After years of wrangling, a law easing the zoning regulations on farmstands has finally been passed in the town of Shandaken, at a hearing held tonight on the issue.

Town board member Alfie Higley Jr., who along with his father Al Higley runs a farmstand that has been at the heart of the controversy over the issue, did not attend the meeting or vote on the new law.

Our reporter, Rusty Mae Moore, was at tonight's hearing. We'll have a full story tomorrow.

Above: A YouTube video made in tribute to the destroyed Old Blenheim Bridge, destroyed on August 28, 2011 by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene.

Poor Blenheim. In order to get federal money to rebuild its bridge, the town needs to be on the National Register of Historic Places. But in order to be on the register, Blenheim needs...yep, a bridge.

The town of Blenheim lost its biggest claim to fame in last year's floods: The 169-year-old Old Blenheim Bridge, which at 210 feet had the largest span of any single-span covered bridge in the world.

Now, according to several recent news accounts, the spot where the Old Blenheim Bridge once stood may lose its designation as a national historic landmark. CBS 6 Albany reports:

In recent weeks, two different companies have publicly discussed plans for natural gas pipelines that would cross through the Leatherstocking region and northern Catskills in upstate New York. The prospect of a major new natural gas pipeline in the region has caused some uproar among local officials who fear the specter of land rights being taken by eminent domain.

Either pipeline, if built, would connect gas producing facilities in Pennsylvania to existing interstate natural gas pipelines, with the goal of getting more Marcellus shale gas to markets in New York and New England.

One pipeline, dubbed the "Constitution Pipeline," was announced yesterday by Cabot Oil & Gas and Williams Partners LP. From the press release:

A fire early this morning destroyed the Slice of Athens pizza parlor and pub, at 29 South Washington Street in the Greene County village of Athens.

The fire also destroyed some phone lines, as well as a fiberoptic cable that supplies cable television and internet to much of Columbia County. According to the Facebook page of Mid-Hudson Cablevision, the company that owns the cable, a crew is working at the site now, and the company is hoping to restore service soon.

Some Greene County phone service was also affected by the fire. According to John Farrell, director of the Greene County Department of Emergency Services, both the county office building in Catskill and the Catskill Central School District have been affected by phone outages, and service has not yet been restored.

"The report that I have been given says it will be put back into service as soon as possible. There are crews working there now," said Farrell. "Hopefully this afternoon it will be up and running."

A dispatcher at Columbia County 911 said that the county's 911 service had not been affected by the fire.