Raymond Pignone reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Greene and Columbia counties are getting more than $1.2 million to upgrade emergency communications systems and call centers that take emergency and non-emergency calls from police, fire department officials, and ambulances. Columbia County will get $605,499 and Greene County receives $600,013 from the State Interoperable Communications Formula Grant and the Public Safety Answering Point Operations Grant. Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “Public safety is my No. 1 priority here in New York State, and I’m proud to announce this year’s round of funding to enhance communication systems that help our emergency responders work more efficiently.... Year after year, we continue to make funding available to every county and New York City to help keep New Yorkers safe, and these grant programs do just that.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.