Heather Bellow is reporting for The Berkshire Eagle that all Great Barrington police will be wearing body cameras by September 30, with each officer assigned their own. The department is the first in Berkshire County to order the use of body cams, and with the full support of the police union. In the days ahead, officers will get used to the new technology, and follow rules to protect the privacy of people who interact with police. Police Chief Paul Storti said, “I think a lot of good will come from it. It’s going to help with our cases. When we go to court we're going to have more evidence. Right now, we write reports based on observations out in the field.” Storti said it will also help the department with officer training and in responding to citizen complaints against officers. Other area towns are also securing the funds to pay for the cameras. For Great Barrington and its 22 officers, the price tag was just under $59,000 for the cameras and five years of data storage. Sheffield and Stockbridge are next — those departments have the equipment on order. Pittsfield police do not yet have body cameras and are exploring policies governing their use. A number of people in the city called for cameras after a city man was shot by police this year in what was later deemed to be a justified use of force, following an investigation. All state police in Massachusetts have been equipped with cameras since last year. Read more in The Berkshire Eagle.

Today's daily news update.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports for the Daily Freeman that Republican Congressional candidate Marc Molinaro is now opposing the United States sending military aid to Ukraine to fight off the invasion from Russia. “I believe that as a country we have met our financial obligation to support Ukraine resistance,” Molinaro said. Russia invaded Ukraine in February without provocation, and is accused of many human rights violations. Since the invasion Finland and Sweden have moved to join the the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as fears of Russia invading other countries has spread. The United States has sent Ukraine approximately $15.2 billion in military aid since President Joe Biden took office. “I think the president ought to marshall freedom-loving democratic societies around this world to more aggressively isolate, freeze and make abundantly clear to Vladimir Putin that he is a criminal, is a tyrant and America and democracies around the world do not accept his incursion, his invasion or his continued military efforts in Ukraine,” Molinaro said. The Republican candidate for the 19th Congressional District did not say how he would do that. Molinaro is running against Democrat Josh Riley for the new 19th Congressional District, which voting beginning Oct. 29 and ending Nov. 8. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

The Art Newspaper reports that Bard College is getting a $50 million dollar endowment gift for Indigenous Studies at the Dutchess County school. The $25 million gifts from the Gochman Family Foundation, and a matching commitment from George Soros and the Open Society Foundations, will create a Center for Indigenous Studies at Bard College as well as create an appointment for an Indigenous Curatorial Fellow at its Center for Curatorial Studies. The college is working with Forge Project, a Taghkanic-based organization focused on Indigenous art and education. Candice Hopkins, the executive director of Forge Project, will be the inaugural fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies at Bard, teaching and leading archival acquisitions, and curating a large exhibition on contemporary Native art. “This gift represents institutional change, which has been building at Bard and is core to the vision of Forge Project. These lands are layered with histories that are inextricably bound by the displacement and forced removal of Indigenous peoples, yet also rich with knowledge,” Hopkins said in a statement. “This gift provides the basis for the future building of this knowledge, to shift and expand discourses across fields of study, whether it be in Indigenous and American studies, art history, or curatorial practice. Critically, it also centers on the needs of Indigenous students, reducing barriers to higher education, and recognizes that students want to attend programs where they see their interests reflected.” Bard announced last week it has received $3.2 million to permanently endow the Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism, an annual faculty position within the Center for Curatorial Studies graduate program and the undergraduate Human Rights Program. The endowment is made possible by a grant of $800,000 from the Keith Haring Foundation and matching funds from the Marieluise Hessel Foundation and benefactor George Soros, the college said. Read more about this story in The Art Newspaper.

If you tune in to 91.5-FM this week, you may only hear static, as WRPI in Troy is off the air for maintenance. The RPI student-run radio station posted online Sept. 28 that, "Due to scheduled maintenance, we will be shutting the transmitter off everyday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Tue., Oct. 4. As a result, there will be no broadcasting to 91.5-FM or the livestream between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. until Tue., Oct. 4." While RPI improves its transmitter, WGXC is getting a new transmitter, to replace the one that the station started with, which is now almost twelve years old. WGXC will need to go off the air briefly to move from the older transmitter, to the new one, but that outage has yet to be scheduled.

pic.twitter.com/dAOSCfoXXY

— WRPI Troy (@wrpi) September 29, 2022

New York's latest foliage report says there is a lot more color change this week. "In the Catskills, Greene County observers reporting from the upper elevations of the towns of Hunter and Windham predict up to 70 percent change this weekend and a mix of green, yellow, and red leaves of average brilliance. To the east, in Catskill, spotters are expecting about 25 percent color change with average shades of orange and red," it says. "Rensselaer County foliage spotters predict 15-30 percent transition in the western and southern portions of the county this weekend, while color change in the eastern and northern portions color change should range between 30-40 percent, offering some brilliant colors in the higher elevations. In Albany County, reports from Thacher State Park in Voorheesville anticipate 20 percent change with red leaves of average brilliance, plus some orange and yellow.... In Columbia County, reports from Hudson expect up to 25 percent change with yellow and orange leaves appearing," the report says.

Today's daily news update.

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

Mary Dempsey is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that the Hudson Common Council has approved a new four-year contract with the Civil Service Employees Association that runs from 2022 to 2025, which includes a $1,500 signing bonus for each union employee. The previous contract expired on December 31, 2021. The Common Council unanimously approved the pact at its Sept. 20 meeting. “We were in negotiations for four months,” Mayor Kamal Johnson said. “It was an easy contract to go through and everything worked out fine. The CSEA members make up the bulk of city employees.” Union members will receive a retroactive 2.5 percent pay raise for 2022, effective January 1; a 3.25 percent increase in 2023; a 3 percent raise in 2024; and a 2.5 percent increase in 2025. The retroactive increases will be paid for by a contingency fund the city set up, as well as money from the municipal fund balance. This is the first contract to include a signing bonus in the past 15 years. Council President Thomas DePietro said, “It’s more of a retention bonus. We’ve had a significant number of people leaving.” Under the agreement, city employees who opt out of the municipal health insurance plan will get increase from $3,500 to $5,000. “The increase is in line with the increase in the cost of our health insurance plan,” DePietro said. They, the employees who opt out, are saving the city a lot of money, he said. The agreement also makes changes in the holidays the city acknowledges, adding Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the day after Thanksgiving and removing Lincoln’s Birthday. “I like to think we are a pro-union city and we value our city employees,” DePietro said. Note: DePietro is a WGXC volunteer on-air host. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Diane Pineiro-Zucker is reporting for the Daily Freeman that Saugerties Town Judge Claudia Andreassen has agreed to resign mid-term, effective September 30, following a more than two-year investigation by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. According to a press release from the commission, at various times over the past two years, Andreassen was told the commission was investigating, “a total of six complaints against her, among other things.” The commission was especially concerned about Andreassen’s allegedly “adversarial relationship” with town police. She was also accused of being “discourteous toward” and making “disrespectful comments about court staff and courtroom spectators,” according to the release. The commission said Andreassen also “attempted to effectuate certain staffing decisions without involving her co-judge or the town board,” “violated various prohibitions on campaign activity by judges,” and “failed to maintain professional competence in the law.” Andreassen, a Democrat, agreed to resign and never to seek or accept judicial office at any time in the future, according to a September 2 agreement. The agreement was signed by Andreassen, her attorney Deborah A. Scalise, and the commission’s administrator. Asked to comment on Andreassen’s apparent adversarial relationship with police, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said in an email, “My only comment in this matter is that the documents provided speak for themselves." Andreassen is a former Ulster County probation officer, but not an attorney. She served as town judge since she was appointed in 2012. Her current term would have expired on Dec. 31, 2024. In a written statement, Andreassen said, “...I was tired of trying to do the job that I was elected to do and having to deal with the constant interference and intrusion by the town’s executive, legislative bodies, and appointees. All of whom were attempting to undermine the independence of the judiciary. I no longer have the energy to correct inaccuracies. I just want peace.” In a statement, Robert H. Tembeckjian, commission administrator, said, “...The multiple complaints against Judge Andreassen were serious, and her permanent departure from the bench was appropriate.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

On social media on Sept. 28, the Town of Cairo announced public hearings about overriding the tax levy limit, and changing the cannabis law. On Oct. 3, the Greene County town holds a public hearing at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall to propose a new Local Law to override the tax levy limit. Also that night, there will be a public hearing to amend Local Law #4 to allow retail cannabis dispensaries in Cairo. Last December, the Cairo board voted 3-2 not to allow cannabis sales or lounges in the town. Outgoing Supervisor John Coyne, and Councilpersons Tim Powers and Mary-Jo Cords voted against cannabis sales, and Councilperson Stephen Kralovich and Supervisor-elect Jason Watts voted to allow sales. With the new make-up of the board, Coyne and Kravolich are gone, replaced by Michael Flaherty and Debra Bogins. The board is only considering retail sales, and will not vote to overturn their prohibition against cannabis consumption establishments. A regular meeting of the town board follows the public hearings. The town says it will post an agenda for the meeting just a few hours before it begins.

Larry Rulison is reporting for the Times Union that the Port of Albany is saying "no" to $29.5 million in federal funding for the construction of a $350 million wind turbine tower manufacturing facility on the Hudson River. Walking away from the award will speed up the permitting process after falling behind schedule. The grant was allocated to the Port of Albany by the U.S. Department of Transportation and has been in jeopardy since the summer when the port clear-cut more than 80 acres of waterfront land in the town of Bethlehem without federal permits. In early 2022, a group of more than 20 Glenmont residents sued the port and the town of Bethlehem for clearing 80 acres of land on the Hudson River for the project allegedly without providing proper notification to local homeowners. At its monthly meeting on September 28, port officials said they were withdrawing the grant application with the DOT, thereby allowing the project to move forward more quickly, which must be completed by the end of next year. It is unclear how the port will replace the funding, which was supposed to pay for infrastructure at the Hudson River site, known as Beacon Island. The port bought Beacon Island several years ago in anticipation of constructing the facility, which is being built for Equinor and its equipment manufacturing partners, Marmen and Welcon. The Norwegian energy company Equinor is building several wind farms off the coast of Long Island. Port officials said by dropping the grant request, the DOT's Maritime Administration, will no longer hold back the federal permitting process that will now be led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Read the full story at TimesUnion [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Nicholas Fandos report in the New York Times that Gov. Kathy Hochul has extended her lead over Republican challenger Lee Zeldin from 14 points in August to 17 points in a new poll from Siena College released on Sept. 28. Voting begins Oct. 29, so that is a steep hill for Zeldin, with only 77 percent of Republicans saying they would vote for him, down from 84 percent in August. Zeldin has a slight lead upstate, but trails by a large margin in New York City, and a smaller margin in the city's suburbs. Hochul, a Democrat, outspent Zeldin $7 million to $1 million on television ads in September, although conservative cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder has added more than $3 million into a pair of pro-Zeldin super PACs recently. The poll also found the other Democrats running statewide — Senator Chuck Schumer; Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli; and Attorney General Letitia James — with large leads over their Republican opponents in their races. Read more about this story in the New York Times.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman that Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Colin Schmitt outlined their differences on the abortion issue at an Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce “meet the candidates” breakfast Sept. 27. The two are competing for the new 18th Congressional District seat in November. Ryan, the former Ulster County Executive was just elected to be the 19th Congressional District Congressperson for a few weeks, filling in after Antonio Delgado resigned to become lieutenant governor. Schmitt is a two-term Republican assemblyperson from Orange County. Ryan was dismayed about the Supreme Court overturning the Roe vs. Wade decision earlier this year. “I feel pretty strongly this goes squarely against who we are as a country, who we are as a nation,” Ryan said. Then Schmitt said he is pro-life, so in favor of banning abortion, and then falsely claimed that Ryan would permit taxpayer-funded abortion up to the moment of birth and would prohibit parental notification laws. Instead, Ryan said he would reinstate the framework that Roe v. Wade created and called Schmitt’s mischaracterization, “kind of embarrassing, frankly.” The full videos of Schmitt and Ryan speaking at the event are on the WGXC Newsroom. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Andrea Macko reports at Porcupine Soup that a portion of a Lexington road has been named for one of the 17 Greene County residents who died fighting for the United States in the Vietnam War. On Sept. 26, the Greene County Legislature unanimously passed a resolution to call a portion of County Route 6, also known as Spruceton Road, as Tunis Edwin Rappleyea, Jr. Memorial Drive. In August, the Lexington Town Board voted for a similar resolution. Rappleyea and his family resided on the new memorial section of road between Grant Gully Road and Shoemaker Road. The official name of County Route 6, or Spruceton Road, will not change, but signs will honor the 1964 graduate of Hunter-Tannersville Central School along the route. Rappleyea was 21 years old on November 22, 1967 when he was killed in Bình Thuận Province, Vietnam. Read the full story at Porcupine Soup.

Today's daily news update.

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

Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting for The Columbia Paper the Hudson City School District is participating in a study on how to improve teacher morale and retention, with the support and guidance of the NoVo Foundation. The results so far suggest that the district's teachers and paraprofessionals need to feel appreciated, according to Assistant Superintendent of School Improvement, April Prestipino. At the December 7, 2021, Board of Education meeting, science teacher and Hudson Teachers Association president Wayne Kinney, portrayed his colleagues as feeling “unsafe” and “disrespected” on the job, subject to verbal insults and occasionally physical attacks. In the spring of 2022, outgoing school board member Charles Parmentier, whose wife was employed by the district for almost 30 years, said teachers spend extra time and their own money preparing for their students but “are not appreciated.” Prestipino said the district is “struggling to find teachers in hard-to-fill areas, [such as] Technology, Family and Consumer Science, Spanish and Special Education.” Other school districts in Columbia County are also “experiencing similar struggles. Districts are competing for the same small pool of qualified applicants.” The Hudson district received $50,000 from NoVo as part of its participation in the study, which is a program with two main purposes — to “collaborate with educators and school leaders to co-design solutions that will address root causes of decreased teacher morale” and to “develop an…understanding of the experiences and challenges” that confront classroom educators related to social/emotional dimensions, well-being and COVID-19 effects. In total, the program includes 12 school districts and charter schools nationwide. Prestipino said the district is in the third of the study’s four phases. The third phase consists of “ideating” solutions and planning to test them. The fourth phase will consist of testing proposed solutions. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

MidHudson News is reporting the town of Rhinebeck’s first workforce housing community has received a $6 million grant from Wells Manor Housing Development Fund Corp. The Hamlet at Rhinebeck, an 80-unit community, is a joint venture between Kearney Realty and Development Group, and the non-profit Housing Partnership Development Corporation. Qualifying income for the rental units is up to 90 percent of the area median Income. Wells Manor is a nonprofit senior housing community that was sponsored by Northern Dutchess Hospital more than 30 years ago as a separate facility. With its nonprofit status, when Wells Manor transferred ownership in 2020, proceeds were placed in escrow to be used for nonprofit workforce housing. “Workforce housing, as called for in the town of Rhinebeck’s Master Plan, is a crucial need. Housing costs are very high in Rhinebeck, forcing many employees in the town to make lengthy commutes to other towns and counties to find affordable homes for themselves and their families,” said Dan Martin, representative of the Housing Partnership. The project will be located on a 23-acre site next to the town highway department garage near Route 9. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.