Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that state Sen. Michelle Hinchey is urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to arrange a settlement that would require General Electric to fund and conduct a complete cleanup of the toxic chemicals the company dumped into the Hudson River over the course of 30 years. In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a certificate of completion for the cleanup project, despite the state's argument that the dredging did not sufficiently remediate the river. A recent settlement between the EPA and GE requires the corporation to study PCB pollution in the lower portion of the Hudson Superfund Site, but it does not require comprehensive remediation of the river, which Hinchey is demanding. Hinchey's position has the backing of environmental groups, including the non-profit Scenic Hudson. On October 26, she sent a letter to the governor, signed, and supported by 30 other state senators, urging Hochul to convene Hudson River Trustee agencies, the EPA, and GE to negotiate a deal that would result in the removal of remaining contaminants and the full restoration of the Hudson River. “GE spent decades dumping poisonous chemicals into our majestic Hudson River and then forced our Hudson Valley communities to pick up the pieces. ...We cannot let GE skirt its responsibility to get the job done," Hinchey said. From 1947 to 1977, two GE capacitor manufacturing plants in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, dumped an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs, a carcinogenic compound manufactured by Monsanto, into the Hudson River. Those toxins have had significant adverse impacts on the public, environmental and economic health, including increased cancer rates, reproductive issues, the contamination of clean drinking water and local fish species. Due to the pollution and public health impacts, the state of New York banned fishing in the Upper Hudson River and in 1984, the 200-mile stretch was declared a Superfund Site. Read the full story at pocupinesoup [dot] com.

Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that two adult hikers were injured while hiking in Greene County and then rescued by New York State Forest Rangers in the past 10 days. Rangers Katherine Fox and John Franceschina responded on October 19, to the Warner Creek Trail after getting a call that a hiker had injured his leg, Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Jeff Wernick said. The unidentified hiker was a 62-year-old man from Pennsylvania. Around 7 p.m., Franceschina arrived and walked up the trail to find the man in significant pain and unable to bend his leg. He gave the man ibuprofen and electrolytes and helped him back to the trailhead. Fox arrived and helped the hiker until Greene County paramedics arrived. They determined the hiker had overexerted himself and was dehydrated. The Warner Creek Trail runs for 20.7 miles in Lanesville. The second rescue occurred at Kaaterskill Falls on October 22. Rangers Robert Dawson and David Pachan were working at the Laurel House parking lot when a call came in for a subject who slipped and fell near the middle area of Kaaterskill Falls, Wernick said. The unidentified hiker was a 63-year-old woman from Brooklyn. When Dawson arrived he checked the viewing platform, but was unable to find her. Just as Dawson was hiking down to the lower falls, Greene County 911 alerted the rangers that the woman was near the top of the falls, Wernick said. The woman was soon found, calm but weak, and she was attempting to slowly walk back to the trailhead with the help of her friends. Greene County paramedics arrived a short time later and after a brief rest, the woman decided to find medical help on her own. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Paul Kirby reports in the Daily Freeman that the project underway to transform the former Benedictine Hospital campus in Kingston into a state-of-the-art medical facility is nearly finished. “The facility is nearing completion, and we are expecting to open later this year,” Chris Singleton, a spokesman for Westchester Medical Center Health Network, said in a statement. The network is the parent company of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley. Singleton said that once the hospital opens, complete with a new emergency room, the ER at the Broadway hospital campus will close. HealthAlliance Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer Michael Doyle had said in May construction on the $92.9 million upgrade, which includes a new emergency room, should be completed by fall. HealthAlliance Hospital will have a two-story, 79,000-square-foot structure comprising 175 new patient beds, mostly in private rooms; a new 25,000-square-foot emergency department, which will include cardiac observation and behavioral health services; and a 10-bed intensive care unit, along with a six-bed medical “stepdown” unit that will provide an intermediate level of care between the ICU and the new building’s medical-surgical wards. According to HealthAlliance, there will be a new birthing center with “ultramodern labor, delivery and postpartum rooms;” a new imaging department; and remodeled centers for ambulatory surgery, infusion therapy and endoscopy. In Hudson, Columbia Memorial recently stopped birthing services. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Babehoven is a Hudson-based band fronted by songwriter Maya Bon with collaborator Ryan Albert.

"Near Earth" by Rodney Alan Greenblat.
"'Near Earth' means getting closer to the planet as it is. The planet is turning in a big space with stars, suns, moons and other planets. Zooming in and listening carefully there is some odd colorful music playing from a tiny speaker. Crossed wires and static, melodies and faint rhythm in a wobbly toy spaceship that is hovering and getting closer. Released October 23, 2022, 'Near Earth' was composed and recorded in Catskill NY 2021 - 2022 by Rodney Alan Greenblat."

Catskill's Jay Woodruff, on vocals and guitars with Cole McCormick on bass, and Kenny Rowe on drums and percussion, with a 2022 rock release.

Here is this week's WGXC Congressional Report, tracking the votes, statements, positions, and campaigns of the representatives and candidates for the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st Congressional seats in New York. Current Democrat Rep. Paul Tonko, from the 20th District, votes with the positions of President Joe Biden 100 percent of the time, according to the fivethirtyeight.com website. Republican Elise Stefanik, currently representing the 21st District, votes with Biden's positions 19.3 percent of the time. Democrat Pat Ryan just began representing the 19th District, and has yet to be included in the rankings. Click here to listen to this report.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman that Rep. Pat Ryan is figuring out what tools and leverage he can marshall at the federal level to get Central Hudson to fix its billing practices. Ryan called Central Hudson’s handling of billing procedures “borderline criminal.” Central Hudson has been sending customers bills that are very high, and also not sending some customers any bills, and then sending them several with a quick deadline for payment while, according to Ryan, making “record-breaking revenues and profits.” Ryan said, “This is a public utility.... They need to be answerable to us.... I’m going to continue to escalate with every tool I have. I did it as county executive and I’m going to escalate ever further now as your member of Congress to put and keep the pressure on.” Ryan, currently the 19th Congressional District representative, is running for the 18th Congressional District seat this fall, after redistricting jumbled the local maps. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

The Times Union reports how national political action committees are running misleading local attack advertisements in the 19th Congressional District election. The National Republican Campaign Committee, for instance, is running an attack ad against Josh Riley, the Democrat running to replace Pat Ryan as local Congressperson. The ad quotes Riley saying "help not handcuffs," claiming that he is saying that is what violent criminals deserve. But in the original clip of Riley used in the ad, he is actually talking about people undergoing mental health issues, and the phrase "help, not handcuffs" Riley uses is a quote from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Riley's campaign website says he is for additional funding for law enforcement, and that the candidate "is adamantly opposed to proposals to 'defund the police.'” The Times Union also looked at an attack ad against Riley's opponent, Republican Marc Molinaro. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been running an ad locally attacking Molinaro's opposition to abortion, saying "Marc Molinaro supports taking away a woman’s right to choose, turning it over to politicians." Molinaro's campaign attorney wrote a letter to television stations and cable providers demanding they stop running the ad, saying it "falsely represents Marc Molinaro's position regarding abortion." Molinaro has not said he wants abortion to be illegal, but does support a ban after 17 weeks of pregnancy. He has not weighed in on Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's national proposal to ban abortion after 15 weeks. Voting in this year's Congressional election begins Oct. 29 and ends Nov. 8. Read both stories in the Times Union.

Kenneth C. Crowe II reports in the Times Union that Republican Congressperson Elise Stefanik stood next to Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin, who faces felony charges for the alleged misuse of campaign funds, on Oct. 24 and called the charges against McLaughlin "a political witch hunt. The FBI is absolutely politicized and weaponized." But the charges against McLaughlin were filed by state prosecutors, not the FBI. McLaughlin was indicted in 2021 by a grand jury for grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing for allegedly stealing $5,000 from his campaign account in November 2017. The scheme allegedly had McLaughlin taking campaign funds through a consulting firm to pay back a loan to a former legislative staff member just weeks after he won his first term as county executive. But the FBI did not bring those charges. Nevertheless, she persisted. "We see at all levels, the FBI have been weaponized to go after Republicans," Stefanik said, even though the FBI is not involved in McLaughlin's case. But "federal investigators are, however, looking into allegations of ballot fraud in Rensselaer County," the Times Union reports. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

The Times Union reports about the lone debate between Republican Liz Joy and Democrat Paul Tonko held Oct. 27 for the 20th Congressional District election. Tonko, an incumbent cast himself as a defender of democracy, while Joy actually attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, that led to an attempt to violently overthrow American democracy. Joy also opposes basic public health, saying all of society should be put at risk so that vaccine skeptics can avoid getting a safe injection to protect themselves and others. Tonko, by contrast, said that people should be vaccinated for COVID-19, measles, polio and other dangerous diseases. Joy also claimed she would vote against a federal ban on abortion, but Tonko accused Joy of supporting bans on abortion with no exceptions, and said he supports abortion rights. The new 20th Congressional District covers Albany County, Schenectady, Troy, and Saratoga Springs, with voting this year from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Today's daily news update.

The Times Union reports about the lone debate between Republican Liz Joy and Democrat Paul Tonko held Oct. 27 for the 20th Congressional District election. Tonko, an incumbent cast himself as a defender of democracy, while Joy actually attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, that led to an attempt to violently overthrow American democracy. Joy also opposes basic public health, saying all of society should be put at risk so that vaccine skeptics can avoid getting a safe injection to protect themselves and others. Tonko, by contrast, said that people should be vaccinated for COVID-19, measles, polio and other dangerous diseases. Joy also claimed she would vote against a federal ban on abortion, but Tonko accused Joy of supporting bans on abortion with no exceptions, and said he supports abortion rights. The new 20th Congressional District covers Albany County, Schenectady, Troy, and Saratoga Springs, with voting this year from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Victor Feldman reports for the Red Hook Daily Catch the differences between Republican Sue Serino and Democrat Michelle Hinchey, who are competing for New York’s 41st Senate District seat. Both are current state senators, with Serino representing the old 41st District, and Hinchey in the former 46th District. Redistricting has moved Hinchey into the new 41st District that includes all of Greene and Columbia counties, and parts of Dutchess and Ulster counties. The two candidates participated in one debate hosted by The Daily Freeman, and one candidate forum with the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce. Serino ignored requests from The Daily Catch to participate in another debate and the League of Women Voters also canceled a planned debate after Serino declined their invitation. Hinchey is a former marketing executive from Saugerties, and Serino is a Hyde Park-based realtor. They agree on virtually nothing. Hinchey supports abortion rights, and Serino is against the medical procedure. They both bashed Central Hudson's electricity billing, though Hinchey pointed out that Serino gets campaign contributions from Central Hudson and voted in May against a bill to establish a utility consumer advocate. Both candidates decried the lack of affordable housing in the area but offered different solutions. Serino wants less oversight on developers. “It’s because of Albany’s bad policies that we are having a struggle with having affordable housing,” she said. Hinchey wants the government to encourage more affordable and workforce housing projects. Read more about this story in the Red Hook Daily Catch.

The Daily Freeman reports that voting this year goes from Oct. 29 through Nov. 8. On Oct. 29 through Nov. 6 ballots will be cast at a limited number of locations, and then is at local precincts on Nov. 8. Early voting will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, Sunday, Oct. 30, Monday, Oct. 31, Wednesday, Nov. 2, Friday, Nov. 4, Saturday, Nov. 5, and Sunday, Nov. 6. It will be available from noon to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, and Thursday, Nov. 3. In Greene County, voting Oct. 29 through Nov. 6 will be at one location, the 4th floor of the Greene County Office Building on Main St. in Catskill. In Columbia County there are two locations for voting: 401 State Street in Hudson and the Martin H. Glynn Municipal Building at 3211 Church Street in Valatie. In Ulster County, voters may cast their ballots at the Midtown Neighborhood Center, 467 Broadway, Kingston; at the Ellenville Public Library, 40 Center St., Ellenville; the Marlborough Town Hall, 21 Milton Turnpike, Milton; the New Paltz Community Center, 3 Veterans Drive, New Paltz; the Saugerties Senior Center, 207 Market St., Saugerties; and the American Legion, 26-28 Mountain Road, Shokan. In Dutchess County, voting through Nov. 6 is at the Mid-Hudson Library Auditorium, 105 Market Street, in Poughkeepsie; East Fishkill Community Library, 348 Route 376, in Hopewell Jct.; the Cornell Cooperative Center, 2715 US-44, in Millbrook; the Boardman Road Library, 141 Boardman Road, in Poughkeepsie; the Fishkill Town Hall, 807 Route 52; the Rhinebeck Town Hall, at 80 East Market Street; and the Wappinger Town Hall, at 20 Middlebush Road. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's daily news update.

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Paul Nelson is reporting for the Times Union University at Albany police are working to identify a man they say posted stickers with hateful messages on campus and subsequently called a local broadcaster to pose as an innocent student who discovered the items. Investigators say the man was responsible for placing anti-Semitic and racist stickers on the UAlbany campus this week. University at Albany Police Chief Paul Burlingame said October 27, the man in question is known to law enforcement. He took photos of the stickers and then called at least one local television station pretending to be the person who found the material. “He posed as a student to one of the other media outlets saying he found the stickers on campus, but actually he posted the stickers on campus,”  Burlingame said. “We don’t believe any student was involved in the incident as a complainant or as a suspect.” The chief said the sequence of events is consistent with how the group has operated in the past. The Times Union has chosen not to identify the organization. The department launched an investigation into the matter after the story broke earlier this week, the chief said. “It’s an individual who is known to law enforcement across the state, and this group has posted these same stickers on several other campuses in New York state. We really are trying not to help promote this group or their message.” The offensive stickers were posted outside of one of the residence halls and were quickly removed after being discovered. A university spokesman said less than a dozen stickers were found in two locations on campus. Read the full story in the Times Union.

The Daily Freeman reports that the city of Kingston has launched its Community Choice Aggregation Program. The program will make it possible for the city to supply residents and small businesses with accessible and affordable green energy by pooling demand, according to a press release. The program allows Kingston to purchase clean energy supply at bulk rates on behalf of its residents and small businesses while maintaining delivery service from Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp., according to the October 26 press release from Mayor Steve Noble’s office. Community solar will be included in the community choice aggregation making it possible for Kingston Community Energy to provide all residents, regardless of income level, with the benefits of locally generated clean energy. The city has chosen Mid-Hudson Energy Transition as the program administrator; PowerMarket, described as a market leader in community energy programs, will serve as Mid-Hudson Energy Transition’s implementation partner. It will take a year for the program to be established, starting with coordination and approvals through the state Public Service Commission, as well as community education and public outreach, renewable energy supply contracting, and monitoring and oversight, the release said. The city will host two public information meetings to provide an overview of the program online at noon and again at 6 p.m. on Dec. 7. Information is available at the city of Kingston website. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Mid-Hudson News reports that the September 2022 unemployment rate for the Hudson Valley Region was 2.8 percent, down from 3.5 percent in August, and down from 3.9 percent in September 2021, according to data reported by the State Labor Department. All counties in the Hudson Valley, with the exception of Greene and Delaware, recorded a jobless rate under 3 percent last month. The Columbia County rate decreased to 2.4 percent from 3 percent in August, while the September jobless rate in Greene County was 3.1 percent, down from 3.8 percent in August. The unemployment rates in Dutchess and Ulster counties in September were identical at 2.8 percent Read the full story at Mid-HudsonNews [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Raga Justin reports in the Times Union that Democrat Letitia James and Republican Michael Henry are running for attorney general this fall, with voting beginning Oct. 29 and ending Nov. 8. Henry is a New York City-based attorney, and James is the incumbent. James was the first woman and first Black person to be elected attorney general in New York. She briefly announced a run for governor this year, but then went back to running for re-election. James has been praised and criticized for high-profile cases involving former President Donald Trump and former governor Andrew Cuomo. Henry is running by saying there is a rising crime rate in New York, more government corruption, and a struggling economy. But an Oct. 18 poll from Siena College found had 91 percent of those surveyed did not know who Henry is. Shawn Donahue, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Buffalo, said, "(Henry) hasn’t really raised much money. If he has a potential path to either coming in close or winning, he would need to ride the coattails of Lee Zeldin." Zeldin is the Republican candidate for governor, running against incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul. "I'm someone that believes in being tough on crime, but at the same time being smart on crime," Henry said. "As a fiscal conservative, you want to have as many people out of the system as possible." Read more about this election in the Times Union.

Mid-Hudson News reports that New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision will try to fill some of its job openings by hiring retired corrections officers on a part-time basis. State law allows retired officers to be rehired, as long as they are off the job for at least six months but now more than four years. Part-timers hired will get an hourly rate of $34.81, and have a choice of correctional facilities for employment with flexible shifts, and 40 hours of in-service training per year. Read the full story at Mid-Hudson News.

This week's New York foliage report show most local leaves at peak or past-peak colors. "Albany County reports from the Cohoes Falls predict past-peak foliage this weekend, with 90-95% leaf change, and orange and gold leaves of average brilliance, as well as significant leaf droppage," the report says. "Spotters at John Boyd Thacher State Park in Voorheesville also expect past-peak foliage with an abundance of mostly brilliant yellow and orange leaves, along with some brown leaves.... In the Catskills, Greene County foliage will be just-past-peak in the Town of Catskill with nearly complete leaf change and yellow and orange leaves of average brilliance, along with touches of red. Foliage at Belleayre Mountain Ski Area in Highmount will also be past-peak, with complete leaf change and bright orange and yellow leaves..... In the Hudson Valley, Dutchess County spotters reporting from Beacon predict that foliage will be at peak this weekend, with 70% leaf change and many bright shades of yellow, orange, and red, along with some purple. Spotters in Hopewell Junction are predicting peak foliage with 75-80% leaf change and bright red, yellow, and orange leaves, along with some remaining green leaves. Foliage in Poughkeepsie will be less changed, with up to 50% color transition and emerging red leaves of average brilliance." See New York's foliage report for complete details.

Today's daily news update.

Click above to download or play the "Better Weather." Produced by Joe Demanso of the Catskill Makers Syndicate.