Hank Gross

Officials from the New York State Nurses Association, the union that represents nurses at Westchester Medical Center, told the County Board of Legislators’ Community Services Committee on Tuesday that patient care is suffering as a result of hospital management’s cutbacks and reorganization of medical staff.

Nurses’ representatives told of cases where nurses are tied up in administrative and other work resulting in a loss of patient care.

Sam Caquias, a representative of the Nurses Association, said the region’s healthcare is suffering.

Ulster County is bringing its emergency radio communication systems into the 21st Century.

Blue Wing Consulting, based in Minnesota, made a detailed technical presentation to the county legislature at a special meeting held Tuesday night in Kingston. The company made a similar presentation earlier Tuesday in neighboring Sullivan County.

Blue Wing was hired two years ago, tasked with polling various departments and finding an affordable solution to coverage, cost, and interoperability problems.

Army Sgt. Mark Palmateer of Wappinger was killed on June 26, 2008 during combat in Afghanistan.

To honor his memory and those of the many others from the region who have died since the attacks, the Town of Wappinger for the second year is holding a remembrance ceremony at the future site of a memorial to honor Palmateer.

Town Councilman William Beale has been coordinating the local commemoration for the past two years.

Michael Cody is a Vietnam War veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart medal. His patriotism and love of country prompted him to set up a week-long exhibit of photos from the September 11 World Trade Center attacks.

Cody happened to be in Manhattan on that day at the VA hospital and when the commotion first occurred, he ran over to the site, bought a disposal camera and began taking pictures. “I didn’t know what I was taking at the time,” he told MidHudsonNews.com.

Nancy Seliga was the manager of One World Trade Center when terrorists struck bringing down both Twin Towers. She was in the building about to start a staff meeting when the first plane hit.

Seliga, now a resident of Monroe, and her coworkers sensed it was a plane that shook the building, but thought it was an accident. They climbed down 21 flights of stairs when they were ordered out of the building and told to run, not to look back or up. A block-and-a-half away, she looked up, saw the flames and people jumping.

The Hudson River Greenway Water Trail’s is now officially designated as a National Water Trail, news that came at the kickoff to the 13th Annual Hudson River Valley Ramble over the weekend at Kingston Point Beach. Hudson Valley Correspondent Hank Gross reports...

Acting Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley Greenway and National Heritage Area Mark Castiglione said the 256 mile Water Trail has been officially recognized by the US Department of the Interior as a National Water Trail and is one of the first in the country to receive such an honor.

Members of the Hudson Valley delegation to the Democratic National Convention are “fired up and ready to go” following the formal selection of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as their party’s standard-bearers.

Orange County Democratic Chairman and convention delegate Jonathan Jacobson said they are ready to point out the differences between the Republican and Democratic candidates.

Dutchess County legislators began the discussion into the possibility of banning the use of hydrofracking brine, the by-product of the drilling process to harvest natural gas from underground shale formations, on county roads.

The resolution, which was discussed at the Government Services Committee of the county legislature on Thursday, was sponsored by Legislator Joel Tyner.

 New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has confirmed the state's ethics commission has asked him to retain certain records involving a sexual harassment scandal in the Assembly.

That appears to show the Joint Commission on Public Ethics is investigating the $103,000 secret settlement using public money to end sexual harassment accusations against Democratic Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

Police in Newburgh activated a state Amber Alert Wednesday evening and are investigating a possible child abduction that occurred at South Junior High School at 33 Monument Street at about 3:50 p.m. A group of children between five and 11 years of age told their parents that while they were playing, they saw a girl being forced into a black pickup truck by two men.

The parents promptly called the police.