Plans to protect the New York City Harbor from another Hurricane Sandy by constructing onshore barriers and giant seawalls reached a milestone in February as the government released the last report before a plan is selected. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), along with New York and New Jersey are considering six different options,…
I trotted down from the Harrier Hill parking lot and into a broad field filled with sunlight, a few early-spring birds, and a distinct lack of shotgun blasts. I was on my way to the Stockport-Greenport Trail, a ridiculously underutilized path stretching from Harrier Hill Park to the Greenport Conservation Area outside Hudson in Columbia…
First Ward Alderman Rob Bujan laid out his plans for Hudson after announcing on social media Monday he is running for Common Council President. Over the course of an hour-and-a-half interview in his Warren Street home, Bujan discussed tourism, affordable housing, Airbnbs and how to better communicate with city residents. Bujan is up against incumbent…
I had seen the building boasting the world’s largest kaleidoscope on many drives through the Catskills, cropping up along Route 28 in Mt. Tremper between the idiosyncratic motels and restaurants perched on cliff-faces. “WORLD’S LARGEST KALEIDOSCOPE,” the lettering bellowed, with an arrow helpfully pointing to a silo emerging from the structure. The building was asking…
One theme resonated more heavily than others at the Climate and Community Protection Act hearing in New Paltz Friday: 2050 wasn’t soon enough. Many of the 38 activists, local elected officials and environmental advocates who spoke at the three-and-a-half-hour hearing said the Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA), a state bill aiming to reduce greenhouse…
The bail system in New York may soon end with Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposing a measure to end the practice and democrats controlling the state legislature. Advocates for ending the system argue bail, which by state law is only meant to assure a defendant shows up to court dates, ends up discriminating against the poor,…
I don’t particularly like arriving at large events alone – it makes me feel awkward to see everyone arriving in boisterous, high-fiving groups and have to slink in like some divergent misanthrope. This awkwardness was exacerbated while arriving at the Hudson Polar Plunge Saturday because of my costume, which was thrown together at the last…
Rolling Grocer 19 is expanding its affordable food operation from a mobile trailer to a storefront set to open March 5. Hudson, with a poverty rate of nearly 20 percent, has no affordable grocery store. The one grocery option in the city, Olde Hudson, caters to a boutique crowd and is out of reach to…
The northern Hudson Valley and Catskills’ population has fallen faster than greater Upstate New York in recent years. Seven counties — Columbia, Greene, Ulster, Delaware, Putnam, Sullivan and Dutchess — saw a loss in population from 2010 to 2017, with Orange, Westchester and Rockland counties seeing an increase, according to an analysis of Census data.…
I was walking down Warren Street in Hudson, smoking a cigarette (I assume) when I saw what appeared to be an inter-species romance: two birds mid-air with talons intertwined, the smaller bird cruising upside down under the larger one. It turned out the smaller bird was dead. The larger one (which I later identified as…
Veterans organizations from the Hudson Valley and beyond celebrated a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals reversing the policy of denying disability benefits to a group of 90,000 Vietnam veterans who say they were exposed to a deadly toxin by the military. The federal Veteran’s Administration (VA) began giving disability benefits under the Agent…
Dave Clegg, the longtime Kingston attorney and former NY-19 congressional candidate, announced his candidacy for Ulster County’s criminal prosecutor in an exclusive interview Thursday. Over the 45-minute interview, Clegg talked about how he would recommend lower bail, work on rehabilitating drug addicts, engage the DA’s office with the local community, and laid out his stances…
Congressman Antonio Delgado threw his support behind two bills seeking to benefit veterans earlier this month, some of the first legislation he sponsored since taking office at the beginning of the year. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act seeks to extend healthcare, disability and death benefits to Navy personnel sickened by exposure to Agent…
Amtrak announced Friday it would withdraw an application seeking to fence off more than a mile-and-a-half of Hudson River shoreline. The emailed announcement ended for the moment a battle between Hudson River municipalities and Amtrak that started last winter when the federally-subsidized rail company sought permission from the New York State Department of State (NYSDOS)…
A majority of the 2.7 million New Yorkers who buy food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) received their February benefits more than two weeks early Thursday to avoid the federal program’s funding cut-off as the partial government shutdown nears the one-month mark. This includes many of the 5,400 SNAP recipients in Columbia County,…
While cruising up the Hudson River from NYC on a rarely-punctual Amtrak last Monday, I was able to reflect on the positives of the city, an unusual moment for someone who generally squints angrily when people go on extended raves about the place. I’m a rabid Hudson Valley fan, and there is little room left…
A group of local citizens are pushing for New York to designate Tillson Lake as wetlands as part of their fight to save the spot from being “de-watered” as state Senator Jen Metzger and a storied environmental group threw their support behind the effort. The dam creating the Minnewaska State Park Preserve lake is in…
“You don’t have spikes?” The middle-aged man had planted himself in the center of the trail, hands clenched around his hiking poles at stomach level like he was really excited to be asking Morgan this. “Nah…” Morgan was not wearing spikes, the hiking boot attachment that gives one traction in the snow, and in fact…
Kevin Halcott was friends with Matthew Rojas for a year-and-a-half before he got a call from Rojas’ roommate telling him the 23-year-old had been arrested by ICE agents outside the New Paltz Town Courthouse. Halcott tells me this at a back table in Mudd Puddle, a local coffee spot squatting among two rows of eclectic…
Groups concerned with Amtrak’s proposal to gate off parts of the Hudson River proposed an alternative Saturday they hope will allow access to the river while ensuring pedestrian safety. Amtrak wants to construct a mile-and-a-half of fencing between its tracks, which hug the east side of the Hudson River, and the mainland to protect what…
