Hudson Valley News

The race to represent the newly-drawn 19th Congressional district, which includes Ulster, Dutchess, Greene and Columbia counties, returns Chris Gibson to Washington -   Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.

Chris Gibson's supporters gathered last night in Valatie at the Winding Brook Country Club.  There were nervous moments, as a recent Siena poll had challenger Kingston Attorney Julian Schreibman closing the gap: trailing the Congressman by just 5 points...

Battle lines have been drawn: districts have been redrawn. Several of today's most-watched races are taking place in the Hudson Valley. WAMC's Dave Lucas reports.

In Congress, Republicans Chris Gibson and Nan Hayworth are running for second terms in newly re-drawn districts against fiercely competitive Democratic challengers.

Hayworth is up against former Clinton White House aide Sean Patrick Maloney, in the battle for the new 18th Congressional District, which includes Orange and Putnam counties along with portions of Dutchess and Westchester.

   There are four gas stations in the Village of Chester, which is situated along Route 17M, paralleling Route 17. Being in southern Orange County, people from New Jersey have been driving up, filling their vehicles and extra gas cans.

There were many as 50 or 60 vehicles lined up at stations at one time and have been running out of gas until new shipments arrive.

That prompted Mayor Philip Valastro to impose a $50 limit on each motorist’s purchase.

As the word spread Thursday of the difficulty that oil companies were having in delivering gasoline to service stations, panic set in from New Jersey to New York City and up into the Hudson Valley.

By late afternoon, vehicles were lined up for blocks in the region, waiting to buy the “liquid gold.” Compounding the problem was the continued major power outage with people buying generators in record numbers, adding to the demand at the pumps.

Many stations ran out of gas with people still waiting at the pumps.

Communities throughout the Catskills and commuters who ride the rails to New York City are seeing a slow return to normalcy in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy - Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas has an update.
 

Some commuters were able to board Metro-North trains this morning and more households and businesses have the lights back on - Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas has more on the Hurricane Recovery effort.
 

The Westchester County Department of Health on Wednesday urged people with private wells that were flooded to either boil their water before consumption or to use bottled water as a precautionary measure since sewage and other harmful contaminants can be washed into private wells by storm waters. 

New Yorkers affected by Hurricane Sandy are trying to resume normal lives despite grim projections of power and mass transit outages lasting several more days. Subway tracks and commuter tunnels beneath New York City sustained heavy damage and Metro-North Railroad service remains suspended today. Utilities have crews out repairing damaged and downed transmission lines. Hudson Valley Bureau chief Dave Lucas has an update:

The Westchester County Department of Health is advising people who use the Hudson River waters for recreational purposes, namely swimmers, boaters, kayakers and windsurfers to avoid direct contact with the water until further notice along the Westchester shoreline. This advisory is due to flooding-related shutdowns at one waste water treatment plant and two waste water pumping stations along the river that have resulted in raw and partially treated sewage entering the Hudson River.

Consolidated Edison says power will be restored everywhere in Manhattan and Brooklyn within four days, but it could be at least a week for other boroughs and Westchester County because power is delivered to those areas largely using overhead lines. More from WAMC's Dave Lucas.


On Tuesday morning, ConEd said that 337,000 customers were without power in the two boroughs. There were 442,000 without power in the boroughs of Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and Westchester County following Hurricane Sandy.

Officials in Ulster County say dozens of roads and streets are closed because of trees and power lines knocked down by Sandy. More from WAMC's Dave Lucas.

County Executive Michael Hein said Tuesday that the storm is blamed for one death. State police say 69-year-old Doreen Richardson was killed Monday evening when her vehicle was struck by a large section of roof that blew off a home in a trailer park in Kerhonkson.

Hurricane Sandy has left a path of destruction behind in its wake and Hudson Valley Bureau Chief reports there are ongoing problems with travel disruptions and power outages as clean-up efforts continue.

  Former President Bill Clinton made a brief appearance at a rally for Democratic congressional candidate Sean Patrick Maloney Sunday afternoon.  Clinton touted Maloney’s qualifications saying that he was competent in both the White House and in state governance.

“Being elected to Congress is a job,” Clinton said. “It requires a preference for evidence over ideology, for arithmetic over illusion, for shared prosperity over trickle down, for we’re-all-in-this-together over you’re-on-your-own.”

Students, parents and teachers in an Orange County School District are embracing mobile-optimized learning technology, as we hear in this report from Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas.

  US Senator Kristen Gillibrand came to the Hudson Valley on Thursday to announce her support for the Women’s Enterprise Development Center.

The senator is working to secure a federal investment for the effort that would see creation of a satellite center on the Marist College campus in Poughkeepsie.

“I think we can ignite a very powerful economic engine by just finding these great women with business ideas and helping them get started,” said Gillibrand.

She made her comments at a stop at Oxyvita, Inc., adjacent to Stewart Airport in New Windsor.

  State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office released an audit of the City of Newburgh’s financial oversight that said officials failed to accurately track the city’s budget which led to millions of dollars in shortfalls and a higher than necessary tax hike for its residents.

The audit, released on Thursday, said that the city, after failing to account for a $1.3 million deficit, passed an unbalanced budget in 2010 that created a new $ 6 million cash deficit which was closed the following year with a 41 percent tax levy increase.

A yearlong celebration gets underway Friday in Orange County... with a visit from the Fab Four... Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.

The race for New York's newly drawn 102nd Assembly district seat pits Republican Pete Lopez, seeking his fourth two-year term against Democratic challenger Jimmy Miller, who served for two decades as official spokesman for the Albany police department: Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas takes a closer look at the race.