Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that five Greene County residents died last week from COVID-19. Greene County officials did not release the ages, known comorbidities, and vaccination status of the dead. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still lists Greene County as low risk for coronavirus. Locally, the CDC lists Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties as high risk, and Columbia, Delaware, Schoharie, and Ulster counties at medium risk. New Omicron variants are largely to blame for the latest outbreak. “Epidemiologically, it doesn’t appear as if we’re seeing more severe disease in places that are having more cases. So, we are not anticipating more severe disease from some of these sub variants, but we are actively studying it," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

MidHudson News reports that in November, the budget carrier Norse filed paperwork to fly between Newburgh and Oslo starting in the summer of 2022. Now, though, Norse officials have moved their plans away from New York Stewart International Airport to JFK in New York City. “As one of the leaders of the Stewart Air Service Development Committee, this is disappointing to say the least, considering that we are working tremendously hard as a coalition to improve the traffic in and out of Stewart and show the value of the airport and the surrounding area and all it has to offer both domestically and internationally,” said Orange County Chamber of Commerce President Heather Bell Meyer. “To say that this is disappointing is an understatement.” Read the full story in MidHudson News.

Roger Hannigan Gilson in the Times Union digs through the court documents in the beating case of Harold Handy, a mechanic, hurt so badly at a July 4, 2020 party at the Kinderhook home of a Columbia County sheriff's deputy and her gym-owner husband he ended up in the intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center. Most of the charges against the law enforcement agents at the party were dismissed in late December 2021 by Columbia County Judge Richard Koweek. The dismissal "hinged on defense attorneys' arguments that Handy's injuries were not severe enough to justify the gang assault or felony assault charges," Gilson writes. Handy was put in the intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center on a ventilator with a concussion, a fractured eye socket, and scratches and cuts all over his body because of the attack. Deputy Kelly Rosenstrach and her husband Alex Rosenstrach, and IRS law enforcement agent Bryan Haag and Cory Gaylord, a contractor all largely escaped any penalties for the beating of Handy. In court documents, Handy said he was first "attacked by Alex." Another witness said Rosenstrach and Gaylord were firing guns at the party just before the beating. But now the four defendants only have a single felony charge: unlawful imprisonment, which carries a maximum of four years in prison. No trial date has been set for the case. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Today's daily news update.

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The campaign to shut down the Norlite hazardous waste incinerator intensified on April 30 when several hundred people rallied at the Governor's Mansion to call on Hochul to shut down the facility. WOOC's Mark Dunlea was there to hear from Alexis Goldsmith of Lights Out Norlite; Poet D. Colin; Tasheca Medina of Equality for Troy; and Kriti Sharma of the RPI Sunrise Movement.

Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media two massive brush fires, burning at the same time, blackened almost 17 acres of woodland in Gallatin on April 29, said Taghkanic Fire Chief William Hilscher. Fifteen fire companies fought the fast-moving fires for more than seven hours and smoke from the fires could be seen for several miles along the Taconic State Parkway. The first fire ignited at about 1:11 p.m., on property at 59 New Forge Road, when a property owner was burning cardboard in a fire pit. The fire jumped the pit and spread into the woods, Hilscher said. The fire consumed a garage on the property, as well. When the Taghkanic Fire Company arrived, firefighters realized the scope of the blaze and officials immediately requested mutual-aid assistance from neighboring fire departments. All available manpower was requested to the scene, as well as brush-fighting equipment and utility task vehicles, which could maneuver through the wooded area. Just before 2 p.m., while crews were fighting the first fire, a second large brush fire was reported in the area of 852 New Forge Road #2. That fire was accidentally started by a company using logging equipment in the woods. A piece of that equipment may have struck a rock, causing sparks to start a fire in the surrounding leaves, Hilscher said. Wind was definitely a factor in both fires. “We’d get the fire out in one area, and the wind would just kick it up again,” Hilscher said. The National Weather Service in Albany had placed the area under an elevated brush fire risk that day and the day before, due to low relative humidity and gusty northwest winds. The fires were located about one-quarter mile off the road and spread much deeper into the woods, Hilscher said. The second fire was extinguished first, at about 5:22 p.m. after it blackened 2.3 acres, Hilscher said. The first, larger fire, was put out at approximately 7:52 p.m. That fire scorched 14 acres, Hilscher said. Fourteen fire companies assisted Taghkanic, as did the Northern Dutchess Paramedics, Greenport Rescue Squad, state police, and the Columbia County Fire Coordinator’s Office. New York's burn ban continues through May 14. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Brenda J. Lyons is reporting for the Times Union state Senate leaders introduced legislation late April 29, that would remove former Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin's name from the June primary ballot following his recent indictment on federal corruption charges. Benjamin, appointed lieutenant governor by Gov. Kathy Hochul in September, resigned in the wake of his indictment. The criminal charges include allegations that Benjamin lied on the forms used by State Police to review his background. His criminal case threw the Democratic primary off course because under state law there is no mechanism to remove a nominated candidate from the ballot this late in the process. The bill introduced last week would change that by amending state election law to allow a candidate to decline their nomination and have their name removed from the ballot, if they are convicted of or charged with a misdemeanor or felony. Hochul's and Benjamin's names will appear on separate tickets but the optics of having Benjamin's name still on the ballot when there are multiple challengers in the primary, including for lieutenant governor, has concerned the governor and her advisers, according to sources. The legislation introduced in the Senate, if signed into law by the governor, would still require Benjamin to sign a written declination to have his name removed from the ballot. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media concert organizers are looking to present a series of festivals at Magic Forest Farm in Coeymans Hollow in June, but they have yet to receive permission from the town's joint planning and zoning board of appeals. The series would span five weekends from June through October, with 250 to 1,000 attendees expected each weekend. Magic Forest Farm, located on Bucks Ranch Road, describes itself as an agritourism destination that is both a sustainable farm and a space for camping and events, such as music festivals. Event promoter Spencer Lavoie from 4Life Entertainment presented the plans for the series at a public hearing April 27. Nearly all of the concertgoers will camp at the site each weekend, with some of the staff and musicians renting nearby lodging, Lavoie said. Several residents present at the hearing said they were concerned about traffic; Lavoie said plans are in place to regulate traffic impacts. Neighbors of Magic Forest Farm also expressed concerns about noise levels. Resident Allan Defazio said he was worried about the scale of the events, and that campers and concertgoers would leave the property, wandering onto neighboring properties. He is also worried about how waste and water supply would be handled. The proposal was sent to the Albany County Planning Board, which returned recommendations for traffic control and an emergency evacuation plan, including a medevac helicopter landing zone should the need arise. Town Supervisor George McHugh filed an appeal charging that the festival series would require a use variance rather than a special-use permit. He said the latter would apply to a campground, but the focus of the public hearing was on concerts. The public hearing was adjourned until May 25. At the May 9, meeting of the planning/zoning board of appeals, the board will consider McHugh's appeal, deciding on whether a special use permit or a use variance is appropriate. Read the full story at TheUpStater [dot] com.

Aaron Mak reports for Slate about spam robocalls. Do you remember the National Do Not Call Registry beginning in 2003? Do you remember the last time you received an automated phone message? Do you remember the last time you read about some robocall scam targeting local seniors? The federal government has definitely not eliminated the scourge of robocalls. In March, there were 4.3 billion robocalls made in the United States, according to the spam-blocking company YouMail. There has been a lot of online finger-pointing lately at Ajit Pai, the industry-friendly chair of the Federal Communications Commission during the Trump administration. Pai did not support a 2015 anti-robocalling rule from the Obama-era FCC that would have expanded the definition of an “autodialer” to include any device that had the capacity to make robocalls, even if they weren't modified to do so. The plan passed without Pai's support, but in 2018 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck it down, saying it was too broad. Pai did not appeal the decision, but celebrated, describing the 2015 rule as “yet another example of the prior FCC’s disregard for the law and regulatory overreach.” But Margot Saunders, senior counsel at the National Consumer Law Center, argues the court decision did not lead to record numbers of robocalls. At play, she said, “were very esoteric issues that had much more to do with the legality of non-scammers like debt collectors.... Chairman Pai wasn’t particularly aggressive, but you can’t lay the problem at his door,” said Saunders. “There is no proceeding that he failed to appeal that would have made the difference in this, in my opinion.” Saunders instead says phone calls now go through multiple providers, instead of just one, which makes stopping phone scams more difficult. Mak ends the story asking Saunders if there is any one person who could be blamed for so many robocalls now, and she replied, “Alexander Graham Bell.” Read more about this story in Slate.

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. Antonio Delgado, 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.

Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that New York's highest court on April 27 voted 4-3 to reject the congressional and state Senate maps drawn by state lawmakers this year as unconstitutional. Now the scheduled June party primaries maybe altered as new district lines need to be drawn. The New York Court of Appeals found "the enactment of the congressional and Senate maps by the legislature was procedurally unconstitutional, and the congressional map is also substantively unconstitutional as drawn with impermissible partisan purpose, leaving the state without constitutional district lines for use in the 2022 primary and general elections." Republicans brought the court challenge, claiming the new districts favored Democrats and violated the state's constitutional ban on partisan redistricting. "We are confident that, in consultation with the Board of Elections, Supreme Court can swiftly develop a schedule to facilitate an August primary election, allowing time for the adoption of new constitutional maps," the majority opinion stated, suggesting a new election schedule. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Chris Churchill reports in the Times Union that a spokesperson for Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik has denied that the Congressional representative was behind leaked recordings of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticizing Donald Trump and other GOP lawmakers after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The recordings showed McCarthy lied when he denied wanting Trump to resign after he encouraged a coup, and did little to stop a riot on the nation's legislature. Stefanik had been tied to the leak online without any evidence by political observers who thought she had the most to gain. The online guessers suggested the third-ranked GOP leader Stefanik could take over the top spot if McCarthy was forced out in embarrassment. Alex deGrasse, Stefanik's spokesperson, gave a good reason Stefanik could not have leaked the call. "Congresswoman Stefanik was not even in leadership at this time and was not even on these calls," deGrasse wrote in an email. "Nor were any of her staff. She wasn't even elected to House Republican leadership until months later." The phone call in which McCarthy said he wanted to ask Trump to resign and suggested a few Republican wing nuts had endangered the country with their rhetoric was on Jan. 10, 2021, four days after the coup attempt. Stefanik did not ascend to her third-ranked position until four months later. So she likely was not on the call of top Republicans with McCarthy. "There is zero truth to the rumor," deGrasse said. "It is a fact that she (Stefanik) was not on or aware of any of these calls referenced." Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Just after New York's highest court threw out the Democrats gerrymandered district maps on April 27, Republican NY-19 Congressional candidate Marc Molinaro used the news as a chance to attack the opposition. But he also made a false claim with no basis that his Democratic opponent, Rep. Antonio Delgado, master-minded the redistricting process so he could beat Molinaro. That claim has not been proven anywhere, by Molinaro, or any news report. "Antonio Delgado and the Democrats in Albany sought to disenfranchise voters through a corrupt deal," Molinaro's statement April 27 said, in part. Molinaro did not provide any proof of his claim, and no news story exists linking Delgado to the redistricting process. State legislators decided on the new districts, and Congressional representatives have no formal role in the process.

WNYT reports that the FBI has opened an investigation into the 2018 Schoharie limousine crash that left 20 people dead, and Rep. Paul Tonko wants some credit. Tonko says investigation announcement comes after he sent a letter, demanding a response to claims that FBI involvement allowed the unsafe limo to stay on the road. The rumors claimed Prestige Limousine Owner Shahed Hussain received special treatment from the FBI because of his previous work as a confidential informant. The FBI wrote Tonko back, saying, in part, "The FBI shares your concerns about this tragic limousine crash that claimed the lives of twenty people. In recent months, concerns have been raised about this incident and whether there was any FBI involvement in the investigation. As a result, the Director ordered that the FBI further review the matter. A review was promptly commenced by the Inspection Division and is ongoing. Therefore, the FBI is not in a position to provide further information at this time." Read more about this story at the WNYT website.

Shayla Colon is reporting for the Time Union the New York State Police is looking into Rensselaer Mayor Michael Stammel’s dubious dealings with the defunct Rensselaer Volunteer Ambulance service. On April 17, the Times Union published a story detailing a lack of regulatory filings for the nonprofit, which owns a building that the mayor has for years rented out for parties and events with little oversight. Rensselaer Common Council President John DeFrancesco said he and city resident Todd Rutecki had been trying to find out what happened to the organization since the mayor assumed office. Rutecki was a campaign volunteer for Richard J. Mooney, the Democrat who lost his bid to unseat Republican incumbent Stammel in November. DeFrancesco and Rutecki said they met with state police investigators on April 21. Several community members have since been contacted this week by investigators and questioned about Stammel’s involvement with the organization. In an unrelated matter, the state police also are conducting an investigation focusing, in part, on absentee ballots collected in the 2021 election by Stammel and other Republican candidates in Rensselaer County. As part of that investigation, Stammel's mobile phone was seized and he was questioned by police about the ongoing ballot fraud investigation. Read more in the Times Union.

Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Greenville Board of Education April 11, unanimously adopted a proposed $33.7 million budget for the 2022-23 school year. The spending plan includes a more than $800,000 increase in spending over the current year and calls for an increase in the tax levy of 2.25 percent, less than the state-mandated cap of 3.56 percent. The district's 2021-22 budget was approved by voters by a margin of 333 to 103. Greenville Superintendent Michael Bennett hopes that trend will continue this year.“We continue to maintain a tax rate that’s below the tax cap and keep the tax levy below what it could be. So we want to make sure that we continue to impress upon our community that we’re creating opportunities and programs for our students while also being fiscally responsible to our community and understanding that we’ve got the responsibility to do both," he said. Bennett was hired as superintendent on March 7, after serving as the assistant superintendent of the Schodack Central School District in Rensselaer County for the last eight years. This is his first budget proposal with Greenville. The spending plan includes $25.94 million for programs, $5.34 million in capital funding and $3.42 million in administrative funding. In addition to voting on the budget, district residents will be asked to vote on two propositions — the first to acquire a fleet of school buses for a sum not exceed $1.26 million and the second to establish a $2 million capital reserve fund to finance building upgrades and renovations. The board will hold its budget hearing on May 3; the annual budget vote and school board election is from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on May 17, at the Scott M. Ellis Elementary School. Read the full story at hudsonvalley360 [dot] com.

Kate Lisa is reporting for NY State of Politics Greene County resident and former state Senate candidate Gary Greenberg on May 2, intends to challenge the legality of the new state Assembly district maps. The state Court of Appeals on April 27, voided the Legislature's Senate and congressional lines for partisan gerrymandering. The New Baltimore-based activist said he will file the challenge in state Supreme Court in Steuben County. Greenberg, a Democrat, will be the only plaintiff in the court challenge after the state Court of Appeals ruled in a 4 to 3 decision last week that the Congressional and Senate maps adopted by the Legislature were procedurally unconstitutional. "The Assembly maps were drawn in the same process," Greenberg said. "They didn't follow the directions under what voters wanted and voted to change in the New York constitution. [Senate Deputy Majority Leader] Mike Gianaris and the district assemblyman who edited the maps used the same staff to draw the congressional, Senate and Assembly districts. They drew these maps up wrong," he said. The first Republican-backed lawsuit to challenge the lines was filed in Steuben County in February., but those petitioners did not seek to invalidate the Assembly redistricting maps. Representatives from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's office could not immediately be reached for comment on April 29. A state Supreme Court judge has ruled to set the Senate and Congressional primaries for Aug. 23. The Assembly primary election remains on June 28, unless the Legislature or state Supreme Court takes action. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

On April 27, New York's highest court in a split decision, 4-3, threw out the newly drawn election lines for Congress and the state Senate on the grounds that state lawmakers engaged in partisan gerrymandering to favor Democrats. The court ordered the lower court to draft new lines for this fall’s elections even though petitioning has been completed for the major parties. The court said they expect that the primaries for Congress and the Senate may have to be shifted to August. Blair Horner of NYPIRG reviews the impact of this decision both in this year and after the next census. With Mark Dunlea for WOOC.

Today's daily news update.

Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Columbia County has more COVID-19 cases this month than at the same time last year. “The numbers are up, I think its part of that general trend we’re seeing right now,” Columbia County Department of Health Director Jack Mabb said. Columbia County reported 62 new cases April 25, 18 more cases April 26 and 27 new cases April 27. “Our numbers are going up but they’re manageable,” Mabb said. “It’s all the same story across the state. The numbers are up but hospitalizations are not up. We’ve got five hospitalizations today, and none in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). So, I think we’re going to manage our way to warmer weather and, hopefully, see a drop off in cases because of the warmer weather.” New variants of the virus have spread, and central New York has been hit particularly hard. “I think some of it depends on the weather,” Mabb said. We’ve got to get some cooperation from the weather. I’m very hopeful and I’m confident we can continue to manage what we have in terms of our numbers. I’m very hopeful that we will start to see them go down.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently list Albany and Rensselaer counties at a high level of risk for catching COVID-19, while Berkshier County is at a medium level and Greene and Columbia counties are considered at a low level. The start of the 11th season of Concerts in the Village in Kinderhhok has been postponed until an unknown date due to COVID-19. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

The Times Union reports that after initially ignoring the Hudson Valley, the state has added a public hearing in Peekskill for the state's climate plan. New York had initially scheduled ten public hearings, but now that number goes to 11. The public has until June 10 to submit comments about New York's plan to reduce global climate change. The Hudson Valley public hearing will be held May 12 at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater, 1008 Brown St., Peekskill. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requires New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and no less than 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Nick Reisman reports at New York State of Politics that New York's sales tax collections increased by more than 21 percent in early 2022, bringing in $901 million more than compared to the first quarter of last year, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said. Almost $5.2 billion was collected. “Local sales tax collections continue to come in strong. While local governments are collecting more, they are also dealing with some of the same increased costs that consumers and private businesses are,” DiNapoli said about increased inflation. “With prices rising, we’re watching closely to see what impact the rate of inflation and economic volatility is having on New York’s economic recovery.” Some county governments including Ulster County are giving up their share of the gas tax starting June 1 and running through the end of December. Greene and Columbia County officials, so far, are keeping their share at letting consumers pay the gas sales tax this summer. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Today's daily news update.