By Chris McKenna Times Herald-Record New York’s top environmental official ended a year-long impasse in a controversial bid to expand the Village of Kiryas Joel by announcing Wednesday that he had chosen Kiryas Joel over the Town of Monroe to oversee a study of the potential environmental impact of the proposal. In an eight-page decision [Read the decision here], state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens concluded that Kiryas Joel had greater “authority as the pr . >>> READ MORE ...

The Chronicle Hudson Valley winner: Kiamesha Lake casino at former Concord site Published Dec 17, 2014 By Nathan Mayberg ALBANY — The casino wheel landed on the town of Thompson Wednesday, shutting out Orange County and ending months of speculation about which Hudson Valley town would be allowed a casino. Thompson, in Sullivan County, was the region’s lone winner for a casino. The New York State Gaming Commission’s Facility Location Board chose the site of the former Concord Ho . >>> READ MORE ...

By Chris McKenna Times Herald-Record [caption id="attachment_1442" align="alignleft" width="198"] Men stand outside Keren Plaza Banquet Hall, Kiryas Joel’s polling station, on election day. The village’s opposition party took stances different than that of the village’s main faction in close elections for Congress and Assembly and the Monroe Town Board race.[/caption] Kiryas Joel’s voting blocs played a significant role Tuesday in close elections for Congress and Ass . >>> READ MORE ...

  By Chris McKenna Times Herald-Record Posted Oct. 26, 2014 The stakes were high last November when a team of poll watchers dispatched by the United Monroe citizens group ventured into a banquet hall and medical building where more than 6,000 Kiryas Joel voters would cast ballots. United Monroe had been campaigning hard for a slate of Town Board candidates running on its ballot line, hoping to wrest control of a deeply unpopular board by outvoting the Hasidic community’s powerful voti . >>> READ MORE ...