New York State of Politics listens to Paul Rodriguez the Republican and Conservative Party candidate for New York state comptroller. He wants to unseat Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat from Long Island, who has held the position for 14 years. That might be tough, asNew York's Common Retirement Fund’s investment return for the past fiscal year was 9.51 percent. Rodriguez attacked DiNapoli for sometimes taking political issues into account when making investment decisions. “Frankly, I believe that it’s irresponsible and unethical for any public official to use the value of the pension fund, and the power that comes with that pension fund to push whatever personal, political agenda they have,” Rodriguez said. “Primarily, the reason for that is that politics and public opinion changes with time.” For instance, Rodriguez would have kept New York's investment with the Russian regime headed by the brutal dictator Vladimir Putin. “What [Putin] did was simply prohibit [foreign] investors from selling their shares on the Russian market,” he said. “As a result of that, we now have about half a billion dollars at the state level and probably another $300 million at the city level, that virtually has no value on our books because we can’t sell it..... [The job] shouldn’t be about virtue signal political leanings. It should be about doing what’s best in terms of prudence and in terms of ethics." Rodriguez worked on Wall Street and has been a financial advisor to affluent individuals and business owners, and is now, “a nonprofit development professional at a major New York City religious institution," according to Ballotpedia. Voting in the general election this year takes place Oct. 29 through Nov. 8. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Syracuse.com reports that newly published photos show alleged White House documents from the administration of Donald Trump in a toilet, including one with local Rep. Elise Stefanik’s name on it. The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released two photos Aug. 8 of documents in a toilet, touting her forthcoming book. Haberman previously reported that the White House staff had found dumped documents clogging toilets during the Trump administration. Trump has denied flushing documents, and a spokesperson did so again after the two photos were published. Stefanik, though, has been mum on the issue so far. Trump's Florida estate was searched by the FBI on the same day the toilet photos were released. Read more about this story at Syracuse.com.

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The Berkshire Eagle is reporting that the city of Pittsfield, Mass. on Aug. 8 implemented mandatory water restrictions that will last from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., every day. The water restriction plan, according to a news release from the city, is part of its Stage 2 Drought Management Plan. It will help ensure an adequate supply of water for fire protection and emergency response services. "Over the last month, we have identified a steep trend in the water level at the Cleveland Reservoir, and together with scarce significant rain we have made the decision to establish a Drought Watch," said Ricardo Morales, commissioner of the Pittsfield Department of Public Services and Utilities. While the water restrictions are in effect limited activities include the use of water out of doors, such as watering lawns and gardens, washing vehicles, and filling swimming pools. However, these activities will be allowed during the off-peak hours and on alternating days. Even-numbered addresses may water on even days of the month, while odd-number addresses may water on odd days of the month. The restrictions will be enforced by the Department of Public Services and Utilities. Violators will be fined. The first violation will result in a written warning; a $50 fine will be issued for a second violation; and a $300 fine will result for subsequent violations. "With these measures in place, the main goal is to slow the decline and ensure adequate water supply," Morales said. Read more in The Berkshire Eagle.

Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Cairo town officials are moving forward with heating and air conditioning upgrades at Cairo Town Hall. The town board voted unanimously on August 1, to enter into a contract with the Barton and Loguidice engineering firm, agreeing to pay them $43,000 for the design phase of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning project and a maximum of $21,100 for the bidding and construction phases of the work. The engineering firm has determined that the building's existing HVAC equipment is in fair condition, but past its useful life. “The existing systems are not energy-efficient and it is recommended that they be replaced with a new, more energy-efficient system,” according Barton and Loguidice's report. The firm recommended the installation of a pair of new variable air volume rooftop air handling units, a new split system variable air volume air handler in the building’s mechanical room, variable air volume boxes with hot water heating coils, new duct work distribution and a high efficiency condensing boiler system using propane. The cost of the project is expected to be $335,000. The town will pay for the renovation work with American Rescue Plan Act funding. Cairo Town Supervisor Jason Watts said the building will remain open while the HVAC repairs are underway. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Sam Rizzo is reporting for News10 [dot] com Filli’s Deli and Bakery is poised to open a third location in Columbia County. According to a post on Filli’s Facebook page, the new location will be at Tilden Plaza in New Lebanon. “We recently purchased Tilden Plaza in New Lebanon and we are excited to bring life back to this historic building,” according to the post. “This location will be a full-service affordable everyday market.” The new location will include a full deli, a butcher, a Jersey bakery, fresh produce, dairy products, and a frozen and grocery section. An opening date has not been announced yet. Filli’s has two other locations in Columbia County. In Valatie, at 3019 Main Street, and in Claverack, at 6 Park Street. Read the full story at News10 [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Liz Montgomery reports in Porcupine Soup that the Village of Catskill’s water system leaked about 1,500 gallons of aluminum salts into the Potic Creek in Coxsackie on Aug. 7. The creek is not a source of human drinking water, though countless animals rely on the water. The Village of Catskill’s water supply comes from the Potic Reservoir on Schoharie Turnpike in Coxsackie, with the plant on Potic Creek Road. Aluminum salt, or alum, is used by water treatment plants to clarify drinking water. New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation is investigating the spill, working to stop the flow into the Potic Creek, and collecting dead fish. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports for the Daily Freeman that Republican Marc Molinaro vaguely claimed Aug. 5 that he would oppose efforts by Congress to pass anti-abortion legislation if he was elected to represent the 19th Congressional District. But he also said, during a debate with Democrat Pat Ryan put on by the newspaper, that he is pro-life and that the recent Supreme Court ruling made it an issue for the states, not Congress. “I don’t believe after the Supreme Court decision that the federal government or Congress has much of a role at all," Molinaro said. “The federal government’s role has been severely limited by the Supreme Court decision and therefore it is now an issue that returns to the state governments.... We may not agree that we like that, but that is the way in which this constitutional democracy works.” Molinaro did not say specifically how he would vote on a national measure to ban abortion that is expected if Republicans win control of Congress. Nor did he say how he would vote on a measure to protect abortion rights nationally, which is expected if Democrats retain control of Congress. Abortion services are widely popular, with voters in conservative Kansas voting last week to retain the medical procedure there. Most Republican politicians, such as Molinaro, oppose abortion, and after the Kansas vote are attempting to downplay their own opinions on the issue. Molinaro called for “thoughtful limitations” on when an abortion can take place and criticized Ryan’s support for late-term abortions, which Molinaro said, need to be “scaled to the necessity only.” Ryan disagreed. “I cannot tell you the number of times on the campaign trail across this district in the most rural and suburban parts of this district, people have literally broken into tears in response to fundamental rights being ripped away by your party and the far right Republican party that is increasing, looking at Kansas just a few days ago as an example, disconnected from reality on the ground,” Ryan said. “What I believe and what I believe the vast preponderance of Americans who believe in freedom and privacy as enshrined in our constitution believe is that government, especially a bunch of men, have no place in making those decisions.” Molinaro and Ryan are in a special election Aug. 13 through Aug. 23, to finish the final few weeks of Democrat Antonio Delgado's NY19 term. Other candidates are running at the same time to represent the new 19th District in Congress starting next year. The winner of the Ryan-Molinaro election won't vote on the abortion issue in the few weeks they will hold office, but if either win in their different general elections in November, they could. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that New York will no longer ban state prison inmates from reading a book about the 1971 Attica Correctional Facility uprising after the author filed a First Amendment lawsuit. But state officials said they will continue to censor a two-page map of Attica from the Pulitzer-prize winning book because of security reasons. Author Heather Ann Thompson, a historian and professor at the University of Michigan, sued New York’s prisons in March because her 2016 book “Blood in the Water: The Attica Uprising of 1971” was not allowed in prisons. The book is about a prison uprising to protest years of mistreatment, where 39 inmates and staff died. No law enforcement officers were put on trial for their role in the massacre, and inmates accused of crimes were granted pardons and amnesty. “People have a right to read, and people have a right to history,” Thompson said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed. “We also have a right to have our books read. It’s a shame we live in a country where we censor people and ideas.” The state attorney general’s office announced the policy change in a letter to a U.S. judge in Manhattan, but said only paperback copies of the book where the map can be removed will be allowed in prisons. And now if a correctional facility rejects a request for an order of the book, prison officials must send tell Thompson. Read more about this story in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

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Maura Rosner is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Athens village Mayor Amy Serrago said again August 3, the village Board of Trustees has no intention of leaving the Athens Community Center notwithstanding the town board’s desire to move out and find or build a new town hall. “We are trying to come up with outside funding for a full engineering study,” Serrago said. “... The village offices will stay in the Community Center building no matter if the town stays or goes.” The village board recently commissioned an air quality study of the Community Center and some work has been done to improve the environment inside the building. “It feels much better, much cleaner,” Serrago said. “The dehumidifiers in the basement are draining into the sump pump. However, the hallway ones we have to figure out a better drainage system for.” The village board’s next step toward rehabilitating the center is to give it a good scrubbing. Athens is seeking estimates for scraping and cleaning the walls, Serrago said. Once that work is completed, the village Department of Public Works can begin sealing and painting the walls, the mayor said. Village officials have also been advised to remove the carpet, seal the exterior gaps between the sidewalks and the edge of the center and to repair the gutters. A joint meeting of the village board and the town board will be held on August 17, at the firehouse. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Mid-Hudson News is reporting that Ulster County has its first confirmed case of monkeypox, county Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith said on August 6. Smith said the county has been poised to respond quickly to ensure public health and safety. Public health nurses are conducting case investigations to identify potential close contacts, and those close contacts will be offered the vaccine by the county health department. Others who believe they have been exposed to monkeypox may also be eligible for the vaccine and should call their doctor, officials said. Smith said the county has “a limited supply of ... vaccine to administer to individuals who meet the criteria established by the New You State Department of Health.” Monkeypox is a viral infection in the same family as smallpox and spreads in several ways such as by direct contact with monkeypox lesions through skin-to-skin contact, or by contact with respiratory droplets or saliva from someone with monkeypox. It can also spread through touching objects, fabric and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox. Information is available online at the New York State Department of Health’s website. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Roger Hannigan Gilson is reporting for the Times Union a six-month internal investigation into the actions of Robert Chakar, the superintendent of the Andes school district in Delaware County, appears to be nearing its conclusion. However, with the district poised to resume classes on August 18, it is doubtful the report will be completed and the results released before students return after the summer break. A separate investigation by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights is continuing. Chakar has been on administrative leave since mid-February after a district parent filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights and the Andes School Board. The parent first tried to bring their concerns to the district's Title IX [nine] coordinator but was frustrated to learn the coordinator was Chakar. A Title IX [nine] coordinator manages complaints involving sexual harassment or gender discrimination. The total number of complainants is unknown, but according to the Times Union, three people have filed complaints as part of the internal investigation. It is alleged that Chakar inappropriately touched an elementary-school-aged student, improperly commented on an adolescent girl's developing body and initiated unwanted conversations about his sex life with a school employee. In 2000, Chakar was forced to resign as an assistant superintendent at a Bristol, Connecticut, middle school after an internal investigation revealed that he repeatedly sexually harassed staff and spoke to girls at the school inappropriately. Read more at times union [dot] com.

Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup the Columbia-Greene Community College Board of Trustees has submitted to the legislative bodies of Columbia and Greene counties for approval, a $19,128,307 proposed operating budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year The spending plan reflects a 10 percent increase in overall spending, and an increase in tuition, from $2,484 to $2,556 per semester for state residents enrolled as full-time students. Maureen Sager, Columbia-Greene’s director of marketing and communications, said the college "...has worked hard to keep education within reach of every student. The increase this year ― 2.9 percent ― is indeed lower than the current rate of inflation, and we are thankful that we can continue to offer affordable tuition to Greene and Columbia County residents." The two-year college is supported by tuition, state aid, support from both Greene and Columbia counties, and, this year, just under $1.5 million from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, part of the federal CARES Act. The college is forecasting a decline in student enrollment which will result in a 5 percent decrease in tuition and fees. Greene and Columbia counties are expected to contribute a combined $6.45 million. Greene County will pay $2.90 million ― $206,333 less than last year ― while Columbia County’s share is $206,333 more for a total of $3.55 million. Sager said, “We’ve got more students from Columbia County this year, so their percentage is higher, and Greene County is lower. Overall, our county contributions are the same as last year.” The full Greene County Legislature will vote on the proposal following a public hearing August 17. College officials said Columbia County is on board with the plan. Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com.

Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that Cairo town officials are looking to extricate the town from an agreement it entered into last summer to purchase three acres of land on William Dinger Road. During a meeting of the Cairo Town Board last week, property owners. Janet Joralemon and Carol Jones spoke out expressing their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, which requires the sisters to pay property taxes on the parcel while the sale is pending. In August 2021, the town board voted to give then-Supervisor John Coyne the authority to sign a contract for $70,000 to acquire the property, which is located near Route 32 and McDonald’s. After taking office in January, Watts, who voted to approve the land deal when he was a board member, said the town did not have the funds to complete the purchase. “It’s been approved, but where are we supposed to get the money for it?” Watts asked during the August 1 board meeting. “It was never put in the [2022] budget.” Watts indicated the town was now going to attempt to void the commitment. Watts would now like to see the right-of-way to the land given to the current owners and the land returned to them to sell to another party. No vehicle access into the vacant land exists, a situation the sisters want rectified. “I think something commercial could go in there but it has to be opened up at least,” Jones said. Watts said he also wants to see the property turned into a commercial development. Watts said he hopes to have more information about the property at the board’s August 17 workshop meeting. “We’ll know more by then,” he said after the meeting. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media longtime Coeymans Town Historian Harry Sturges has resigned from the post and his colleague, Joseph Boehlke, has been named as his successor. At the July 28 meeting of the Coeymans Town Board, Town Supervisor George McHugh read a resolution accepting Sturges’ resignation. “The town of Coeymans sincerely thanks Harry Sturges for his service and dedication to the town of Coeymans and its residents for the last 65 years,” McHugh said. Sturges also compiles a weekly column, “News from the Past,” for the Ravena News-Herald. In a second resolution Joseph Boehlke was appointed the new town historian. Boehlke has been a member of the Ravena Coeymans Historical Society since 1999, a curator since 2009, and president of the Ravena Coeymans Historical Society since 2015. His appointment is effective through December 31. Read the full story at TheUpStater [dot] com.

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