TOP LOCAL News
By NYVT MEDIA
October 21, 2024
By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY THE STATELINE STRIKERS, a women’s soccer team, are Iceland bound for a one-day championship tournament November 9. Five women’s teams – four from the USA -- will compete in 10 to 12-minute rounds. The Strikers are guaranteed three games. They will compete in the 30+ ...
At this year’s New York State Annual Fallen Firefighter Memorial ceremony, held inside the Empire State Convention Center in Albany, Ancram Volunteer Firefighter Stewart “Stewie” Guy Hunt was among those honored for their service, October 8. Firefighter Hunt died in the line of duty June 15, 2023.
By NANCY JANE KERN It is now fall and beautiful wildflowers are a nice addition to the colorful leaves and part of the last flash of color before the snow comes. Roadsides are great places to look for flowers. One of the most spectacular and easy to identify is the New England Aster. It is ...
CHATHAM--The Chatham Board of Education recently honored Chatham Middle School Nurse Kate Juliano, Assistant Principal Michael Stead, Teacher Aide Michael Zwingelberg, and Assistant Supervisor of Transportation Steve Oleynek for their quick thinking and life-saving actions when one of their fellow ...
By DIANE VALDEN COPAKE—Three people were hurt in a two-vehicle crash at 159 Yonderview Road, September 27 at 4:52 p.m. Hillsdale firefighters, the Community Rescue Squad and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched. Haunna Sniffen, 26, of Millerton was driving a 2012 ...
By DOUG LA ROCQUE Capital Region Independent Media NEW LEBANON–Town Supervisor Tistrya Houghtling has put forth the 2025 tentative town budget. It contains a 0.47 cut in the amount of money to be raised by taxes, partially because it calls for the use of $300,00 from the unexpended fund ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--On September 11 the Columbia County Board of Supervisors both authorized the Sheriff's Office to establish an Animal Abuser Registry for protecting companion animals and urged US legislators to oppose a bill that would threaten state laws for protecting commercial ...
ELECTION 2024 By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY GHENT--The Democratic incumbent Michelle Hinchey seeks re-election in the 41st Senate District against Republican challenger Pat Sheehan. Early voting starts Saturday, October 26 and runs continuously to Sunday, November 3. Columbia County polls ...
Seventh in a series about justice By DEBORAH E. LANS GHENT--A June 2024 study by the State Comptroller’s office reported that “Since 2019, motor vehicle fatalities in New York State have risen sharply...[to] the highest level in a decade.” The 26% increase in fatalities occurred even as the ...
Docents dressed as Pieter Bronck and his wife Hilletje Jans will give tours during the Bronck Museum event. Contributed photo COXSACKIE — Four centuries ago, the Bogardus, Conyn, deWandelear, Van Bergen, Van Buren, Winnie, Bronck and many other Dutch families were active participants in ...
By DOUG LAROCQUE Capital Region Independent Media EAST GREENBUSH—If you were to ask many residents of the rural portions of the Capital Region, they might well tell you human trafficking is a big city, urban problem, it doesn’t happen here in Columbia County. According to the public ...
CHATHAM--The Board of Education has appointed Terry Bordell as Chatham Central School District’s new director of innovation, curriculum, and assessment, starting November 12. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bordell was a long-time English teacher, varsity girls basketball coach, and assistant principal ...
By DIANE VALDEN COPAKE—Those familiar with the old Roeliff Jansen School building at 9065 Route 22, often lament that it has been vacant and left to decay for the past 25 years. But a new “comprehensive brokerage firm specializing in premiere commercial real estate properties for sale or ...
2024 ELECTION BAR By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY GHENT--The 2024 general election for the recently reconfigured 19th Congressional District is a rematch of the 2022 midterm open seat election when the current Republican incumbent Marc Molinaro defeated Democratic challenger Josh Riley by slightly ...
By NANCY JANE KERN Inky cap mushroom. Photo by Nancy Kern ONE OF OUR 1950s neighbors had an Italian father-in-law who collected and ate wild mushrooms. He had done this in his homeland and continued the practice at his weekend home in Austerlitz. There were several incidences of strange ...
By MARLENE MCTIGUE Capital Region Independent Media WASHINGTON DC--At a crucial moment for local journalism, Warren Dews Jr., publisher and vice president of Capital Region Independent Media, visited the nation’s capital to advocate on behalf of small newspapers facing increasingly difficult ...
ELECTION 2024 By DEBORAH E. LANS GHENT--There is only one proposition on the all the county’s ballots this November: a state constitutional amendment that would broaden equality protections in New York. Currently, the state constitution prohibits discrimination only on the basis of race ...
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 for a community center, which opened there last ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--The Hudson Housing Authority (HHA) should include something acknowledging the “long history” of “this neighborhood” when it redevelops its property, Reverend Edward Cross said during an open house for the community to discuss these plans on September 17. Before the ...
Photos by David Lee At The Little Brook Farm, in Old Chatham, 5 year-old volunteer Willow Pelizza urges Abe, the largest horse on the farm, who has been knocking over the feed buckets. At 19 hands and about 2,000 pounds, Abe is a gentle giant, and also a former police horse. Dairy farmer ...
By DIANE VALDEN GREENPORT—State Police responded to a Columbia County 911 broadcast for a man allegedly traveling though Columbia County with the intent to murder his estranged wife’s romantic partner, September 17. The suspect, Andrew J. Case, 41, of West Seneca (Erie County) was located ...
By MELANIE LEKOCEVIC Capital Region Independent Media ALBANY—Legislation signed into law September 18 will reimburse EMS for providing treatment-in-place for patients with Medicaid coverage. The legislation was championed by state Senator Michelle Hinchey (D-41st) at a recent press ...
MILAN—The Milan Volunteer Fire Department will hold a pancake breakfast at the Milan Town Hall, 20 Wilcox Circle off Route 199, half a mile west of the Taconic State Parkway, this Sunday, October 6, 8 to 11 a.m. The event benefits the Elk Mills Fire Department, Carter County, Tennessee. The ...
By DOUG LAROCQUE Capital Region Independent Media NEW LEBANON–Following the monthly reports from school administrators at the Board of Education meeting on September 11, concern was expressed about a lack of communication concerning the accidental activation of a lockdown alarm at the Berlin ...
By NANCY JANE KERN THERE IS A LARGE MARSH not far from my house and I often go there throughout the seasons to see what is happening. The nights have started the fall temperature cycles with a few nights already down into the 40-degree Fahrenheit range. The sun raises it into the 60s which ...
By DEBORAH E. LANS Sixth in a series GHENT--The effects of incarceration reach far beyond the incarcerated person, to his family and community. Even witnessing the arrest of a parent can be a deeply traumatic event for a child. In Columbia County, several programs aim to soften the effects ...
By JEANETTE WOLFBERG HUDSON--The Hudson Housing Authority's (HHA) redevelopment partner acknowledged they could alleviate concerns about the cost of proposed new construction by lowering building heights, reducing the number of apartments, and reconfiguring parking, at the HHA Board of ...