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Health officials in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration faced sharp questioning Tuesday at the first legislative hearing examining the water contamination crisis in the upstate village of Hoosick Falls. The hearing, held by the state Senate at a school in Hoosick Falls, is the first of three planned to examine an issue that has dogged Mr. Cuomo’s administration during the past year and led to some of the toughest criticism the Democratic governor has faced since he took office in 2011. (Vilensky, 8/30)

It did not take long for Michael Hickey to find a connection between his father’s cancer and a toxic chemical in this riverside village. “All I typed in was Teflon and cancer, because that’s what was in the factory that was in Hoosick Falls where my father worked,” said Mr. Hickey, an insurance underwriter and lifelong resident here. “It took about five minutes,” he said. It took far longer for government officials to take notice, let alone action, which came partially in response to Mr. Hickey’s efforts to bring attention to the village’s polluted water. (McKinley, 8/30)

The state followed federal guidelines in addressing industrial chemical contamination of a village's drinking water, but the Environmental Protection Agency gave "confusing, changing and inconsistent guidance," New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said Tuesday. At a state Senate hearing on the state's handling of PFOA contamination of the municipal water supply in Hoosick Falls, Zucker said EPA guidelines on maximum levels of the Teflon-related chemical in drinking water are intended to trigger action to reduce it, not to warn against drinking the water. (8/30)

New York state officials claim the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been “counterproductive” in its response to a drinking water contamination crisis in an upstate town. In a Tuesday letter, a pair of officials appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) accused the EPA of causing confusion in its guidances regarding perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been found in elevated levels in the Hoosick Falls drinking water and has been linked to cancer and other serious illnesses. (Cama, 8/30)

Stephanie King, a single mother of five, has adopted a grim routine over the past month: mopping with bleach twice a day and sweeping even more often to remove any dirt her family might have tracked inside. She has a haunted look, and for good reason. Ms. King and other residents of the West Calumet Housing Complex here learned recently that much of the soil outside their homes contained staggering levels of lead, one of the worst threats to children’s health. (Goodnough, 8/30)