William J. Kemble is reporting for the Daily Freeman a construction accident that severed a cable near the state Thruway roundabout in the town of Ulster on September 22, left many Onteora school district students without online classes and some businesses unable to conduct commercial activities. Customers say they lost service at about 8 a.m. and some saw internet service restored by late afternoon. “We had a fiber break in our network, caused by a non-affiliated third party doing construction in the area,” Spectrum spokesperson Lara Pritchard said in the statement. “Our crews continue to do their work on scene, involving almost 400 fiber splices, in order to be repaired...” Onteora Board of Education President Laurie Osmond said she was troubled by the lack of information from Spectrum because so many students rely on internet service while classes are conducted remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. She noted students who would have been receiving instruction were essentially missing a day of school. Osmond said Spectrum needs to be regulated in the same manner as gas and electric companies. Onteora officials said the number of students affected by the outage was unclear. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.