DOWNLOAD or PLAY the audio version of the local news headlines for Fri., Oct. 13 (5:22). (Produced by Philip Grant.)

Lorna Cherot Littleway is reporting in The Columbia Paper on the property reassessment underway Hillsdale. Suzette Booy, director of Columbia County’s Real Property Tax Department, made a presentation on the reassessment process to the town board at its monthly meeting Tue., Oct. 10. The reassessment will have an impact on school taxes in 2019, and on property taxes in 2020. So far, 150 parcels have been reassessed. Hillsdale has more than 1,500 residential properties and approximately 75 commercial and farm properties. During the process, a county data collector visits the properties to photograph buildings, front and rear. Both Booy and Town Supervisor Peter Cipkowski stressed the reassessment project is not an effort to increase town revenue. Instead, Booy said, the objective is to make sure everyone is assessed fairly. The reassessments are expected to be mailed to property owners by March 1. Grievance hearings will be held beginning May 1. The next meeting of the Hillsdale Town Board is 7 p.m., Tue., Nov. 14. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Ariél Zangla is reporting in the Daily Freeman the Federal Communications Commission has approved the sale of radio station WKNY-AM to the nonprofit Radio Kingston Corp. Former WDST-FM program director Jimmy Buff, who is the executive director of Radio Kingston, said the closing date for the sale has not been set. WKNY is being purchased from Townsquare Media for $500,000. Radio Kingston intends to launch a commercial-free platform “dedicated solely to a vibrant, just and healthy Kingston,” the group said. Programming will focus on "community storytelling, artistic and musical expression, conversation and connection." The group will keep all current WKNY hosts and launch new programming in early 2018. This is the second time in four years that WKNY has changed hands. The station went on-air for the first time in December 1939. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

Rick Karlin is reporting in the Times Union a special task force is considering the future of plastic bag usage statewide. In a meeting held in Albany this week, the group, established by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo earlier this year, discussed two options, the imposition of a nickel fee at checkout, or an outright ban. Representatives of various environmental and food industry groups at the meeting seemed to agree that by year end they would recommend some sort of control on the bags. “It seems like the writing is on the wall,” said Jennie Romer, a lawyer and consultant who runs the plasticbaglaws.org website. “We would be happy to share the fees,” said Michael Rosen, president and CEO of the Food Industry Alliance of New York State, which represents food retailers. A fee that would encourage people to bring their own bags, he said, was preferable to an outright ban. Some communities have already enacted or are planning bans. The major obstacle to imposing a fee is the cost to consumers, and the anger that a new 5-cent fee could cause. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Click here to play or download a recording of the full Hudson Planning Board meeting held Thu., Oct. 12, at Hudson City Hall. Recorded by Jess Puglisi.

Hudson Planning Board
Thu., Oct. 12, 6:30 p.m., City Hall

Call to order

:30 Public hearing opens. Architect Neil Pelone speaks about the former American Legion building, located at 7 Fairview Avenue. The intention is to redevelop the structure to include office space, art gallery space and public event space. 
3:00 Rick Rector 
4:00 Laura Langley, Green Street resident, poses question about access. 
4:50 Hearing closes.
5:00 Regular meeting called to order.
5:50 7 Fairview Ave. site plan approval and questions.
6:10 Planning Board Member Ginna Moore: Who will this facility serve? 
6:30 Pelone: Arts flex-space, food arts, gallery uses.
7:30 Planning Board Member Laura Margolis: Will the owners form an arts organization? 
8:00 Pelone: Maybe a nonprofit. 
9:00 Planning Board Member Clark Wieman to Planning Board counsel Mitch Khosrova: Is this a conditional use?
11:00 Pelone: No application for a liquor license "at this time." 
12:00 Concerns about sound, amplified music. 
13:30 Planning Board Chairman Tom DePietro: The sound levels are "our biggest concern."
18:25 Proposed operating hours for new facility: Friday and Saturday until 1 a.m., 11 p.m. all other nights. Current estimate is 100 events per year. 
19:00 Louis Waterson, Green Street resident, not concerned about noise but has concerns about potential construction damage.
26:00 Rector and DePietro discussion about how conditions will be enforced with 100 events a year. 
35:22 Site plan review to continue at board's November meeting.
36:00 Wieman and Khosrova discussion about the impact of the Colarusso lawsuit on the Planning Board and its role.
42:00 Peter Jung, Warren Street resident and Khosrova question and answer concerning the impact of city lawsuit against Greenport.

Today is Day 10 of the WGXC 2017 Fall 2017 Harvest Pledge Drive. WGXC programmers, volunteers and staff must raise $25,000 to keep WGXC Hands-on Radio on the air, live and local during the coming months. Your support will make all the difference. Call (518) 697-7400 or go online to wgxc.org [slash] donate, and make your commitment to programming curated by humans, not algorithms, that is responsive to your needs and interests. Thank you for supporting creative community radio in New York's Greene and Columbia counties.

Local weather forecast:
TODAY : Patchy fog in the early morning. Otherwise, mostly sunny. High near 60. Friday night, a slight chance of showers between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., then a slight chance of showers or drizzle after 2 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 51.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS:
SATURDAY: A slight chance of showers or drizzle in the early morning, and continuing through the day. Saturday night, a slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. Low around 58.
SUNDAY: A chance of showers Sunday afternoon. Partly sunny. High near 77. Sunday night, showers likely. Mostly cloudy. Low around 47.

Sunrise today: 7:07 a.m.
Sunset today: 6:15 p.m.
LENGTH OF THE DAY: 11:08 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS and POLITICAL EVENTS for Fri., Oct. 13:
Please see the WGXC Community Calendar.

Jon Campbell reports in The Poughkeepsie Journal that Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer have pledged to donate all past campaign contributions from Harvey Weinstein to charity, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not. In the past week, the former head of Miramax Films has been accused by many women of sexual harassment and by several of rape. “We returned the money that Harvey donated to my gubernatorial campaign," Cuomo told reporters Oct. 12. "Obviously, money he donated to past campaigns has been spent and has been gone." Cuomo had $25.7 million currently in his campaign account as of the last reporting deadline, July 15. Jessica Proud, a Republican spokesperson, said in a statement, "What kind of message does it send to women and victims that despite everything we know about the abuse Harvey Weinstein inflicted on them, he still won't let go of his $60,000? His actions speak volumes." Read the full story in The Poughkeepsie Journal.

Patsy Nicosia reports in the Times Journal that Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook) and some other members of the House Agriculture Committee listened to farmers Oct. 9 at SUNY Cobleskill about their concerns for the 2018 Farm Bill. Eric Ooms, a Kinderhook farmer and vice president for the New York Farm Bureau asked for for immigration reform to allow migrant farm workers to help. “Congratulations. You’re in Congress. You can fix that,” he said. A dairy farmer, Laurie Griffen of Saratoga Farm, wanted a more effective guest worker program. Other farmers mentioned dairy insurance issues, enforcement of organic regulations, and keeping food stamps in the Farm Bill. Faso did not list the event on his website. Read the full story in the Times Journal.

Robert Harding reports for The Auburn Citizen that the American Action Network, a Republican-aligned group, is running pro-tax cut ads in the 19th Congressional District and throghout central New York. They are targeting New York's Republican representatives including John Faso from Kinderhook. The group is spending $500,000 on a two-week digital advertising campaign on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other websites. So far, Faso has made one public comment on the tax cut plan proposed by the president that would eliminate the deduction for state and local property taxes. "I would certainly not be inclined to" vote for the legislation, Faso said on CNBC. But, he said, "It's very early in this process because we don't have many of the details." Congressional leaders want a vote on the tax cuts by the end of the year. Read the full story in The Auburn Citizen.

Sean Mulkerrin reports for The Altamont Enterprise that Albany County's proposed budget is $25 million more than last year, but without a tax increase. “I’m pleased to present a budget that stays under the state tax cap for the fifth consecutive year,” County Executive Daniel McCoy said. The budget proposal is at $679,000,000 and must be approved by the county legislature. The governor's shared-services plan, McCoy said, did not save the county any money this year. “Right now, we didn’t affect it into the 2018 budget for a variety of reasons, because we were under a short time-frame to get that completed. Also, it’s going to take time — the state, I don’t think put anything into the budget for 2018. This is going to be future savings for 2019, 2020, 2021, especially with the healthcare. That’s what I’m really pushing for next year." Read the full story in The Altamont Enterprise.

The Post Star reports that this is a good year for pumpkins, according to a Cornell University expert. Cornell horticulture professor Steve Reiners says the dry, warm weather in September minimized pumpkin diseases. Last year a drought hurt the pumpkin crop. Reiners says pumpkin purchasers should look for sturdy stems and avoid pumpkins with soft spots. Read the full story in The Post Star.

DOWNLOAD or PLAY the audio version of the local news headlines for Thu., Oct. 12 (5:50). (Produced by Philip Grant.)

Richard Moody is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Columbia County will enter an agreement with the State Comptroller’s Oil Spill Fund to clean up petroleum contamination on a foreclosed property in the town of Chatham. The Board of Supervisors voted Wed., Oct. 11, to enter into an agreement with the state to pay for the cleanup, which will be supervised by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Half of the proceeds from the resale of the property will go to reimburse the state Comptroller's Office for the cleanup. The parcel is classified as a family residence. The contamination was caused by a leaking tank on the property. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

Amanda Purcell is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media a Greene County man who claimed to be a resistance fighter and wanted to start a local militia has been sentenced. Robert Twiss, 59, of Earlton, was given time served and three years of supervised release for felony possession of a firearm, Wed., Oct. 11, by the federal district court in Albany. Twiss was facing 10 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York said at the time of his guilty plea in March. An investigation began in 2015 when the FBI suspected Twiss was forming an army based in Greene County. According to court documents, Twiss told an FBI informant about a plot to bomb the FEMA building in Albany, among other things. At a subsequent meeting at his home in Earlton, Twiss revealed additional plans for his militia and the effort to destroy the FEMA building. Twiss was arrested in October 2016 at the Home Depot in Leeds where he was employed at the time. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

MidHudsonNews [dot] com is reporting the Kingston Gas Works site on North Street in Kingston has been remediated to address contamination. The cleanup was performed by Central Hudson Gas and Electric with oversight by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The 1.6-acre site is a former manufactured gas plant that operated from the 1890s until 1958. Coal tar was a by-product of the process. The remediation included the excavation and disposal of contaminated soil both on-site and off-site to approximately four feet below the surface. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.

Environmental Advocates Wed., Oct. 11, released its 2017 Environmental Scorecard, which documents the voting records of New York state legislators on climate action, plastic waste, water quality and more. Locally, state Senator Kathy Marchione scored a 68 out of 100, up from a 57 last year. Sen. George Amedore also improved record, increasing his previous score of 57 to a 71 out of 100. In the Assembly, Democrat Didi Barrett scored highest locally, with a 95, up from 92 in 2016. Newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, Pete Lopez scored a 74, a lower rating than fellow Republican Steve McLaughlin, who scored a 76. Both earned a 70 out of 100 last year. State Sen. Tom Croci, a Long Island Republican, received the Environmental Advocates Oil Slick Award, for a failing score of 59, and his attempts to "kill clean energy," the group said. The full report can be found at EPL Voter's Guide [dot] org.

Today is Day 9 of the WGXC 2017 Fall 2017 Harvest Pledge Drive. WGXC programmers, volunteers and staff must raise $25,000 to keep WGXC Hands-on Radio on the air, live and local during the coming months. Your support will make all the difference. Call (518) 697-7400 or go online to wgxc.org [slash] donate, and make your commitment to programming curated by humans, not algorithms, that is responsive to your needs and interests. Thank you for supporting creative community radio in New York's Greene and Columbia counties.

Local weather forecast:
TODAY : Cloudy through mid-morning, then gradual clearing. High near 61. Thursday night, mostly clear. Temperatures are expected to drop into the 30s Thursday night through Friday morning. Areas of frost are possible across higher terrain.

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS:
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny. High near 61. Friday night, a chance of showers, possible turning to drizzle. Mostly cloudy. Low around 53.
SATURDAY: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy. High near 71. Saturday night, mostly cloudy. Low around 57.

Sunrise today: 7:05 a.m.
Sunset today: 6:17 p.m.
LENGTH OF THE DAY: 11:11 hrs.

PUBLIC MEETINGS and POLITICAL EVENTS for Thu., Oct. 12:
Please see the WGXC Community Calendar.

DOWNLOAD or play the audio version of the local news update for Wed., Oct. 11 (3:40). (Produced by Alanna Medlock.)