Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Dec. 22 moving most local elections to even years, when major elections for president and Congressional seats are held. The hope is that more people will vote in these elections on these dates, instead of the normally low-turnout local municipal odd-year contests. Many Republicans, the New York State Association of Counties, and some Democratic elections commissioners opposed the move, and some worried the local elections would get less attention when paired with higher-profile votes. Hochul signed the bill just before the holiday break, where it would get little attention. She hailed it as a “significant step towards expanding access to the ballot box and promoting a more inclusive democracy.” Elections for mayor, district attorneys, judges, local school boards, and fire districts will remain on their regularly scheduled dates, but other votes will now move to even years. Hochul said she would support a constitutional amendment to align all elections to even years, since it would consolidate elections and save taxpayers money. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

William J. Kemble reports for the Daily Freeman that affordable housing is a key issue for he Ulster County Industrial Development Agency for 2024. The group says solving the lack of affordable housing is key for new businesses to attract and keep employees. Chair of the agency, Mike Ham, admitted some were not happy with the group's progress so far on the issue. He said, “Despite some passionate conversations in here, the board’s moving ahead here." There are 880 housing units planned for a 2024 development in iPark 87 in the town of Ulster. Ham said, “Manufacturing and housing are walking hand-in-hand because you can’t anticipate hiring 400 people for a large-scale manufacturing project if they have no place to live.... The IDA is not the entity to solve the housing crisis.... We don’t have the funding for that.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's audio daily news update.

Click above to download or play the "Better Weather." Produced by Joe Demanso of the Catskill Makers Syndicate.

Mid-Hudson News reports that the Newburgh district office of Rep. Pat Ryan was vandalized by activists demanding the Democrat call for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. The words “CEASEFIRE NOW” and “WAR CRIMINAL” were painted on the windows of Ryan's office on Broadway in Newburgh. Ryan continued to defend his support of the war in a statement, “War brings out the worst in humanity- making the urgent pursuit of peace both necessary and incredibly difficult to achieve." Ryan said he would support a ceasefire if certain benchmarks were reached first. But Ryan's demands before a ceasefire may not be realistic. The story says, "the likelihood that a new Palestinian government could be quickly constituted to end the bloodshed and that the new government would be able to negotiate a genuine two-state solution with Israel seems low." Several hundred people peacefully rallied in front of Ryan's office last month to convince him to support a ceasefire. Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that the Greene County Legislature voted unanimously on Dec. 20 to increase funding for the Greene County Youth Fair from $24,284 to $40,000. Greene County Legislative Chair Patrick Linger explained that setting up the fair is a lot of work and that, “They would like to erect a storage building on-site so they can move it all in a day.... We'd like to help.” Greene County Agricultural Society President Alex Johnk said, “Since 2020 when the fair was cancelled due to Covid, we have had to scale some things back especially the entertainment.... This additional funding will allow us to add more entertainment acts and educational exhibits and displays. The funds will also be added to our general fund to continue making upgrades to enhance and improve both exhibitor and guest experiences.” The fair is held at the end of July in Angelo Canna Town Park in Cairo. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

New York State of Politics reports that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill on Dec. 23 that would have made it easier for people who have pleaded guilty to crimes to challenge their convictions. Criminal justice reformers were upset with the veto that was favored by many prosecutors. Hochul said the bill's "sweeping expansion of eligibility for post-conviction relief" would "up-end the judicial system and create an unjustifiable risk of flooding the courts with frivolous claims." Currently, criminal defendants who plead guilty are barred from trying to get their cases reopened based on a new claim of innocence, unless there is new DNA evidence. The bill would have allowed video footage or evidence of someone else confessing to a crime, or arguments that a person was coerced into a false guilty plea. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Here is what the computer tells us were the most played songs on WGXC 90.7-FM in 2023 (through Dec. 23) with some sort of tie to a Hudson Valley performer. Today we are celebrating the most played local music on WGXC this year:
1. Brian Dewan, "Clockwork of the Heavens" (59 plays)
2. Amy Rigby, "Tom Petty Karaoke" (16)
3. The Replacements, "Left of the Dial" (14)
4. P.G. Six, "I Have Known Love" (14)
5. P.G. Six, "I Have a House" (13)
6. Meshell Ndegeocello, "Virgo" (13)
7. Gary's Dream, "To the Moon" (13)
8. Elvis Perkins, "There Goes the Nightmericans" (12)
9. P.G. Six, "I Don't Want to Be Free" (12)
10. The Wild Weeeds, "I Love You (Mary Jane)" (12)
11. The Magnetic Fields, "Foxx and I" (11)
12. Arone Dyer stargazer "Define" (11)
13. Brian Dewan, "The Civil War" (11)
14. Rasputina, "Watch TV" (10)
15. Brian Dewan, "The Day The Day Stood Still" (10)
16. Florist, "Sci-Fi Silence" (10)
17. Meshell Ndegeocello, "Vuma" (10)
18. Wreckless Eric, "Standing Water" (10)
19. Buke & Gase, "Derby" (10)
20. Wreckless Eric, "They Come With Cornflakes" (10)
21. Babehoven, "Chariot" (10)
22. Wreckless Eric, "Badhat Town" (10)
23. Pauline Oliveros, "Alien Bog" (10)

Here is what the computer keeping a count of the tracks says were the most played songs and artists on WGXC 90.7-FM wgxc.org in December, 2023.

Playlist Counts for December 2023
Top 100 Songs Airplay on WGXC Dec. 1-Dec. 23, 2023

Lynn Nandar Htoo - Unlawful (11)
Amy Rigby - Tom Petty Karaoke (11)
Brian Dewan - Clockwork of the Heavens (11)
Ben Salisbury - The Alien (7)
Treday - Suicide Letter (7)
The Sovereignnatians - Fear Itself Aka The Darkeness (7)
Chris Forsyth - Experimental & Professional (7)
Pauline Oliveros - Alien Bog (1967) (7)
Lynn Nandar Htoo - Trial (6)
Damienz Dezign - She Needs Me (6)
Elvis Costello - Radio Is Everything (6)
Lynn Nandar Htoo - Night (6)
The Jazzmaster - Looney Jazz (6)
Lea Bertucci - Vapours (feat. Quartetto Maurice) (Radio Edit) (5)
Lily Konigsberg - Sweat Forever (5)
My Best Friend - Sounds Dogs Love To Hear Reactions (5)
Baldhead Jackson;Mikki Em - Quarantine & Thangz (5)
Fela Kuti - No Agreement (5)
Ray Anderson - Ecaroo (5)
Arone Dyer, stargaze - Define (5)
Lily Konigsberg - Alone (5)
DRS - Waiting To Go (4)
Diamanda Galás - Vein (4)
Classique - Un peu de musique classique, pt. 11 (4)
Franco de Vita - Un Buen Perdedor (4)
Wreckless Eric - They Come Free with Cornflakes (4)
Monday Mornings - The Eternal Afternoon (4)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - So Much Trouble In The World (4)
Diamanda Galás - Smell (4)
The Pogues - Sally MacLennane (4)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Radio, Radio (4)
Diamanda Galás - OPM (4)
The Human Beinz - Nobody But Me (4)
The Wild Weeeds - New Grow Room (4)
Diamanda Galás - M Dis II (4)
Diamanda Galás - M Dis I (4)
Voyage - Lady America (4)
Chris Cutler - It's half past midnight in Stockholm, Sweden (4)
The Cyrkle - I Wish You Could Be Here (4)
Diamanda Galás - I I (4)
Diamanda Galás - Hepar (4)
Diamanda Galás - Headbox (4)
Oscar Peterson - Ellingtonia: Take The 'A' Train / In A Sentimental Mood / Satin Doll / Lady Of The Lavender Mist / Things Ain't What They Used To Be (4)
M.I.A. - Double Bubble Trouble (4)
Diamanda Galás - Do Room (4)
Prince - Darling Nikki (4)
Diamanda Galás - Cunt (4)
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - All Blues (4)
The Jesus And Mary Chain - jamcod (3)
Burl Ives - You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch (3)
Sababa 5 - Ya Hiah feat. Shiran Tzfira (3)
Pink Cookies - Wu Tangy (feat. Isa Starr & Sadie Woods) (3)
Lewsberg - Without A Doubt (3)
The Second Hand Orchestra - White Christmas (3)
Barbara King - What I Did in the Street (3)
Niecy Blues - U Care (3)
wILD fIRE - Try Making Love (3)
Amy Rigby - Tomorrow's All We've Got (3)
Kurt Vile - Tom Petty’s gone (but tell him i asked for him) (3)
This Will Destroy You - The Mighty Rio Grande (3)
Peter Thomas Sound Orchester - The Dandy Walks Again (3)
BRIAN DEWAN - The Cowboy Outlaw (3)
Sole/DJ Pain 1 - The Collapsing 20's (3)
Brian Dewan - The Civil War (3)
Talking Heads - Television Man (Extended Mix) (3)
Abdolhosein Mokhtabad - Tasnife Naghshe Del (3)
Ottawan - T'es OK (3)
Massimo Catalano - Suoni Distorti (3)
The Cambodian Space Project - Summer Wine (3)
Wreckless Eric - Standing Water (3)
Stevie Wonder - Someday At Christmas (3)
Nana Aboagye Da-Costa - Sikyi (Medley) (3)
Negativland - Sign-Off (3)
Shamirza Moradi - Shâne Shaki (3)
Clark - Secular Holding Pattern (3)
The Uce - Secrets (3)
Christian Nodal - Se Me Olvidó (3)
Elvis Costello - Satellite (3)
Delkash - Safaye Shab (3)
Bobby Previte, Ray Anderson - Rollover (3)
Mutual Benefit - Remembering a Dream (3)
TootArd - Red Sea Disco (3)
Elvis Costello - Radio Sweetheart (3)
Elvis Costello - Radio Silence (3)
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Radio Prague (3)
Talking Heads - Radio Head (3)
World Party - Radio Days (3)
Qolam-Hoseyn Bigjekhani - Qolâm-Hoseyn Bigjekhâni, Bayât–e Esfahân (3)
Outkast - Prototype (3)
Jamshid Andalibi - Pishdaramad 1 (3)
Laetitia Sonami / Melody Sumner Carnahan - Perfume (3)
Lily Konigsberg - Owe Me (3)
Shahabeddin Azinmehr - Oshshaq (3)
Pink Cookies - Oh God (feat. Isa Starr & Sadie Woods) (3)
Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy - O Yinne! (3)
Neurosis - No River To Take Me Home (3)
Jenni Rivera - No Llega El Olvido (3)
Tavares - Never Had A Love Like This Before (3)
Frank Waln - My People Come from the Land (Radio Edit) (3)
The Supremes - My Favorite Things (3)

Top 100 Artists Played Through Dec. 23, 2023.
Chris Cutler (56)
Diamanda Galás (40)
Elvis Costello (34)
Scanner (27)
Brian Dewan (25)
Lynn Nandar Htoo (24)
The Pogues (22)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions (21)
Amy Rigby (19)
Negativland (17)
Lily Konigsberg (16)
Monday Mornings (15)
Shipibo Shamans (14)
Buke & Gase (11)
James Brown (10)
The Replacements (9)
The Magnetic Fields (9)
Ray Anderson (9)
Wreckless Eric (9)
Fela Kuti (8)
BRIAN DEWAN (8)
Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy (8)
Treday (7)
Chris Forsyth (7)
Talking Heads (7)
Lea Bertucci (7)
Arone Dyer, stargaze (7)
Ben Salisbury (7)
Pauline Oliveros (7)
The Wild Weeeds (7)
Hossein Alizadeh (7)
Les Meilleures Chansons de Noel (7)
The Sovereignnatians (7)
Matthew Shipp (6)
Florist (6)
Damienz Dezign (6)
JVKE (6)
Throwing Muses (6)
Pink Cookies (6)
Ugochi (6)
Prince (6)
The Jazzmaster (6)
M.I.A. (6)
Bob Dylan (6)
Connor Price (6)
Zom Zoms (6)
Slink Moss Explosion (5)
Bobby Previte (5)
Milton Nascimento (5)
Johnny Cash (5)
The Beach Boys (5)
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers (5)
Noel Compas (5)
Kendrick Lamar (5)
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (5)
Melenas (5)
Common (5)
Baldhead Jackson;Mikki Em (5)
Julie Byrne (5)
Bruce Springsteen (5)
Elvis Presley (5)
Kurt Vile (5)
Tom Waits (5)
Chuck Berry (5)
Jonathan Rado (5)
Yo La Tengo (5)
Matmos (5)
Sun Ra (5)
Blind Willie Johnson (5)
Diepkloof United Voice (5)
My Best Friend (5)
Flora Purim (5)
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley (5)
Marvin Gaye (5)
Justin Bieber (5)
Algiers (5)
Lewsberg (5)
Oscar Peterson (5)
Bing Crosby (4)
Bob Marley & The Wailers (4)
The Supremes (4)
The Beatles (4)
Ramones (4)
Daniel Bachman (4)
The Ventures (4)
Buck Owens (4)
Bobby Previte, Ray Anderson (4)
Outkast (4)
People Like Us (4)
Antonin Artaud (4)
Strapping Young Lad (4)
Rob Mazurek (4)
Janelle Monáe (4)
Ariana Grande (4)
D*tours (4)
Franco de Vita (4)
T. P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo (4)
Mark Leckey (4)
Buffy Sainte-Marie (4)
Silver Apples (4)

Today's audio daily news update.

Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Durham is losing its library and the Durham Task Force. The task force runs the Reading Room and organizes the annualFourth of July Parade, Christmas in Durham project, and beatification programs in the Greene County town. Durham Task Force President Linda Sutton reports the group is down from 15 members to one, and said, “There’s a lack of participation.... No one is available to help." The Reading Room was the only public library in Durham, and it had Wi-Fi, computers, and equipment to make copies, besides books. Sutton would not name a different group she said might take over some of the group's activities. She said, “I’m keeping my fingers crossed." Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Mid-Hudson News reports that the Ulster County Legislature voted on Dec. 21 to double their room tax from two percent to four percent. A percentage of the tax is based on whether a business offers more than just room and board, such as all-inclusives. The vote was 13 to 8, the tax will double on January 1, 2024. The entire Hudson Valley and all of New York are in an affordable housing crisis, and hotels, motels, and home rentals are part of the larger discussion on that issue. Legislator Herb Litts complained that a deal to pass the tax was made behind closed doors. Litts said, “The county executive put in her budget to the occupancy tax before the legislature voted to increase the property tax. That’s a practice that is backwards, putting the cart ahead of the horse.... I don’t know why we would ever put something in the budget that we have not passed an increase.” Now, though, the new tax is both in the budget and passed by the legislature. Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

Liz Montgomery reports for Porcupine Soup that Daniel P. Mahoney of Freehold, Zachary A. Wood of Preston Hollow, and Eric J. Randio of New Baltimore were among 232 new state troopers graduating Dec. 21 from the 213th session of the Basic School of the New York State Police Academy. They report for field duty on December 27. For their first ten weeks they are evaluated under a field-training program supervised by senior field training officers. With the new class, the state police now number 4,781 officers. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

Here is this week's WGXC Congressional Report, tracking the votes, statements, positions, and campaigns of the representatives and candidates for the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st Congressional seats in New York. Democrat Pat Ryan is representing the 18th Congressional District, Republican Marc Molinaro represents the 19th Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Paul Tonko represents the 20th District, and Republican Elise Stefanik represents the 21st District. Click here to listen to this report.

Katherine Doyle and Megan Lebowitz report for NBC News that Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., filed another complaint about a judge who has ruled on several cases of protesters attempting to overthrow the government on Jan. 6, 2021. Stefanik alleged judicial misconduct because U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who has overseen various Jan. 6-related cases, spoke in favor of democracy and against authoritarianism. Accepting an award at a Women’s White Collar Defense Association gala, the judge said, “My D.C. judicial colleagues and I regularly see the impact of big lies at the sentencing of hundreds, hundreds of individuals who have been convicted for offense conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, when they disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election at the U.S. Capitol.... As district court judges, we are all about the facts.” Stefanik calls that "highly inappropriate political speech.” Stefanik submitted a complaint to D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan. Stefanik filed a different legal complaint on Nov. 10 against state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is currently presiding over Donald J. Trump’s civil fraud trial. Stefanik represents Rensselaer County and the rest of the 21st Congressional District. Read more about this story at NBC News.

Mid-Hudson News reports that part of Dutchess County’s urban trail project in the City and Town of Poughkeepsie was named the Marcus J. Molinaro Northside Line at a ceremony celebrating its opening. Molinaro is currently Congressional representative in another part of the state and has moved to Catskill, but before his current term he served seven others as Dutchess County Executive. The current, but soon retiring, Dutchess County Executive Bill O’Neil said, "Thanks to the vision and dedication of our own former County Executive, Marc Molinaro, as well as community stakeholders, we are proud to bring this new kind of trail – which will be open, lit and monitored 24/7/365 – to fruition.” Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News reports.

MSNBC reports that so far Rep. Elise Stefanik has not denounced former President Donald Trump's echoing Adolf Hitler from "Mein Kampf." Trump doubled down after speaking of immigrants as vermin, saying this week that "It's true that they're destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing.... They don't like it when I said that and I never read 'Mein Kampf.' They said, 'Oh, Hitler said that in a much different way.'" In Hitler's book "Mein Kampf," the dictator wrote that, "All great cultures of the past perished only because the original creative race died out from blood poisoning." Stefanik, who was shouting at college presidents about anti-semitism last week, was not only silent on the issue, but she met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort and posted a photo with him on social media on Dec. 19. Stefanik represents Rensselaer County and the rest of the 21st Congressional District. Trump is the leading Republican candidate for president, though, more and more, running a fascist campaign. Read more about this story at MSNBC.

Today's audio daily news update.

Click above to download or play the "Better Weather." Produced by Joe Demanso of the Catskill Makers Syndicate.

Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon reports in Columbia-Greene Media that the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said on Dec. 21 that an incarcerated individual at the medium-security Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie was found dead on Dec. 16. They did not give a cause of death, and said that the Greene County Coroner’s Office will make that determination. It was the first death there in 2023. Last year an incarcerated individual in the same facility died from COVID-19. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Heather Bellow in The Berkshire Eagle reports that the American Civil Liberties Union wants to know why a police office searched a classroom at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School in Great Barrington for the coming of age novel, "Gender Queer" after receiving one anonymous complaint. The plainclothed police officer who entered an eighth grade classroom to look for a wanted book wore a body camera and recorded the incident. Ruth A. Bourquin, senior and managing attorney for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said, “Police going into schools and searching for books is the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia. What are we doing?” The Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee and Superintendent Peter Dillion put out a statement that said, "Faced with an unprecedented police investigation of what should be a purely educational issue, we tried our best to serve the interests of students, families, teachers, and staff. In hindsight, we would have approached that moment differently. We are sorry. We can do better to refine and support our existing policies. We are committed to supporting all our students, particularly vulnerable populations." An anonymous complaint led Great Barrington Police to open an investigation into whether parts of the book, “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, are obscene material or pornographic. The District Attorney has ordered the police investigation into the book closed, so now any controversy is up to the school. And the ACLU wants a copy of the bodycam footage from the classroom police visit. Read more about this story in The Berkshire Eagle.

Bernadette Hogan reports for New York State of Politics that several new state laws will take effect on New Year’s Day, including a rise in the minimum wage. That goes up to $16 an hour in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island on Jan. 1, and up to $15 an hour in the rest of the state. That will rise upstate to $15.50 next year, and to $16 in 2026. A few election laws are updated on Jan. 1, with more time for people to register ahead of an election and the state now allowing registration on the first day of early voting.

Today's audio daily news update.