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.

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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.

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.