THERE’S AN ELECTION next week. But not for everybody. It’s a primary that allows the members of some parties in some places to pick candidates for a handful of offices.

How much do primaries matter? Not much until you get your tax bill. Then, some people get angry. Others shrug. “They’re all no good,” they’ll say, because we’d rather blame anybody but ourselves.

There will also be another vote in early August, when a handful of people who know exactly whom they’re voting for and why, will pick Democratic candidates for state Supreme Court judges. It’s called a judicial convention and it will have a direct impact on Columbia County. More about that below. Read more…

THE TOWNS OF CANAAN AND NEW LEBANON have flexed their political muscle and convinced the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to fix the lunar landscape known as state Route 22. Or at least 3.5 miles of it.

The method used by the two small, David-like towns to bend the DOT Goliath to their will is no secret. And now at least one other town is pursuing a similar strategy. Kinderhook residents who live along, or frequently travel on the stretch of state Route 203 between the Village of Valatie and Niverville may soon be asked to sign petitions that call on the state to repair that section of the busy highway.

The success of these efforts depends on support from elected officials at the town, county and state levels. And there’s a media component too. For the Canaan and New Lebanon case it was exposure on an Albany TV station plus social media (for those who have internet service), and coverage in a “legacy” media platform, otherwise known as The Columbia Paper. Read more…

A DISCUSSION ABOUT LEGALIZED MARIJUANA should start with a joke, except that one-liners on the subject mostly amuse folks who are stoned.

Recreational marijuana use by adults is the subject here, and now there’s a local connection. This state has already passed legislation to make medicinal marijuana available to at least some of the people who may benefit from it. A few decades from now we will have enough data to wonder why we put so much faith in the plant’s ability to lessen pain or work cures.

Or, just as likely, we’ll wonder why we demonized such a remarkable drug and needlessly prolonged suffering it could have treated. By then we’ll admit that marijuana’s bad reputation was rooted in racism and politics more than in science. Will the next generations think any of this matters? Read more…