Jonathan Gordon

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Apr 21, 2024, 4:24 PM

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Updated

This weekend's Power & Politics will cover three topics ranging from education, the environment and the results of a local election.

STATE EDUCATION FUNDING

This week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the state was backing away from cuts to school aid.

The decision came as a big relief to school districts across the Hudson Valley, which are tweaking their budgets for next year.

Hochul also announced plans to reanalyze the formula used to dole out state aid starting next year.

White Plains Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Ricca said his district is awaiting the final details in the state budget.

"If those supports are put back into place we're going to be able to enhance our programming in ways we didn't anticipate we'd be able to it this year," he said.

EPA WATER STANDARDS

Last week, the White House implemented a first-in-the-nation water drinking standard to filter out harmful forever chemicals known as PFAS. The chemicals are well-known for causing chronic illnesses and cancer.

Many Hudson Valley communities have identified PFAS in their drinking water supply despite New York having one of the strictest water standards in the country.

The new regulations will require utilities to filter out PFAS to the lowest measurable amount possible.

Dan Shapley, an environmental expert with Riverkeeper, said this will be a big improvement for our local water quality.

"These are standards that we had advocated for, so we are overall really pleased to see the EPA take this step. It's really important for the Hudson Valley because we have unfortunately seen a lot of communities with detections of these chemicals," he said.

YORKTOWN SPECIAL ELECTION

Acting Supervisor Ed Lachterman, a Republican, defeated Democratic candidate Jann Mirchandani to become Yorktown's new town supervisor.

Lachterman will fill out the remainder of Tom Diana's term after Diana unexpectedly died less than a week after he was sworn into office.

Lachterman called his victory bittersweet.

"The game hasn't changed just my position per se and even from there, from January 5th, I've been doing my best to step in for Tom and fill his shoes which are large shoes to fill," he said.