Today's daily news update.

Ashley Miller reports for WNYT that the Ichabod Crane boys basketball team won its first ever state championship March 20. The Ichabod Crane Riders beat Friends Academy 63-62 in the Class B state championship game at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. The team won despite star Brett Richards going down with an ankle injury in the first quarter, but he returned and helped the Riders with a comeback with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Richards was named tournament MVP. WNYT talked to coach Will Ferguson and Richards after the game. Click here to download or play a short clip of the interviews. Read more about this story at WNYT.

Michelle Del Rey reports in the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul is slowly starting to respond to Freedom of Information Law requests quickly and transparently. Previously, legal requests for public information from the state were often delayed, or ignored. Since taking office last summer Hochul's office has changed many policies of her predecessor. Hochul is now requiring state agencies to identify and publicly post frequently requested documents. While former Gov. Andrew Cuomo required certain Freedom of Information Law requests, especially those from by news organizations, be forwarded to the Executive Chamber for review, Hochul has not. And Hochul is getting the state Office of Information Technology and Services to improve the state’s process for receiving, processing and responding to FOIL requests. "On my first day in office, I pledged to turn the page on the old ways of Albany and restore New Yorkers’ faith in their government," the governor said in a statement last week. "We’re taking meaningful action to streamline the process to access public records, so journalists and members of the public can more easily access information to which they are entitled. While there’s always more to do, I’m proud of the steps my administration has taken to increase transparency and accountability in New York state government." Reinvent Albany, a government accountability group, applauded Hochul's efforts. "Gov. Hochul’s agency transparency plans are a fundamental first step for assessing what agencies need to do to comply with the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Open Data Executive Order and other mandates. If done well, the plans will also show the governor and Legislature what else needs to be done to increase public access to state government information." Read more about this story in the Times Union.

MidHudson News reports that New York's Department of Environmental Conservation has new freshwater fishing regulations that go into effect on April 1. Rainbow trout, brown trout, and splake in lakes and ponds can now be caught year-round, with a five-fish daily limit, any size, with a “no more than two longer than 12 inches” harvest rule. The season for Walleye, Northern Pike, Pickerel, and Tiger Muskellunge now opens May 1; the season for Muskellunge opens June 1; the season for Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass now opens June 15. The statewide sunfish daily harvest limit has been reduced from 50 to 25 fish. And the statewide minimum size limit for crappie has been increased from nine inches to ten inches. There are also other new regulations specific to bodies of water outside the WGXC listening area. Read more about this story at MidHudson News.

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

Today's daily news update.

Here is this week's WGXC Congressional Report, tracking the votes, statements, positions, and campaigns of the representatives and candidates for the 19th and 20th Congressional seats in New York. Current Democrat Reps. Antonio Delgado and Paul Tonko vote with the positions of President Joe Biden 100 percent of the time, according to the fivethirtyeight.com website. Click here to listen to this report.

Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that more than $800,000 in federal funding is expected for broadband in the towns of Ghent, Canaan, New Lebanon, and Austerlitz. Congress passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill last week which allocates nearly $830,000 in funding, which will become available after the measure is signed into law by President Joe Biden. A broadband study conducted for Columbia County in 2021, found there are more than 1,200 unserved addresses that do not have access to broadband. Columbia Economic Development Corporation President and CEO F. Michael Tucker said, “With these funds it is anticipated that close to 25 percent of those addresses will get access to broadband service, reducing the need for the funding necessary to serve all of Columbia County.” Three hundred homes and businesses of the 1,250 unserved addresses in the county are located in the four towns named, Tucker said. “We have seen estimates of $10 million to $12 million needed to serve all 1,250 addresses but are awaiting detailed cost estimates from the four broadband providers in the county," he said. The four towns began issuing Requests for Proposals for the broadband work in January. U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado announced he voted for the federal bill last week, which his office said included funding for nine Delgado-led community projects in the district. “The investments in this package address some of our nation’s biggest challenges while providing much needed support to my constituents in upstate New York,” the Rhinebeck Democrat said in a statement. “With this funding we are investing in the middle class, lowering costs for working families, creating American jobs and supporting vulnerable folks in our communities.” Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Justin Dawes is reporting for the Albany Business Review a federal report released last week by the Veterans Administration included a number of proposed changes for veterans health-care services in the Capital Region totaling $1.5 billion. The plan calls for the closing of Albany Stratton VA Medical Center after the construction of a new hospital. Albany Stratton was last renovated in 1985. The VA says the building’s infrastructure and layout do not meet modern health care standards, and it would take more than $222 million for a full upgrade. The replacement facility would offer inpatient mental health, nursing home, rehab program, urgent care, primary care, outpatient specialty care and outpatient mental health services. The federal Asset and Infrastructure Review report said the existing hospital, located between Holland and New Scotland avenues near Albany Medical Center, would be shut down after "the realignment of services to the new Albany [VA Medical Center].” The new facility would consolidate the clinical services currently located in Clifton Park, Troy and Schenectady, as well. Meanwhile, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan is upset that the VA also recommended closing the Castle Point VA Medical Center in Wappingers Falls in Dutchess County. Ryan wrote on Twitter that, "tens of thousands of veterans and military families rely on" the facility. "This is unacceptable and we are rallying to push back on these recommendations and push for real investment in strengthening our regional VA services," Ryan wrote, about a March 19 rally at the Ulster County Office Building about the proposed closure. Rep. Antonio Delgado and state Sen. Michelle Hinchey attended the rally, the Times Union reports. “Closing the Castle Point VAMC without first clearly establishing a replacement facility that provides equally accessible services of the same or higher quality is unacceptable,” Delgado said. Click here to download or play Delgado's speech at the rally. Read more in the Albany Business Review.

Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that a new state law will change the way absentee voting works in New York. The changes are effective immediately, in time for the June primary election. Under the new law, a voter who applies for an absentee ballot can vote only by absentee or affidavit ballot. They will not be permitted to vote on the machine, either during early voting or on Election Day. “The law has changed," Columbia County Democratic Elections Commissioner Ken Dow said March 18. “So now once a person has requested an absentee ballot, not even if they sent it in, just if they sent in an application for an absentee ballot, then they are no longer allowed to vote on the machine.” He said the law will have an impact because quite often people request an absentee ballot and then, for one reason or another, don't use them. Under the previous law, even if a voter had asked for a paper ballot they were still able to vote in person. Dow said, “We’re trying to make people aware that once they ask for the absentee ballot they cannot vote on the machine. They can vote by affidavit but really my guidance would be, if you ask for an absentee ballot you should send it in.” Local boards of election officials are encouraging all voters to learn more and to understand the revisions to absentee voting before they apply to vote by absentee ballot. Read the full story at HudsonValley360n [dot] com.

Tim Blydenburgh is reporting for the Times Union that Albany County Executive Dan McCoy announced March 19 he has COVID-19 and is recovering at home. McCoy has been one of the most prominent local faces in the fight against the virus since the pandemic began. “I have confirmed with my doctor that I’ve contracted COVID-19," he said. "While I’m feeling under the weather, I’m thankful that I’m fully vaccinated and boosted, because this very well could have been much worse. I am isolating and recovering at home." Just the day before the county ran down the statistics for the disease, indicating that more than 62,600 people in Albany County have contracted the coronavirus since March 2020, with 46 new cases reported March 17.  The next day McCoy reported the county’s seven-day average of new daily positive cases rose from 29.5 to 33.1. "It’s moments like this that remind us that COVID is still not done with us yet,” McCoy said. More than 81 percent of all Albany County residents have received at least the first dose of the vaccine and 74 percent are fully vaccinated. The virus has killed 536 people in the county. In August 2020, McCoy told reporters he had antibodies from a bout of COVID-19 that he believes he contracted around the first of that year. He had an antibody test in May 2020, that revealed he had previously contracted the virus. Statewide, the number of hospitalizations was at 925, the lowest number since Aug. 3, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said over the weekend. There were five deaths reported since March 18. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Heather Bellow is reporting for The Berkshire Eagle Roger Kavanagh, a West Stockbridge, Massachusetts Select Board member, has announced his resignation, citing frustration with what he calls "inefficient" functioning and bias in town government. Kavanagh made the announcement March 14. That same day he expressed dismay about what he said was a dismissive response by a town official to an inquiry by a resident and former board member. Kavanagh will remain a board member until May 9, the date of the annual town elections. He had two years remaining of his three-year term. “I’ve learned that the Town is slowly and not so quietly splitting into factions, one that wants ‘everything to be like it used to be’ and one that sees ‘transformation as the only answer for the future,’ ” Kavanagh said in a statement. “I believe the Select Board needs to actively bridge that divide and ensure that the voices of both groups are heard and their collective needs are recognized.” Kavanagh's announcement comes after months of unrest last year about how the town handled the permitting for a performing arts space, The Foundry. Problems that included noise complaints exposed past, though inadvertent, negligence by the town and what Kavanagh suggested is bias by town officials. Read more in The Berkshire Eagle.

Cloey Callahan is reporting for the Times Union that the town of Wawarsing Planning Board on March 15 gave the green light to Cresco Labs plan to build a $9-million 380,000-square-foot cannabis grow facility in Ulster County that promises to create hundreds of jobs. The approval process “went quicker than most projects,” said Ulster County Director of Economic Development Tim Weidemann. “It’s a model of what we should try to do for other big projects. We’ve seen so many of them get stuck in this process, and now we have a roadmap for others.” Cresco Labs will take over the former Schrade Knife and Avnet Channel Master facilities in Wawarsing for cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution on 91 acres that have been empty and unused for 17 years. The applicant for the cannabis facility is Valley Agriceuticals, which currently operates a medical cannabis manufacturing facility in Wallkill and four medical cannabis dispensaries across the state. Its parent company is Chicago-based Cresco Labs, which operates in 10 states nationwide where medical cannabis is legal. Cresco originally projected it would create 300 to 400 jobs at the processing plant, but increased that estimate to 679 future employees, according to the approved proposal. Cresco Labs must now work with the Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management to secure an adult-use license for a vertically integrated operation that includes cultivation, processing and distribution, but not sales. Construction of the facility could be completed within 12 to 18 months after all approvals. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics that smoking and tobacco use in New York are at historic lows, especially among youth and teenagers, but advocates for reducing tobacco use say there are more complicated problems to be addressed. Jeanie Orr, of the Capital District Tobacco-Free Communities, said increased taxes on cigarettes and restrictions on where someone can smoke and legislation that increased the age when teens can buy tobacco products have sharply reduced tobacco use. But while smoking has declined among high school students and the general adult population, flavored tobacco usage remains at an elevated rate. "People may not be smoking cigarettes as much, but they are using those other flavored products at a higher rate," Orr said. While the smoking rate among high school students has dropped to 2.4 percent, e-cigarette usage is at 22.5 percent statewide as devices have become less expensive. Orr said one tool to combat e-cigarette usage could be to boost taxes on those products in the state budget. People in mental distress have smoking rates twice as high as the general adult population, and for people with low income, and low education. Orr said, "It's really disturbing that this group has been left behind in a way." Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Justin Dawes is reporting for the Albany Business Review a federal report released last week by the Veterans Administration included a number of proposed changes for veterans health-care services in the Capital Region totaling $1.5 billion. The plan calls for the closing of Albany Stratton VA Medical Center after the construction of a new hospital. Albany Stratton was last renovated in 1985. The VA says the building’s infrastructure and layout do not meet modern health care standards, and it would take more than $222 million for a full upgrade. The replacement facility would offer inpatient mental health, nursing home, rehab program, urgent care, primary care, outpatient specialty care and outpatient mental health services. The federal Asset and Infrastructure Review report said the existing hospital, located between Holland and New Scotland avenues near Albany Medical Center, would be shut down after "the realignment of services to the new Albany [VA Medical Center].” The new facility would consolidate the clinical services currently located in Clifton Park, Troy and Schenectady, as well. Meanwhile, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan is upset that the VA also recommended closing the Castle Point VA Medical Center in Wappingers Falls in Dutchess County. Ryan wrote on Twitter that, "tens of thousands of veterans and military families rely on" the facility. "This is unacceptable and we are rallying to push back on these recommendations and push for real investment in strengthening our regional VA services," Ryan wrote, about a March 19 rally at the Ulster County Office Building about the proposed closure. Rep. Antonio Delgado and state Sen. Michelle Hinchey attended the rally, the Times Union reports. “Closing the Castle Point VAMC without first clearly establishing a replacement facility that provides equally accessible services of the same or higher quality is unacceptable,” Delgado said. Read more in the Albany Business Review.

Today's daily news update.

Ted Remsnyder at Columbia-Greene Media reports that Republicans Jamie Hyer-Mitchell and Jeffrey Holliday came back with absentee ballots to win seats on the Catskill Village Board. Election night totals had three candidates running on the Democrat and Action Party lines leading for three spots on the village board, while those running on the Republican and Village Visions lines were behind. But after 328 absentee ballots were added on March 17, only one Democrat remained a winner, with incumbent Natasha Law at 500 votes. Hyer-Mitchell won the second seat with 483 votes. Republican Diane Petrianni-March finished third with 461, and Democrat Megan Henry was fourth with 436 votes. In the contest for the other seat, a rematch from last year, Republican Jeffrey Holliday again beat Democrat Michelle Williams, this time 496 to 467. Last year, Williams led with a 55-44 percent margin over Holliday when the unofficial results were announced on election night, virtually the same as in this election. But after counting 265 absentee ballots last year, Holliday won 199 of them, giving the retired New York State Trooper a 451 to 369 win over Williams. So this year both candidates got more votes, and Williams pulled closer. Absentee ballots were also counted in Tannersville March 17, but they did not change the outcome. Republican Kimberly Thompson got one absentee ballot, and Democrat Mary Susan Timpson got the other, with Thompson winning overall 34 to 32 votes for the two-year term on the Tannersville village board. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that four of the five members of the Town of Cairo’s Board of Ethics Review resigned March 16 because of harassment and other reasons. Edward Brandt, John VanDenburgh, Leonard Asaro and Monica Kenny-Keff sent the town a letter outlining their problems. "We have had town employees and community members spread falsehoods about us personally, and we have been harassed in ways, and we have received nothing but trouble for volunteering our time to attempt to help this town,” the letter says. “We now understand why Greene County does not make it public who the members of the Greene County Board of Ethics are.” The letter also cited "some recent decisions some of the town board has made on different topics" without being specific. The resigning members said the town board would ignore the ethics board. “We do not feel that any recommendations made, or investigations concluded, will be given any respect by the majority of this board or those who were perpetrating the harassing behavior toward the members,” the letter said. Mark Gorelick now is the only member of the Cairo Board of Ethics Review. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Deanna Garcia reports in Politico that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo won't say if he will run for office again. "I have a lot of options open, and I'm considering them," Cuomo said March 17 in New York City. With $16 million in his campaign coffers in January and Cuomo ads running on television, it seems like he is running for something. The state's board of elections recently implied that he is. "Although former Gov. Cuomo has not announced any explicit plan to run for a specific public office, his conduct fits the definition of candidate set forth in Election Law," New York's Board of Elections Chief Enforcement Counsel Michael L. Johnson wrote in response to a complaint filed by good government groups over Cuomo's use of campaign funds since his resignation in August. While Cuomo did tease another go at electoral politics, he did not comment on the 11 women who accuse him of sexual harassment, nor did he mention New York Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's report blaming him for a lack of transparency over COVID-19 deaths in state nursing homes. Read more about this story in Politico.

Today's daily news update.

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

Rick Karlin is reporting for the Times Union that the Rensselaer Board of Education submitted a letter to the state Department of Environmental Conservation asking that the operating permit for the S.A. Dunn construction and debris landfill next door to the K-12 school complex not be renewed. “The Rensselaer City School District community and all signatories below oppose the renewal of the operating permit of the Dunn Construction and Demolition Landfill,’’ reads the letter. The letter also references problems with dust blowing from the landfill and the "rotten egg" odors created by hydrogen sulfide released from discarded drywall that is dumped at the facility. According to the letter, “.... Renewal would represent a clear indication that, despite all knowledge and evidence, the inevitable impact to students, staff, and community would not be considered important.” The letter represents a drastic change from mid-2019 when it was reported that the landfill operators had an agreement in which the company would donate, in addition to property taxes, $125,000 annually to the school district. In return, district representatives were expected to “not oppose, object to, or otherwise interfere” with the landfill. The Dunn facility is one of the largest construction and demolition debris disposal sites in the state. Large trucks come to the landfill daily to dispose of construction debris from across the Northeast and truck traffic near the school has been a concern. Last week, Questar III BOCES in Schodack also sent a letter to DEC opposing renewal of the landfill’s permit. Landfill manager Jeff Burrier said: “S.A. Dunn is committed to doing everything we can to be a good neighbor and have a positive impact on Rensselaer. That commitment is on full display when it comes to supporting the Rensselaer City School.” The landfill’s permit is up for renewal in July. In January, the company submitted a permit renewal and modification application to the DEC. Read the full story in the Times Union.