NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION FIRST-PLACE AWARD FOR GENERAL EXCELLENCE , 2016
Vol . 29 , No 9 MARCH 1 - 7 , 2017 3 3 ONE DOLLAR
MID
HUDSON
TIMES
Maloney pushes for PFOS study
Cool jazz
Page 14
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
Cutting edge art genesis
Page 20
Councilwoman proposes Newburgh become a sanctuary city
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney is calling on the federal government to head a study on the long-term health effects of PFOS exposure . ( Joan Cusack-McGuirk , president and CEO of St . Luke ’ s Cornwall Hospital , and state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker are on the left .)
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
A test group of almost 400 people who drank City of Newburgh water tested with four times the amount of PFOS in their blood than the national average in 2013 and 2014 . That is according to results from the first round of blood tests administered by the New York State Department of Health .
But , due to a lack of research , there is no way to say what effect this may have on human health , according to the DOH . “ We need better science on this ,” said Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney at a press conference held at St . Luke ’ s Cornwall Hospital on Monday .
Maloney will introduce a bill to call on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct a two-year study into the long-term health effects of exposure to perfluorinated chemicals ( PFCs ), including perfluorooctane sulfate ( PFOS ) and perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA ).
“ I encourage Newburgh residents to get tested ,” said New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker . The doctor also urged people to share their blood tests results with health care providers .
Newburgh results , so far The DOH presented the blood test results from the first Continued on page 4
Newburgh City Councilwoman Karen Mejia wants the City of Newburgh to become a sanctuary city . If the Newburgh City Council agrees , it would mean that , except under limited circumstances , federal immigration laws would not be enforced by police in the City of Newburgh .
“ There is no responsibility , from the local perspective , that we have to enforce federal law around immigration ,” said Mejia at a meeting of the city council at City Hall last Karen Meija week .
Mejia ’ s proposal arrives about a month after the Trump administration ’ s failed attempt to implement a ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries , and two weeks after a drug raid that some city residents mistook for an immigration raid .
A draft of the proposed resolution reads , “ Local police and government agencies will not enforce federal immigration law
Continued on page 5
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