Leader-Herald |
Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t quite crash the party in Johnstown — she was invited — but she did spend the evening partying with Fulton County Democrats.
Hochul, who faces Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado in a Democratic primary for the nomination for a second full term in the office she’s held since 2021, chatted with more than 100 party faithful and posed for photos.
The committee invited Hochul earlier in the week, said Vice Chair Robin Wentworth, and committee Chair Ed Jasewicz heard she accepted Friday afternoon.
“Ed has been working with her staff for nearly a week,” Wentworth said.
Hochul wasn’t the only celebrity. Blake Gendebien and Dylan Hewitt, who face each other in a primary for the nomination to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik in the 21st Congressional District, were also there, Wentworth said.
The committee honored departing Gloversville Mayor Vincent DeSantis, following a nearly seven-year tenure as mayor, with two years on the city’s common council before that, and two years on the Schenectady Common Council.
Gloversville Supervisor Frank Lauria was also honored for his 46 years in public service, Wentworth said, 24 of which were spent on the Fulton County Board of Supervisors.
“We bought a house, got married and won an election,” all in the same year, Lauria said Wednesday at his last board meeting as a supervisor, and added it wasn’t a job he particularly wanted at the time.
“My boss said ‘I’d like you to run for office.’ I said ‘Absolutely not.’” Lauria said. “Here I am 24 years later.”
Heading into the June primary, Hochul leads Schenectady native Delgado 56% to 13%, according to poll results released last week by the Siena University Research Institute. That’s up from 56%-16% last month.
However, Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said Delgado, who now lives in Rhinebeck, suffers from a lack of familiarity with voters. The poll of 801 registered voters was taken between Dec. 8 and Dec. 12, before Stefanik withdrew from the gubernatorial race.
“Hochul’s favorability rating tilts slightly favorable — only the third in positive territory this year — but she has still yet to crack 50% favorability in a state where 48% of the enrolled voters are Democrats,” Greenberg said.
Forty-three percent of respondents favored Hochul’s in the December poll, with 41% disliking; that’s slightly better than November’s 43%-45% split. Her job approval rating also rose slightly to 52% approving and 39% disapproving, from 52% to 43%.
Another beverage option could soon be in school cafeterias across the nation if President Donald Trump signs the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act as expected.
The Senate passed the legislation in late November and the House passed the bill Monday, shortly after Sen. Chuck Schumer visited a Valatie farm to speak about the bill.
“The kids like drinking it a lot better, so they drink more of it,” Schumer said of reduced-fat and whole milk. “With fewer options and no whole milk, fewer students chose to drink milk, and that was bad for anybody.”
According to Schumer, the act fixes a rule went into effect in 2012 and brings whole “milk back to school lunches and students across the country.”
The bill is on its way to the president’s desk for his signature.
The 2012 whole milk ban was part of a broader federal push for healthier school lunches led by then-first lady Michelle Obama.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National School Lunch Program serves nearly 30 million students daily and accounts for about 7.5% of U.S. fluid milk sales, making its standards influential. In 2012, USDA rules under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act restricted school milk to fat-free or 1%, banning whole and 2% options. Later updates allowed 1% flavored milk, but higher-fat varieties remain prohibited.
Dairy industry praised the announcement
“We are grateful to our champions in the Senate and House for taking action to get this bill across the finish line,” Keith Kimball, Northeast Dairy Producers Association chairperson told The Daily Gazette.
“We look forward to it being signed into law,........