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Register-Star Copyright 2020, Columbia-Greene Media Volume 236, No. 9
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Hard road ahead Impeachment, war powers dominate Congress, A2
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2020
DA, defense rest their cases
n FORECAST WEATHER FOR HUDSON/CA TODAY TONIGHT WED
By Amanda Purcell Columbia-Greene Media Brief afternoon showers
HIGH 43
Areas of low Partly sunny clouds and mild
LOW 34
47 32
Complete weather, A2
n SPORTS
HUDSON — The defense and prosecution rested their cases Monday in Columbia County Court in the trial against Barry Goldstein, who is accused of hiring a Stuyvesant man to burn down his home for insurance money. Goldstein, 76, of Stockport, was arraigned Nov. 14, 2018 — more than a year after the fire — on charges of first-degree insurance fraud, a class B felony; third-degree arson, a class C felony; and first-degree
reckless endangerment, a class D felony. Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka is prosecuting the case, alongside Assistant District Attorney Joyce Crawford. The prosecution argued that William Travis, 33, of Stuyvesant Falls, burned down the home at 290 County Route 25 for Goldstein, who wanted to collect $1 million after learning from a real estate agent that his home would sell for $300,000. Travis testified Tuesday that, on Oct. 1, 2017, he used a
can of denatured alcohol and a dime-store lighter to set fire to some boxes in the attic and ran out of the house. A representative of Goldstein’s alarm company testified that the home’s burglar alarm system was not set at the time of the fire. Days prior, Travis said Goldstein showed him how to spread the denatured alcohol on the third floor. He also allegedly broke a light bulb to claim squirrels were responsible for igniting the blaze. See DA A8
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Stockport firefighters respond to a blaze at 290 County Route 25 in Stockport on Oct. 1., 2017.
Lawmakers ramp up fight for vaping ban By Massarah Mikati Johnson Newspapers
Patroon Conference Maple Hill seizes sole possession of first place PAGE B1
n REGION
Generational home destroyed
MASSARAH MIKATI/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-67, the assembly sponsor of the bill banning e-cigarettes, speaks at a press conference Monday.
Flames level farmhouse in same family for years PAGE A3
n REGION
Two added to housing board Catskill Housing Authority names Hernandez, Brantley PAGE A3
MASSARAH MIKATI/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA
State Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-27, speaks to reporters at a press conference about the fight to ban flavored tobacco sales in the state.
n INDEX Region Opinion State/Nation Obituaries Sports Classified Comics/Advice
A3 A4 A5 A5 B1 B4-5 B7-8
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ALBANY — A few days after a Supreme Court judge issued a temporary injunction on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive ban on flavored electronic cigarettes, New York legislators gathered with activists, educators and medical providers in Albany to push for the passage of two bills that would effectively ban e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco. “This is about ... stopping the next generation of kids from becoming addicted to cigarettes, nicotine, cigars, chewing tobacco and everything else that is meant to line the pockets of companies who don’t care about the effects of their insidious campaigns on the health of youth,” Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-67, the assembly sponsor of the bill banning e-cigarettes, said at a press conference Monday. Data shows that as the e-cigarette and flavored tobacco industry focuses its advertising campaigns on youth, usage of these products among the population has skyrocketed. According to 2018 statistics, about 400,000 middle and high school students in New York have tried vaping, about half of which vaped in the previous three years. Nationwide, there are 3 million more kids vaping today than there were two years ago. Cuomo announced in September a ban on e-cigarettes flavored with anything other than tobacco, and followed up in December with the release of a legislation proposal that would make the ban law, in addition to barring vaping advertisements targeting young populations. The ban was challenged in New York Supreme Court by Vapor Technology Association, who ultimately won the lawsuit in a decision filed Jan. 10 that issued a preliminary injunction on the ban. In her decision, Acting Supreme Court Justice Catherine Cholakis wrote she is not in any way “trivializing the concern” about e-cigarettes, but that See VAPING A8
Senate Democrats remove voting barriers By Massarah Mikati Johnson Newspapers
ALBANY — The state Senate Democratic Majority proposed and passed a package of voting reform bills during the Senate’s first day of session. The package of nine bills includes establishing automatic voter registration, requiring polling locations on college and university campuses, and ensuring at least one early-voting location in each county. “As elected officials, we should not fear making it easier for eligible voters to vote. We should welcome it,” Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-35, said at a press conference Thursday. “Easing access to voting provides the encouragement New Yorkers need to move forward.” The passage of these bills comes a
BRANT SANDERLIN/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/TNS
The New York State Senate has passed a package of bills aimed at improving access to voting.
year after the Senate Democratic Majority passed its first round of voting
reforms, including the establishment of early voting and allowing for
same-day voter registration. At the press conference, legislators said the new package is an essential expansion and improvement of the work they accomplished last year. “A lot of folks have said Albany is dysfunctional, but to me this is a perfect example of what a functional government should look like,” said Sen. Zellnor Myrie, D-20. “This is going to put us at the forefront of involving as many people in our democracy as possible.” Included in the package is a bill sponsored by Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, D-12, that would automatically register people to vote as they interact with the Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of See VOTING A8