Former Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan was sworn in as the new Congressperson in New York's 19th Congressional District on Sept. 13, and cast his first votes in the past week. The 19th Congressional District had gone months without any representation, as Antonio Delgado resigned to become lieutenant governor, and Ryan won a special election in August against Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro to fill in the final weeks of his term. Ryan's first vote, the day he was sworn in, was "To extend by 19 days the authorization for the special assessment for the Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund," which passed unanimously. On Sept. 15, Ryan voted for the Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act, which passed 221-203, and would establish, modify, and expand certain whistleblower protections for federal employees. On Sept. 19, Ryan voted for the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act, which passed 290-125. On Sept. 21, Ryan voted for the Presidential Election Reform Act, from California Democrat Zoe Lofgren and Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney, The bill would confirm that the vice president's role in overseeing the Electoral College count after each presidential election is purely ministerial, and passed by a 229-203 vote with only nine Republicans joining all Democrats with yea votes. Locally, Democrat Paul Tonko voted for those last three bills, while Republican Elise Stefanik voted against them. Go to the House of Representatives voting web page to see all of Ryan's first votes.

Mid-Hudson News reports that all unemployment rates locally in August were lower than the same month in 2021. Columbia County had the lowest unemployment rate north of New York City and south of Albany, at 3 percent, while Greene County had the highest, at 3.8 pecent. Last August Columbia County had 3.6 pecent unemployment, while Greene County had a 4.8 percent rate. Dutchess County reported 3.3 percent last month, while Ulster County had 3.5 percent unemployment. Read the full story at Mid-Hudson News.

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Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that an affordable housing developer has proposed building three structures in Hudson with a combined total of 85 units, in an effort to ease the housing crisis. The buildings will be developed by the Kearney Realty & Development Group in conjunction with the nonprofit Hudson River Housing. The project will consist of 60 mixed-income rental units on Mill Street, 21 mixed-income rental units with additional commercial spaces at Fourth and Warren streets, and a duplex on Rossman Avenue with two attached apartments. The plan was kept under wraps until it was presented to the Hudson Common Council during a special meeting on September 20. Representatives from Kearney said during the meeting the apartments would be rented at prices deemed affordable to households making between 30 and 110 percent of the area median income, which, in 2022, is equivalent to between $26,000 and $97,600, according to federal data. Construction would include green building techniques, according to Kearney Vice President Sean Kearney. The completed units would use geothermal heat and rooftop solar panels. The developers will not apply to the city for tax breaks. Kearney will ask the state that the units be valued according to the income they produce, as opposed to how much they cost to build, which would result in a lower assessed value and lighter taxes. Kearney anticipates his company will be able to submit plans to the city’s Planning Board this winter or by spring, hoping to get ready before the state's deadline for tax credit applications. The developers believe construction will be completed, and the units ready to be occupied, in the spring of 2024. Read the full story in the Times Union.

MidHudson News is reporting that in June international flights returned to New York Stewart International Airport. Play Airlines is flying every day to its hub in Iceland where travelers are able to access dozens of mainland European cities. Alex Minton, the Port Authority’s passenger development director, told the Stewart Airport Commission on Sept. 20 that thousands of travelers used the Newburgh airport in the first month of Play’s service. Airport officials said July and August were also “very strong months” for Play Airlines at Stewart. “Play carried over 5,000 passengers between Stewart and destinations throughout Europe. We know that some of the top markets for customers that are traveling between Europe and Stewart and the other direction are not surprisingly are Paris, Dublin, and London. Berlin and Copenhagen are also popular destinations,” Minton said. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that the New Lebanon Central School District is preparing to install a water filtration system to treat the drinking water supply at its junior-senior high school to resolve the problem of elevated levels of PFOS. New Lebanon Superintendent Andrew Kourt announced on January 28 that the PFOS levels in the drinking water supply at the school had been measured at 11 parts per trillion, greater than the state Department of Health limit of 10 ppt. The district then began working with the state and county on a compliance schedule to reduce the levels of the contaminant. “The Columbia County Department of Health very recently approved a filtration system that will be attached to the junior-senior high school water supply,” Kourt wrote. “This project will cost over $100,000 and will have to be purchased by the district using funds from this year’s budget..." Kourt said the project is currently out for bid and school officials are hopeful that it will start in the coming weeks.” District tests now show the school water supply is testing within average levels for PFOS. “Even with these lower levels, the district is still required to install an elaborate filtration system to permanently remedy these fluctuating water levels,” Kourt wrote to district parents. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Rebekah F. Ward reports in the Times Union that the growing season may be just about over, but as of Oct. 5, patients who use medical cannabis in New York can grow up to three mature and three immature plants at home. The announcement comes from the Cannabis Control Board, which approved the final home-cultivation rules on Sept. 20. Anyone without medical certification will need to wait until the state's commercial cannabis marketplace opens to grow at home. That could be later this year, or early in 2023. In addition to the plants, medical patients can possess up to five pounds of cultivated cannabis. In New York, medical patients won't be able to sell what they grow, but can give up to three ounces of cannabis or 24 grams of concentrated cannabis to another certified patient or caregiver. New York currently has 124,485 registered medical cannabis patients and 3,817 practitioners approved to certify them. Read the full story in the Times Union.

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CNN reports that New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Sept. 21 against former President Donald Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization, alleging an expansive fraud lasting over the past decade. The more than 200-page lawsuit, alleges fraud in many aspects of the Trump business, including its properties and golf courses. The Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers, and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals, according to the lawsuit. "These acts of fraud and misrepresentation were similar in nature, were committed by upper management at the Trump Organization as part of a common endeavor for each annual Statement, and were approved at the highest levels of the Trump Organization -- including by Mr. Trump himself," the lawsuit states. Besides the former president, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit, as is Allen Weisselberg, former CFO for the Trump Organization, and Jeff McConney, another longtime company executive. James also referred the matter to the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service, as she believes state and criminal laws may have been violated. The lawsuit seeks $250 million in allegedly ill-gotten funds and to permanently bar Trump and the others named in the lawsuit from serving as the director of a business registered in New York state. Read the full story at the CNN website.

Ted Remsnyder reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the unmasked masses at the Columbia County Fair last month may have contributed to an uptick in COVID-19 cases locally. The Columbia County Department of Health also says an outbreak at The Grand Rehabilitation & Nursing at Barnwell in Valatie is partially to blame. “I think this is likely driven by the very contagious Omicron and BA.5 variants of the virus that have worked their way into the facility,” Columbia County Department of Health Director Jack Mabb said in a statement. “Barnwell has been moving the positive cases into a separate wing and have been dealing with this in a positive fashion.” Columbia County reported 28 new positive cases on Sept. 19, and 72 active cases, with 12 county residents hospitalized and a pair in intensive care due to COVID-related illnesses as of Sept. 16. Four of those cases are of employees having worked the department’s booth at the county fair. “There’s no real science here because we don’t know exactly where they got it, but the timing was such that it’s a pretty fair chance that some of them got exposed working the booth,” Mabb said Sept. 19. “There are some events at the fair that can be natural spreaders. There’s the firemen’s parade, where they assemble afterwards in a tent and spend a couple of hours there. Our booth is in the main fair house, which is an old, beautiful building, but it has no real modern circulation of air and there’s an awful lot of people who pass through there.” Greene County officials reported another COVID-19 death Sept. 16, an unidentified woman was in her 70s who had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine at the time of her death. There are COVID vaccination clinics at the A.B. Shaw Fire Department in Claverack on Thursdays in September from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that Pamela Geskie is now executive director and president of Greene County's Chamber of Commerce. Geskie had been filling the role on an interim basis since Jeff Friedman left the job, which was announced last month. “Pamela comes from the world of advertising/marketing,” said Greene County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chair Nicole Bliss. “She has over 30 years of experience as a multi-media executive, including director of advertising and marketing―at various newspaper/media companies including Columbia-Greene Media, Ulster Publishing, Saugerties Post State and the Daily Freeman.” For the past four years Geskie has been the chamber’s membership director. Friedman left the post after almost a decade of leading the organization to focus on his family's business. Read the full story at Porcupine Soup.

Alex Gault reports for Northern New York Newspapers that the National Rifle Association has given Rep. Elise Stefanik an A plus, and given her opponent, Democrat Matt Castelli an F, and he is upset about his grade. Castelli, a former CIA officer and Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council who served in both the Obama and Trump White Houses, says he is a gun owner. And he says he would not support a ban on assault weapons sales that many Democrats are talking about in Congress. At a Sept. 14 town hall meeting, Castelli said he prefers legislation to keep all weapons out of the hands of those who would use them to harm others, people he defined as “cop killers, kid killers, domestic abusers and terrorists,” according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Castelli also says he opposes the recent gun control legislation passed in New York. He says the National Rifle Association never asked him anything about his positions on guns, and cannot understand why they would give him an F grade. “(The NRA is) misleading the public with the claim that they rank political candidates based on voting records, public statements and their response to an NRA-PVF questionnaire,” he said. “The corrupt NRA has abandoned its original values of responsible gun ownership, cut funding to gun training and safety, and now represents corporate interests, not law-abiding gun owners.” Castelli is challenging Stefanik in New York's new 21st Congressional District, which includes Rensselaer County, in the election Oct. 29 through Nov. 8. Read the full story at nny360.com.

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Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media that paramedic and former Greene County Legislator Aidan O’Connor has been appointed to a statewide task force charged with addressing the challenges faced by rural ambulance services. O’Connor will join the 12-member New York State Rural Ambulance Services Task Force formed under a bill advanced by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey. The task force was established to study and evaluate the difficulties rural ambulance services are faced with, leading to staffing shortages and the potential closure of rescue squads. O’Connor is the Greene County EMS Leader and he will aid the task force in making recommendations to the state Legislature about policies, programs, funding, and legislation to shore up rural ambulance services and help ensure their long-term viability. O’Connor has served as EMS coordinator for Greene County, chair of the Greene County EMS Council, president of Greene County Paramedics, and advocacy coordinator for the National Association of EMTs. He has also been on the board of directors for the Regional Emergency Medical Organization and has been a member of the State Emergency Medical Advisory Committee and co-chair of the Greene County Ambulance Task Force. O'Connor has also served as a critical care flight paramedic. He is currently a member of the senior leadership team at Air Methods and a paramedic with Greene County EMS. “I am honored for the opportunity to serve at a time so vital for our EMS providers, EMS organizations, and the patients and communities we serve,” O’Connor said. “... I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of transport medicine. We know that EMS in New York state can, and will be, a best practice model for the nation.” Read the full story at TheUpStater [dot] com.

Chris Bragg is reporting for the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul insists that when her administration paid a vendor $637 million for COVID-19 tests, she was unaware that vendor was a campaign donor. "I was not aware that this was a company that had been supportive of me," Hochul told reporters in July. "I don't keep track of that. My team, they have no idea.” But a month before her administration struck the deals, records show, the company's founder threw an in-person campaign fundraiser for Hochul. According to her campaign disclosure forms, the November 22 fundraiser was thrown by Charlie Tebele, founder of Digital Gadgets LLC. A month later, the company would receive $637 million in payments from the state government to facilitate the purchase of 52 million at-home, rapid coronavirus tests. Hazel Crampton-Hays, a spokesperson for Hochul, said recently the governor was not involved in day-to-day procurement decisions. "She simply instructed her team to purchase as many available tests as possible to meet the tremendous need across the state, ... As we have always said, campaign donations do not have any influence on government decisions and we reject any implication otherwise," Crampton-Hays said. The Tebele family has donated nearly $300,000 to Hochul’s campaign, and Tebele has thrown her two campaign fundraisers: One a month before the purchase orders were executed, and one on April 10, two weeks after the payments were complete. According to Digital Gadgets, Tebele never spoke to the Hochul campaign about providing the COVID-19 tests. The company declined to say how it came into contact with the Hochul administration concerning the sale. The governor's campaign declined to answer questions about any interaction between its staff or the governor with the company. In November, a younger member of the Tebele family began working as a paid intern for Hochul’s campaign fundraising staff. In mid-December, Hochul’s campaign made its first payment to James Tebele, an undergraduate at New York University; he was later hired to fill a full-time staff position as a campaign "finance associate." Read the full story in the Times Union.

Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman that Dutchess County Clerk Bradford Kendall is urging county lawmakers to create a domestic partnership registry for unmarried county residents living in a close, committed, financially interdependent relationships. Kendall said the measure could ensure that unmarried couples who have been in long-term relationships are afforded rights, including hospital visitation rights and the right to participate in medical decision-making. He said the need for such a registry has become more apparent since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We get more and more calls to the office asking for a domestic partner registry,” Kendall said, adding that “virtually every county south of us” offers the registry. Under state law, domestic partners that can provide satisfactory documentation showing they live together and are financially interdependent and meet the criteria outlined in the affidavit of domestic partnership. Domestic partners can be of the same or opposite gender. The five boroughs of New York City and Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties provide domestic partner registries, Kendall said. The county Legislature previously considered establishing a registry in 2003 and 2007. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

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Luke Parsnow at Spectrum News reports that New York Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos is taking a personal leave to help the humanitarian effort in Ukraine, he announced on Twitter Sept. 19. "We all must do our part to keep Ukrainians safe during this brutal war, and support democracy wherever it is imperiled," Seggos wrote, not saying exactly how long he will be out of the office. While Seggos is gone, Executive Deputy Commissioner Sean Mahar and Chief of Staff Erica Ringewald will be in charge of the department. Seggos has held the job since 2015. Russia invaded Ukraine seven months ago, and recently lost much territory it took from Ukraine in the invasion. Read more about this story at Spectrum News.