A spill that shut down a stretch of Route 28 and Ohayo Mountain Road for hours on Tuesday afternoon was messy, but not dangerous, officials say. 

The spill occurred sometime before on Tuesday, when a tractor-trailer traveling in West Hurley began leaking fluid from several large drums. During the response and cleanup, Route 28 was closed for several hours between Route 375 and Zena Road, and Ohayo Mountain Road remained closed into the late afternoon. Onteora Central School District was asked by police to keep children inside while the spill was investigated, and the spill delayed district buses at the end of the school day.  

The substance that spilled was a non-toxic acrylic compound used in magazine processing, Ulster County Emergency Communications director Art Snyder. 

Two upstate New York towns that faced lawsuits over their gas drilling bans have won in appeals court, delivering a major victory to proponents of town "home rule." 

The towns of Dryden and Middlefield faced separate lawsuits seeking to overturn their drilling bans: Dryden from an out-of-state gas company, and Middlefield from a local dairy farmer seeking to lease her land. Both towns prevailed in lower court, but the cases were appealed by the plaintiffs. 

On Thursday, the state appellate division upheld both of the lower court's judgments. Gannett reporter Jon Campbell reports the news for Politics On The Hudson, and notes that the verdict is likely to stand:

A City of Kingston dump truck blocks the Catskill Mountain Railroad tracks near the Washington Avenue intersection in Kingston. Photo taken Saturday, April 27; courtesy of the Catskill Mountain Railroad.

A City of Kingston dump truck recently appeared on the tracks of the Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) in Kingston, blocking the railroad.

The bizarre standoff was the latest showdown in an ongoing battle over the future of the old Ulster and Delaware rail corridor -- with the railroad on one side, and Ulster County Executive Mike Hein and a group of local trail advocates on the other.

Last October, Hein unveiled a plan to put the Kingston end of the CMRR's line out of service, sell most of the county-owned railway tracks for scrap, and build a trail for walking and biking along the rail corridor. The city of Kingston has sided with Hein -- and come out swinging against the railroad.