We speak with New York State Assemblyman Phil Steck, a Democrat from Colonie who is on the Judiciary Committee leading the impeachment inquiry into Gov. Cuomo, and talk about the embattled executive with Philip Bump, national political correspondent for The Washington Post.

Following new masking guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — which is recommending everyone, vaccinated or not, wear masks indoors in areas with high coronavirus spread — more than a third of New York’s counties quickly met that benchmark. In the Hudson Valley, Sullivan County Public Health Director Nancy McGraw is raising awareness about the spread of COVID-19 after cases tripled in just a week.

Next year, New York state will have a new legislative map — and a new way of drawing it. Using the results of the 2020 Census, lines will be redrawn for seats in Albany and Washington — with New York losing one U.S. House member. The Independent Redistricting Commission is holding a series of public meetings to take comment on the process. Richard Rifkin, the legal director for the government law center at Albany Law School, has just published a redistricting explainer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new recommendations Tuesday that vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging. The CDC also recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status. Albany County Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen says she welcomes the change.

When the COVID emergency began in March of 2020, local governments had to quickly adapt. Public meetings across the Northeast migrated to Zoom as states made emergency allowances to open meetings laws. Now that public life is reopening, the chair of the 39-memeber Albany County Legislature says some of those changes should remain. Democrat Andrew Joyce and his colleagues wrote to state lawmakers asking them to consider tweaks to the Open Meetings Law.

Three companies blamed for the pollution of water supplies in and around the Rensselaer County village of Hoosick Falls have agreed to pay $65 million to settle a federal lawsuit in a deal that still needs court approval. We speak with Mayor Rob Allen. And we get an update on PFAS contamination in Rockland County’s water.

The Albany Common Council has passed a series of local fair housing laws introduced by Mayor Kathy Sheehan in March. The Democrat running for a third term says the package allows the buildings department to intervene to make repairs to dwellings rather than declaring them unsafe and displacing residents, with the owner billed for the cost of repairs. The goal is to reduce the number of abandoned buildings in the city. In a first, the measure also forces landlords to demonstrate “good cause” to evict tenants, and prohibits rent increases of more than 5% a year when they are used to circumvent eviction laws. We speak with Mayor Sheehan.

Two years after taking over the Amsterdam Recorder, The Daily Gazette is acquiring the Gloversville Leader-Herald — one of the nation’s last afternoon publications. The Gazette, based in Schenectady, will acquire the Leader-Herald from the Nutting Company. The Gazette’s managing editor will oversee both outlets. Gazette Publisher John DeAugustine says the Leader-Herald will continue to cover Fulton, Hamilton and Montgomery Counties using local journalists. But it will cease afternoon publication within 60 days.

The controversial head of the Massachusetts Republican Party is facing new headwinds. The Boston Globe reports several major donors are threatening to cut ties if Chairman Jim Lyons is not replaced, in a letter obtained by the newspaper. It comes as the 2022 election cycle ramps up in a state where Democrats hold control of the statehouse and most statewide offices except for the governorship. Boston Globe reporter Emma Platoff joins us for more.

The Albany Institute of History and Art says Executive Director Tammis Groft will retire. In the position since 2013, Groft began at the downtown museum as an intern in 1976. Groft, who became chief curator in 1987 and deputy director in 2000, will remain through the transition to a successor. Groft called being executive director “the job of a lifetime.” The museum’s Board of Trustees will launch a national search for a new director.