Brendan J. Lyons is reporting for the Times Union that a federal judge on July 27, gave preliminary approval to a proposed $65 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving three companies blamed for polluting the public and private water supplies in and around the village of Hoosick Falls. The settlement would assure cash payments and long-term medical monitoring for thousands of property owners and residents, including those who were found to have elevated levels of a toxic substance in their bloodstream. In a 17-page ruling, U.S District Senior Judge Lawrence E. Kahn said he is likely to grant final approval to the settlement because it is "fair, reasonable and adequate." A hearing on the final settlement will be held on February 2 in Albany. The preliminary settlement was reached in a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in 2016 in federal court. The complaint accused Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics and Honeywell International, and later 3M and DuPont Co., of responsibility for the continued pollution of the community's water supplies, which are contaminated with perfluorinated chemicals that were used at factories in the village. The settlement is intended to compensate former and current residents for the potential health consequences of their exposure to the chemicals, as well as the potential loss of property value, and to provide a system of early detection for any related health issues they may suffer in the years ahead. The payments under the proposed settlement could be divided among roughly 1,800 qualifying property owners. Read the full story in the Times Union.