Hudson Valley News

  Westchester County legislators blasted elected officials in Albany for their continued imposition of mandates without financial relief. Hand in hand with that is the state imposed two percent tax cap.

Legislator Michael Kaplowitz (D-4) said Albany is “a mess.”

Fellow Democrat lawmaker William Ryan (D-5) was highly critical of state legislators.

  A total of 126 Westchester County employees who were slated to be laid off in County Executive Robert Astorino’s proposed $1.7 billion, 2013 budget will be saved.

The Budget and Appropriations Committee of the Board of Legislators voted on Monday to restore the jobs with money from the county’s fund balance. Legislature Chairman Kenneth Jenkins said there will be no borrowing to retain the positions.

An appeals court says a Dutchess County school district must pay $1 million to a man who was racially harassed for 3½ years in high school. WAMC’s Dave Lucas has more…The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld the award for Anthony Zeno. He faced repeated harassment in the Pine Plains Central School District from 2005 to 2008.  The 2nd Circuit said he faced racist, demeaning, threatening and violent conduct.

The chairman of the State Assembly Energy Committee has asked both Dynegy executives and the leadership of IBEW Local 320 to resume negotiations and enter into at least a temporary agreement to return workers to the job at the Danskammer and Roseton electric generating plants in the Town of Newburgh.

  There is a trend to on-shoring of jobs in manufacturing industry, but while it may not be overwhelming, it is signally somewhat of a reversal of the off-shoring of jobs. That assessment comes from Harold King, director of the Council of Industry, which represents manufacturers in the Hudson Valley.

King said while companies have gone out of business because of foreign competition and jobs have gone overseas, it has paved the way for high-tech manufacturing in the Hudson Valley.