get [Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera] to sit down with him today to reopen the discussion about [using the] Charles Williams [School] or other sites as possibilities." The story begins with the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce holding an emergency economic forum Thursday at Hudson’s Stageworks Theater. Larson gets Baer on the phone to comment on all the outrage from the Hudson business community about his plan to move the homeless into the city's St. Charles Hotel. "Baer said St. Charles wouldn’t be on the table if Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera hadn’t 'stiff-armed' talks two years ago to use the old Charles Williams School as a homeless shelter," the story says. Scalera, reached by the reporter, agrees to meet Baer anytime. Scalera says talks to use the Charles Williams School for the homeless broke down when Baer began pushing for the Department of Social Services to move out of Hudson to the Ockawamick school in Claverack. Baer then calls this typical political dealing "blackmail," clearly raising an even bigger fight instead of trying to solve an issue. Linda Mussmann from TSL and the Bottom Line Party says Baer's actions are, "the dismantling of Hudson as the county seat.”... Baer also visited Washington D.C., according to the Register-Star, to lobby New York representatives for federal stimulus funding for $4 million in improvements to the museum and visitor center at the Olana State Historic Site; $3 million for an emergency communications system; $9 million for the Greenport water and sewer system; $200,000 to study a countywide broadband initiative; and $1 million to extend wastewater and sewer systems to Hudson Park on Route 23 in Livingston.... U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy put in a $15 million federal funding request on behalf of the Greene County Industrial Development Agency for “transportation infrastructure improvements to State Route 9W” and an “expansion of Exit 21B/New York State Thruway, a flyover Bridge connecting 9W, and an internal public road system connecting the flyover bridge and Kalkberg Commerce Park,” according to the Daily Mail.... The Kinderhook Republicans endorsed Patrick Grattan as town supervisor, Patsy Leader and Glenn Smith for seats on the Town Board, and Lisa Mills for town justice and cross-endorsed Democrat incumbent Highway Superintendent John Ruchel Jr. for a second term in office, according to the Register-Star....While the New York State Senate Republicans and Democrats can't agree on anything else to start working, they can agree to keep taking your money. From the Albany Times-Union's Capitol Confidential blog, Marissa Shorenstein, spokeswoman to Gov. David Paterson is quoted:

“The Governor’s office earlier today looked into the question of whether or not members of the Senate are eligible to receive their salaries with no presiding officer agreed upon to authorize payment. It turns out that both conferences have come together and signed appropriate documentation to continue receiving their salaries. So there is a power sharing agreement — but it only includes getting paid. If the leadership of the Senate can agree on a way to keep getting paid, they can reach an agreement to get back to work for the people of New York.”

LIVE TONIGHT:

Multimedia work by Fawn Potash and Pat Horner at Oriole 9, 17 Tinker Street, Woodstock, 5-7 p.m.