Stuyvesant votes for highway bond
Stuyvesant voters approved a $845,000 bond 253 to 170 at a special election Tue., Aug. 16. The bond will repair a highway garage and construct two salt sheds at the highway department storage area on Sharptown Road.

New York flags at half-staff today
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo directed that flags on state government buildings be flown at half-staff on Wednesday, August 17 in honor of five Fort Drum soldiers who died in Kandahar province, Afghanistan on August 11. Army Sergeant Edward J. Frank II, of Yonkers, NY, Army Specialist Jameel T. Freeman, of Baltimore, MD, Army Specialist Patrick L. Lay II, of Fletcher, NC, Army Private 1st Class Rueben J. Lopez, of Williams, CA, and Army Specialist Jordan M. Morris, of Stillwater, OK died recently of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle. The soldiers were all assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, stationed at Fort Drum, NY. Ira Stoll in Reason writes: "According to the iCasualties.org Web site, whose count more or less tracks that of other sites devoted to these statistics, 630 American soldiers died in the Afghanistan operation in the years 2001 through 2008, when Mr. Bush was president, while 1097 American soldiers have died in the years 2009, 2010, and 2011."

Hannaford moves forward in New Lebanon
A Public Notice in the Register-Star indicates the planned Hannaford grocery store in New Lebanon is moving forward. "The Department [of Environmental Conservation] has made a tentative determination to issue a new/revised SPDES permit to allow for the discharge of 7,000 gallons per day of sanitary wastewater to a tributary of the Wyomanock Creek from existing Valley Plaza. The applicant is proposing to modify an existing SPDES permit to allow for the redevelopment of the plaza which will include the addition of a new Hannaford Supermarket and Pharmacy.... As a tentative determination, the Department seeks comments on the proposed regulated activity prior to making a final decision on permit issuance and as such, does not signify Department approval for or endorsement of the activity for which a permit is sought or for the overall proposed project. The facility is located at the northeast corner of US Route 20 and County Route 5A in the Town of New Lebanon. A draft permit us available for review and comment at the NYSDEC Region 4 office. Comment on this project must be submitted in writing to the Contact Person no later than Sept. 9":
Contact Person
MICHAEL T HIGGINS
NYSDEC
1130 NORTH WESTCOTT RD SCHENECTADY, NY 12306 (518) 357-2069

Ichabod Crane football season saved by donations
CBS6 Staff reports the Ichabod Crane Board of Education officially approved money raised for the football team Tuesday night can be used for the team. The program wasn't part of the school's slashed budget, but a booster club got permission from the board to fund the program, if they could raise enough money by August 15. The football team has been self-funded since its first season in 2008, according to the television station's report. Read the story at CBS6.

Gibson: ‘Ron Paul is a friend of mine’
Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential has a post about local Congressional representative Chris Gibson's fondness for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. Paul, finished a close second in the straw poll of Iowa Republicans last weekend, and Gibson, R-Kinderhook, brought him up as he discussed cutting back military commitments overseas with the Albany Times Union editorial board:

“As I look right now, at all the presidential candidates, I don’t feel we have anyone who articulates what needs to be said on these matters — bureaucratic reform of the national security establishment. You get a glimmer of it here and there. I’ll tell ya: Ron Paul is a friend of mine. We sit together often. I find him very friendly and funny. I agree with him on some things he says. I think we should audit the Fed, you know, I think he’s got something to say as far as that $1.6 trillion that we owe to the Fed, we owe to ourselves, not obligated to anything. I think he’s got some good ideas, so I enjoy my relationship with him.”

“On this whole debt ceiling thing, he’s the only one I thought was virtuous — even though I was utterly in disagreement with him — he was virtuous because he said that we default, and we should go into bankruptcy and come out of it stronger. I didn’t go to Washington to do that, let me be clear. If that’s it, I’m not the guy to do that. If you’ve got a plane and two engines are down, have a soft landing, fix the plane and get back up again. I didn’t come to crash the plane. But I will give you this: Ron Paul’s at least virtuous in that he’ll explain his vote. Where does that go? I communicate to my constituents.”

“Ron Paul at least makes an argument. I disagree with it. But Michele Bachmann — has she explained her no vote? But I want to bring that up because Ron Paul is a guy who has enunciations as far as a more modest foreign policy. There are some things that he says that I think fit within what I’m talking about, but I haven’t seen a full blossoming of that in terms of how it would relate to the full reform, and then how we, as a country, then move forward.”

“I haven’t seen anybody else tackling that. Have I missed it?”

Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.