Today's daily news update.

Liz Montgomery reports for Porcupine Soup that on Feb. 2 Greene County Public Health Director Kimberly Kaplan made a rare public appearance during the COVID-19 pandemic telling members of the Greene County legislature that wearing masks during a global pandemic of an airborne virus saves human lives. The legislators asked many questions that have long been settled by scientists. Legislator Matthew Luvera, a Republican from Catskill wanted to know about herd immunity “There is always discussion of that, but we aren’t there yet,” Kaplan said. Michael Bulich, another Republican from Catskill, equated COVID-19 to the common cold, while coronavirus causes far more deaths, and has long-term effects. “By definition this is airborne,” Kaplan said to the legislators pushing back on wearing face coverings. “Masking is part of a general layered approach which they said from the beginning… it does afford them some level of protection.” While other leaders and health officials of surrounding counties held public forums and answered questions from citizens during the pandemic, Greene County officials have not held similar public information events. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

Kenneth C. Crowe II reports in the Times Union that lawyers for Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin now have 30,000 pages of records from the state Attorney General’s Office as part of discovery in the criminal case alleging misuse of campaign funds in 2017. McLaughlin made his first court appearance Feb. 3 since he was arraigned on Dec. 1, 2021. That comes after a Rensselaer County grand jury indicted McLaughlin with grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing for allegedly stealing $5,000 from his campaign account on Nov. 21, 2017. That was just weeks after winning his first election for county executive. His attorney, Ben Hill, said Feb. 3 that he was preparing a motion to dismiss the indictment against McLaughlin for “a lack of sufficient evidence.” Assistant Attorney General Chris Baynes told Judge Jennifer Sober that he was ready for trial, and Sober set a March 21 deadline for defense motions. McLaughlin, a Republican, continues to say he will win the case but did not speak during the court proceedings Feb. 3. McLaughlin is accused of using campaign funds to pay $3,500 to a former member of his state Assembly staff, Jennifer Polaro. A check for $5,000 was drawn from the campaign account in November 2017 to Hudson Valley Strategies, which is run by Richard Crist, a county Republican political operative who works on McLaughlin’s county staff as director of operations. Crist then deposited the check, the indictment claims, and wrote a $3,500 check to pay Polaro. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

In other news, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Democrats redistricting plan Feb. 3, after it passed in both the Assembly and State Senate. Republicans, angered by the gerrymandered redistricting, are suing to get the district lines redrawn..... On Feb. 2 the Greene County Legislature approved the recommendation of the Catskill Republican Committee and appointed Jay Lucas, 67, to the legislature, to fill the vacancy left by Jack Keller who passed away in late December..... If you plan to vote in the June primary elections in New York, but want to change your party registration first, Feb. 14 is the deadline this year. Applications to change one’s party enrollment for any primary election in 2022 must be received by the board of elections no later than February 14, 2022.

Today's daily news update.

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

Closings and delays for Fri., Feb. 4:
Updated 8 a.m.

Closings in Columbia County
Chatham Central School District | Schools and offices closed.
Chatham Kids Club | Closed
Coarc Adult Transportation | Open. Staff report. No transportation.
Columbia Opportunities, Inc.,| All locations closed.
Columbia-Greene Community College | All on-campus and remote classes canceled.
Germantown Central School District | Closed
Hawthorne Valley School | Closed
Hudson City School District | Closed.
Ichabod Crane Central School District | Closed
Little Wonders Early Childhood Education Center | Closed
New Lebanon Central School District | Closed
O.K. Kids, Inc. | Closed
Questar III Columbia-Green Education Center | Closed
Taconic Hills Central School District | Closed

Closings in Greene County
Cairo-Durham Central School District | Closed.
Catskill Central School District | Closed
Circle of Friends, Ravena | Closed.
Coxsackie-Athens Central School District | Closed.
Early Childhood Learning, Cairo |Closed
Grapeville Christian School | Closed
Greene County Transit | Closed. No buses running.
Greenville Central School District | Closed.
Hunter-Tannersville Central School District | Closed
Questar III Catskill Academy | Closed
Questar III, Durham Heave Equipment | Closed.
Ulster-Greene ARC, Catskill | Open. No transportation. No buses running.
UMC Daycare Norton Hill | Closed.
Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District | Closed

Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the town of Catskill is now in the process of crafting zoning regulations for short-term rental properties. The town board examined the first draft of the zoning proposals from the planning board on Feb. 1. Under the first draft of those changes, a short-term rental permit would be required prior to a property being used as a short-term rental. The short-term rental agreement would be good for one calendar year. The units would have to be inspected by the town code enforcement officer for compliance with town and state codes. “We’ve still got a ways to go,” Catskill Town Supervisor Dale Finch said this week. “We fine-tuned it a little bit more last night and we’re really going to go back and look at it again. So we’re probably not looking at a public hearing until March. Then we’ll get into the public hearings and depending on how that goes, we’ll move forward with enacting some of those zoning changes.” Under the proposed zoning codes, a short-term rental permit would be transferable to a new owner, as long as the new owner registers with the town, updates the short-term rental permit application and agrees in writing to comply with the requirements of the short-term rental permit and these regulations within 30 days of sale. Town board member Jared Giordiano said, “The town board made some changes and then it’ll go back to those guys and they’ll look at them again and see if they want any additional changes. Then we’ll move forward with the process.” The board is also weighing changes to its solar zoning regulations. Under the potential changes to the solar zoning laws, capacity would be increased for residential solar units. Read more at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Brendan J. Lyons is reporting for the Times Union agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on February 3, confiscated the mobile phones of Rensselaer County Operations Director Richard W. Crist and Jim Gordon, the county's director of purchasing and a political ally of county Executive Steve McLaughlin. The phone seizures took place at the county office complex in Troy. The FBI is continuing to investigate alleged absentee ballot fraud in the county. William J. Dreyer, Crist's attorney, declined to comment. Gordon could not be reached for comment. The mobile numbers for Crist and Gordon were turned off that same afternoon. In November and December, absentee ballots handled by Crist and Gordon were being examined by State Police and FBI agents in separate, but coordinated investigations. Those probes are examining allegations of fraud stretching back several years. The FBI's investigation into absentee ballot fraud has focused on Gordon's role in gathering absentee ballots at a public housing apartment complex in Lansingburgh. Crist's involvement with absentee ballots in the Rensselaer mayoral race has also been examined by the State Police. Investigators seized incumbent Mayor Michael Stammel's mobile phone in mid-December at City Hall. The ballot fraud investigation involves the U.S. attorney's office in Albany and the state attorney general's office. The FBI seizure of the two phones happened the same day that McLaughlin appeared in Rensselaer County Court for a pre-trial conference in his unrelated criminal case involving the alleged theft and misuse of campaign funds. Read the full story in the Times Union.

MidHudson News is reporting Acting Dutchess County Sheriff Kirk Imperati has declared his candidacy for sheriff. He plans to run for his own four-year term on the Republican and Conservative ballot lines in November. A 30-year-veteran of the department, Imperati was appointed interim sheriff in September after the late Butch Anderson died. He served as Anderson's undersheriff for 14 years. “I have the experience, I have the expertise, and I have the drive and desire to take the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office to the next level,” he said. “We have done a lot of great things over that time from developing an internal affairs bureau to being the architect for the police modernization and reform plan for the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, helping other law enforcement agencies in Dutchess County develop a police modernization and reform and I think I have what it takes to take it to the next level,” he said. Imperati is a 1987 graduate of Arlington High School and holds degrees in criminal justice from Dutchess Community College and Marist College. He was hired by the sheriff’s office in 1993. He started as a road patrol deputy in the Harlem Valley and made detective in 2004. Imperati instituted the School Resource Officer program, implemented the department’s Internal Affairs Division, and was the architect for the Police Reform and Modernization Plan for the sheriff’s office and other agencies in the county. He has already been endorsed by several police unions and the corrections officers at the Dutchess County Jail.  Dutchess County GOP Chair Michael McCormack said of Imperati, “His decades of service in the department are stellar and beyond reproach. Dutchess County is so very fortunate to have Kirk watching over and protecting our families and we need to stay the path.” Dutchess County Democratic Party Chair Julie Shiroishi said her party has no one to challenge Imperati yet, but she does not envision her party cross-endorsing him. Read more at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Paul Kirby reports in the Daily Freeman the Ulster County Surrogate Court inside the Ulster County Building begins hosting an exhibit featuring important documents from the life of abolitionist Sojourner Truth on Feb. 4. Truth was born a slave as Isabella Baumfree in Ulster County in 1797 and escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. Under her new name, she campaigned to eliminate slavery in America, and helped recruit black troops for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war she campaigned for African-American rights in the land of the Klu Klux Klan. The exhibit in Ulster County contains two competing newspaper accounts of Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman” speech as well as a handbill advertising her speaking engagements, and some of her own probate documents. “A few months after I took office in 2017, I learned that our County archives contain a bond filed in Sojourner Truth’s 1828 lawsuit to win her son’s freedom, a proceeding Truth brought only two years after she was emancipated from slavery,” Ulster County Surrogate Judge Sara McGinty said in a statement. “Then I learned that the County also has a Surrogate’s Court document dating back to 1810 which lists Sojourner Truth as an asset of the estate of her deceased owner. The document, which I’ve seen several times, is an Inventory of Assets — a form of report still employed in Surrogate’s Court,” McGinty wrote. “Truth is described as ‘Negro wench Isabella.’ She is valued at $100. At the time she was about 8 years old. The exhibit is open to the public each Friday to anyone who makes reservations at nshultis@nycourts.gov.Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's daily news update.

Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge reports for Columbia-Greene Media that one of the three wells that supplies drinking water to the people of Valatie is contaminated with the forever chemical PFOS. “We exceeded the MCL,” Village Mayor Frank Bevens said Feb. 2. “So when that happened we immediately shut down that well. We contacted the county Health Department. And we’re working with the county Health Department and the state Health Department because we’re under their guidance when it comes to stuff like this.” The well tested at 14 parts per trillion, exceeding New York's limit of 10 ppt. “They found out in the fourth quarter (of 2021) and they immediately switched the well off,” Columbia County Department of Health director Jack Mabb said. “So there are no issues for any of the residents whatsoever.” Except for the tainted water residents drank before the well was shut down. PFOS, a toxic chemical, has also been found recently in the drinking water at New Lebanon Junior-Senior High School, in Cairo's drinking water in Columbia County, at two locations in Rensselaer County, and in Newburgh. Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge reports for Columbia-Greene Media

Bethany Bump reports in the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Jan. 31 extending a statewide disaster declaration and postponing a law that would require nursing homes to boost spending on resident care and staffing while capping profits at five percent. The law is now suspended through at least March 1. Two new reports found that the nursing homes suing to block the law would have reported over $510 million in “excess” profits had the law been in effect in 2019. “Nursing homes are entrusted to provide decent care and dignity for our most vulnerable residents,” said Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, a group that advocates for better nursing home care. “The fact that so many joined in this lawsuit to avoid even modest financial accountability speaks volumes about the industry’s priorities. Is there anything that we can do to get them to stop putting profits over patients?” The law that is being delayed would require nursing homes to spend at least 70 percent of their annual gross revenues on resident care, including at least 40 percent on staff. A report issued last week by the Center for Medicare Advocacy found that New York nursing homes already receive hundreds of millions of dollars that they could redirect to resident care. "Policymakers must require greater transparency and accountability in how facilities spend the money they receive for care before they consider increasing payments to facilities," the report concluded. Hochul’s office did not respond to a request seeking comment, but a spokesperson for the state Department of Health said that nursing homes were still encouraged to comply with the law but would not be penalized if they didn’t “in light of the current staffing crisis.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

The Daily Freeman reports that Rep. Antonio Delgado had $5 million more in campaign funds then Republican challenger Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, in their 19th Congressional District election. Molinaro must defeat Republican Brandon Buccola in a June primary to face off against Delgado, who so far does not have any challengers from his party. Delgado ended the year with $5,480,936.71 in cash on hand, according to the Federal Election Commission. Molinaro, who began his campaign in September, had $423,619.64. Delgado is completing his second term after beating Republican John Faso in 2018. Both candidates live in Dutchess County, with Delgado in Rhinebeck and Molinaro in Red Hook while serving his third four-year term as Dutchess County Executive. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's daily news update.

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

On Jan. 28, Columbia County Department of Health officials reported two more deaths from COVID-19, and another two more on Feb. 1. Even though case counts are falling throughout the area, there is still a dangerous disease on our midst. Across the Hudson River, Greene County officials announced another COVID-19 death there over the weekend. It was the 108th death from coronavirus in Greene County. And Ulster County officials announced Feb. 2 the death of two more people from the COVID-19. On Feb. 1, Dutchess County reported another COVID-19 related death. And Albany County officials reported three more deaths there on Feb. 2.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics New York State Assembly Republicans released a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul, February 2, urging the governor to end the statewide indoor mask mandate and to grant more authority over the pandemic to local governments. "We urge you to reverse course and return authority to our local governments as the New York State Public Health Law was designed to do," the letter states. However, Hochul said New York will continue to keep its mask rule in place for now after a spike in cases caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The letter was delivered as the mask mandate is being challenged in state court. A Nassau County judge overturned the mandate, but the order was stayed while the appeal continues. Republicans have been critical of the indoor mask rule, especially for schools in New York. Republican candidate for governor U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin this week appeared at a rally in Albany, calling for the mask rule to be dropped in schools. "If she truly respected the role of the Legislature, she wouldn't try to preserve this unlawful mandate," tweeted GOP state Assemblymember Christopher Tague. Hochul believes a mask rule must remain in place for now in order to prevent further spread of COVID-19, and recently extended the mandate until February 10. Hochul has argued that masks need to remain on indoors in order to keep businesses and schools open, and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. Hochul's office on February 2, reported 7,131 patients with COVID are hospitalized in New York. Of those people, 46.1 percent are in the hospital for reasons other than COVID or COVID-related complications. "We're in a much better place, but we have to decide what that looks like," she said when asked about the mask mandate. "We're not prepared to throw in the towel and say we're done fighting COVID." Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

The Daily Freeman is reporting Scenic Hudson has announced its acquisition of six acres of waterfront land in the village of Athens. The property could provide the potential for new river-based recreation, the agency said in a press release. In addition to 1,000 feet of river frontage, the site includes an 8,000-square-foot warehouse that could be repurposed, according to Scenic Hudson. Seth McKee, executive director of The Scenic Hudson Land Trust Inc. and Land Programs, said in a statement, “Scenic Hudson looks forward to collaborating with the village of Athens, New York state, and local partners as we explore ways to restore the land’s natural beauty and maximize the recreational and economic benefits it can provide.” The land was an industrial site for decades, including operations to distribute fuel oils and road salt. Most recently, it was proposed as the location for a construction and demolition debris transfer facility. Athens Mayor Amy Serrago said in a statement, “The potential of turning this industrial site into a place for residents and visitors to connect with the Hudson River and the maritime history of our village is truly exciting, and I’m grateful to Scenic Hudson for making this feasible by acquiring the land.” The land is located adjacent to the Athens State Boat Launch on Murderers Creek, a tributary of the Hudson River. The launch has been targeted for improvement as part of the state’s Hudson Eagles Recreation Area. The site also plays a role in sustaining wildlife and offering climate solutions, the release said. The price paid for the land was not immediately available. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.