Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the CREATE Council on the Arts is looking to renew its relationship with Greene County. The county contributes $34,000 a year for the administration of the council and $40,000 for grants to be distributed to county arts groups. This year the county did not dispense the $34,000 in funds for administrative costs after the group went on hiatus following the departure of former Executive Director Marline Martin. Two of the agencies that receive funding from the council — the Bronck Museum in Coxsackie and the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural and Sports Centre in East Durham — collected their portions of the funding after contacting the county. The rest of the money allocated has yet to be disbursed this year. “They basically went dormant,” Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said of CREATE. “Without an executive director, all of the programmatic things were shelved. So they just kind of went dark. So we never got their annual application for funding, so the funding just sat there unexpended.” Former CREATE Executive Director Kay Stamer over the summer offered to volunteer to help jumpstart the council and shortly thereafter a new executive team was put in place. Executive Director Nathan McLaughlin and new Council President Anthony DeSantis appeared before the Legislature’s County Resources Committee last week to express their commitment to Greene County and propose the nonprofit group continue its arrangement in distributing the county’s arts grant funding. McLaughlin said the group plans to stay in its space on Main Street in Catskill, where it has been headquartered since the 1980s. Greene County Legislator Matthew Luvera said he wants to see the grant funding dispersed. “We didn’t really want to see the grants go away,” he said. “We were actually in the process of renaming it the Greene County Cultural Fund so we could issue the funds.” Ed. note: WGXC-FM is a program of Wave Farm, a recipient of financial support from the county Legislature through the County Initiative Program, administered by CREATE. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Joshua Solomon reports for the Times Union Gov. Kathy Hochul let her COVID-19 state of emergency lapse on Sept. 12, even with many COVID-19 cases and the continuing announcement of deaths from the virus. The state of emergency declaration allowed for EMTs to provide vaccines under state law, and also allowed no-bid contractsfor COVID-19 issues. Hochul has been criticized recently for a multi-million dollar contract her administration granted to a campaign donor for COVID tests. Hochul also faces voters soon, and COVID-19 mandates from the state are not popular. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Marie J. French reports at Politico how efforts to build offshore wind turbines at the Port of Coeymans and Port of Albany are being opposed by environmentalists. The Port of Coeymans recently has been a maritime hub for construction debris from New York City, so it would seem environmentalists would support a shift to building offshore wind turbines. But environmentalists see the expansion of the ports as risky to the health of the Hudson River. “We’ve had 20 years of this creeping expansion,” Barbara Heinzen, a Coeymans resident, said. The 125-acre Port of Coeymans is about 15 miles south of Albany and is owned by Carver Companies, recently added an industrial park to the dismay of some neighbors. The Carver Companies businesses have been fined several times by the DEC for environmental violations, including a 2018 fine for illegally stored road salt at the port. The current expansion plans there would require dredging to increase the depth of the Hudson River and allow bigger ships to load and unload. That dredging will eliminate the potential habitat for the endangered sturgeon in the Hudson River. Carver wants to mitigate that loss by funding 1.8 acres of habitat restoration at the Schodack Island State Park across the river. On Aug. 8, the Department of Environmental Conservation concluded that all negative environmental impacts had been minimized and mitigated “to the maximum extent practicable.” At the Port of Albany, the complaints are about the number of trees cut down for the port's expansion. John Lipscomb, Riverkeeper’s boat captain, said, “We seem to compromise our values. It’s not about wind. It’s about politically popular projects." Read more about this story at Politico.

Robert Gavin reports in the Times Union that Albany County is attempting to respond to more emergency calls with EMS and behavioral health professionals rather than police. On Sept. 9 Albany County officials called the pilot program a big success. "While many communities across the country have been rethinking crisis response, re-imaging how to handle crises, Albany County did it," the county's mental health commissioner, Stephen Giordano, said. The program is called ACCORD, for Albany County Crisis Officials Responding and Diverting, and it began in June, 2021 to reduce adverse encounters between police and civilians with mental health issues. Police do not received the same training as mental health professionals. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple is on board with the program. "If we get called to some place right now and we have someone who is mentally ill, we take them to the hospital," Apple said. "That's going to tie up police officers and probably one paramedic because they have to have us and we have to have them. So now we're tied up at the (emergency room) for hours because of their staffing shortage. So this (ACCORD) team will be able to take care of that and keep police officers on the street, which is vital." UAlbany's School of Public Health and School of Social Welfare released a report about the program. From June 2021 to June 2022 there were 240 non-violent 911 calls dispatched to the ACCORD team in Albany County. In 122 of the encounters, the teams were able to resolve the crisis on the scene. Instead of police shootings, the mental health professionals recommended individuals take a shower, get outside for a walk, and talked out the problems. "For so many years, we've been trying to call attention to the mental health needs of our community," Giordano told reporters, "and I guess we're getting noticed now - unfortunately and fortunately." Read the full story in the Times Union.

Today's daily news update.

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Mid-Hudson News looks into a report recently released by Pattern for Progress that examines the gap between wages and the cost of rental housing for those living in the nine-county Hudson Valley region. The report found that a single person earning an average wage cannot afford rent and modest living expenses, including those living in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, and Ulster counties. A renter making an average wage does not make enough, falling short on their financial obligations by $336 to $2,908, depending on the county in which they live. In Columbia County, the gap is $438; in Greene County it is $578. The outlook is equally difficult for families in rental housing, and worse for single parents. Pattern for Progress CEO Adam Bosch said of the findings, “Too many people cannot afford their rent and living expenses without considerable help. The people who are struggling most work in grocery stores, schools, medical facilities, restaurants, and other necessary jobs that make our region viable and attractive. ...” The Out of Reach report uses county-by-county data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which examines hourly wages and fair-market rents to measure the affordability of rental housing. Affordability is calculated using the standard that no individual or family should spend more than 30 percent of its total monthly income on housing. Pattern for Progress examined data for nine counties: Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties. These nine Hudson Valley counties rank in the top 20 of all counties statewide in terms of a monthly renter gap, with Rockland, Putnam, Westchester, and Orange landing in the top 10. Read the full story at Mid-HudsonNews [dot] com.

Brian Hubert is reporting for the Daily Freeman plans are underway to restore the historic Ann Oliver House to become the Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis Black History Research and Cultural Center in New Paltz. The structure was built by the 19th-century New Paltz black carpenter Jacob Wynkoop. Esi Lewis, an attorney and a New Paltz Town Board member, serves as the steward of the historic 1885 house at 5 Broadhead Avenue. Lewis estimates it would take $500,000 to restore the building to serve as a cultural center housing museum exhibits on black history in the Hudson Valley while also offering mental health services. “I want to see it happen so people can see black history as American history as opposed to separate,” Lewis said. “This is [the] history of the Hudson Valley.” A New Paltz native, Lewis is the daughter of the late Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis, who helped to found the Black Studies Department at SUNY New Paltz. Lewis said that, over the years, the house fell on rough times and was nearly demolished. The house has not been lived in for a while, except for squatters, and property maintenance has not been done, but Lewis has already started to make improvements to the property, she said. The builder of the house, Jacob Wynkoop, was born free in 1829 to Thomas and Jane Deyo Wynkoop, two formerly enslaved people. Wynkoop would go on o serve in the U.S. Civil War alongside Ann Oliver’s husband, Richard Oliver. Both men survived the war, but Oliver would die on his way home after contracting malaria, leaving Ann widowed. By 1885, Wynkoop, was a well-established carpenter and built the house for Oliver. Wynkoop lived into his 80s and is buried in the Ulster County Veterans Cemetery. Just over half a dozen homes built by Wynkoop survive today. “There are seven houses created for black people that survived and the fact that this one is going to be owned and operated by black people is significant,” Lewis said. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

The Berkshire Eagle is reporting Moody Bridge, the span that crosses the Hoosic River at Route 7 and Simonds Road in Williamstown, Mass., will be closed to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic beginning 6 p.m., Sept. 16, until 6 a.m. on Sept. 19. The backup dates are Sept. 23, to Sept. 26. The detour around the closed bridge will follow Route 2 or Mohawk Trail, to Cole Avenue, to North Hoosac Road to Bridges Road to Sand Springs Road. The road closure is necessary to allow workers to resurface the bridge, which will take a couple of days to complete and set properly, according to the state Department of Transportation. Town officials are asking drivers to plan accordingly and use the alternate detour route during the bridge closure. Read the full story in The Berkshire Eagle.

Mid-Hudson News is reporting that Congressman-elect and outgoing Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan has done an about-face and endorsed former state Senator Jen Metzger for the Democratic nomination to succeed him. On September 6 Ryan announced he would not endorse a candidate to succeed him, saying the county Democratic Committee would choose the best person to run. “We’ll leave that to the folks wiser than me — the voters and residents of the county, to decide who’s next...," Ryan said at the time. Three Democrats are in the running for the party endorsement, which will be decided at the party convention on September 17. The person chosen will effectively be the next county executive since no Republican has entered the race. The other two Democrats interested in filling the position are County Comptroller March Gallagher and Deputy County Executive Marc Rider. In the September 10 announcement Ryan said, “I proudly endorse Jen Metzger for Ulster County executive because I know she will build upon the many successes that we have had here in Ulster County. Jen is a person of integrity, who brings great compassion to understanding the needs of the community. She has the experience and the drive to deliver results.” Read more at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting for The Columbia Paper that the Hudson and Ichabod Crane school districts have agreed to merge their varsity swim teams for the 2022-23 season. This will be Ichabod’s first time participating in high school interscholastic swimming in quite a few years, ICC’s new Athletic Director Dave Ames said last month. Even when Ichabod had a swim team, it never had a pool of its own, so it used the pool at Hudson High School. According to Ames, Hudson proposed the merger, because it anticipated low enrollment for varsity swimming this year. The printed agreement gives the reason for merging as “it is in the best interest of both parties to merge,” for the sake of “economy and efficiency.” Ames said for economic reasons, the teams would not be able to survive were it not for the merger. Other districts are doing the same — the New Lebanon Central School District has merged with the Berlin schools in Rensselaer County. Practices take place at Berlin schools. And the Taconic Hills Central School District's boys and girls soccer teams have joined with Hawthorne Valley. According to the Hudson-Ichabod swimming team agreement, the coaching staff from each school will jointly determine which students are eligible to participate. The district athletic directors will jointly determine the schedule in coordination with each other. As in the past, the joint swimming team will be co-ed. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

The latest Emerson College/Pix11/The Hill poll of "somewhat or very likely" New York voters shows Gov. Kathy Hochul with a 15-point lead over U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, in the gubernatorial race. Fifty percent of respondents plan to vote for Hochul; 35 percent for Zeldin; and nine percent are still undecided. Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling said, “There are stark racial divides in the gubernatorial election; Governor Hochul holds the majority of support among Hispanic votes at 59 percent and black voters at 72 percent, whereas white voters are evenly split between Hochul and Zeldin with 44 percent apiece.” Emerson is reporting that President Biden has a 52 percent job approval rate in New York, while 44 percent disapprove of the job he is doing. Kimball said Biden's approval rate is highest among voters 35 years old and younger, a 10 percent increase since August. “This ten-point increase in approval since last month could be reflective of Biden’s recent action on student loans,” Kimball said. The economy is the most important issue to voters overall, followed by abortion access, healthcare, gun violence, crime and immigration. Among voters under 35, healthcare is the most important issue, but voters over 35 say the economy is most important, Kimball said. The Emerson College poll was conducted from September 4 to 6. Read the full story at emersoncollegepolling [dot] com.

Melissa Manno reports for the Times Union that Stewart’s Shops ice cream flavor Peanut Butter Pandemonium was declared the best peanut butter ice cream in North America at the 55th annual World Dairy Expo. Peanut Butter Pandemonium is Stewart’s top-selling flavor. The stop-and-go chain's Mint Cookie Crumble ice cream took second place in the mint category, while Mango Dragon Fruit won third place in the sherbet category, and Salty Caramel finished third among the gelatos. Stewart’s Shops ice cream is made at their plant in Greenfield in Saratoga County with the milk from 20 local family dairy farms. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Hudson Valley Climate Solutions Week, from September 17 to 25, is an effort to focus attention on the climate emergency we are all facing with a series of events throughout the region. Melissa Everett, Executive Director of Sustainable Hudson Valley, discusses the events with WOOC's Mark Dunlea. www.hvclimatesolutionsweek.org/

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Here is a roundup of the biggest environmental stories locally this week from the WGXC Newsroom. Click

Raga Justin reports in the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Sept. 4 that the Napanoch Point wild fire in Minnewaska State Park Preserve in Ulster County has been contained after eight days, The fire began Aug. 27 after a suspected lightning strike and burnt over more than 140 acres of parkland, with more than 200 firefighters working to end the blaze. “We took swift action, launched a coordinated response and devoted every resource possible to help the first responders complete their mission,” Hochul said. “The emphasis over the coming days will be to address the areas of heat to achieve full control,” Hochul said. Rain on Sept. 4 and 5 should aid that process. The two other Ulster County fires that also broke out last week, Stony Kill and Wurtsboro, are now also fully contained. Minnewaska State Park Preserve will reopen on Sept. 7, although some trails will remain closed indefinitely. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Larry Rulison is reporting for the Times Union National Grid is predicting home heating bills in upstate New York will increase 39 percent this winter, a hike of roughly $50 more per month than last year. "These prices are significantly higher than they were last year," said Melanie Littlejohn, National Grid's regional vice president for customer and community management. National Grid said the increase is the result of record natural gas prices, as well as the increased gas delivery rates recently approved by the state Public Service Commission. Customers are charged for both supply and delivery. The supply charge is set using wholesale gas prices, while the delivery rate is set by the PSC. National Grid said the average five-month home heating bill will be approximately $943 for the period from November through March, $263 higher than the cost over the same five-month period last year. About $231 of the increase is due to wholesale gas costs. National Grid further noted that monthly electricity bills will also go up about $23, or 22 percent, each month this winter since most electricity in New York is made burning natural gas. All told, the average National Grid combined gas-and-electric bill will be $75 higher this winter compared to last. Littlejohn said, "National Grid has many assistance programs available, as well as energy-saving strategies, resources and tips. We are encouraging our customers to take action now before the cold weather arrives.” Read more in the Times Union.

Liz Montgomery is reporting for Porcupine Soup forest rangers responded over the weekend to two separate calls for injured hikers, one who was found just feet from the edge of Kaaterskill Falls. Greene County 911 contacted the rangers on the afternoon of September 3, about a person with an unstable lower leg injury on the Mary's Glen trail. Rangers responded along with rescue crews and located a 32-year-old woman from Washington, D.C., splinted her injured ankle, gave her crutches, and helped carry her to a waiting ambulance that transported her to Kingston Hospital. On the morning of September 4, Greene County 911 contacted rangers with a report of a person falling from the top of Kaaterskill Falls. When the rangers responded they located a 22-year-old man from New Jersey with an unstable right ankle injury. He was found at the top of Kaaterskill Falls in the creek, approximately 12 feet from the edge of the 260-foot-high falls. After moving the injured person to a safer spot, rangers, Hunter police, and Hunter Ambulance administered first aid and carried him to the trail. The man was eventually transported to Kingston via ambulance. Read the full story at porcupine soup [dot] com.

Here is this week's WGXC Congressional Report, tracking the votes, statements, positions, and campaigns of the representatives and candidates for the 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, who now represents the 19th District, has yet to cast a vote. Click here to listen to this report.

Rick Karlin reports in the Times Union that hunting groups are criticizing Rep. Elise Stefanik for a bill she's co-sponsoring that would repeal a decades-old excise tax on firearms. The gun tax funds wildlife conservation and other environmental protections. “There wasn’t any consultation with sportsmen’s or sportswomen’s groups,” said Kaden McArthur, the government relations representative for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. The bill is more political theatre, than reality right now, as Democratic majorities in Congress are unlikely to pass the measure. Shortly after Democratic Rep. Don Byers of Virginia introduced a bill to impose a 1,000 percent excise tax on assault-style weapons earlier this year, Republicans introduced the Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now, act. “I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing legislation to eliminate this harmful tax that infringes on Americans’ ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Stefanik said. “Make no mistake, I will not allow the government to tax the constitutional right of hardworking Americans by marking up the price to exercise one’s Second Amendment rights.” The tax dates back to 1937, and generates $18 million annually for New York state and more than $400 million since 1939 for a range of wildlife habitat protection and restoration efforts as well as hunter safety programs. The Howl for Wildlife group, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the Sportsmen’s Alliance are among the group's in opposition to Stefanik on the issue. Stefanik represents the 21st Congressional District that will include Rensselaer County beginning next year. Read the full story in the Times Union.

The Fivethirtyeight.com website looks at which politicians on the ballot this fall are falsely denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election. In New York, the candidate for governor and several Congressional candidates in the Hudson Valley are on the list. There has been no proof that there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The website says the Republican Lee Zeldin, who is running for governor, "accepted with reservations" the results of the 2020 election, even though he voted not to accept the results of the election hours after the attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021. Michael Henry, a Republican running for Attorney General, is listed as having "no comment" on the issue. Joe Pinion, the Republican challenging incumbent Democrat Chuck Schumer for a U.S. Senate seat, is listed as "fully accepted" the election results. Republicans Liz Joy and Elise Stefanik, though, are listed as having "fully denied" the election results. Joy, who is running against incumbent Democrat Paul Tonko in the 20th Congressional District, attended the rally at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Stefanik, the incumbent in the 21st District, is one of former President Donald Trump's biggest backers, and voted against certifying the election results on the night of Jan. 6, 2021. The website says that Colin Schmitt, the Republican candidate in the 18th Congressional District has "avoided answering" the question. And the website says Marc Molinaro, running in the 19th Congressional District, has had "no comment" on who is legally the president of the country. Go to fivethirtyeight.com for more information.

The Common Cause website is tracking Congress members votes on democracy-related legislation at the Democracy Scorecard. Democrat Rep. Paul Tonko, of the 20th Congressional District, gets the best score locally. Tonko voted for all 18 democracy-related legislation tracked here, and co-sponsored four of the bills. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from the 21st Congressional District, only voted for one of the 18 bills tracked, the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act. Democrat Rep. Sean Maloney, currently representing the 18th Congressional District, got a 16 out of 18 score, while there is no score for the 19th Congressional District after Democrat Antonio Delgado resigned and recently-elected fill-in Pat Ryan has yet to cast a vote. "Common Cause does not endorse or oppose candidates; we simply provide constituents the facts about how your delegation voted, so you and the people you share this nonpartisan tool can make an informed and comprehensive evaluation of your legislators’ performance," the website says. See the Democracy Scorecard for more information.

Chris McKenna reports in the Times Herald-Record the Republican Congressional candidate Marc Molinaro's campaign manager is calling his candidate's loss in a special election to Pat Ryan rigged. Molinaro's campaign manager, Will Dawson, wrote in an e-mail that, “The redistricting fiasco allowed Pat Ryan and Kathy Hochul to rig the election with two Democrat primary elections on the same day as the general and then lied about Marc’s position on abortion and we still almost won." Saying that the election was rigged is similar to the lies about the 2020 presidential election told by former President Donald Trump. The date for the New York special election to fill Democrat Antonio Delgado's seat after he resigned to become lieutenant governor was largely chosen by law: it had to be set within ten days of the resignation and had to be held within three months of the resignation. Dawson's complaint that the special election was held on the same day as other primary elections seems strange, as holding the elections on different days would have doubled the cost to taxpayers, and clearly would have lowered turn out. Ryan responded to the baseless charge, saying that "to use that language of 'rigged' echoes really dangerous rhetoric trumpeted by our former president. It is beneath the dignity of the office we both were seeking." Read more about this story in the Times Herald-Record.

Rebecca C. Lewis reports for City and State that there have not been any public polls released so far to tell who might be favored in the 19th Congressional District election between Democrat Josh Riley and Republican Marc Molinaro. The Riley campaign, though, released the results of an internal poll conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group on Sept. 9 that claims their candidate is leading. Internal polls usually favor the candidate paying for them, and in this poll Riley leads with the backing of 47 percent of likely voters, with 44 percent backing Molinaro. The poll has a five percent margin of error, and is paid for by the Riley campaign. Molinaro will likely release internal poll results soon with the opposite results. This poll surveyed voters on landlines and cell phones between August 29 and September 1. Read the full story at City and State.

Today's daily news update.

Will Solomon reports in the Times Union about a radical, anti-vaccine group holding a rally Sept. 10 in Columbia County, as vaccines save people from COVID-19, monkeypox, polio, and other diseases around the world. The "Festival in a Field" at Claverack's Cowberry Crossing Farm is being promoted by "Do We Need This?," a Columbia County-based group that spread vaccine misinformation during the pandemic. The group also had a booth at the Columbia County Fair this year, promoting misinformation about vaccines. “Opposing vaccination and other public health measures to counter COVID-19 and spreading disinformation put the health of our entire Columbia County community at risk, particularly the elderly and other people with health conditions,” said Patrick Connors, a Hillsdale resident who works on Vaxx Facts, a semi-regular newsletter that reports on COVID disinformation activity in Columbia County. “(DWNT) are in effect advocating for their own freedom to catch and transmit COVID and other dangerous diseases to vulnerable community members.” Richard Harrison, owner of Cowberry Crossing Farm, claims that “the Columbia County health freedom movement does not have a right-wing connection at all.” Connors says that is also misinformation. “On the national level there’s been a growing overlap between the anti-vax movement and the far-right, and we’re seeing the same here in Columbia County,” he said. “Anti-vaxxers, some of whom support causes like organic farming and the environment, are making common cause with the far-right, and vice versa.” One of the speakers at the Claverack event is Bobbie Anne Cox, who has falsely claimed about the Jan. 6, 2021 attempted coup that, “There is evidence coming to light that radical groups like Antifa, BLM, and other agitators were probably there, and may have planned it as a distraction so that Congress could certify a fraudulent election while everyone focused on the media hysteria.” That is not true, right-wing groups backing former President Donald Trump organized and participated in the attempted coup trying to overturn fair election results. “It is sad that people at the (festival) will be spreading and supporting lies about vaccines and spreading conspiracy theories,” said Michael Seserman, a Columbia County-based public health professional. “Reducing rates of vaccination increases the likelihood that we will see more outbreaks of preventable illness like measles and possibly polio.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Nolan Hicks and Zach Williams report in the New York Post that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an emergency expansion of the state’s polio vaccination efforts on Sept. 9 after more of the deadly virus was found in Long Island wastewater. “On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” said the state’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, in a statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real.... Polio immunization is safe and effective – protecting nearly all people against disease who receive the recommended doses. Do not wait to vaccinate.” Hochul's order allows pharmacists, paramedics, and midwives to dispense the vaccine, now. Polio was effectively eliminated in the United States in the 1970s following decades of aggressive vaccination. Now, though, only 79 percent of New Yorkers are vaccinated for polio. Read the full story in the New York Post.