New York State of Politics reports that while the New York state Assembly primary elections are now scheduled for June 28, using the new maps drawn by Democrats in early 2022, a judge in the First Department of the Appellate Division last week ruled the lines invalid, but they cannot be redrawn during this election cycle because of time constraints. Another lawsuit, brought by the League of Women Voters of New York State, alleged the state Board of Elections should not certify the Assembly lines because the Court of Appeals said they were drawn by an unconstitutional process. “We lost that case,” said Laura Ladd Bierman, executive director of the League. “It has been appealed to the Third Department of the Appellate Division.” The two conflicting cases, from the Third Department and First Department, will be appealed to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, where Ladd Biermann said she hopes they will be consolidated. It’s not clear when the Court of Appeals will rule. “It’s crazy. What happens after 2022? How are the new maps re-drawn then? It does not state. Would there be a master that would redraw them, as the master has redrawn the congressional and the Senate, or would it go back to the legislature or the IRC?” Ladd Bierman wondered aloud. “It doesn’t say and there’s no process to do this after 2022.” Read more at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released an audit last week finding the Greenville Central School District failed to establish adequate policies and procedures concerning employee network access. The audit began July 1, 2019, and the goal was to determine if district officials had established adequate network user account controls to prevent unauthorized use or access to its computer system. The audit was originally set to end Feb. 8, 2021, but was extended through March 31, so state auditors could complete computer testing. The Comptroller's Office found the district did not develop a comprehensive acceptable use policy and monitor employee computer use. They also found the district failed to disable 64 unnecessary user accounts, including both former student and employee accounts. The auditors recommended the district acceptable use policy be updated to clearly state what is acceptable for district computer use, update the policy to include district employees and to regularly review and monitor that policy for compliance. The report also recommended the district implement procedures to monitor employees' computer use and put into effect ways to ensure compliance. Greenville Central School District Superintendent Michael Bennett said he would defer questions about the state audit until after the Board of Education holds its next meeting. He said the district would be implementing an acceptable policy for employee use of district devices and its network. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

WNYT-TV is reporting that Gov. Kathy Hochul on June 13 signed bills to protect abortion rights in New York, providing protection for abortion providers and patients going forward. The legislation was approved in anticipation of a Supreme Court decision on abortion rights. "Not here, not now, not ever," Hochul said in response to the persistent assault on women's rights. She signed the package of six abortion rights bills at Cooper Union in New York City. "Under the first bill that I'll be signing, we're allowing New Yorkers to file lawsuits against people who are trying to limit their reproductive freedom," said Hochul. The legislation also provides legal protection for abortion service providers, and a bill allowing abortion providers and patients to keep their home addresses confidential. "The women of New York will never be subjugated to government-mandated pregnancies, because that's what will ensue if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court," said Hochul. The leak of a SCOTUS draft opinion in May seemed to indicate the nation's highest court is poised to overturn the 1973 landmark decision, setting off protests nationwide. Read the full story at WNYT [dot] com.

A legendary figure in pirate radio history, Carlos Juan Camacho Jr., died June 8 in Tampa. Camacho operated La Primerisima 89.3 FM from his home in Ybor City in Tampa, Florida, playing salsa and merengue music in the 1990s. The station was raided by officials from the Federal Communications Commission on April 13, 1998. Radio Amore, another unlicensed Tampa radio station was also raided that day by the FCC. That station was run by the Rev. Alberto Acosta who broadcast on 90.1-FM from a Baptist church. That raid came four months after three other pirate stations -- The Party Pirate, 87X, and Lutz Community Radio -- in Tampa were taken down by SWAT teams and the FCC. Tampa was a hotbed of pirate radio at the time, and the FCC's Tampa office busted more unlicensed stations than any other office in the country. Camacho did a do-it-yourself triangulation to locate 87X and meet Kelly Kombat, who was running that pirate station. "He proceeded to take me under his wing and school me on proper signal stabilization, how to use a limiter, how to tighten guy wires, and various other techniques in the operation of a 'professional pirate radio station,'" Kombat wrote of Camacho on Facebook after his death. "Carlos spoke in a thick rapid-fire Nuyorican accent, always with great enthusiasm about music and radio and family." Camacho was born in Puerto Rico on June 9, 1950. He ran the Red Plum Event Hall in New York, hosting performances from salsa stars including Hector Lavoe and Johnny Ventura. Camacho's obituary says "He made the first sound truck known as the 'Come Pava' in Puerto Rico," and also that, "He was an electrical technician and an alarms specialist and at the same time he followed his dream of having his own radio station, which he successfully broadcast for several years."

Emilia Teasdale reports in the Columbia Paper that beginning next year members of the public will not be allowed on the Ichabod Crane school campus after the elementary school shooting in Texas. Superintendent Suzanne Guntlow said she did not take the closure "lightly" and said the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, “shined a brighter light on school safety.” Previously, the public was allowed to use the track and the tennis courts during the school day if students are not using them. But next year, only parents picking up or dropping off children will be allowed on the Columbia County school campus. Guntlow also said the school will continue to employ a security guard, even though studies have shown they rarely avert school shootings and mostly just arrest students for many minor charges. Read more about this story in the Columbia Paper.

Sam Mellins reports for New York Focus the Gov. Kathy Hochul is now following a campaign finance law she had previously broken. In February, Focus reported that Hochul had failed to disclose the individuals behind corporate donations to her campaign, violating a 2019 law meant to crack down on corporate dark money in New York elections. Her latest campaign filings made the required disclosures identifying her recent donors, and Hochul says she will not spend the money received from past donors whose identities she hasn’t yet tracked down. The new election filings show Hochul is receiving many donations from the nursing home industry. Hochul has said she will investigate how thousands died of COVID-19 contracted in state nursing homes. Hochul received over $78,000 through limited liability companies from more than ten individuals associated with the nursing home empire Centers Health Care. That business was accused of neglecting patients and has suedNew York to stop a new law increasing staffing requirements for nursing homes. Read more about this story at New York Focus.

Elena Schneider reports for Politico that New York Democrats will not be among the first in the country voting on presidential candidates in the 2024 primary elections. The Democratic National Committee eliminated New York from its list of states vying for the early presidential nominating window on June 11. The Democratic Party co-chairs wrote that they were concerned about New York's “size, the cost of campaigning there, its profile as a ‘solid blue state,’ and concerns that it would be impossible to counterbalance the disproportionate number of urban voters it would introduce into the pre-window period.... While there are other large states to which these concerns apply, none of the others introduce all of these issues together,” they wrote in a memo shared with Politico. For years, New York Democrats vote late in the primary process, usually after the winner is pre-determined. 1976 was the last year New York Democrats voted in a competitive primary where the outcome was still in doubt, with voters picking Senator Henry Jackson from Washington State over Rep. Morris Udall of Texas and Georgia peanut farmer Jimmy Carter. Read more about this story at Politico.

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MidHudson News is reporting that the promoter of a gun show scheduled to take place in Saugerties, who previously agreed to cancel the event, has now changed his mind and will hold the event next weekend, despite the recent mass murders in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas. On June 9, Mechanicville resident David Petronis, president of the New East Coast Arms Collectors Association, met with Saugerties Town Supervisor Fred Costello and agreed to cancel the show in the wake of the killings. But, on June 11, he reversed himself and issued a statement saying that the show will go on. Petronis initially said that to hold the show “would have been irresponsible and insensitive to all those who recently lost loved ones.” But on June 11, he said the “aggressive turnaround” will create controversy and “the controversy brings the news, the news brings the people.” He added, “...we should get a huge crowd if nothing else from the gun-owning public than just sticking the liberals in the eye with a good show of support for our show." Read more at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Luke Parsnow is reporting for New York State of Politics COVID-19 community levels in New York state continue to decline from a post-omicron springtime spike, leaving only seven of the state's 62 counties designated as having "high" community levels of the virus, according to data released June 10, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Columbia, Dutchess, Greene and Ulster counties have "low" community levels. The current "high" counties are Clinton County in the North Country, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties in the Capital Region, Orange and Sullivan counties in the western Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County on Long Island. The CDC uses a "high," "medium" and "low" classifications based on the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days; the number of new hospital admissions with COVID-19 in the past seven days per 100,000 people; and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with COVID-19 within a seven-day average. With a "high" level, the CDC recommends wearing masks in indoor public areas and on public transportation. Nationwide, there are 314 counties the CDC said have “high” levels of COVID-19, which is up from the last two weeks. Counties with "high" community levels of the coronavirus are scattered throughout the country, with concentrations in the mid-Atlantic states and Florida, and parts of the upper Midwest, Southwest and West Coast. The Biden administration late last week announced it is lifting its requirement that international air travelers to the U.S. take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights, Read more at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

MidHudson News is reporting Democratic committee chairs from the counties that make up the current 19th Congressional District have unanimously chosen Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan as the Democratic nominee to run in the August 23 special election. If elected, Ryan would fill the remainder of Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado’s Congressional term, which ends on December 31. Under election law and party rules, the task of selecting the nominee in a special election is delegated to the county chairs. The current 19th District includes all of Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Sullivan and Ulster counties, and parts of Dutchess, Montgomery, Rensselaer and Schoharie counties. Ryan is also running for a full two-year term in the newly drawn 18th district in November. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting for The Columbia Paper the Hudson Board of Education has hired Derek Reardon as principal of Hudson High School effective July 1. Reardon has served as the school's interim principal since May 1, filling the vacancy created by the departure of Robert LaCasse. Reardon was first hired by the district in 1999 as a physical education teacher. He was appointed high school associate principal in 2006 and junior high principal in 2009. Reardon also served as the district’s athletic director. Superintendent Lisamarie Spindler acknowledged Reardon’s long history with and commitment to the Hudson schools. Reardon holds a master's degree from SUNY Albany in education administration and a bachelor's degree in physical education from SUNY Brockport. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Former President Donald Trump's social media service "Truth," which he started after he was kicked off Twitter for lies and misinformation, is not a place one can be banned for their beliefs, right? “I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable,” Trump said in a press release last year before his site launched, bragging about the lack of censorship. Now Mike Masnick reports at Techdirt that Trump's Truth site is banning users for trying to spread some “truths” about the January 6 hearings. "My Truth Social account was just permanently suspended for talking about the January 6th Committee hearings," Travis Allen, a political commentator on social media and self-described information security analyst, posted on Twitter on June 9, the day the first public hearing on the attempted coup of the United States was held. "So much for "free speech." This is censorship!" he wrote. Jack Cocchiarella posted on Twitter a similar story on June 10. "I was suspended from Truth Social for posting about the January 6th hearing last night," he wrote. "Donald Trump is scared of free speech." And this is not the first time that cancel culture has come to Trump's version of the Truth. In February, Techdirt reported, "Trump's social network is rapidly banning users it doesn't like, without telling them why." And the site's terms of service state that they may ban users: "We reserve the right to, in our sole discretion and without notice or liability, deny access to and use of the service (including blocking certain IP addresses) to any person for any reason or for no reason." Of course, no one has a constitutional right to a Twitter or Truth account, and companies are allowed to do what they want, even if Donald Trump doesn't want you to believe that truth.

Here is this week's Hudson Valley Congressional Report from WGXC, tracking the votes, statements, positions, and campaigns of the representatives of the Hudson Valley in Congress and the candidates who want to replace them. Current Democrat Reps. Paul Tonko and Sean Maloney vote with the positions of President Joe Biden 100 percent of the time, according to the fivethirtyeight.com website. Republican Elise Stefanik voted with Biden's positions 18 percent of the time. Click here to listen to this report.

As Congress begins public hearings on the attempted coup of Jan. 6, 2021, here in the Hudson Valley several local politicians either went to Washington D.C. that day, cheered those attending, and continue to embrace the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Liz Joy, the Republican again running against Rep. Paul Tonko in New York's 20th Congressional District, Tweeted the day before that she was attending the DC riot, and Tweeted during the disturbance that, "Hundreds of thousands of people attended today’s rally to stand for Election Integrity." Joy said that if she had been in office on Jan. 6, 2021, she would have voted against certifying the election. “Joe Biden is the president — period,” Joy said. “But I do believe there was massive voter fraud in our 2020 elections. And we have to get it right before we have the 2022 election.” Rep. Elise Stefanik, from New York's 21 District which will include Rensselaer County next year, continues to support the coup and overturning a fair and free election, even after the violence. She posted on Twitter after the riot that, "Americans have a Constitutional right to protest and freedom of speech, but violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable and anti-American." But Stefanik's Senior Advisor Alex deGrasse retweeted a message during the riot claiming the rioters were undercover leftists, without any evidence. Farther south, MidHudson News reported that state Assemblymember Colin Schmitt, a New Windsor Republican, was photographed the morning of Jan. 6, speaking maskless to a busload of people departing for the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Schmitt is running for the 18th Congressional seat this year. But before the photo of Schmitt talking to the busload of people en route to Washington surfaced, he issued a statement saying, “I am deeply disturbed by the assault on the United States Capitol today. There is absolutely no justification for any form of violence against the pillars of our democracy.”

Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman two Democratic Ulster County legislators are calling for County Executive Pat Ryan to resign, alleging that he is doing county residents a disservice by dividing his time between county business and his campaign for Congress. In a June 9, press release, legislators James Maloney and Laura Petit questioned Ryan’s ability to effectively run the county while actively campaigning in two separate congressional races. Petit said in the release, “The current situation for Ulster County government does not look good. It seems that the 6th floor of the county office building has gone dark, no one is doing anything for county government at the moment.” Maloney, who was re-elected to the Legislature in 2019, said, “There are too many things on the line right now to have an executive that is only half in it. There are things going on right now that we demand answers to, real solid answers.” The two said that while they have no objection to any elected official running for higher office, they think allegiances are split when an elected official tries to do both. “I just think it is impossible to do your current job effectively while running for another office,” said Petit. Maloney said Ryan’s decision-making could be clouded by the larger political climate. He also questioned whether anyone in the administration was working on Ryan’s campaign on the taxpayer’s dime. In a statement sent to the Freeman late Thursday, Ryan said, “In the last month alone, we have returned desperately needed mental health beds to our county, closed a transformational deal to revitalize the former IBM site, broken ground on our Veterans Cemetery expansion, and much more. From my very first day in office, I’ve worked nonstop for the people of Ulster County, and nothing will change that.” Ryan, a Democrat from Gardiner, is running in an August 23 special election against Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro to fill the 19th Congressional District vacancy created when Antonio Delgado was appointed to serve as lieutenant governor, Ryan is also running in the November 8 general election for the seat in the newly created 18th Congressional District. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Ted Remsnyder at Columbia-Greene Media features Jamie Cheney, the Rhinebeck-based farmer who has announced a run for Congress. Cheney faces Ithaca lawyer Josh Riley and OutHudson Executive Director Osun Zotique in the Democratic primary on Aug. 23. Cheney and her husband Christian own Falcon’s Field in Rhinebeck, a cattle farm on the Columbia and Dutchess county border that focuses on Angus beef. Cheney is a Yale graduate who earned her MBA from Harvard Business School. Originally, Cheney was running for state Senate in the 43rd district . Then redistricting upended the 43rd Districr, and put Cheney in the new 41st district, which meant she would have faced incumbent state Sen. Michelle Hinchey. Instead, she chose to run for Congress. “When the 19th district was redrawn, I unfortunately did not see a Democratic candidate in the race that I think can hold his seat and make sure we’re represented in D.C. in a way that represents our values and some of the key policy issues that we need,” Cheney said. “I feel very strongly that the 19th must be represented in that way.” And recent news headlines also helped spur her run. “I’m of a generation that never thought we’d go backwards on Roe and thought we’d always expand access to the ballot,” she said. Cheney also mentioned the lack of access to health care and broadband service as motivating issues. “The other priority for me is making sure our rural communities have a strong voice that reflects our policies in our smaller towns and smaller cities,” Cheney said. “I think we’ve had very well-intentioned policies, but particularly in the Democratic caucus it’s been written from our large urban centers.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Aaron Cerbone reports for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that Rep. Elise Stefanik is sticking by her endorsement of Carl Paladino despite several controversial statements from the new candidate for New York's 23rd Congressional District. Incumbent Republican Chris Jacobs dropped his re-election campaign last week after his support of a few gun control measures in the wake of the Buffalo mass shooting caused widespread backlash among his GOP supporters. So Paladino stepped up to run for the office. In 2021, Paladino said Adolf Hitler is "the kind of leader we need today.... We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer, has been there and done it.” Stefanik, whose new 21st District includes Rensselaer County told HuffPost on June 9 that Paladino’s statement was taken “out of context.” Last week, just before announcing his run for Congress, Paladino shared a post on Facebook with several false conspiracy theories, including that mass shootings are set up to create gun control legislation. Paladino first denied posting the writing, later admitted he did, and then told the Buffalo News “I don’t even know how to post on Facebook.” Stefanik’s press offices did not respond about the unsourced conspiracy theories. She continues to endorse Paladino. Read more about this story in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

Today's daily news update.

Brian Hubert is reporting for the Daily Freeman that more than 100 people joined the March for Our Lives events in Saugerties on June 11, demanding universal background checks for firearm purchases following a wave of mass shootings across the country. “We all want to end the gun violence in our country. It’s enough,” said Lisa Ewart, who organized the march. “We don’t want thoughts and prayers. We want action and we want it now. It’s important that we not just march today,” she added, “but we have a call to action. What are we going to do after the march to get legislation to pass?’ She urged everyone on hand to call their senators and congressional representatives and not just ask for action but demand it and not accept the status quo. The Saugerties event was one of numerous March for Our Lives events held nationwide. There were also events locally in Chatham and Albany. The Saugerties march set off from a parking lot outside the Kiwanis Arena and turned onto Washington Avenue then onto Main Street. The march next proceeded down Main Street as passing cars honked their horns and one man snapped photos and cheered the march. On Market Street, the marchers encountered a counter protester riding a bike. Teachers, active and retired, from area school districts, including several from Saugerties Central School District, participated in the event. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Kate Lisa is reporting for State of Politics the New York State Assembly maps adopted by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in February are now void, a state Appellate Court ruled on June 10. However, those district lines will remain in place for the June 28 primary and the Nov. 8 general election. "This was a great day, not just for me, not just the other petitioners, but for all New Yorkers who value the law and value the constitution," said New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax, who filed the initial challenge to the state Assembly maps. "Today is the day we went up against the Albany machine and we won." State Appellate Judge Susanna Molina Rojas ruled the maps were invalid because the Legislature drew its own lines after the state Independent Redistricting Commission failed to propose a second set of maps. Hochul's office said she is reviewing the decision. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's office declined to comment. "It's a huge win for democracy in New York," said plaintiff Gary Greenberg, a Democrat and an activist based in New Baltimore. Molina Rojas wrote in the decision, "The request for a delay of the 2022 assembly primary elections is denied in any event, because the redrawing and implementing of a new assembly map before a 2022 primary election delayed even until September is, at this late date, no longer feasible." Read the more at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Mid-Hudson News is reporting a shooting on Woods Road in Clermont on June 10 resulted in one man being injured and led to the Germantown and Red Hook school districts calling a lockout while police searched for the suspect. After the shooting, the suspect fled the scene and was apprehended on Warren Street in Hudson by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and members of the State Police. The man was identified as Tremaine Harris, age 21, of Ghent, and police charged him with attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and three counts of reckless endangerment. Police allege that Harris targeted and attempted to murder the owner of the Southwood Estate, a wedding and event venue on Woods Road in Germantown, by shooting a 12-gauge shotgun at the man several times, striking him in the leg. Several estate employees were nearby when the shooting took place. The injuries sustained by the victim are believed to be non-life-threatening. Police executed a search warrant June 10, at the Harris residence in Ghent where police found three guns — two stolen and all three illegally possessed by Terrence Harris, age 42. He was then arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of stolen property. Both men were arraigned in Clermont Court and then remanded to the Columbia County Jail without bail. Read more at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.