Adirondack Review Board News

NY-21: CHRISTOPHER SCHMIDT RECENTLY POLLED AT 5%. WILL THAT IMPACT THE RACE? - North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY) Website

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

NY-21: CHRISTOPHER SCHMIDT RECENTLY POLLED AT 5%. WILL THAT IMPACT THE RACE?

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY)

10/16/26

Last week, the Siena Research Institute released a poll that found the race to represent the North Country’s main congressional district is a close one. St. Lawrence County farmer Blake Gendebien, a Democrat, polled ahead of Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino, a Republican, 46% to 42% among likely voters.

Some respondents said they’d go with a third candidate who is not on the ballot: Washington County native Christopher Schmidt.

Schmidt is running a write-in campaign to represent New York's 21st Congressional District. The independent didn’t get enough petition signatures to get on the ballot in November.

But his name keeps coming up. In both a Survey USA poll released in August and the more recent Siena University poll, 5% of respondents said they’d vote for him.

Schmidt said it shows he’s gaining momentum and that people feel disenfranchised from the political system.

"A lot of people are tired of settling for the lesser of two evils; you hear that kind of come up a lot," he said. "And I’m trying to represent the people that are looking for other ideas and options."

Some of those "other ideas" include a bill that would limit all legislation to a single topic or subject. Schmidt said he’s also focused on infrastructure and making the North Country more economically sustainable.

The fact that Schmidt was offered to voters as an option in the two polls has drawn criticism Constantino’s campaign.

"This is the second media poll in this race to test a ballot that does not exist," senior advisor Alex DeGrasse said in a memo about the more recent Siena survey.

"Siena included a write-in, conservative candidate, but did not include a far-left write-in candidate, intentionally skewing results for on-ballot Democrats," he added in a subsequent statement.

Siena Research Institute Executive Director Don Levy said the decision to include Schmidt was made jointly with the media sponsors of the poll: the Albany Times Union, WAMC, and MyNBC5.

Levy said, even if you took all the Schmidt voters and put them in Constantino’s column, it’d still show a tight race.

"So that would move Constantino to 47% and Gendebien (would stay at) 46% which, if that were the horse race, would be thoroughly consistent with my analysis that says that this race, at present, is a toss-up."

According to Levy, third-party candidates tend to over-poll, so it’s unlikely Schmidt will actually pull 5% of the vote on Election Day, or be a spoiler in the race. What’s more interesting, he said, is looking at the poll as a whole, which points to Constantino’s campaign having some challenges.

Voters said Gendebien will do a better job on several key issues, including affordability, health care, and helping small businesses. He’s also viewed more favorably than Constantino, who’s trailing the performance of the Republican candidate for governor, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, in the district. Ten percent of Republicans surveyed said they didn’t know who they would vote for if the NY-21 race was held the day they were asked.

But Levy said those undecided voters—and even the Schmidt voters—could be seen as an opportunity for Constantino in the Republican-majority district.

"So if he pulls those voters home, if indeed he is successful with the Schmidt voters, then certainly, arithmetically, Constantino has every single opportunity to win this race."

According to DeGrasse, Constantino is winning NY-21 "despite everyone in the media trying to prevent that at all costs.”

For his part, Schmidt said it’s good to get more people involved in politics.

IN QUEENSBURY, BLAKEMAN DOUBLES DOWN ON TAX CUTS, ENERGY PLAN - North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY) Website

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

IN QUEENSBURY, BLAKEMAN DOUBLES DOWN ON TAX CUTS, ENERGY PLAN

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY)

10/15/26

Fresh off the only debate in the race for governor, Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, made a rare visit to the North Country Wednesday. He blamed Gov. Kathy Hochul for making New York among the highest-taxing states in the nation. He also outlined a plan he says could slash utility costs and he touched on environmental concerns in the Adirondacks.

At a press conference in a neighborhood of Queensbury, Blakeman doubled down on his plan to eliminate state income tax for joint filers making under $100,000 dollars and individuals making under $50,000 dollars. He refferenced a new report from the nonpartisan thinktank Citizens Budget Commission which said New York State and its localities are the nation’s highest-taxing and second highest-spending governments.

"Combined with New York’s high cost of living and uneven public services," the report said. "These fiscal burdens weaken New York’s value proposition and its ability to attract and retain residents and businesses."

Blakeman said his plan would be the largest middle-income tax cut in history. But the CBC report also said taxes are "only part of the equation." It said New York does not need to be among the lowest taxing states in the nation, but it should focus on improving the quality of critical services and enhancing affordability so New Yorkers get more for their money. Blakeman didn’t elaborate on how his tax cuts would impact critical services.

He said lowering energy costs will be crucial to making New York more affordable. In New York, the per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) cost of electricity is 27.4 cents. That's more than 50% higher than the US average of 17.25 cents, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Blakeman proposed doing away with the state’s renewable energy goals and instead tapping into the state’s natural gas reserves along the Pennsylvania border.

“Not only would we be driving down the state’s energy costs, but in that area of New York, the southern tier of New York, one of the poorest areas in America, we would be able to create jobs and prosperity.”

A fact check by New York Focus found Blakeman's plan would involve reversing New York’s decade-old ban on fracking which the legislature codified in 2020 and an additional fracking ban passed in 2024.

The New York League of Conservation Voters recently placed Blakeman on its “Dirty Dozen” list of lawmakers with what they call the worst environmental records.

“If Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman becomes governor, his energy plan will be a photocopy of President Donald Trump’s: making a false pledge to reduce energy prices, reversing New York’s clean energy projects, and opening the spigot for dirtier energy," the group wrote on its website.

When asked whether or not he supports the Trump Administration’s recent rollback of power plant emission rules that protect the Adirondacks from acid rain and mercury contamination, Blakeman said New York’s carbon footprint is miniscule compared to the rest of the world.

“Yes, we should be concerned about the environment. And, yes, where we can lower our carbon footprint - we should," he said. "But there has to be a benefit.”

Queensbury resident Terry Combs agrees. He’s a retired patrol officer for the Warren County Sheriff's office and offered up his home for the press event. He said he’s excited about Blakeman’s affordability plan and thinks the republican will deliver on protecting the Adirondacks.

“I think the way he worded it was, he’s not going to do anything that’s going to be harmful to our way of life up here, to our parks, to anything like that," Combs said. "If something bad comes up, he’s not going to do it.”

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul leads Blakeman in latest polls. Her campaign office did not return requests for comment.

A staff member with the Blakeman campaign said the Nassau County executive plans to make more stops in the North Country before Election Day on Nov. 3.

ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY BOARD LIKELY TO VOTE ON HOWITZER PROJECT IN NOVEMBER - Adirondack Explorer (Saranac Lake, NY) Website

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY BOARD LIKELY TO VOTE ON HOWITZER PROJECT IN NOVEMBER

Adirondack Explorer (Saranac Lake, NY)

10/15/26

The Adirondack Park Agency has until Dec. 7 to vote on a controversial proposal to test howitzers in the northeastern Adirondacks.

An administrative law judge triggered the deadline last week when he sent agency staff the final record on Oct. 8.

The APA said there is a 60-day period for its review.

It’s the latest derailment of the agency’s first adjudicatory hearing since 2011. The agency board could vote to continue the hearing process, or it could vote to accept or dismiss the application. Whatever the decision, the project could come back in a new iteration.

While the agency’s agenda for its monthly board meeting on Oct. 22 is not out yet, it’s unlikely that the board will take up the matter then. The only other agency board meeting before Dec. 7 is on Nov. 19.

A historic vote for the agency

The APA board’s vote would mark the end of an unprecedented chapter in the APA’s more than 50-year history of regulating public and private lands in the approximately 6-million-acre park. The project has garnered national attention and is the first munitions testing proposal to come before the APA.

Michael Hopmeier, president of Florida-based Unconventional Concepts, Inc., has sought to test the internal ballistics of 155 mm portable howitzers on private land in the town of Lewis since 2021. Hopmeier’s company is a private security consulting firm with several government contracts. He purchased a former Atlas F missile silo in the Essex County town and has created a business hub there, in addition to a branch in Virginia.

The howitzer proposal would involve shooting the cannons up to 30 times per year throughout five years. The testing would take place on a private logger’s land down the road from the missile silo. Inert slugs would be shot into a container of sand with privately owned Big Church Mountain acting as a backstop.

The testing site is near state lands including Taylor Pond Wild Forest and the Jay Mountain Wilderness.

Hopmeier had a military contract for the testing, but in 2023, records show, the research and development branch of the Army dropped the project. Army leaders were concerned about the cost of a safety risk assessment and potential ricochet into state Route 9 and the Adirondack Northway (I-87).

The long road to a hearing

Over the course of five years, APA staff issued six incomplete application notices. In November 2025, staff came before the 11-member APA board requesting the project be sent to an adjudicatory hearing. Such hearings are akin to trials with a judge overseeing discovery, pre-hearing motions, parties and witnesses. The APA board makes a decision on the permit after the hearing concludes. It is the only avenue for the agency to deny a permit or substantially modify it.

Agency staff requested the hearing to examine whether the rules and regulations governing the park authorized a cannon testing project.

The APA board voted in favor of holding a hearing.

Since that November vote, the pre-hearing process has been fraught with challenges brought by both Hopmeier and environmental groups.

Hopmeier also unsuccessfully sued several agency representatives over the hearing vote.

In August, after receiving pushback for missing deadlines for discovery, Hopmeier’s attorney Matthew Norfolk presented a novel argument. The project would only occur with a federal contract, and once received, Norfolk argued, the testing would be “subject to federal regulation and only federal regulation. The proposed project is immune to state regulation, including the APA Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.”

Administrative Law Judge David Greenwood ordered in September that the hearing be dismissed and recommended the APA deny the project.

Greenwood scolded Hopmeier and Norfolk in the order, writing that they “have not proceeded with the conduct of this hearing in good faith, and have failed to present evidence or address the hearing issues identified by the Agency Board and therefore have failed to meet their burden.”

APA staff requested the hearing be rescheduled a fifth time to Dec. 2.

GOVERNOR HIGHLIGHTS DELIVERY OF MILLIONS OF ENERGY REBATE CHECKS - The Sun Community News (Elizabethtown, NY) Website

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

GOVERNOR HIGHLIGHTS DELIVERY OF MILLIONS OF ENERGY REBATE CHECKS

The Sun Community News (Elizabethtown, NY)

10/15/26

Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that 3 million New Yorkers have already received their energy rebate checks of up to $200, with another 5.2 million checks being sent in coming weeks.

“As Trump and Washington Republicans keep driving up the cost of gas and utilities, I’m focused on helping New Yorkers keep more money in their pockets,” Gov. Hochul said. “Our energy rebate checks are just one of many ways we’re helping families address rising costs – along with our ratepayer protection plan, enrolling more New Yorkers in utility bill discount programs, expanding access to affordable childcare, expanding the child tax credit, delivering middle class tax cuts, and more.”

Gov. Hochul’s Enacted Budget included a one-time $1 billion Protecting Our Wallets Energy Rebate (POWER) to help provide needed relief in the face of federal tariffs that have increased the cost of living across the board and President Trump’s war in Iran, which has caused the price at the pump to skyrocket.

POWER checks provide $200 to joint filers with incomes under $150,000 and $150 to joint filers with incomes between $150,000 and $300,000. Single filers with incomes under $150,000 will receive $100. The checks began being mailed on Sept. 21 and will continue through December. A total of 8.2 million New Yorkers will receive checks.

There is no need to apply, sign up or do anything to receive a check. The State Tax Department is mailing checks to eligible New Yorkers now. For more information, visit: tax.ny.gov/pit/energy-rebate-check.

GOVERNOR HOCHUL'S ENERGY AFFORDABILITY AGENDA

Gov. Hochul also recently launched a new enrollment push to help more households across New York save up to hundreds of dollars per year on their utility bills through the State’s Energy Affordability Program (EAP). Since that enrollment push launched in mid-September, 50,000 additional households have submitted applications to their utilities. EAP already provides monthly discounts to around 1 million households statewide, and State officials estimate that since the Governor expanded the program earlier this year, around 2.5 million more households are eligible but not enrolled. For more information on EAP and how to apply, visit ny.gov/EAP.

Additionally, Gov. Hochul’s FY27 Enacted Budget rewrote the rules and put New York families ahead of big energy companies. At the heart of this effort to modernize the State’s approach to regulating utilities is a commitment to energy affordability. Energy profits are tied to a company’s ability to perform where it matters most: people’s wallets. Utilities are prohibited from passing the costs of lobbying, glossy PR campaigns, political donations, and luxury travel to New York ratepayers. Utility CEOs will have their salaries benchmarked to achieving energy affordability goals set by the Public Service Commission (PSC). And if a utility makes excess profit, that money will be returned to ratepayers.

THE GOVERNOR'S RATEPAYER PROTECTION PLAN

Stops disruptive price hikes before they take effect in the first place by demanding unprecedented fiscal discipline and transparency from utility companies. When requesting a rate increase, utilities will have to prove that their capital projects are absolutely necessary and that they’ve left no stone unturned in the pursuit of zero-emission options. They’ll also have to present a budget-constrained option that keeps their operating costs below the rate of inflation.
Ensures a fair fight by requiring 14 months to examine rate requests by utility companies and the PSC will be able to set multi-year rate cases when they make sense for consumers. The State’s regulators will also heavily scrutinize the fees that utilities run up during the process of determining new rates. The goal is to ensure customers aren’t shouldering any costs associated with utility rate cases that aren’t legally required.
Requires the establishment of a new energy affordability index that will expose the true impact of utility rates on everyday New Yorkers, benchmarking utility performance here against those in the rest of the nation. Going forward, utilities will be required to demonstrate exactly how any proposed rate hike will impact this index — and if a rate case pushes the average household energy burden above 6 percent, the State will be able to deploy an independent Affordability Monitor directly into the utility’s boardroom.

ANCA TOTALS MORE THAN $935,000 IN ENERGY GRANTS TO BOOST AFFORDABILITY - Adirondack Almanack (Saranac Lake, NY) Website

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

ANCA TOTALS MORE THAN $935,000 IN ENERGY GRANTS TO BOOST AFFORDABILITY

Adirondack Almanack (Saranac Lake, NY)

10/14/26

Over the last two years, the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has provided technical assistance for 70 projects aimed at improving safety and comfort, increasing affordability and building markets and economic stability. The regional economic development nonprofit has helped North Country residents, farms, businesses and nonprofits secure a total of $935,463 in state and federal grants for renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades, as well as marketing and expansion efforts.

ANCA staff helped farm and business operators navigate and apply for funds through grant programs established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) to fund projects aimed at reducing costs, improving efficiency and building business stability. Awards have been dispersed to a total of 70 households, businesses, farms and nonprofit organizations located in 13 counties in northern New York.

ANCA Interim Executive Director Zach Hobbs said, “It is ANCA’s mission to build shared prosperity for all in our region by advancing safety, affordability and opportunity. By making building and business improvements possible, these crucial investments are helping build a stable foundation for community members so they can continue their essential work and expand their offerings.”

Individual projects have been awarded by ANCA through two USDA grant programs—the Rural Energy For America Program (REAP) and Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP)—and two initiatives developed by ANCA and supported by NYSERDA’s Regional Clean Energy Hub program.

“These grants have been a game changer for the small businesses we work with,” said ANCA Manager of Food Systems Business Jon Ignatowski. “Heating and cooling bills are often a significant expense, and the renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects these programs have funded are significantly improving the bottom lines for several of our small farms and businesses. In a time when energy prices continue to skyrocket, these investments will have real and lasting impacts for years to come.”

Seven REAP grant recipients were awarded a total of $85,386 for energy-efficiency projects that help reduce costs and build farm viability. Five agricultural businesses received funding to install solar energy systems: Almosta Farm in Gansevoort; Atlas Hoofed It Farm in Vermontville; Happenchance Farm in Eagle Bridge; Iron Valley Equine Center in Ausable Forks; and NSG Rentals in New Hartford. The ADK Food Hub in Tupper Lake used its award to make energy-efficiency improvements including lighting, insulation and doors, while Scotts Florist in Saranac Lake replaced an inefficient walk-in flower cooler with new energy-efficient coolers.

In addition, ANCA dispersed a total of $390,683 in grants this summer to 41 agricultural businesses in 13 North Country counties through the USDA-supported AMP program. The projects will help farms and businesses expand markets for American agricultural products, create new markets, improve supply chains, increase access to market infrastructure, or promote long-term economic sustainability. A list of grant recipients can be found on ANCA’s website at adirondack.org/ag-producer-grants-2026.

ANCA’s North Country Clean Energy Hub team coordinated two grant opportunities: one to support energy-efficiency upgrades for organizations that provide essential services and one to fund critical home repairs for low-to-moderate (LMI) income households.

ANCA Clean Energy Hub Director Erin Griffin said, “In a rural region like ours with scattered services and limited resources, many nonprofits and households may be very interested in implementing energy-efficiency upgrades, but may not have the expertise, funds or capacity to make them happen. Our grant programs for critical facilities and critical repairs are making cost-saving upgrades possible and setting them up for future projects that improve safety, affordability and long-term stability.”

The hub also awarded a total of $250,000 to nine childcare centers and nonprofits located in nine North Country counties: Champlain Children’s Learning Center in Champlain for heat pumps; Elizabethtown Social Center in Elizabethtown for attic and wall insulation; Emmanuel Congregational Church in Watertown for heat pumps and attic insulation; Lil’Tykes Daycare and Enrichment Center in Bloomingdale for weatherization upgrades; Owls Head Mountain View Community Center in Owls Head for heat pumps; Police Activities League of Massena in Massena for a tankless hot water heater; St. Luke’s Episcopal Holy Trinity Church in Saranac Lake for attic insulation and insulated doors; St. Regis Falls Adult Center in St. Regis Falls for attic insulation and smart thermostats; and Tri-Town Kids Daycare Center in Brasher Falls for heat pumps and insulation.

In the residential sector, the hub provided 13 LMI households in six counties a total of $209,394 for critical home repairs that address underlying problems like roof leaks and mold. The repairs allow these homes to qualify for other investments like insulation and other energy-efficiency upgrades, while creating safer, healthier living spaces for residents.

ANCA is also currently coordinating its Small Business Energy Upgrade Initiative, which is funded by the National Grid Foundation. The initiative is designed to help businesses and nonprofits in National Grid’s service area improve safety, comfort and affordability through electrical and energy improvements. Interested organizations are encouraged to visit ANCA’s website or reach out to ANCA Small Business Service Coordinator Mahala Nyberg at mnyberg@adirondack.org for more information.

NY-21: Republican Anthony Constantino on affordability and his business approach to politics - North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY) Website

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

NY-21: REPUBLICAN ANTHONY CONSTANTINO ON AFFORDABILITY AND HIS BUSINESS APPROACH TO POLITICS

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY)

10/14/26

Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino, a Republican, first expressed interest in representing New York's 21st Congressional District almost two years ago. He was one of several members of his party who sought the GOP nomination in a highly anticipated special election to replace Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who'd been nominated as U.N. ambassador. President Donald Trump ultimately withdrew Stefanik’s nomination, and that election never happened.

In the midst of Stefanik’s short-lived campaign for governor of New York, Constantino officially entered the race for NY-21 last November. In June, the political newcomer handily won the GOP primary, even though most county Republican chairs in the district had backed his opponent.

Constantino has spent much of his campaign lobbing attacks at his Democratic opponent, St. Lawrence County farmer Blake Gendebien, as well as Democrats at large and even some Republicans. He spoke with Champlain Valley reporter Cara Chapman about whether he can work across the aisle in Washington and how he’d address issues like health care and affordability. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

CARA CHAPMAN: You first expressed interest in this seat back in November of 2024. You officially entered the race for the midterms in November 2025. We're just a month out from the election. Where is your head at? What remains to be done in these waning weeks of the campaign?

ANTHONY CONSTANTINO: The main thing is that I want to get as many votes as I can get so I can go into Congress with a decisive victory. I tell people that every vote matters because the more votes you have when you enter Congress, the more respect you have, and the more respect you have, the more things you can get done for the citizens. I already have a lot of respect because the president likes me, the speaker likes me, a lot of great people in Washington like me, but they also will like me more if I have a very big victory. So please, go vote, get everybody you know to vote. Your vote does matter. Don't assume I'm going to win and that's all there is to it. We want to get as many votes as we can.

CHAPMAN: Shifting to when you're in Congress and the issues, you recently shared that your day one legislation would be what you call "Operation Overhaul." What is that?

CONSTANTINO: I like making life easier for people. That's what I did through my company. I made it easier to buy products. And I want to make life easier for all the citizens. So, the taxpayers have bought software systems all over the country. Every government software system is paid for with U.S. tax dollars. I want to catalog all those systems, show them to the citizens, and then put our nation's designers to work reimagining those systems and making them easier to use so that citizens can get everything done faster, whether it's filing your taxes, getting your tax return, updating your driver’s license, updating your passport, filing a police report. You know, 911 was a great innovation decades ago, but we could do 911 on the phone now with an iPhone app and give people a geo-targeted location as to where the crime was committed, send photos to the police, and make everything perform better. Our country has innovated tremendously with regards to software, but we have to have the government do the same innovation.

CHAPMAN: How does this compare to the america.gov website that was launched this week, the goal of which is to consolidate information from federal webpages and make it easier for people to look up that information?

CONSTANTINO: I was honored to see that the president is already thinking like me. America.gov is an AI layer that connects to all the back-end systems. What I'm talking about doing is systematically improving every single one of those back-end systems. They built an AI layer on top of all the systems, but I still want to go through, document all the systems, and make them easier to use, which will make america.gov perform better as well.

CHAPMAN: North Country Public Radio recently surveyed voters about what they want to hear from both yourself and your opponent, Blake Gendebien, ahead of the election. A key concern has to do with health care. The North Country, NY-21 is already a health care desert in many places. Hospitals throughout the region have shut down services or they’ve put proposals forward to do so. And there's a report from the University of North Carolina showing five hospitals in the district will be at risk of shuttering services, converting, or closing when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Medicaid changes go into effect. What does Washington need to do to kind of stem those potential impacts to address health care deserts like the North Country?

CONSTANTINO: I'm excited to get into politics and into Congress specifically to address health care. I want to get better health outcomes. I think we need to transition to more remote care. My mom actually had her life saved by remote medical access. I interact with my doctor remotely. I pay for him out-of-pocket because the best doctor for your particular situation doesn't necessarily live in your town. Eighty percent of medical situations can be addressed via a phone call now or via FaceTime and you can even do physical therapy over FaceTime now for certain situations. So, we want to move to remote medicine as much as possible. It's going to reduce costs. It also gets you access to a better doctor at times. It's going to reduce the burden on local health care. I'm going to fight for our hospitals. But in regards to my personal story, just before Christmas a few years ago, my mom was in a tough situation. I called my doctor who is a remote specialist. He was able to get a read on the situation and it turned out she needed emergency medical surgery, so we did bring her in for surgery, but we were able to identify that over the phone.

CHAPMAN: Where did you get that 80% stat?

CONSTANTINO: I mean I'm just roughly estimating based on my own—you know, the “80-20 rule”? Just anecdotally, most medical situations are colds, sprained ankle—obviously cancer you need to go in for treatment, but a lot of medical situations are simple situations. Most of my medical situations have been things that I can call the doctor and get done over the phone.

CHAPMAN: But something like the emergency surgery that your mom needed to have, that does require in-person care that a lot of people in the North Country are having to travel farther and farther for now. So, what would you plan to do in Congress to ensure that care is available close to home?

CONSTANTINO: Yeah, correct. But the diagnosis was made over the phone and that prompted the treatment. If we had had to wait for an appointment, she probably would have died, you know? I'm going to fight for our hospitals. We need to improve our hospitals, but we also need to lower the costs, lower the burden on the hospitals. And we want to get people ultimately better results. The way you get a person a better medical result is connecting the problem with somebody that has the solution. And oftentimes, just because you have a hospital in your backyard doesn't mean you walk in and they give you the right answer.

CHAPMAN: Another key concern we heard from the voters who responded to our survey was affordability. I watched the agenda videos on your website and when you talked about the things you would do to try to lower prices, you said it's objectively obvious that some federal regulations are “stupid regulations.” You said that in Congress, you'd get rid of those and that would help lower prices. What are some of those specific regulations that you'd get rid of?

CONSTANTINO: Well, it's obvious. We're always creating new rules, right? The government's constantly creating new rules. You can see our restaurants are heavily regulated. Our farmers are heavily regulated. The way they sell their product has to go through a whole distribution layer that's heavily regulated and governed by political bodies at times. We want to look at all regulations on a case-by-case basis and see what we can get rid of. When I say there's objectively stupid regulations, that's obviously true on its face. We make mistakes and we make laws at times that are harmful, but the United States and New York in particular are heavily over-regulated. In terms of what we can get removed, that's for me, my team, and other congresspeople to go through and find what we can get rid of once I get to Congress.

CHAPMAN: Do you have an example in mind?

CONSTANTINO: Sure. Our restaurants are highly regulated. I talked to a friend of mine that said he has to buy his food from a specific place, he can't get his food from local farmers because of regulations affecting what type of food he's allowed to purchase to serve in his restaurant. So, I would like my friend's restaurant to serve food from a local farm, but he said he's not doing that. He's buying it from a food processor, or whatever you want to call it, because of regulations.

CHAPMAN: What other concrete steps would you take in Congress to improve affordability here in the North Country?

CONSTANTINO: The issue in New York state is we've had a left-leaning trajectory for a very long time. We've been infected with left-leaning ideas that just don't work and they've driven citizens out of the state. This isn't necessarily a congressional issue, per se. It's a New York state issue. We need to give people hope in New York State that we're not going to be dominated by leftist ideology until the end of time so that people come back and they have hope to build businesses here again. When people leave, that shifts the tax burden onto the rest of us. That's why we have this cost crisis in New York state because we've lost so many people that were here making us prosperous. We've lost great minds that go to other states and they create businesses in other states instead of creating them here. So the way to address the cost crisis by far is to get people coming back to New York state. The way to get people coming back is to show that New York state isn't a state that's dominated by leftist ideology.

CHAPMAN: But you are heading to Washington. How much power will you have to influence what comes out of Albany?

CONSTANTINO: Well, a lot. I'm going to have a big voice and I'm going to have an influential voice and I think that's why the establishment is fighting so hard against me. I can fight for things in Congress but I also get to advocate for things on a state basis. I don't have legal jurisdiction over it, but I can still advocate.

CHAPMAN: Something that is very much within the federal wheel house though is immigration. What policies do you support to improve our immigration system?

CONSTANTINO: Well, I want secure borders. I want zero illegal immigration. Operation Overhaul also addresses immigration. I want a better system for applying for citizenship. I want our immigration processes to be more efficient so they can be done more effectively. The way you build a great company is you bring the best people possible into your company. The way that you build a great state and a great nation is to bring great people into your state and into your nation. People that come and embrace your values, that want to be Americans, that want to love what America's about. That want to come here and work and build businesses. And we're a country of immigrants. We're a country of people from all different cultural backgrounds. I happen to speak two languages in addition to English—that's three—because I love people from all over the world and we want people from all over the world in America, we don’t want them coming here illegally.

CHAPMAN: Data centers are on the horizon here in the North Country. Do you support their development here?

CONSTANTINO: Data centers are a sort of modern factory. It has machines and it has people running the machines and I can tell you, there was skepticism towards factories, too. People don't love factories because they make noise and they cause problems, but that's why we have residential zoning and industrial zoning. You don't put a factory in the suburbs, you put it in a place that makes sense for a factory to go. So, the citizens should have an opportunity, every municipality should have the opportunity to consider a data center and put it in a place that makes sense for that community. Not in the suburbs, but there might be a location that makes sense and data centers can provide a lot of benefits for the economy and for the future of our nation.

CHAPMAN: Where do you stand on the U.S. war with Iran? If elected to Congress, would you vote to end it?

CONSTANTINO: I commend the president on doing the most important job a president can do, which is to keep us safe. And so, the number one thing we pay for with our taxpayer dollars is safety. The war in Iran may ultimately result in lasting global peace and might be a really great thing for the world. I think that's President Trump's objective there. I want to be able to talk to him about the situation, understand the situation the way he sees it. I don't have all the data and information he has. But if he has the right instinct there, I think the right move is to support him. The more we support the president, the faster the war is going to come to an end because if Iran senses weakness on our side, they're going to get tougher. If they see we're united against them and that we're going to have our resolve and we're going to support President Trump, they're going to want to give up a lot quicker. So, I think they're looking at the midterms and the tougher we are as a nation, the faster this war comes to an end.

CHAPMAN: On the topic of the midterms, in the primary debate with Assemblyman Smullen, you said, “Mail-in ballots should be totally outlawed.” Voting by absentee is very popular among older Americans. There are a lot of older Americans here in New York's 21st Congressional District. You've been telling people to plan to vote for you in November. What's your message to folks who usually vote by absentee and want to vote for you?

CONSTANTINO: Well, I would love to see the exact quote that I said. I think it's a paraphrase of something I said.

CHAPMAN: You said, “Mail-in ballots should be totally outlawed.”

CONSTANTINO: Mass mail-in. Yeah, I’m not a fan of mass mail-in ballots, but absentee ballots where you go through a process is fine, you know? We have to live in whatever system we're living in, right? So if mail-in ballots are the system right now, we have to live within that system. I don't think it's good for the United States of America to do mass mail-in ballots because you want the sanctity of the private ballot box. We have rules on the books saying that you can't influence somebody at a polling location, right? We have all these protections at the polling locations because we say, “We believe in the sanctity of the private ballot.” But when you do mass mail-in ballots, all those rules disappear. Nobody knows what's going on in homes. People could be bullying each other, antagonizing each other, pressuring each other to vote in a certain direction, and I don't want that situation. Now, absentee ballots for people that are in a medical condition or need to travel or something that's going on that go through a process, that's a rare occurrence, right? So, if it has to happen on a rare basis, that's fine. I think mass mail-in ballots are a very bad idea for democracy. You either believe that we should have rules at polling locations to protect people from influence campaigns or you don't.

CHAPMAN: So you're saying what you're more against is like in certain states where they send ballots out to everyone without an application—is that what you're saying?

CONSTANTINO: Correct. I don't like the idea that it goes out to every single person and then you don't have the sanctity of the private ballot box anymore. I want people to be able to vote privately. I don't want anyone looking over their shoulder saying, “You’ve got to vote this way. What are you doing?” I don't want that going on.

CHAPMAN: The North Country is a border district. Folks have traditionally gone back and forth to Canada for work, for fun, to visit family. Multiple Canadian companies employ Americans at factories here in the district. The ongoing trade war though has helped fuel Canadian boycotts of travel to the U.S. On the business side, North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas, who you've met, has said it creates uncertainty that impacts binational business decisions. Those directly affect the economy here in the North Country. Do you support the ongoing trade war between the administration and Canada? How would you work to rebuild the U.S. and New York's relationship with Canada if elected to Congress?

CONSTANTINO: I think "war" is a negative framing. Mr. Douglas—who I know, he’s a very nice guy—said it also created a lot of interest for Canadian-American relations. And so all that excitement for what's going on between us and Canada is a good thing. At the end of the day, I love the Canadian people. I hope they love us, too. I think the fight’s between the governments. When you talk about boycotts, these are politically motivated things and often they're overblown in the media or they're overblown by political actors. I know what it's like now for the political class. They can insert ideas into the media that aren't necessarily true. I still love the Canadian people. I think the Canadian people still love us or I would hope they do. I'm good friends with Ricky Berwick who's a famous Canadian influencer and he still likes America and I still like him. So, I think this is a disagreement between governments and this is normal. Political leaders fight with each other and disagree with each other and negotiate with each other on behalf of our citizens. President Trump's negotiating on our behalf. The Canadian prime minister is negotiating on behalf of Canada. And this is a disagreement between them. I would tell the citizens—just like I would in this fight between myself and Blake Gendebien, let us fight it out, but love your love your neighbor, you know? And so we should love Canada. We should love the Canadian people. They should love us. Let the presidents and prime ministers argue. Let the candidates argue.

CHAPMAN: Democrats are widely expected to retake control of the House of Representatives this election. That means they’ll hold power over the bills that make it to the floor and how funding gets allocated. You've spent a good deal of your campaign antagonizing Democrats. I know in particular in New York state, you say that they've ruined the state. If they do hold the majority though, can you pivot to working with them to bring results to NY-21?

CONSTANTINO: I think it's important for the citizens to know that it would be tragic to vote for the Democrat Party. If you look at what they did during Joe Biden's administration with regards to open borders—that alone was just chaotic for the world. It was very destabilizing for the entire world. It was very harmful to the United States of America. So was their support for BLM rights and all the other things that they were behind. These aren't the people that have the solutions to give us a better future. The Republican Party has the solutions to give us a better future. So, I would tell every citizen to be very careful with their vote. Maybe you don't like gas prices right now, but gas prices on average were higher under Joe Biden's administration. And the Democrat Party doesn't have solutions to reduce energy—we have the solutions because we're the ones that did the right thing in Venezuela, which is the ultimate solution to ... dependence on Middle East oil. So, I'm willing to work with anybody. I can work with the Democrat Party. I'm running to influence people to move the world in a more positive direction. I want to move the Democrat Party in a more positive direction. If the Democrat Party wants to work on projects that make the country a better place, I want to work with them. They need to stop doing things that hurt the country.

CHAPMAN: So you are willing to work with them though if they're the majority?

CONSTANTINO: I think we're all Americans and I'm only advocating for ideas that give us a better future and I can't pick which side of the aisle I help. I want to primarily grow the economy. I can't pick who that helps. It's going to just help everybody. You know in Amsterdam, N.Y., I built a gym for everybody. It's a community gym. I run it at a loss. I redid the park for everybody. Probably more Democrats use the park than Republicans. I'm funding Catholic education. You know, these are for everybody. And so, I want to help all citizens. When I talk to my Democrat colleagues in Congress, I can say to them, “You know, I want to help all people. If you guys want to help all people, too, let's work together."

CHAPMAN: You're putting another $4 million of your own money into your campaign. As in the primary election, you're being accused here by your opponent of trying to buy this seat. Are you?

CONSTANTINO: No, I'm protecting the seat from bad actors and it's not just dark money PACs. The political class is full of people, unfortunately, with sometimes selfish intentions and they're not used to an outsider getting in and they are fighting very hard against my candidacy. We saw that during the primary when the establishment fought very aggressively against me and it wasn't easy to overcome. I wish I could spend a dollar and people would just do it, but you’ve got to be up on TV. You’ve got to defend yourself when you get smeared with lies. I've been smeared with lies so many times since I got involved in politics. Blake Gendebien’s running a lie that I'm in politics just to make a buck. It doesn't make any sense. How could I be in politics and make a buck when I’ve spent over $10 million to try to defend this seat? There's no way I'm going to get an ROI (return on investment) on that. I already had a business that was doing hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. I've been financially in a great situation my entire life. I'm not motivated by money. If I was motivated by money, I wouldn't have endorsed President Trump and faced down a massive boycott. I've lost more money running for politics than Blake Gendebien hopes to make getting involved in politics. He already passed himself $30,000. I'm giving away my entire salary to a wounded veteran. I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm facing down boycotts. I spent millions of dollars helping the community. I mean, it's absurd to say I'm in this for the money.

CHAPMAN: Like you said, Blake Gendebien’s campaign has paid his family farm $30,000 in rent. Your campaign has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Sticker Mule merchandise. How do you differentiate the two?

CONSTANTINO: He's sending donor money to his farm and this is my own money. I want to use my company because it's a vendor I trust. I like sending people T-shirts. I make my T-shirts in the United States of America now, or Sticker Mule does. I want to use my stickers, I want to use my T-shirts, and I want to use my company, but it's my own money. He's taking donor money and he's passing it back to his family farm to take pictures there. When you're in politics—I'm paying my own bill. Everybody else, their lunches are paid for by donors, their dinners are paid for by donors, their travel’s paid for by donors, their hotel’s paid for by donors, all their TV is paid for by donors, everything's paid for by other people. I'm paying for everything myself. When I come up here to Plattsburgh and I stay in the Holiday Inn, that's my expenditure. When I dine in our local restaurants, that's my money. I'm not using donor money to eat food and sleep in hotels and go on trips that I never got to take before. I could travel whenever I wanted with my own money.

CHAPMAN: You've committed your congressional salary to Sgt. Eddie Ryan and his family. You've already started financially supporting them. How long is your commitment to that particular family? If elected to a second or a third term, would you commit to another person? Have you thought that far ahead?

CONSTANTINO: It's an interesting question. Right now I committed for two years and I started paying them already because, you know, you say, “I'm going to do something for you,” and then people don't want to wait, right? It's almost cruel to say, “I'm going to do this but you’ve got to wait until November.” So, I started making the payments immediately. The reason why I picked them is there was a point in the primary where the establishment was really against me. I was going into an establishment committee meeting and I met this family and they were so loving towards me and they really appreciated me running and they were really nice to me. And then I went into this establishment meeting and it was the opposite atmosphere and there was a coldness. That always touched me and so I wanted to say thank you to them. I always wanted to give my salary away. I didn't know where to do it. My team was suggesting different things and different groups and I just thought this was a cool one because they helped me and so I wanted to help them. What we do after two years—I don't want to make commitments, because you don't want to—it's a tough situation, you know? It's a tough situation. You don't want to say, “I'm going to take care of you for the rest of your life.” They're supported by the government services as well, and they're proud people and they're good people, but I think this allowed them to make some major home improvements and things like that. So, we'll figure it out.

CHAPMAN: Have you thought about how many terms you'd commit to trying to run for?

CONSTANTINO: I’m a believer in term limits. I'd like to get together with everybody else in Congress and decide what's the number that people think makes sense that we can get passed, right? Everybody's got a different number. Presidents get two terms, but in Congress that's a very short amount of time. It's just four years. So, you want to give a congressman a little bit of a runway, one, to get used to the job, and then to actually deliver for the people. But you shouldn't stay forever.

CHAPMAN: The last I checked, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was not on the list of folks who've endorsed you yet, at least according to your website. I'm wondering if you've spoken with her about that. I know she congratulated you on primary night when you won, but I just haven't seen an official endorsement.

CONSTANTINO: You know what's interesting, we have a friendly relationship and many of my best endorsements I didn't ask for. I don't ask for endorsements. The president endorsed me. It was a shocker. I didn't know that was coming. Jim Jordan offered his endorsement and came and visited me and I didn't know that one was coming. So we talk and I appreciate—I think her advice and friendship is the best thing and I guess I’ll have to talk to her about that one. I don't know. I haven't asked about that. I know she's busy with her personal life and her family and she's enjoying her family life.

IN NORTHERN NY, BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM MORATORIUMS AND BANS STACK UP - Adirondack Explorer (Saranac Lake, NY) Website

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

IN NORTHERN NY, BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM MORATORIUMS AND BANS STACK UP

Adirondack Explorer (Saranac Lake, NY)

10/14/26

About one-fifth of the 101 towns and villages in the Adirondack Park have passed moratoriums this year on building battery energy storage systems, and now bans are coming, according to local laws filed with the New York Department of State.

The towns of Fort Ann, Gloversville and Forestport, which are all partially within the Adirondack Park, have banned battery systems.

The town of St. Armand’s board had passed a ban this summer, but failed to evaluate the local law through the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Supervisor Davina Thurston said the town board is going through that process now and plans to pass the ban again.

Twenty-one municipalities in the park have filed local laws since Jan. 1 delaying battery storage builds. The moratoriums range from six months to a year. Several are set to expire if they are not renewed.

The state’s quest for more storage

Battery energy storage systems are a way for the electric grid to store power for later use. Generally made up of lithium-ion batteries, the systems are intended to help the grid rely less on fossil fuel-using peaker plants, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They may also increase the grid’s reliability and reduce the need for infrastructure upgrades.

Large battery system fires in New York have spooked municipalities, even with the state’s updated fire code. The new fire code requires developers to fund a peer review of their projects, including inspections with the local permitting authority, to train local fire departments and to provide a battery fire expert on site within four hours of any fire.

New York’s goal is to have 6 gigawatts of energy storage online by 2030, but the reality of that is looking grim. As of Aug. 31, the state’s total storage capacity was about 576 megawatts.

New York has led a national, developer-tracked survey of moratoriums. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has been sending representatives to Adirondack Park Agency and municipal meetings to help alleviate fire fears and answer questions.

St. Armand’s ban

Energy developer Carson Power had an initial proposal to install a 20-megawatt facility near the Mount Pisgah Ski Area in the town of St. Armand.

In March, the town passed a one-year moratorium on battery storage builds. In June, the board decided to pass a ban without going through the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Thurston said the town’s attorney is assisting in getting the law reviewed under the act and is moving forward with an official ban.

Jennifer Manierre, the director of clean energy and siting at NYSERDA, visited the town on Sept. 1 and spoke about batteries’ benefits and the safeguards the state now has in place to protect public health and the environment, meeting minutes show.

Residents were still concerned about a potential battery fire, especially in the area of the proposed project. Thurston said she felt “the appropriate action is to move forward with a town-wide ban on battery energy storage systems,” according to meeting minutes.

In an interview on Thursday, Thurston said the ban would prevent the Carson Power project from being built. She had invited Carson Power to the Sept. 1 meeting, but they declined, she added.

Carson Power did not respond to Adirondack Explorer’s request for comment.

Dannemora update

In Dannemora, Supervisor Joey Varin remains openminded to battery energy storage. He’s attended classes and seminars related to the storage systems and fires.

Varin has the beginnings of a proposal to put a battery energy storage system on the tailings pile of the former mining operation at Lyon Mountain. The developer examining the site is Brookfield Renewable Partners. The business is currently in talks with the utility company, New York State Electric and Gas, about potentially upgrading a nearby substation, Varin said.

He is planning to host a public meeting about it around the beginning of next year once Brookfield has more information.

He thinks the project is at an ideal site, outside of the hamlet in an old sand pit.

“I’ve been asked by a number of people outside of our area to put a moratorium on,” Varin said. “I said no. … We’re just gathering more and more knowledge, educating ourselves the best way we can of understanding all we can about it. When the time comes, we’ll make sure our residents are totally educated on the process and start those general information sessions with our residents.”

Moratorium progress and renewals

In the town of Northampton, the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) permitted the first large-scale battery energy storage system in the park. It was a 10-megawatt, four-hour system, also proposed by Carson Power.

In March, however, the town passed a one-year moratorium on battery system builds. The moratorium was on new projects. The Carson Power project did not appear to be covered.

Concerned about battery storage facilities, Northampton resident Sara Will-White sued the town, the APA, Carson Power and the project site’s landowner. A Fulton County state supreme court justice issued a temporary restraining order, delaying the project, but has not yet issued a decision on the lawsuit.

In Ticonderoga, a six-month moratorium passed in March is soon ending. Meeting minutes show the town is considering passing an additional six-month moratorium.

The town of Indian Lake is in a similar position. It’s unclear from meeting minutes if the town is considering a renewal of its moratorium. Town Supervisor Brian Wells did not return Adirondack Explorer’s inquiry.

The town of Hadley’s moratorium is on the cusp of ending, but meeting minutes show the board is working on a renewal.

ROOST LAUNCHES ADIRONDACKS, USA MARKET WEBSITE - The Sun Community News (Elizabethtown, NY) Website

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

ROOST LAUNCHES ADIRONDACKS, USA MARKET WEBSITE

The Sun Community News (Elizabethtown, NY)

10/14/26

The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST), a destination marketing and management organization based in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, has launched AdirondackMarket.com, a digital marketplace featuring a wide range of Adirondack-inspired home decor, works of art, clothing, and specialty goods.

Products featured are expected to appeal to anyone who appreciates Adirondack style; offering the ability to purchase items from Adirondack-based retailers and craftspeople. Users are able to stay connected to the Adirondacks after a visit, allowing them to buy a reminder of their trip, new decor for their home, or a gift for a loved one; those who aspire to visit can purchase items that appeal to their desire to learn more about the region and surround themselves with Adirondack-inspired products.

According to ROOST CEO Dan Kelleher, the Adirondacks, USA Market will bridge the gap between in-destination experiences and outside-of-visit purchasing. “People who visit and love the area often live well outside the park’s boundaries,” he said. “The new marketplace website provides access to Adirondack-based, trusted businesses, while allowing those businesses the ability to reach people who love Adirondack style, home decor, and products. It also showcases the work of the region’s talented artisans, and exposes their work to potential buyers outside of the immediate area. We think this is a unique way for ROOST to further its marketing reach and leverage its skill sets to help Adirondack-based businesses year-round.”

Kelleher went on to explain that the goal of Adirondacks, USA Market is two-fold. “In addition to providing access to an Adirondack-inspired shopping experience, the marketplace will also expand year-round economic opportunity for Adirondack businesses, allowing for increased revenue without additional overhead,” he said. “As the destination marketing and management organization representing much of the Adirondack Park, ROOST’s role includes tourism marketing, balancing tourism with community needs, and supporting local business growth. This initiative reflects an innovative approach to tourism and economic development, aligning with the economic diversification aspect of ROOST’s mandate. We envision the market as a way to support and elevate local businesses, offering them visibility and infrastructure they may not otherwise be able to access.”

The Adirondacks, USA Market website currently features Adirondack-themed art, photography, jewelry, clothing, mugs, tote bags, collectables, candles, and much more. The platform is expected to grow over time as more Adirondack businesses become involved.

Adirondacks, USA Market also offers a link for site visitors to learn more about the Adirondacks, for those who may be unfamiliar. The Adirondack Park offers some of the best opportunities for outdoor recreation in a beautiful, natural setting. The Adirondacks have been a beloved vacation destination for generations of visitors; a place where the wilderness provides countless opportunities throughout all seasons for adventure, exploration, and fun throughout its beautiful forests, high peaks, deep lakes, cool rivers, and small communities that dot its landscape.

Retailers, businesses and artists within Essex, Hamilton, and northern Franklin counties that would like to learn more about participating in the Adirondacks, USA Market should reach out to shop@roostadk.com.

The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism is a destination marketing and management organization that leads tourism initiatives in Essex and Hamilton counties, along with the Adirondack communities of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, and Tupper Lake. ROOST’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for residents by managing and diversifying the region’s tourism economy while promoting sustainable visitation.

NY-21: DEMOCRAT BLAKE GENDEBIEN ON IMMIGRATION, HEALTHCARE, AND HIS MODERATE APPROACH - North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY) Website

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

NY-21: DEMOCRAT BLAKE GENDEBIEN ON IMMIGRATION, HEALTHCARE, AND HIS MODERATE APPROACH

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY)

10/13/26

Blake Gendebien, a dairy farmer from St. Lawrence County, has been running for the 21st district for nearly two years, since Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was nominated to become UN ambassador.

After Trump withdrew her nomination and Stefanik later announced she was retiring from Congress, Gendebien stayed in the race. He's now facing Republican Anthony Constantino, the CEO of Sticker Mule, a company based in Amsterdam.

Even though Republicans far outnumber Democrats in the district, Gendebien says he's confident heading into the midterms. He spoke recently with NCPR about where he stands on top issues like healthcare and immigration.

EMILY RUSSELL: So, it's been two years you've been campaigning for this position, which is coming to an end soon. How are you doing? Like, how do you keep up the momentum throughout at all?

BLAKE GENDEBIEN: Well, I'm really fortunate because we have incredible supporters that keep us going and we've got a great team of young people that are located here in the North Country and upstate New York. And my wife, Carmen, we've been married 23 years.

We have three boys and we're treating this as a family experience to represent our friends and neighbors, our hard-working families, seniors, veterans in this incredible district, which is the third-largest district east of the Mississippi. And we've heard since end of November after Thanksgiving in 2024, we need somebody that will fight to lower our costs. We need somebody that will fight to save our rural health care.

And we're so tired of the partisan and bickering that we've got to have people that can work together.

RUSSELL: Governor Hochul was recently interviewed by Spectrum News and she mentioned you by name among some of the Democrats she thinks can win in New York. How closely are you working with her campaign?

GEDEBIEN: So, I will work with anybody who wants to do what's right for our friends and neighbors in the North Country. We have more veterans than any other district. Almost 50% of the electorate is over 65. 1/3 of our households are union households. If you want to help me make the North Country and upstate New York a great place to live and an absolute success. I will work with you whether you're a Democrat or a Republican.

RUSSELL: Do you think Governor Hochul has led the state well?

GENDEBIEN: I certainly think that as Democrats we don't get everything right. We have great investments in Micronesia. Our own district has the largest single-site food processing investment in American history in Rome, New York. That could have been anywhere.

That means that we're going to have an opportunity for over 100-200,000 more cows. That's more barns, that's more tractors, that's more fertilizer, that's more jobs, that's more construction opportunities. That's a big deal, but we don't always get everything right. Some of the climate policy has driven up costs for us to a level that is just absolutely unaffordable.

RUSSELL: The wind appears to be behind Democrats nationwide right now heading into the midterms, but here in the North Country turnout was really low for the primaries, 11% among Democrats. What's your takeaway from those results?

GENDEBIEN: Right now, there appears to be a real enthusiasm gap for the general election. When President Trump is not on the ballot, often times people who would normally support him don't show up.

So, we're expecting a good turnout. Um, we're expecting an opportunity to show among Democrats, Republicans, and independents that we are the campaign that is going to fight for the things that they really care about. While my opponent is busy going on internet rants and talking about things that don't affect anybody, we're busy crisscrossing the district talking to people.

RUSSELL: So, part of the democratic base is made up of progressives. You recently signed a pledge denouncing socialism. I wonder if you're worried about your approach alienating progressive voters and having them just stay home on election day.

GENDEBIEN: Right. So, what we need to focus on and one of the greatest things about our Democratic Party is that we are a big tent. We are too big to fail. And what we all want is to make sure that we can afford to live here, make sure where that inflation doesn't outpace our ability to afford food, gasoline, diesel, fuel, and fertilizer.

We want to make sure that health care does not bankrupt our families, does not put an incredible amount of debt on our families, and we want to make sure that everyone can afford to live comfortably in a home or an apartment with dignity in the North country and have a great job with a living wage. That's what we all want. Everybody says that we're a big big party. That's right. We are too big to fail and we are going to win in November.

And we're going to make sure that people on both sides of the aisle understand that we're fighting for them too.

RUSSELL: Healthcare is a big concern among voters here. What do you think that Washington needs to do to address healthcare deserts like we have here in the North Country, you know, hospitals that are at risk of closing or closing certain sections of the hospital?

GENDEBIEN: We had a healthcare roundtable maybe a month or so ago, and three things bubbled to the surface really quickly among multiple professionals in the industry. Number one, we need more primary care physicians. The ER is being treated like a primary care physician. That is not what it's meant to be. Number two, we need to make sure that we have better transportation. My mother had a serious health emergency in Lisbon, New York.

Claxton Hepburn has filed for bankruptcy. They didn't have the services they needed. Carthage, also bankrupt, didn't have the services she needed. The nearest bed with the services she needed was Albany. That's 5 hours away from home. That means the ambulance was tied up for 10 hours. So the next person who was sick had to wait an incredible amount of time before they got transportation. So the second thing was that we need rural health care transportation.

And the third thing was supporting our EMS. Consider making EMS an essential service because in rural America, they are our first responders. Our rescue squads are our first responders. They need to be put up on a pedestal and supported like no other because without them in Lisbon, my mother wouldn't have gotten the services that she needed. She would have never even made it to Albany.

So, to summarize, primary care physicians, rural transportation for health care, EMS and essential services. And when we win this race, we're going to make sure that we roll back the Medicaid cuts because, for example, in at Adirondack Hospital, 46% of the maternity care's Medicaid.

If those Medicaid cuts put that hospital under severe financial stress, they're going to lose the maternity care and how in the world are we going to recruit young people to come to the North Country to teach or open a business or take a job if there's no maternity care, or no health care to speak of. And there are 215,000 people in this district that rely on Medicaid.

That means nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, services for young people with disabilities or special needs and health care for hard working families. Union members also need to be protected in the North Country. That's what we're focused on. One and three households are union households. We need to make sure that if they're going to come here to work, there better be a hospital nearby.

One last thing, we were invited by active-duty military personnel and their spouses around Fort Drum to talk about the lack of health care. It is one of the only active-duty military bases without an on-base hospital. So, Fort Drum is an Army post without a hospital. So, it relies on the civilian hospital nearby.

Well, if Claxton Hepburn is bankrupt, Carthage is bankrupt, all those patients come to that same civilian hospital and everybody is trying to get into the same beds, access the same physicians and unfortunately our active duty members and their families at Fort Drum have to leave the base, go to Rochester, go to Buffalo, putting our national security at risk cuz they're off base, putting stress on their families and their children additional cost for driving those distances at $4.50 gasoline. So we've got real healthcare challenges in the North Country and we need somebody from here who's going to work on them.

RUSSELL: Do you support Medicare for all?

GEDEBIEN: I support a public option as a discussion, but we need to be laser-focused on saving our hospitals today because seven of them are at risk.

RUSSELL: Another key concern among voters here, which I'm sure you know, is affordability. It’s a top concern for folks. What concrete steps do you think are key to take to address those concerns amongst folks here in the North Country?

GENDEBIEN: There are some obvious issues right in front of us. We need to repair the relationship with Ontario and Quebec. On the northern half of this district, we have a long history of trading with Ontario and Quebec. And we have one of the largest poultry producers in the northeast here. They buy supplies from Quebec and Ontario. And if those are more expensive, the price of food at the grocery store becomes more expensive.

We need to also make sure that, as legislators, we have the power to vote on what international conflicts we get into because we disproportionately pay the price for bad decisions and getting into forever wars in Washington D.C. We are not going to get into any more forever wars if I'm able to represent the North Country the way we should be.

For example, we make up just 16% of the nation's population in rural districts just like this one. Yet almost 50% of our military recruits every year come from rural districts just like this one and we're all very proud of that. But don't you think our congressmen and women should have a voice and a vote on what happens to our young people who go into the military before their lives are put at risk?

Don't you think our legislators should have a say and a vote before we get into an issue and close the Strait of Hormuz and our diesel fuel prices go up to $6 from someone who's from the North Country in Northern New York? That's what I'm hearing over and over again.

RUSSELL: So of course there are plenty of Democrats that would have wanted to be able to vote not to go to war with Iran. So how would you actually make sure that happens or work towards making that happen?

GENDEBIEN: Right. We're going to win this election and we're going to make sure that the balance of power is such that we can vote and have a say for the people in New York's 21st, who know that my campaign is the campaign that will represent them in rural America because I'm proud of our district. I'm proud of rural America. I want to live here too. I want to retire here too. This is my place, and I want to make sure that somebody is here to fight for us.

RUSSELL: What do you think is the right path forward for immigration?

GENDEBIEN: So, I agree that we need to secure the northern border. We also need to deport criminals- violent criminals- who are here illegally with due process, but we're missing a serious step. We need to streamline the legal process. We need to hire more immigration judges to make sure claims are processed faster. We need people from around the world to fill jobs that are very difficult and that many people who are here don't want to do.

And I want to be part of common-sense immigration reform that, yes, secures the border, yes, makes sure our national security is right front and center, but also streamlines the legal process so that we have the secure labor force that we need in agriculture and hospitality and healthcare and construction and forestry. These are all industries that are very important. Think about the Adirondack Park.

The seasonal business in the Adirondack Park relies so heavily on people from around the world who want to build a better life here. We need to make sure that process is streamlined and made possible.

RUSSELL: You've had some missteps in your campaign. One was over some past criticisms you've had about the labor force, the local labor force. Another was your use of AI and an ad against [Elise] Stefanik. What do you regret about those moments?

GENDEBIEN: So our Library of Congress interview, when five farmers, myself included, were interviewed nearly 15 years ago, it was about an hour-and-20-minute interview, and you can take anything and take a sentence out of it and make it sound like whatever you want. And it is very hard to find people to work on farms in the North Country. We have an army of farmers here in this district where the industry represents $1.6 billion a year in economic impact that are asking me for common-sense immigration reform and to double focus on the Ag Workforce Modernization Act, double down on improvements to the H2A program, make it 350 days because it's very hard to find people to do the things we need in agriculture and I would never paint a broad brush over an entire workforce. That's a total mischaracterization of the interview.

And we did not do a deepfake AI. We made a cartoon, and Constantino made a deepfake AI ad where he took a Facebook post that I made saying that the Epstein files need to be released, and it was scary how realistic it was, with the disgusting, horrific, monstrous words that he put into my mouth.

And we hear a lot around the district and around the country about how AI needs guardrails, and even the leaders in the AI industry, CEOs of the AI industry, are saying, "Listen, this technology is moving really, really fast. It could damage our national security. It could cause an economic collapse. And as part of the next Congress, I would really like to be part of that discussion on how we protect our communities and our country from the dangers and the possible economic impacts and national security impacts that AI could pose.

RUSSELL: You kind of characterize that ad as like more cartoonish, but did you use AI to create it?

GENDEBIEN: It was an AI ad that was designed to be fun and cartoonish, where our opposition’s, where Constantino’s ad was designed to be a deepfake that tricked people and put monstrous, disgusting words in my mouth.

RUSSELL: Your opponent has lobbed attacks at you often. You've taken kind of a different approach, not as an aggressive approach towards him. How are you working to try and energize your base?

GENDEBIEN: Well, I certainly don't think that attacking someone's family, attacking someone's staff, attacking someone's spouse is a way to energize the base like Constantino thinks. I certainly don't think buying a seat and putting $12 million into my own campaign account, like anybody can actually do that. I think I only know one person that can do that and he's running for Congress, is a good way to show people that you understand how hard it is to put gasoline in your gas tank and how hard it is to put diesel fuel in your tractor trailer or tractor, how hard it is to buy fertilizer, how hard it is to buy food. That's not signaling that you understand what families are going through.

And I don't think that it's a good idea to put out a 20-track rap album called Thank You, Donald Trump, when families can't even get health care. So, we're focused on the issues that really matter, and if we're energizing and generating interest from both sides of the aisle because we're talking about repairing our relationship with Ontario and Quebec. We're talking about saving rural health care.

We're talking about creating good union job opportunities for years to come. We're talking about helping our farmers. We're talking about making sure that our veterans' and our seniors' benefits, pensions, and retirements are not outpaced by inflation. And Constantino wants to talk about all those other things because he is simply a rubber stamp for the president.

And when the president said, "We're going to import a bunch of beef from mystery countries and we're not going to label where it's from so that we can drive down the price that farmers are getting for their product,” that was an epic betrayal to the agricultural community and Constantino had nothing to say about that other than I support everything this president does. That is the exact opposite of how I will be.

Democrats don't always get it right. Republicans don't always get it right, but the people in New York's 21st district and what they need to have a better life, that will always be right and that's what I'm focused on.

RUSSELL: So data centers are clearly on the horizon here in the North Country. Where do you stand on that? Do you support data centers coming to the North Country?

GENDEBIEN: Data centers are completely unpopular on both sides of the aisle. However, we are going to need them, but I do support the one-year moratorium on data centers because we need to make sure that we end this practice of rich multinational corporations and companies coming in and stealing all of our resources and leaving us behind.

We need to be able to negotiate, make sure that our environment is not polluted, make sure that our workers have a safe place to work, make sure that these data centers are responsible for their own energy needs, make sure that they provide for the tax base, improve our local economies and our local communities, and do not drive up the cost of electricity and utilities for our families that have been here for years making this district the great place that it is.

RUSSELL: One thing we've heard from voters was that they haven't heard enough specific solutions from you and policy proposals. Why do you think that is?

GENDEBIEN: We talk about them all the time, and I'd be happy to give one very specific solution. It's about driving down food costs from the farm gate to the dinner plate. We're all paying more for food because there is no common-sense immigration reform.

And the Ag Workforce Modernization Act allows for a non-seasonal guest worker program that can be used from the farm all the way through the food processing facilities. And right now, we don't have enough labor at our food processing facilities or our farms.

And if you don't have enough labor at food processing facilities, you can't put out the packaged food for the grocery store fast enough and efficiently enough to over the cost of running that facility. So, what do they have to do? They say, we're going to pay less for the food the farmer delivers. Well, the farmers can't take any less. Or they're going to charge more up and down the East Coast for food at the grocery store. Guess what?

We are all paying more for food because there is no common-sense immigration reform and we don't have the labor that we need. And when we prove that the Ag Workforce Modernization Act works, we can prove that it works in healthcare, that it will work in hospitality, that it will work in construction and forestry, and drive down costs for everybody, cuz isn't this what it's all about?

We are constantly paying too much for everything, and there are solutions right in front of us, but because DC is in its right corner or in its left corner, they keep using solutions as political footballs, and they don't get anything done.

COULD ACID RAIN RETURN TO THE ADIRONDACKS AND LAKE GEORGE? - WAMC (Albany, NY) Website

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

COULD ACID RAIN RETURN TO THE ADIRONDACKS AND LAKE GEORGE?

WAMC (Albany, NY)

10/12/26

In the wake of the Trump administration's recent rollbacks to rules laid out in the Clean Air Act, Protect the Adirondacks hosted a conversation on the potential resurgence of acid rain.

The meeting began with Protect the Adirondacks Executive Director Claudia Braymer providing an overview of what acid rain is and efforts in the 1990s to revise the Clean Air Act to stop emissions that were causing acid rain.

“Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, those two air emissions primarily come from fossil fueled power plants. But those air pollutants also come from vehicle emissions. So, those two things are the main sources of these pollutants that are really causing the acid rain problem.”

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to repeal regulations that reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants. The EPA is also rescinding vehicle emissions standards. Last month, the administration repealed carbon pollution standards for power plants as well as greenhouse gas emissions rules.

“The carbon emissions are not as directly impactful for acid rain. However, the problem is with respect to acid rain is that the new rollbacks extend the life of the existing fossil fuel power plants that are really the ones that create the most SO-2 and the NO-X, as those SO-2 and NO-X are not getting reduced further out of our ecosystem.”

As Assembly Point Water Quality Association Board Chair Lisa Adamson pondered how quickly the rollbacks could impact the Lake George and Adirondack region, Braymer chimed in to say she didn't believe it would be soon.

“Acid rain was such a huge issue at the end of the 20th Century that I can’t imagine there’s still not many of us out there that don’t want to see it come back. And I can’t quite tell how much of a threat it is. It sounds like we’re worried about the threat so we’ll protect the ...”

“I don’t think it’s an immediate threat,” Braymer interjects. “I think it’s something we need to keep an eye out and we need to watch. And we need to keep educating people on the importance of reducing those harmful pollutants.”

Assembly Point Water Quality Association Executive Director Lorraine Ruffing weighed in with Braymer on possible legal actions if acid rain makes a come back.

“What is Protect the Adirondacks going to do given the fact that all these power plants will be sending all these emissions our way. I mean, is there going to be any type of legal action?”

“There have been some organizations that have sued the federal administration,” Braymer replies. “These are national organizations. We typically do not sue the federal administration. I’m hoping that these other groups that are national groups will step up and sue EPA over these changes and it looks like some have already.”

Stuart Alan of Glen Lake feels that many of those dismantling regulations do not really comprehend the implications of their actions.

“I don’t think our politicians know how many of their constituents are concerned about this. So it’s easy for them to ignore. But I have good news. We do have pockets throughout the area where there is overall concern and awareness.”

Rosemary Pusateri is a member of the Cleverdale/Rockhurst Stewardship Group as well as the Lake George Land Conservancy’s Conservation Committee Advisory Board. She opined about further action the Trump administration might take.

“You know I’m trying to live through these four years and thinking well we’re almost halfway done. But can our planet live through this?”

The group also discussed the potential environmental impacts of transportation sector emissions rollbacks.

ORDA SEASON PASS SALES CLIMB 6.5%, DEFYING NATIONAL SLUMP - Adirondack Daily Enterprise (Saranac Lake, NY) Website

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

ORDA SEASON PASS SALES CLIMB 6.5%, DEFYING NATIONAL SLUMP

Adirondack Daily Enterprise (Saranac Lake, NY)

10/12/26

As ski resorts across the United States gear up for winter, signs of last season continue to make themselves known, at least on the balance sheet.

Early industry estimates have national average season pass sales down between 5-10% from last year, according to state Olympic Regional Development Authority Communications Director Darcy Norfolk Rowe.

But it’s a different story here.

ORDA is reporting a 6.5% overall increase in its ski pass sales through Oct. 5 — 25,918 versus 24,343 — compared to that same time last year.

The 2025-26 season was a historic snow drought for the West, with many resorts recording their warmest temperatures and lowest snowfalls since the mid 1970s. It was a polar opposite winter here as durable stretches of cold and reliable snows dominated.

Vail Resorts, a publicly-traded company that owns 42 resorts worldwide with its major destinations in the West, reported in its Sept. 28 earnings call that pass sales are down 12% from last year, along with a 6% revenue decline. This includes its flagship multi-mountain “Epic Pass,” along with some regional or specific mountain passes.

“We believe the performance to date continues to be affected by the prior season's historically challenging conditions,” Vail’s Chief Financial Officer Angela Korch said at that meeting. “We view the current environment as being driven more by delayed purchasing behavior than a structural change in demand.”

The ski industry has increasingly shifted its marketing strategies from day tickets to season passes, with the latter seen as a way to lock in revenue up-front and regardless of what weather conditions deliver.

While an old-fashioned local winter probably gave New York’s public ski areas a boost, ORDA is on track for its sixth consecutive year of pass sale increases, including some less-than optimal winters. This year’s number is expected to rise, as sales continue into ski season.

2025-26: 31,805

2024-25: 30,606

2023-24: 29,014

2022-23: 26,369

2021-22: 25,821

2020-21: 19,166

Broken down by venue this year, 10,152 passes have been sold at Gore as of Oct. 5, marking a 5% increase from last year. At Belleayre, 9,892 passes have been sold, an 8.8% increase from last year. At Whiteface, 5,486 passes have been sold, a 3% increase from last year. Together, it’s a 5.9% Alpine-only increase from last year. Sale prices were largely unchanged from last year.

The bulk of these sales are the “Ski3 Pass,” which offers access to all three venues, though the data tracks which venue’s website the pass is purchased through, typically a proxy for the skier’s home mountain.

This year’s overall figure was buoyed by a 61% surge at Mount Van Hoevenberg, which offers Nordic skiing. The venue has sold 391 passes versus 243 at that time last year. Though exact rates varied by pass type and purchase window sale prices were lowered by around 20% this year. For instance, renewing an adult pass between Aug. 7 and Dec. 3, 2025 cost $250, but is $194 this year.

ORDA Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Communications Tait Wardlaw said it was a correction to a stiff jump in prices two years ago.

“We increased our (2025-26) season pass prices at Mount Van Hoevenberg above what we probably should have in hindsight,” he said. “We recognize that it’s really important for any community Nordic center to make sure that the community can afford to ski there and enough community members can afford to ski there that they congregate and have fun together. Recreational Nordic skiing is not supposed to be expensive.”

Determining season pass and day ticket pricing at ORDA’s venues is a careful balance, Wardlaw noted.

“We can’t overcharge and we can’t undercharge,” he said. “We’re very sensitive to what our pricing looks like and what the value is that we’re sharing out with New York residents and skiers in general. At the end of the day, we certainly have an obligation to charge a fair price for our skiing and at the same time, we’re also very sensitive to our fellow ski areas in New York state.”

What’s driving growth here?

While the last two winters alone would seem to lift the tide for all Northeast ski areas, ORDA’s mountains have overperformed even within the region.

“For the last three years, we’ve been tracking mildly ahead of what the Northeast market has been doing for season pass sales in general,” Wardlaw said.

ORDA estimates season pass sales tracking between flat and a 5% increase across the Northeast, based off National Ski Area Association analysis, data from other resorts with which ORDA partners with for reciprocal pass perks like the Mountain Collective and conversations with his counterparts.

Wardlaw’s explanation for this regional overperformance was simple. The product has never been better.

New York began a series of massive investments to upgrade its winter sports facilities in 2018, around when Lake Placid secured the bid to host the 2023 FISU World University Games. During an August visit promoting an exploration of a Lake Placid-New York City bid for the 2042 Winter Olympics, Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t show any signs of looking back.

“What is important, though, is that you keep investing in this history,” she said. “That is why I’m proud that my administration has invested over $750 million to keep these facilities, all ORDA facilities, top-notch world-class — and that is why the world is paying attention.”

On the slopes, that began with replacing snowmaking piping. At Whiteface, most of it was at least 40 years old. Then came the hundreds of new high-efficiency snow guns and groomer fleet upgrades that allowed the mountains to open earlier, close later and stay climate-resilient in between.

“Our snowmaking and grooming are competitive with anywhere in the world,” she said.

TAKING A STATEWIDE APPROACH TO FIXING ROAD SALT RUNOFF - Adirondack Explorer (Saranac Lake, NY) Website

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

TAKING A STATEWIDE APPROACH TO FIXING ROAD SALT RUNOFF

Adirondack Explorer (Saranac Lake, NY)

10/10/26

New York state is the largest consumer of road salt in North America, according to the Adirondack Watershed Institute. The Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force Assessment and Recommendations estimates that 193,000 tons of salt is used on roads in the North Country each year.

For the first time in its 11-year history, the New York State Salt Summit took to the Capital Region, encouraging statewide collaboration to advance environmental stewardship toward solving the pollution and health issues caused by an overreliance on road salt.

Hosted by the Lake George Association and Lake George Waterkeeper, with support from the Times Union, state and municipal leaders joined private contractors, meteorologists, environmental advocates and New Yorkers from across the state Thursday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany to discuss and demonstrate snow management techniques that decrease dependence on road salt.

Here are some key takeaways from the summit.

1. Salt doesn’t disappear when it dissolves

“All that salt dissolves, so it immediately becomes a water problem,” said John Jackson, senior research scientist at the Stroud Water Research Institute in Avondale, Pennsylvania. “People forget that when it dissolves, it doesn’t disappear.”

If salt crystals aren’t blown off the road before they’ve had a chance to take effect, they join the liquid snowmelt as surface runoff, seeping into the groundwater or making way towards streams and rivers. Salt persists – in both ground and surface water – long after the snow has been cleared.

“We knew that this salt problem was a groundwater problem, but no one was talking about it,” Jackson said.

The “ground water problem” quickly becomes a drinking water problem, particularly where wells are a main water source.

2. Better blades make for easier snow removal

Snow removal with salt is typically a two-step process. A plow comes through to clear the bulk of the snow from the roadway, and salt is applied to melt anything the plow was unable to scrape up.

A typical plow is straight, flat and inflexible, whereas roadways are often uneven, with wheel ruts, cracks and potholes. The design of the plow blade itself creates situations in which salt is needed, since a stiff blade cannot accommodate inconsistent streets.

“The thing we need to do first is maximize the mechanical removal of snow off the roadway,” said Rob Fitch, director of transportation maintenance for NYS Department of Transportation.

Live-edge plow blades address the inefficiencies of typical plow blades, making mechanical removal a single-step process. Made up of several isolated spring-loaded sections, each segment operates independently, allowing the blades to adapt to the irregularities of the road.

3. Using brine means less direct salting

Limiting the amount of snow that ends up on roadways is also an effective strategy in reducing salt use and maintaining the safety of drivers. Salt brine is a diluted liquid solution that prevents snow and ice from sticking to roads.

Brine can be applied prior to a storm event, as long as pavement temperatures are above 20 degrees. But special equipment is required to make, store and apply brine, meaning that local budgets could play a significant role in a municipality’s ability to incorporate brine into their snow management plan.

4. Changing the expectations around salt use

The road salt debate is divided by several stakeholders, each of whom is focused on

their individual priorities. State transportation authorities and local departments of public works have a responsibility to maintain safe roadways throughout the winter.

Private contractors and business owners are concerned that if they fail to properly and sufficiently treat their parking lots and sidewalks, they could become a plaintiff in a liability lawsuit, and legal fees are typically more expensive than rock salt.

Environmental advocates argue that road salt isn’t efficient enough to justify the threats it poses to the future of ecosystem and human health.

“All of this has to be about balance,” said Assemblymember Carrie Woerner (D-113).

Finding that balance begins with facilitating conversations between stakeholders, which isn’t something that has been effectively incorporated into the road salt debate.

“There are situations where people are working against each other because there isn’t a general framework to have a shared baseline to begin the conversation,” said Assemblymember Michael Cashman (D-115).“Sometimes the most empowering thing a government can do is to actually set a table, and make sure that there is a seat at the table for everyone.”

There is a need for coordinated, cooperative, collaborative snow management operations between the state and local governments, according to Cashman. Enforcement of these efforts at the state level would ensure a level of standardization across stakeholders.

Community members should be part of the conversation, too. Paul Fried, owner of Custom Lawn-Scapes in North Syracuse, explained that the presence of salt implies safety for people.

“They like to see equipment in the parking lot and salt in the driveway,” said Chris Howk, store maintenance manager for Wegmans Food Markets.

He said that by involving consumers in these conversations, stakeholders can help facilitate a shift in snow removal expectations.

CONSTANTINO WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, GENDEBIEN CRITICIZES THE ‘CHEERLEADING’ - WWNYTV (Watertown, NY) Website

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

CONSTANTINO WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, GENDEBIEN CRITICIZES THE ‘CHEERLEADING’

WWNYTV (Watertown, NY)

10/10/26

Republican candidate in the 21st Congressional District Anthony Constatino gave a speech in Syracuse as President Trump visited the Salt City to rally for GOP Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman.

Constatino’s campaign says he received two standing ovations and was swarmed by a crowd after giving a 16-minute speech.

The campaign added that Constantino is “running for Congress because it’s undeniably true that Democrats are destroying New York State.”

In the speech, Constantino offered, if elected, to personally go to Venezuela to help them increase oil exports to lower gas prices.

Democrat candidate Blake Gendebien, in a campaign news release said, “With diesel at $6.51 a gallon in the North Country, up from $3.89 a year ago, Anthony Constantino traveled out of district to Syracuse Friday and asked a Trump rally crowd to stand and say ‘Thank you, President Trump’ in unison.”

“Anthony Constantino went to Syracuse to cheer for Trump, not to answer for $6 diesel,” said Michel Waller, Gendebien’s campaign manager. “North Country families don’t need another cheerleader. Blake Gendebien fills his own diesel tank on the farm and knows what it costs. In 25 days, voters get to choose the candidate who works for them, not the one who works the crowd for Trump.”

At the end of his speech in Syracuse Friday night, Constantino said he’s ready to spend $100,000 to throw an election night party in front of the ‘Vote for Trump’ sign he has at his business.

Constantino is CEO of Sticker Mule in Amsterdam, New York.

NEW SIENA POLL HAS GENDEBIEN LEADING CONSTANTINO IN NY-21 - Times Union (Albany, NY) Website

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

NEW SIENA POLL HAS GENDEBIEN LEADING CONSTANTINO IN NY-21

Times Union (Albany, NY)

10/9/26

A new Siena Research Institute poll shows Democrat Blake Gendebien leading his Republican opponent Anthony Constantino in New York’s 21st Congressional District by 4 percentage points, an indication that Democrats may be able to flip a seat long viewed as a GOP stronghold.

The poll was conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6 and sponsored by the Times Union as well as television station WPTZ-NBC5 and radio station WAMC. (Hearst Corp. owns the Times Union and WPTZ.)

The poll of 496 likely voters in the sprawling North Country district found 49% identify as Republicans, 28% as Democrats and 23% as independent or other. About two-thirds of participants were aged 55 and older, and the poll had a margin of error of 4.6%.

When asked who they would vote for if the congressional election were held today, 46% said they would vote for Gendebien compared with 42% for Constantino. Another 5% said they would vote for Christopher Schmidt, an independent running in the race, and the remaining 8% said they didn’t know or refused to answer. It also found 85% of Democrats and 51% of independents said they would vote for Gendebien, compared to just 65% of Republicans and 30% of independents supporting Constantino.

The results indicate a dramatic shift in a district that two years ago gave landslide victories to Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is not seeking reelection to a seventh term, and President Donald J. Trump. A previous poll conducted by SurveyUSA and sponsored by WNYT-TV NewsChannel 13 also showed Gendebien with a slight lead (with Constantino’s campaign threatening to sue the channel over the results) and a recent Cook Political Report shifted the district from “solid” to “likely” Republican.

Personal connections matter

Survey takers who agreed to be interviewed following their submissions highlighted the importance of personal familiarity when choosing which candidate they want to represent the predominantly rural district.

Richard Powell, a 44-year-old independent living in the St. Lawrence County village of Rensselaer Falls, said he supports Gendebien and had attended high school with him at Lisbon Central School.

“I know Blake. He’s a good family man, he’s a smart businessman, he’s educated,” Powell said. “The way (Constantino) carries himself isn’t very professional. I don’t think he would fit well in Washington.”

Dana Drozynski, a 54-year-old independent from the town of Saratoga, said she is backing Constantino. She said she used to live in Amsterdam, where Constantino’s Sticker Mule factory is located, and had come to know Constantino’s parents, Tom and Carol, who ran the printing company Noteworthy at the time.

“I respected them and what they did for the community,” Drozynski said. She said she didn’t like the way Gendebien portrayed himself as a regular farmer when he once served as vice president of Agrimark, a major dairy co-op.

“I’d like Gendebien to pull out his resume,” she added.

The favorable results for Gendebien come despite the poll showing other Republicans doing well in the district. Respondents support Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman over Democrat incumbent Kathy Hochul by 15 points, and 50% said they want Republicans to keep control of Congress as opposed to 45% preferring Democrat control. Respondents also continued to express a supportive view of Stefanik, with 49% favorable opposed to 44% unfavorable.

Constantino, the CEO of the company Sticker Mule, has made a name for himself with his strong loyalty toward President Donald J. Trump and a pervasive, polarizing presence on social media. While those factors have helped him garner free publicity and the full endorsement of the president, they also may have contributed to his numbers being lower than other Republicans in the district, the poll suggests.

A Trump backlash?

When asked for their opinion of the candidates, 52% of respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Constantino, with only 39% giving a favorable view. By contrast, Gendebien was given a 45% favorable response, with 29% unfavorable and 26% saying they didn’t know or had no opinion of him.

A majority of the respondents in the 21st district also expressed displeasure when it came to Trump — 52% gave an unfavorable opinion while 55% said they disapprove of his job in office. A majority also said they would rather support a candidate who could be a check on Trump’s power rather than someone who would support the president’s agenda.

Richard Belisle, a 65-year-old independent from Queensbury in Warren County, said he plans to vote for Gendebien due to dissatisfaction with the current administration, including what he said is the high cost of living and actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Constantino would be supporting a lot of things the administration’s doing that I don’t like,” Belisle said. “The economy is not doing well and we’re rounding up people who are important to our communities.”

Scott Ferris, a 69-year-old independent from Boonville in Oneida County, concurred. “Constantino pledges to follow Trump’s footsteps,” he said. “I can’t afford that cost of living anymore.”

Gendebien by 10%, compared to women who support Gendebien by a margin of 18%. Those aged 35-54 were more likely to back Constantino, as were those whose annual income was less than $50,000.

The poll also asked participants which candidate would do a better job on several issues pertinent to the district, such as affordability, healthcare, and relations with neighboring Canada. Gendebien outranked Constantino on all issues save for one (addressing undocumented immigration in New York).

Respondents were also asked about whether each candidate possessed certain qualities. A plurality of 49% said Constantino was not in touch with average New Yorkers and doesn’t have the right experience to be a member of Congress. In comparison, most respondents felt Gendebien was more in tune with average New Yorkers and considered him more honest. For both candidates, respondents were more likely to say they would “get things done” if elected to Congress.

Constantino campaign spokesperson Alex DeGrasse criticized the poll results in a statement issued on Friday following this story’s publication, referring to it as “another scam poll.” He noted the poll's unusual inclusion of Schmidt, a write-in candidate not listed on the official ballot, and that Gendebien’s own campaign had put out poll results this week that showed Constantino slightly ahead.

“By every metric, this is an unscientific poll,” DeGrasse said. “Anthony Constantino is winning NY-21 despite everyone in the media trying to prevent that at all costs.”

Michael Waller, a campaign manager for Gendebien, called on Constantino's campaign to release its own internal polling if they have an issue with the Siena poll results.

“If Anthony’s team thinks Siena got it wrong, they should put their own numbers on the table,” Waller said in a statement. "They (the Constantino campaign) will call this a Democrat scam and demand Siena go door to door apologizing to every voter. If anyone owes the North Country an apology, it’s Anthony, for running a campaign that puts his gripes over their needs.”

Constantino on the attack, Gendebien absent at debate

With the midterms less than a month away, both candidates are trying to shore up support ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Constantino has gone on the offensive, accusing his opponent of illegal dumping on Gendebien’s property in the St. Lawrence County town of Lisbon.

The accusation came following a private investigation done by a firm hired by Constantino, which provided aerial drone footage that showed tires and assorted debris dumped in a remote area on the Democrat’s farm. Gendebien has denied any wrongdoing, noting that the Department of Environmental Conservation visited the property and saw no violations.

Gendebien has also shown reluctance to hold a debate with Constantino. Both candidates refused a debate invitation with a consortium of media outlets including the Times Union. Gendebien also refused a debate that Constantino agreed to with WRGB-CBS6, resulting in Constantino taking the stage alone this week in what became a de facto one-on-one interview with moderator Tom Eschen.

During the televised event, Constantino continued to hammer Gendebien over the dumping issue. When Eschen tried to pivot to ask Constantino about the high price of diesel fuel, the Republican candidate continued to talk about the dumping.

“I do have to go back to the last question because it’s not an allegation. There’s photos … there’s tremendous amounts of garbage,” Constantino said. “I don’t like litter. I don’t like blight. I like things to look beautiful.” He later answered the question about high diesel prices by saying the U.S. should invest in rebuilding petroleum refineries in Venezuela.

In a statement put out on Tuesday, Gendebien’s campaign accused Constantino of using the dumping issue to compensate for a lack of a clearly defined agenda to help voters in the district.

“Anthony Constantino has been handed every advantage in this race, and he’s spending the final month of it flying drones over a dairy farm because he has no solutions to bring costs down for North Country families,” Waller said in that earlier statement. “Blake will be out talking to voters. Anthony can keep talking to his investigators.”

IN NY SENATE RACE, STEC AND SEALE PLAY THE BLAME GAME FOR HIGH PRICES IN THE NORTH COUNTRY - North County Public Radio (Canton, NY) Website

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

IN NY SENATE RACE, STEC AND SEALE PLAY THE BLAME GAME FOR HIGH PRICES IN THE NORTH COUNTRY

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY)

10/9/26

The two candidates for New York's largest state senate district met in Plattsburgh earlier this week for their first televised debate. The district is a massive swath of land that stretches from Glens Falls to the Canadian border and juts out west into St. Lawrence County.

Republican Dan Stec has represented the district for six years. He's a Queensbury native and Navy veteran. This year, he's being challenged by Democrat Melissa Seale, a nurse practitioner in Glens Falls with three decades of experience in healthcare with a focus on youth mental health.

Both candidates agreed the North Country needs a strong voice in Albany to represent its largely rural communities, but they spent much of the debate at the Mountain Lake PBS studios disagreeing on policy measures.

The debate began with questions around the prison industry, which has long served as an economic anchor for the district.

Last year, Governor Hochul fired 2,000 correction officers who refused to return to work following a wildcat strike, then signed an executive order barring them from working for both state and local municipal agencies. That exacerbated an existing staffing crisis in New York's prison system. The state placed National Guard troops in some facilities to help with the shortages.

Stec said the state isn’t doing enough to address officers’ safety concerns and that’s why people are no longer entering the industry. “The fathers and uncles and aunts and mothers aren't telling their kids at the kitchen table anymore, 'this was a good career for me. You should go do this,” Stec said.

Seale said better mental health services for officers would help them feel safer and more supported on the job - something she has personal experience with. “I worked as a psychiatric provider in the prison system. I've worked with corrections officers," she said. "I know what the job entails, and it's not an easy job."

Both candidates said they’d like to repeal the HALT Act, which limits the use of solitary confinement in the state’s prisons. While corrections officers say the law limits their ability to punish inmates for bad behavior, advocates say it protects them from cruel and unusual punishment.

Last year, Stec sponsored a bill to repeal the HALT Act, but it never made it to the Senate floor. "We need to be absolutely clear," Stec said. "The prison closures and the prison crisis that we have have been brought to you by Democrats and Democrats alone."

Stec also placed blame for rising costs on the Democratic majority in Albany. He said since they took control of both houses of the legislature eight years ago, the state’s budget has inflated by more than $100 billion dollars - increasing taxes for every New Yorker.

“I look at everything through an affordability lens," Stec said in his opening statement. "And unfortunately, in recent years, the policies that we've taken in Albany, have headed, largely, in a bad direction.”

But Seale blamed rising gas, food, and energy prices on federal policy driven by President Trump and Republicans in Congress. "I've spoken to many business owners who are negatively impacted by the tariffs, such as a brewery that gets its hops from Canada. They don't know if they're going to be able to make it," Seale said. "We need a strong voice advocating in Albany to make sure that families are able to maintain a way of life that they deserve.”

The candidates also differed on immigration, providing universal healthcare coverage, and how to develop the local economy.

Seale said healthcare for all should be rolled out in phases - especially at a time when New Yorkers are losing coverage at alarming rates, and hospitals are being shorted on Medicaid reimbursements. “I know, as a provider myself in Glens Falls, that we've seen our reimbursement rates get cut further and further, where it's being difficult," she said. "It's difficult at this time to maintain private practices up in the North Country.”

But Stec said the reason the New York Health Act hasn’t moved forward in decades is that the system is simply too expensive.

“There are other ways to provide health care to make sure that we're doing it better," he said. "You want to talk about affordability and people leaving the state? They will leave even faster if this bill becomes law, which sat there for 30 years and it hasn't passed yet.”

The candidates also traded jabs on the state’s one-year moratorium on new AI data centers. Proposed projects in Chateaugay and Massena are making headlines.

While Seale praised the moratorium and said research should be scaled up on how the facilities could impact land, water, and energy costs, Stec said data center development should be left up to the towns and cities. “That should be a decision that's made locally, not from Albany," he said.

Stec and Seale were similarly split on the state's immigration policy. Earlier this year, the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act barred local police agencies from working with federal immigration agents on civil investigations.

Stec said the law is "unsafe for everybody," and said law enforcement agencies should be able to communicate with one another at all levels to protect public safety. He supports an exception to the law for border communities in the North Country.

Seale said she would "look into it" but maintained community police officers should not be doing the jobs of federal officials. "It's taking away from our communities, and I feel could make them less safe," she said. "It's our taxpayer dollars. So I think the federals should stay federal, and our community police officers should stay serving the communities."

Stec and Seale did see eye-to-eye on some things. They agreed the recently postponed electric school bus mandate won’t work in a region with cold winters and long routes. Both said the North Country needs a senator who is deeply in tune with the region's issues and can come up with unique solutions to address them.

The debate between the 45th State Senate District candidates was hosted by Mountain Lake PBS and will air in its entirety at 8 p.m. Friday and again at 7 p.m. Saturday.

New Yorkers still have time to register to vote in the November 3 election. Read how here. âââââââ

HOCHUL AND BLAKEMAN GET READY TO FACE OFF IN DEBATE - State of Politics (Albany, NY) Website

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

HOCHUL AND BLAKEMAN GET READY TO FACE OFF IN DEBATE

State of Politics (Albany, NY)

10/9/26

After months of attacks on the campaign trail, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman are set to face off Tuesday, Oct. 13, in their first and only scheduled debate in the race for New York governor.

The debate comes as two new polls show Hochul leading Blakeman. A Marist University poll puts her ahead by 11 percentage points, while an Emerson College poll gives her a 12-point lead.

Hochul has repeatedly sought to tie Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, to President Donald Trump, his most prominent supporter. Blakeman, meanwhile, has focused on taxes, utility costs and the state’s immigration policies as he tries to appeal to voters beyond the Republican base.

“Those who are supportive of an individual who Donald Trump himself has called 100% MAGA have seen the writing on the wall,” Hochul told reporters this week during a press conference held with the MTA.

“I’m not paying attention to any individual polls,” she added.

Separately, on the campaign trail in the Hudson Valley, Blakeman slammed his opponent’s federal immigration stance.

“I had to tell our police and sheriffs that they could no longer cooperate with ICE because of Kathy Hochul,” he said, of the state’s recently passed anti-ICE legislation.

At a campaign stop in Buffalo on Oct. 5, Blakeman accused Hochul of avoiding questions about her record.

“Kathy Hochul wants to talk about anything but her record,” he said.

Hochul defended her time in office, pointing to tax relief.

“We returned $10 billion back in taxes back to New Yorkers just in the five years I’ve been governor. So I’ll put my record up to anybody’s, anytime,” she said that day.

The governor continues to tie Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, to his most prominent supporter, President Donald Trump, whose approval ratings continue to plummet in New York.

For a Democrat, Hochul navigated a decent relationship with the president. But Thursday, she revealed she spoke to Trump about the ICE-involved shooting in Manhattan, demanding the administration pull back enforcement agents and release body camera footage of the incident.

“As outraged New Yorkers saw Donald Trump’s untrained ICE agents fire into a vehicle with a child inside, Bruce Blakeman isn’t only running the most pro-ICE ticket in America,” Hochul campaign spokesman Matthew Jansen said in a statement to NY1.

“On the debate stage Tuesday, voters will be seeing a clear contrast between ‘MAGA all the way’ Blakeman and Governor Hochul standing up for working families,” the statement continued.

Blakeman appeared with Trump for the second time since August, in Syracuse Friday at a campaign rally.

"The people of New York need to clean house Nov. 3, starting with Kathy Hochul," said Trump.

"I’ll tell you what, Bruce Blakeman will get your act together," he added.

He’s blamed Hochul for high prices.

“All she talks about is Trump, Trump, Trump. First of all, Trump didn’t make us the highest taxed state, Kathy Hochul did. Our utility bills are 70% higher than the national average, Kathy Hochul did that,” he said during a press conference in Buffalo.

He’s also trying to sell himself as a Republican appealing to Democrats.

"Every day another Democrat comes up to me and says, 'Bruce, I’m a lifelong Democrat, I’ve never voted Republcan before. This year, I’m voting for you,'" said Blakeman, taking the stage with Trump Friday.

Both are keen on how midterm elections will play into their contest.

Making stops in battleground districts with top national figures.

“There have been no atrocities committed by ICE in New York state. In my county, because we cooperated with ICE, we removed 2,000 illegal migrants with criminal records,” Blakeman said during a pres conference Oct. 6 with Rep. Mike Lawler

On fundraising, Blakeman is behind — although qualifying for taxpayer-funded campaign dollars.

He’s reporting less than $180,000 in coffers.

Hochul, meanwhile, has over $19 million in campaign cash, according to the latest filing.

“There’s not a lot of time other than to let people know that we’re out there campaigning hard. I will be campaigning with — any individual — the mayor has offered his help, Congresswoman [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez has offered her help,” said Hochul at a separate event.

How Giant Trolls Are Helping Transform an Adirondack Mill Town - The New York Times (New York, NY) Website

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

HOW GIANT TROLLS ARE HELPING TRANSFORM AN ADIRONDACK MILL TOWN

The New York Times (New York, NY)

10/9/26

In a clearing amid the dense Adirondack forest, a giant wooden troll lifts a maple-tree sapling toward the early autumn sky. Hundreds of boulders are splayed out around him, and children jump from rock to rock, their laughter filling the space.

“I feel like I’m in Minecraft!” Axel Karatayev, 6, yells to his mother as he leaps.

The 36-foot-tall installation, unveiled last month at the Wild Center in northern New York, is the state’s first permanent artwork by Thomas Dambo, the internationally acclaimed Danish recycle artist. The sculpture is named “Patrick Sapling” in honor of Patrick Dougherty, a now-retired American sculptor who spent decades creating works from tree saplings and whose last-standing outdoor installation is also at the Wild Center.

For Tupper Lake, with a population of around 5,000, the sculpture brings hope that a short-term surge in visitors will translate into a long-term boost for the town’s economy.

“I’ve been here 37 years and I’ve never had a busier summer,” said Tina Merrihew, 59, who owns a half-laundromat, half-doughnut shop. “Amazing what trolls can do. They’re instigators.”

Growing up in Scandinavia, Mr. Dambo loved learning about trolls from Nordic folklore, he said in an interview. While studying at the prestigious Kolding School of Design, he got a gig working in a warehouse, where he saw how much plywood from around the world ended up discarded in Denmark.

The self-proclaimed “garbage artist” had an idea: What if he built an army of trolls and returned them to the forest? Mr. Dambo created his first examples in 2014 in Denmark, and over the years, he’s installed nearly 200 across the globe.

His first traveling exhibition, called “Save the Humans,” launched in 2023 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Within a couple of months, the exhibition was booked by venues for the next seven years, Mr. Dambo said. So he launched another traveling team of creatures in 2025 called “Trolls: A Field Study.” This group of 12 smaller trolls are easier to relocate as they study the human species across the country.

Mr. Dambo’s migrating sculptures have left a stream of tourism revenue in their wake. During a three-month North American debut in Asheville, N.C., “A Field Study” generated over $6 million in direct spending from November 2025 to February 2026, according to the local tourism board.

Mr. Dambo said he never set out to spur economic growth. But the fact that he’s made such a big impact from discarded materials is an “ultimate proof of concept that we should build our world out of trash, rather than drown in it.”

A Former Mill Town Gets Creative

While fun and fantastical, the intricate trolls are also symbolic of Tupper Lake’s difficult, decades-long transition from a once-proud logging town to one that relies on its natural resources in a new way for tourism.

In the 1970s and ’80s, Tupper Lake was a “booming little town” of mill workers, said Rick Dattola, the town supervisor. But the timber mills closed, a popular ski area shuttered and a resort development that promised over 500 new jobs recently fell into foreclosure. No matter what the town tried, industry just wouldn’t return, Mr. Dattola said.

Only traces of the town’s once-busy sawmills remain. In late September, an early autumn mist hung over Raquette Pond at the town’s waterfront park, where a mill once set a world record for the amount of lumber sawed in a single day.

Across the park, a smokestack protruded into the sky, labeled with the letters “OWD,” a remnant of the Oval Wood Dish Factory. Once home to Tupper Lake’s biggest employer, the building is being repurposed into an affordable apartment complex.

Now, everything the town does for economic development is about tourism, specifically outdoor recreation, Mr. Dattola said. That transition from manufacturing was tough: It’s hard to keep taxes down and prices affordable when the tax base keeps shrinking, he said.

But things are improving, and the Wild Center has been a huge part of that, according to Mr. Dattola. When the center opened an elevated nature trail called the Wild Walk in 2015, attendance tripled — rising to more than 150,000 visitors a year, said Nick Gunn, the science museum’s marketing director.

After the summer of trolls, the center is on pace to break visitation records by 182 percent, Mr. Gunn said. About 75 percent of those visitors had never been to the Adirondacks before, according to post-visit surveys, Mr. Gunn said.

The visitor numbers reflect the true cult following that Mr. Dambo’s work has generated. Bettina August, 64, a retired filmmaker, drove from Florida to Tupper Lake in a converted minivan on her quest to see all of Mr. Dambo’s trolls. She’s at 39 and counting.

After building film sets for 25 years, Ms. August said she thinks the trolls are unique because of their grand size and the conceptual design that went into creating the experience of finding them.

“The thought process of it is amazing to me,” she said. “And it gives me an excuse to travel.”

GENDEBIEN CAMPAIGN SAYS CANDIDATE WAS NEVER SUBJECT IN STATE POLICE COMPLAINT - WWNYTV (Watertown, NY) Website

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

GENDEBIEN CAMPAIGN SAYS CANDIDATE WAS NEVER SUBJECT IN STATE POLICE COMPLAINT

WWNYTV (Watertown, NY)

10/8/26

New York State Police says it has closed its investigation into a complaint of illegal dumping on Five Mile Line road in the town of Lisbon.

That’s the same road where Congressional candidate Blake Gendebien has a farm and was the subject of an illegal dumping complaint filed with the Department of Environmental Conservation. In that complaint, the DEC found no violations.

With the state police case, it never gave further information to indicate whose property was in the complaint, but its statement Thursday seemed to make a connection to Gendebien’s farm.

That statement said, “The New York State Police has closed its investigation into a complaint of illegal dumping on Five Mile Line road in the town of Lisbon. This complaint was previously investigated the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which determined that no violations were committed.”

The Gendebien campaign put out a statement Thursday evening saying, “the complaint Anthony Constantino tried to fraudulently instigate against Blake Gendebien is closed, and that Gendebien was never the subject of any criminal investigation.”

It added, “The entity troopers were investigating is located on the same street as Gendebien’s farm but has absolutely no affiliation with him.”

This started Monday when the Republican candidate in the 21st Congressional District, Anthony Constantino, held a news conference and provided drone shots of farmland showing what Constantino said was trash polluting the land and water on Gendebien’s property.

Gendebien’s statement Thursday said, “The confirmation exposes Constantino’s recent press conference for what it was: a phony, staged event built on a lie. He summoned reporters, stood before the cameras, and told voters something that was never true. In the process, he dragged local media through a manufactured story and forced the State Police and the DEC to set aside their real work.”

GENDEBIEN SPEAKS WITH VETERANS AT SARANAC LAKE EVENT - The Adirondack Daily Enterprise (Saranac Lake, NY) Website

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

GENDEBIEN SPEAKS WITH VETERANS AT SARANAC LAKE EVENT

Adirondack Daily Enterprise (Saranac Lake, NY)

10/7/26

As campaign season enters its home stretch, Democratic NY-21 candidate Blake Gendebien made his case at the Saranac Lake Veterans of Foreign Wars post on Monday.

Speaking to around 20 veterans and family members of those who served, the St. Lawrence County dairy farmer said Congress should be required to vote on military actions and that it should act on preserving Social Security benefits. Despite audience requests, Gendebien again declined to debate his opponent on the ballot before the election.

Post Adjutant David Staszak said the invitation to speak at the veterans-only event was extended to both congressional candidates on the ballot for this race. Republican Anthony Constantino has not replied yet, but the offer is still open, Staszak said.

Independent write-in candidates Christopher Schmidt and Brian Rouleau are also seeking the position, which will be decided in the Nov. 3 general election.

War and VA benefits

Only 16% of the nation's population lives in rural areas, yet this group accounts for almost 50% of military recruits, Gendebien told the assembled veterans.

“I think that our congressmen and women should have a vote before our young men and women are sent into conflicts overseas,” he said. “We disproportionately pay the price in rural America for bad decisions in D.C.”

This statement likely got the most applause in the meeting.

“We’ll put our bodies on the line, but it’s got to be principled, it’s got to be virtuous, it’s got to be honest and it’s got to be clear,” Army veteran Rev. Eric Olsen said. “And you'd better have a plan going in, because you’ve got to get out again.

“We are not portrayed for what we stood for any longer,” Olsen added. “We don’t see the virtue anymore in what we’re doing. We don’t see the honesty, we don’t see the clarity, we don't see the transparency.”

Joe Fisher, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said there are new proposed rules in the Department of Veterans Affairs which could reduce tinnitus and sleep apnea benefit ratings for future veterans.

Looking to the future of the military, he said representatives should make sure these benefits are not eroded. The next generation of soldiers need them, he said.

Olsen said that veterans’ benefits were hard-fought. Previous generations didn’t have them. It took politicians learning about their needs and fighting for them.

Fort Drum is the only active duty military base in the country without an on-base inpatient hospital. As some North Country hospitals file for bankruptcy, Gendebien said military families have to travel for hours to other cities for care, which can be expensive and stressful.

Attendees also voiced concerns over news that Social Security payments could be cut in 2030 as it runs low on funds, a depletion sped up by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to the centrist Bipartisan Policy Center think tank.

Gendebien said there has not been a bipartisan commission on the future of Social Security since the 1980s. He puts the blame on Congress being too polarized to work together.

“We can not be giving tax breaks to billionaires and multinational corporations at the expense of the rest of us, at the expense of our healthcare,” Gendebien said.

He pointed out that $11 trillion of the nation’s $40 trillion debt accumulated during Trump’s two terms of presidency.

“We have to be more responsible. We have to be more conservative. But breaking up the promise we made to seniors and veterans in order to save money is unacceptable,” Gendebien said.

Debate

Several of the veterans — either Gendebien voters or independents listening to both candidates — asked Gendebien to debate Constantino after news this week that he would not attend the CBS6 debate in Albany scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Gendebien said they were planning a debate in September, but alleged Constantino was making “wild demands” like having Roger Stone moderate or holding it in a 15,000 seat stadium.

“He clearly wasn’t serious about a debate,” Gendebien said.

Now, he says the two days proposed for the debates do not work for him, and that October is filled up with events like the one at the VFW.

Still, veterans asked him to reconsider.

Allegations

At a rally in Saranac Lake on Sunday, Constantino accused Gendebien of wanting to change babies’ gender six weeks after they get out of the womb and said his opponent thinks it's OK to kill babies two or three days before they’re born.

“Those are ridiculous lies that he’s saying because he doesn’t want to talk about the real issues,” Gendebien said Monday.

He alleged that Trump’s policies are hurting veterans, farmers, elderly people and business owners, and that these accusations are meant to distract people.

Constantino also called Gendebien a socialist. During the meeting, Gendebien described himself as a “conservative free-market capitalist Democrat.”

“My wife is Cuban. She escaped Cuba as a kid. I don’t think she ran from communism in order to marry a communist,” he later told the press.

Gendebien alleged that Constantino doesn’t live in the district and is “pretending” to be from the North Country. Constantino is best known for his sticker factory in Amsterdam where he grew up, which is just outside of the district boundary, but he has a primary residence in Edinburg, which is inside the district.

Goals

Gendebien said he’d like to sit on the House Armed Service and Agricultural committees.

If elected, he’d like to work on passing a new farm bill first thing. The latest extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expired last week.

Gendebien said he also wants to restore the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits that were cut in the Big Beautiful Bill due to alleged widespread fraud, which he said would benefit both farmers and growing children.

“We shouldn’t be taking food away from them,” he said. “We need to make sure nobody goes hungry.”

Gendebien also supports rolling back that bill’s Medicaid cuts which were made due to alleged widespread fraud and restoring the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies.

Gendebien said he’s a Second Amendment supporter. He and his wife have pistol permits and own rifles themselves. He said he believes in safe gun storage laws and background checks, but not an assault weapons ban.

On data centers for artificial intelligence expansion, Gendebien said he agrees with New York’s one-year moratorium on hyperscale centers.

He said leaders need to make sure rural resources are not taken advantage of as they have before. Electric ratepayers should not pay for the increases in electric demand, he said, adding that he believes data centers need to provide their own power.

Gendebien believes the NY-21 district has been “forgotten.”

“There is no deep, dark hole in my soul that needs to be (in Washington D.C.) and needs to be there permanently like our previous representation,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik was a diligent voter through the majority of her time in Congress — often having a 100% voting record and only missing one to three votes a session if she did.

But since the start of 2025 — shortly before her nomination to be the United Nations ambassador was withdrawn and before her short-lived candidacy for New York governor — she has missed 16% of House votes, 110 out of 676 votes, falling well into the 90th percentile of missed votes.

Early voting for the election begins on Oct. 24.

ANCA names new executive director - North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY) Website

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

ANCA NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY)

10/7/26

The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) Board of Directors has named the nonpofit's next executive director.

Emily Nobel Maxwell of Jay will begin on Thursday, Oct. 15. She succeeds Elizabeth Cooper, who led ANCA for five years and left the organization in July to serve as executive director of Feeding New York State.

According to a press release, Nobel Maxwell currently leads Nobel Cause Consulting, which helps organizations and leaders advance social and environmental justice. She also recently served as senior advisor at City Parks Foundation, where she raised funds and provided expertise to advance New York City’s first citywide Urban Forest Plan. Prior to that, she led The Nature Conservancy's inaugural New York Cities program for more than a decade.

Nobel Maxwell earned a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from The New School and a master’s degree in Natural Resource Policy and Behavior with a specialization in Environmental Justice from the University of Michigan.

Nobel Maxwell will lead implementation of ANCA’s 2026-2028 strategic plan, "Building Shared Prosperity," and will focus on strengthening the organization, expanding investment in communities, and building philanthropic and public support.

“I am drawn to ANCA by the brilliance and passion of ANCA’s staff, partners and the people who call the North Country home, and the incredible opportunity to bolster the region in the face of an ever-evolving landscape,” Nobel Maxwell said in a statement. “ANCA connects the strength of our communities with practical opportunities for businesses and residents. I look forward to learning from ANCA’s team and partners, while bringing my experience in building cross-sector partnerships and leading community-centered initiatives to this work, and to helping grow the resources that make it possible.”

Interim Executive Director Zach Hobbs said Nobel Maxwell "has the experience, skills, vision, and energy to lead ANCA to an even fuller realization of our North Country for All vision."

"I’m confident she will strengthen our culture, fund development and program leadership, and empower our team to grow safety, affordability, and prosperity for our region’s businesses, organizations, communities, and residents," Hobbs added.

LGLC receives NYS CPP grants for land acquisition and education - The Sun Community News (Elizabethtown, NY) Website

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

LGLC RECEIVES NYS CPP GRANTS FOR LAND ACQUISITION AND EDUCATION

The Sun Community News (Elizabethtown, NY)

10/7/26

The Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) has been awarded two grants totaling $74,742 from the New York State Conservation Partnership Program (CPP) to help further its mission to protect the land that protects Lake George.

One grant of $40,742 will reimburse transaction costs in the acquisition of the 158-acre Spruce Mountain Addition property in the Town of Dresden, purchased by the LGLC in January 2026.

The Spruce Mountain Addition contains more than 1,100 feet of stream corridor, including the headwaters of an unnamed tributary that flows year-round into Lake George by the LGLC’s Leeming Jelliffe Preserve in Huletts Landing. The Addition is adjacent to the 366-acre Spruce Mountain parcel owned by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), with more than a quarter of a mile of shared boundary. This land, in turn, shares a boundary with the Leeming Jelliffe Preserve. Together, this connected stretch of land provides critical habitat for a variety of wildlife, including the timber rattlesnake, a threatened species in New York State.

A second grant of $34,000 will be used for educational and interpretive signage at the multi-use Dennis L. Dickinson Recreation Park at the McPhillips Preserve. The 317-acre Preserve was permanently protected through a partnership between the LGLC and the towns of Lake George and Queensbury in 2018. The recreation park has several miles of professionally built trails for mountain biking and hiking and an outdoor education pavilion, which will be publicly unveiled in spring of 2027.

Including this latest round of awards, the LGLC has received 29 CPP grants since 2004, totaling more than $760,000. The CPP grants are supported by the State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) and will leverage an additional $2.2 million in private and local funding. The Land Trust Alliance administers the program in coordination with DEC.

NEW MARIST POLL: HOCHUL LEADS BLAKEMAN BY 11 POINTS AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS - North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY) Website

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

NEW MARIST POLL: HOCHUL LEADS BLAKEMAN BY 11 POINTS AMONG REGISTERED VOTERS

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY)

10/7/26

A new Marist Poll released Wednesday shows Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul leads her Republican opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, by double-digits among registered voters.

Fifty-three percent of the more than 1,300 respondents say they'll support Hochul, while 42% say they’ll go for Blakeman. Another 5% remain undecided.

Hochul leads in New York City with 69% of the vote, while Blakeman has the advantage Upstate with 51%.

The Marist Poll conducted the survey between Oct. 1 and Oct. 4. It comes two weeks after a pair of other polls told different stories about the state of the governor’s race. On Sept. 23, Siena University reported Hochul had a relatively slim 9-point lead over Blakeman, while Quinnipiac University found she had a far greater 19-point lead.

Split Screen: Gendebien skips NY21 debate for Plattsburgh campaign event, Constantino takes questions from CBS 6 anchor - NNY 360 (Watertown, NY) Website

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

SPLIT SCREEN: GENDEBIEN SKIPS NY21 DEBATE FOR PLATTSBURGH CAMPAIGN EVENT, CONSTANTINO TAKES QUESTIONS FROM CBS 6 ANCHOR

NNY 360 (Watertown, NY)

10/7/26

The candidates for New York’s 21st District spent Tuesday afternoon in vastly different situations.

While Republican Anthony T. Constantino appeared as the only participant in what was meant to be a debate on an Albany-area news station, Democrat Blake Gendebien was opening a joint Democratic campaign office in Plattsburgh, Clinton County.

In Niskayuna, Schenectady County, Constantino took to the airwaves at 5:30 p.m. for a conversation with CBS 6, News Channel 13’s Tom Eschen. It had been designed as a debate; a vacant podium with four printed-out “Reserved for Blake Gendebien” signs sat next to Constantino for the length of what turned out to be more of an interview.

With Gendebien absent, the program turned into more of an interview, and opened with a conversation about tariffs, where Constantino was asked what he would do about the American trade war with Canada and how he would seek to influence the president’s policy of tariffs and bans on Canadian imports. Constantino’s response was that he’s the only candidate close to the President to have an impact in this race, and then said he plans to head north to discuss the issue with his Canadian friend, comedian Ricky Berwick.

“I’m actually leaving here and headed straight to Canada to meet with my friend Ricky Berwick to understand the needs of, to understand this issue and to work on building a relationship with Canada,” he said.

Constantino has long appeared in videos and posts online with Berwick, and was recently criticized by the statewide association of independent living centers that support disabled people for appearing in a video with Berwick in 2024 that involved the repeated use of slurs to intellectually disabled people.

At times the interview turned more into a debate between Constantino and the host, as Constantino repeated points that Eschen disputed as incomplete or inaccurate.

In a conversation about environmental regulations, Constantino took the chance to attack his absent opponent for claims he recently leveled that Gendebien is illegally dumping and polluting on his farm in St. Lawrence County. According to his campaign, Constantino hired an independent investigator who captured images of construction debris, tires and other waste in a pond on Gendebien’s land. He’s also accused Gendebien of dumping cow carcasses on the land; Gendebien runs a dairy farm with hundreds of cows.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation visited the Gendebien farm on Monday after Constantino leveled his claims and found there were no violations on the farm, as Eschen pointed out.

“How did they go out there in one day, and by the way that’s Kathy Hochul’s DEC, and they don’t have jurisdiction over that situation, so that’s a political talking point,” Constantino retorted. “Check the law, it’s a clear violation of state and federal law.”

The state DEC is the main enforcement agency for New York’s pollution and dumping laws and a primary regulator for state environmental farm regulations.

Eschen tried to move on to the topic of fuel prices and the recently signed presidential Executive Order that purports to allow anyone with access to dyed, farm-use only red diesel to use it on the roads. Constantino returned to his allegations of environmental pollution on Gendebien’s farm, arguing that his claims aren’t just allegations, but are true because of the drone surveillance of the property.

About 150 miles north in Plattsburgh, Gendebien started speaking to a small room of active Democrats at almost the exact same time Constantino went on air. He’d spent the day in Essex County, speaking with voters across the district. He was marking the opening of a new coordinated campaign center for the local Democratic candidates from Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul to the local Democratic candidate for county coroner.

Speaking to a small crowd piled into in a suite in a run-down indoor shopping center, Gendebien kept his remarks short, and drew on his experience as a high school basketball coach and likened the race for Congress to a sports season.

“Let me be your coach for a second,” he told the room. “You guys are the best athletes in school today, and it’s easy to be a flashy star, right? You get to be on television, you get to be on social media, you get to be in front of everybody on streaming devices, but that’s not what wins games. What wins games is diving to the floor for a loose ball, getting a skinned up elbow, a skinned up knee. What wins games is staying disciplined and following the plan.”

He also drew on the history of the district, which he called the “breadbasket of the American revolution,” referring to the farms in the region that helped to supply the Continental Army during the war. The farmers who helped to support the Continental Army were penalized by the British when they occupied the region.

“Two-hundred and fifty years later, I think we can honor the work that they did and the sacrifice that they made by hitting the streets, knocking on doors, canvassing and bringing 10 friends to vote on November 3rd,“ he said.

He thanked the roomful of volunteers for the work they were about to start or continue; canvassing, walking door-to-door, distributing yard signs and campaign literature.

In a brief interview with the Watertown Daily Times after his remarks, Gendebien explained that he wasn’t at the CBS 6 debate on Tuesday because his opponent had not agreed to the debate in a timely manner and his schedule had filled up.

“We were ready to debate in September, but he had no interest, or at least his demands were unreasonable,” he said. “A huge stadium, strange moderators, clearly he wasn’t serious.”

CBS 6 has said that Constantino accepted all six dates the station offered for their debate, while Gendebien declined to answer their invitations. They offered to host him at the debate up until the end of air time, offering to accommodate even a late arrival with an extra 30 minutes for the debate.

Gendebien said he believes it’s important to talk to voters in-person and in their communities. When asked if any of the other debates that have been floated, some accepted by Constantino, Gendebien seemed to say none would happen.

“We’re focused on meeting people where they are,” he said.

NY SENATE CANDIDATES SPAR OVER AI DATA CENTERS, IMMIGRATION LAW - WCAX (Burlington, VT) Website

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

NY SENATE CANDIDATES SPAR OVER AI DATA CENTERS, IMMIGRATION LAW

WCAX (Burlington, VT)

10/6/26

Candidates in New York’s 45th Senate District met in a debate on Tuesday, with incumbent Republican Dan Stec facing Glens Falls nurse practitioner and Democrat Melissa Seale ahead of the November election.

A panel asked the candidates several questions, including their thoughts on New York’s one-year AI data center moratorium.

“If there’s adequate energy there, then why shouldn’t it go forward? That should be a decision that’s made locally and not from Albany, which is why I opposed the moratorium,” Stec said.

“The biggest thing is making sure these AI data centers do not impact our communities, the people and the environment,” Seale said.

Both candidates also provided their views on statewide immigration policy. Debate panel member Alek LaShomb: Local Cops, Local Crimes Act passed this year that prohibits local law enforcement from working with federal immigration officials on civil investigations. Do you think this legislation goes far enough or would you like to see this peeled back a little bit?

Melissa Seale: If we are having our community police officers do the work of immigration, which is a federal program, it’s taking away from our communities and I feel it could make them less safe.

Dan Stec: You do not want cops knowing one thing and their brothers and sisters in law enforcement having any ability to work with each other; it’s just unsafe for everybody.

Stec and Seale also said they would work to get a constitutional amendment on former state prisons to voters. That proposal would take three vacant state prisons out of the forest preserve and make them available for development.

“We have a housing crisis; how can we be creative in utilizing these facilities?” Seale said.

While Seale said she doesn’t know how much land should be exchanged for the trio, Stec said he would compromise on a higher amount.

Alek LaShomb: If environmentalists say we want more than two thousand acres for all three back into the forest preserve, would you support that?

Dan Stec: Yes, I would like to know what exactly we are talking about as far as what 2000 acres that is as I am sure they would, but there’s no magic number for me.

DEC clears Gendebien of illegal-dumping complaint - The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) Website

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

DEC CLEARS GENDEBIEN OF ILLEGAL-DUMPING COMPLAINT

The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)

10/6/26

The state Department of Environmental Conservation [DEC] has cleared NY-21 Democratic candidate Blake Gendebien of alleged illegal dumping on a Lisbon property owned by the farmer.

During a Monday press conference in Colonie, Gendebien’s Republican opponent, Anthony Constantino, presented drone footage shot by private investigators over Gendebien’s property that showed tires and debris scattered in a wooded area near a creek.

Constantino called on the state police and DEC to investigate the site for potential illegal dumping.

On Tuesday, the DEC confirmed that the state agency had received a complaint on Sept. 3 about Gendebien’s property on Five Mile Road in Lisbon. DEC agents visited the site and did not spot any violations there, according to the department. The complaint is now closed.

“Anthony Constantino staged a press conference based entirely on a lie, and he knew it," Gendebien declared in a statement on Tuesday. "Reporters confirmed exactly what we said from the start — the Department of Environmental Conservation found no merit to the complaint and closed the case several weeks ago. Constantino knew the investigation had been discredited, but he dragged the media out in a desperate attempt to save his floundering campaign instead of talking about the issues facing Northern [New York] families."

The site is located approximately 600 yards from the Gendebien’s Twin Mill Farms in Ogdensburg.

Constantino said that he hired Plattsburgh-based Brooks Investigations Group to conduct opposition research on Gendebien using campaign funds.

"The DEC doesn't have jurisdiction to clear a Democrat candidate," Constantino noted in a statement Tuesday. "They are a state agency, controlled by Democrats, whose opinion is irrelevant as everyone can clearly see tires thrown into water which violates multiple state and federal laws. I look forward to explaining to voters that the Green New Scammers are pro-pollution who refuse to tell Blake Gendebien to pay to clean up his dump site.”

Gendebien and Constantino are competing to succeed six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik in the 21st district.

Nathan Couture of Brooks Investigation filed a supporting deposition with state police on Oct. 1 detailing allegations made by an unnamed former employee at Gendebien’s Twin Mill Farms.

The employee, who had previously been fired by Gendebien, provided a sworn affidavit to private investigators that alleges that he was directed by Gendebien to “transport deceased cattle to a wooded area behind the farm and dump them over an embankment into an area containing the creek.”

The employee said he believed the creek flowed toward the wooded area, but the private investigators noted that the “actual contact between [cattle] remains and water require independent verification.”

Officials from State Police Troop B did not respond to an inquiry about the matter as of press time.