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

Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman a map creating new legislative districts in Ulster County violates a state law that specifies how much each of the county’s 23 legislative districts can vary in population. However, the independent Ulster County Reapportionment Commission that created the new map will not fix their mistake, Chairman Regis Obijiski said. Even if the commission took action, Republican Elections Commissioner John Quigley said he is unsure if the board can legally accept a new map. The independent commission created the new map over the course of 29 meetings held between January 2021, and July 2022, and submitted a final plan to the Ulster County Board of Elections in mid-July. Obijiski said County Attorney Clinton Johnson recently told the commission the map was illegal because it did not conform with the size parameters required under a 2021 law requiring that district populations vary by only 5 percent overall. According to a memo to legislative leaders from Johnson, the difference between the most populous district in the city of Kingston and the least populous district in the eastern part of Lloyd is more than the 5 percent difference required by the law. Obijiski this week admitted commission members discussed the issue in a series of emails — not in an open meeting as required under the law — and the majority of the seven-member board decided it would not be willing to reconvene to redo the map. Legislature Chairman Tracey Bartels called the commission’s refusal to reconvene “a serious shirking of their duties,” and said, “the idea that the default is waiting to be sued and to force the county to spend money on a lawsuit that it can’t defend, I don’t understand.” Minority Leader Ken Ronk said, “The commission could reconvene, it doesn’t seem like they’re going to,. The independent redistricting commission is just that, independent. If they want to reconvene that’s up to them. I can’t make them.” County Democrats have suggested they would file a lawsuit to force the creation of a new map. However, nothing has been filed to date, Johnson said. The deadline to file is November 13. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media that the town of Coeymans' tentative 2023 budget has been released and it calls for a 3.17 percent increase in town taxes. The tentative spending plan is under review and will go through several iterations before the final budget is voted on by the town board in November. The 2023 tentative budget totals $2.92 million, an increase in spending of just under $85,000 over the current year. If approved as is, the tax rate would increase $0.09 for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value, which is under the state-mandated tax cap, according to Town Supervisor George McHugh. So, a property assessed at $150,000 would see a tax increase of $13.50 in 2023. The tentative budget does not provide salary increases for the town supervisor and town council members. Each of the two town justices would have their salaries increased to $25,000 annually; the town clerk’s salary would rise to $52,000; and the highway superintendent would see a pay hike to $61,500. McHugh called the tentative budget prudent and fiscally conservative. “This budget as proposed is balanced, protects taxpayers and provides for vital services to our residents such as public safety, emergency management services, quality of life initiatives, park improvements and contingency planning, all while maintaining flexibility in case of any unforeseen circumstances,” he said. The preliminary budget is projected for approval in late October. Following a public hearing, the town board would be on track to adopt the new spending plan in mid-November. Read the full story at TheUpStater [dot] com.

Joshua Solomon is reporting for a Times Union New York's recently enacted law setting requirements for concealed carry of firearms will remain in effect in its entirety after a federal judge issued an "interim administrative stay" on a lower court's order that would have scaled back several of the legislation's key elements. The stay means the law will remain in effect until a three-judge appellate panel can consider the arguments on both sides. State Attorney General Letitia James' office this week appealed the initial restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby. The law has been championed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other Democrats as a necessary public safety measure and an effective response to the U.S. Supreme Court's summer ruling invalidating the state's previous concealed carry requirements. Suddaby's temporary restraining order would have temporarily halted the requirements that permit applicants must disclose their social media accounts for the previous three years as well as the identities of relatives including spouses who can serve as "character references." They also would not have to sit for in-person interviews with local officials in order to demonstrate their "good moral character." The legal action against the new law was brought by Schenectady County resident Ivan Antonyuk and members of the Second Amendment advocacy group Gun Owners of America. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Today's daily news update.

Tyler A. McNeil reports in The Daily Gazette that Rep. Paul Tonko has declined to participate in another debate this election cycle. Tonko will not agree to a debate hosted by The Daily Gazette Oct. 19 in Schenectady. Liz Joy, Tonko's Republican opponent, has said she would participate in this event, and at least two other debates. But Tonko has only agreed to one, with public television station WMHT on Oct. 27. “Congressman Tonko looks forward to the debate he has already accepted on Oct. 27 to further demonstrate to voters his record on growing the Capital Region economy, fighting for reproductive rights and repairing democracy after his opponent organized a bus trip to the Jan. 6 insurrection,” said Tonko campaign spokesperson Sean Magers. Joy, meanwhile, criticized Tonko for ducking so many debates. “It’s disgraceful that a career politician since 1976, Paul Tonko, refuses to accommodate the request of The Daily Gazette,” Joy said. In 2020, when also running against Joy, Tonko would only agree to one debate. The 20th Congressional District election begins Oct. 29 and now includes Rensselaer County. Read the full story in The Daily Gazette.

Phillip Pantuso reports in the Times Union that the Republican commissioner for the Ulster County Board of Elections sent an email to thousands of Ulster County voters last week saying that their absentee ballot is on the way and that they should vote for his father. James Quigley is running for Ulster County Executive, and his son John is one of the Republican commissioner for the Ulster County Board of Elections. The son sent the email to 18,000 voters. That included 3,000 voters who the campaign found out legally are voting with absentee ballots. But the Quigley's clearly mixed up their email accounts and contact lists, and also sent the email to people who had subscribed to emails from Republican James Quigley’s campaign. Someone on the campaign staff, “uploaded the wrong file into the mailing program we’re using to communicate with voters,” Quigley told the Times Union on Oct. 11. “The email was inadvertently sent to the database for all the registered voters.” Sending the email from the account of a Republican commissioner for the Ulster County Board of Elections made the mistake worse. “People thought it was the commissioner telling them their ballot was on the way,” said Ashley Dittus, the Democratic commissioner for the county Board of Elections. “What was disappointing to me is that it came from a campaign email, not a board of elections email.” About 15 minutes after sending the first email, the campaign sent a correction email. But that second email went to some spam folders, several recipients said, perhaps filtered because it was the second email in quick succession from a political campaign. “Factually, there is no inaccurate information in that email,” James Quigley said. “The only problem is the wrong people got it.” And there will not, apparently, be any consequences for the mistake. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Mike Gwizdala reports for the Troy Record about the candidate forum the Rensselaer County League of Women Voters held with Republican Jake Ashby and Democrat Andrea Smyth Oct. 5 for the New York State Senate District 43 seat that covers parts of Rensselaer, Albany, and Washington counties. “I will definitely make sure that women’s rights and equal pay are a top priority for me,” Smyth, the Democrat, said. "In addition, I will make sure a fair share of state funding goes to upstate New York and that we are a priority once again in making sure that opportunity and economic opportunity are in every community in upstate New York.... Lastly, I will continue the hard work and accomplishments that I have achieved on behalf of women and children, in all types of housing, economic development, workforce development, health insurance and childcare arena." The Republican, Ashby, named different priorities. “The top three legislative goals that I would have is supporting legislation, getting it across the finish line, that’s going to reduce crime, which we are currently seeing a rapid uptick in and have over the last few years,” Ashby said. “Reduce the cost of living and the economic burden that we are seeing in New York state as well and to work together. I think division is among the things that ranks right up there with these other issues, that we need to demonstrate as leaders that we’re willing to work together to make these accomplishments, to bring our state back into the right direction.” Ashby is currently an Assemblyperson in the 107th District, and he crowed about one bill he helped pass. “One of the goals that I have is legislation that we were able to pass in the New York State Assembly unanimously, which was the Staff Sergeant Alex Jimenez legacy bill,” Ashby said. “I worked with my colleague Catalina Cruz, out of Queens. I met with the family of Staff Sergeant Jimenez and what this bill would do it would provide state resources to families who are serving in the military who have family members here who are undocumented. New York would be the first state in the country to provide such resources. It’s based off a federal program called parole in place.” Smyth names the lack of affordable housing as an issue impacting many. “So, I really believe that especially in the way that housing is being discussed, it’s a very New York-centric discussion. I will seek upstate bipartisan support to make sure that affordable housing is going to address the affordable housing issues of upstate,” Smyth said. “This could include, for example, reducing incentives for developers to clear-cut land, which is not environmentally friendly, and instead giving first-time homebuyers the opportunity to stop renovating older homes, stop using fossil fuels, and get a tax break that would’ve gone to top developers and have it go to the young homeowners so that they can not only contribute to environmentally sound homeowning but they can make sure it’s more affordable by having some tax breaks that would allow them not to have to pay for the improvements that would be required." The WGXC Newsroom has a link to the full debate. Read the full story in the Troy Record.

Today's daily news update.

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

Kathleen Moore is reporting for the Times Union 16 Capital Region school districts, including two in Greene County and five in Columbia County, are adding an anonymous reporting system to help students report when other students may be in danger of hurting themselves or others. The StopIt system is highly recommended by Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit that developed various school safety measures after the 2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. StopIt’s anonymous reporting system includes an app, a website and a telephone hotline. Users can submit screenshots, photos, audio and videos, as well as text. StopIt runs a 24-hour response center with specialists who will alert the appropriate officials in each school district in response to reports. In emergencies, they will call 911. The system also allows them to set up two-way messaging with the anonymous informant and school officials or law enforcement so that they can ask questions about a report. The system also gives students and staff access to a crisis text line, which is part of the app and website. That text line will connect them to mental health counselors. The system makes it possible for students to reach out for help, or to report others that need help. The goal is to get help before a student becomes violent. Questar III BOCES contracted with StopIt for member school districts using a grant. Among the school districts adding the program are: Chatham, Hudson, Ichabod Crane, New Lebanon, Taconic Hills, Cairo-Durham, Coxsackie-Athens, East Greenbush and Rensselaer City. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Scott Stafford is reporting for The Berkshire Eagle the Soldiers Monument, a memorial to Union soldiers who served in the Civil War, on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., was defaced by one or more vandals over the weekend. The vandals painted a Confederate flag and the word “rebel” on the monument located outside of Griffin Hall, sparking a strong reaction from the Williams College president. “The Confederate flag and the word ‘Rebel’ are commonly used as symbols by white supremacists and other extremist factions,” Maud Mandel wrote in a letter to the college community. “The appearance of those marks is more evidence that we live in a world where people hold racist and otherwise hateful ideas. When someone defaces our campus — our own home — with symbols of those ideologies, it becomes especially personal,” she said. College staff had removed the markings by Oct. 10. Mandel advised students interested in helping the anti-racism effort to visit the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s web page, which includes information about anti-racist and related efforts by the college community, locally and nationally. Campus Safety Services is conducting an investigation into the vandalism with the help of the Williamstown Police Department, according to a college spokesperson. Mandel asked that anyone with relevant information contact Campus Safety Services at 413-597-4444. Read the full story in The Berkshire Eagle.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics that continuous monitoring of wastewater in the New York City metropolitan area has found repeated evidence of poliovirus in sewage, the state Department of Health on October 11, announced. The most recent results, discovered in samples from Brooklyn and Queens, found polio genetically linked to a case previously found in Rockland County. State officials on October 9, extended an executive order declaring a disaster emergency to allocate more resources for polio vaccinations and detection statewide. The state Department of Health earlier this summer confirmed the first case of polio in New York in a decade in Rockland County. A wastewater detection system has since turned up traces of poliovirus in the greater New York City area. "These findings put an alarming exclamation point on what we have already observed: unvaccinated people are at a real and unnecessary risk," state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said. Between July 21 and October 2, more than 28,260 people have been vaccinated for polio in Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and Nassau counties as health officials conduct an outreach effort for communities to improve vaccination rates for the virus. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Colleen Lutolf reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Hudson's Planning Board on Sept. 29 unanimously approved plans for the Hudson Public House, a new three-story, 32-room hotel across three merged disused lots at Warren and 4th streets. The proposal includes a restaurant and retail space, but no on-site parking. Galvan Foundation developers explained away the lack of parking saying that the luxury hotel will be “marketed toward visitors that have access to Amtrak service.” Staff working at the hotel, restuarant, and retail space, presumably, would not arrive by train. Construction on the project is not expected to be completed until next year. Colleen Lutolf reports for Columbia-Greene Media

Rick Karlin reports in the Times Union that workers at the Schodack Amazon distribution center cast ballots between Oct. 12, and Oct. 17, on whether to join the new Amazon Labor Union. Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand turned out for a rally Oct. 10 ahead of the vote outside the Schodack warehouse. “Without a union, you’re just a person,” Gillibrand, a Democrat, told several hundred employees. “If they could pay you less. If they could give you less benefits, they would." So far, only one similar Amazon facility in the United States has voted to unionize, and Heather Goodall, the local employee organizing the union effort, wants to make it two. “We have one message and it’s a message of support for the workers,” Goodall said. Christian Smalls, who led the effort to unionize a Staten Island Amazon facility, also turned out in Schodack in Rensselaer County. “We are filing all over this country,” Smalls said. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Mid-Hudson News reports that Democratic congressional candidate Josh Riley claims his campaign raised more than $1.6 million in the third quarter and has more than $1 million cash-on-hand for the final weeks of the election. Voting begins Oct. 29 and ends Nov. 8 this year, with new Congressional districts because of redistricting. Riley is running in the new 19th Congressional District against Republican Marc Molinaro, who has yet to announce his recent fundraising totals. “We are proving that a people-powered campaign can beat one bankrolled by corporate PACs and special interests,” said Riley. A recent Siena Poll, conducted between September 25 and 28, showed Riley with a five-point lead over Molinaro, but within the polls margin of error. "The margin of error here is so immensely large that it's plainly silly to use this (or any similar poll) to suggest someone 'leads' or 'trails' five plus weeks before an election, especially when you factor in the number of undecided voters too," WSKG reporter Vaughn Golden wrote on Twitter about the poll. The poll did give Riley a 52-to-44 percent lead, outside of the poll's margin of error, in Greene, Columbia, and Ulster Counties. Molinaro is from Dutchess County, which is not in the new 19th Congressional District. Riley lives in Broome County, in Central New York, which was added to the district in redistricting. Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

Today's daily news update.

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

The Daily Freeman is reporting absentee ballots for the upcoming general election are available now online, by mail-in application, or in person, but voters who decide to vote absentee can no longer change their minds and vote in person. Anyone who has been issued an absentee ballot cannot vote in person on a machine, authorities have said. “This is true whether they have submitted their absentee ballot or not,” according to the Dutchess County Board of Elections. “Should a voter desire to vote in person they must complete an affidavit ballot.” To apply for an absentee ballot individuals can visit their local Board of Elections, until Nov. 7. Voters can also call or email their local board with questions. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 8, the final day of in-person voting, in order to be counted. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 14. Read more in the Daily Freeman.