Today's daily news update.

Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Peter Spear, of Future Hudson, recently presented the findings from a survey conducted by Shared Streets, which led to questions about who the program serves. A resident and visitor survey where the majority of respondents were city residents, indicated a 61 percent overall positive experience with the initiative, and wanting to see the program repeated if COVID-19 remains an issue. If COVID-19 is no longer an issue, 95 percent of respondents said they would like to see the program utilized on a seasonal basis. A total of 480 completed surveys were submitted. In a separate business-themed survey, 27 percent said business was positively impacted by Shared Streets and 54 percent reported varying degrees of negative impact. If COVID-19 remains an issue, 52 percent of respondents would want the program to continue and 37 percent want to see it continued with modifications. If COVID-19 is no longer an issue, 75 percent would want it to be implemented on a seasonal basis. Allyson Strafella, a former member of the Shared Streets advisory committee, questioned who the survey reached, saying most of the respondents seem to have come from a privileged segment of the population. “We pushed out the survey to every channel that we had,” Spear said. In fact, it was distributed via social media channels and email newsletters, he said. Shared Streets is geared toward a certain class, Strafella said. “I don’t know how many people in Hudson, true members of the community, filled out that survey that aren’t maybe people sitting in this meeting now or people affiliated with everyone on the meeting,” she said. “It just unsettles me. I feel like there’s kind of, such a bias to how you assume you’re reaching people in this particular community.” While Shared Streets was a great program, it lacked inclusion for young, poor people, tourism board member Selha Graham said. “Whatever you guys choose to do and however you implement it, I ask you [to] remember the children,” she said. She pointed to a lack of authority over the initiative if something went wrong. Kids can’t get involved by being put on an email list, she said. NOTE: Graham is a volunteer WGXC on-air programmer. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Heather Bellow is reporting for The Berkshire Eagle the Bard College at Simon's Rock campus was placed on lockdown Thu., Feb. 18, after an early morning bomb threat. At the time of the report, police were actively investigating the threat, made sometime after 7 a.m. Great Barrington Police said there currently was no danger to anyone on campus. Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti could not provide further details, only to say he was busy getting officers on scene. The department soon posted about the incident on Facebook, indicating more information would be released later. As of 2 p.m., the GBPD post had not been updated. The incident alarmed the community after first a rumor of the bomb threat appeared on Facebook. One parent said her child received a message from a resident adviser directing the student to remain in their rooms and to refrain from going to breakfast or class, adding the bomb squad was on its way. Another commenter said that entrances to the campus off Alford Road had been blocked off. Read more in The Berkshire Eagle.

Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Hudson Common Council February 16, voted to reinstate Assistant Treasurer Matthew Parker’s stipend after Parker took legal action over the council's decision to remove the payment from the 2021 budget. The council approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Kamal Johnson to enter into a settlement agreement resolving Parker's claims and directing Treasurer Heather Campbell to add the $1,619 stipend to treasury personal services. But as of the following day, Parker had not yet seen the settlement agreement. Parker said city attorney Cheryl Roberts had promised he would see the agreement before the Common Council meeting, he added. “I’m still waiting to see whatever this agreement is that they would like me to comply with,” Parker said. “I was promised that before the meeting, but I have not received it as of yet, so I can’t say that I would be signing it or not.” When asked, Roberts said she is currently drafting the agreement and that Parker would receive it shortly. “I do not foresee any issues in settling the matter,” she added. The assistant treasurer has received a stipend for at least 20 years, likely more, Campbell said. The decision to remove Parker’s stipend came after an executive session to discuss treasury personnel last fall. With only two dissenting votes, the council approved the pay cut and the budget as a whole on November 19. The vote to cut Parker’s stipend was the only cut proposed in the 2021 budget. NOTE: Johnson is a volunteer WGXC on-air programmer. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

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

Brendan J. Lyons reports for the Times Union that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn are both now investigating how Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's coronavirus task force handled COVID-19 cases in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic. The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn on Feb. 17 would not "confirm or deny" any investigation. But the Cuomo administration did. "As we publicly said, (the Department of Justice) has been looking into this for months," said Richard Azzopardi, a spokesperson for the governor. "We have been cooperating with them and we will continue to." Last month Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James reported about the Cuomo administration’s failure to properly count nursing home residents' deaths at hospitals. Then the state Health Department released records showing more than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients in New York were sent from hospitals into nursing homes in the pandemic's early months. Then last week Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa told Democratic state lawmakers that the count of nursing home residents' deaths at hospitals was delayed because New York officials worried that the information was “going to be used against us” by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice. The investigation reached the halls of Congress Feb. 17, with Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley urging President Joe Biden to allow Antoinette Bacon, the acting U.S. attorney in New York's Northern District, to be assigned to investigate Cuomo's administration. Bacon is a late-term appointee of former President Donald Trump, who the Biden administration might remove from office. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Jay Greene is reporting for The Washington Post the state Attorney General Letitia James on Feb. 16, sued Amazon on behalf of the state of New York, accusing the e-commerce giant of “repeatedly and persistently” failing to provide adequate protection to its warehouse workers in Queens and Staten Island. The company’s “flagrant disregard for health and safety requirements” at the facilities “threatened serious illness and grave harm” to workers, James alleged in the suit filed in New York Supreme Court. The case also alleges Amazon disregarded crucial workplace safety measures such as physical distancing requirements and providing employees time to properly maintain sanitary work stations. “Amazon has cut corners in complying with the particular requirements that would most jeopardize its sales volume and productivity rates, thereby ensuring outsize profits at an unprecedented rate of growth for the company and its shareholders,” according to the suit. Amazon rebutted the AG’s claims, referencing its own legal filing in a New York federal court last week, which argued that James lacks the legal authority to regulate workplace safety issues. The company said in the fall that almost 20,000 of its U.S. employees had tested positive, or had been presumed positive, for the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic. Read the full story in The Washington Post.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Greene County lawmakers have reversed a January decision to significantly cut funding to the local arts council. Council for Resources to Enrich the Arts, Technology and Education, or CREATE, formerly known as the Greene County Council on the Arts, serves Greene, Columbia and Schoharie counties. Last month, the Legislature decided to reduce the county's annual contribution to CREATE from almost $36,000 to $12,000 over concerns about how the funds were serving Greene County. After being provide supplemental information from CREATE Executive Director Marline Martin, the lawmakers chose to reverse the earlier decision and restore the $35,990 contribution — the same amount received by CREATE in 2020. “We received this letter declaring how you use the funds,” County Resources Chair Michael Bulich said this week. “If we could get the information maybe a little earlier the next time, maybe November or December as we approve the budget for the next cycle, we would have an understanding of how the money is being spent.” CREATE supports 30 organizations in Greene County, holds five exhibitions and three special events, has 300 members, administers 25 artist grants and two fiscal sponsorships. The council has supported a number of arts organizations in the county over the years including the Lumberyard Center for Film and Performing Arts; Bridge Street Theatre, Inc.; Bronck Museum; Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc.; and WGXC's umbrella organization Wave Farm, which receives funding from the Legislature through the County Initiative Program, administered in Greene County by CREATE. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Hudson 1st Ward Supervisor Sarah Sterling has announced she will not seek re-election in November. Sterling, a Democrat, has served as a county supervisor for 10 years. First Ward resident and Hudson Housing Authority Commissioner Claire Cousin is running and hopes to take Sterling's place. Sterling plans to spend more time on the Hudson Parks Conservancy and her artistic pursuits after leaving office. A 20-year Hudson resident, Sterling is a photographer and real estate agent. She received backlash from residents and Mayor Kamal Johnson at a February 2 forum organized by the Hudson Democratic Committee, when she compared Bliss Towers to a prison. Cousin was among those who spoke out against the comment, saying it reflects a larger issue in the ward. “The fact that you consider the high-rise as a prison or that those words could even come out of your mouth says a lot about why the black and brown community in your ward hasn’t been engaged for so long,” Cousin said at the forum. Cousin said her desire to run pre-dated Sterling's comments. Sterling said she was misunderstood during the forum. “I apologized right then if my language somehow offended anybody, but I was really trying to advocate for the best housing possible,” she said. Sterling will continue in her role as secretary of the Columbia County Economic Development Committee, vice chairwoman of the Columbia County Industrial Development Agency and Capital Resource Corporation, chairwoman of the Hudson Parks Conservancy and associate real estate broker for HOUSE Hudson Valley. Petitioning begins March 2 to qualify for the June 22 Democratic primary. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

Edward McKinley is reporting for the Times Union a mass vaccination site will open in Albany at the Washington Avenue Armory run jointly by federal and state entities, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced February 17. A minimum of 7,000 shots a week will be delivered at the site. Three other sites are opening in Yonkers, Buffalo and Rochester, joining the two mass-vaccination sites already operational in Queens and Brooklyn. All six are designed to reach "socially vulnerable communities," meaning predominantly people of color who would otherwise have less access to the vaccine and are on average more distrusting of it. “This is a very big and aggressive effort to address vaccine hesitancy in the black community, and I thank them very much for that," Cuomo said of the federal government. "You are going to see a lower vaccination rate with the black community. Part of it is access — but we are working very hard on access — and part of it is hesitancy.” He acknowledged that the current system of vaccine distribution is a headache for the millions of New Yorkers seeking shots. Read more in the Times Union.

Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan announced Tue., Feb. 16, a new initiative that would give 100 county residents a universal basic monthly income of $500 a piece for one year under a pilot program intended to analyze the impact of a guaranteed income on individuals' lives and behaviors. Ryan announced the initiative in his State of the County address, which was prerecorded and shown on Facebook, due to social distancing concerns stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Basic Universal Income pilot program will provide the guaranteed monthly sum to specific eligible county households from May 1, 2021, to April 30, 2022, for a total of $6,000 per recipient. The initiative is a partnership among Project Resilience, the University of Pennsylvania Center for Guaranteed Income Research, Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, and Ulster Savings Bank. The money will come from Project Resilience and Community Foundations, and the bank will set up bank accounts and provide debit cards. "We're really excited about this," Ryan said in an interview. "What we're really trying to understand is, is there a better way to get relief to people coming out of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic?" Eligible participants must income qualify to be selected via a lottery system run by the University of Pennsylvania. Those chosen to participate must agree to share information, including how they spend the money, with Penn's Center for Guaranteed Income Research. In the roughly 14-minute budget address, Ryan outlined his vision of "resilience and renewal" for the upcoming year that he said will use "compassion, ingenuity, urgency, equity and economic justice" to guide the county from the "darkness and difficulties of the past year" to a future that is "better, stronger and more equitable." Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Carnegie Deli is bringing its trademark cuisine to Greene County. The now shuttered restaurant operated near Carnegie Hall in midtown Manhattan for 80 years. It was announced last week the company has now launched a new partnership with Windham Mountain’s catering partner, Centerplate. Windham will be the first ski resort to offer Carnegie Deli delicacies and the first establishment in the Hudson Valley to carry the Carnegie line.“The way the Carnegie Deli sandwich is built, the way it’s constructed, really sets us apart from any other sandwich in the world,” Carnegie Deli Brand Director Marisa Flynn said. “It’s because of the height. It’s gargantuan. They’re skyscrapers, just like in Manhattan.” In addition to its famous pastrami sandwich, other hot items on the menu include the oversized corned beef sandwich, cheesecake and potato knishes. Windham Mountain is offering Carnegie Deli items at the Seasons restaurant and Mountain Express cafeteria, for both dine-in and takeout. Carnegie Deli is a New York tradition, Centerplate Executive Vice President Sal Ferrulo said. “We are continually thinking of fun, new ways to excite people,” he said. “And what better way than bringing Carnegie Deli, an authentic New York fixture, to the skiing and snowboarding community of Windham?” Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Today's daily news update.

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

At a CNN Town Hall meeting Feb. 16, President Joe Biden promised 600 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine would be ready for Americans by the end of July. He was asked, “when are we going to get back to normal?” and replied, “By next Christmas, we’ll be in a very different circumstance, God willing, than we are in today.” Then he added he's been advised not to make predictions. “I don’t want to overpromise,” he said. But while the president promised more vaccine doses will be available, they are not yet locally. For the second week in a row, Ulster County got just 1,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine this week, even though many more people are eligible now. Two weeks ago Ulster County received 1,900 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 1,500 the week before that, and 1,300 shots the week before that, and 1,200 the week before that. Overall there is some improvement since mid-January, but not much. Ulster County reported 35 new coronavirus cases and one new death Feb. 16. There were 81 new cases in Dutchess County announced on Feb. 16. Columbia County reported 26 more COVID-19 cases and one more death, and Greene County had 25 more positive tests. Rensselaer County reported 16 more cases Feb. 16, and Albany County announced 56 new cases, and one more death.

Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media 19 Hudson residents have hired an attorney to fight Verizon’s application to install six antennas atop Providence Hall. The planning board's public hearing had its fifth session on February 9 and it remains open into the sixth month on March 9. The application was submitted by Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems on behalf of Verizon Wireless for the installation and operation of wireless communications equipment on the roof of 119 Columbia Street in the city's 2nd Ward. Residents are adamantly opposed to the proposal and have gathered arguments against the application that are within the board’s purview. The planning board can consider visual impacts, code compliance, structural assessments and cultural resources, but not health concerns, said Michael Musso, a senior project manager and risk assessor for the design firm HDR that has been serving as a consultant to the planning board throughout the application process. The application cannot legally be denied because of health concerns as long as the proposition is within Federal Communications Commission guidelines. Attorney Andrew Campanelli represented Alexandra Semchenko and 18 other Hudson residents at the Feb. 9 public hearing. He is arguing a number of issues in opposition to the application including that Verizon has failed to establish that approving the application would be consistent with smart planning requirements under the city code and placement of the antennas would inflict adverse impacts on nearby homes. Planning board member Theresa Joyner previously asked how much of the service area would cover Greene County. The majority of the coverage will be in Hudson, Musso said. Planning board member Clark Wieman wanted to make sure that other sites were seriously considered, he said. Planning board member John Cody suggested a couple of alternative locations. Second Ward Alderwoman and Council Majority Leader Tiffany Garriga suggested Verizon seek another location. As a large company, it should have the capacity to do so, she said. It was unclear whether residents of Bliss Towers and Providence Hall had been adequately notified about the project, thereby providing additional concern for extending the opportunity for public comment. Anyone with alternate site suggestions is asked to write to Planning Board Chairwoman Betsy Gramkow no later than February 19. The public hearing will continue March 9. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo Tue, Feb. 16, outlined amendments to his budget plan, providing some details of his plan to legalize marijuana for adult use statewide. If the proposal is made law, the state would spend $100 million in revenue from the resulting sales for a social equity fund, which is meant to boost communities affected by past drug laws. The funding would support qualified non-profit groups that provide job support, adult education, mental health services, housing support, community banking, nutritional services and more. "As we work to reimagine, rebuild, and reopen New York, we're taking every opportunity to address and correct decades of institutional wrongs to build back better than ever before," Cuomo said. At the same time, Cuomo has scaled back criminal penalties for illegal drug sales, reducing the criminal sale of marijuana to someone under 21 to a misdemeanor. Selling marijuana over 16 ounces or 80 grams of concentrate would remain felonies. The state budget is expected to pass by March 31. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the town of Greenville is taking steps to improve the town’s water system and pedestrian accessibility in 2021. Part of the plan is relocating the town’s water tank, a $1.8 million project, and completing a $1.2 million sidewalk project, shared with the town of Cairo. Eighty percent of the water system project will be grant-funded, with the remaining 20 percent financed with a loan from the Environmental Facilities Corporation, Town Supervisor Paul Macko said. The existing tank was installed in1975 across from Tops Markets on Route 32. “You’re looking at a tank that is 45, 46 years old. We can put a new glass-lined tank in for less money than refurbishing the old tank,” Macko said. The new tank will be installed at a new location off Meadow Brook Lane. The project will also include the installation of approximately 2,300 feet of water main along Route 81 east of Hill Street. New sewer lines will be installed at the same time as the water main, Macko said. The construction of sidewalks from in front of George V. Vanderbilt Town Park up to the Greenville Country Estates and down by Kelly’s Pharmacy, The Tasting Lab and the Tiny Diner, are also on schedule to be completed this year, Macko said. The town will be reimbursed for 80 percent of the project by the state Department of Transportation. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.