TOP LOCAL News
By NYVT MEDIA
March 12, 2025
By NANCY JANE KERN FOR WHATEVER REASON Amber the cat wandered from a neighboring farm and picked our farm to live. Fortunately for us, her owner said we could keep her. She was a brindled black and yellow flecked short hair with a somewhat prickly disposition, and her yellow eyes (for which she ...
By BRENDA SHUFELT, History Room Coordinator THE HUDSON AREA LIBRARY History Room has monthly local history talks you’ve probably read about in this newspaper but also offers free research services. These requests are answered by dedicated and knowledgeable staff and volunteers. Many requests ...
HUDSON—Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murell declared a State of Emergency for the county beginning at 4 p.m. March 11, banning all outside burning. The ban continues through March 16, when the New York State Burn Ban takes effect. “The State of Emergency has been declared ...
By DIANE VALDEN HUDSON—On February 25, State Police investigators from the Livingston barracks arrested two people for allegedly stealing more than $2,220 from an elderly victim’s bank account and $690 in food stamp benefits. An investigation determined that Samantha Mowris, age 46, of ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--A new manager, a new commissioner, and a graduation speech by Executive Director Jeffrey Dodson highlighted the Hudson Housing Authority (HHA) Board of Commissioners meetings in January and February. The HHA runs the 135-unit income-restricted Bliss Tower and ...
By DIANE VALDEN ANCRAM—Though the evening was peppered with heated remarks and the Town Supervisor walked out, board members were still able to adopt several notable resolutions at the February 20 Town Board meeting. Just before the start of the meeting, the board conducted a public hearing ...
By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY KINDERHOOK--The Kinderhook Library hosted the African American Archives of Columbia County (AAACC) for an information session about the organization on Sunday, February 23. The three founders - Victoria Jimpson-Fludd, executive director; Lisa Fludd-Smith, deputy ...
By DEBORAH E. LANS HUDSON--Imagine this: you are an unauthorized resident of the United States living in Hudson. Fleeing gang violence and crushing poverty in El Salvador, you fled to the U.S. with your two children, an infant and a five-year old. Along the way, in Mexico, your oldest was ...
The eighth edition of the Hudson Oakdale Plunge was held on Saturday, March 1. Proceeds from the event benefit the Hudson Fire Department all volunteer Water Rescue and Dive Team, the Hudson Youth Department Waterfront Program, and new this year, the Perfect Ten After School program for girls.
CHATHAM--In late 2024, the Crandell Theatre, 48 Main Street, temporarily closed to begin a major renovation and restoration project. According to the non-profit theater’s website, the building will be returned “to its original Spanish Renaissance splendor but the renovation will also bring several ...
By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY THE COLUMBIA COUNTY Libraries Association sponsored the webinar “The Roosevelts, Race, and Civil Rights” via Zoom February 10. Jeff Urbin, educator at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, was the featured speaker. An exhibit, “Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--On February 12, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors passed a local law extending the county property tax reduction for emergency service workers to those serving outside of their locality of residence, including “neighboring” counties. If somebody qualifies ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--Columbia County's bus service is slated to continue and perhaps expand this year, though the future of some service is uncertain starting next year. On February 12, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors extended contracts with two companies to run the county's ...
By MELANIE LEKOCEVIC and EJ CONZOLA Capital Region Independent Media COXSACKIE—Corrections officers at prisons around the state continued striking all last week and through the weekend, and returned to the picket line February 24. At press time that day, there was no resolution to the ...
SPENCERTOWN–Spencertown Academy Arts Center, in collaboration with Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy, announces “Gee’s Bend: The Next Generation” an exhibition of more than 30 quilts, along with talks, workshops, and demonstrations by the celebrated makers, from July 11 through August 3. This is the ...
By DEBORAH E. LANS HUDSON--The truth is that no one is untouched by mental health disorders. Some are more serious than others, and some are manifested by substance use disorders. One in every five individuals (roughly 60 million Americans) lives with a mental health disorder at some time in ...
By DIANE VALDEN COPAKE—It’s back to the drawing board for Hecate Energy as its latest permit application for a smaller, yet still controversial industrial-scale solar project was found deficient in many areas last week. In a February 21 letter to Hecate Energy’s Shepherd’s Run Solar Project ...
By NANCY JANE KERN IN 1942 COLUMBIA naturalist Alan Devoe gave a grim description of this month of winter in his book “Lives Around Us.” He wrote, “February, none but the hardiest and most watchful creatures of outdoors can survive this season. This time of snows and winds and icy coldness, ...
By EMILIA TEASDALEKINDERHOOK—The Ichabod Crane School District held the first of two forums on safe and responsible cell phone use for students on February 13. About 15 people attended the meeting, a mix of adults and students, with Superintendent Marie Digirolamo, High School Principal Craig ...
By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY Continued from ‘Van Buren, new book looks at his history’ FROM DAY 1, Martin Van Buren’s presidency was fraught with economic crises fomenting the Panic of 1837, international clashes with Canada, Mexico and Spain, and lingering domestic fallout over Indian removal ...
By DEBORAH E. LANS AUSTERLITZ--In late January Scenic Hudson Land Trust and its partners entered into conservation easements that will permanently protect more than 600 acres in the county at two sites: in Austerlitz, at Steepletop, the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s property, and in Taghkanic, ...
PHOTOS BY DAVID LEE Capital Region Independent MediaFebruary 25, 2025The Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC) hosted an archery workshop at the New Lebanon Junior-Senior High School on Friday, February 21. Students were out for winter break, but the school's archery coach allowed participants to use the ...
By DIANE VALDEN HILLSDALE—A 77-year-old Hillsdale man was indicted by a Columbia County grand jury February 14 on 66 counts relating to sexual assaults stemming from alleged incidents dating back to 2011 and involving multiple victims, according to a press release from the Columbia County ...
HUDSON--The Columbia County Board of Supervisors gave permission for juvenile hunting licenses, authorized a senior citizen survey, and adopted new workplace waste reduction and road fill disposal policies at its meeting July 9. During the meeting, members of the general public rallied to put the ...
By DOUG LaROCQUE NYVT Media NEW LEBANON – Some proposed changes to the town codes along with water and sewer for the so-called downtown area were the most prominent points of discussion before the New Lebanon Town Board at their February 11 meeting. A portion of that discussion hearkened ...
By DEBORAH E. LANS HUDSON--The housing crisis is not improving. Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress President Adam Bosch summed up the situation by noting that the American Dream of “Homeownership right now is mathematically out of reach for the majority of our neighbors who do not already own a ...
By DIANE VALDEN ANCRAM—A 150-foot tall “wireless telecommunications facility,” also known as a cell tower is proposed on property at 6534 State Route 22 near the Columbia/Dutchess County line. Anyone interested in seeing exactly where the tower is proposed, how high it will be and where it ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--Eleven Warren Street, concern for people at risk for losing public assistance, a conservation area in Ghent, buses, opioid settlement funds, tax reductions for emergency workers, Columbia-Greene Community College, and road construction projects received attention at ...