Above: We're not sure who Gagnacon is, but we know he wants Gov. Andrew Cuomo to restore $547,818 in state aid to the Onteora Central School District. Photo courtesy of Valerie Havas, a PR specialist for Onteora.

Among the attendees at a Boiceville rally held in protest of steep cuts in state aid to the Onteora Central School District on Saturday: State senator Cecilia Tkaczyk, former Woodstock supervisor Jeff Moran, local children's folksinger "Uncle Rock" Robert Burke Warren, and local parents and PTA representatives. Also a giant robot, who when pressed by a Times Herald-Record reporter, would identify himself only as "Gagnacon."

As the Times Herald-Record notes, Onteora faces a staggering state aid cut of over 7.6 percent in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed 2013-2014 budget, at a time when the district's neediest population is on the rise:

Photo by Flickr user Keith Ivey. Published under Creative Commons license.

Upstate New Yorkers living under the sway of the state's littlest governments go to the polls today, to elect new mayors and village boards or give the incumbents another two years. For most New York State villages, Tuesday, March 19 is Election Day.

Elections in most Catskills villages promise to be a sleepy affair this year, with few challengers on the polls.

In Ulster County, where several villages hold elections at other times in the year, only Saugerties has an election, and none of the four incumbents on the ballot has a challenger. New Paltz will hold elections in May, and Ellenville in November along with the general election.

Scenic route is scenic. Photo of New York State Route 28 by Flickr user Doug Kerr; published under Creative Commons license.

On Tuesday, March 12, the town board of Olive voted 3-2 to approve a resolution in support of a plan to get a 50-mile stretch of Route 28 designated by New York State as a scenic byway. 

The Times Herald-Record reports that a Saturday evening car crash on Route 42 in Fallsburg claimed the life of an 18-year-old Woodbourne resident, after the car she was riding in struck a tree:

Police say Franseca Torres, 18, was killed and a second passenger, John Rodriguez, 31, of the Bronx, was taken by ambulance to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. He was in critical but stable condition with swelling of the brain, police say. It is unclear if the two were wearing seatbelts.

Spring may be due to kick off officially in just a couple of days, but winter isn't done with the Catskills yet. Starting tonight, the National Weather Service warns, we're in for a round of snow and sleet, with accumulations of up to eight inches in parts of the Catskills.

A winter storm warning issued by NWS Albany calls for four to eight inches of heavy snow and up to a quarter-inch of ice in Greene and Ulster Counties, beginning early this evening and continuing into early Tuesday morning. The storm will start out as snow and change over to sleet and ice overnight, with rain in the more low-lying areas.