Today's daily news audio update.

Rachel Silberstein reports in the Times Union that local elected officials are upset about a survey conducted by a firm hired by St. Peter’s Health Partners to hear about the impact of the proposed closure of their hospital system’s birth center they say was confusingly worded, not widely publicized, and only available for a short time. Closing the Burdett Birthing Center in Troy would leave no birth services in Rensselaer County, while Columbia and Greene counties also lack any birthing centers. Columbia Memorial Health in Hudson gave up hosting birthing mothers in 2019. Assemblymember John T. McDonald and Troy Mayor Patrick Madden want more opportunities for public input on the proposed closure of the Burdett Birthing Center in Troy. Madden said, “During this first-of-its-kind health equity impact assessment, it is important for the state to establish precedent for what constitutes an appropriate standard for robust community engagement.... I am not impressed with the way they have conducted this community survey.” Officials from St. Peter’s say the birthing center has been losing $2.3 million annually, and duplicates services offered at the health system’s nearby Albany location. But while another hospital may be fairly close, anyone taking public transportation from many parts of Rennselaer County have a long trip. McDonald and Madden wrote in a joint letter to state Health Commissioner James V. McDonald, saying, “There must be additional opportunities for the public to provide input on this proposed closure plan, and we urge the Department of Health to engage with us to solicit this community input before the conclusion of the health equity impact assessment.” Read the full story in the Times Union.

Liz Montgomery reports for Porcupine Soup that New York's senior Senator Chuck Schumer wants the railroad company CSX to stop the gray liquid leaking from its train bridge over Mansion Street in Coxsackie. At the bridge Aug. 30 with local officials, Schumer called the leak a “long-standing safety concern” and called the unknown substance leaking “potentially dangerous.” Last April, Coxsackie Mayor Mark Evans said, “Within a few days of seeing it, I reached out to my contact at CSX, who responded promptly in three emails, over more than a week and half, but never indicated when the issue would be resolved, despite me telling him this needs an immediate response." Eventually a CSX crew looked at the issue, with Schumer saying, “although CSX initially responded by placing plastic culvert pipes cut in half to replace the original 1930s steel drains, the new installation only diverted the water to the sidewalk, leaving it wet and slick and creating yet another safety issue for residents in the village.” Evans says it was not the only issue with the bridge. “About six years ago, a piece of concrete fell off the bridge, and a couple of weeks later they came to check the bridge declaring it safe. Several years ago, a bunch of dirt and gravel came off the embankment in a rainstorm, and it took them a week to clean it up, all the time declaring it was not actually their responsibility,” Evans said. “We will continue to keep the pressure on to get this resolved.” CSX previously reported that the liquid leaking from the bridge was mud. Now CSX spokesman Bryan Tucker said, “CSX teams will return to the bridge to see what else can be done to address the concerns expressed by Senator Schumer." Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Justin Velazquez reports for New York State of Politics that it is now September, and that means cigarettes cost an extra dollar a pack. The additional tax that goes into effect Sept. 1 makes New York one of the most expensive places in the nation to buy cigarettes, with taxes now at $5.35 a pack. The Center for Disease Control says smoking-related illnesses are the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. A World Health Organization study reports a 10 percent increase in tobacco prices leads to about a four percent decrease in consumption in high-income countries. Meghan Hallihan, a public health educator for Tobacco-Free CNY said, “That’s making it harder for kids to be able to afford buying these products, so it's going to make it less likely that they’ll experiment with tobacco products.... If kids don’t start smoking during youth, then hopefully they won’t grow into adults who smoke.” Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Today's audio daily news update.

Brendan J. Lyons reports in the Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul went to the White House Aug. 30 to talk with President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, about the migrants other state's have been busing to New York. Recently, Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and White House officials have pointed at each other, discussing blame for how the issue has been handled. And Hochul said last week, “We cannot and will not force other parts of our state to shelter migrants,” despite the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor welcoming migrants to the state and the country. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas suggested three sites in Schenectady County and the remote Massena International Airport in St. Lawrence County, near the Canadian border, as places to house migrants, in an Aug. 27 letter. Rep. Elise Stefanik, did not like that, saying, “Upstate New York and the North Country is not a 'sanctuary city.... We should not have to bear the cost of Joe Biden, Kathy Hochul, and Eric Adams' far left open border policies and the havoc they are causing. … I call on President Biden to end his radical open border policies and secure our northern and southern borders.” In reality, Biden's border policy is not very different from the former Republican president's policy. About Hochul's main request, to let the migrants work, Mayorkas said there are “statutory constraints” that prevent individuals who have applied for asylum to get work authorization in the U.S. any earlier. Mayorkas said, “We are exploring all options available to improve operational efficiency, including through additional staffing and technology improvements to streamline case processing, as well as improved methods of communicating information about the employment authorization process with noncitizens." Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Tim Williams and Marisa Jacques report for New York State of Politics that New York's attorney general announced this week that New York and more than 20 other states reached an updated $12.5 billion settlement with the company 3M for their role contaminating drinking water sources with a “forever chemical” known as PFAS. Rob Hayes, director of clean water for Environmental Advocates NY, said, “so many drinking water sources in New York and across the country are contaminated by these chemicals and are putting New Yorker’s health at risk when they put on the tap.” They are called forever chemicals because they take so long to break down. PFAS can also build up in the body and cause health issues such as cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency issued drinking water standard proposals earlier this year which said there is no safe level of PFAS. The EPA also proposed a cleanup standard of four parts per trillion, which is lower than New York state’s standard of ten parts per trillion. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Larry DiDonato reports for Porcupine Soup that Dutchman’s Landing's boat ramp in Catskill is closing Tuesday, September 5 so it can be replaced. It will be unavailable until the first couple of weeks in November. Local boaters who want to get on the Hudson River will need to use nearby public ramps in Athens, Coxsackie, or Germantown. The Catskill boat launch will be closed for the beginning of duck season in the Southeastern Zone, which opens on October 21 and closes on December 3. Catskill is spending $290,000 in taxpayer money to Flach Industries of Selkirk, to replace the boat launch. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

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

Today's audio daily news update.

Raymond Pignone reports for Columbia-Greene Media the latest housing battle the Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition is facing is their own, as the organization says it will fight a large rent increase at its 361 Main St. office in Catskill by the landlord Foreland. The Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition is a Black-led tenants’ rights group working with low income and public housing tenants in Columbia, Greene and Albany counties. Foreland is an arts organization that recently came to Catskill, and owns several buildings forming a campus near the Catskill Creek. Foreland is raising the rent on their second-floor office 135 percent, from $400 a month to $950 a month. Coalition Director of Operations Elliott Matos said, “We tried working with Foreland to see if this was an increase we could make happen over time, but unfortunately our landlord was unwilling to work with us and only gave us a short extension period.... Stef [Halmos] refused and told us she had to get to market price. Our office lease will now be terminated at the end of this year. We’re extremely upset and disappointed, but the truth is, this story isn’t uncommon. The funny thing about all this is that it’s not the price, it’s the principle.” Usually the housing coalition is working to help others with this problem. Matos said, “We’re experiencing exactly what we’re trying to fight against — displacement due to rising costs of living.... Our experience mirrors what our community faces every day, but instead of losing an office, people are evicted from their homes, pushed out by rents that are ridiculous.” Halmos, nor anyone else from Foreland, immediately returned a call seeking comment. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Brendan J. Lyons reports in the Times Union that on Aug. 29 state Supreme Court Justice Kevin R. Bryant reversed his order from last week that exempted more than two dozen retail cannabis store applicants from an injunction that has temporarily stopped New York’s licensing processes. The judge has said cannabis regulators in New York “failed to follow the clear language of the applicable legislation” when they created a program to award conditional retail licenses exclusively to applicants with past cannabis convictions. Bryant's rulings halting the spread of cannabis stores statewide is the latest delay in New York's legal cannabis program. Very few stores are open two-and-a-half years after legislators legalized the drug, and none locally. The judge said it was their own fault as he said state regulators had implied 30 applicants were in the final stages of their application process and had met the requirements to open their stores. But he later found that many applications were not complete. Bryant said, “They have submitted a list which, by their own admission, includes licensees who are still finalizing construction and whose post-selection inspections have not been scheduled or completed.... It is also clear that an unclear number of the sites have not been inspected 'to ensure (the site) meets all the public health and safety requirements in the Cannabis Law and associated regulations.' It is not clear to this court whether any of the 30 identified licensees have completed all post-selection requirements and inspections and it should be clear that those who have not, should not have been included on the list submitted to the court as set forth in the prior order.” Bryant says the state's licensing process has been plagued with “numerous potential defects” that “have already resulted in numerous constitutional challenges to the actions.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Joseph Konig reports at New York State of Politics that political strategists believe the Hudson Valley could decide who controls the House of Representatives in 2024 elections. On Aug. 29, Rep. Elise Stefanik said Republicans are committing $100 million to win in the Hudson Valley. Stefanik said, “New York State was THE battleground for House Republicans in 2022.... I am proud to help lead the team effort to protect and expand our House majority again in 2024!” The $100 million will come from the congressional campaigns themselves, the Republican National Committee, the House GOP’s campaign arm, and aligned political action committees. Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries already launched a major offensive to retake key districts in New York. Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the Jeffries-aligned House Majority PAC, said, “I think part of the reason [the GOP is investing so much money] is because they see the effort that we're putting into it. And they know that these Republicans are extremely vulnerable.” Republican Marc Molinaro's 19th Congressional District will be one of the most important races, as he turned the district red after incumbent Antonio Delgado left to become Lt. Gov. New York Democrats are targeting Molinaro's seat, and those of Reps. Nick LaLota and Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island, Rep. George Santos of Long Island and Queens, Rep. Mike Lawler of the northern New York City suburbs, and upstate Rep. Brandon Williams. Republicans are targeting freshman Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan and his 18th Congressional District. It is impossible to predict favorites, as the district lines are still in question, with a case now before the Court of Appeals. 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.

Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that a day after Greene County Public Health warned local residents to stay vigilant after several reports of suspicious vans targeting women walking in the Catskill and Jefferson Heights area, the Catskill Police Department released a statement saying there was no threat. The statement said, “The Catskill Police Department would like to advise all residents of the outcome of an investigation that the Catskill New York State Police Barracks conducted concerning two suspicious vans in the Jefferson Heights area that had alarmed a young woman on August 25. The State Police tracked the two suspicious vans down and interviewed the operators. The investigation revealed that there was no threat and that they were a legitimate delivery company, making deliveries in the area.” Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Liz Montgomery reports for Porcupine Soup that WalletHub listed Columbia-Greene as the highest-ranked SUNY community college in New York in their annual “Best and Worst Community Colleges” list, released earlier this month. College President Dr. Carlee Drummer had other good news, saying, “On the opening day of the fall semester, Columbia-Greene recorded nine percent more students, continuing the positive post-pandemic enrollment trend." Final enrollment numbers for this fall will not be confirmed until October. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

The Daily Freeman reports Bard College Assistant Professor Kerri-Ann Norton has been awarded $31,657 as part of a larger cancer study funded by the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Norton uses computer models to investigate the potential success of novel drug combinations for clinical cancer treatment, the school said, announcing the award. Norton is working to improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs using computer models. The school said Norton is to address “some of the challenges associated with analyzing and calibrating agent-based models (ABMs) in order to develop an approach that leverages ordinary differential equation (ODE) models to bridge the computational gap between ABMs and experimental data at the cellular level.... Norton’s research expertise is in multiscale agent-based modeling of tumor microenvironments and she will lead the development, simulation, and analysis of the agent-based cancer model. She will also help design the tumor-immune interactions within the ABM.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Today's audio daily news update.

Rachel Silberstein reports for the Times Union that New York health officials are on high alert over a new COVID-19 strain, BA.2.86, that was identified last week in the U.S., with a markedly different in structure than previous iterations of the omicron variant. Cases have been found in in Israel, Denmark, South Africa, and now Michigan and Virginia, but not yet in New York. Virologists say they are concerned about the new variant because it appears to be the most genetically different strain to descend from the original omicron variant that first emerged in November 2021. But they don't yet fully understand if it is more contagious or dangerous. New York Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said the department is tracking the “highly divergent” strain and “remains vigilant for changes to the virus that could further threaten our public health.” Syracuse University scientists are collecting and analyzing wastewater samples from across the state to detect the presence of COVID-19. Wadsworth Center Laboratory of Viral Disease Chief Dr. Kirsten St. George said in a statement, “As we look for this new strain, it is important to note that we do not yet know if it will cause more severe disease or if it will evade prior immunity. Scientists across the globe are working to answer those questions right now.” Currently in New York there are increases in COVID-19 hospital admissions and higher levels of COVID-19 detected in wastewater in many parts of the state. Mid-Hudson News reports that both Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie and Putnam Hospital in Carmel this week are reinstating mandatory mask policies. Gov. Kathy Hochul also weighed in on the issue saying, “While New Yorkers might want to be done with COVID-19, COVID-19 isn’t done with us.... With the increase in hospitalizations and reported cases this summer, I strongly urge everyone to take appropriate precautions to protect themselves and their communities. To keep New Yorkers safe, my administration will continue to monitor this situation, share information on the new boosters as soon as it’s available, and continue to make N-95 masks available statewide.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.