Morning in the Catskills: Friday (November 18, 2016)

Good morning… welcome to another edition of Morning in the Catskills. It is Friday, November 18th. I’m Kent Garrett.

Here is what’s happening:

The Daily Star is reporting…. that Downsville Central School has recently announced that six of its 57 potable water outlets tested above the state allowable maximum for lead contamination..

The newspaper reports that the school has halted the use of the outlets until a remediation plan is put in place to reduce lead levels. Roxbury and Delaware Academy Central Schools were also among those that had detected lead in several fixtures in proactive testing. Roxbury FIXED the problem before the start of  the school year... and Delaware Academy has isolated the flaw and is working toward a solution.

Meanwhile, get ready for deer hunting season…

The regular firearms season for deer and bear hunting in this area… the DEC southern zone... starts at sunrise tomorrow.

The Daily Freeman is reporting that the Mid-Hudson region’s metropolitan areas experienced MODERATE job growth during the 12-month period ending Oct. 31st. Department of Labor figures released yesterday show that the Kingston Metro Area, which is all of Ulster County, ADDED 1,000 nonfarm jobs from October 2015 to October 2016... a gain of 1.6 percent.

Meanwhile, things were SO SO in other parts of the area:

• Greene County lost 200 nonfarm jobs, a DROP of 1.3 percent, to close out at 14,800.

• Columbia County’s nonfarm job total was unchanged at 22,000.

• Delaware County’s nonfarm job total ALSO was unchanged, at 15,600.

• Sullivan County GAINED 300 nonfarm jobs, or 1.2 percent, to reach 26,100.

The Albany Times Union…is reporting that the 570- mile New York State Thruway is in trouble. That is because this year Thruway officials will have to... unlike last year... pay for state troopers who patrol the highway. That could cost as much as 60 million dollars.

This is all according to a study by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. He says that the New York Thruway has to (quote): “ develop a better roadmap for the future”

Meanwhile, Eliza Collins and Josh Haftner at USA Today…  are reporting that, a week after winning the election, Donald Trump is WALKING BACK some of his major campaign promises. For example, He’s not concerned with deporting all illegal immigrants, just the criminals. The WALL is now looking more and more like a fence.  As for prosecuting the Clintons?  Donald Trump now says (quote):“They’re good people,”

Historians say that the HASTE of Trump’s backpedaling may be unprecedented.

Thanks for reading, Morning in the Catskills. I’m Kent Garrett. I’ll post again on Monday morning.