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This is the Delaware County Newscast. I'm Andrew Cantor. A federal judge has ruled that the lawsuit by the Reporter newspaper against Delaware County can go to trial. The reporter is easily the county's largest paper, but in 2023, county officials decided to punish it because they didn't like its coverage. So they pulled official notices from the paper and put those in the tiny Hancock Herald instead. Well, it's illegal for the government to punish a newspaper for its coverage, so the reporter's parent company sued. So far, the county has spent, seriously, almost half a million dollars on the case rather than simply apologizing and putting the official notices back in the reporter. Now it's headed to a jury trial. If the reporter wins, county officials' shenanigans could cost taxpayers not only tens of thousands of dollars in actual damages, but even more in punitive damages. Not to mention the half mil, it's already spent. Hey, good news out of Delhi. They're having a professional install electrical service to the concession stand at the town pool, rather than have extension cords running across the pool deck. That will make the pool safer, but a lot less exciting. Delaware County taxpayers are looking at a hit in 2027 thanks to the federal government. It's punishing New York State for what it claims are high error rates when it comes to providing SNAP benefits, aka food stamps. The feds are imposing a 15% penalty on the state, and that might get passed down to counties. If it does, that would mean Delaware County would be on the hook for something like 1.5 million bucks next year. FEMA may have been gutted, but it ain't dead. In fact, the agency will be giving Colchester more than 700 grand to make repairs to infrastructure damaged by tropical storm Debbie in 2024. It's also giving Delaware County 104 grand to use to prevent flood damage from the next major storm. Colchester's town board meetings will now be recorded and those videos will be available to the public. The town board didn't authorize live streaming the meetings, though, like some other towns and villages do, saying that the town doesn't have the necessary equipment. Apparently, no one owns an old cell phone and a tripod. Folks in Andes dodged a bullet. The town council had approved the purchase of a truck for its highway department. It looked like a good deal when they found it online, but when Highway Superintendent John Bouton went to look at it, well, like a Tinder date in good lighting, it wasn't quite what he was led to believe. There was salt and sand damage, and the frame itself was starting to rot. Bouton politely passed on the deal, saving Andes 50 grand and a big headache. And there you have it, some of the most interesting news to come out of Delaware County this week. You can always find us at Delconewscast.com. I'm Andrew Cantor. See you next week.