TOP LOCAL News
By DIANE VALDEN SARATOGA SPRINGS—On September 11 at about 3 p.m., State Police in Troop K at SP Livingston received a call from concerned family members of James A. Dellea, 48, of Hillsdale, who had made statements that he was going to harm himself. Troopers located Mr. Dellea in the parking ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--Recent developments in Columbia County's confronting substance abuse -- both vaping and opioid -- include funds from a lawsuit against Juul, two County proclamations, and abuse-discouraging education. The county Board of Supervisors authorized the Health ...
By EMILIA TEASDALE VALATIE—The Kinderhook Town Board has agreed to work with Puresky Energy to have the town’s municipal building be part of the company’s community solar program. At the board’s regular meeting on September 9, they approved two motions – that the company would be the community ...
By DOUG LAROCQUE Capital Region Independent Media NEW LEBANON–It was late last year when the former New Lebanon Town Board voted to enter into a contract with the Lebanon Valley Protective Association (LVPA) to lease the former firehouse to house a community center, which opened there last ...
Fifth in a series By DEBORAH E. LANS GHENT--As Brian Fischer, former commissioner of the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC), says, virtually everyone incarcerated in a state facility will be released at some point. (The rate is 95%.) Therefore, “running programs that address and change ...
By DIANE VALDEN COPAKE—The idea of creating a spur from the Harlem Valley Rail Trail to connect with the hamlet of Copake has been considered as part of a larger “revitalization” plan for more than 10 years. Copake Town Supervisor Richard Wolf announced at the August Town Board meeting that ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--The CEO of Columbia Memorial Hospital (CMH) says, “We're a center for excellence,” according to Robin Johnson, an operating room nurse at the hospital, at a meeting with employees hosted by their union, 1199SEIU, and the City of Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson. But ...
WEST TAGHKANIC—Taghkanic Senior Network, a newly-formed committee for the Town of Taghkanic, presents NY FRAUD WATCH with Alexandria Douglas-Bartolone, MPA, sponsored by AARP Speaker's Bureau, at the Taghkanic Firehouse, 631 Old Route 82, September 25, 5:30 to 7 p.m. This free, fun and ...
By NANCY JANE KERN THIS SEASON IS AN AMAZING MIX of beauty and change. Something we rarely consider is one of our traditional senses, smell. Growing up, our farm families of 75 years ago washed up for meals and often left their unique characters alone due to a lack of deodorants. Everyone did ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON—The Columbia County Board of Supervisors approved the 2024-25 Columbia-Greene Community College (C-GCC) operating budget, at its monthly full board meeting August 14. The total budget for 2024-25 is $20.3 million, $172,000 (.9%) more than last year’s budget of $20.1 ...
By THOMAS SHANNON THIS SEPTEMBER MARKS 100 years since students first attended Germantown Central School. The path to creating a centralized public high school in Germantown was a long one. A grammar school operated by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and later ...
Fourth in a series By DEBORAH E. LANS HUDSON--When the three-man debate team from Eastern New York Correctional Facility in the Catskills beat a team from Harvard in 2015, people took notice. The next year, another team of incarcerated people beat debaters from Cambridge University, proving ...
By MELANIE LEKOCEVIC Capital Region Independent Media GREENPORT— Elected officials, EMS and other first responders are pushing for the governor to sign legislation that would reimburse emergency services for on-scene treatment or transport to medical facilities other than hospital emergency ...
By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY MARTIN BARON, RETIRED managing editor of the Washington Post (WP) newspaper, was among several authors hosted at the weekend long 19th Annual Book Festival, August 30 – September 1, at the Spencertown Academy Arts Center. He spoke about his first book, “Collision ...
By DOUG LAROCQUE, Capital Region Independent Media NEW LEBANON–The town’s community center opened in December 2023 in the former Lebanon Vallery Protective Association (LVPA) firehouse on U.S. Route 20 at the corner with Shaker Road. It features a game room and a quiet area for watching TV or ...
By DIANE VALDEN COPAKE—A sleeping man likely owes his life to the actions of two Sheriff’s deputies, who woke him up and got him out of a burning building. According to a press release from Columbia County Sheriff Donald J. Krapf, Deputies Timothy Gladwin and Cody Falkner were on routine ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--The Columbia County Board of Supervisors acted regarding high school sports achievements, short term rentals, 11 Warren Street, firefighting education, Columbia-Greene Community College (CGCC), and student loan payment support at their meeting August 14, where they ...
By NANCY JANE KERN Two male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in my yard fought over the sugar water feeder in May. The females do not have the red throat and are mostly green with a white belly and some gray areas. This helps them remain hidden in the nest and they are less conspicuous. The male’s ...
By DEBORAH E. LANS CHATHAM--It is a truism that the effects of climate change will fall most heavily on the youth of today and tomorrow. Recognizing that there are young leaders “at the forefront of climate action in the Hudson Valley,” Chatham-based Partners for Climate Action (PCA) has just ...
By DIANE VALDEN COPAKE—David A. Grant, Jr., 38, of State Route 23, Craryville was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, fourth degree criminal mischief, all class A misdemeanors, and second degree harassment, a ...
By DIANE VALDEN NEW YORK CITY—Retired longtime Columbia County public servant Paul Czajka died Tuesday evening, September 3 at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City, where he had been hospitalized for several weeks while undergoing cancer treatment, according to his friend since childhood, ...
By DOUG LAROCQUE Capital Region Independent Media NEW LEBANON–At a recent school board meeting, Christopher Harper was appointed the interim school superintendent, replacing Andrew Kourt, who is leaving September 1 to become the superintendent at the Chatham School District. Mr. Harper ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--Columbia Memorial Hospital (CMH) employees explained their demands for higher wages and affordable health insurance, while depicting people leaving for more remunerative jobs, and temporary contractors replacing permanent employees, at a crowded public hearing in ...
Third in a series By DEBORAH E. LANS HUDSON--Numerous studies have concluded that incarceration has little effect on crime in general and indeed may increase an individual’s risk of engaging in crime; incarceration is not only enormously expensive for the state but also for the individuals, ...
By DEAN RIDINGS, CEO | AMERICA'S NEWSPAPERS NOT THAT MANY years ago, the best way you could find out about businesses in town would be through your local newspaper. Your local newspaper is still a great source of advertising information, but if you’re looking for something, chances are you're ...