Leading off today: Gov. Eliot Spitzer has awarded the 2009 Hugh L. Carey Empire State Games to Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties, it was announced today.
The 32nd annual event will be held July 22-26, 2009. The ESGs were last hosted by the Mid-Hudson Valley in 2005. The ESGs bring together nearly 6,000 of New York’s top athletes participating in 28 different Olympic-style sports at the scholastic, open and masters levels.
The Empire State Games program, run by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, was established in 1978 by Governor Hugh L. Carey.
The 2008 ESGs will be held in Binghamton, July 23-27.
Turf wars: Nyack residents will vote on a $16.5 million proposal to upgrade and repair district schools and athletic fields, and the proposition is fast becoming a contentious matter.
Part of the project would involve re-sodding the middle school athletic field and putting artificial turf on one high school field, and the latter is becoming a safety issue.
According to The Journal News,, some activists are pointing to the rubber crumb used as a base for many artificial turf fields as being potentially toxic. They want the proposition split into two parts so that voters can decide separately on the school and athletic improvements.
"I think parents are particularly conflicted," parent Kim Kastens told the paper. "Who wants to vote against new roofs? It makes it very hard when voters are asked to (approve) this package deal. It puts people in a tough situation."
Estimates peg the price of the athletic upgrades anywhere from $2 million to $4 million. The district can get state reimbursement for about a third of the project.
Primetime: A handful of New York scholastic basketball teams will be on ESPN this winter as the cable giant offers up a schedule of at least 15 games involving schools from 12 states.
Among the games on the 2007-08 schedule:
