Nick Henderson reports for Hudson Valley One that about a dozen racists with their faces hidden gathered in Woodstock Feb. 11, some holding a large "White Lives Matter New York" banner. One apparent group leader was seen wearing around his neck a press identification badge with the logo for Rebel News, "but hid it from view when anyone tried to scrutinize it," according to the report. Rebel News is an extreme right-wing media outlet from Canada. A lone counter-protester soon faced off with the unannounced event. “I didn’t know anything about it until I heard bullhorns from the green, and so my dog was barking, and I’m like, What’s going on in the village green?” said the Rev. Cari Pattison, pastor of the Woodstock Reformed Church. “I thought, Oh, maybe they’re just passing through, and they’ll leave right away.” Police asked the group to not use the bullhorns and then stayed until the racists left. “In the year and a half I’ve lived here,” Pattison said, “I’ve seen plenty of different protests, but the thing that made this different was the confrontations they were having, both with the bullhorn and without. It was clear they were trying to bait people.” Pattison went home and made a sign that read, “Woodstock Reformed Church does not endorse this White Lives Matter protest. Black Lives Matter. God created all equal and beloved.” Other anti-racists turned up to counter the display. The racist protest lasted less than an hour. “Listen, they’re looking for attention,” said Woodstock town supervisor Bill McKenna. “They’re poking us. I would say ignore them.” Elsewhere locally, the New York chapter of the hate group "White Lives Matter" held a banner Jan. 14 in front of the gazebo in the park in Chatham. The group has been recently placing recruitment stickers on park benches, parking meters, utility poles, and road signs in Hudson and Stockport and have posted a video of a “meet-up” in North Greenbush. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups nationally, says the White Lives Matter group first formed in Texas about seven years ago by leaders associated with neo-Nazi groups. Read more about this story at Hudson Valley One dot com.

Kate Lisa is reporting for Johnson Newspaper Corp. two Hudson Valley Republicans have emerged to announce their intention to unseat longtime Democratic Assemblymember Didi Barrett in November. Candidates will start to canvass for signatures in early March. The boundaries of the 106th Assembly District will shift farther north to include more of Columbia County, and will continue to encompass most of Columbia and Dutchess counties. Chatham resident Brandon Gaylord, 36, said he was inspired to run for office after New York lost more than 350,000 residents between 2020 and 2021, ranking third-highest of all states for outmigration. “It’s such a beautiful state and people are fleeing,” Gaylord said. “I think regardless of political affiliation, people in the state will agree things are not working.” Gaylord teaches 11th-grade U.S. history at Green Tech High Charter School in Albany. He and his family arrived in Columbia County in 2019; he currently serves as the chair of the Chatham Planning Board. Gaylord is seeking a spot on the Republican and Conservative ballot lines. His wish list of issues includes lower taxes, increased public safety and other measures to attract young families to upstate New York, he said. Gaylord opposes COVID-19 mandates, including statewide rules to wear face masks or requiring certain workers receive the coronavirus vaccine. Catrina Rocco, 39, of Poughkeepsie, hopes to win spots on the Republican, Conservative and Libertarian lines in November. Rocco is the department chair of Liberal Arts and General Studies at Mildred Elley, a private, for-profit college with campuses in Albany, New York City, and Pittsfield, Mass. Rocco has lived in Dutchess County for eight years. She grew up in Yonkers and in Eastchester, in Westchester Co. Rocco said the state’s high taxes and cost of living inspired her to run. She said, “I think the policies have hit New Yorkers very hard, particularly the middle class. I want to do my part to make sure the voices of the district are heard loud and clear in Albany. It’s time to reverse this trend in Albany.” Rocco, who is vaccinated against COVID-19, opposes statewide orders such as business shutdowns and vaccine mandates. She is the calendar administrator for the Dutchess County Republican Committee, a member of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association and chair of veterans and families support for the VFW Auxiliary in the state’s second district. In addition to Gaylord and Rocco, Clinton resident Dean Michael has also said he intends to challenge Barrett again in a rematch of their 2020 contest. Barrett has not yet announced if she will seek a seventh two-year term or not. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Michael DeMasi is reporting for the Albany Business Review the former Kaz Inc. manufacturing site near the Amtrak station in Hudson is under contract, with a purchase price of $3 million, to a limited liability company in Catskill. The three parcels, totaling 4.5 acres, are at 72 South Front Street, 14 Montgomery Street and 17 Montgomery Street. The purchase contract was signed by Ben Fain on behalf of South Front Street Holdings according to a court filing. Fain, who describes himself online as an artist and entrepreneur, owns the property nearby at 60 South Front Street. Fain is also the owner of a building on Water Street in Catskill. Fain did not return calls for comment. Kaz Inc. closed its manufacturing facility in 2008, putting more than 300 people out of work. The company continues to make humidifiers, air purifiers and other products, but not locally and under different ownership. The property under contract includes an abandoned warehouse and vacant land, and it is currently owned by the Hudson Development Corporation. The Amtrak station, located across the street, is the third-busiest in the state and 50th busiest in the country, according to the most recent rankings. The former Kaz site was awarded more than $487,000 from the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative to demolish the old warehouse for a mixed-use transit-oriented development. F. Michael Tucker, president and CEO of Columbia Economic Development Corp., said the redevelopment would "revive Hudson’s historic waterfront." As a not-for-profit, HDC needed a court order to sell the property and Andrew G. Ceresia, a state appellate court judge, signed the order on December 22. Concra Appraisal Associates in Hudson, last year valued the property at $2.3 million. The property transfer has not yet occurred. Read the full story in the Albany Business Review.

MidHudson News is reporting Acting Dutchess County Sheriff Kirk Imperati and members of his command staff briefed a committee of the Dutchess County Legislature on aspects of the Police Reform and Modernization Plan ordered by former Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in 2020. Imperati and his staff spoke about the number of complaints against deputies received in 2021. Last year, 23 complaints were filed with the Internal Affairs Bureau and each was reviewed by the IAB supervisor and others. Of those reported, 16 were deemed unfounded, three are still being investigated, three resulted in corrective action against the employee that was the subject of the complaint, and one was unaccounted for. Imperati said his deputies had 53,088 contacts or interactions with the public in 2021. The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office implemented the IAB in 2017. Detective Sergeant Adam Harris, the IAB supervisor, credited Imperati with developing many of the IAB policies. The IAB has implemented several initiatives intended to assist the department in improving its transparency with the community. The Internal Affairs Bureau can be reached by calling 845-486-3831. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Ted Remsnyder reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Windham officials held a public hearing on Feb. 10 for the Greene County town's first comprehensive plan update since 2002. The document goes before the Greene County Planning Board on Feb. 16 for review. “The (Greene County) Planning Board will have a chance to comment on it,” Windham Town Supervisor Thomas Hoyt said. “We had sent them an unofficial plan earlier to get their comments earlier in the year and we received comments back from them. We incorporated them into our final draft and once we finished our final draft, we sent it down for the 239 official review. Once we get their information, we’ll move forward with adopting the comprehensive plan.” The 224-page plan lists eight goals, including promoting growth, and creating housing opportunities. “Housing is a big issue in our community,” Hoyt said. “Affordable housing is a big issue and the other thing that came up through the study is that people want a walkable community. Outside recreation has become a new phenomenon, so people want more outside activities. Things like hiking trails and swim areas. We’ve invested in our town park with kayaks, so maybe we can find additional opportunities for outdoor family recreation.” The other goals in the comprehensive plan include protecting open spaces and natural resources, promoting economic development, improving community facilities and infrastructure, improving and connecting transportation networks, and preserving local history and the town’s historic character. The Town Supervisor said WIndham will get started as soon as the plan is fully approved. “We’ll get the low-hanging fruit as soon as possible,” Hoyt said. “The bigger objectives in the plan, we’ll start working on them immediately. It may take quite a while to implement those ideas and strategies to accomplish that feat.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Maury Thompson reports in The Post-Star that Liz Lemery Joy is once again running for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democrat Paul Tonko in the 20th Congressional District, which includes Albany County. Joy won the GOP nomination in 2020, and lost to Tonko in the general election in a district that then included the cities of Albany and Troy, and voted for Joe Biden by 20 points. The new district lines, however, move parts of Albany County into the 19th Congressional District, and Biden would have won this area by 17.3 points. “Right now, most Americans do not believe that there is a strong future,” Joy said. “We now have a climate in our country where more people are politically engaged than they were in 2020,” she said. Congressional off-year elections, however, never draw more voters than in presidential election years. Joy says what is different this year is more potential support from national Republicans in this local race. The National Republican Congressional Committee has designated the district as “top-targeted race” this year, Joy says. “That did not happen in 2020.” What did happen in 2020 is that Joe Biden was elected president, a fact that Joy won't exactly say. Joy said that if she had been in office on Jan. 6, 2020, she would have voted against certifying the election. “Joe Biden is the president — period,” Joy said. “But I do believe there was massive voter fraud in our 2020 elections. And we have to get it right before we have the 2022 election.” Joy said on Twitter she attended the rally Jan. 6 in Washington D.C. that preceded the coup attempt. Joy said she rode on a bus chartered to take people from the Capitol Region to the rally before the riot. Joy Tweeted that day that, "Hundreds of thousands of people attended today’s rally to stand for Election Integrity." So far, Joy, a 53-year-old who lives in Schenectady, is the only Republican running in the June primary election. Read more about this story in The Post-Star.

Pete DeMola reports in the Times Union that WGY, the 50,000-watt AM Schenectady radio station, turns 100-years-old this year. The 810-AM's station personalities are thinking back to what it was like for people in the area to hear the station for the first time in 1922. “To hear somebody’s voice and how personal it is, I think it must have been incredible to experience this,” said Diane Donato, a news anchor at WGY. Station officials say WGY's shortwave stations were the first to conduct a two-way transmission to England and, in 1922, was the AM station was the first to broadcast the World Series, with the New York Giants defeating the New York Yankees. “It was very exciting, particularly for people in rural areas,” said Rick Kelly, co-author with John Gabriel of “Capital Region Radio: 1920-2011.” “To hear another human voice flying through the air was really a revelation for people back in the 1920s.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

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.

Luis Ferré-Sadurní reports for The New York Times that on Feb. 3 a Republican-led group of voters filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn New York’s new congressional maps as unconstitutional. Democratic lawmakers in Albany last week approved district lines that would favor their party election's for the next decade. “This court should reject it as a matter of substance, as the map is an obviously unconstitutional partisan and incumbent-protection gerrymander,” said the lawsuit, which was brought by 14 voters. The lawsuit that claims the redistricting “brazenly enacted a congressional map that is undeniably politically gerrymandered in their party’s favor” was filed in State Supreme Court in Steuben County, a Republican stronghold in the state’s Southern Tier. The courts, however, have never turned down a map approved by the Legislature. "The state courts are really going to be really reluctant to overturn a state legislatively enacted plan," said Jeffrey Wice, who heads the New York Census and Redistricting Institute. “The question is whether the court will reject 50 years of precedent and reject the plan." Read more about this story in The New York Times.

Tonko and Delgado shared several votes this week in Congress. Both voted for the Postal Service Reform Act, which passed Feb. 9 342-92 with support from all Democrats and many Republicans, including Elise Stefanik. The upstate Republican did not join Delgado and Tonko in passing the Global Respect Act 227-206 on Feb. 9. The bill imposes visa-blocking sanctions on foreign persons responsible for or complicit in violating the human rights of individuals due to actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics.

Shaniece Holmes-Brown reports in the Times Union that Rep. Paul Tonko held an online press conference Feb. 5. The Democrat who represents Albany County and other Capital Region areas in the 20th Congressional District, used it as a chance to crow about the America COMPETES Act that passed in the House of Representatives on Feb. 4. “It takes a number of steps to enhance our global competitiveness by fixing broken supply chains, boosting American semiconductor manufacturing, and turbo-charging American scientific and technological leadership,” said Tonko of the bill with $52 billion in grants and subsidies and $45 million to help the supply chain. “The $45 billion will go a long way to enable (supply chains) to compete ... with greater efficacy,” Tonko said. He said the Albany Nanotech Center may benefit if the Senate also passes the bill, and President Joe Biden signs it into law because of the $52 billion in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act. “Semiconductors are essential components to countless consumer goods, goods that we use every day,” Tonko said. Since the interview, Tonko's Republican opponent Liz Joy Tweeted often about children wearing masks to help everyone from catching a deadly disease, but has not mentioned anything about infrastructure spending. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

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

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media that the abrupt resignation of Coeymans' police chief and the budget battles between the town board and the officers’ union have unnerved residents and officials alike, with some expressing concerns that it could all lead to the end of the Coeymans Police Department. “There is no truth to that,” Town Supervisor George McHugh said. “We have said it a million times before, we will say it again – we have no intention of getting rid of the Coeymans Police or dissolving the Coeymans Police. We will look for a new chief and we will drive on. There have never been plans to dissolve the department." Police Chief Douglas Keyer, resigned Feb. 11, after serving the town for roughly one year. His resignation was effective immediately. Other members of the department submitted their resignations, as well. Keyer's departure comes during the ongoing budget squabbles between the town board and the Coeymans Police PBA, the union representing the local police force. The union is accusing the town board of defunding the department. “As of March 1, 2022, the Town of Coeymans Police Department will no longer be available for any calls for service, both emergency and non-emergency, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 12 a.m. to 8 a.m.,” according to the union. In addition to its own police force, Coeymans is also served by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. The operation of the Coeymans Police Department falls under the jurisdiction of the town board. The police union stated the department’s budget woes will make it difficult to carry out its mission. McHugh said the town was looking for a department with a different focus and cited budgetary reasons. “... The town board wants a community-centric police department. We have the sheriff’s department here and they supplement us with two patrols 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” McHugh said.“That saves us money. I am not looking to build a metropolitan police department in Coeymans. We can’t afford it.” Sgt. Daniel Braden, who works part-time for the department, is now at the top of the department’s chain of command while the town searches for a new chief. Read more at TheUpStater [dot] com.

William J. Kemble is reporting for the Daily Freeman the state Public Service Commission on Feb. 15, will conduct its public hearing on the proposed 1,250-megawatt electric transmission line project. At the hearing, the Hudson Champlain Power Express is expected to present examples of support for the project’s overland route, but it will likely not present the concerns expressed by Hudson River communities about the underwater section that constitutes about 60 percent of the line's 339-mile route. Consent resolutions from 33 of the 35 municipalities that have property along the route have been filed by the developers. In several instances, there are agreements stating how much the developers will pay in taxes and community benefits. Details as to how much money the project is having waived or exempted in property taxes has not been provided, however. The session is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 15, at 1 p.m. via Webex. Preregistration at webex [dot] com is required for anyone wanting to make comments. State officials said the hearing is scheduled to take comments on the developer’s request to receive a certificate of public convenience for the $2.2 billion project. A link to where comments can be made online for the hearing is available at the WGXC Newsroom page. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics that construction on New York's first offshore wind project started Feb. 11, off the coast of Long Island. The project, South Fork Wind, comes after federal regulators in January issued a final sale notice for the New York Bight, considered to be a key milestone in the push to build more offshore wind projects in the coming years. The New York Bight is the geological identification applied to a roughly triangular indentation along the Atlantic coast of the United States. It extends northeasterly from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island. Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland appeared together at the project site Feb. 11, calling the effort part of a major push to reduce the effects of climate change in New York. In her remarks, Hochul celebrated the project, saying it will also create jobs, and stimulate the post-COVID-19 economy. "... This is a historic day for New York, and I look forward to continue working with Secretary Haaland as we lead our nation toward a greener, brighter future for all," she said. State lawmakers previously approved a measure for the energy transition that includes the goal of producing 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind in the state by 2035. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup angry, frustrated, and emotional parents and students packed the February 10, Coxsackie-Athens Board of Education meeting to demand the district stop enforcing the state’s mask mandate. The standing-room-only crowd in the Coxsackie Elementary School cafeteria lasted more than four hours, with the mask issue taking up a significant portion of the meeting. District officials say their hands are tied and disobeying the state’s order could have serious consequences. Board President Michael Donahue started the meeting at 7 p.m., holding off until all audience members put masks on, pursuant to state law. “We still have to live with the mask mandate from the governor,” Donahue said. “I’m sorry, I know we are in our third year of this. Nobody likes it.” Audience members shouted and threatened to unseat members at future elections. Some parents also vowed legal action against the district. “Before you are a group of parents — and there are more — who are willing to take the school back and take over the job that you are failing at immensely,” said Tiffany Russo, one of several parents to address the board. Several parents related stories of children being threatened or bullied for removing or pulling their masks down, especially during sports practice or competitions. District Superintendent Randy Squier said that staff members shaming students over masks “is not acceptable, and you have got to let us know [about this]. ....There is no excuse for a teacher making a kid feel uncomfortable for not wearing a mask,” Squier said. After a shouting match ensued, Donahue paused the meeting for 45 minutes. When the board returned most of the audience members were gone and Squier made a statement about what could happen should the district not follow the state’s mask rules. He said the administrators could lose their licenses, and the board, because they would have violated their oath of office, could be removed by the Commissioner of Education. And he said, there would be a negligent supervision liability risk. "Our insurance carrier could say 'you are on your own,'" Squier said. And the Department of Health could fine the district $1,000 a day. “We are obligated to follow this,” he said. "We do not make these rules. We are tired of masks, too.” That night, the board approved a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and Department of Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett asking the state to “consider working with school leaders to develop an off-ramp to move forward.” Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com.

Paul Kirby is reporting for the Daily Freeman Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation customers are about to get hit with higher bills. In a press release, Central Hudson said it is projecting that bills for natural gas service will increase on average about 19 percent; about 46 percent for electric service; and about 29 percent for combined electric and natural gas. “These bill increases are temporary and may vary for individual customers depending on energy usage and their billing cycle,” Central Hudson said. The utility said the main factors for the new prices are the increased supply prices for both electricity and natural gas as the region navigates a colder than average winter and as global energy factors come into play. “Locally, this January featured sustained temperatures that were 11 percent colder than average and 16 percent colder than January 2021,” a Central Hudson representative said. “This contributed to driving gas usage up more than 13 percent and electric usage up nearly 6 percent over January 2021.” Factors contributing to higher prices include increased domestic demand because of colder weather and from economic recovery after the pandemic; constrained capacity; lower electric production; and increased reliance on natural gas following the closure of the Indian Point nuclear plant. The February supply charge for natural gas rose 33 percent as compared to January, while electric supply charges have more than doubled, Central Hudson said. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Diane Valden is reporting for The Columbia Paper Deputy Copake Town Supervisor Richard Wolf, January 13, in his monthly report to the town board on the Hecate [HEK-uh-tee] Energy solar project said the Chicago-based company had made a project presentation to “an expert working group” assembled by the citizen group Sensible Solar, together with Friends of Columbia Solar. Other group experts include representatives from Scenic Hudson, Columbia Land Conservancy, two Cornell University teams — from the Ag School and from the Department of City and Regional Planning — and two volunteer landscape architects, Wolf said. “The working group is preparing a report with recommendations to improve the Shepherd’s Run proposal, and will presumably opine on screening, fencing, protecting forested areas and other concerns,” Wolf said. The project alls for the clearing of 40 acres of trees and shrubs. Copake officials asked the company to delay filing its siting application until the working group’s report has been received and considered. In answer to a February 7 email from The Columbia Paper, Hecate Project Developer Alex Campbell said “Hecate hasn’t filed its application.” Wolf said the town maintains the hope that Hecate will consider what the working group has to say. Once the Shepherd’s Run project application is filed with the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting, the agency has 60 days to review it and determine its completeness and define deficiencies, if any. If all goes smoothly for Hecate they plan to start construction activities in the second quarter of 2023. Hecate proposes to build a solar-powered electric generating facility with 200,000 solar panels on several sites along State Route 23 and County Route 7 in and around the Copake hamlet of Craryville. The total project area is 880 acres and the panels will physically occupy 220 acres, which will be fenced in. The industrial-scale project is not permitted under Copake Zoning Law, yet it is moving forward because Hecate has bypassed local law and is seeking site approval from ORES under the state’s new siting process for renewable energy projects, known as 94-c. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Today's daily news update.

Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that while "Good Cause" eviction laws have been passed on the local level, but efforts by progressive Democrats to pass a statewide law have stalled. A bill in Albany has been referred to a housing committee, but has made little in the early days of the current legislative session. Meanwhile the cities of Albany, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie passed their own good cause eviction bills. Hudson passed a law that was vetoed by Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson, and a replacement bill then failed with the Hudson Common Council. "Good cause" eviction laws require the automatic renewal of leases, removing the ability for landlords to displace tenants at the end of their lease. Landlords can still evict tenants for a variety of reasons, such as conducting illegal activity, damaging property, or nonpayment of rent but only if rent increases have been kept under five percent a year. But while there has been some success locally passing the tenant protection legislation, it is being undermined by the lack of a statewide measure. Asked about the "Good Cause" law passed in the City of Albany during a state budget public hearing with Feb. 9, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said, "Well, we've been sued." That's because the city is preempted by the state. If New York passed statewide eviction standards, that "would allow us to move forward with something that is really important," Sheehan said. "When you have security in housing, then you have security in families," the mayor said. "We have such transience that we see and it impacts school performance, it impacts peoples' mental health, it creates anxiety and it takes resources from people who are in the least position to be able to marshal those resources." Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate now running for governor against incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul, said that he thought Democratic leadership are not backing "Good Cause" legislation because they are beholden to developers and property owners. Hochul, for instance, held a "small, private" dinner for donors Feb. 10 in Manhattan at Hudson Yards, a massive recent development in the city that was developed by Related Companies, cost between $10,000 and $45,200 to attend. Hochul's office claims the governor has "taken decisive action to protect tenants.... We will continue to work closely with the legislature and members of the advocacy community to protect vulnerable New Yorkers and keep tenants in their homes," the governor's office said in its statement. Read more about this story in the Times Union.