GHENT–Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed an executive order released March 30 saying that school board elections will be postponed until no earlier than June 1.

The order says in part “any school board, library board, or village election scheduled to take place in April or May of 2020 is hereby postponed until at least June 1, 2020, and subject to further directive as to the timing, location or manner of voting for such elections.”

County school districts were scheduled to hold their budget votes and school board elections on May 19. All six school districts in the county are currently closed until April 15 and students and staff are working remotely. Read more…

We will post local cancellations and postponements as we receive them.

ANCRAM–Ancram Town Hall, Town Court and Town Garage will be closed to the public until further notice. Town employees will continue to be working normal hours at the Town Hall or from home, so can you reach them by email, phone or mail. The Highway Department is working a regular schedule. If you have something to drop off with a town official, just put it in the mail box on the far edge of the parking lot. Call the Town number at 518-329-6512 and leave a message if no one is available to talk when you call. Find a directory of contact information on the town website: www.ancramny.org

ANCRAM–Ancram Kids’ Camp sign-up postponed. Camp applications will not be available until sometime in May. Town officials will alert everyone when the applications are ready and they will be posted on the website.

ANNANDALE—The May 3 gala celebrating the 70th anniversary season of the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle has been postponed to the fall. At this time, the HVCMC still plans to hold its June concert series in Olin Hall at Bard College.

AUSTERLITZ–Town Hall closed. All monthly meetings canceled. www.austerlitzny.com. Reach Town Supervisor Lagonia at 518-755-0996 or Read more…

HUDSON—The Columbia County Health Department website reports that as of 3:30 p.m., March 31, Columbia County has 41 positive cases of COVID-19. Six of the positive cases are hospitalized, four of those are in the ICU. Test results have been completed for 371 Columbia County residents. There are 68 people under mandatory quarantine and 18 under precautionary quarantine. There are 9 residents with suspected, not tested cases.

“We feel there are many more than that. We simply don’t have the test kits that would enable us to get a truer picture regarding the extent of the disease,”  according to a March 31 press release from Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murell.

As of Monday, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo had extended the directive that all non-essential workers remain home through April 15. School districts have also been instructed to adhere to that date. In addition, President Donald Trump has extended the directive that social distancing practices throughout the United States remain in effect until April 30. Read more…