Emilie Munson reports for the Times Union that Republican Liz Joy filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission April 1 to challenge Rep. Paul Tonko, a Democrat from Amsterdam, again in 2022. In 2020, Joy ran against Tonko, but received 38 percent of the vote to Tonko's 62 percent in the 20th Congressional District election. A Democrat named Cole Francis Matthews has also declared intentions to challenge Tonko. Joy is a real estate agent from Glenville, with policies that align with former President Donald Trump. Currently the district includes all of Albany County, but redistricting after the 2020 census could change the boundaries. "It could turn things off the margin and start to push Tonko to the place where he would have to run the kind of race with extensive TV ads and a big operation that we've seen recently from [Rep. Antonio] Delgado or [Tedra] Cobb on the Democratic side to the south and north of him," said Chris Mann, assistant professor of political science at Skidmore College. "It could push him into that territory. ... I don't think he's in any real danger of losing but he's going to have to work harder." In 2020, Joy raised $381,000 for her campaign compared to Tonko's $1.5 million. Joy refused a request from the newspaper for comment, and Matthews could not be reached. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that the Cairo Town Board may vote April 5 on buying three new trucks for the highway department. “Our fleet is aging to the point it is costing us tens of thousands of dollars in maintenance,” said Highway Superintendent Art Evans. The 16-truck plow fleet includes trucks as old as 1986, and at one point during this past winter, 11 of the department’s trucks were not working on the town’s 91.5 miles of roadways. “We can’t keep doing this,” said Supervisor John Coyne. Cairo is considering buying three new trucks for about $412,000. In 2020 the town spent $72,217 on truck repairs. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

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Aliya Schneider is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media a group of Philmont residents is looking to evaluate economic development for small businesses. The organization, Philmont Economic Development Group, consists of chair Peter Johnson, members Jean Giblette, Karen Davala, Jeff French and Susan Michiehas, Giblette asked the village board March 24 to recognize the group because it needs support from the trustees to become an official economic development committee and be eligible to receive grants accordingly. Philmont Mayor-elect Brian Johnson will appoint trustees to various committees at the village organizational meeting next week, board member Douglas Cropper said. Johnson will likely appoint an economic development representative from the board who can move forward with the committee. “We were aware that other towns and villages in the county were doing this and we were feeling a little bit left out,” Giblette said. A thorough assessment of local businesses has not been done in the past 25 years, she added. The group has identified 10 objectives for the village including: identify local market needs and opportunities for businesses; direct activities with other organizations involved in economic development in the area; identify investment and grant opportunities for the village and make recommendations to the board of trustees; promote Philmont’s potential for water power energy generation; and more. The group’s general focus will be on small business, but its members are keen to help the village investigate the potential for water power development. The village is in danger of becoming a “nonprofit ghetto,” Giblette said. She called that phenomenon "a very bad thing" because it skews the tax burden to homeowners. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Emilie Munson reports for the Times Union that if the infrastructure bill proposed by President Joe Biden March 31 passes, travelers on Amtrak locally would see improved service. The proposal would create new service between Albany and Boston along existing track by 2035, and improve service from Montreal to New York City, from Albany to Rutland, Vt., and from Albany to Toronto, via Niagara Falls. The proposal would spend $80 billion over eight years. “There are a number of real physical, capital intensive projects that are lined up ready to go and need the money,” said Sean Jeans-Gail, vice president of Policy and Government Affairs at the Rail Passengers Association. “We would be talking about increased reliability, increased average speeds, which when you are talking about a corridor as extensive as the Northeast Corridor that means increased capacity.” This week Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said no Republicans in his chamber would vote for the bill. Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, said she hopes to pass the bill by July. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

MidHudson News is reporting the state Department of Environmental Conservation has announced the recreational striped bass fishing season in the Hudson River and its tributaries north of the George Washington Bridge has begun. The recreational striped bass fishing season will open on April 15 in state coastal waters south of the George Washington Bridge. The DEC is working collaboratively with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to require the use of circle hooks when fishing for striped bass with bait. This new requirement is intended to increase the survival rate of striped bass in the recreational fishery. The circle hook regulations are expected to take effect by April 15. North of the George Washington Bridge, the recreational slot limit is no less than 18 inches and no greater than 28 inches. The season runs from April 1 through November 30. In marine waters, the recreational slot limit is no less than 28 inches and no greater than 35 inches. That season runs from April 15 through December 15. The recreational striped bass possession limit for all state waters is one fish per person. Read the full story at MidHudson [dot] com.

Porcupine Soup is reporting three seniors are being honored by Greene County for their exceptional community service. The Advisory Council to the Greene County Department for the Aging has named Barbara Caldera of Earlton the 2021 senior citizen of the year, Duncan Macpherson of Freehold will receive the outstanding contribution by a senior citizen award and Anne Heim of Leeds will receive a certificate of merit from the county. Caldera is the mother of two children and a lifelong Greene County resident. She served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in Vietnam rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel. She later had a long career as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner, and served as the administrator of Greene County Family Planning for more than 10 years. She has volunteered for Meals on Wheels and Community Hospice, and belongs to a weekly knitting group that makes hats to donate to homeless shelters and Greene County Family Planning. She served as an active volunteer, during the COVID-19 pandemic, assisting the Greene County Public Health staff in all ways possible. Macpherson was employed by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles for 42 years where he retired as director of data processing. He serves the Greene County Region Blue Star Mothers since it was organized in 2014. He has served as a Boy Scout troop leader, a food pantry volunteer, and a member of the Greenville Rotary Club. He is a member of the Greenville Board of Education, and served as the school’s baseball, cross country and wrestling coach from 2006 to 2011. Heim has been a volunteer for Greene County Department of Human Services since 2001, providing nearly 4,100 hours of service by delivering meals to the homebound and providing medical transportation.  All three will receive special recognition from the county Legislature at its May meeting. Read the full story at pocupinesoup [dot] com.

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Edward McKinley reports in the Times Union that New York State can no longer hold people in solitary confinement for more than 15 days at a time, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the HALT Solitary Confinement Act into law April 1. Despite the name, the bill does not stop solitary confinement. But it does create Residential Rehabilitation Units as an alternative to solitary; prohibits any solitary confinement for people under 21, over 55, who are pregnant, or who have a disability; requires yearly training for staff who oversee solitary confinement, and requires the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to track and release data about solitary confinement. Criminal justice reform groups, the Catholic church, Amnesty International, legal service groups, and others have pushed Cuomo to ban solitary confinement for years. Blacks represent 58 percent of those in isolation, and more than 80 percent of those held in solitary are Black or Latino inmates. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media state forest rangers rescued a hiker after the man fell ill during the 2.5-mile walk in the Rusk Mountain Wild Forest in Lexington. State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesperson Jeff Wernick said the unidentified man, 38, of Killingworth, Connecticut, was rescued after Ranger Christine Nelson and members of the Lexington Fire Department responded to the scene. The man was part of an overnight hike with a small group on the Spruceton Trail. The group hiked for two and a half miles from the DEC parking lot on Sprucetown Road and then to the John Robb lean-to, to spend the night. The hiker had trouble making the journey and became sick when the group arrived at the lean-to. The next morning, the man was still ill, and told his companions that he could not continue the trip. Responders hiked in to reach the man, providing him with first aid and then placing him on a stretcher and taken out of the woods. The man was transferred to Ashland Ambulance and in the care of Greene County Paramedics, who brought him to Columbia Memorial Hospital for further treatment. The entire rescue lasted two hours. The 3,900-acre Rusk Mountain Wild Forest, in the Catskill Forest Preserve, extends from the summit of Hunter Mountain on the east, westward along a ridge of land which includes the Rusk, Evergreen, Pine Island and Packsaddle mountains. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Lauren Stanforth is reporting for the Times Union House of Precise, an Albany nonprofit organization that supports youth and the LGBTQ community is organizing a rally April 2, outside Rocks bar on Central Avenue to call for the resignation of George Langdon IV, an Albany County legislator, who made homophobic comments at an event last weekend. Approximately two hours after the House of Precise shared a post about the rally on Facebook, Langdon released a statement saying he sincerely apologizes to the LGBTQ community for his "hurtful remarks," calling it a "foolish off-the-cuff comment." Langdon's anti-gay remarks were delivered at the “Return to Liberty under the Constitution” seminar at Camp Pinnacle in Voorheesville on March 27. Langdon, a first-term Republican elected county legislator who represents Coeymans, said, “Everything God does is sustainable. It is sustainable. It goes on and on and on. It’s perpetual. Sorry, when you have homosexual relationships, it is not perpetual. Give them an island, and they will be gone after 40 years.” London Jae Precise, the founder of House of Precise and an Albany advocate for the trans community, said various speakers will appear at the rally Friday afternoon, and will call on Langdon to resign. Albany Democratic officials immediately called on Langdon to resign after video of his remarks surfaced on Facebook March 31. Langdon's profile and title as chief financial officer of the financial firm he and his wife run has now been removed from the business' website. Albany County Legislature Minority Leader Frank Mauriello called Langdon's comments, "unacceptable," but stopped short of calling for his resignation. Precise said community activists want other elected officials in Coeymans to answer for Langdon's comments. The current Coeymans Town Board issued a statement that said they were "unfamiliar with the context" of Langdon's comments or of the event he attended. Village of Ravena Mayor Bill Misuraca on his official Facebook page delivered the most blistering comments of any Albany County Republican. Misuraca wrote, "George, no sugar coating it, you gotta go. There's no place [for] that mindset in government, (or in day to day life, for that matter)." Read the full story in the Times Union.

The Daily Freeman is reporting philanthropist George Soros has a $500 million endowment to Bard College, to "facilitate and strengthen Bard's exemplary educational and social initiatives, establish the college's most substantial endowment ever, and set the stage for a $1 billion endowment drive," according to a press release. Bard College President Leon Botstein called the gift the most historic moment since the college's founding in 1860. "When this endowment drive is complete, Bard will have a $1 billion endowment, which will ensure its pioneering mission and its academic excellence for the future," Botstein said. In response to Soros'schallenge grant, Bard raised an additional $250 million from supporters and intends to raise another $250 million during the next five years, the release said. The release also said the Soros' grant is one of the largest ever made to higher education in the United States. The endowment pledge from Soros, along with Bard's matching contributions, will endow the college's full array of student financial aid, faculty, and programs; enable the college to sustain its mission and to grow its international profile; and begin its endowment drive with $750 million, according to the release. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

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Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media data released by the Catskill school district March 30, indicated that 40 staff members do not want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The majority of staff has been vaccinated or are awaiting inoculation, with 195 members fully vaccinated, 20 awaiting their second dose and 81 who want to get the shot. “I am pleased with the district’s staff vaccination rate,” Superintendent Ronel Cook said. “Our staff is committed to providing students with a high-quality education in a safe and secure learning environment. This is evident by the percentage of staff who either took the vaccine or are in the process of receiving it.” In a post to the Catskill Central School District Facebook page, Aaron Clause wrote, "Hope you plan on a continuing virtual learning program. My child will not attend a hybrid or full attendance educational program where over 10 percent of the staff simply "don't want" to be vaccinated." Cook hopes all students will be able to return to in-person instruction in the fall. “Our goal is to return all students safely back to school in-person in September,” Cook said. “Nevertheless, we realize that some parents may feel uneasy with sending their children back to school in September. A remote option will be available. The district is developing specific criteria for students to qualify for full remote instruction. ...” Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or CiREW, a national good-government organization, April 1, filed an ethics complaint over Gov. Andrew Cuomo's promotion of his pandemic leadership book last year, citing the decision to use his re-election campaign resources to do so. The complaint filed with the state Board of Elections notes Cuomo's re-election committee promoting the book through his email list when the book was first released last October. "Cuomo for New York, Governor Cuomo’s authorized committee, repeatedly promoted sales of the book on social media and in emails sent to supporters," the group stated in the complaint. "Expenditures for those book promotions appear to have been made exclusively for the personal benefit of Governor Cuomo. Accordingly, an investigation of Cuomo for New York’s conversion of campaign funds for personal use is in order." The administration declined to comment on the ethics complaint. The New York Times reported late March 30, that Cuomo's deal with Crown Publishing to publish "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic," may have been worth more than $4 million. The governor has not publicly revealed the true size of the book deal and has pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds to an as yet unidentified COVID-related charity. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.

Heather Below is reporting for The Berkshire Eagle new details are emerging about the fire that destroyed the Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob's Pillow in November 2020, as two reports obtained by The Eagle are now available following a public records request. On Oct. 31, a local security firm monitoring the sprinkler and fire alarm system called to alert an employee at the Becket, Mass., dance center that the Doris Duke Theatre had not self-tested or received signals the day before. The employee told Lee Audio N’ Security to “ignore the fault,” essentially severing a key communications network between the two locations. Less than three weeks later a blaze destroyed the performance venue. The loss of communication with the alarm company slowed the response to the fire, as did the failure of a water pump that prevented the sprinklers from operating. Firefighters learned when they arrived the main water pump did not work, even through the system appeared to have been functional. A report by Massachusetts State Police Trooper Daniel Quigley said the sprinkler system had been serviced, tested and inspected in mid-July. However, data from the pump system’s digital recorder showed the activation of a jockey pump when a sprinkler head triggered it at 5:02 a.m. on the morning of the fire. It worked for 32 minutes, but it was the subsequent failure of the main pump that hindered the entire system. Both the alarm problem and the water pump failure enabled the blaze to burn intensely in the key early moments, leading to the structure's destruction. In February, State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey ruled the cause of the blaze “undetermined,” and said the sources of ignition either were electronic equipment inside a door, or “smoking materials.” The investigators were unable to pinpoint the origin of the fire with any certainty. The Pillow plans to further reinforce its fire safety systems and rebuild the theater. The organization recently announced it would hold its dance festival outdoors this summer. Read the full story in The Berkshire Eagle.

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Natasha Vaughn reports for Columbia-Greene Media that 15 residents and 21 staff members at the Brookwood Secure Center in Claverack have contracted COVID-19, according to the Columbia County Department of Health. Staff members, of course, mingle about in the larger community, so health officials are concerned about the possible spread. "When you take out the Brookwood numbers and we had a little cluster with one of the farms locally, if you take those clusters out, we'd have a fairly low community rate," Columbia County Director of Health Jack Mabb said. "Our numbers are nothing compared to what's going on in New York City, overall our numbers have been fairly stable." All local Hudson Valley counties have now reached 30 percent of adults receiving at least one vaccine dose according to the state tracker website. Greene County is just there at 30.1 percent, and Albany County leads locally at 37.3 percent. In between, Ulster County is at 34.4 percent, Columbia County is at 33.8 percdent, Rensselaer County is at 32.7 percent, and Dutchess County is at 31.2 percent. Further west, Schoharie County is at 27.5 percent, and Delaware County is at 26.1 percent.