Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup that the Greene County Legislature approved funding to extend water and sewer lines in Cairo for an industrial park. The project is part of a partnership between Greene County, the Greene County Industrial Development Agency, and the town of Cairo. They are hoping to attract manufacturing and distribution companies to a 120-acre site on the north side of the junction between State Routes 23 and 32. The plan would involve extending town water and sewer lines from near the Hannaford store on Main Street in Cairo to the area near the McDonalds restuarant and under State Route 23. On March 16, county lawmakers authorized $875,000 for what is being called the town of Cairo Infrastructure Project. The funds will come out of approximately $9 million in federal aid the county is receiving through the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund established under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. “Economic Development continues to be a major priority for our county legislature,” Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said. “Partnering with local town municipalities is the most effective way to maximize resources and deliver positive impact to each community." Groden has emphasized that the Cairo site is intended for industrial and manufacturing industries so not to compete with retail and small business along Main Street in Cairo. Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com.

Noah Eckstein is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that the members of the Hudson Common Council are no longer calling themselves aldermen. The full council on March 15 adopted a resolution officially changing their titles from alderman to councilmember. Mayor Kamal Johnson signed the resolution into law the next morning. “We want to ensure that our city government is as inclusive as possible,” Johnson said. “We don’t want to discourage people from running for Common Council positions in the future because they feel excluded or misrepresented.” The word “alderman” derives from the Old English word “ealdormann,” which means an elder or a man of high ranking, according to Oxford Languages. Hudson was chartered in 1785 by Quaker New England whalers, with a residual allegiance to the British crown. Because of this, the name ‘alderman’ was adopted for the city’s Common Council. Under the new law, the city recognizes that gender-inclusive and gender-neutral language influences attitudes, behavior, and perceptions of Hudson’s government. “This is a long-overdue change,” Common Council President Thomas DePietro said. “Personally, I’ve used the term ‘councilmember’ for some time so it makes sense to me to formalize the change.” Note: DePietro is a WGXC volunteer on-air programmer. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

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Michelle Del Rey reports in the Times Union that pandemic rules for public meetings in New York were extended another month on March 16 by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Public bodies can continue to conduct meetings virtually for another month. Members of 15 advocacy groups are calling on state legislative leaders and the governor to permanently allow for hybrid meetings accessible both in-person and through the internet. Currently, towns and villages do not have to provide an internet feed of their meetings, even though it is 2022 and cheap and easy to provide to citizens. "We look forward to working with the Legislature in the coming weeks to amend the existing law to incorporate new avenues for public participation and help all New Yorkers have greater access to their government," said Hazel Crampton-Hays, Hochul's press secretary. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Porcupine Soup reports that Greene County is starting to compost food waste. A grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is helping purchase a food waste composting machine and special compostable bags. “The Legislature is committed to reducing the amount of waste being shipped out of Greene County,” said Legislative Vice Chair Matthew Luvera, a Republican from Catskill. Beginning April 4, residents can get 100 percent compostable bags only at the Catskill Transfer Station, and then must bring their food waste to the Catskill Transfer Station in those bags. “We are excited to provide solutions to not only help the environment but reduce the amount of money we pay to send garbage out of county to a landfill,” said Paul Vosburgh, director of Solid Waste. “This will also provide a way to give back to the community through the use of composting for home gardening.” Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

MidHudson News reports that book banning in schools has come to the Hudson Valley. The Wappingers Central School District in Dutchess County has removed “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maria Kobabe from a shelf at the John Jay High School Library after a single complaint from Pat Whalen on behalf of “Concerned Parents and Grandparents; Moms for Liberty.” Superintendent Dr. Dwight Bonk approved the book banning because, he claims, graphic depictions of sexually explicit images. Conservatives across the country are banning books in school libraries, but this is the first recent effort in the Hudson Valley. Read more about this story at MidHudson News.

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Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Michael Abrams is the new mayor of the village of Kinderhook, according to the unofficial results of the March 15 election. Abrams, 42, ran on the Old Kinderhook party line. He prevailed in the three-way contest, receiving 322 votes, to beat Barry Knights, 57, on the Kinderhook Ole Timers line with 28 votes, and Quinn Murphy, 19, on the Kinderhook People’s party line, with 118 votes. “I appreciate everybody’s support,” Abrams said. “We’re going to try to hit the ground running and do the best we can to improve everyone’s quality of life.” He will take the oath of office in the coming weeks, succeeding Mayor Dale Leiser. Abrams is currently serving as a member of the village board, having been elected in 2020. He grew up in Brunswick, Rensselaer County and moved to Kinderhook in 2015. “There’s a number of things I think we want to get at right away,” Abrams said. “Some of those things are just going to be nuts and bolts how are we going to operate as a village board, how many meetings are we going to have, internal things on how we plan on communicating with one another and everything like that. I want to make sure we’re all aligned moving forward.” His priorities for the village include making sure there is clean water, ensuring its fire-rescue is responsive and that essential services continue to operate as they should, Abrams said. “Overall, I really want to try to keep Kinderhook safe, family-oriented and culturally significant,” he said before the election. In total 478 residents voted in Kinderhook on Tuesday — 412 in person at the polls and 66 by absentee ballot. Read more at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

MidHudson News is reporting the January unemployment rate in the Hudson Valley was 3.6 percent, up from 2.8 percent in December and down from 6.1 percent in January 2021, the State Labor Department reported March 15. Columbia County had the lowest jobless rate in the region at 3.2 percent, followed by Putnam and Rockland counties each at 3.3 percent, Dutchess at 3.5 percent followed by Orange, Ulster and Westchester, at 3.7 percent., Greene County reported an unemployment rate of 4.0 percent and Sullivan County, 4.1 percent, in January. Adam Bosch, president of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, said the new low rate may be a factor in new hiring. The low rate in December was the result of holiday jobs and people returning to the workforce. Long-term, he said the issue of training people for the right job needs of the business community should be addressed. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

The Public Service Commission Wed., Mar. 16, announced it had appointed third-party independent consultants to conduct a comprehensive management and operations audit of Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation. In a press release, the Commission announced a review of Central Hudson’s response to the February winter storm that left more than 67,000 homes and businesses without power. It is also investigating ongoing billing problems related to the company’s recent upgrade to a new billing system that resulted in customers not receiving timely monthly bills. “The audit we have launched will examine Central Hudson’s electric and gas operations in New York state,” said Commission Chair Rory M. Christian. “The audit will also provide an assessment of Central Hudson’s grid modernization efforts and examines how the company plans for and manages projects related to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act... We are also closely examining Central Hudson’s storm response efforts, and its ongoing customer-billing problems.” The audit will also look at governance, management, and customer operations, including bill estimation processes. The Poughkeepsie-based utility serves approximately 309,000 electric customers and 84,000 natural gas customers in the mid-Hudson region.

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MidHudson News reports that that the Cuomo administration misled the public regarding COVID-19 nursing home deaths, according to an audit by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office. “The pandemic was devastating and deadly for New Yorkers living in nursing homes. Families have a right to know if their loved one’s COVID-19 death was counted, but many still don’t have answers from the State Health Department,” DiNapoli said. “Our audit findings are extremely troubling. The public was misled at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth.” The audit found that the state's health department did not provide the public with accurate COVID-19 death counts and understated the number of nursing home deaths due to COVID-19 by at least 4,100. Attorney General Letitia James did not say specifically what she would do with the audit. “I am grateful to Comptroller DiNapoli for bringing much needed transparency to this critical issue. My office will continue to monitor nursing home conditions and ensure the safety of our most vulnerable residents. If anyone has concerns about nursing home conditions, I urge them to contact my office,” James said. Read more about this story at MidHudson News.

Columbia-Greene Media report some of the unofficial results from the March 15 village elections. In Kinderhook, Michael Abrams, with 322 votes, led Barry Knights, with 28 votes, and Quinn Murphy, with 118 votes, for mayor. Knights, the third place finisher, was best known for pulling a gun on a passing "Black Lives Matter" protest in 2020. The other contended election locally, where there were more candidates than positions available, was in Tannersville. In the election there for village trustee, John P. Gallagher led with 66 votes, but absentee ballots will need to be counted to see who finished second, as Kimberly O. Thompson led with 33 votes over Mary Susan Timpson with 31 votes. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics under budget proposals advanced by state lawmakers this week, more money would be made available to local health departments in the new fiscal year. The state Assembly's budget plan matches funding levels proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. At the same time, the state Senate would add additional resources to county fringe rates and backs restoration of funding to New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In the last year, local health officials called for additional resources to support local departments, which have been strained for the past two years by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sarah Ravenhall, the executive director of the New York State Association of County Health Officials said the Legislature's one-house budget has responded to the association's request for increased funding for local departments. However, officials are looking for more funding, including aid for combating lead poisoning in children. "Each year 17,000 of our children are exposed to lead, putting them at risk for developing devastating health consequences, and giving New York State the dubious distinction of having the highest number of children afflicted by lead poisoning. We can and must do better," Ravenhall said. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

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Columbia-Greene Media report the first results from the March 15 village elections. In Catskill, there was a potential rout. Candidates running on the Democrat and Action Party lines led for all three spots on the village board, while those running on the Republican and Village Visions lines were behind. Incumbent Republican Jeffrey Holliday was losing to Democrat Michelle Williams 356 to 290 for one seat. Incumbent Democrat Natasha Law, with 378 votes, and Democrat Megan Henry, with 344 votes, led for the two other seats. Jamie Hyer-Mitchell, with 278 votes, and Diane Petrianni-March, with 244 votes, who ran on the Republican and Village Visions, trailed behind. But Catskill Democrats should wait for the absentee ballots before celebrating. 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.

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.

Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman the public failed to show on March 14, for a public hearing on a recommendation by the Ulster County Periodic Review Committee to give pay raises to the county’s elected officials. The committee has recommended the salaries of the four countywide elected officials be increased by $15,000. The salaries would increase by $7,500 this year and $7,500 in 2023. It has also recommended the rank-and-file legislators and caucus leaders receive a $2,000 raise over two years and that the salary for the Legislature chairperson be increased by $2,500 over two years. The county executive, sheriff, and comptroller have not had pay raises since 2009. The county clerk’s salary has not changed since 2005. The county executive is now paid $133,572. If the recommended pay hikes are approved, that salary would increase to $148,572 by 2023. The salaries of the other county officials would increase to $116,709 by 2023. Although no one from the public offered an opinion on the proposed salary increases this week, the comptroller, clerk, and sheriff each submitted letters and appeared before the committee urging salary hikes for their positions, noting that their salaries are lower than those paid to their peers in other counties. The recommendation will now go to the county legislature for consideration. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.