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Gov. Andrew Cuomo hopscotched from Buffalo to Long Island and points in between in a series of press conferences on Thursday and Friday to preach “tax fairness for the middle class” – a two-part campaign that included making permanent the state’s eight-year-old cap on property-tax increases. Actually, the third-term, Democratic governor talked about lots of [...]

We've made it to March, but winter is not over yet, and it’s going to make that very clear from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning.AccuWeather said Sullivan County will be hit hardest, with a chance of 6 to 10 inches of snow before it’s all over. Orange and Ulster counties are likely to see 4 to 8 inches of snow.Forecasts from the National Weather Service were sounding similarly dire warnings as of Friday afternoon.You might wake up to a preview [...]

WEST POINT — Visible mold was found in nine of 16 homes visited by a West Point inspection team in November.They also found potential for water intrusion at 14 of the homes, while clogged gutters and a failure to disperse water away from foundations were also observed at some homes.The visits were part of what a West Point spokeswoman called a “focused inspection” of more than two dozen homes after some former West Point families raised the concerns at [...]

NEW YORK — A sponsor of sports betting legislation in New York said the bill likely would allow for in-person wagering at places like Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden.Assemblyman Gary Pretlow said Friday the legislation he announced this week is being tweaked and will have that provision unless he receives strong opposition."That is one of the changes, that we would open it up to have affiliates such as Madison Square Garden, which has expressed an [...]

MIDDLETOWN — A line of speakers appealed for greater state spending on libraries, public transportation and a host of other budget priorities on Friday during a two-hour public hearing held by the two new state senators representing Orange County.Sens. James Skoufis and Jen Metzger, each of whom took office in January, held the forum at Thrall Library to gather public input for the coming month of planning and negotiations to enact the next state budget by April 1. Gov. [...]

THOMPSON — The Monster Golf Course will roar again come fall, the legendary golf course’s designer, Rees Jones Inc., said on Friday.That’s when the first nine holes of the storied former course, open from 1963 to 2015, will be open next to Resorts World Catskills, with the back nine set for a summer 2020 opening.Casino parent Empire Resorts is funding the $21.2 million redevelopment of the golf course. Empire Resorts leases the land for the [...]

PLATTEKILL - A police officer with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has been charged with illegally manufacturing and selling dozens of guns and tipping off a drug suspect about an investigation, state police said Friday.Police said they learned about the activities of Gregg Marinelli, 38, of Plattekill, during the cocaine- and fentanyl-trafficking investigation dubbed "Operation: Bread, White and Blues" that resulted in more than two dozen arrests in [...]

Ulster BOCES graphic visual arts students are using a variety of multimedia platforms to create digital narratives. Some projects include stories about a post-apocalyptic world, fantasy adventures, and travel. After choosing and researching their topics, the students wrote scripts and created storyboards to visualize and organize their stories. Creating and collecting images, videos, sounds, and narration to create two- to four-minute videos were part of the assignment. They used [...]

ALBANY — Democratic lawmakers and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sparred Wednesday over the details of a plan to impose new tolls in Manhattan, the latest example of the political challenges facing the long-debated proposal.Members of the Democratic majority in the state Senate said they would not support Cuomo's plan as it stands because it doesn't include funding for the Long Island Rail Road. They also noted that under Cuomo's plan, a motorist driving from Long island to [...]

ALBANY — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a new insurance mandate that would expand coverage of in vitro fertilization and medically necessary therapies to preserve a woman's fertility.The Democrat announced the measure Wednesday. The proposed in vitro fertilization mandate would apply to all large group insurers, while the coverage requirement for medically necessary egg freezing would apply to large, small and individual insurance providers.Cuomo also [...]