Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that State Police troopers are being sent to New York schools from now until the end of the year to conduct daily check-ins after an 18-year-old murdered 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school on May 24. The next day Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the police visits to schools. "I want parents who have enough to worry about in their daily lives — the cost of gas at the pump, the cost of groceries, maybe putting aside money — they have enought to worry about. Let them know the State Police and local law enforcement are there to protect them," Hochul said. But parents may worry if they read the news about the Texas shooting, because a school resource officer was at that school but failed to stop his murderous rampage. "What will it take to put a stop to these hateful, sickening acts of violence?" said Andy Pallotta, the president of the New York State United Teachers labor organization. "Our schools must be a safe place for all. As we mourn those who have lost their lives, we must also stand up and demand better for children, for parents, for educators and for communities across the nation." Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

On Twitter May 24, after an 18-year-old murdered 19 children and two adults at an elementary school, local politicians offered fewer "thoughts and prayers" than at most mass shootings, and instead offered vague calls for "action." Both of the candidates for the special election for the 19th Congressional District seat used that word. "Ten days ago we saw a horrific, racist act of gun violence at a grocery store in Buffalo and today we have yet another mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas. We need REAL action to #EndGunViolence and we need REAL leaders with a backbone to say enough is enough," Democrat Pat Ryan Tweeted. His Republican opponent, Marc Molinaro, Tweeted a similar message. "It is heartbreakingly clear we need action where our words have failed and consensus where contention has divided us. I believe we all have a role to play in finding solutions and rise to the challenge," Molinaro wrote. Neither offered anything specific. Other politicians were even more vague. Rep. Antonio Delgado, who resigned May 25 from the 19th Congressional District office, Tweeted, "My heart is breaking for the parents, loved ones, fellow students, teachers, and every single person affected by the horrific and tragic shooting in Uvalde. Our kids should feel safe and secure when they go to school, to the grocery store, to the movies. We need change now." Republican Assemblymember Chris Tague, who represents Greene County and 102nd District, did not call for any action at all. "Tonight the hearts of all New Yorkers and all Americans are with the victims, families and first responders of the horrible tragedy that occurred today in Uvalde, Texas," Tague Tweeted.

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Kathleen Moore is reporting for the Times Union that the state Education Department on May 24 canceled the Regents exam in U.S. history and government, saying content in the test could add to the trauma students experienced following the Buffalo shooting. The test had already been printed and students were scheduled to sit for the exam on June 1. In a letter posted on the state Education Department website, Commissioner Betty Rosa wrote that although the exam’s content was “educationally sound” it was reviewed in the wake of the mass shooting and that experts determined some of the content could potentially compound student trauma. Rosa wrote, “While developed by NYS-certified social studies teachers more than two years ago and field-tested to confirm that the exam's content is educationally sound, the tragedy in Buffalo has created an unexpected and unintended context for the planned assessment.” Department spokesperson Emily DeSantis later issued a statement that suggested one question was involved. She wrote, "...[I]t is not appropriate to administer the exam with a question that could compound the grief and hardship faced by our school communities.” At the June 2022 Board of Regents meeting, the board will consider granting an exemption to allow students to graduate without taking the exam, DeSantis said. Read the full story in the Times Union.

MidHudson News is reporting that a Hopewell Junction woman was killed when she fell while hiking in Hunter, according to a report issued by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Just after 12:30 p.m., on May 22., a DEC ranger responded to Platte Cove Road following the report of a fallen hiker. Rangers pronounced the woman dead at the scene. Her name was not released. Her body was transferred to the Greene County Coroner’s Office for further investigation. The State Police are leading the investigation. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the town of Greenville will next month host the first weekend-long festival organized by the Yondr Company, The group launched in 2014 with the intention of providing phone-free environments at concerts and comedy shows. The Greenville event will take place from June 24 through 26 on private farmland Route 81, and bring 15 musical acts and up to 400 music fans to the area. All fans will have their phones secured in Yondr pouches throughout the weekend, allowing concertgoers to hold onto their devices but unable to access their phones except in designated smartphone areas. Yondr founder and CEO Graham Dugoni said a company team-building trip to Rensselaerville in Albany County raised the company’s interest in hosting a music festival in upstate New York. “When we went there, everyone seemed to love the area and we felt like it kind of reflected what we hoped that a space for a festival would provide,” Dugoni said. Greenville Town Supervisor Paul Macko said the festival should pump money into the town’s economy. “They’re allowing camping on the site and anytime you can bring people into your community, they generally spend money,” he said. “That’s great for the town and great for those small businesses that might service those people.” The lineup for the June event includes indie-rock band !!! [pronounced "chik-chik-chik"], New Jersey rapper Topaz Jones, and Pennsylvania punk band Sheer Mag. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Jo Constantz claims at Bloomberg that New York City removed its last freestanding public pay phone from city sidewalks on May 23, moving it into the Museum of the City of New York exhibit, “Analog City.” The phone booths, at many locations, are being replaced with digital Wi-Fi kiosks. “Truly the end of an era but also, hopefully, the start of a new one with more equity in technology access,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine Tweeted. The digital kiosks include free phone-call capabilities, interactive maps, and USB charging stations. While New York City may be removing all of its pay phones, they are still on sidewalks elsewhere. Right on the sidewalk on N. 4th Street in Hudson across from the WGXC studio, there is a pay phone.

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Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that another Greene County resident died of COVID-19, county officials announced May 23. The woman passed away in a local hospital. She was in her 80s with comorbidities and was vaccinated, but did not have a booster shot, according to Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden. Greene County also reported 53 new cases on May 23, with 80 total currently and 14 residents in the hospital. Right now Greene County and all surrounding counties are considered as high-risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and masks are recommended for all indoor public activity. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

Farrell Greenwald Brenner reports for the Times Union that Ulster and Dutchess counties are getting two new opioid treatment centers. The New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports announced last week that it was awarding two grants $200,000 to the Lexington Center to open the facilities. The need is great in the Hudson Valley, as the New York State Department of Health reports that between July and September of 2021, the overdose death rates in Ulster and Sullivan counties were more than double that of the rest of the state. And currently, HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston is the only provider of methadone, to treat opioid addiction, in Ulster County and there are not any in Sullivan County. And there is a waiting list currently in Ulster County to get treatment. “When somebody is ready and they want to receive treatment or help for the disorder, it is always best for immediate engagement,” said Kathleen Carney, the Lexington Center’s Director of Rockland County Treatment Programs. “If there’s a delay, sometimes that could be a high-risk time for a client.” The new Ulster County facility may be open in 2023. “Hopefully by next year we won't have any waitlist at all,” said Ulster County Department of Mental Health Commissioner Tara McDonald. a href="https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/State-will-fund-two-new-opioid-treatment-centers-17193262.php">Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Mid-Hudson News reports that the musical chairs game of which candidates are running for which offices in newly drawn Congressional and state Senate districts continues. Now state Senator James Skoufis, a Democrat from Cornwall, was considering running for Congress, but now will attempt to stay in the state Senate. Skoufis was considering running for the 18th Congressional District, which would have put him in a primary election with current Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan. He says he is not running there because he does not want Republican Assemblyman Colin Schmitt and his “demagoguing politics” to win. “This is the man who actively supported the ‘stop the steal’ rally-turned-insurrection, Skoufis said. He claimed he could have beaten Ryan in the primary, but “it would no doubt leave our campaign in a bruised position with just two months until November’s challenging general election.” Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

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Valerie White is reporting for Porcupine Soup the Cairo Town Board meeting last week degenerated into chaos as highway department concerns and town employee salary issues dominated the discussion. Town Supervisor Jason Watts had to call for order several times as shouting matches broke out among attendees. Cairo resident Leon Uptegrove claimed there was too great a discrepancy between salaries for the highway department and those for other employees like the town’s bookkeeper. “We pay you,” Uptegrove said. “Why should [other] town employees sacrifice?  Why don’t you sacrifice?” At a meeting on May 9, the town board Increased the bookkeeper's salary by more than 10 percent to approximately $70,000. Uptegrove contended that town highway employees are not properly compensated for the work they do, which includes vital services such as snow plowing and road repair. Highway department employees are unionized. Uptegrove told the board, “You can’t find employees because you don’t pay.” Several employees of the highway department were on hand for the meeting and weighed in on safety issues and salaries, though more calmly than Uptegrove. “We’re losing guys,” highway employee Jim Gilmore said, and others from the highway department agreed that low salaries are the main cause of difficulty in finding and replacing workers. Watts pointed out that the town provides benefits that many private employers do not. Read the full story at porcupine soup [dot] com.

Steve Hughes is reporting for the Times Union thousands of families will now be eligible for child care support as part of a $2 billion expansion of child care funding in New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul said on May 20, the funding was part of the state’s recovery from the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a recognition of the lack of child care options for families statewide. “These historic investments in New York State's child care system will allow us to forge a new path forward for parents, especially mothers,” Hochul said in a statement. “It is the right thing to do, the moral thing to do, and will supercharge our economic recovery and support working families.” Approximately 1,500 child care providers closed between April 2020 and last February — a period of just 10 months, according to data from the Schuyler Center, a research and advocacy group focused on family issues. And the Capital Region was considered a child care desert, with not enough providers for the number of children in need, before the pandemic. As part of the investment, the state’s Office of Children and Family Services will expand the eligibility levels for families in August 2022 to up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $83,250 for a family of four. The state also recently released $30 million in federal funding to expand child care programs in the parts of New York without enough childcare slots. The state has received more than 1,700 applications from potential new child care providers and awards for that program are expected in the coming weeks, Hochul’s office said. Information on the Child Care Assistance Program is available from local Departments of Social Services. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media motorists using the Taconic State Parkway, between Philmont and the Berkshire Connector, will have roadwork to contend with through the month of June. The extensive $11.5 million paving project will impact travelers in Columbia County, said Heather Pillsworth, public information officer for New York State Department of Transportation, Zone 8. The paving was scheduled to begin this week and will encompass more than 14 miles in both directions, between Exit 91 in Philmont and the Berkshire Connector of the New York State Thruway in Chatham, Pillsworth said. The roadwork will pass through parts of the towns of Claverack, Ghent and Chatham. One northbound and southbound lane is expected to be closed Monday through Fridays from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., Pillsworth said. The construction is expected to be completed June 30. The project is one of the largest scheduled to take place in Columbia County this year. It will improve the quality of the pavement and increase its longevity, while maintaining safety attributes associated with roadway surfaces, Pillsworth said. Some areas throughout the work zone will be controlled by flaggers. Motorists are urged to slow down and drive responsibly in work zones; fines are doubled for speeding in a work zone. Up-to-date roadwork and travel information is available by calling 511. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Matthew Rozsa reports at Salon that the radio signals that humans have sent the farthest distance may be having problems getting any further. On Sept. 5, 1977, NASA launched the Voyager 1 space probe, which has now traveled 14.5 billion miles away from Earth. Radio signals to and from the Voyager 1 now take 20 hours and 33 minutes to reach each other. Voyager 1 is so far away it has left our universe, and is now in the interstellar void of the Milky Way. But it is losing power, and the interstellar void seems to be creating havoc. "The interstellar explorer is operating normally, receiving and executing commands from Earth, along with gathering and returning science data," NASA said on its website. "But readouts from the probe's attitude articulation and control system (AACS) don't reflect what's actually happening onboard." Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, explains further. "We're also in interstellar space – a high-radiation environment that no spacecraft have flown in before. So there are some big challenges for the engineering team. But I think if there's a way to solve this issue with the AACS, our team will find it." The Voyager 1 probe is so far into space that astronomers can now hear the "hum" that our solar system produces as the spacecraft travels outside of it. The hum is "interstellar gas," also known as plasma waves, "It's very faint and monotone, because it is in a narrow frequency bandwidth," said Stella Koch Ocker, a doctoral student in the Department of Astronomy and Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science. "We're detecting the faint, persistent hum of interstellar gas." Scientists may keep hearing that hum through 2025, when the radioisotope thermoelectric generators will no longer have enough energy to keep transmitting. Read more about this story at Salon.

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Mid-Hudson News reports that Rep. Antonio Delgado is now a representative in name only. At the beginning of May Governor Kathy Hochul picked him to be her new lieutenant governor, but he did not immediately resign the seat. And Delgado has not been voting in person in the Capitol since at least May 10, just over a week after Hochul tapped him for the new job. In a May 10 letter to the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, Delgado invoked a House of Representatives resolution that allows him to designate a proxy to vote in his absence. “I write to notify you of the designation of a proxy to cast my vote. I am unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency,” Delgado wrote, adding “I hereby grant the authority to cast my vote by proxy to the Honorable Joe Neguse (CO), who has agreed to serve as my proxy.” Apparently Delgado is using COVID-19 as an excuse, although he has made no public announcement about contracting the virus recently. Rep. Neguse represents the Second Congressional District in the State of Colorado, and will now be casting votes for the 19th Congressional District in the Hudson Valley. Delgado’s office did not respond to requests from Mid-Hudson News seeking additional comments regarding the proxy votes. Delgado announced May 23 that he will resign on May 25, allowing a special election to fill his seat on the same day as the state's congressional and state Senate primaries, Aug. 23. Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.