Republican Ola Hawatmeh's write-in candidacy for the 19th Congressional District seat includes one television ad she has paid for, and two that a group called the Old Guard LLC has paid for. Republican Kyle Van De Water defeated Hawatmeh in the Republican primary, but she has launched a write-in campaign against him, incumbent Democrat Antonio Delgado, Green Party candidate Steve Greenfield, and Libertarian Victoria Alexander. The Times Union reports Delgado has a giant fundraising advantage against four opponents. Delgado has raised $5.6 million for the election, and Van De Water has raised $50,000. For Hawatmeh, the Old Guard, a group of Republicans, are raising money but not reporting campaign finance figures. They are also paying for two ads running on WYBN-TV locally. The station is also airing one ad paid for by Hawatmeh, according to WYBN's President Dan Viles. The Old Guard is also paying $1,500 to run a radio ad in Ulster and Sullivan counties. Both Delgado and Van De Water are each airing ads on many television stations, with Delgado's airing far more often. Bryan LoRusso, a Republican in Otsego County who is part of the Old Guard group and is a Department of Defense security contractor, told the Times Union he was unaware of federal laws governing independent expenditures and electioneering communications. “We don’t have any guidance,” LoRusso said. “We are just a group of people who are pissed and are doing what we can.” The group had not made any filings to the Federal Election Commission, as of Oct. 21.

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As early voting begins Oct. 24 in New York, and ballot counting starts Nov. 3, Attorney General Letitia James issued guidance to Board of Election offices and law enforcement entities throughout the state about voter intimidation. “All New Yorkers must be able to exercise their fundamental right to vote without coercion or intimidation,” said James. “While voting in New York is safe and secure, I urge anyone who encounters barriers or issues to contact my office immediately. The guidance we are issuing outlines basic protections for voters and serves as a warning that will we not allow anyone to hamper people's access to voting, period.” Citizens can report any election incidents at the Election Protection Hotline by calling 1-800-771-7755 or by emailing election.hotline@ag.ny.gov. Anyone should report:
• Individuals or groups patrolling outside of polling places and trying to scare people out of the voting line;
• Poll watchers inside a polling place aggressively challenging large groups of voters, leading to long lines, and creating false fears that voters may be illegally voting;
• Poll watchers standing in the vicinity of privacy booths, standing in unauthorized areas, videotaping and/or photographing voters within the polling place, following or harassing voters in the polling place;
• Individuals spreading false rumors or making false statements that there are negative consequences to voting;
• Individuals or groups displaying weapons or foreign military uniforms or other military paraphernalia outside of polling locations.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics New York lawmakers and advocates October 22 called for an end to a postage stamp requirement for absentee ballots statewide, calling it a "defacto poll tax" on voters. Lawmakers next year could consider a constitutional amendment that would permanently expand what is for this year universal no-excuse absentee voting. At the same time, lawmakers have been calling for more permanent changes to the process, including the postage requirement for mailing in ballots. The bill would require the state Board of Elections to provide a return postage stamp guaranteed envelope with absentee ballots. This was provided through executive order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the June 23 primary in New York; a similar order was not issued for the Nov. 3 general election. Assemblyperson Linda Rosenthal, a Democrat from Manhattan said, "During a pandemic, when millions of New Yorkers will vote by mail to protect their health and safety, it is vital that we remove every barrier to the vote. This amounts to a poll tax: the cost of a single stamp could represent a difficult decision that no one who is barely scraping by should be forced to make." Civil rights advocates support the proposed changes for absentee ballot postage. “This is voter suppression,” said Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, president of the NAACP NYS Conference. “Anytime we put anything in the way that doesn't encourage citizens to participate in democracy — that is voter suppression.” Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Larry DiDonato reports in the Greenville Pioneer that many more bears were killed by hunters in New York in the early firearms season this year than last. During bear hunting season this year, 381 black bears were killed compared to 248 in 2019. That total is fewer than the five-year average of 428 per year from 2014 through 2018. Bow-hunting season for deer continues now through Nov. 20, the day before hunters can use guns to kill deer. “DEC encourages every hunter and outdoor recreationist to wear blaze orange or fluorescent pink. Wearing bright orange or pink prevents other hunters from mistaking a person for an animal or shooting in your direction. Hunters who wear hunter orange are seven times less likely to be shot,” the DEC warned hunters in a press release. There are fewer deer for hunters to kill this year, as Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease has been decimating populations. The DEC report 625 deer died in Ulster, Orange, and Rockland counties, and 517 died in Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester counties from Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease. In Greene County, most of the EHD deaths were in the Village of Catskill and surrounding area, DiDonato reports. Anyone who sees a sick or dying deer should call the DEC at 1-844-DEC-ECO. Read more about this story in the Greenville Pioneer.

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Sean Mulkerrin in The Altamont Enterprise profiles the four candidates who want to be elected in New York's 46th Senate District. Democrat Michelle Hinchey, Republican Richard Amedure, Green Party candidate Robert Alft, and write-in candidate Gary Greenberg. Hinchey is from Saugerties, and is the daughter of Maurice Hinchey, who once represented the area in Congress. Conservative Richard Amedure is a resident of Rensselaerville and a long-time member of the town’s planning board. Alft is a Voorheesville resident, and Greenberg is a Greene County resident who mounted an unsuccessful campaign in the Democrats primary. The district covers all of Greene County and parts of Ulster, Albany, Schenectady, and Montgomery counties. Hinchey has received 1,766 contributions totaling $446,000. Amedure has received 113 donations totaling $90,847. Greenberg’s $19,926 came from 52 different contributors, but $12,500 came from Greenberg himself. The Altamont Enterprise did not report any campaign fundraising information from Alft, and there does not seem to be any information on New York's website. Amedure is from Rensselaerville in Albany County and recently retired from the New York State Police after 31 years. He was the head of the troopers’ union the last four years of his tenure. “Taxes are too high in New York,” Amedure said. “We need to be fiscally responsible in good times so that, when we do have emergencies, we can weather the storm, so to speak.” Hinchey graduated from Cornell in 2009 and worked in communications for 10 years, and helped on Antonio Delgado's 2018 campaign for Congress. Hinchey is interested in reforming the property tax system. “Right now, owning property, we’re penalized,” she said. Many people who make less are paying more in property taxes than people who live in cities, according to Hinchey. Greenberg is from New Baltimore in Greene County is known for working for several years for the passage of the Child Victims Act and Erin’s Law. Greenberg is interested in New York raising additional revenue from sports gaming online. New Yorkers are “crossing the border with their phones,” to bet on sporting events online, while New York State is missing out on hundreds-of-millions in tax revenue, he says. Alft lives in Voorheesville and drove a bus for the school district there from 2000 to 2017. He says single-payer health care would be “a great thing for New York,” and is also in favor of ranked-choice voting. Read more about this story in The Altamont Enterprise.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Catskill Central School District administrators and board of education Thu., Oct. 22, marked the start of the district’s $40.8 million capital project. The project received approval in early 2019, and it was initially scheduled to begin in late June but was delayed due to the pandemic, Superintendent Ronel Cook said. “We’re hoping for a warm winter so we can get a lot of work done,” Cook said. “We’re very pleased to begin this process to bring 21st-century learning to our students and community.” The state will reimburse the district 69.5 cents for each eligible dollar spent. The remainder of the cost will come from $4 million the district set aside in a Capital Reserve Fund and from issuing bonds the district will repay over a 15-year period, according to the district. “That’s huge for us,” Cook said, referring to the state aid. “This is definitely a return investment. It’s a great day in Catskill.” Contractors will be on-site next week to start phase one of the project, which will include a new middle school gym, a track upgrade and converting the soccer field to a turf field, Cook said. The district hired BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers, and the contract manager for the work is Triton Construction. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Nick Reisman is reporting for Spectrum News a majority of New Yorkers believe Gov. Andrew Cuomo is doing a good job handling the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a Spectrum Networks/Ipsos poll released October 21. The poll of more than 1,400 New York adults found 67 percent either strongly or somewhat approve of the job Cuomo is doing handling the ongoing pandemic, while 28 percent do not. Cuomo remains generally popular among state residents, with a 65 percent job approval rating. The majority of those polled named the pandemic as the most pressing problem facing the state. When asked to select three issues from a menu of concerns, 57 percent chose the pandemic as the top issue, followed by crime (27 percent), unemployment (27 percent), taxes (24 percent) and affordable housing (20 percent). Despite the increased unemployment rate, Cuomo also receives broad approval on issues like jobs and the economy: 56 percent approve, 35 percent do not. The governor receives similarly strong numbers on the plans for sending children back to school. New Yorkers are less supportive of the governor's nursing home policies during the pandemic: 50 percent approve of his handling of the congregant care facilities while 39 percent do not. The poll was conducted from October 7 to 19. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Tracy Memorial Village Hall in Chatham was evacuated October 21 after an envelope containing a white powder was received. The envelope was sent via U.S. Mail to the village court at village hall. The substance was found to be nonhazardous later that same day, said state police information officer Aaron Hicks. No injuries were reported, he said. Police have not disclosed what the substance was. The village hall was cordoned off with police tape during the evacuation, but Main Street remained open to traffic. Three village hall employees who were nearby when the envelope was opened were placed on quarantine as a precautionary measure, but were released in a matter of hours when authorities determined the material was harmless, Chatham Village Mayor John Howe said. The building was reopened and employees went back to work early in the afternoon, Howe said. This was the second suspicious powder incident in Chatham this year. On January 27, an employee in the offices of attorney James Kleinbaum on Park Row opened a package that contained a suspicious powdery substance. That substance was also determined to be nonhazardous, state police said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

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Raymond Pignone is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media on the Lexington Town Board race between Republican Susan Falke-Turk and Democrat Bennett Wine. Wine was elected last year to serve out the last year of the unexpired term of a former board member. Falke-Turk, 50, finished second in that election last year. She was born and raised in Lexington and has taken care of her grandparents and uncle, and now her mother and father at the family farmhouse. Her grandparents began their life together at the home where she now lives. Falke-Turk has been employed as a head teller at a bank in Ulster County for 15 years. If elected, she will hold public office for the first time. She is a 1992 graduate of SUNY Cobleskill, where she received an associate degree in office technology/word processing. Falke-Turk defines the top issue facing Lexington as "businesses." She said, “We have to travel to other towns for gas, groceries or take-out. We have several travelers coming to town for hiking, fishing, hunting and [then] traveling back out of town to spend money in other communities. I would like to see more opportunities for revenue and jobs in our town.” Falke-Turk said if elected she looks forward to serving the community she grew up in. "I know most of the residents and I will work hard with the rest of the town council to make Lexington a great place to live, work and enjoy life in,” she said. Wine, 65, and his family live on Mark Drive in West Kill. He has lived in Greene County for 12 years. He is an artist and designer. Wine graduated from Columbia University with a master’s of fine arts degree and from Antioch College with a bachelor’s degree in art. Wine served as co-chair of the Lexington Broadband Initiative. He said, "This was a huge step in bringing Lexington into the future. Since then our growth has started and we are beginning to get young families with children to come to our town. With the advent of COVID-19, more people have seen the advantages of living and working from our town, and I would assume the growth will continue. Now the challenge is how to best adapt the town to the changing situation and at the same time keep the things that we love about the town intact.” Wine said he would be a good choice because, “I have been a good board member because I have a vision for the town and I have been acting on it..." Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

MidHudson News is reporting unemployment in the region decreased in September when compared to the higher August level, however, remains significantly higher than pre-pandemic rates. Columbia County had the lowest rate of joblessness in the Hudson Valley in September at 4.5 percent, but that was higher than the 2.8 percent recorded by the State Labor Department in 2019. Ulster and Putnam counties each recorded 5.6 percent jobless rates in September while the Dutchess rate was 5.8 percent. Greene County had a 6.0 percent rate, compared to 3.9 percent in September 2019. The highest rate recorded in the Hudson Valley last month was 7.0 percent in Westchester, down from 11 percent in August. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media on the possible sale of the TJ Auto Service building on upper Columbia Street in Hudson for development as a brewery. The matter is currently before the city planning board, and public comment on the proposal will conclude Fri., Oct. 23, Hudson Planning Board Chairwoman Betsy Gramkow said. Emma O’Donnell and her husband Paul O’Donnell, of 735 Columbia St. LLC, have proposed to buy the property at 735-737 Columbia Street to create the Columbia Filling Station, a bar, restaurant and brewery. The O’Donnells plan to use the conjoined front buildings as a seating area and kitchen. The warehouse in the rear of the building would be used for the brewery and an event space. The proposal includes eight off-street parking spaces, as well. “Our plan is to purchase the property, but first we need to be approved by the planning board,” Emma O’Donnell said, adding they also have legal hurdles to address before acquiring the commercial property. They hope to open the brewery in summer 2021. The O’Donnells are from New York City and have been weekend residents in Red Hook, Dutchess County for 16 years. The planning board will vote on the proposal 6 p.m. October 27 on a Zoom video conference. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

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Unfortunately, as a result of the significant increase in COVID-19 infections among the incarcerated population at Greene and Elmira Correctional Facilities, effective today, Oct 21, 2020, at 3pm, visitation at the 2 facilities will temporarily be suspended until further notice.

— NYS DOCCS (@NYSDOCCS) October 21, 2020

While county leaders, from both political parties, in Dutchess, Ulster, Albany, and Rensselaer counties held regular press conferences and live online forums to inform citizens about COVID-19 during the beginning of the pandemic, Greene County officials still have not held any public forums where residents could ask questions or find out what efforts are being taken to lower the risk of transmission. On Oct. 21, though, two county officials put out a press release, the most they have done for public information during the course of the pandemic. And this press release was about the recent coronavirus outbreak in Greene County, which has led to cases in Greeneville and Catskill schools, and the Greene County Office Building in Catskill where early voting starts this weekend. But the press release starts off not with what residents should do to lower the spread of the dangerous virus, but saying that the COVID-19 outbreak is not their fault. “The recent spike in cases due to the lack of testing performed by DOCCS on its employees residing across the region has put increased stress on our public health system, our communities, and our economy – so far resulting in the closure of the Greenville Elementary School, and delaying the scaled-back reopening of movie theaters and performance venues”, said Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden in the press release. The same day, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, had an announcement of their own, without laying any blame. "Unfortunately, as a result of the significant increase in COVID-19 infections among the incarcerated population at Greene and Elmira Correctional Facilities, effective today, Oct 21, 2020, at 3 p.m., visitation at the two facilities will temporarily be suspended until further notice," DOCCS Tweeted. They have also suspended all transfers in or out of the facility. At least 100 inmates and 26 employees of the Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks. The press release from Greene County Legislature Chairperson Patrick Linger and Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden tells DOCCS three things they should do: Provide Greene County Public Health officials with the same level of access to DOCCS COVID information that nursing homes get; ensure all inmates test negative before being released from the Greene Correctional Facility; and "do appropriate testing." Meanwhile, five more COVID-19 cases were announced Oct. 21 in Greene County, and three more cases were announced in Columbia County.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Greene County lawmakers October 19, approved a 15-year tax break for a proposed solar facility to be built in Cairo. The proposal, submitted by Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, Inc., of Valhalla, calls for the construction of a 2-megawatt solar farm on Old Route 23 in Acra. The project will use about 20 acres of a 95-acre parcel. Republican Thomas Hobart, of Coxsackie, said of the payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, agreement, “I think we’re going down a slippery slope. This opens a can of worms.” Using a PILOT allows a municipality to collect taxes from a solar facility that would otherwise be exempt. With the Cairo project taxes will be collected on the land and residence on the property, only the solar facility is tax-exempt. The county has seen a recent increase in the number of renewable energy proposals, with Bogart Solar on Cauterskill Road in Catskill, Flint Mine Solar and Hecate in Coxsackie, and Glidepath’s battery storage facility on Route 9W in Catskill. Hobart questioned how the project would be decommissioned after exceeding its lifespan, asking who will pay for it to be taken down. These types of projects are referred to the county planning board, Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger said. “We are negotiating the best possible deal we can get and are doing very well compared to our counterparts,” Real Property Tax Director Ray Ward  said. Similar-sized counties across the state average about $6,000 per megawatt, while Greene County has been averaging about $9,000 per megawatt, Ward said. The Legislature Finance Committee approved the PILOT, with Hobart and Republican Michael Bulich of Catskill, voting against the measure. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

MidHudson News is reporting U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has asked Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett to include Stewart Air National Guard Base in next year’s portion of a Remedial Investigation, allowing for the critical next step of PFAS cleanup to finally begin. The U.S. Air Force may not include Stewart in the towns of New Windsor and Newburgh in the next round of priority cleanup sites as a result of a bureaucratic internal policy penalizing Newburgh for no longer using Lake Washington as their drinking water source. Because the city switched off its main drinking water source after the discovery of toxic PFAS in its water source in May of 2016, it may be penalized and ultimately left out in the Air Force’s next round of priority cleanup site selections, based on guidelines. “The bottom line is Washington Lake was and will be Newburgh’s drinking water source, and the United States Air Force can and must clean up the toxic PFAS mess they made in the lake and its tributaries with all due speed,” said Schumer. “No one should fear that their health or that of their family is being damaged by the water they drink, which is why I am calling on the Air Force to immediately expedite the cleanup process, approve funding for a Remedial Investigation at Stewart Air National Guard Base, and allow the cleanup to move forward ASAP.” Perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid. or PFOA, are two types PFAS, a group of manufactured chemicals, and are persistent in the environment and resist degradation. These toxic chemicals are common primary ingredients in the firefighting foam that was used at Air National Guard bases for training and fire-suppression exercises. Exposure to PFAS chemicals has been linked to certain cancers and other serious adverse health effects. Read more at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.