Hank Gross

  The U.S. Department of Education announced on Monday that the Middletown City School District is among 61 applications selected as a finalist for the Race to the Top-District competition.

The program will provide close to $400 million to support locally developed plans to personalize and deepen student learning, directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare every student for success in college and careers.

  State Assemblyman Stephen Katz (R-Yorktown) has written to his colleagues in the house urging them to replace Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with a new leader.

Silver presides over the heavy Democrat majority in the Assembly and has come under criticism in recent months by members of both his own party and the Republicans for what Katz called his actions “in covering the sexual improprieties of Assemblyman Vito Lopez with taxpayer dollars by means of the ‘Miscellaneous Contractual Services’ account.”

  US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says despite the economy negatively impacting small airports, she continues to lobby for additional airline service at Stewart Airport near Newburgh.

Gillibrand said the issue of expanding service goes beyond just the Hudson Valley airport.

Ulster County public transportation users will be getting their Christmas wish early this year. For the first time, the UCAT bus loop through area malls will be extending service to weekends from November 24 to December 30 between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

The loop is normally available only on weekdays, but the additional weekend service is expected to ease vehicle congestion along Ulster Avenue, notorious for holiday shopping traffic jams.

Several members of the 17 fire departments in Orange County, New York that sent volunteers to Long Island to assist after Hurricane Sandy’s devastation recently spoke of their experiences.

Several members of the 17 fire departments in Orange County that sent volunteers to Long Island to assist after Hurricane Sandy’s devastation, Tuesday talked of their experiences while lending a helping hand.

All Hudson Valley and Catskill area counties in New York saw unemployment rise in October when compared to the same month last year. It dropped slightly in October when compared to September. 

 The City of Poughkeepsie will lose $2 million in Dutchess County sales tax revenue in 2013, but that was not the topic when County Executive Marcus Molinaro sat down with Mayor John Tkazyik and Common Council Chairwoman Gwen Johnson on Tuesday.

The discussion looked beyond next year and into the future, said Tkazyik.

  The Rockland County government public employees represented by the CSEA are speaking out against proposed cuts to programs and layoffs in the 2013 county budget.  The proposed spending plan was the topic of a public hearing in New City Tuesday night.

The budget, which includes the elimination of 70 positions and cuts to public health programs such as mosquito control and the county’s breastfeeding initiative for new mothers, was presented in late October and has been going through detailed review in the legislature.

  Rocket attacks by militant Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza on Israel have prompted area police agencies to keep an extra sharp eye out.

Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois wanted to be sure the unrest in the Middle East doesn’t spill over to the Mid-Hudson Valley.