Today's audio daily news update.

Liz Montgomery in Porcupine Soup runs down all the school board hearings on budgets this week ahead of the May 16 voting. The Cairo-Durham Central School District holds its budget hearing at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 4 in the high school distance learning classroom about a budget with a proposed 3.78 percent tax levy increase. Bernadette Gavin-Palmieri (incumbent), Aniston Keff, Stephen Brandow (incumbent), Claudia Zucker (incumbent), and Nicole Plank compete for three seats on the school board there. The Catskill Central School District has a budget hearing at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3 in the high school library for a budget with a 2 percent tax levy increase. Henry Haye, Deborah Johnson (incumbent), Joseph Izzo, Ryan Osswald (incumbent), Lee Heim, and Allan Couser compete for three seats on the board, with a “meet the candidates” forum Monday, May 8 at 6 p.m. in the high school library. The Coxsackie-Athens Central School District holds two budget hearings on Tuesday, May 2, with one at 6 p.m. in the Edward J. Arthur Elementary School cafeteria and the other at 7 p.m. in the Coxsackie Elementary School cafeteria. The proposed budget there has a 2.93 percent tax levy increase. Tara Bachner (incumbent), Ina Griffin-Guilzon (incumbent), Jamie Dorr (incumbent), and Sam Anderson compete for three seats on the Coxsackie school board. The Greenville Central School District holds its budget hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2 in the middle school/high school auditorium about a proposed budget with a a 2.47 percent tax levy increase. Kelly Hubicki, Robert Pondiscio, and Eric Herbstritt (incumbent) vie for two seats on the board, with a “meet the candidates” forum immediately following the May 2 budget hearing. The Hunter-Tannersville Central School District has a budget hearing at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 4 in the elementary school cafeteria for a budget with a tax levy increase of 2.31 percent. The Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District holds its budget hearing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9 in the school library, but does not yet reveal what its proposed tax levy increase is, if any. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Zack Fink in New York State of Politics writes about Gov. Kathy Hochul's recent failures, and her interview May 1 on NY1. After suburban lawmakers shot down her plan to build 800,000 affordable housing units across the state, she said, "What is your plan? Because I am not done. I am coming back to say if you can do this on your own, let's see the results.... And some communities, 80 percent of communities, had to build 80 units or less. That is one apartment building." Hochul also spoke about her political consultant Adam Sullivan, who resigned Sunday after he a New York Times story included accusations of belittling young female staffers during the campaign last year and Sullivan running things from Colorado. Hochul said, "First of all, he lived in Colorado after he lived in Washington, but he also spent the entire campaign living in New York City, so he wasn't running anything from afar.... Of course we spoke. I was very disappointed about what I read in that article in the New York Times. And we spoke, and we agreed to part ways. And that is exactly what the status is right now.” Her other recent political defeat was having her pick for chief judge, Hector LaSalle, rejected by the state Senate. "I have a brilliant staff," Hochul said. "But we also build alliances with members of the legislature. And I would say... after the situation with the chief judge, and you questioned whether or not we could work together to put together a budget, and I said we would. We did." Read more about this story in New York State of Politics.

Paul Kirby reports in the Daily Freeman that Leon Botstein, the longtime president of Bard College, met several times with Jeffrey Epstein years after the financier was found guilty of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. The college confirmed the story on May 1 after a report in the Wall Street Journal. Mark Primoff, assistant vice president of Bard communications, said that, in 2011, the college received “two unsolicited donations” from Epstein, “totaling $75,000 and 66 laptops.” Primoff said, “As the primary fundraiser for the College, the president met with Epstein a number (of) times over a four-year period to determine if more donations would be forthcoming. The answer, ultimately, was no.” The Journal reported that Epstein, “brought a group of young female guests” to Bard. Primoff said, “Based on his expressed interest in supporting classical music, Epstein attended two public summer concerts at Bard in 2016, an opera and a classical concert, arriving and departing with no other interactions. Those were the only visits.” Botstein, besides being the school's present, also conducts the American Symphony Orchestra. Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and was found dead by suicide, according to authorities, in a cell in August of the same year. “We looked him up, and he was a convicted felon for a sex crime,” Botstein is quoted in the Journal report. “We believe in rehabilitation,” Botstein told the Journal, citing the college’s Prison Initiative Program, which provides higher education for incarcerated individuals. 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.

Lana Bellamy reports for the Times Union the owners of the now-shuttered Indian Plant nuclear power plant now say they will discharge radioactive waste water into the Hudson River in September. A representative from Holtec International company said they are delaying the radioactive water release until September so that the company can clean boric acid off the steel liner in the facility. Previously, the company planned to discharge the waste water into the Hudson this month. Rich Burroni, site vice president for Holtec, said, “I was called a bully, I was (told) we’re trying to circumvent the system. There was no intent for that....The only thing we were trying to do was get a head start on cleaning the spent fuel pool." The nuclear plant is on the east bank of the Hudson River in Westchester County and closed on April 30, 2021. The company currently plans to release the radioactive waste water this September and in June and April 2024, and August 2025. The plant has been making similar water releases into the river for many years. “Just because these discharges have occurred for more than 40 years does not mean they are the best disposal method,” said a representative for Riverkeeper, a Hudson River preservation advocate, in January. “The ideal situation is zero radiation entering the Hudson River.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Nick Reisman reports for Spectrum News that New York's Department of Health launched a campaign May 1 to encourage residents to begin the two-dose vaccination series for mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox. “Last year’s mpox outbreak took place during the spring and summer months and most impacted communities of men who have sex with men and immunocompromised individuals,” Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “This year, while mpox cases are extremely low in New York, cases continue to be diagnosed here in New York and around the globe and there is still a risk of resurgence. We are taking proactive measures now to encourage those at risk to get fully vaccinated by getting both doses. Taking this measure of protection is a gesture of self-love and love for the communities in which you live.” The virus can spread through sexual contact, and people in the LGBTQ+ community are considered to be more at risk. The state health department is beginning to run digital ads and social media alerts to encourage vaccinations. Read the full story at Spectrum News.

Mid-Hudson News reports that Ulster County Assemblyperson Sarahana Shrestha is criticizing her fellow Democrat, Governor Kathy Hochul, for her bail rollback in the state budget. Shrestha said there is no need to modify the law, saying, “Many cases, particularly low-level, get dismissed because of an epidemic of wrongful arrests, and poor people, people of color, and those with mental health issues have a higher likelihood of being caught up in a wrongful arrest.... People waiting for their trial, who have not yet been proven guilty and don’t have money to pay bail, are dying in jails due to negligence, and when they do survive, they come out with traumas that are impossible to heal.” Shrestha also said the current law “already gives judges discretion for bail-eligible cases, which include violent felonies and some non-violent ones," and that judges “exercise this discretion by determining whether bail is the ‘least restrictive means’ to ensure the person returns to court.” Read more about this story at Mid-Hudson News.

Liz Montgomery reports for Porcupine Soup that Greene County is handing out $300,000 in grant funding to small businesses. The money comes from New York State in partnership with the Economic Development Corporation. The grants will range from $5,000 to $25,000 and go to businesses in Greene County with five or fewer employees. Greene County EDC Board Chair Mark Maraglio said that small businesses are the fastest growing sector of the local economy, saying, “Access to capital is key to helping them create jobs and thrive in our communities." Businesses interested in applying for the MULTI Grant program should visit the Greene County EDC website for more information or contact Hannah at jhannahs@greenecountyny.gov. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

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.

On April 19, Democrat Pat Ryan voted with Republicans to deny democracy to the citizens of the District of Columbia. Residents there elected their own representatives to pass laws for them, but last week Ryan and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives voted to overturn decisions by those elected officials. Ryan voted for Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act along with all the Republicans voting in the House, including local representatives Marc Molinaro and Elise Stefanik. Local Democrat Paul Tonko voted against the measure to overturn what the representatives elected by the people of the District of Columbia passed. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and several islands in the Pacific Ocean do not get to participate in the same representative democracy that the rest of America does.

Raymond Pignone reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the group End Citizens Unite has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on April 11 alleging that Rep. Marc Molinaro violated election campaign law by making two transfers of $1,000 each from his State Campaign Committee to his Federal Campaign Committee in 2021 and 2022. The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits federal candidates from transferring funds from their state committees to their federal committees. The complaint says, “The Commission should immediately investigate these apparent violations and take appropriate remedial actions against [the] respondents.” Also named in the complaint are Marc for US Inc. and treasurer Nicholas Joseph, and Molinaro for Dutchess. Molinaro campaign advisor Dave Catalfamo said, “This is a baseless partisan attack from a socialist group,.... It is clearly designed to distract from Congressman Molinaro’s successful 100-Day Report, in which he announced he is fulfilling campaign promises and delivering bipartisan results. Bawadden Sayed and the rest of the socialist activists are free to take up their baseless complaint with the FEC.” The statement from Molinaro's campaign advisor avoids any specifics, while the complaint does not. “On Oct. 1, 2021, less than two weeks after filing for federal candidacy, Mr. Molinaro transferred $1,000 from his state committee to his federal committee and disclosed the transfer on his state committee’s campaign finance reports,” according to the complaint. “The transfer from the state committee was not disclosed on the federal committee’s reports filed with the Commission. However, the federal committee’s FEC reports did disclose a contribution of personal funds from Mr. Molinaro in the amount of $1,000 on Sept. 30, 2021, designated for the primary election.” Molinaro has represented the 19th Congressional District in Congress since January. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

The New Republic reports that Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents Rensselaer County and the North Country in Congress, often complains about crime, but not when it happens in her 21st Congressional District. Last week a 65-year-old homeowner, Kevin Monahan, fired two shots and killed 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, who was in the passenger seat of a car that mistakenly pulled into a wrong driveway. Stefanik Tweeted once about how her “heart breaks for the tragedy of the loss of Kaylin Gillis’ young life,” but did not offer any legislative solutions. Last week was invited to join a House Judiciary Committee hearing that falsely framed New York as awash in crime. Even with more than 160 mass shootings this year in America, after the Nashville school shooting Stefanik called attempts for gun control “overly political," and again, did not offer any legislative solutions for the problem. Read more about this story in the New Republic.

Maury Thompson reports in The Post-Star that Rep. Paul Tonko is still trying to ban online and television advertising of sports gambling, but is not getting much help. Tonko introduced legislation to prohibit online and television advertising of sports gambling on Feb. 9, but so far his HR 967 bill has no co-sponsors. And Tonko's legislation is being criticized because sports gambling advertising is protected by the First Amendment. Going it alone so far, Tonko says, “We’re very serious about this issue.... It’s operating in a mostly unregulated, Wild West environment.” While Tonko criticizes gambling advertising as "relentless" he says, “I make it clear that I am not against legalized sports gambling.... It’s the advertising that we’re focused on.” Tonko, who represents Albany County and the rest of the 20th Congressional District, is also only concerned about ads for sports gambling, but not other gambling, as his proposed legislation would not ban advertising for state lottery games. Read more about this story in The Post-Star.

CNN reports that House Republicans on April 26 voted for a bill to increase the federal debt limit, but it comes with all sorts of budget cuts that mean it will not pass in the Senate. Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota admitted the theatricality of the vote, saying, “This is the first conversation. The next conversation is what comes next and we know that and this is part of negotiation." Locally, Republicans Marc Molinaro and Elise Stefanik voted for the bill, while Democrats Pat Ryan and Paul Tonko voted against. Ryan complained on the House floor that the measure would cut funding for all discretionary programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, the State Opioid Response Program, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ryan said, “In New York alone, my home state, it threatens food assistance to 54,000 people and cuts pre-school and childcare for 17,000 kids. It puts at risk Meals on Wheels for over one million seniors nationwide and would cut $30 billion in support to our veterans." Read more about this story at the CNN website.

Today's audio daily news update.

Andrea Macko reports in Porcupine Soup that Coxsackie officials are holding a public information meeting about almost two-decade old plans for a 360-unit manufactured housing development there. UMH Properties, Inc. proposed Mountainview Estates in 2005 on 159.65 acres of what was once farmland off Van Dyke Street in Coxsackie. But their was opposition almost immediately to the large proposal, and the company eventually filed a lawsuit against the Village of Coxsackie, alleging discrimination and slow-walking their application process. Last year, UMH and the Village settled, allowing for a new project application to be filed and requiring the Village to pay $275,000 in damages, attorney’s fees, and costs. The proposal includes a clubhouse with a swimming pool, playgrounds, basketball courts, a boat and trailer storage area, and multi-use trails for pedestrians and horses, plus roadways, driveways, street lighting, sidewalks, and preserved open space. Gov. Kathy Hochul and local officials in the Hudson Valley have identified a current affordable housing crisis. But Hochul's housing proposal in her proposed budget this year was removed in negotiations with lawmakers, and few affordable housing projects have been approved locally in recent years. Read more about this story in Porcupine Soup.

Jammel Cutler reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Hudson's ad hoc parking committee is considering forming a parking bureau and starting a resident permit system. Hudson Common Council President Tom DePietro said, “The idea of a parking bureau is to concentrate all the elements of a parking system in our city into one director. Right now the police department controls the meter patrols, but DPW controls the physical meter.... The third person is a clerk, who does all the clerical work for the parking tickets. The idea for the bureau is to consolidate this under one person who can oversee the entire parking program in the city.” A 2022 parking study in Hudson recommended converting the city's parking meters to pay stations that take up less space on sidewalks and can accept credit cards. The parking committee is now weighing the parking needs of both residents and visitors to come up with a potential permit system, giving residents more priority. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Aaron Katersky and Bill Hutchinson at ABC News report that over 3,000 guns were surrendered at nine buyback events this weekend in New York. That included 357 firearms at an event in Watervliet and 235 guns turned into the Kingston event. New York State Attorney General Letitia James organized the statewide effort, and said, “Every gun that we removed out of Watervliet homes and off the streets is a potential tragedy averted and another step in protecting communities throughout New York state.” Participants were not asked questions about the weapons, and were given $500 gift cards for the first gun surrendered and $150 give cards for each additional weapon. Read more about this story at ABC News.

Today's daily news audio update.

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

Nancy Kern reports at Columbia-Greene Media that the Town of Durham is no longer eligible for many grants and other benefits after being decertified over noncompliance with the New York State Historic Preservation Office’s Certified Local Government program. The reason was Durham’s failure to have an active historic commission. On March 4, 2022, three members of the historic commission — Ellen Fried, Ken Mabey and Rosemary O’Brien — resigned in protest over the dismissal of Commission Chair Patrick Ciccone, which has now led to the decertification, since Town Supervisor Shawn Marriott failed to appoint new members to the commission. Ciccone, the fired former commission chair, said, “This is part of a pattern.... While I was serving, Marriott ignored all attempts to meet with the commission, including a critical meeting during the environmental review. He ignored requests from other commission members to comment on my dismissal, ignored all inquiries from the state, and now he is left in the situation where the town is decertified and no longer has access to grants.” Marriott could not be reached for comment, and Deputy Town Supervisor Lisa Cirillo declined to comment. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.

Joshua Solomon reports for the Times Union that while there have been few arrests of people selling cannabis illegally in the state, emergency regulations have been in place since last August giving law enforcement that authority. The state's Office of Cannabis Management has the power to "take action against unlicensed entities that are engaged in unlawful cannabis," according to the rules. But there have been few arrests, despite many reports of sales from unlicensed shops across New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul does not even seem to know the rules, as she said on April 27 that, "What we do not have is (the authority) for individuals from Office of Cannabis Management or from our state tax and finance office to go in and enforce the laws," and that state officials are, "not allowed to do searches because we only had civil penalties, not criminal penalties." Contrary to what the governor said, the cannabis office can refer investigations to the state Department of Taxation and Finance, district attorneys, or other enforcement agencies, and assess penalties, of $50 to $10,000. Even with the current rules in place, Hochul is proposing making unlicensed cannabis sales a misdemeanor offense. Last week two Queens store clerks were arrested for possession of cannabis and untaxed cigarettes, according to reporting in QNS.com, citing 63 violations and $45,000 in civil penalties. Few stores have been authorized to sell cannabis in the state, and none in the WGXC listening area, even though the drug was legalized in New York more than two years ago. Read more about this story in the Times Union.

Nancy Kern Columbia-Greene Media that Eric Herbstritt, Kelly Hubicki, and Robert Pondiscio are running for two seats on the Greenville school board, where a few parents recently have attempted to ban books. Pondiscio was a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute conservative public policy think tank. He says, "People are often under the impression that the board is there to support the district, when in actuality it’s there to hold the district accountable.” Herbstritt is an incumbent, and downplays the attempts to ban books in the school's library. “I recall that when my child was trying to check out a book, we did get called and asked if it was OK. We’ll see where this goes as far as discussions. As an individual I believe that people should parent themselves and take responsibility for the parent-student relationship. It’s truly between parent and student.” Hubicki is a part-time pre-school teacher, and says, "Being a member of the board would give me a chance to listen to all the parents and represent the parents.” Greenville will have a meet-the-candidates forum at 7 p.m., May 2 in the Greenville Middle School High School Auditorium. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.