Diane Valden reports in the Columbia Paper that Copake town officials now have a plan for re-opening places, programs, and events across town. Copake's Town Hall reopened to the public April 12. Copake's Clean-up Day is now May 15 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Town Highway Garage. This year, residents who want to get rid of junk and garbage must wear masks and keep their distance from each other. Cars will be limited at the garage, and residents will have to unload their own vehicles and stay inside them, until it is their turn. The 2021 Copake Park Summer Program will be back this summer with only 65 campers, ages 5 to 12, with everyone wearing masks, and rules put in place to keep everyone physically separated. There are also plans to restart the summer concert series and food truck festival in Copake's park from June 26 until August 28, again with masks, and limited capacity, and other pandemic-related rules. The Taconic Hills Little League is also restarting, with masks, only three players in the dugout at a time, and rotating disinfected balls. The plans for Copake Falls Day, in August, have not be drawn up yet. Read more about this story in the Columbia Paper.

Rick Karlin is reporting for the Times Union contrary to scattered media reports and some web-based maps and reports, billions of cicadas will not be emerging in the Capital Region later this spring. Despite the hype surrounding the mass appearance of Brood X cicadas, they will not be crawling out of the ground around here or anywhere else in New York because they do not live here. Brood X is a variety of the thumbnail-sized insect that live and grow underground, emerging once every 17 years to breed and lay their eggs before dying after a few weeks. While hard to spot and harmless, their sound is pervasive when and where they emerge. The Brood X is supposed to be unusually loud, creating a rattling sound that can measure as high as 100 decibels, a sound level roughly equivalent to a passing subway train. But the Capital Region will miss out, said Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an entomologist with Cornell University's Integrated Pest Management program. In reality, Brood X, or the Great Eastern Brood, are expected to emerge in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia. They are identifiable by their red eyes. The various broods emerge at 11, 13 or 17-year cycles, said Gangloff-Kaufmann. The periodic appearances is believed to be an evolutionary adaptation. By spending just a few weeks above ground, they limit their exposure to predators such as birds or squirrels. Read the full story in the Times Union.

This is WGXC's Congressional Report, tracking the votes, words, and actions of Rep. Antonio Delgado, a Democrat from Rhinebeck representing the 19th Congressional District, and Paul Tonko, a Democrat from Amsterdam from the 20th Congressional District. Click here to play or download an audio version of this report.

Congress was back in session last week, after weeks off for the Passover and Easter holidays. They passed many bi-partisan bills that virtually everyone, including local Rep. Delgado and Tonko, voted for including the Credit Risk Management Improvement Act, the Microloan Transparency and Accountability Act, and the Protecting Indian Tribes from Scams Act. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which addresses the gender pay gap, passed 217-210, with only one Republican and no Democrats voting against the rest of their party.

Emilie Munson reports for the Times Union that Republican Liz Joy filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission April 1 to challenge Rep. Paul Tonko, a Democrat from Amsterdam, again in 2022. In 2020, Joy ran against Tonko, but received 38 percent of the vote to Tonko's 62 percent in the 20th Congressional District election. A Democrat named Cole Francis Matthews has also declared intentions to challenge Tonko. Joy is a real estate agent from Glenville, with policies that align with former President Donald Trump. Currently the district includes all of Albany County, but redistricting after the 2020 census could change the boundaries. "It could turn things off the margin and start to push Tonko to the place where he would have to run the kind of race with extensive TV ads and a big operation that we've seen recently from [Rep. Antonio] Delgado or [Tedra] Cobb on the Democratic side to the south and north of him," said Chris Mann, assistant professor of political science at Skidmore College. "It could push him into that territory. ... I don't think he's in any real danger of losing but he's going to have to work harder." In 2020, Joy raised $381,000 for her campaign compared to Tonko's $1.5 million. Joy refused a request from the newspaper for comment, and Matthews could not be reached. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Emilie Munson reports in the Times Union that Rep. Antonio Delgado raised $1.1 million in the first three months of 2021, now has over $4 million on hand for his second re-election campaign. So far, no Republican candidates have filed paperwork to challenge Delgado in 2022, although Delgado's 2020 opponent, Republican attorney Kyle Van De Water, said last year that he would run again in 2022. Van De Water did not respond to a request for comment on April 15. Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro has been hinting at a run either for Delgado's seat or for governor in 2022. But on April 14, Molinaro said he had "no news ... yet." The main question for the 19th Congressional District election in 2022 is where the district will cover. New York's redistricting commission will redraw the lines as a result of the 2020 census, where New York is expected to lose a congressional seat or two. District maps aren't expected to be finalized until the end of this year or early next year. Chris Mann, assistant professor of political science at Skidmore College, said, "The real advantage to (Delgado), (and the) disadvantage to anyone challenging him is you've got to raise a ton of money, which means you've got to start early.... But the top-tier challengers, there is a cost to announcing you're going to run for Congress and losing badly if the landscape gets worse, (the district gets bluer) or dropping out and being seen as not sincere ... that will make it less likely that he has challenger." In the other local Congressional election, Democrat incumbent in the 20th District, Paul Tonko, raised just over $100,000, while his repeat challenger Republican Liz Joy raised $190, according to FEC filings. Joy, however, did not launch her 2022 candidacy until the day after the quarter ended. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Emilie Munson reports in the Times Union that Hudson Valley Democrats in Congress Antonio Delgado, Paul Tonko, and Sean Maloney, are threatening other Democrats with a promise of a no vote on tax legislation that does not include a repeal of the state and local tax deduction cap. All New York Congressional Democrats except two signed a letter April 14 to repeal the Republican-passed $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local taxes an individual can deduct from their federal tax bill. So Delgado, Tonko, and Maloney now stand with Republican Elise Stefanik who has opposed the cap, saying it results in double taxation of the same income. Kathleen Rice and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both New York Democrats, were the only state representatives not signing the letter. They agreed with Peter LaVenia, co-Chair of New York's Green Party, who wrote on Twitter, "Very disappointed to see my Rep. Paul Tonko, sign on to this letter calling for repeal of SALT cap. 96 percent of SALT repeal benefits would go to top quintile, 57 percent to top one percent and 25 percent to top 0.1 percent. SALT deduction is a handout to the rich that should be eliminated permanently." The issue is being forced now as the repeal will either be tied to President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill, or it will not pass for some time because of the razor-thin Democratic majority that can only get it through on that legislation's back. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Today's daily news update.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media local residents are looking for immediate action to clean up an illegal tire dump in Coxsackie. Town officials received complaints last fall about two tire dumps being operated by Green Tire Recycling — one on Route 81 and one on Surprise Result Road. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has fined the business owner, Shane Foster, a total of $4,500 for both dumps. Foster has so far paid a $750 fine for each location, Coxsackie Town Supervisor Richard Hanse said. The state also set a March 27 deadline for the tires to be removed from both properties, but that has not yet happened, Hanse added. Greene County Sheriff Pete Kusminsky said the sheriff’s office has assisted DEC with its investigation. The tires are an eyesore, David Hotaling of Earlton said. “It’s not like they’re in an area you can’t see, it’s right on 81,” he said. “Everybody that goes up 81 thinks it’s an eyesore. The pile gets bigger all the time. And the town supervisor should be worried about it because if [Foster] takes off, who is going to end up paying for it?” Hanse said Foster had a permit from DEC for one of the locations for a maximum of 1,000 tires that was long ago exceeded. "We're talking over 10,000 tires. And these are truck tires. Not car tires," Hanse said. The town is extremely concerned about the property, the supervisor said in response to Hotaling's comments. “The town is very concerned because, No. 1, it’s a fire hazard; No. 2, it’s a mosquito breeding paradise and No. 3, we never permitted any of it,” he said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan April 13, vetoed legislation that would have required his administration to provide the Legislature with the initial budget requests submitted by county departments, as well as all backup documentation, including graphs, reports and memos, in support of those requests. Ryan's move could set up potential legal action with the Legislature, if lawmakers vote to override the veto. In his veto message, Ryan said the measure violates the county charter and would hamper the administration's ability to build its proposed annual budget. "Even were the proposed law legal, which, without a [public] referendum, it is not, its enactment would have the effect of significantly impeding the budget process," Ryan wrote. Under the law, department heads would be required to submit the information to the Legislature by August 31 each year, more than one month before the county executive is required to release the tentative budget. And it would force department heads to provide their requests before they receive the information needed to make those requests. Ryan further argues that the law flies in the face of the county charter, which establishes the executive as the county's chief budgetary officer. The Legislature voted 20 to 3 in March to require department heads to turn over the information, which lawmakers said is actually a clarification of what the charter and prior legislation requires. Legislature Chair David Donaldson said he does not know if a vote to override Ryan's veto will be held. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Porcupine Soup reports that former chair of the Greene County Legislature, Frank Stabile, died at age 78 April 15, at home his home in Palenville. A life-long resident of Palenville, Stabile served on the Catskill Town Board from 1977 to 1985 and on the Greene County Legislature from 1985-2003. He worked on the planning and construction of the Greene County Office Building on Main Street in Catskill, and the Emergency Operations and Fire Training Center in Cairo during his term. A funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m., April 20 at the Sacred Heart Church in Palenville, with interment following at Palenville Cemetery. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Today's daily news update.

Natasha Vaughn reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Columbia County reached 4,000 COVID-19 cases on April 15, and Greene County reached 3,000. “I’m hopeful that summer months will come and people will spend more time outside and the numbers will stay low,” Columbia County Department of Health Director Jack Mabb said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll never hit 5,000. I can still remember our first case, it was a couple from Taghkanic, and they had traveled from outside the area and gotten it, back then I never thought we would ever hit 4,000.” The Columbia County Department of Health first reported a positive COVID-19 case on March 20, 2020, and Greene County followed with its first case April 11. Columbia County reached 1,000 cases on Dec. 2, 2,000 on Jan 2, and 3,000 on Jan. 28. Greene County Public Health reached 1,000 cases Dec. 22, and 2,000 on Jan. 20. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Brendan J. Lyons reports in the Times Union that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office won't make public its correspondence with the U.S. Justice Department about the administration's handling of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The governor's office refused the Times Union's request for copies of its correspondence with the Justice Department, saying they were "compiled for law enforcement purposes" and the disclosure "would ... interfere with law enforcement investigations." Cuomo had earlier suggested they might be released. Previously, on Feb. 10, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and other administration members met with leading Democratic lawmakers and DeRosa admitted Cuomo's office had withheld releasing full data on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes because of their concerns about the Justice Department inquiries. That was when just the Trump administration was investigating Cuomo's nursing home policies. Now the FBI and U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York are investigating. On Feb. 19, Cuomo said his administration had provided "truthful information" to the Justice Department and that it "is a lie to say any numbers were inaccurate." Cuomo's office also has not released copies of any subpoenas that have been served on the administration in connection with the federal investigation. In January, Attorney General Letitia James' office released a report that Cuomo's policies may have increased the risk of COVID-19 infections at congregate facilities. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Paul Kirby reports in the the Daily Freeman that while Radio Woodstock has moved to Hurley, the name remains the same. Radio Woodstock (100.1-FM) has left the Woodstock hamlet of Bearsville and moved into the former West Hurley Methodist Church at 1360 Route 28 in Ulster County. Radio Woodstock principal owner Gary Chetkof said the rock station moved to avoid a rent increase. “The original vision was to capture the eclectic nature of Woodstock with a varied format that included blocks of folk, jazz, blues, classical, talk, rock and a heavy emphasis on local and regional news,” the station's website says. "As the radio industry evolved, so did Radio Woodstock." Read more about this story in the the Daily Freeman.

Today's daily news update.

Stacie Sherman is reporting for Bloomberg that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill April 16, requiring all Internet service providers in New York to offer affordable high-speed access for low-income families. Providers can charge those families no more than $15 a month, Cuomo said during a briefing Friday at the Northland Workforce Training Center in Buffalo. Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Alphabet Inc. joined Cuomo for the bill signing. Schmidt chairs a 15-member state commission focused on using technology to help the state reopen better than it was before the virus. It was also announced that an emergency fund from Schmidt Futures and the Ford Foundation will provide free Internet access to 50,000 students statewide during the 2021-22 school year. The bill passed by the state legislature caps a basic broadband plan at $15 a month and a higher-speed plan at $20. Currently, a basic high-speed plan costs on average more than $50 a month. Schmidt said universal broadband access is the first and most important priority of the commission. “Internet is no longer optional,” he said. “Think of the generation that we could be creating that are not learning because we didn’t give them Internet access.” Read the full story at Yahoo! Finance.

Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Ghent resident Christopher Cornell and Hudson 2nd Ward Supervisor Abdus Miah have challenged the local Working Families Party candidates in Columbia County Court. Both men are represented by John Ciampoli [cham-POLE-ee], of counsel with Messina, Perillo and Hill, of Sayville, Suffolk County. They claim official party signatures on the certificate of authorization for Working Families candidates were clipped from other documents and are therefore not genuine signatures. Ciampoli filed a petition against Ghent town board candidates Mallory Mort, Laurie Johnson and Carl Quinn, and Hudson 2nd Ward Alderwoman Tiffany Garriga. Garriga is looking to unseat Miah as 2nd Ward Supervisor. There is no indication that Cornell is running for office, Columbia County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Kenneth Dow said. Dow called the case total nonsense because a signature, by law, can be presented in a number of ways. “There is a lot of stuff that is in the law that indicates this is perfectly permissible so that’s why I think this is really nonsense,” he said. There is a statewide, coordinated attempt by the Republican Party to knock people off the Working Families Party line, and information has been fabricated by people willfully ignoring the law, Dow said. Ciampoli argues that an original document with original signatures must be filed with the county Board of Elections, and Working Families failed to do so. The focus on candidates Mort, Johnson, Quinn, and Garriga, are based on where petitioners Cornell and Miah can vote, Dow said. Miah did not challenge any Hudson candidates on the ballot other than Garriga. However, the outcome of the case would impact if the almost 30 Working Families Party candidates can be listed on the party’s ballot line because they are all on the same disputed certificate of authorization, Dow said. Miah said this week he challenged the Board of Elections specifically against Garriga. Miah said he has not yet received a decision from the board and only took action through the Board of Elections, not in court. Miah denied any connection to Cornell. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Mid-Hudson News reports that on April 14 Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan signed an executive order as part of his county’s version of a "Green New Deal." The measure mandates any construction of renewable or "green" energy infrastructure projects must hire local unions and local private contractors and pay a prevailing wage. “To me, the core part of the Green New Deal, is creating good-paying, union jobs as we do that work to protect our environment to transition to clean energy and really to rebuild our infrastructure coming out of a once-in-a-century pandemic,” said Ryan. “Today, Ulster County is going to continue to lead in both protecting our environment and making sure we’re doing right by our working people and especially our partners in the building trades.” The new law will be used on an upcoming solar project the county is building on a landfill. “Evidence shows that higher wages due to prevailing wages does not slow the demand to build solar projects,” said the President of the Hudson Valley Building and Constructing Trades Council, Todd Diorio. “Only 6 to 11 percent of total project costs on solar projects are wages. A 50 percent in labor cost would only increase the project cost by 3 to 5 percent, so on a $10 million solar project that we have maybe $300,000 would ensure good wages.” Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

Porcupine Soup is reporting an online free service has been established to provide information on available locations that offer COVID-19 vaccinations, including many in Greene and Columbia counties. VaccineFinder [dot] org is a search tool that allows users to enter a zip code and distance range, and to select the brand of vaccine preferred. A list of locations that offer the vaccine appears, including information on if the shots are currently in stock. The website is operated by epidemiologists and software developers at Boston Children’s Hospital and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; it is updated daily. Appointments cannot be made through VaccineFinder and must be made directly at the location offering the vaccine. Appointments are required at most locations. The Greene County list of sites includes Greene County Public Health, Kelly’s Pharmacy in Greenville and Coxsackie, CVS in Cairo, Hannaford in Cairo, Walgreens in Greenville and Catskill, Price Chopper in Catskill, Walmart in Catskill, Windham Pharmacy and Wellness RX in Tannersville. As of April 15, approximately 45 percent of Greene County’s adult population had received at least one dose of the vaccine and 29 percent have been fully vaccinated. Read the full story at porcupine soup [dot] com.

Today's daily headlines.

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

Sarah Trafton reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the COVID-19 pandemic may last longer in Greene County then elsewhere, as supply is now outstripping demand for the vaccines. Several hundred doses of vaccines went unused this week, Legislature Chair Patrick Linger says. "We’re getting to the point where supply is increasing enough to be able to hit most of the people who are going to want a vaccine, which is not anywhere near where the state or CDC sees as herd immunity,” Linger said. Only about 38 percent of adults in Greene County have received at least one dose of a vaccine, far short of the 70 percent that scientists say is needed to end the pandemic. News this week about possible problems with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be affecting turnouts. “It was almost like turning on a light switch,” Linger said. “Last week we had an easy time filling pods. This week it’s exactly the opposite and we’ll probably wind up sending doses back. Our emergency operations manager was expecting we’d have another week or two before hitting that saturation point. It’s really showing up as being challenging to fill the vaccine slots.” Greene County Public Health has open appointments for vaccines at the New Baltimore Firehouse on April 19, and April 26 in Ashland. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Catskill Village Board selected a new village president at its reorganizational meeting, April14. Peter Grasse III, a Republican, was picked by board members to succeed Vincent Seeley. Grasse was elected in March to a second term on the board. Seeley resigned January 8 after a four-month absence related to a new business venture. Catskill village presidents are appointed by the village board and are not directly elected by voters. Village Vice President Joseph Kozloski had served as acting president following Seeley's departure. In remarks April 14, Grasse said he did not expect to take on the leadership role when he first ran for office. “I just wanted to get in there and make a difference,” he said. Grasse said he enjoys being a part of village government. “I enjoy listening to the concerns of residents and I like to think everything out before I make a decision. Trying to make the right decision all the time is key,” he said. Grasse’s priority list includes getting the village’s finances in order, maintaining the parks and making sure everything is looking its best so everyone can enjoy the summer. The village has some major infrastructure projects coming up, including a new water main for Main Street and a settling pond for the water treatment plant; as well as some new development coming to the village, such as Taco Bell, WellNow and more. “I’m excited to get to work,” Grasse said. Kozloski will continue to serve as vice president. A special election will be held at a later date to fill Seeley’s unexpired term, Grasse said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.