Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation announced October 7, a gift of $500,000 to the Stephen Petronio Company for the preservation of a 77-acre parcel in Round Top. The land, surrounding the Petronio Residency Center on Crows Nest Road, next door to the Catskill Preserve, will be designated a forever wild open space. It will be named the Doris Duke Preserve at Round Top, Greene County. “The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's grant to Stephen Petronio Company is nothing short of transformational for us as an organization,” said Stephen Petronio. A modern dance choreographer, Petronio in 2017, established the Petronio Residency Center on 172 acres that feature a 6,500-square-foot house and 2,500-square-foot state-of-the-art dance studio, organic garden and hiking trails. The mission of the center is to provide artists with a place to research and create new work away from their day-to-day responsibilities in close proximity to nature, and to establish a local dance education program that brings the power of movement to local youth. In addition to the Duke foundation, the Petronio company also received support from The Howard Gilman Foundation. Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Larry Rulison reports in the Times Union that National Grid officials are predicting heating bills will rise 31 percent this winter. "This is the largest increase we've seen in many years," Kellie Smith, National Grid's New York gas pricing manager said Oct. 7. The cause: capitalism. "There's higher prices primarily due to the economic recovery," said Richard Meyer, vice president of energy analysis, markets and standards for the American Gas Association. "Because we are using more energy, we are using more natural gas, and demand has been going up (causing prices to rise)." Demand has increased as the pandemic recedes. National Grid officials say they are not profiting from the price increases. "It (gas supply) is passed on directly to customers without markup," said National Grid spokesperson Patrick Stella. Regulations limit the company to make its profit on the so-called delivery of gas through its pipelines and delivery system to customers. Officials say National Grid's home natural gas delivery rates have only increased about $38 during the winter heating months since 2009. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Scott Atkinson reports for WWNY that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill Oct. 7 to provide drug treatment for addicts in prison. “Why wouldn’t we take advantage of that opportunity, to invest in people, give them something as simple as medication to help them deal with their illness while they’re incarcerated, just like we’d make sure they have their diabetes drugs or their cancer drugs,” Hochul said. “What we’re trying to do is remove barriers to treatment.” Lewis County Sheriff Mike Carpinelli is running for governor as a Republican, and denounced the new law. “I’m upset by it. I think it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money, and I think it’s gonna bring more problems to all our jails across the state,” he said. "It’s the state’s twisted way of trying to ensure more votes from the left side and, you know, pandering to that... There’s not one minute that I think it’s truly in their heart that they care about the person.” In all, Hochul signed five bills Oct. 7 to address the opioid problem in the state, including making it easier to find and possess overdose-treating drugs such as Narcan, and a law which expands the number of crimes that can be referred for drug treatment. Read more about this story at the WWNY website.

Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that 52 percent of homes and 56 percent of businesses in Durham in Greene County currently lack access to broadband internet service, a new report says. The Broadband Working Group of Durham Connect, the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee unveiled a draft of the report at the town's meeting Oct. 5. “The internet has become a crucial part of our lives, just like roads, electricity and the telephone. But many parts of Durham have no access to the internet, or only have access that is expensive, slow, and unreliable,” the report states. “Only wired broadband (co-axial or fiber-optic cable), which is available to most people throughout the U.S., can provide the speed and reliability necessary to transmit the data-rich solutions that they need from the internet.” The report says that 49 of the 120 miles of roads within Durham will still not be wired for broadband this year and at least 730 of 1,790 addresses don't have access wired broadband. The report says it would cost $1.52 million to wire all the Durham roads. Durham Supervisor Shawn Marriott said the town board will read the report and decide on a course of action at the November town meeting. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.

Today's daily headlines.

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Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup the Cairo Development Foundation is suing the town of Cairo in State Supreme Court, accusing town officials of withholding $50,000 in grant money. The notice of claim was dated September 29, and served on the town by attorney Daniel Benoit, Cairo's former town supervisor and the husband of CDF co-president Diana Benoit. The CDF alleges that in 2019, it submitted an application requesting the release of approximately $50,000 in Residential Rehabilitation Grant funding received by the town through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1998. In August 2019, the town board approved a resolution to release the $50,000 to the CDF. Daniel Benoit was the town supervisor at that time and he abstained from voting. According to the CDF, the funds were to be used for the rehabilitation of two residential apartments at 467 Main Street in Cairo. However, the funds were never distributed to the foundation. Fast forward to August 30, 2021, and the town board formally reversed its 2019 decision on a vote of 3 to 2, saying there was no CDF application on file. Supervisor John Coyne, and town board members Tim Powers and Stephen Kralovich, voted in favor of overturning the board's earlier decision. The CDF argues that it relied on the town's 2019 promise and will “suffer financial hardship unless they receive the promised funds.” Diana Benoit said the board's assertion that an application had never been filed was "categorically untrue," and the board's recent action was "based on lies."Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com.

Lauren Harkawik is reporting for the Times Union a study is seeking the public's help in testing possible biological solutions to control the invasive brown marmorated stink bug. They look like little flying armored bugs and emit a foul odor if touched. More than an ugly, smelly, unwanted pests, stink bugs are highly invasive and can decimate crops. They eat corn, tomatoes, peppers, and fruit, and they are causing a great deal of trouble for apple growers nationwide and locally in the Hudson Valley. As a result, apple growers and scientists are searching for biological solutions to control the apple-loving appetite of the pest. Peter Jentsch, an entomologist formerly with Cornell University Hudson Valley Research Laboratory in Ulster County, is examining the impacts of a fungus called Venerate that is non-toxic to humans, that works to dispel the stink bug’s appetite. The Samurai wasp is also being looked at as a potential control for stink bugs. Jentsch has turned to local residents for help with a scientific study. He continues to head-up a long-running citizen science project that asks people to report any stink bugs they encounter in the home. He says if they’re showing up in high numbers in homes, they are likely present in nearby orchards. Stink bugs were first discovered in the U.S. in 1998, when one found its way to Pennsylvania, likely on a wood shipping pallet from Asia. This brown marmorated species was first known to have spread to New York by 2008, when the bugs were spotted in orchards, nibbling on apples. The bugs use a straw-like protrusion to sip the juice of the apple itself. This causes damage to the apple that results in dimpling, browning, and, sometimes, a change in the flavor of the fruit. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Sam Raudins is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the New York legal community is mourning the passing of Judge John G. Connor at the age of 90 on October 4. A native of Philmont, Connor served for more than two decades as a Supreme Court justice in New York’s Third Judicial District, which encompasses Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster counties, following his election in 1982 and in 1996. Connor's son, Hudson City Court Judge John Connor Jr., said his father found his place as a Supreme Court justice and stuck with it — something not many in his position do. “I think the thing about my dad was even though he was on the Supreme Court, he was still a humble guy,” Connor Jr. said. “He was one of those guys who always thought he was the underdog and always gave everybody a day in court.” After graduating from Philmont High School, Connor attended St. Michael’s College and went on to serve two years in the U.S. Army before he graduated from Albany Law School in 1957. He was admitted to the NY state bar and then founded the firm Connor, Millman & Connor with his father. Connor made local history in 1964 when he became the first Democrat to be elected district attorney in Columbia County in more than a century. After he retired from the bench in 2006, he returned to private practice with his son, John Jr. David Dellehunt, the judge's former law clerk, said, “He was a kind of a unique judge in the sense that he was a person that not only understood the law, but he also understood people, which is an important characteristic for a judge..." Connor Jr. said, “People realized he was just a guy who was there for the everyday man. He wasn’t some spokesman for the rich or things like that — he was just an everyday guy who was on the bench..." Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in the Times Union that environmental advocates want more time for the public comment period for a proposed biofuel plant near Prattsville in Delaware County. Hughes Energy officials say the 115,000-square foot plant would convert organic garbage into a material that could be burned as a biofuel that would be good for the environment. But the plant would be less than 2,000 feet from the Schoharie Creek, and environmental advocates worry it would affect the drinking water for a million Hudson Valley residents and most of New York City. Others are concerned about the number of trucks that would be on local roads carrying garbage to the facility. "What I’ve always said about this project is, the devil’s in the details – it really needs to be looked at," Wes Gillingham, the associate director for the environmental group Catskill Mountainkeeper, said. "That’s a huge structure they’re talking about building in a very rural area." On Sept. 20 New York's Department of Environmental Conservation determined that the project would require a full environmental impact statement. Hughes Energy CEO Dane McSpedon said, "We're not surprised in any way – given a project of this size – for the DEC to want to to be very thorough." Now Hughes Energy must submit an initial, "scoping" document to the DEC about what issues they will address in their full impact statement, and then the public has 30 days to comment. Catskill Mountainkeeper, and the environmental groups Riverkeeper, and Don't Trash the Catskills. want that extended to 90 days. "The local community is particularly concerned about the project’s potential impact on their health and safety, economy, local environment, and aesthetic character of the area," according to a letter the three groups sent to the DEC on Oct. 6. They also want oral, not just written comments. The Hughes Energy CEO says that, so far, the DEC has been "very fair and open." Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Today's daily news update.

Kenneth C. Crowe II reports in the Times Union that the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced Oct. 6 a second location in Nassau in Rensselaer County as an environmentally hazardous State Superfund site. The property on Route 203 is being named a State Superfund site because of severely contaminated with materials including suspected carcinogens there. In 2011, the Dewey Loeffel Landfill in Nassau was named a federal Superfund site because of an estimated 46,000 tons of industrial waste buried there including industrial solvents, waste oil, PCBs, scrap materials, sludge, and solids. “We consider it based on the context to be related, but it’s being treated as a separate Superfund site,” Nassau Supervisor David Fleming said Oct. 6. “We have an opportunity to clean it up correctly and for it to be the gold standard for cleanup.” The DEC says the second site is being named a Superfund location because it “presents a significant threat to public health and/or the environment.” The new site contains “on-site soil, groundwater, and pond sediments [that] are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, volatile organic compounds, and metals above standards, criteria, and guidance levels.” Officials speculate that trucks that hauled materials to the Dewey Loeffel Landfill may have been washed at the second location. "The stigma of a new Superfund site is certainly unwelcome on its face but I also believe it is an opportunity to use this cleanup as a new chapter to learn from the toxic legacy of fumbled remediations the federal and state governments had attempted in the past,” Fleming said. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Kenneth C. Crowe II reports in the Times Union that New York's Department of Environmental Conservation will conduct a third round of testing for PFOAs in local drinking water supplies will be started later this month in Poestenkill in Rensselaer County. The Poestenkill Landfill site was capped and closed in 1993, and initial water tests have showed excessive levels of PFOAs in drinking water near the Algonquin Middle School. Exposure to the chemical compounds in PFOAs are linked to kidney and testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, preeclampsia/pregnancy-induced hypertension, and medically diagnosed high cholesterol. “We are seeking to do more testing, gather more data and do it more quickly. We want answers just as the residents want answers,” County Executive Steve McLaughlin said. Drinking fountains at the school have been turned off since PFOAs had been found in water at Algonquin Middle School at 12 parts per trillion, which is above the state allowable level of 10 parts per trillion. The DEC said Oct. 6 that it plans “to install groundwater monitoring wells near the school to assess groundwater flow direction… to assist in identifying potential sources. DEC will also be assessing whether past activities that took place at the school could be a source of groundwater contamination.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Bill Williams reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Greene County says 110 deer have died of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease in recent weeks, and Columbia County reports 183 dead deer. Dutchess County has reported 312 dead deer, and Ulster County has 505 recent cases. The Department of Environmental Conservation reports the total number of deceased deer cases under investigation in upstate New York was 1,521 on Oct. 6, up from 700 on Sept. 16. Often, infected deer seek out water, and many die beside ponds and streams. The deer do not pass the virus to humans or other animals, and their is no treatment or cure now. The deer contract the disease from bites from midges. The EHD virus was first noticed in New York in 2007 with small outbreaks in Albany, Rensselaer, and Niagara counties. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Today's daily headlines.

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Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media residents of the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District October 5, came out for a public forum to express strong opposition to a plan to reconfigure the district's two elementary schools. A public forum was conducted at the elementary school in Coxsackie to present the responses of district officials to community concerns expressed during five previous forums. The original proposal would move all students enrolled in pre-K through second grade to the elementary school in Athens and all students in third and fourth grade to Coxsackie's elementary school, regardless of a student's town of residence. The district modified the plan to phase in the changes annually so students would not be forced to move to a different school several times. Bus transportation was another concern. Transportation Director Ted Nugent said the length of the bus ride would take at most 50 minutes from start to finish, but the students that have the longest ride would change as the route changed. During the public comment portion of the forum this week, the plan drew heavy criticism from residents. John Cameron of Athens pointed out a similar idea was rejected before. Cameron, and several others who spoke during the meeting, called for the district's proposal to be subjected to a public vote. Parent Shpresa Elshani also spoke out against the plan because it will not benefit the students. Kathy Jackson, president of the board of trustees at D.R. Evarts Library in Athens, said Athens and Coxsackie are distinct communities and very unlike one another. “It’s not one community — it is two separate communities,” she said. Resident Casey McCarthy questioned the timing of the proposal during a global pandemic and with other changes in the district such as the decision to retire its long-time mascot. “This is not the right time for a change like this," McCarthy said. Parent Ryan Burdick, of Coxsackie, wants his children to remain in their community. He said. “Every parent I talked to seems to be against this [plan]. ...” Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

The Daily Freeman reports that a police officer in Walton, in Delaware County, killed a 66-year-old man while responding to a mental health call on Oct. 4. Police won't reveal the name of the officer that shot Paul J. Weeden at about 3:30 a.m. at a residence on Griswold Street in Walton. State police claim Weeden pointed at the officer, who thought he had a gun as they spoke. Police claim the officer first retreated, and Weeden followed him and ignored commands to drop the weapon. Weeden was declared dead on the scene. The state police and the state Attorney General’s Office, are investigating the case as they do with all deaths at the hands of police in New York state. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Sam Hesler is reporting for WNYT-TV SUNY Schenectady has announced it is admitting the entire Duanesburg High School Class of 2022. The class got the news on Wed., Oct. 6, learning they were each admitted to the two-year community college located on Washington Avenue in the city. Duanesburg senior Daniel Van Buren said, "I would like to use SUNY Schenectady as a way to do my general education, to get my required credits done. From there, I would like to pursue being an English teacher." He added, "To have this as an opportunity for us, it takes ... so much stress off of us with the college application process." SUNY Schenectady president, Steady Moono, said the students are now also eligible to take one three-credit course at the school for free. "This removes the barrier. Some kids and some parents, especially first-generation college students, don't consider college because of the stressors of applying," Moono said. Duanesburg Superintendent James Niedermeier said he is thrilled for his students. "This is very exciting. Students have been through a lot over the past couple of years, and it's great that they have an opportunity to start planning for the future," he said. Read the full story at wnyt [dot] com.