Chris McKenna reports in the Times Herald-Record that Edward Lang, a 26-year-old man arrested at his Newburgh apartment in January for trying to overthrow the country at the Jan. 6 insurrection in the nation's capitol, wants out of jail. He asked a federal judge to release him, or at least let him have a laptop. Lang allegedly fought for almost two and a half hours with besieged officers defending a Capitol entrance against the rioters. Photos of Lang show him wearing a gas mask and swinging an aluminum baseball bat at police and holding a police riot shield that he stole, and he is charged with 11 counts. More than 570 people, so far, have been charged with crimes associated with the insurrection. His lawyers claim he poses no public danger or flight risk, and they say the jail staff has put him in solitary confinement for long periods and abused him. "Lang’s physical abuse includes being dragged, shoved, denied regular shower access, and getting an entire can of mace in his face, while standing inside of (his) cell with photos and a bible in his hand," attorneys Martin Tankleff and Steven Metcalf wrote to the court. Prosecutors have yet to respond to this motion but have said that, "He armed himself and assaulted law enforcement with the intent to unlawfully enter the U.S. Capitol and stop the functioning of our government as it met to certify election results," according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Jackson. On Sept. 15, Judge Carl Nichols of U.S. District Court in Washington will hold his next conference on the case, and may rule then on the matter. Read more about this story in the Times Herald-Record.

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Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that Columbia County officials have imposed a mask requirement in all county buildings, effective Aug. 30. All county employees and visitors must now wear a mask or face-covering indoors at all county buildings when in direct contact with customers or the public when physical distancing is not possible. Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chair Matt Murell and county Department of Health Director Jack Mabb sent a joint memo to employees last week announcing the mask requirement. The mandate applies to everyone, regardless of vaccination status. Signs informing people of the policy upon entering county buildings will be posted, Murell said. The mask mandate will remain in place as long as the county's level of community transmission is classified as substantial or high by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At present, Columbia County has a high level of community transmission. “Basically, this came about as a result of a conversation on the chairman’s call,” Mabb said. “My position has to be as a public health director, that it’s a prudent step to take right now when our numbers are high and there’s a lot of transmission in the community. ...” According to the CDC, as of early August 27, 92.36 percent of all counties nationwide are at a high level of community transmission. Once the transmission rate lessens, vaccinated county employees and visitors will no longer be required to mask up; however, the requirement will continue for the unvaccinated. Mabb said Columbia’s mask decision grew out of an increase in the number of new cases reported. The county reported 63 new cases during the week of August 14 to 20. As of mid-day August 27, the weekly total had jumped to 85. The county Department of Health will conduct a vaccination pod September 15 in the Fair Building at the county fairgrounds in Chatham from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Mabb said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is reporting for the USA Today Network the New York Immigration Coalition is pushing the American government and the state of New York to accept more Afghanistan refugees following a deadly attack at the Kabul airport and the looming deadline to end evacuations. Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the coalition, said the Biden administration has a “profound moral obligation” to assist with the resettlement of Afghans seeking refuge in the states. “We must do everything in our power to protect the Afghan community in danger at this current moment,” he said. Beginning in October 2020 and continuing through July, approximately 460 refugees settled in New York, according to Governor Kathy Hochul's office. That number includes 140 people from Afghanistan and 83 individuals on a special immigrant visa. New York has vowed to resettle around 1,300 refugees and special immigrant visa holders during the federal fiscal year 2021, according to Hochul's office. Hochul said last week that she wanted the refugees to come to New York, pointing to the diversity and population that refugees have brought to cities such as her native Buffalo. Legislation is now pending in Albany that would provide an additional $50 million toward resettling Afghan refugees. Ahmad Wali, a board member of the Buffalo Afghan Community and a former interpreter, said help with resettlement is needed now. “We need a hand to pick up our community from the ground,” he said, adding: “We have fallen down, and we really need help.” Read more in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Cloey Callahan is reporting for the Times Union the city of Kingston has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Park Service’s Underrepresented Community Grant Program to complete the nomination of the Pine Street African Burial Ground to the National Register of Historic Places. Granting the burial ground National Register status would advance the effort to further document African American history in the city. “This grant will help Harambee and the Kingston Land Trust continue to educate about Kingston’s history and honor the memory of those interred at the Pine Street African Burial Ground,” said Kingston Mayor Steve Noble in a press release. The Underrepresented Community Grant Program has focused specifically on working to diversify the nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places. The grant funds will be used to engage a consultant to verify existing reports of the site. That person will conduct in-depth research, and aid in the search for an archeologist, said Kingston city planner Suzanne Cahill. Both steps will allow for a detailed bibliography of the burial ground to accompany the nomination. To gather everything needed for the nomination it could take up to a year. Community members have worked for 30 years to preserve the burial ground. Harambee Kingston New York, a nonprofit coalition that supports the local community through cultural programming, officially signed the deed to the Pine Street African Burial Ground in February. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Clarence Fanto reports in the Berkshire Eagle that the storm known as Hurricane Ida barreled into New Orleans and predictions have it dumping rain on our area later in the week. Currently predictions have two to four inches of rain falling here, maybe more in the lower Hudson Valley, around Thursday morning. Alone, that's not especially a lot of rain, but up to seven inches of rain from another former hurricane fell on the ground here locally last week. In Berkshire County, almost 20 inches fell between the end of June through Sunday, close to half of the average total rainfall for the entire year. “We’re seeing warmer temperatures and warmer oceans,” said David R. Easterling, a director of the National Climate Assessment. “So, you have more moisture in the atmosphere that’s able to rain out in these storms.” Read more about this story in the Berkshire Eagle.

Sam Raudins is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Catskill Village Trustee Greg Smith has submitted his resignation from the board of trustees, effective August 31. Smith is moving to Lake Norman, North Carolina. “My reasons for relocating are for the most part personal,” Smith said. “We ran a successful family car dealership for over 70 years. Most of my immediate family...involved in the business have either passed on or have retired. I chose to relocate to be closer to my only relative, my brother. I have also sold off the family business and am semi-retired.” The board formally accepted Smith's resignation last week. Voters will decide on his replacement in March, as part of the annual village election. Smith has served as a trustee for less than four years. “My biggest accomplishment was spearheading and completing the Comprehensive Plan for the Village,” Smith said in a statement. Trustee Jeff Holliday said Smith did a lot of “good things” behind the scenes. “Losing Greg from the board is a loss for the village,” Holliday said. Village President Peter J. Grasse III did not respond to requests for comment. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Emilia Teasdale is reporting for The Columbia Paper the Environmental Protection Agency has completed its initial evaluation of the water bodies connected to the Dewey Loeffel Landfill Superfund site, following the July 14 severe weather event. Operations at the landfill caused PCBs to move to water bodies such as Little Thunder Brook and the Valatie Kill. During the storm, these waterbodies experienced high flows, erosion and flooding. After the storm, surface water samples and sediment samples downstream on residential properties where sediment was deposited during the flooding were collected for study. The sediment deposit sampling focused on residential areas along the Valatie Kill within the village of Nassau, as well as residential areas north of the village along the Valatie Kill and Nassau Lake. In Nassau, PCBs were either not found or were present at low concentrations. Based on the results, EPA does not plan any further sampling in these areas as part of its storm response. Follow-up sampling is happening in an area where PCBs were detected around the superfund site near Mead Road. The EPA found no significant impacts to the landfill site or to the site’s groundwater extraction and treatment system, which remained operational throughout the event. The Dewey Loeffel Landfill, near the village of Nassau, was a dumping ground for toxic waste for companies such as GE for many years in the 1950s and ’60s. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Sam Raudins is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Hudson Common Council Solar Farm Ad Hoc Committee is moving ahead with the early stages of two potential solar projects. Peter Bujanow, the city Commissioner of Public Works, presented the draft of a request for expression of interest document to the committee last week. The parcels sought for solar farm development are in the North Bay — the Atlas Brickyard, with 10 acres of developable land, and the North Second Street extension, with 5.3 acres. Portions of each parcel are wetlands, consisting of tidal marshes, clay bluffs and stream-fed forested ravines. Bujanow said the objective is to find a solar company interested in the location. The 120 acres that make up the city's North Bay include the remnants of an industrial brownfield and a 20-acre landfill that closed in 2000. The request for proposals is intended to help the city evaluate the level of interest from developers and site users, gauge interest in alternative methods of developing solar energy in the city, and solicit interest from firms and individuals looking to assist. The city intends to lease the properties "as is,' to a developer for 25 years. The document now goes to Conservation Advisory Council and the full Common Council for comment. If approved by the council, responses from potential developers would be submitted four weeks later. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Chris Bragg reports in the Times Union that New York’s ethics oversight commission passed a motion for state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate whether confidential information was illegally leaked in 2019 to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and start a criminal investigation into whether the state inspector general’s office covered up the incident. The actions from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics were needed for James to begin an investigation. James' office plans to review the referrals, but has not commented yet about starting an investigation. State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has said he received a berating call from Cuomo shortly after a JCOPE meeting on Jan. 29, 2019, with the now ex-governor complaining about how Heastie's appointed commissioners had voted in a confidential proceeding that day on whether to investigate former top Cuomo aide, Joseph Percoco. So, if Heastie is correct, someone leaked confidential voting information to Cuomo, and that would be a misdemeanor. But in October 2019 the inspector general's office said that it could not confirm the allegation of an illegal leak, in part because the allegations were based on hearsay. Read more about this story in the Times Union./p>

Heather Bellow reports in the Berkshire Eagle that one man who wanted to spout misinformation about students wearing masks was blocked Aug. 26 from speaking on an online meeting of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District’s School Committee. Great Barrington resident Dattatreya Haynes had emailed the committee with his views earlier, and they do not align with current scientific theories about mask wearing. “I think we all anticipate that what we are about to hear is the use of this forum to propagate an absurd disinformation campaign that has been trolling on social media for a year,” said school committee member Richard Dohoney. But Haynes said that he had a right to speak for three minutes. Instead, Chair Stephen Bannon adjourned the meeting. “It is the will of the chairman to decide whether the public is going to speak and your email spoke for yourself,” Bannon said. The school district doesn't have any say on the matter anyway, as the state has ordered the mask mandate. Haynes says the mandate may violate the Nuremberg Code, which was set up after Nazi's experimented on humans during World War II. The mask mandate, on the other hand, is meant to preserve human life, protecting citizens from a global pandemic. Haynes claim that making children wear masks is an “oxygen deprivation medical experiment” is debunked by the American Pediatric Association which says they are safe for children. “Masks will not affect your child’s ability to focus or learn in school,” says the APA’s blog. “The vast majority of children age 2 or older can safely wear face masks for extended periods of time, such as the school day or at child care. This includes children with many medical conditions.” “This is crazy, crazy stuff,” committee member Richard Dohoney said about the claims made by Haynes. Read more about this story in the Berkshire Eagle.

Robert and Johanna Titus report in the Columbia Paper that global warming may actually cool the Hudson Valley eventually. Scientists believe that as the planet and the Atlantic Ocean cools, the Gulf Stream will stop, depriving the northeastern United States one of its warming factors. So the local climate may be cooler here in the future if global warming continues. Sea levels will also increase here, and since the Hudson River is a tidal estuary, the means higher water levels locally. "Much of the land just south of City of Hudson would be drowned. The total area of the Hudson’s estuaries would increase in size as sea level rises," Robert and Johanna Titus write. "Researchers at Cornell University and Scenic Hudson estimate that it will expand from about 7,000 acres today to perhaps 11,000 acres by the end of the century." Read more about this story in the Columbia Paper.

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Paul Kirby reports in the Daily Freeman that Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said Aug. 26 that he is worried about the county’s rising numbers of COVID-19 active cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. “We are seeing … all of the data continue to trend upward in an increasingly alarming manner,” Ryan said during an afternoon briefing on Facebook. “… The risk of COVID, each day, in Ulster County continues to grow.” Greene, Columbia, and Rensselaer counties have all reported recent COVID-19 deaths, while Ulster County has reported six in the past nine days. The highly transmissible delta variant of COVID has been spreading throughout the U.S. Ryan is focused on getting more people vaccinated, with the county planning to reopen its former vaccination hub in the former Best Buy space at Hudson Valley Mall in the town of Ulster to administer booster shots. “Our ability to offer vaccines safely and quickly was an essential part of why Ulster County became a leader in vaccination rates,” Ryan said in a statement Aug. 26. “As we enter the next phase of vaccinations, I am confident that we will again be able to replicate our previous success.” In Ulster County, 61.6 percent of the population is fully vaccinated as of Aug. 26. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup Greene County businesses cannot find enough help. “It’s not just Greene County, it’s everywhere,” said Jeff Friedman, president and executive director of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce. According to statistics from the Department of Labor, there are roughly 1,100 people unemployed in the county. But even if they each took a job, Friedman said it still would not be enough to solve the local labor shortage. He estimates there are currently approximately 2,500 jobs open in the county. “To say the problem is that people are sitting home collecting unemployment is not accurate,” Friedman said. He and Chris Nardone, director of Columbia-Greene Workforce Career Center. said that while they can see why some people would blame the extra unemployment for the situation, there are other factors at play. “Our unemployment rates have been on the low side throughout the pandemic, so it doesn't seem like there is a huge number of people that are benefiting from the additional unemployment funds in Columbia and Greene counties, and certainly not enough to fill the number of available positions,” Nardone said. In Greene County, the unemployment rate is currently at 5.6 percent. Friedman said there were workforce issues even before COVID hit and the federal government began supplementing unemployment benefits. “This isn’t a new problem, it’s just gotten worse,” Friedman said. The issue is further compounded by an aging population, out-migration of young people, limited affordable housing, a lack of transportation, and limited access to affordable childcare, Nardone said. U.S. Census data shows that Greene County's population increased slightly between 2019 and 2020, and there was a 17 percent increase in the number of new business openings during the pandemic, a trend that will not be sustainable if the labor shortage continues.Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com

Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman Bard College's Center for Curatorial Studies, August 26, announced the creation of a $50 million endowment, made up of a $25 million gift from the Marieluise [Marie Louise] Hessel Foundation plus a matching commitment of $25 million from investor-philanthropist George Soros as part of the school's $1 billion endowment drive. Established in 1990, CCS Bard was the first institution of its kind in the country dedicated exclusively to curatorial studies, an interdisciplinary field exploring the historical, intellectual and social conditions that inform contemporary art exhibition-making and practice. College officials called the endowment, unprecedented. It was initiated by the Hessel Foundation in honor of the center’s 30th anniversary and will enable the center to continue its work in perpetuity. Hessel was a CCS Bard co-founder. In the late 1980s, the Hessel Foundation entrusted its collection of contemporary art to Bard and laid the groundwork for the creation of CCS Bard in 1990. The Hessel Foundation has supported CCS Bard with several gifts, including the construction of the Hessel Museum of Art in 2006 and the expansion of the library, special collections and archives in 2015, and more. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Columbia-Greene Media is reporting Neil Howard III, a rising sophomore from Taconic Hills High School has earned All-American status and set a state freshman record, competing in his first decathlon event at the US Track and Field Junior Olympic Championships in Jacksonville, Florida, last week. He earned his All-American status with 6,316 points, 505 points more than the second-place finisher in the 15 and 16 age division. Howard competed during a record heatwave in Jacksonville with high humidity, ninety-degree temperatures and a severe weather delay. “I knew I was going to have to work hard coming into the meet because I had only ever done the events individually, but the heat was a factor that made conditions more difficult,” he said. Howard is coached by his father, Taconic Hills Superintendent Neil Howard Jr., during the summer and off season. He has his sights set on competing in the decathlon at high school outdoor nationals next summer. Howard has been invited to compete at the New York Millrose Games Junior Pole Vault competition in January at the New Balance Armory in New York City. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.