Melanie Lekocevic reports for Capital Region Independent Media that a proposal to buy the Grace United Methodist Church building and turn it into the new Coeymans town hall brought out a packed crowd at a public hearing Sept. 14. Town Supervisor George McHugh explained, “Last year the town board had voted to bond funds to build a brand-new town building here.... This building is partially being used and the rest is not being used because of mold. Rather than put money into this building, we looked at bonding money and borrowing some and using some fund balance to build a new building. That was voted down by the people of the town, which you have to respect, and so we are looking at other options.” The church is in a quiet residential cul-de-sac with limited ingress and egress, so not ideal for a municipal building with a police station and court. The church and school building is for sale for $549,000, with about $4 million needed to be spent for renovations. “It is one of the bigger buildings in the town and village and it is zoned for municipal building purposes,” McHugh said. “We are looking at it as an option. It is not something we have already decided, it’s not something that we made an offer on. We promised to bring options to the people and this is another option.” Resident Yvonne Shackleton was opposed to the purchase, saying, “People like to walk their babies and their dogs and their families there, and I feel that if we have lots of extra traffic up there it will destroy the aesthetic. We love it up there. It’s a little bit removed from the hustle and bustle of the town and we would be reluctant to see that change.” Resident Michael Klausen said he was concerned about police cars coming in and out of the property, but could see reasons to move town business there, saying, “No one wants to see a building crumbling in their neighborhood. That would bring the property values down, and it would still be owned by the residents, so you could still walk up there and probably utilize the space in off-hours.... If someone else buys the property, it won’t be like that. You’ve got to think about that, too.” Read more about this story in The Upstater.

Phillip Pantuso reports in the Times Union that Saugerties officials initially denied a request under New York’s Freedom of Information Law for the retirement and/or resignation records of former Police Chief Joseph Sinagra when he resigned last month. But on Sept. 18, the Saugerties town clerk released what she said was Sinagra’s entire retirement notice: a four-sentence email sent from a personal account to her and an administrative assistant for the chief. The Aug. 9 message said, “Please be advised that I am making notification of my retirement from the Town of Saugerties. My last day of employment will be Sunday September 24, 2023. I will be exercising all rights provided under Articles 7, 8, and 9 of the Chiefs CBA with the Town. Mary, I will reach out to you relative to the payouts.” That message was sent to Town Clerk Lisa Stanley and Mary Mirabella, the administrative assistant for the police chief. The email resignation came while Sinagra was suspended during an ongoing Ulster County district attorney’s office investigation of sexual assault and harassment allegations against an officer and the department’s handling of that case. Stanley denied the original Freedom of Information Law request for privacy reasons. An official with the state Committee on Open Government said the town would have a difficult time making that argument in court. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Dennis Yusko reports for New York State of Politics that a new Sienna College poll finds Republicans, Democrats, and independents in New York agreeing on the top issues facing the state, they just put them in different orders. Democrats have affordable housing and cost of living as their top issues, while Republicans focus on migrants being relocated here by southern Republican governors. Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said, “In assessing the severity of problems facing New York, there is, surprisingly, considerable agreement among Democrats, Republicans and independents.... At least 80 percent of each partisan group thinks the cost of living in the state is a major problem. At least 71 percent of each say affordable housing is a major problem, as do at least 64 percent of each about crime, and at least 51 percent of each about the migrant influx." The poll also found New York voters prefer President Joe Biden against former President Donald Trump by 52 percent to 31 percent, up from 47 percent to 34 percent last month. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Today's daily news audio update.

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

Rachel Silberstein reports in the Times Union that dozens of people testified in favor of keeping the Burdett Birth Center at Samaritan Hospital in Troy open at a public hearing on Sept. 18 at Russell Sage Bush Memorial Center. If the center closes, there will be no birthing services in Rensselaer County, and there are already no birthing services in Greene or Columbia counties. Zanetta Gary with the Save Burdett Birth Center Coalition said, “The closure of Burdett Birth Center is not just going to create issues in this community, but it’s going to exacerbate existing issues.... Anyone with any exposure to public health ... knows that Black women are in danger and this closure is only going to further that.” The state Department of Health must sign off on the planned closure of the center at the end of the year. Officials with St. Peter's Health Partners say the birthing center is losing $2.3 million annually. A 2020 merger by the hospital eliminated services such as tubal ligations and vasectomies at Samaritan Hospital, but also had officials promising other services would remain. Attorney General Letitia James said at the hearing, “We must address the fact that the closure will break a promise made to the community at the time of the original merger.... Promises to their community, to their donors and to my office. Promises about the level of care that will be provided. The closure would not only undermine this process, but it may very well erode trust in the hospital system altogether.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Luke Parsnow reports in New York State of Politics that sales tax collections in New York were up four percent in August over a year ago, according to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office. DiNapoli said in a statement, “Local sales tax collections in August continue a pattern of moderate increases in 2023.... With overall growth having all but returned to pre-pandemic rates, local officials should budget accordingly and monitor cash flow for the foreseeable future.” Read more about this story in New York State of Politics.

Thomas C. Zambito reports in the Democrat and Chronicle that tolls on the New York State Thruway will increase by five percent in January. Another toll increase in 2027 will have EZ Pass users paying about a nickel per mile, up from the current 4.5 cents. Those paying tolls by mail in passenger cars would pay 8.6 cents per mile, up from the current 5.8 cents. Thruway officials say 85 bridges need to be replaced over the next ten years, costing $800 million. Officials said, “Factoring the hundreds of bridges that will require replacement not long thereafter, the costs escalate into the $6 to $7 billion range which the existing toll rate structure will not support.” Read more about this story in the Democrat and Chronicle.

Today's audio daily news update.

Alexandra Zissu in the Times Union talks with Ben Fain, the developer with businesses around Hudson's Amtrak station. That is the third-busiest station in New York, with approximately 220,000 people arriving or departing. Fain said, “Every 45 minutes, it’s like a faucet of people coming off the train.” Fain opened Kitty’s Market Cafe in the fall of 2020, with breakfast and lunch and expanded into the adjoining space as Kitty’s Restaurant last spring. In October, the restaurant will open for dinner five nights a week. He also owns the nearby Grapefruit Wines, and now he is opening The Caboose, a 3,500-square-foot carbon-neutral private event space in a 19th-century coal barn. That space had a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 12 with Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, Assemblyperson Didi Barrett, and Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson in attendance. Grapefruit Wines will soon move into The Caboose space, next to Kitty's. The Caboose opens Oct. 3. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Thomas Christopher reports for the Berkshire Eagle that the imported kousa dogwood tree was once championed as a replacement for dying native dogwood trees, but now it is considered an invasive species. The tree, introduced into North America from East Asia in the 19th century, has recently been identified as an emerging invasive in the state of New Jersey. In East Asia, monkeys help spread the kousa dogwood’s fruits that are the size and color of raspberries. Bethany Bradley, Ph.D., a scientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, researches invasion ecology, and said, that there is often a lag between when a plant species is introduced and when it begins to behave invasively. Sometimes that is because of how many plants are introduced, or current climate conditions. Read more about this story in the Berkshire Eagle.

Austin Jefferson talks to local band Babehoven in the Daily Freeman. The Claverack-based duo of Maya Bon and Ryan Braun are bandmates and a couple. Braun said, “We have such a deep understanding of each other that a lot of the time I feel like we communicate without words and the only other time I’ve heard people talk about that is within musicianship and playing in a band together.” They met in Los Angeles, moved to Philadelphia, then to Braun’s hometown in Arlington, Vermont, before finding Hudson. Babehoven is currently on the road playing songs from their 2022 album “Light Moving Time,” opening for indie-rock band Slowpulp. They say they make more money selling merch on tour than selling music. Bon said, “I don’t want to be a traveling clothing salesperson. I am one and I’m pretty good at it ’cause I like to make clothes and I like to talk to people. But we’re musicians.” The band says the streaming service Spotify grew their audience but pays them very little. Braun said, “The trade-off is they’ve completely made our work valueless.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's daily news audio update.

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

Mid-Hudson News reports that a new report from Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress shows that median home prices exceed mortgage qualifications by more than $100,000 in the nine-county area they analyzed. The Out of Reach Hudson Valley 2023 report looked at Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties. The report showed the affordable housing crisis in stark terms: a single worker cannot afford fair-market rent for a one-bedroom apartment in any of the nine counties. Adam Bosch, the CEO of the group releasing the report, said, “The data we analyze each year tell a clear and troubling story: most of our neighbors cannot afford to live in the communities where they work.... As our neighbors choose to leave the region, have smaller families, and our workforce slowly shrinks, the Hudson Valley is starting to feel some of the most painful ramifications of stagnant housing and zoning policies.” Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

The Daily Freeman reports that as of Sept. 17 New York employers must include pay rates in job ads. The new law applies to employers with at least four workers advertising jobs externally to the public or internally to workers interested in a promotion or transfer. New York City has had a similar law since 2022. Da Hae Kim, a state policy senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, said, “There is a trend, not just in legislatures but among workers, to know how much they can expect going into a job. There’s a demand from workers to know of the pay range." Frank Kerbein, director of human resources at the New York Business Council, said few employers knew about the new state law, and he predicted there would be “a lot of unintentional noncompliance.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

WNYT reports that on Sept. 15 Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation banning sales of tobacco products in vending stands and in vending machines in state buildings. But only new leases and contracts with vendors. Read more about this story at WNYT.

Here is this week's WGXC Congressional Report, tracking the votes, statements, positions, and campaigns of the representatives and candidates for the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st Congressional seats in New York. Democrat Pat Ryan is representing the 18th Congressional District, Republican Marc Molinaro represents the 19th Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Paul Tonko represents the 20th District, and Republican Elise Stefanik represents the 21st District. Click here to listen to this report.

Diane Pineiro-Zucker reports in the Daily Freeman that prominent conservative and liberal scholars have argued recently that former President Donald Trump cannot run for office under the 14th Amendment, because he took part in an insurrection. Local Reps. Marc Molinaro, a Republican, and Pat Ryan, a Democrat, predictably disagree on the issue. Ryan said, “The constitutional scholars that have written on this, including many very conservative constitutional scholars asserting that Trump should not be on the ballot … is a very compelling argument.... I think it’s something we have to take seriously (and) that I want to certainly hear from more experts on it. I think it could likely end up in the Supreme Court.” Molinaro disagrees, saying, “You can’t consider the 14th Amendment in static, as if it was adopted a week ago. It was in the result of the near loss of the American Union and the concept was that we didn’t want that kind of experience again and, therefore, would use the Constitution to protect against states leaving and those using military efforts to overtake the Union. … When you apply that you have to apply the rest of the Constitution, which is due process. Every man and woman is afforded due process. Level the charge, consider the charges by a court and then get the individual to a penalty. That’s the basic American standard.” The 14th Amendment was passed so that people who take up against fair and legal voting in this country, who acted against the electoral process, were ineligible to win office. Ryan, who represents the 18th Congressional District, said, the amendment “was written post-Civil War to deal with exactly the situation we find ourselves in right now where there were those who had seceded from the Union and hijacked control of it and in 1861 voted to block certification of elections just like we had in 2021. So, we’re at a very perilous time and I’m glad that the folks had the foresight to include this (in the Constitution)." While Molinaro, who represents the 19th Congressional District, does not believe in disbarring Trump from office, he would not say if he supported him. Asked about Trump's role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and recordings of Trump’s alleged attempt to subvert his election loss in Georgia, Molinaro would only say, “Let’s get through this next chapter.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Diane Pineiro-Zucker reports in the the Daily Freeman that Rep. Marc Molinaro, a Republican who represents the 19th Congressional District, supports House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launching an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, while Democrat Pat Ryan, who represents the 18th District, does not. But Molinaro would not specifically say why there should be an impeachment investigation. Molinaro said, “oversight of the Executive Branch is one of Congress’s most fundamental duties. I worry about what appears to be criminal activity benefiting the Biden family and undermining our national interests. That warrants an inquiry.” He did not say what alleged criminal activity needed investigating. Then after appealing to conservative Republicans by backing impeachment, he attempted to court moderates and independents by saying he, “did not come to Congress to impeach the President” and has “pledged to work with him on areas where we can find common ground like mental healthcare and the opioid epidemic.” Then Molinaro's spokesperson would not respond when asked about Rep. Jamie Raskin's assertion that the Biden impeachment investigation, "is a transparent effort to boost Donald Trump’s campaign by establishing a false moral equivalency between Trump — the four time-indicted former president” and Biden, who faces “zero evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever.” Ryan, though, agreed, saying McCarthy has not found “any meaningful evidence for impeachment. … Unlike him, I’ll continue to fight for my constituents and the American people.” And while Democrats took votes on the record to impeach Trump, the House took no vote to begin an impeachment investigation into Biden, with McCarthy announcing it on Sept. 12 on his own. Apparently, the business dealings of the president’s son will be the main thrust of the investigation. Read more about this story in the the Daily Freeman.

Raga Justin in the Times Union reports that while politicians move migrants from southern states to New York City to upstate and use them to make political points, a new poll shows a majority of New Yorkers hold positive attitudes toward recent migrant arrivals. The Siena College Research Institute also found a slight majority of state citizens support expedited work authorizations for migrants and also favor the use of federal property to shelter migrants. Locally, Rep. Marc Molinaro backed a bill that passed in the House of Representatives to block migrants from federal property, but it did not move through the U.S. Senate. And those polled, regardless of political affiliation, agreed that the migrants arriving here are seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Don Levy, the director of the Siena College Research Institute said, “There’s no doubt, the vast majority of New Yorkers recognize that our country was built by immigrants from virtually every nation around the globe and assimilating immigrants has made America great.... Despite nearly a third saying that America no longer needs new immigrants, well over half and a majority of both Democrats and Republicans say that businesses need new immigrants in order to be successful.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Brett Samuels reports for The Hill that former President Donald Trump may be coordinating his election campaign to regain the presidency with the U.S. House leaders that are launching an impeachment inquiry into his opponent, President Joe Biden. Trump spoke Sept. 12 with Rep. Elise Stefanik, the Republican who represents Rensselaer County and the rest of the 21st Congressional District in New York, just after Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Biden. Stefanik said, “I speak to President Trump a lot. I spoke to him today." Stefanik claimed that whatever House Republicans are investigating is “the biggest political corruption scandal of our lifetime.” Stefanik did not give specific details of what alleged crimes are being investigated. Democrats took votes before starting impeachment investigations into Trump, but McCarthy just announced the current investigation without any vote. Locally Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan said he is against impeachment, while Democrat Paul Tonko has been mum so far. Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro came out for the impeachment inquiry, but also did not specifically say what exactly he wanted to investigate. Read more about this story in The Hill.

Today's audio daily news update.

New York State of Politics reports that former President Donald Trump's lawyers filed an Article 78 lawsuit accusing trial judge Arthur Engoron of repeatedly abusing his authority. Engoron is the judge in the New York attorney general's business fraud lawsuit against Trump, which is currently scheduled to begin Oct. 2. But this lawsuit may delay that depending how Justice David Friedman rules in a decision he will announce during the week of Sept. 25. Trump's lawyers allegations against Engoron include the judge's refusal to grant a request for a three-week trial delay, which he ruled as "completely without merit," and because he has yet to comply with a June appeals court's order to determine which claims in the fraud lawsuit are barred by the statute of limitations. Oral arguments in the James case are scheduled for Sept. 22 about requests from James' office and Trump's lawyers. James did not comment on the new Trump lawsuit, just saying, "We are confident in our case and will be ready for trial." In many of his lawsuits, Trump has also tried to remove judges and delay trials. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.