Michael P. Norton is reporting for the State House News Service Massachusetts is poised to receive $1.1 billion in new federal bridge repair money over the next five years. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal announced the money estimate on January 18, crediting the work of Congress and President Joe Biden to pass an infrastructure funding law. The money will be allocated under a Federal Highway Administration formula and can be used to fix 472 bridges listed in poor condition in the Commonwealth. “Modernized and improved bridges statewide will provide safety for all users, and create good-paying jobs for workers,” Neal said in a prepared statement. “Bridges are vital pieces of our infrastructure — not only to our daily commutes, but also to emergency vehicles and the trucks that are making deliveries in our communities. ...” States normally must match federal money with up to 20 percent in state or local money, but guidance issued last week indicated that federal money can be used for 100 percent of the cost of repairing or rehabilitating "locally owned off-system bridges," according to Neal's office. Neal, along with Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, made the announcement at an Armory Street site. City planners hope to replace two bridges in Springfield. Read more in The Berkshire Eagle.

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media the Coeymans Town Board is considering the possibility of extending the town supervisor’s term from two to four years. If the board agrees to double the length of the term, the change would go into effect after the 2023 election. Deputy Town Supervisor Daniel Baker introduced the proposal at the January 13 board meeting. “We did a little research on this. All of Albany County government, everybody — county executive, comptroller, the sheriff — everybody in Albany County government is all four-year terms,” Baker said. “The village of Ravena, everybody there is also a four-year term. The only one in the town of Coeymans that is not a four-year term is the supervisor’s seat.” Town board members, town clerk and highway superintendent all serve four-year terms. The law would include a mandatory referendum, giving voters the chance to be heard on the issue. Current Supervisor George McHugh was re-elected to a second two-year term in November 2021 and the seat will be up for election again in 2023. During the town board discussion, McHugh stressed that if the change is made, it would not apply to the term that just commenced. “If the mandatory referendum passes, it has nothing to do with the term I am in,” McHugh said. “It is for future terms, which I may not be a part of, so it has nothing to do with me.” McHugh noted that a two-year term makes it difficult to complete long-term projects such as the park renovation currently underway. No decisions were made on the proposal during the January 13 meeting. Read the full story at The Upstater [dot] com.

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Luke Parsnow reported for New York State of Politics that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's first proposed budget is a $216.3 billion spending plan with investments in a post-pandemic world. On Jan. 18 Hochul released her first budget proposal with $2 billion in pandemic relief funds, including $350 million for businesses as well as theater and musical arts, and $1.2 billion for bonuses for health care workers, and $1.6 billion for upgrades for health care facilities. (Click here to download or play a clip of Hochul's address about her budget plan.) Hochul is also proposing $31.2 billion for education aid, an increase of $2.1 billion. And spending for child care would also be increased by $1.4 billion, if the legislature goes along with Hochul's proposal. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Robert Gavin reports in the Times Union that Coeymans Town Supervisor George McHugh wrote a letter to a federal judge asking for leniency for William Tryon, a local farmer who pleaded guilty to taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021 attempted coup of the U.S. government. "I hope you find it in your judgment to sentence him to a punishment that is commensurate with his actions of that fateful day, absent a period of incarceration," McHugh wrote the judge. McHugh made sure the judge knew he was Coeymans town supervisor, but McHugh, who is a lawyer, wrote as if he did not know that Tryon had pleaded guilty, when he already had. He wrote that he was "aware of the accusations and charges levied against Bill" and was "completely taken back by what has been stated he did" and called Tryon's admitted conduct "allegations." Video shows Tryon storming the capitol, and also standing atop a vehicle there that day singing Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Eve said Tryon did not express remorse.until an interview for a pre-sentencing report. "It is only when the consequences of his actions have caught up to him that he is showing any regret," she stated, "But, there have to be consequences, rather than a mere slap on the wrist." Tryon, 71, was sentenced on Jan. 14 to 50 days in jail with a $1,000 fine and $500 in restitution. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

David Robinson and Mike Stucka report in the Poughkeepsie Journal that for the week ending Jan. 16, New York added 360,560 new COVID-19 cases. That sounds like a lot, but it is down about 39 percent from the previous week's tally. At her public address Jan. 18 about her budget proposal, Gov. Kathy Hochul touted statistics showing COVID-19 cases waning. (Click Read more about this story in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

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The Times Union reported on Jan. 17 that three more Albany County residents died from coronavirus over the past 24 hours. They were men in their 50s, 70s, and 80s. That was the second day in a row that Albany County officials announced three deaths from COVID-19. But new positive case numbers may be beginning to decrease from record-high levels last week. Case numbers reported early in the week are usually lower, and the holiday weekend could have lowered the totals more. But Albany County officials only announced 498 new positive cases Jan. 17, a much smaller number than the 1,586 new cases Jan. 13 and the 1,526 new cases announced Jan. 14. New York City COVID-19 new case numbers have recently plummeted after reaching records last week, and the same figures to happen in the Hudson Valley soon. “It appears to be peaking now,” said Dr. Steven Hanks of St. Peter’s Health Partners. “February could look relatively COVID-free here in the Capital Region.” Scientists, of course, have been wrong before during this pandemic, so this is not a sure bet. "I have learned not to make predictions,” Albany County Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen told the Times Union. “Certainly we are at a stage in which vaccine uptake is pretty good in our adult population, we have seen a significant percentage of the county that has already had clinical infection, and we are learning that the omicron variant may be less clinically severe. These are good signs, but we are still very much in the woods.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics New York's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus have outlined its legislative priorities for 2022, including combatting the effects of pollution and climate change on communities, further changes to the state's criminal justice system and education laws. Caucus lawmakers on January 17, announced their priorities and policy goals for the year, one day before Gov. Kathy Hochul is scheduled to release her first budget proposal. The spending plan is expected to be approved by late March. “People of color face unique challenges as they seek to grow their families, become homeowners, or start a small business. Today, the Caucus has presented a blueprint for advancing the equality and prosperity of the communities that we represent," said Assemblymember Michaelle Solages, the caucus chair. "Specifically, we have proposed life-changing policies such as New Deal 4 CUNY, universal pre-k and childcare, and the New York Health Act. All measures that would reinvigorate our economy and provide substantial support to children and families as we maneuver through this pandemic." The caucus is calling for a law setting targets for transitioning the state to cleaner and more renewable forms of energy and to invest in ways of reversing years of environmental racism. The lawmakers' agenda also calls for more spending on education to aid student outcomes and improve child development while also seeing through a plan that would make universal pre-kindergarten available statewide. And the Caucus also intends to further address the criminal justice laws by ending solitary confinement and making it easier for people in prison to make parole. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

MidHudson News is reporting Norse Atlantic Airways has received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to operate flights between New York Stewart International Airport in Orange County, and Norway and the European Union. The new service is expected to begin this spring. The airline will also operate flights between Oslo and Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles. The new service between Norway and Stewart is great news, said Maureen Halahan, president of the Orange County Partnership. “It will hopefully be the beginning of opening up that European market and the UK when people catch on that it is very easy to fly into Stewart, easy access to New York City. That is what they built the international arrivals building for,” she said. Norse CEO and founder Bjorn Tore Larsen said the service will be affordable and the airline will deliver many jobs to American workers. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Cloey Callahan is reporting for the Times Union residents of the Ulster County town of Wawarsing will sound off Tue., Jan.18, during a public hearing on a proposed major cannabis facility. Chicago-based Cresco Labs has proposed taking over the former Schrade Knife and Avnet Channel Master facilities in Wawarsing to create a cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and distribution plant on a 91-acre lot that has been empty for 17 years. Of the 91 acres, 6.6 are located within the borders of the village of Ellenville. Because the geographic split heavily favors Wawarsing, the town will oversee the project. The town of Wawarsing last year opted out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries and on-site consumption lounges within its borders, while the village of Ellenville, said yes to both cannabis dispensaries and businesses. “We are very supportive of it,” said Ellenville Mayor Jeff Kaplan of the new facility. “We feel it will bring good jobs to the area, and that area in particular which has always been in an industrial site.” Tim Weidemann, Director of Economic Development at Ulster County, said, “In all of my conversations with [Wawarsing] town officials … the town is cautious as they should be about getting too far ahead of themselves on a project, but is supportive and optimistic about it." The applicant for the cannabis facility, Valley Agriceuticals, currently operates a medical cannabis manufacturing facility in Wallkill as well as four medical cannabis dispensaries in New York. Valley Agriceuticals is a division of Cresco Labs, which operates in 10 states where medical marijuana is legal. Cresco originally suggested the addition of the 380,000-square-foot processing plant would create 300 to 400 jobs, but the latest proposal suggests a workforce of up to 679 employees in the future. One question nearby residents had is whether the cannabis facility will emit a strong odor. Ellenville High School is located 1,000 feet south of the site, and the nearest residential properties are 300 feet away to the southwest. According to the submitted plans, construction could be completed within 12 to 18 months of approval. Once built, the plant would operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays. “This is one of the biggest economic opportunities we have had in Ellenville in decades,” Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said in August. Read the full story in the Times Union.

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Nick Reisman reports in New York State of Politics that Siena College poll results announced Jan. 17 show only 36 percent of New Yorkers believe race relations in the state are excellent or good, while 60 percent say they are fair or negative. Last year only 31 percent of New Yorkers polled said race relations were good or excellent. In 2014 47 percent of New Yorkers believed race relations in New York were positive. Now 72 percent of New Yorkers polled say people of color face racial discrimination, while 19 percent say they do not. “The overwhelming majority of New Yorkers of every stripe think racial minorities experience discrimination in New York – including 92 percent of Blacks, 87 percent of Latinos and 67 percent of whites; 84 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 56 percent of Republicans; and at least 63 percent from every region,” Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said. “Similarly, at least 62 percent of voters, regardless of religion, race, party, or region, say that religious minorities experience discrimination." And half of Latinos and 41 percent of Black New Yorkers reported they were treated unfairly in the last year because of their race, religion, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. "This number has remained largely consistent over the last five years,” Greenberg said. “Dr. King would have turned 93 this weekend. He said, ‘Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.’ New Yorkers say that struggle persists.” Read more about this story in New York State of Politics.

Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that instead of paying farm workers by the same rules as grocery store workers, Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to give agricultural employers a tax credit for overtime labor. Currently, most workers in New York receive overtime benefits after working 40 hours. But farm workers, because of a quirk in history and a weak labor union, only get overtime after 60 hours of work at regular pay. The New York Farm Bureau, a group opposed to paying farm workers in the same way as grocery workers, said they "applaud her for making agriculture a focus of her agenda" that included "sweeping investments." The state's Farm Laborers Wage Board holds its final hearings on this issue later this week. Some advocates for farm workers are skeptical of the tax credit proposal. "If it were a complete subsidy, it would destroy the incentive power to overtime pay to incentivize more reasonable, shorter work weeks," said Paul Sonn, state policy program director for the National Employment Law Project. "Otherwise it won't do anything to help reduce the dangerous work schedules that many (farm) workers face." Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Noah Zweifel reports in the Altamont Enterprise about the ongoing political feud against farmer Emily Vincent by Berne's code-enforcement officer, Chance Townsend, and the highway superintendent, Randy Bashwinger. In 2018, Vincent installed a temporary greenhouse without a permit, because a permit was not required. But Townsend said she did need a permit and that Vincent owed the town money. Then Bashwinger, Berne Supervisor Sean Lyons, and Deputy Supervisor Dennis Palow tried to get Vincent to resign from the planning board, with false allegations and insinuations about her sexuality. Democrats, who held a 3-to-2 majority at the time on the town board, defended Vincent and kept her on the board. Until 2020, when Republicans took control of the board and illegally fired Vincent from the planning board, and replaced her with Thomas Spargo, a former State Supreme Court Justice who was disbarred after a bribery conviction, for which he served two years in jail. So Vincent successfully sued the town and was put back on the planning board. Earlier this year, Vincent wanted a building permit for a barn, only to be told that Townsend had “too much on the docket.” But after she called the town’s supervisor, Lyons, that she was able to get the permit. Now though, because a contractor poured extra shale over a driveway on her property, Townsend and Bashwinger are ordering Vincent to replace a culvert, even though it was installed by the town, runs underneath a town road, and appears to terminate away from her property. Townsend won't return her calls, and neither Bashwinger nor Townsend answered email or calls from the newspaper. Vincent has 30 days, as of Dec. 22, to replace the culvert. Read more about this story in the Altamont Enterprise.

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Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media a part of the Columbia Memorial Health hospital building in Hudson was closed off early Jan. 16, after the hospital's sprinkler system froze because of a power outage, resulting in some flooding. Part of the hospital's emergency department and the imaging area were affected by the water damage, CMH spokesperson Bill Van Slyke said. Hudson firefighters were called to Columbia Memorial after water from the sprinkler system caused ceiling tiles to fall. Ambulance traffic was temporarily redirected, but the emergency department remained open and available for walk-in care. "We expect the impacted areas will be back in operation later today or tomorrow," Van Slyke said later in the day Jan. 16. He said the large power outage that impacted more than 5,000 Columbia County National Grid customers early on Jan. 16 was to blame for the hospital's flooding. The power outage caused cold air to infiltrate a mechanical area above the imaging unit and emergency department, causing a sprinkler head to freeze and burst. Columbia Memorial ran on generator power for several hours before the sprinkler head froze. When the generator is activated, air louvers are automatically opened, which let enough cold air in to freeze the sprinkler head, said Nick Pierro, Hudson Fire Department's 2nd assistant chief. During the power outage, outdoor temperatures hovered around minus two degrees Fahrenheit. When firefighters arrived around 5:40 a.m., they found multiple ceiling tiles had fallen and a lot of water, Pierro said. Firefighters and Columbia County emergency personnel remained on the scene for several hours Sunday morning. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

HateWatchReport.com, a local tracker of racist and right-wing activity, reports that three people from 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. On January 14, three white supremacists were seen holding a banner for the group in the village square in Chatham. The identity of the three racists was obscured by masks and winter clothing. 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. In response, the HateWatchReport.com group is urging local residents to attend a counter-protest at noon Jan. 19 at the Village of Chatham gazebo.