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State increases renewables projection, finalizes all-electric law Two months after declaring its intention to build a nuclear plant to provide at least 1 gigawatt of power, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) has another ambitious initiative. The draft of the agency's updated strategic plan calls for wind, solar and battery storage projects to provide 7 gigawatts - enough to power between 5 million and 7 million homes - built by the NYPA or private developers. The plan is online at bit.ly/NYPA2025 and the authority will hold virtual public hearings on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20. See nypa.gov/public-hearings to register. Although none of the proposed projects are in Dutchess or Putnam counties, the number of renewable energy projects is more than double that in the NYPA's strategic plan released just eight months ago. NYPA credits the boom to funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included subsidies and incentives for renewable energy projects. "The last few years have seen a massive growth, not only in the wind and solar that we're adding to our system, but our ability to manufacture and train so that we have a workforce and a system that is ready to meet growing demand," said Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis for the Natural Resources Defense Council. In March, NYPA announced that it would be taking ownership of a solar energy project outside of Glens Falls. A month later, NYPA and the City of Albany announced a plan to develop a solar project on a capped landfill. That project will also be the first to participate in an NYPA program in which power is sold to low- and moderate-income families at reduced rates. But federal actions are threatening to delay the state renewables boom. The budget signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 ended the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for renewables, except for batteries. A series of executive orders imposed additional restrictions on renewables, including penalties for importing materials from China, a leading manufacturer of renewable energy equipment. This month, the Department of the Interior announced plans to subject wind and solar projects, including some already approved, to "further review." Due to the federal changes, Christopher Hutson, the NYPA's senior vice president of development, warned at a July 29 board meeting of the possibility that not all of NYPA's renewable projects will come to fruition, although some "may progress on their own." The IRA's tax credits for renewables won't end immediately; wind and solar projects that begin construction by July 2026 or begin service by Dec. 31, 2027, can still claim them. Hutson said the state could begin construction of some projects ahead of schedule to meet those deadlines. "Every developer in the country right now is seeking to rapidly procure equipment," he said. "It will be critical to move fast." The NYPA announcement wasn't the only big step New York took last week toward its long-term climate goals. The 2023 All-Electric Buildings Act cleared a hurdle when the State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council approved required changes. The law will take effect at the end of the year, making New York the first state to require that all new buildings be powered with electricity instead of oil and gas. Existing buildings are not required to switch, even if renovated, and certain buildings, such as restaurants and crematoriums, are exempt. The law also only applies to buildings up to seven stories high. (Taller buildings have until 2028.) In 2023, Beacon passed a law banning fossil fuels in new construction projects, before the state law. About a third of New York state's greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, according to a December report issued by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. James Hartford, co-owner of River Architects in Cold Spring, doesn't expect the law to change much for his business. As the founder of the New York chapter of the Passive House Alliance, ...

Town Board also approves Glassbury sales price The Philipstown Town Board on Thursday (Aug. 7) agreed to poll residents about implementing a tax on property sales in which the proceeds would be used to protect open spaces, wildlife habitats and other natural resources through land purchases and conservation easements. Ted Warren, the public policy manager for the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, informed the board that revenue for the Community Preservation Fund would be generated through a transfer tax of up to 2 percent, paid by buyers on the portion of a property purchase exceeding the median price for home sales in Putnam County. That is, if the median price is $500,000, a house that sold for $700,000 house would be taxed on $200,000. People buying homes for less than the median price would be exempt. Philipstown took the initial step toward the fund by in August 2023 by adopting a Community Conservation Plan. But Supervisor John Van Tassel said then that the idea of a new tax during the pandemic "did not settle well" with the board. In addition, said Warren, a survey of Philipstown residents conducted by the Trust for Public Land showed "a lot of ambivalence" about a fund. On Thursday, Van Tassel said the "time is right" to revisit the idea, with the goal of having a referendum ready for the 2026 general election. "There have been several parcels that this fund could have really secured for conservation protection," he said. Under the Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act, a state law that gives municipalities in Putnam and Westchester counties the authority to create conservation funds, the money would be administered by a five- or seven-member advisory board of volunteer residents. Proposals to create funds in other towns have faced opposition, usually from the New York State Association of Realtors, said Warren. He said the tax could be considered an "investment" for people buying property in Philipstown. "It's a very small amount, compared to what they're probably paying for that home," said Warren. "It is a way of saying, 'You know, we're moving to this community and this is our little investment in allowing the town to have this flexibility.' " Glassbury Court At its Aug. 7 meeting, the Town Board approved a maximum sales price of $547,558 for one of the 10 Glassbury Court units set aside as affordable housing. It also agreed to waive a requirement that the buyer be approved by an "affordability consultant." Under Philipstown's approval of the Quarry Pond Planned Development District for the construction of Glassbury Court, the maximum price at which the affordable units can only be sold is capped by a formula, and buyers must be approved by the consultant. Because the town does not have an affordability consultant, it agreed to allow the owners of 11 Revolutionary Road to sell to any buyer. State parks letter A letter approved by the board will be sent to state parks and the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail raising concerns about the safety of hikers who use Fair Street and Route 9D to walk from the Cold Spring Metro-North station to the trails in the Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve. A draft written by Van Tassel originally accused HHFT of "directing the general public to walk along the shoulder of Route 9D." He agreed to change the wording after a board member, Jason Angell, noted that advisories to visitors about construction-related closures do not use those words, and that there are alternative routes. According to the letter, titled "Dangerous Condition on Route 9D Caused by HHFT," the closure of the Breakneck train station and parking north of the tunnel, and limited parking at the Washburn trailhead lot, means more visitors catch Metro-North to Cold Spring and walk through the village to the trails. Van Tassel reiterated his proposal that the state and HHFT install sidewalks on Route 9D. Nat Prentice, one of two candidates running unopposed for seats on the Town Board, said he and other volunteers at the ...

Agency: Guatemalan man deported on July 18 A Beacon resident arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in June has been removed from the country, the agency said on Thursday (Aug. 7). ICE officers detained Santos Belarmino Perez Suchite on June 20 for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act, an agency spokesperson said. Perez, who lived on North Elm Street, is a Guatemalan national who "admitted he entered the United States by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in 2024," said Marie Ferguson, the ICE representative. "Not only did this alien blatantly disregard our nation's immigration laws, but he also jeopardized community and officer safety by attempting to flee on foot, leading officials on a brief chase before his capture." ICE removed Perez from the U.S. on July 18, Ferguson said, without specifying where he was sent. Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou announced on June 20 that ICE agents had made an arrest in Beacon after his office was informed by residents about their presence. While city officials stated they were unaware of who ICE had detained or the nature of any charges, Police Chief Tom Figlia confirmed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that an enforcement operation had taken place. "I want to make clear that at no time leading up to this incident did city staff, including our Police Department, have any notice of or involvement in ICE operations," Kyriacou said at the time. "As a city, we remain committed to our safe, inclusive community policy, to preserving rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and to avoiding any policies which engender fear among law-abiding families." Figlia said the following week that ICE returned on June 21, but he did not know if anyone was detained. ICE did not respond at the time to a request from The Current for information. The agency responded to a second request this week but only released information about Perez. "Under President Trump's leadership, Secretary [of Homeland Security Kristi] Noem is reversing former President Biden's catch-and-release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets," Ferguson said. "It comes down to one question: Is this person violating our nation's immigration laws? If the answer is yes, we're going to remove them." A Beacon resident wrote in a comment after The Current's June 20 story that he saw the ICE officers on North Elm Street. "ICE, the FBI and what appeared to be one police officer (not from the City of Beacon) staked out the house, parked at different locations along the street around 6 a.m., presumably to apprehend him on his morning commute," he wrote. "I believe the kid they took is one of our local bakers. We talk often. We say hello daily." The federal agents were armed and wearing body armor, he wrote.

In Cold Spring, review board keeps an eye out for violations A little-known board in Cold Spring keeps a watchful eye out for changes that threaten the traditional appearance of the village. Since 1976, all changes to the exterior of buildings within Cold Spring's historic district, established that same year, have required approval from the five volunteer members of the Historic District Review Board. The district includes most of the village from Parsonage Street to the riverfront. There is also a national historic district that lies within the local district, encompassing the village core on and near Main Street. At its June 11 meeting, the Village Board reviewed a report from the HDRB outlining five recent violations, which were referred to the code enforcement officer that Cold Springs shares with Philipstown. They included a sign for the Good Life Wellness spa at 143 Main St. that takes up more than 25 percent of the window space; a sign painted on a brick wall for Nobody's Deli at 72 Main St. that is too large; faux foliage and veneer flooring installed outside the Cozy Corner Cafe at 129-131 Main St.; an aluminum and glass entrance door installed at CS Apothecary, 40 Main St.; and faux foliage, a fence and windows added to the Foundry Rose Cafe at 55 Main St. The owner of 72 Main St. and the Cozy Corner Cafe told The Current they are working to fix the violations. The owners of the Foundry Rose and 40 Main St. did not respond to an inquiry, and the phone number for Good Life Wellness is no longer in service. The village and town code enforcement officer, Greg Wunner, did not respond to requests for comment. The code enforcement officer, in consultation with the village attorney, determines the penalty for violations, said Cold Spring Mayor Kathleen Foley. "The Village Board is only engaged when the village attorney recommends the board seek an injunction against a property owner," she added. Foley said the Village Board hasn't received a monthly report from Wunner in more than a year. She said the town plans to hire a second, part-time enforcement officer, and that she hopes "communications and follow-up will improve." Albert Zgolinski, an architect who chairs the HDRB, noted that many Cold Spring homes and businesses have changed hands since the pandemic. "Owners might know their property is located in the historic district, but they may not understand what that means on a practical level," he said. The design standards are posted on the village website at coldspringny.gov. Last updated in 2022, they follow state and federal law and serve as a how-to manual for property owners contemplating exterior changes. Zgolinski said it is a buyer's responsibility to explore land use, zoning and preservation restrictions. Although real-estate agents are not legally required to advise potential buyers that a property is within the historic district and subject to HDRB regulations, "we hope they do as a matter of ethics," he said. People seldom like regulations, but Zgolinski said studies have shown that historic districts help to stabilize or increase property values. He noted the HDRB doesn't regulate changes to the exterior color, a requirement he said would add a cumbersome layer to the permitting process for applicants and the board. Paint color "is a great way for property owners to express themselves or their business, as it gives people some creative flexibility while retaining historic fabric," he said. Zgolinski said that, during the development of the 2012 comprehensive plan, residents expressed support for the historic district but asked that the HDRB make its process more user-friendly. He said that was a goal when the design standards were updated two years ago. "Residents, contractors, architects and real estate agents were engaged in focus groups to contribute to the standards update," Zgolinski said. "We simplified and improved the application process and now regularly 'workshop' ideas." Lauren Wallis Hall, ...

Updates from the City Council The City of Beacon plans to install a bench and seating area with a plaque on Fishkill Avenue to honor Amalio Lombardi, the Goshen man who was struck by an excavator and killed on July 28 during work to replace water and sewer infrastructure beneath the roadway. Chris White, the city administrator, did not make his normal report during the Monday (Aug. 4) meeting of the City Council but instead spoke about Lombardi, a foreman for Sun Up Construction of Wappingers Falls who had worked on capital projects in Beacon for decades. Lombardi, 61, was described as a model employee by colleagues, White said, and as "a good guy. That's a compliment that you hear repeatedly from all who knew him. He was well-known to our staff and our engineer, and he was universally liked." He was close to retirement, White said, "and had certainly considered it, but he had never filed for it because he enjoyed working and spending time with his co-workers." Lombardi is survived by his wife, Juliann; his children, Amanda, Marissa and Michael; his mother, Lina; and his sister, Teresa Fini. Michael Lombardi is studying engineering at Clarkson University. Lombardi came to work on a Saturday, two days before the accident, to make emergency repairs to the water main with city staff. Likewise, White praised the members of Lombardi's crew who stayed on-site to fill the trench in the road after the accident, "because that's what Amalio would have done." "Residents of this city should be very proud of the response by our staff in the face of this tragic accident," White said. "It was handled with professionalism, skill and respect." Following Lombardi's death, Mayor Lee Kyriacou ordered flags lowered to half-staff for the remainder of the week. The Beacon Police Department and the Dutchess County Medical Examiner's Office are investigating the accident, along with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 248 Tioronda Ave. The council will ask an "independent expert" to weigh in on The Arno, an apartment complex at 248 Tioronda Ave. where the developer has built two residential buildings but has been unable to find a tenant for a commercial structure that is yet to be built. The commercial structure is required by Beacon's zoning laws. The City Council agreed in December to allow the building inspector to issue certificates of occupancy for 64 apartments. The developer, Bernard Kohn, constructed the apartments but did not build the commercial structure at the same time, a condition for projects within the Fishkill Creek development zone. After the December agreement, Kohn said he would return to the council regularly with updates on the tenant search. On Monday, Jay Blumenfeld, a project representative, said the developer has still been unable to secure a renter. There have been 25 to 30 inquiries, he said, but "only a couple were substantial enough to even think about putting the financing together to build the building. We just feel like we've hit a dead end." Council members last year discussed allowing a third apartment building if more than 10 percent of its units were offered at below-market rate rents. If a conversion to residential were allowed, Kohn would be willing to go beyond the city's 10 percent requirement, Blumenfeld said. It was Kyriacou, then a council member, who in 2017 proposed the law to require that developments in the Fishkill Creek zone have a 25 percent commercial component, but "I do not believe in it anymore," he said Monday. "The market has changed dramatically. We have an extreme housing shortage in the area, and we have a commercial glut." Kyriacou noted that a 2022 Dutchess County study recommended a "fair share" approach through which municipalities would address affordability on a per-capita basis. In Beacon, it suggested 100 "interventions" - roughly equivalent to the construction of a housing unit - at a rate of five per year for two decades. Poughkeepsie and Beacon have the m...

Shigeko Kubota gallery opens in Beacon In a career that attracted interest from prestigious institutions around the globe during her lifetime, Shigeko Kubota peered into the future. As one of the first video-oriented artists in the 1960s, she understood society's obsession with moving images. TikTok is the popular distillation of her vision, but even the Metropolitan Museum of Art is preserving and legitimizing "time-based media," which includes film, video, audio and software. "She democratized the museum experience and was one of the first artists to go beyond figurative sculpture and paintings on a wall," says Reid Ballard, director of collections and exhibitions at the nonprofit Shigeko Kubota Video Art Foundation, which last month unveiled a new Beacon gallery in the North Avenue space formerly occupied by Analog Diary. Kubota, who was associated with the Fluxus movement, along with Yoko Ono and other Japanese artists, became ensconced in the SoHo art scene and married Nam June Paik, an artist who also specialized in video-centric pieces. After Paik suffered a stroke in 1996, Kubota ceased creating, for the most part, until her death in 2015. The foundation's headquarters is the couple's former apartment at 110 Mercer St. in New York City. (Paik died in 2006.) Because they had no children, Kubota chose a friend and collaborator, Norman Ballard (Reid's father), to oversee the estate and lead the nonprofit. The foundation has operated a workshop on West Main Street in Beacon since 2017. Though an early adopter of word crawls, colorization and feedback effects, much of Kubota's content consists of travel footage and street shots in Manhattan and other locales, says Reid, who moved to Beacon in 2023. Her main achievement was in the display of the videos, altering what emanates from the monitors with mirror images and even water to create fascinating reflections. The workshop (open for tours by appointment) houses two iconic works. "Three Mountains" represents a crucial moment in her career, according to the gallery notes, because it was the first piece to embed content in a "volumetric sculpture." The bulky piece consists of three plywood structures, one of which is a chest-high pyramid with an opening at the top that makes it difficult for anyone less than 7 feet tall to see inside. There are visible scuff marks left by viewers who climbed the base or leaned on it while bracing themselves with their hands. More compelling and mesmerizing, "River" suspends three downward-facing monitors above a metal trough filled with water. A splashing device sloshes the liquid around, altering the reflection of the cartoonish video content - created with a color synthesizer. The images also bleed down the vessel's sides. At the new gallery, Norman Ballard pays homage to Kubota's 1996 solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The lush, atmospheric exhibit in Beacon is enhanced by a purplish, pixelated tableau projected onto the long wall opposite the entrance, which reflects the shadows of bodies and the subject's sculptures of trees made from bolts, screws, nails and scrap metal. One colorful work at the exhibit chronicles Kubota and Paik's 1984 visit to South Korea, his home country. What looks like a tiny satellite is augmented with plexiglass extensions that distort the documentary's presentation with mirrored strips of acrylic. "She had a vision about the artistic potential of video and experimented with content," says Norman Ballard. "But it's the sculptures, where the video is embedded into the structural element, that make her work stand out." The Shigeko Kubota gallery, at 1154 North Ave., is open weekends from noon to 5 p.m. into September. See shigekokubotavideoartfoundation.org or call 212-226-5007. The Kubota workshop is at 20 West Main St.

Bonnie Mead doesn't feel she has a story to tell. In fact, she could write a book. Before moving to Cold Spring in November, the 82-year-old won a demolition derby championship, worked with positive thinker Norman Vincent Peale, survived tornado alley and was shocked when, within four months, two of her neighbors in Vermont were attacked and killed - prompting her move. Mead was born in Danbury, Connecticut, and named after "Bonnie Blue," Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler's daughter in Gone with the Wind. Mead's first job was at age 13; she helped a Pawling lawyer and his wife with the office, childcare and housework. "I got 35 cents an hour," Mead said, which would be $4 today. "Boy, I thought I was rich!" Tracking her jobs and hometowns over eight decades with a reporter was a challenge. She always worked two jobs. She was a bartender, veterinarian's assistant, dispatcher, medical assistant and physician's secretary. She lived in towns and villages from Vermont to Iowa. Married twice, she declined to say much about her first husband, whom she divorced. "He spent quite a bit of time in jail," she said, with a rueful smile. In 1967, she was living in Rock Rapids, Iowa, and not working - or at least not being paid for her work, which was raising her young children while her second husband, Gary Mead, drove a long-haul truck. It was there she experienced tornado alley; one "crossed right in front of my car while I was driving," she said. Beginning in 1978, she spent 12 years as a travel agent in Pawling. She was able to take some nice trips, including to Alaska, but hated flying. It was Gary, who raced stock cars, who convinced her to try the demolition derby. "I thought he was crazy but, after a couple races, I kind of liked it," Mead recalled. She competed in derbies throughout the Northeast from 1982 to 1985, driving her "old junker" to a championship at Islip Speedway on Long Island. She kept competing even after divorcing Gary. As it happened, "his new wife was also driving in derbies," Mead said. "I crashed into her, and she broke her nose!" She swears it was not intentional. Mead lost all her derby photos and trophies in a fire 30 years ago. In the early 1980s, she was hired as a secretary for Norman Vincent Peale at his Foundation for Christian Living in Pawling. A Protestant minister, Peale wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, which has sold more than 22 million copies in 42 languages. He was also the pastor at Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan for 52 years and officiated at one of Donald Trump's three weddings. Asked if working for Peale gave her a more positive outlook, Mead said, "I never read his book." "He was all business, not overly friendly to his employees," she recalled, adding that her job was tedious. "I learned more ZIP codes than you can ever imagine." It did produce one surprise: "Big 18-wheelers came up every week, just full of money," she said. "They took big baskets of checks out of those trucks; I was amazed." At the same time, she also worked at the nearby YMCA Holiday Hills Conference Center, where actor James Earl Jones often performed in fundraisers. "I got to know him pretty well," she said. "He was one of the nicest people I've ever met." (Jones, who lived in Pawling, died last year at age 93.) Mead also found time to serve with the Amenia Fire Department for 12 years, from 1980 to 1992, as a volunteer firefighter and member of its rescue squad. She said her favorite job was driving a school bus for 11 years, from 2008 to 2019. "I loved it, loved the kids, even more so the special-needs kids," Mead said. But it wasn't easy for someone who stands less than 5 feet tall. "They always knew it was my bus because they couldn't see a driver." She'll never forget the day she drove a school bus to Albany to take her commercial driver's license test. On the way, the bus hit a wild turkey in flight. "There was blood and feathers all over the windshield," Mead said. "I was hysterical." She was still...

Young artists explore during annual Garrison institute Over the last two weeks, the Garrison Art Center has hosted 16 teenagers for its Summer Art Institute. As they work, talk is at a minimum and phones are dormant - for the most part. "I'll let them consult the internet if it's for the art," says Melissa Schlobohm, the printmaking teacher. During five-hour sessions, the students prepared pieces that will be on display at the art center galleries on Saturday (Aug. 9) and Sunday, with a closing reception at 3:30 p.m. The program dates to 1998 and requires participants to rotate between the pottery shop, the upstairs printmaking nook and the painting and drawing studio, located in the center's larger gallery space. They also hang the exhibit together. "Even I get to learn a lot, so this is one of my favorite events of the year," says Kit Burke-Smith, the GAC education director. "It's so great to sit in on Dan [Graham Loxton]'s painting sessions and watch him mix colors and explain the theory and science behind it." Under the tutelage of Lisa Knaus in the pottery studio, Poughkeepsie resident J.V. Ryan worked on the cover of a macabre clay coffin. Though he prefers sculpture, he says, "I like improving other skills." Liam Kemp, who lives in Cortlandt, showed off an elaborate Greek-inspired head with blue dots for eyes and intricate hair and eyebrows. In the printmaking shop, located atop a steep set of stairs, the curriculum covers plenty of ground in an abbreviated time: history, methods, applications and tools. The artists also explore the question, "How is printmaking unique?" and Schlobohm teaches techniques like carving, inking, printing and cleaning up. Turning the big printer's wheel is fun but the results may not turn out as intended. "You never know what the final product is going to look like," Schlobohm says. "Printmakers often take the best images from a series and offer them as limited editions. As with books, the first one is usually the most valuable." Preparing battleship-gray tiles of linoleum before inking them up, some students manipulated gouges with blade shapes, like woodcarving tools. Others employed Dremels with various bits, akin to a handheld drill for art. Haldane junior Rosie Herman leaned into an intricate pattern of leaves, jam jars and strawberries, an image she adapted from Pinterest. "I'm more of a painter, but I appreciate the opportunity to expand my ideas and find my own carving style and voice," she says. Another student, a sculptor primarily, chafed at printing. "He kept making prints with airplanes on them, so we created some that he could fold into paper airplanes," says Schlobohm. "Printmaking is disorienting because the image is backward and it's OK if you don't enjoy it," she says. "But when you stick to the things you're already good at, you don't flex all your creative muscles."

Savage Wonder hosts Saturday night absurdities The ploy each Saturday evening at Savage Wonder in Beacon is simple: Wind the eight actors up by handing them a script, let them rehearse for about five hours and turn them loose. The resulting staged-reading performances take place every Saturday night for a month at the Main Street venue, a former bank. "The last performance is the most polished, but the first one is the most fun," says Chris Meyer, its artistic director. On Saturday (Aug. 9) and each week through Aug. 30, the company will present The Actor's Nightmare, by Christopher Durang and directed by Meyer, along with six 10-minute comedies. Absurdist scenes include a corpse in conversation and a wedding catering menu that offers hand-clubbed baby seal, carpaccio of spotted owl and sashimi from the waters around Fukushima. As Savage Wonder builds out 139-141 Main St., the basement is the only area open to the public. Music and theater performances are held at The Parlor, accessible through the 4,000-square-foot art gallery Savage Wonderground. Formerly known as Vet/Rep (short for veterans repertory theater), Savage Wonder moved from Cornwall last year and plans to open two performance spaces and another bar/cafe upstairs. "We've never produced a show in August before," says Meyer. "We always went dark. This year we figured, let's see what Beacon brings." Next to the performance space is Grape Rebellion, a wine bar and eatery. Patrons can dine and drink while watching the performances. In The Actor's Nightmare, Cian Genaro portrays a befuddled accountant mistaken for an actor (who may also be a thespian having a bad day). He is thrust into a production that shifts from Beckett to Hamlet and A Man for All Seasons. Beheaded at the end, like Sir Thomas More, the actor/accountant lies motionless on the floor during the curtain call. A short, "The Big Dark," referencing hell, relates the fast-moving adventures of a mishmash of nymphs, satyrs and Greek gods as narrated by a hardboiled gumshoe (Dylan Crow). Kia Nicole Boyer laughed after gargling water to imitate a fountain. During a game of craps, a character rolled "Medusa eyes." In "Monkey Do," the protagonist's younger brother died from being strangled by a sock puppet - or an actual monkey; it's ambiguous. Ana Anderson and Leeanne Hutchison heightened the hilarity, reflecting Meyer's mantra to have fun, mix things up and "eat the dessert first," he says. The key to keeping a theater-like flow in the cozy Parlor space is the doorway to a utility room that fills in for backstage. Actors also enter and exit by walking through the house, which is filled with four couches, padded barstools and height-adjustable antique tables. Three rows of lighting gear affixed to the ceiling add ambience to the performances. During "Hamlet in Hiding," they simulate the police raid on a trio of bank robbers with Irish accents holed up in a theater. The room's mottled red, blue and yellow decor is adorned with portraits of Bob Ross, Shel Silverstein and Edgar Allan Poe. For readings this month, the action takes place along the far wall, but configurations are flexible, including in-the-round experiences where the stage stands mid-room, says Topher Kage, associate artistic director. When hosting improv or standup comedy shows, the small stage is placed against one of the side walls. There are 25 chairs, and "pretty much everyone has a first- or second-row seat," he says. Tickets are $25 at savagewonder.org. The play performed on Saturdays in September will be "The Elephant Delivery," by Bill Smith, along with six 10-minute comedies written by veterans. The Grape Rebellion is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Republicans say law prevents replacement Putnam County Sheriff Kevin McConville will remain on November's general-election ballot as the Republican candidate despite abandoning his re-election campaign in June because of an undisclosed illness. Andres Gil, chair of the county's Republican Committee, said on Wednesday (Aug. 6) that state election law prevents political parties from replacing a candidate on the ballot except if they die or are disqualified. A party would then have 10 days to file a certificate with the Board of Elections naming a new candidate. "We did have a lot of interest," said Gil of alternative candidates. There is no Democratic candidate, but Larry Burke, a Cold Spring police officer, is running as an independent on the Serve & Protect party line. Burke has worked in law enforcement for 37 years, including 26 years with the New York City Police Department. He joined the Cold Spring department in 2013 and served as officer-in-charge for seven years, until 2024. Burke has also been a volunteer firefighter with the North Highlands Fire Co. for 12 years. If McConville outpolls Burke in November and cannot serve, he will be certified as the winner but can notify the Putnam County Board of Elections that he does not intend to take the oath of office, according to the state Board of Elections. Alternatively, he could take the oath and resign. The undersheriff could lead the office until a new sheriff was chosen through a special election or in the 2026 general election. McConville was elected in 2021, defeating Democratic incumbent Robert Langley Jr. with 57 percent of the vote. The sheriff, who lives in Philipstown, will appear on the Republican and Conservative party lines on the November ballot. He began his career in law enforcement as a Cold Spring police officer and rose to become chief of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police force. He ran unsuccessfully for Putnam sheriff in 2009 as a Democrat and in 2013 as a Republican. Gil said in June that McConville's decision to end his campaign left him "heartbroken." In a letter sent to the committee members, he said the sheriff and his family were the primary concern. "We are grateful for his leadership, his accomplishments and, most importantly, his friendship," Gil wrote. "Anyone who has ever met Sheriff McConville knows that he is truly a remarkable human being who will give you the shirt off his back when in need."

Post for Cold Spring firm promises 'sexy girls' A spa that opened on Main Street in Cold Spring earlier this year and another in Beacon are promoted on adults-only websites with language that implies prostitution. Good Life Wellness Spa, at 145 Main St. in Cold Spring, and Rose Eliza Spa Beacon at 4 Eliza St. in Beacon, are each advertised in posts on sites such as LoveEscort, Bedpage, Rubsguide and XEscortHub. The latter includes a typical legal disclaimer that escorts "do not necessarily involve sexual services." The owners of Good Life Wellness told the Cold Spring Planning Board last year in an application for a change-of-use variance for its rented space that it would offer acupressure, reflexology, skin treatment and skin care. Its phone number and Cold Spring address are promoted on sites with ads that promise "unique massage techniques with sexy girls bring you pleasure. Makes you happy quickly." A similar posting on Bedpage said "two new Asian girls" in "good shape" with a "desire to please you" had joined the Cold Spring location. "Our alluring companions are available for engagements" and "open to all your desires and fantasies," it said. The Rose Eliza Spa promised in an ad that it had "new sweet girls" who are "open-minded" and will "treat you specially." One post features a video clip of a woman making hand motions that suggest manual sex. The spa's website does not contain similar language or images and provides a price list for standard treatments and reflexology. It was difficult to identify the owners of the businesses or to reach them. A woman who answered the phone at Good Life Wellness said she did not speak English well and declined to take a phone message for Yan Min Cao, listed on the Planning Board application as the manager. She said a request for information should be sent by text, which received no response. The spa, which is on the second floor, says in the window it is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. No one answered the doorbell on a weekday morning. A woman who answered the phone number given on the Planning Board application for Cheng Fisher, identified as a spa representative, said Fisher was not available and that Good Life Wellness had been sold. Fisher did not respond to a message sent to an email address provided to the Planning Board. The building owner declined comment and did not respond to a request for contact information for the spa's owner. Good Life Wellness Spa Inc. was incorporated in June 2024, according to state records, with Yinghua Lui as its registered agent but no contact information beyond the Cold Spring address. A woman who answered the phone at Rose Eliza said her English was not good and asked a reporter to send a text. Asked who posted the online ads, she wrote: "We don't know." She wrote that "the boss has returned to China" and "there are only workers here." She added: "We have a regular massage [business]" and sent photos of female customers whom she said were "frequent visitors." Rose Eliza Spa Inc. was incorporated in October 2023, according to state records, with Lihua Li as its registered agent, but no contact information is provided beyond its Beacon address. A message left in person with an employee at the salon was not returned. The owner of the building that includes 4 Eliza St. said in a phone call in April: "Thank you for bringing these ads to my attention. I had never seen these posts before and am appalled. It goes against our lease terms, and we will be taking immediate action." He did not respond to subsequent inquiries. Soon after the Rose Eliza spa opened last summer, a user on AMP Reviews, a website in which men discuss their experiences at "Asian massage parlors," requested "any intel on [the new] Rose Spa in Beacon (Eliza St)? I see them advertising on Skip the Games," another escort directory. A reviewer who posted in August 2024 said his experience at Rose Eliza had been "very mechanical" with "no engagement." A second user who posted in ...

Train complex to include housing, retail, parking The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday (July 30) announced that it has selected a developer to transform the Beacon Metro-North station with a complex containing 265 apartments, 15,000 square feet of retail space and a parking garage for 573 vehicles. Jonathan Rose Companies, a real-estate firm that specializes in the development and management of environmentally sustainable, mixed-income communities, won the bid. It was founded in 1989 by Jonathan F.P. Rose, a Philipstown resident who is a co-founder of the Garrison Institute, a retreat and research center on the grounds of the former Glenclyffe Monastery. The parking garage will replace 484 commuter and 89 MTA employee spaces on the station's 41/2-acre north lot. The apartment complex will have 270 spaces for tenants. The contract will be finalized after the Beacon Planning Board completes an environmental review of the development. The MTA received eight proposals for the project, which was announced in November. Beacon is "an amazingly vital, creative community" Rose said in a statement. "We are so pleased to have been selected." The development will be owned by New York State and leased by the Jonathan Rose Companies. The parking structure, which will be built first and take about a year, will be funded by a $24 million grant from the state's Redevelopment of Underutilized Sites for Housing program. Once the parking structure is complete, it will be turned over to the MTA to operate. The residential and retail components will be built next over about two years and be leased and operated by the Jonathan Rose Companies for an initial payment of $669,430 annually. The residential development must conform to Beacon's zoning by renting at least 10 percent of its units at below-market rates. Mayor Lee Kyriacou, who attended an MTA Finance Committee meeting on Monday in New York City, called the project a "win-win-win" that would provide environmentally friendly housing, replace impermeable blacktop with shops and waterfront activity and contribute tax revenue to the city. Without state funding, "it is very, very difficult" to complete transit-oriented developments at suburban stations, said Robair Reichenstein, the vice president of transactions for transit-oriented developments at the MTA. "It's very expensive to replace that [parking]. This was the reason it happened." In 2023, to address an affordable housing crisis, Gov. Kathy Hochul directed agencies to repurpose underused, state-owned sites. The 2025-26 state budget includes $500 million to build up to 15,000 homes on state-owned property, including the Beacon development. In a statement on Wednesday, Hochul said the Beacon project would revitalize the area surrounding the Metro-North station, "giving more New Yorkers the opportunity to live in a vibrant community with an express train to New York City just next door. This project is a model for how thoughtful development can strengthen communities and make our state more affordable and livable." Kyriacou noted that Beacon has come a long way since 2007, when the MTA asked developers to submit "expressions of interest" for projects on 18 acres adjacent to the train station. The city received proposals that included as many as 600 apartments in buildings ranging from two to six stories, along with a parking garage. A citizens' group, Beacon Deserves Better, opposed the plans. In the years since, zoning has been revised to open land around the station to residential and commercial development while preserving areas such as Dennings Point and Seeger Riverfront Park. A 2017 update to the comprehensive plan names the east side of the Metro-North station as one of four locations where the densest residential development should occur. The MTA "had a lot of places it could go to, and they chose here," said Kyriacou. "That's a statement about how far Beacon has come and where it's headed." Kyriacou added that...

Requests include people without conviction Requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold immigrants detained in the Dutchess County jail and other Hudson Valley lockups have accelerated this year and largely target people without convictions, according to data released in July. The Deportation Data Project, a team of academics and attorneys, sued ICE under the federal Freedom of Information Act to obtain the data, which covers September 2023 through June 26. After receiving 20 "detainers" - requests to hold inmates for up to 48 hours past their release date so ICE could re-arrest them - in 2024, Dutchess has received 19 already this year, with two detainees taken into ICE custody. Nearly all the 17 men and two women - most of whom are from Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico - had pending charges but no convictions. Two were categorized as an "other immigration violator," meaning they had no convictions or charges. While federal officials have said they are pursuing people who have committed "serious" crimes, "everything we've seen about the way this administration operates tells us that they are not targeting people in any particular way," said Zachary Ahmad, senior policy counsel with the New York Civil Liberties Union. "They're, in fact, sweeping very broadly to arrest and detain as many immigrants as they possibly can." Twenty of the 51 people sought by ICE from the Orange County jail since January had criminal convictions, with driving while intoxicated being the most common serious offense, followed by two larceny convictions. Just six of the people sought by ICE from the Westchester County jail had criminal convictions - two for larceny, two for rape and the others for robbery and a traffic offense - while 37 had pending charges and two had no criminal records. The ICE requests led to four inmates held by the Putnam County jail being taken into federal custody, along with 12 from Orange and six from Westchester, according to the data. ICE issues detainers based on final deportation orders, pending deportations, fingerprint matches with Department of Homeland Security records or a person's admission to an immigration official that they are here without authorization. Fingerprints shared with the FBI enable the agency to locate people in local jails. County jails in New York state are not legally obligated to notify ICE that a prisoner will be released from custody or to honor its detainer requests, according to guidance issued in January by the state Attorney General's Office. Requests are often accompanied by an administrative warrant issued by immigration authorities, which local police are prohibited from honoring under a 2018 state court decision in a lawsuit filed by the NYCLU on behalf Susai Francis, a native of India. Attorney General Letitia James recommends that local jails only honor detainers when ICE presents a warrant signed by a federal judge. Such warrants are "something that ICE is not in the practice of providing," instead relying primarily on administrative warrants, said Ahmad. "ICE just sends the detainers, and then it's the local law enforcement that decides what to do with them," he said. "Under the Francis decision, they're not permitted to hold a person beyond their release date." William Moore, the superintendent for the Dutchess County jail, did not respond to a request for comment. Capt. Michael Grossi of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said in January that ICE is notified when detainees sought by the agency are scheduled for release, but that the jail will not hold them longer unless a federal judge signs a warrant. He said that has been the policy for at least 10 years, and under two previous sheriffs.

Assembly member says he'll find money for dock State Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson pledged on Tuesday (July 29) to find funding for the City of Beacon to construct a new ferry dock, the first step, he said, to restoring service between the city and Newburgh. Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, was among more than 100 residents and elected officials who braved sweltering heat to rally at the Beacon waterfront in support of the ferry that had connected the two cities for years before being discontinued by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Chanting "Gov. Hochul, MTA / Bring our ferry back today!" and "Keep us afloat / Fund the boat!", the crowd was joined by a flotilla of kayakers in the Hudson River. The MTA announced in June that commuter ferry service would not return after damage to the agency's floating dock at the Beacon waterfront led the MTA to re-examine its cost amid dwindling usage. NY Waterway had operated the ferry for the MTA since 2005, but ridership, which peaked at an average of 227 people daily in 2008, had slowed even before the pandemic. By 2024, it was carrying 62 people per day. On Tuesday, advocates said they want the MTA to restore service for commuters and to provide daily service for tourists visiting Newburgh and Beacon. Jacobson said the $2.1 million the MTA paid annually to NY Waterway to operate the ferry was miniscule compared to the agency's nearly $20 billion budget. "That's one penny out of $100," he said. "Give us our penny and save the ferry." The Assembly member said he would work to find funding. Earlier this month, he secured $250,000 for the Beacon Volunteer Ambulance Corps and in May obtained $150,000 for Beacon's South Avenue Park rehabilitation project. However, Metro-North President Justin Vonashek said in a statement this week that the expense of operating a ferry for relatively few commuters "didn't add up." The good news, he said, is that the MTA launched a Newburgh-to-Beacon bus after ferry service was suspended in January. It "provides more connections to Beacon trains throughout the day than the ferry did," he said. The bus costs $1.75 each way, the same as the ferry, but Metro-North has said it will become free in 2026. The most popular route for the Beacon Bicycle Coalition's monthly group rides has been to cross the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, stop for food and drinks on the Newburgh waterfront and take the ferry back to Beacon, said Yvonne Caruthers, who spoke at the Tuesday rally and is one of the coalition's founders. "Everybody's jaw drops" when they see the landscape from the water, she said. Equally as important as the economics, she said, is "how you feel about where you live." State Sen. Rob Rolison, a Republican whose district includes Beacon and Philipstown, said that the ferry's fate rests with Gov. Kathy Hochul. The MTA Board members, he said, "take their direction from her." Calling the issue nonpartisan, he said the ferry is "smart and it's good for the environment. We're going to get there, I promise you." The MTA Board met on Wednesday, and a handful of advocates made public statements, including Oliver Meyer, 15, a Beacon resident who said he used the ferry to get to and from the ice cream shop on the Newburgh waterfront where he works. "This is my first job, and the ferry played a huge part in my parents allowing me to work at 14," he said. If the ferry was stopped because "it's not making money, then expand the hours. Newburgh has a thriving waterfront, food and tourism scene, but it could be a million times better if you could take the ferry to and from it." Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, wrote to Janno Lieber, the CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, that "permanently discontinuing the ferry will disrupt our constituents' commutes, harm our community's economic development and rip away a special Hudson Valley feature that connects our community in a way that no other transportation mode...

State approves program for moderate incomes A new program will expand energy assistance to moderate-income households facing difficulties paying electric and gas bills, and Central Hudson is requesting more time to begin enrolling customers. Under an order approved by the state Public Service Commission on July 17, Central Hudson and other utility companies must expand their existing discount programs by Dec. 1 to households earning up to the state's median annual income ($82,095), with the cost funded primarily by surcharges on ratepayers. Utility customers already pay a surcharge to fund the state Energy Affordability Program, but eligibility is limited to low-income ratepayers. However, the number of people with unpaid energy bills has grown since the pandemic. Under the expanded criteria, the Public Service Commission estimates that 1.6 million new ratepayers will be eligible for assistance. The benefits are also designed to help the state meet a goal of limiting utility bills to no more than 6 percent of household income. But eligible ratepayers in Beacon, Philipstown and other areas served by Central Hudson may have to wait a few months longer to enroll because the company is requesting more time to expand the program. Joe Jenkins, a spokesperson for Central Hudson, said the company is "deeply committed to making energy more affordable" but must build a system to verify the eligibility of customers and to reconfigure its billing system. As part of its July 17 order, the Public Service Commission is giving Central Hudson three months to file "a detailed explanation of the reasons and root causes" of its request for a delay and to provide an enrollment date "not to exceed 270 days" from the date of the directive. As of June, about 52,000 of Central Hudson's residential customers, or 19 percent, had unpaid charges that were at least two months old. The overdue charges total $137 million, a significant increase from the 8 percent of customers who owed $8.7 million as of December 2019, according to state data. Ratepayers with higher incomes received a one-time lifeline in January 2023 when the state approved credits totaling $672 million for residents and businesses who fell behind during the pandemic. Central Hudson's credits maxed out at $2,000 for qualifying residences and $1,250 for small businesses. Most of those credits ($571 million) came from surcharges on electric and gas bills. The utilities agreed to forgo $101 million they borrowed to cover shortfalls when the state imposed a moratorium on shut-offs. Some consumer groups are pushing the Public Service Commission to consider alternatives to funding the assistance with surcharges, especially as energy charges continue to rise.

Comments on state plan accepted until Aug. 11 Time is running out for the public to weigh in on the draft of the latest Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda, which outlines initiatives that the state Department of Environmental Conservation and partner organizations plan to undertake from 2026 to 2030. Public comments are due by Aug. 11. The document, which is posted at bit.ly/Hudson2030, also looks back at what was accomplished since 2021. While the river has come a long way since the 1960s, when federal officials referred to it as an "open sewer," climate change has created new challenges such as droughts and deluges, which lead to flooding, sewer overflows, polluted stormwater runoffs and hazardous algal blooms. In addition, chemical pollution from decades of manufacturing upriver and cadmium in Philipstown's Foundry Cove are each mentioned in the agenda, as is the uncertainty around what effects newer contaminates such as "forever chemicals" and microplastics will have on the river. More people are enjoying the river, according to the document, but not everyone has access. There are few public beaches along the Hudson, which leads to people swimming in risky locations. The stocks of the river's signature species - striped bass, shad, sturgeon, river herring, blue crab and American eel - continue to fluctuate for reasons that are not clear. There has been progress since 2021 in some areas, according to the report. Six acres of restored oyster habitat are thriving near the Mario Cuomo Bridge. Over 12,000 plants were added along 4 miles of tributaries. Fishery-monitoring programs have arisen to fill a void left when mandated monitoring by the now-closed Indian Point nuclear power plant ended. Several dams along tributaries have been removed, restoring migrations of eels and other species. Recent research on the invasive round goby suggests that the fish may not be able to tolerate the salty lower portions of the Hudson, which would prevent its spread. However, the potential remains for it to thrive in the upper Hudson, which may explain a troubling decrease in younger sturgeon in the river, even as the adult population grows, because round goby feed on sturgeon eggs. The agenda lays out goals for how many acres of wetlands, intertidal habitats and other ecosystems will be restored and protected over the next five years. A blue crab management plan will be developed to ensure that the population remains sustainable, and further research will be undertaken to investigate recent declines in striped bass (diseases caused by mycobacteria appear to be responsible). Studies are planned to determine the best sites for new swimming areas and how to protect current swimming areas from the effects of climate change. Climate adaptation is needed for all communities by the river in the face of rising sea levels and increased flooding. "Homes and businesses may be abandoned due to nuisance flooding if communities do not adapt," the agenda states. New York State plans to have at least 60 percent of municipalities in the watershed complete flood-risk reduction and infrastructure-resilience projects and initiate at least five climate-adaptive shoreline projects. The agenda sets a goal of engaging at least 125,000 students, volunteers and educators in the watershed. "Time with technology is supplanting time outdoors," the report says. "Teachers must meet an increased number of new requirements, and they have limited time for adding new curricula. However, new science standards correlate well with environmental education practices." To comment on the draft agenda, email hrep@dec.ny.gov with "Action Agenda" in the subject line or write Hudson River Estuary Program, NYSDEC Region 3, 21 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, NY 12561.

Older students present musical whodunit Educational programs happen year-round at Philipstown's Depot Theater, but in the summer, motivated thespians from first graders to high school seniors take over the place. The middle schoolers, known as the Depot Theater Youth Players, performed Music Man Jr. last week. On Thursday (July 31), 15 members of the Teen Players began a weekend run of the youth edition of Curtains, billed as a musical comedy whodunit, that continues through Sunday. The book is by Cold Spring resident Rupert Holmes, best known for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. John Kander and Fred Ebb, the team behind Chicago, Cabaret and the song "New York, New York," made famous by Frank Sinatra, wrote the music. Silvia Hardman, a sophomore at Haldane High School, portrays the female lead, Niki Harris. She says she likes "how the songs are put together; they're written in rounds and the parts fit well." In the farce, characters die onstage, but in a campy way. To Haldane junior Julian Costantine, who plays Lt. Frank Cioffi, the dialogue is "funny and fluid." During a recent rehearsal of a full-cast number, "In the Same Boat," Costantine delivered well-timed staccato lines in the style of Harold Hill, the lead character in The Music Man, and the con man Lyle Lanley from The Simpsons. With acting, "you become a different you," he says. "It's fun to get crazy onstage and go all out inhabiting a character and pretending to be someone." Mistakes, he's made a few. But he takes it in stride: "That's where the improv gene has to kick in." The players are directed by Natalie Arneson, who oversees student musicals for the Sleepy Hollow school district. "It's a real joy to help young people figure something out, either about their ability onstage or in the real world," she says. During the rehearsal, Arneson held the actors to high standards but conveyed the message with a smooth style, starting things off with a jig and breathing exercises to get everyone loose. Sitting at an electronic keyboard, music director Daniel Kelly worked out parts with the singers. The middle school and high school productions shared a set with a 5-foot turntable activated by foot power. For "In the Same Boat," an elaborate song-and-dance number, choreographer Justin Wingenroth crams characters onto the small stage (including nine bodies on the turntable), but the cast made it look easy. Many actors return year after year, says Amy Dul, executive director of The Depot Theater, who established the summer program 28 years ago. Alums include film actor Charlie Plummer and Xena Petkanas, a Broadway lighting designer. "We watch them grow and find themselves by taking on roles and being someone else," says Dul. "It's like a sports team, where they support each other and work together for the greater good." Coming up next at the space is a week-long Sing Away Camp for first through third graders, followed by a performance on Aug. 15. The children will learn and act out three Broadway songs. According to Rachel Moody, director of youth programming, it's "highly adorable." The Depot Theater is located at 10 Garrison's Landing. Tickets to Curtains, which will be performed today (Aug. 1) at 7 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., are $12 at depottheater.org.

Threshold Choir sings for dying patients When Johanna Asher moved to Philipstown from Georgia in 2020, she had to leave behind the Atlanta Threshold Choir, which sings to people in hospice or palliative care, so she formed a Hudson Highlands chapter. It came together organically, she says, as she made friends with other singers. A year ago, she and Donna Reilly, Kate Conway, Melissa Angier and Michele Wolfson began learning the Threshold Choir's songs. They visited their first patient earlier this year. The national Threshold Choir was founded in 2000 in northern California by Kate Munger. It has since expanded to include nearly 200 chapters, spanning Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., the Netherlands, Mexico and Guatemala. "When I heard about this, I just thought this is such a special thing," says Patti Cooper of the choir, which now has 10 members. "I want to be sung to at any crisis time in my life." Adds Conway: "This fills up that need to sing, and it's moving for the patients." The Hudson Highlands Threshold Choir practices every other Monday at Taconic Rehabilitation and Nursing in Fishkill. It sings to patients there and at Taconic Rehabilitation in Beacon and the Sapphire nursing home in Wappingers Falls. The national organization recommends that chapters have 15 songs they know by heart and offers about 300 selections on its website. Each chapter has five to six songs they sing often, Asher says. There is conversation and laughter between songs, although some patients may be sedated. Because only three or four choir members visit at one time, each must be able to sing in at least two pitches and handle multiple parts of each song. The practices can be intense. "It's almost like a sport for me," says Conway. "When I leave, I feel like I got this singing workout." The choir usually starts with "Rest Easy," by Marilyn Power Scott, because "everyone needs to rest easy," Asher says. "Rest easy. Let every trouble drift away. Easy… rest easy…" For more information, see thresholdchoir.org/hudsonhighlands. To request a Threshold Choir visit, see thresholdchoir.org/request-singers.

Retired volunteers claimed 'potential ownership interest' A state judge ruled on Friday (July 25) that the City of Beacon is the sole owner of the decommissioned Beacon Engine Co. fire station at 57 East Main St. Judge Maria Rosa dismissed four requests from retired members of the volunteer fire company that had used the station as its headquarters for 136 years, including an appeal from the firefighters to conclusively determine who owns the facility. The basis of the complaint was the most recent operation and maintenance agreement, from 2019, between the city and the company. In it, the city agreed to pay for most insurance and all utilities and maintenance of the building while acknowledging what the volunteers and city officials had believed for decades: that Beacon Engine owned the 1889 structure, which comprises 62 percent of the 4,688-square-foot station. The city was believed to own an engine bay added in 1924. However, after the City Council voted in February 2020 to close the station, Beacon officials in 2023 conducted a title search that they say revealed municipal ownership of the entire site. The volunteers disputed that, saying ownership was unclear because of "aged, handwritten deeds" and "incomplete searches and conclusory assertions" by the city. The firefighters alleged that the city abandoned the operation and maintenance agreement in November 2020. Mayor Lee Kyriacou told the court that the city notified the volunteers that it was terminating the agreement in February 2021 but permitted them to use the building until the city's $14.7 million central station opened last fall. On Jan. 22, city officials sent a notice to the retired firefighters directing them to vacate Beacon Engine by March 31. The firefighters, who had continued to use the building as a headquarters for charitable efforts and a social hub, argued that the eviction came without due process. Rosa noted that the issue had already been "partially litigated" when the volunteers sought an injunction to halt the eviction and stop the city from selling the property. Rosa denied that request on March 31, saying that the volunteer company had "provided no evidence of ownership" of the station. A week later, the firefighters filed a complaint asking for judgment on whether the company or city owns the historic structure. The volunteers submitted an amended complaint on May 14 claiming they had commissioned a title search that "created a potential ownership interest in [the fire company's] favor." The complaint referred to language in two deeds which "exempts and reserves the lot occupied by the Old Engine House," although no deeds were submitted to the court. The fire company asked to be declared the owner of the property. City attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the complaint a day later. In addition to numerous deeds, the city submitted the testimony of Paul Conrad, president of the Poughkeepsie-based Real Property Abstract & Title Services. Conrad said the firefighters had misinterpreted the two deeds and that a dozen documents, dating from 1860 to 1921, establish the city's ownership. "Beacon Engine at one point in time owned a portion of the property, which it subsequently conveyed to the city over a century ago," he said. "Beacon Engine was never in title to the entirety of the property, and it last had an ownership interest in the property in 1920, almost 105 years ago." Rosa wrote in the July 25 decision that Conrad had "set forth in detail" the chain of title and provided evidence to back it up. The volunteers, she said, failed to assert ownership, while their argument relied "entirely upon [the 2019] agreement as demonstrative of a 'potential ownership interest.' " Joe Green, a Beacon Engine Co. trustee, said the volunteers are "extremely disappointed" and will appeal Rosa's decision. After the 2019 agreement was terminated, the volunteer company spent more than $50,000 on repairs and utilities, he said. "We have all the receipts," Gree...

Goshen man struck and killed by excavator A Goshen man was struck and killed on Monday (July 28) by an excavator during work to replace water and sewer infrastructure along Fishkill Avenue in Beacon. Amalio Lombardi, 61, died at the scene, according to the Beacon Police Department. Fishkill Avenue was closed between Conklin Street and Dallis Place from about noon to 5:30 p.m. Lombardi worked for Sun Up Construction of Wappingers Falls. "The city's administration extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Lombardi," Police Chief Tom Figlia said in a statement. "Amalio had done many projects as a contractor for the city over the past couple decades, so he was well-liked and highly respected by our staff and consultants," said City Administrator Chris White. Mayor Lee Kyriacou ordered flags lowered to half-staff for the remainder of the week. The Beacon Police Department and the Dutchess County Medical Examiner's Office are investigating the accident, along with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to the Donovan Funeral Home in Goshen, Lombardi is survived by his wife, Juliann; his children, Amanda, Marissa and Michael; his mother, Lina; and his sister, Teresa Fini. Visitation will be held today (Aug. 1) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at St. John the Evangelist in Goshen, followed by interment at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Middletown.

State law requires 'bell-to-bell' restrictions Public school districts in the Highlands adopted policies this month to align student cellphone restrictions with a newly enacted state law that requires a "bell-to-bell" ban. The law, enacted in April as part of the state budget, applies to public schools, charter schools and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). It prohibits the use of smartphones and other internet-enabled personal devices by students during the school day, including at lunch, recess and study halls. The law allows districts to provide exceptions for emergencies or to manage a student's healthcare, for students with disabilities or individualized education programs, for translation services, or for students who are routinely responsible for the care of a family member. After a meeting on Monday (July 21) with the president of the state teachers' union and Capital Region administrators, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that her priority is ensuring that students receive "a high-quality education, free from constant clicking and scrolling." She said on Thursday that about 300 districts had submitted their policies to the Education Department before the Aug. 1 deadline. The Beacon school board, which last year banned student cellphone use during classes at Rombout Middle School and Beacon High School, extended its restrictions on Monday to align with state law. Beginning Sept. 2, students who bring phones to school will be required to store them in their lockers for the entire day. If a student is found using a phone, it will be confiscated and placed in a locked space in an administrative office for the remainder of the day. The penalty for a second offense will be five school days locked in the office, and a third offense will be 10 school days. If a student is found using a phone a fifth time, it could be locked up each school day for the remainder of the academic year, Superintendent Matt Landahl told the board. Cellphone restrictions will not change at the district's four elementary schools, as students who bring cellphones are required to keep them in their storage cubbies or backpacks at all times. An online survey conducted by the district in June showed support for the new restrictions from the 278 students, teachers, parents and caregivers who responded, Landahl said, but "there's just an incredible variance in all of the details." Students said in the survey that they had grown to appreciate the district's classroom ban on phones, which was adopted a year ago and allowed phone use between classes, at lunch and during recess, Landahl said. However, after adhering to that policy, students were surprised to learn that stricter rules were on the way. Teachers asked for explicit language and consistent implementation of the policy. Some parents "had a lot of serious questions" about contacting their children during the day, either for logistical reasons or for emergencies, he said. The state set aside $13.5 million for schools to purchase "storage solutions," but Beacon's allocation of $13,000 was far less than the $80,000 it would cost to outfit the middle and high schools with locking pouches, Landahl said. The district spent about half of the money to purchase lockboxes for administrative offices. Rombout Principal Brian Soltish said Monday that students would be assigned lockers, whenever possible, close to their last-period class, to give them time to retrieve their phones before being picked up or boarding a bus. For middle school students, using a locker every day will be a shift "from what many are doing, which is just loading everything into their backpacks," he said. The district next month will distribute email addresses and phone numbers to parents or guardians who need to send messages to their children during the day. Students will be able to call their parents using school phones with permission. In the event of an emergency, Landahl said he will communicate with the co...

Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. 150 Years Ago (July 1875) The Matteawan supervisor, highway commissioners and town clerk, meeting at Ambler's Tavern, voted to assess taxes to purchase 33 gas streetlamps at $24 each [about $700 each today] and to sign an 18-month, $495 [$15,000] maintenance contract. "Quite a number of our citizens talk of getting an injunction to stop the tax - not because they are opposed to improvement, but because they have not been consulted in the matter," wrote the Matteawan correspondent of The Cold Spring Recorder. The Fishkill Landing coroner held an inquest into the death of a 14-year-old student from Newburgh who drowned after falling overboard from an excursion boat on the Hudson River. His Catholic school was on a field trip. William Henry was brought before Justice Schenck of Fishkill Landing, accused of assault. James Hunt said he had visited the Henry home to call on a young lady, and that Henry and his wife objected. Henry told him to leave and threatened him. "As all the assault and battery seemed to be on the part of the complainant, the case was dismissed," according to The Recorder. Seventy cases of machinery arrived for a new carpet mill at Glenham, the first installment of 400 to be shipped from Leeds, England. At about midnight, Starr Knox of Fishkill Landing heard a crack in a cherry tree outside his home. He saw dark objects in the branches and, raising his gun, ordered the trespassers to come down and stand in a row with their hands above their heads. They said they were from Newburgh, but a news account offered no further explanation for their presence. Two laborers shoveled 80 tons of coal from a boat on Long Dock in 4½ hours. The Lone Stars of Matteawan, in Catskill for a baseball game, complained about their treatment. After the Lone Stars broke two bats, the hosts refused to lend them new ones and offered refreshments to only half of the players. The Fishkill census-taker recorded Aunt Katy Reynolds, a 106-year-old Black woman. She had been born in the West Indies in 1769. A dental patient in Newburgh, under the influence of gas, punched the doctor and went "cruising about the house tops," according to The Recorder. The Hartford Post reported that, in the office of the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad Co., was "a rare museum of curiosities" left by passengers, including fur muffs and collars, boots, shoes, overcoats, parasols, a box of musical instruments, carpet bags, music rolls, storybooks, false teeth, dolls, a cavalry saber, a little brown jug, a white hat and hundreds of umbrellas. Three thieves arrested for "tapping the till" of a Matteawan baker admitted to being members of a gang from Tenth Avenue in New York City that had been preying on Highlands residents. The officers who took the men to the Albany penitentiary said the prisoners unburdened themselves along the way. 125 Years Ago (July 1900) A southbound express train hit a brickyard laborer, Thomas Martin, 55, near Dutchess Junction. He was brought aboard the train but died while being removed at Cold Spring. His home and relatives were unknown; he was interred in the Cold Spring cemetery. The Mount Beacon-on-Hudson Association issued $150,000 [$5.7 million] in capital stock. It planned to build a summer hotel on Mount Beacon accessible by an incline railway. Brickyard owners in Fishkill Landing asked the Dutchess County sheriff to send officers to stop workers armed with sticks, clubs and stones who were visiting each yard to persuade the others to strike. A leftist newspaper in New York City alleged that the owners, to make trouble to justify police intervention, told saloon-keepers to keep the free beer flowing. The strike ended suddenly when its leader, Patrick McCann, was hit and killed by a train. The Melzingah chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated a 27-foot-high stone monument on July 4 on top of Mount Beacon, 1,600 feet abov...

Saint Rita's opens in KuBe Art Center Timothy Parsaca is a live-event producer who is now "captain of his own ship," says his wife, Kelly Ellenwood. The couple spent the last two months turning a raw space at KuBe Art Center in the former Beacon High School into Saint Rita's Music Room. They hosted their first concert on July 19. Dressed in a kilt, Parsaca had a blast controlling the sound and lighting for Dick Griffin, former trombone player for free-jazz pioneer Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Griffin's quintet delivered a spirited set with comedic camping from drummer Tommy Campbell. "We see this as an alternative and welcoming venue," says Parsaca. "It's hard to find places to put on drag shows or burlesque that aren't bars, so we want to serve the community that way, too." Black floors and ceilings sandwich red walls. With plants, table seating, vintage couches in the back and "fandeliers" (chandeliers with ceiling fans), the vibe is fancy but unpretentious. It's easy to forget it's a former school band room. Subtle details include the curtains, which look ornamental but improve the sound for the audience and musicians. Behind the performers, the back wall twinkles with white and blue lights to provide depth of field, says Parsaca. The room hosted its first event on July 17 - a party for family and friends. The following night, it was the site of a sold-out performance of Broadway in Beacon. The couple's children, Rowan and Rhiannon, play pivotal roles. On July 19, Griffin and his band opened with a furious flurry of cosmic chaos, then broke into the straight-ahead song "Blues for Sun Ra." Having some fun with his solo, Griffin tried to blow the lowest note possible. When not playing trombone, he tapped on percussion instruments retrieved from a nearby table. On drums, Campbell hit hard and coaxed strange sounds from his cymbals, rubbing the tip of his stick into a groove and emitting a form of feedback. He also brushed a stick across the cymbal, creating another odd tone. He hit the kit with a folding fan and used the prop for slapstick gags. At one point, he did the hambone. During the Latin vamp, he tapped the hi-hat cymbal with his foot, which sounded like he swatted them with his stick, freeing up his hands to create a more complex rhythm. Mimicking Jimi Hendrix playing guitar behind his head, Campbell crossed his arms behind his back and kept on hitting for a few beats, then delivered a furious solo with his snare muffled to provide a sound more attuned to Latin percussion. The rest of the band also slammed. Pianist Alexis Marcelo channeled the herky-jerky style of Thelonious Monk on the Latin piece, but also delivered a feathery, cascading touch on the mellower songs. Bass player Jeremiah Edwards provided solid support along with an upper register solo on the blues tune. Jordan Young on saxophone performed a call-and-response interlude with Griffin. With table seating, Saint Rita's fits 99 patrons. For theatrical performances the space could accommodate up to 200. Though it will serve beer, wine and food, "this is not a bar or a restaurant," says Ellenwood. "It's a listening room." Saint Rita's Music Room is located at 85 Eliza St. in Beacon. The Hudson Valley Flyers will perform honky tonk on Aug. 2 and Broadway in Beacon will host an open mic for singers ages 18 and younger on Aug. 3. See saintritasmusicroom.com.

Trump administration freezes $6 billion in grants Update From The Associated Press: The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in withheld grants for schools, the Education Department said Friday (July 25), ending weeks of uncertainty for students, families and educators around the country who rely on the money for English language instruction, adult literacy and other programs. A week ago, the White House said it would release $1.3 billion for after-school programs that had been withheld. President Donald Trump's administration had suspended more than $6 billion in funding on July 1, as part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House's priorities. The funding freeze had been challenged by several lawsuits as educators, Congress members from both parties and others called for the administration to release the money. Congress had appropriated the money in a bill signed this year by Trump. A week prior, the Education Department said it would release $1.3 billion of the $6 billion for after-school and summer programming. Without the money, school districts and nonprofits such as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club of America had said they would have to close or scale back educational offerings this fall. Now, the Office of Management and Budget has completed its review of the remaining programs and will begin sending the money to states this week, the Education Department said. School districts in the Highlands say they may lose a combined $140,000 this year under a Trump administration order to freeze over $6 billion in federal education grants. The administration froze the funds this month pending a review to ensure that "taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the president's priorities." In Beacon, the district expected to receive $62,000 for professional development, $32,000 for a range of programs such as social-emotional learning and curriculum mapping software, and $7,000 for English as a New Language services, said Superintendent Matt Landahl. "We've relied on these funds for years," he said. Although the grants represent a small portion of the district's $87.7 million budget, "when we have to replace this with our own funding, we're having to make decisions about things we haven't had to make decisions about before." "Under Review" The Trump administration said it hasn't made any decision on how much funding it would release for six programs appropriated by Congress. At risk are the following programs and funding amounts, nationally: $2.19 billion for Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants, which work to reduce class sizes and pay for professional development for educators $1.33 billion for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which are before- and after-school programs that provide academic enrichment for students and are an important source of subsidized childcare for working parents $1.38 billion for Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, a flexible funding stream that pays for services including mental health, accelerated learning and college counseling $890 million for English Language Acquisition, used for English proficiency and language instruction $376 million for Migrant Education, funding that supports the needs of migratory children such as those whose parents are seasonal and migrant farm workers $715 million for Adult Basic Literacy Education State Grants, programs that support adult education and literacy Source: The Associated Press Landahl said that some of the funds defray the costs of August workshops, including a program to help rising freshmen prepare for high school and a program for juniors and seniors to prepare for college-level work. Those programs are scheduled for Aug. 12 to 14 and will go on, he said. At Haldane, the district may lose $15,000 that pays part of the salary of a reading teacher, said Gail Duffy, the superintendent. She said the district also could lose $10,000 for professional development. She said the district would m...

House member says he will seek re-election Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican whose House district includes Philipstown, said on Wednesday (July 23) that he has decided not to run for governor next year. Another prominent House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, has been considering a campaign in 2026 against Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. She said in a statement Wednesday that she'll decide after the November election. Lawler, in his second term representing District 17 after defeating incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022 and Mondaire Jones in 2024, weighed his options as President Donald Trump and the Republican Party attempts to retain control of the House in next year's midterm elections. Lawler told "Fox and Friends" on Wednesday that running for reelection was "the right thing to do for me and my family and my district. Keeping the House majority is critical if we are going to continue to move this economy in the right direction." Lawler is one of few Republicans who won a seat in 2024 in a district that went to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. He is coming off a successful fight to raise the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes, a significant pocketbook issue in New York state. The federal budget bill enacted by the president last month raised the cap to $40,000 for the next five years; it had been capped at $10,000 as part of Trump's first-term tax overhaul. Lawler held a series of sometimes raucous town halls this year at a time when Republicans were being advised to skip the forums that were drawing angry questions about Trump's agenda. The president endorsed Lawler in May, calling him "a strong champion and highly effective representative" in a post on his Truth Social platform. Hochul, a former lieutenant governor, assumed the governor's seat in 2021 after Andrew Cuomo resigned. She was elected in 2022. She also faces a challenge from her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado. Seven Democratic candidates have launched campaigns to unseat Lawler, and Axios reported earlier this month that Maloney is contemplating a return. The candidates are: Peter Chatzky, a tech company founder and village trustee in Briarcliff Manor; Cait Conley, a 2007 West Point graduate from Orange County who is former director of counterterrorism for the National Security Council; Beth Davidson, a Rockland County legislator; Effie Phillips-Staley, a Tarrytown trustee who is a nonprofit executive; Jessica Reinmann, who founded the nonprofit 914Cares in Westchester County; Mike Sacks, a lawyer and former TV journalist from Westchester; and John Sullivan, a former FBI intelligence analyst who lives in Rockland County. In April, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it would focus on 35 House districts held by Republicans nationally in 2026 in an attempt to regain control of the House. The only New York district on its list is Lawler's.

Investigation turned over to state police A retired Beacon police officer is being held without bail on a murder charge after a shooting late Monday (July 21) at 86 Rombout Ave. According to the New York State Police, Edison Irizarry, 52, of Beacon, was arrested at 11:26 p.m. and charged with murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a firearm, all felonies. He pleaded not guilty during a Beacon City Court appearance on July 22 and is scheduled to return to court Aug. 6 for a preliminary hearing. The police identified the victim as Casey Cuddy, 58, of Beacon, who they said was found dead at the scene. Cuddy was a psychiatric mental health nurse and actor who performed for the County Players in Wappingers Falls. According to a program biography, the Finger Lakes native moved to the Hudson Valley in September 2022 after living in Los Angeles and Oregon. In November 2022, Cuddy placed a classified ad in The Current seeking a roommate to share his first-floor Beacon apartment. A July 2021 Facebook post by the Beacon police officers' union congratulated Irizarry on his recent retirement from the Police Department. Irizarry, a Marine veteran, served as an officer at Beacon for 17 years, according to the post, including as a field training officer and detective. Beacon Police Chief Tom Figlia said in a news release on Tuesday that officers received a call Monday night from an individual who said he had shot his roommate. Upon arrival, "it was determined that one of the individuals involved was a retired Beacon police officer," the release said. It said that, "to maintain the highest integrity, the entire investigation was turned over to the New York State Police." The Beacon department will cooperate "fully and completely" with the investigation, Figlia said.

Could a utility owned by the public, rather than Central Hudson, deliver lower electricity costs? Many people believe it would, and last year, two state legislators introduced a proposal to make it happen by creating the Hudson Valley Power Authority. The bill outlines the process by which the state would create a "democratically governed" nonprofit corporation that would provide "low rates, reliable service, correct and easy to understand bills, clean energy, community benefits and environmental justice." The goal would be to keep residential electric bills from exceeding 6 percent of household income. It would not be the first public utility, even in New York. Along with the state-owned New York Power Authority and the Long Island Power Authority, there are at least 50 municipal utilities in New York, mostly in rural areas. For the rest of the state, the delivery of electricity is monopolized by six investor-owned utilities such as Central Hudson, which has been owned since 2013 by Fortis, a Canadian holding company. In return for their monopolies, these utilities are regulated by the Public Service Commission, which must approve rate hikes and capital projects. Establishing the Hudson Valley Power Authority would not only lower rates but coordinate with the state's long-term climate goals while protecting Central Hudson's 1,130 employees, according to the two Democratic legislators who introduced the proposal, Sen. Michelle Hinchey (whose district includes parts of Dutchess and Putnam counties) and Assembly Member Sarahana Shrestha (whose district includes the northwest corner of Dutchess). "I don't think the role of government is to empower the private sector," Shrestha said. "This would put public goods back in the hands of the public." How it could happen Shrestha and Hinchey's legislation calls for the Hudson Valley Power Authority to purchase Central Hudson and take control of a system with 315,000 electric customers and 90,000 natural gas customers in parts of nine counties, including Dutchess and Putnam. If Central Hudson refused to sell, the legislation suggests authorities could use a legal process called eminent domain to compel a sale. Tom Konrad, a chartered financial analyst who is the chair of the Marbletown Environmental Conservation Commission, is leading a plan in the Ulster County town - the Hudson Valley's first - to transition to 100 percent renewable energy. He estimates that it would cost between $2.2 billion and $3.6 billion to acquire Central Hudson, including its $1.4 billion in debt. The Hudson Valley Power Authority (HVPA) would be overseen by a nine-member board appointed by the governor and the Legislature, which would also include the business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 320, the union representing about 700 Central Hudson employees. In addition, an independent "observatory" modeled after the Paris Water Authority and composed of elected representatives and members of academic institutions would help the board with "community participation, transparency, research and accountability," Shrestha said. The newly formed utility would retain Central Hudson employees represented by labor unions and assume those agreements, including retirement benefits. After buying Central Hudson, the HVPA would be obligated to bargain "in good faith" with union representatives. The bill also aligns the HVPA with the goals of the state's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, directing the utility to procure 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and 100 percent renewable electricity by 2040, provided the supply is available. At least 35 percent of the benefits of clean energy and efficiency programs, such as reduced pollution through the phasing out of fossil fuel-burning plants, would be allocated to disadvantaged communities within the service area. Shrestha doesn't expect either Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins or Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie ...

Dozens benefit from workforce program Denise Lahey's roots in Beacon are decades deep. Her grandfather, Dennis Lahey, served 62 years with the Beacon Fire Department; her father, Dennis Lahey Jr., is the assistant chief and her sister, Kari, became the city's first full-time female firefighter in 2020. However, those ties to the city were no match for the rental prices Lahey faced in 2019, when a relationship ended, along with half the rent for the two-bedroom unit she shared at Hudson View with her then-boyfriend and son. There were plenty of good reasons to stay in Beacon, she said: keeping her son in the city's schools and staying close to her family and job as a mail carrier in White Plains rather than moving farther away to Poughkeepsie or Wappingers. "I was stuck," said Lahey. "Luckily, this happened." What happened: a $1,400-a-month one-bedroom found through Beacon's Workforce Housing Program, which has rescued dozens of residents from rental purgatory: They earn what are generally considered to be decent salaries, but too little to comfortably afford rents that have skyrocketed in Beacon, particularly since the pandemic fomented a wave of transplants from New York City. Adopted by the City Council in 2017 as a revision to Beacon's affordable housing law, the program requires new housing developments with 10 or more rental units to set aside 10 percent at below-market rates for households earning up to 90 percent of the Dutchess County median household income, which is about $97,000 annually. For condos and townhouses for sale, it's up to 110 percent of the median income. Priority is given to volunteer emergency responders who have served five years or longer, as well as municipal and school district employees. Hudson River Housing manages the list of people who have been approved for the program, which so far has created 46 units for rent and nine condos and townhouses that have been purchased, said Chris White, Beacon's city administrator. Rents range from $1,412 to $2,809 depending on the complex, the size of the household and the number of bedrooms. Lahey's apartment at the Beacon HIP Lofts, where a studio starts at $2,100, has "made everything easier," she said. Her son, now a teenager, has the upstairs and its dedicated bathroom as his domain and Lahey has a bedroom and bathroom downstairs. Amanda Caputo, Beacon's clerk, pays $1,350 for a one-bedroom apartment at The Beacon at 445 Main St., which houses the Beacon Theater along with the rental units. The apartment is a launching pad for walks to work, the riverfront and Mount Beacon, or strolls along Main Street, where friends work. "It's helped me grow in my position and stay in the community," she said. Caputo and Lahey's rents were calculated, based on Beacon's guidelines and the area median income for Dutchess County, by Lashonda Denson, the director of homeownership and education for Hudson River Housing. When units become available, Denson consults the list of people who have expressed interest and met the income guidelines. If the units are available, the applicants contact the property managers or landlords directly, she said. People call Hudson River Housing daily looking for Beacon housing through the program, said Denson. "This is one of the few programs that offers some kind of reduction in the rent," she said. "Some people have been waiting for a couple of years, and then it happens." White described the program as "critical to ensuring that new construction provides opportunities for those who cannot afford the escalating rental costs." In addition to the HIP Lofts, and The Beacon, units exist at 7 Creek Drive, 344 Main, 121 Rombout Ave., The Arno beside Fishkill Creek and the Edgewater complex on the city's waterfront. Dozens of units are awaiting Planning Board approval or completing construction, said White. Such projects "help to ensure that the city remains home to people of all incomes and backgrounds," he said. Caputo, a SUNY New Paltz gra...

'Folk opera' in Beacon examines early conflict A taut thread connects Jean-Marc Superville Sovak's prolific artistic output and prodigious advocacy work: exposing hidden histories. "I closely identify with past events that are erased or suppressed," he says. "And it's no coincidence that is often the case with people of African descent." A sculptor, visual artist and activist, Superville Sovak is bringing There Are NO Black Shakers: A Contemporary Folk Opera to The Yard in Beacon on Thursday (July 24) for the work's second staging following its premiere in September at the Shaker Heritage Society in Albany. After writing the libretto, he took hymns from the radical religious commune to Beacon violinist Gwen Laster, asking if it would be possible to "bluesify them," he says. "She said, 'Anything can be bluesified.'" Other Beacon residents performing the work, which is punctuated with spoken-word interludes, include Damon Banks on bass, vocalist Melvin Tunstall III and Patrick Jones on banjo and guitar. Superville Sovak lived in the city for 11 years before moving to Plattekill in 2020. The story centers on a strange and obscure legal case from 1810 that he discovered while visiting a friend's art exhibit at the Shaker Heritage Society. When he asked director Johanna Batman if the group ever had Black members, "she harrumphed and showed me a picture of Phebe Lane as an elderly woman," he says. "The whole story about her sister Betty is well-known among Shakers, but they don't like to advertise or talk about it." That's surprising because the event makes the religious commune, which stood against slavery and claimed to uphold egalitarian values, look pretty good. The opera's title refers to the community's ideal, which viewed Black and women members as peers first, and everything else second, he says, so they adhered to their creed in many ways. Controversial upon their transplantation from England in the late 1700s, the Shaker movement reached its peak in the mid-1800s, with more than a dozen self-contained compounds, some of which are now museums. One practitioner hangs on at Sabbathday Shaker Village in Maine. The Shakers are the "longest-lasting, self-sustaining religious or utopian society in American history," says Superville Sovak. Beyond their anti-slavery stance, the Shaking Quakers, named for their fervid mode of worship, put the covenant above everything. "Once you signed that document, you handed over all your property and lost your identity," he says. "They opposed private property and the nuclear family, so their value system questioned what made America, America." The backstory of the court case dates to 1802, when Prime Lane, father of Betty and Phebe, relocated his family to a Shaker village at Watervliet, across the river from Albany. He left the fold eight years later, but the daughters, ages 25 and 23, decided to stay. Prime sued the Shakers to return Betty, referring to her as his slave. Under New York law at the time, children born to an enslaved woman inherited the condition of bondage, and anyone harboring someone else's human property had an obligation to return the person or be fined. Betty somewhat fit the bill. Phebe did not, because Prime had emancipated her mother, Hannah, before Phebe was born. Why the father left the commune and initiated a lawsuit remains a mystery, says Superville Sovak. Eventually, the court ruled in favor of the religious order, and the daughters stayed with them for the rest of their lives. Lane v. Shakers "busts binaries when we think of history, which is so nuanced," he says. "It helps us look at things in a way that is not simplistic and is a truer version of what the messy past is really like." The Yard is located at 4 Hanna Lane in Beacon; tickets are $25 at dub.sh/black-shakers. The actors for the July 24 performance, which begins at 7 p.m., are Aviva Jaye (Phebe), Onome (Betty) and Melvin Tunstall III (Prime). Superville Sovak and Alison McNulty are the narrators,...

Owner seeks more time for approvals The long-awaited demolition and reconstruction of the dilapidated Dutchess Mall building along Route 9 in Fishkill will have to wait at least six more months. On July 10, the Fishkill Planning Board approved two new 90-day extensions requested by Hudson Properties LLC as it works to meet conditions imposed more than two years ago, in February 2023, in the board's preliminary approval of the project. Hudson Properties would like to demolish the mall's remnants and construct a 350,000-square-foot distribution facility. After getting a 90-day extension in March, Hudson Properties completed the requirements of the board's conditional approval to subdivide the property, said Christopher Fisher, an attorney for the project, in a June 25 letter to the board. With that extension expiring on July 28, the company had not completed a set of conditions from its site plan, including a stormwater-management agreement with the town and a letter of credit for $15 million in site work, such as grading, erosion control and sidewalks. Hudson Properties, which initially had until February 2024 to obtain a building permit, has been "working diligently" on the remaining conditions, said Fisher. "We look forward to getting that project underway," Jonathan Kanter, the Planning Board chair, said on July 10 after its members approved the latest extension. As approved, Hudson Properties' plan called for partnering with commercial developer Crow Holdings Industrial to build the warehouse on 28.9 acres of a 39.3-acre parcel along the south side of Home Depot. The facility would include 209 standard parking spaces, 78 loading docks and parking for 30 tractor-trailers. Under the partnership, Hudson Properties would retain ownership of the remaining 10.4-acre lot, which fronts the property on Route 9. The board required that Hudson Properties, by August 2023, obtain approvals from the state Department of Transportation for a new entrance and other upgrades along Route 9; the Dutchess County Department of Health for sewer and water upgrades; and the state Department of Environmental Conservation to build near wetlands. As that date approached, Hudson Properties notified the board that Crow Holdings had backed out and requested the first of what would become multiple extensions. Redeveloping the property has been a priority for the town. Dutchess Mall opened in 1974 as the county's first indoor shopping center. Tenants included Jamesway, Lucky Platt and Mays department stores, RadioShack and Waldenbooks. But the opening of the Poughkeepsie Galleria and other retail centers along Route 9 siphoned customers, and the mall closed in 2001. Home Depot opened in 2006. Seven years later, Dutchess Marketplace, an indoor/outdoor flea market, opened in the former department store space north of Home Depot but shut down in 2019. Two years later, Dutchess Community College opened its Fishkill campus in the building.

Beacon-based group wants more control for creators Many video game developers and players believe the industry nickel-and-dimes its customers and creates too many buggy, lackluster products. Valley Arcade Games, affiliated with Happy Valley Arcade Bar at 296 Main St. in Beacon, hopes to carve out its own ecosystem on Web3, shorthand for the next evolution of the internet. A group of rebels has been meeting at the arcade this summer to hash out the details. The first gathering in May drew four people but about 20 showed up in June. "Gaming is fun, but we've lost our way," says Johnny Coughlin, who co-owns Happy Valley and co-founded its Web3 venture. "We're including a practical component as we experiment with the future and try to right the ship." Here is the vision: In the next iteration of online interaction, the internet will fragment into fiefdoms that reject the marketing and surveillance juggernaut that the social media-driven Web 2.0 has become. Blockchain security, cryptocurrency democratization and the open-source programming language Linux make this alternative network possible. As players compete, high scorers accrue digital purses they can take into the real world if the folks behind the venture build enough critical mass. "At the core, we're minting money," says Jeff Werner, a strategic advisor with The Field Group, who lives in Philipstown. "If people recognize its value, we win. If not, we disappear." Coughlin and his partners have developed a prototype, the Valley Web3 Arcade Cabinet, one of which stands near a bend in the bar at Happy Valley. It contains eight games developed by Coughlin's company and its partners with names like Flutter, Mine All Mine, Spinfire, Mole Patrol and Death by Darkness (see valley-arcade.com/games). Coughlin's brother, Billy, composes soundtracks with virtual MIDI, instruments and "crazy vocals," Coughlin says. "The music is too weird for a band, but it's usually just right for a game." Cabinet players earn rewards at a rate 5.3 times higher than they could receive on their computers or cellphones, he said. Four more cabinets will be installed around the New York City metropolitan area later this summer. They retail for $5,500. The content is plugged into the web and began livestreaming in June at twitch.tv/valleyarcade. So far this year, its games have been played nearly 190,000 times, mostly by users in North America and Southeast Asia. The blockchain assures verification of high scores and the global leaderboard's integrity, Coughlin said. "It's the world's first Web3 professional cabinet, and it cannot be manipulated," he says. "In some games, you can buy a stronger sword than other players and gain an unfair advantage. We want a level playing field for everyone, and that's going to be a big selling point." Another plus is that individuals and independent gaming firms can publish on the platform and receive royalties. Onboarding is seamless compared to other portals that require complicated 15-character passwords, says Coughlin. The ambitious goal is to be one of the first dominoes that topple giants such as Amazon and Google, bringing "power to the people" by designing networks that will run even if Amazon Web Services (AWS) goes down, says Werner. "A key question for Web3 is, who owns the content?" asks Kyn Chaturvedi, a business advisor visiting from Estonia. "In our world, users and developers do." Beyond combating corporate and individual greed and seceding from the mainstream internet, the principals and their partners are trying to create a sticky, lucrative online community with creative tools available to everyone. So prevalent is game designing that it's a form of pop art, says developer Joe Lang, who is creating a game called Alien Influencer for the cabinet. "It's an open canvas, but we're not using paint and brushes," he says. "Inventing a game takes skill." Jennifer Menjivar, another developer and high-performing gamer, chimed in to note that "the best games ...

Help sought for Cortlandt Lake bacteria Philipstown Supervisor John Van Tassel agreed on July 10 to help arrange a meeting with Cortlandt and Putnam Valley officials over the fecal coliform levels that have forced the closure of the beach at Cortlandt Lake in Continental Village. Putnam County announced last month the closure of beaches at Cortlandt Lake and 13 other water bodies due to the presence of bacteria and harmful algal blooms. Most of Cortlandt Lake is located in Philipstown and Cortlandt, with a small section in Putnam Valley. Jesse Lubbers, a member of the Continental Village Park District board, told the Town Board that the Putnam Department of Health, during testing before Memorial Day, found fecal coliform levels at 30 times the limit considered safe for recreational use. Water discharging into Cortlandt Lake from Canopus Creek and Spy Pond also tested high for fecal coliform, at 10 times the limit, but the contamination "was concentrated at the beach where people go," said Lubbers. Health officials believe that Cortlandt Lake's bacteria levels are caused by failing septic systems at homes around the lake, said Lubbers. Many of those homes were built as summer cottages but are now used year-round, he said. "I have been soliciting advice from the Hudson Highlands Land Trust and others to see if we can get in a room" to discuss the source of the contamination and how it can be fixed, he said. Hudson Highlands Reserve The Town Board held off on giving its consent to the Hudson Highlands Reserve Sewage Works Corp., a private entity created to operate the sewer system serving 23 residences and a community space at the development off Route 9. Philipstown's consent is required under state law. Van Tassel said he wanted the town engineer, Ron Gainer, to review the plans. The town attorney, Steve Gaba, noted that private systems are often "set up to fail and the town winds up having to go in and take over a water system or a sewer system. That's an expensive and difficult proposition." Horton Road LLC, the developer, received Planning Board approval in March to construct homes on a 210-acre property located between Horton Road and East Mountain Road North, with 79 percent of the land set aside as open space. The homes will be clustered on 31 acres, along with two existing residences, and will be accessed from a new road. Route 9D sidewalks Van Tassel said he met with state and local officials about adding sidewalks to Route 9D between the Village of Cold Spring line and Little Stony Point Park. He noted the blacktop that begins north of Haldane's tennis courts is in "rough shape." One of the agencies represented at the meeting, the state Department of Transportation, said it lacks funding, and Van Tassel said the response from a state parks representative "disappointed" him. The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail was invited but no one attended, he said. "We did get some ideas for grants, but solutions are a long way off," he said.

250 Years Ago (July 1775) Benjamin Franklin wrote to William Strahan in England: "You are a member of Parliament, and of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns and murder our people. Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends; You are now my enemy, and I am yours." The mayor of London and the Common Council petitioned King George to end military operations in the colonies. The Continental Congress requested that each colony establish minutemen units. Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, arriving at 10 p.m. on July 18 to take command at Lake George in the Adirondacks, found a single sentry on duty. On seeing the general, the soldier quickly tried to awaken the three other guards. Patriots in New York City raided royal stores in Turtle Bay (East 42nd Street) for supplies, which were sent to Boston and Lake Champlain. New York observed a day of fasting and devotion, as requested by the Continental Congress. 150 Years Ago (July 1875) After assaulting and robbing the elderly Levi Washburne in Carmel inside his home at 2 a.m., five "ruffians" harnessed a pair of horses to a wagon and drove to Cold Spring, where they abandoned the vehicle. Two men chasing them took the property back to Carmel. The editor of The Cold Spring Recorder noted that local law enforcement did not continue the pursuit, but that the deputy sheriff in Cold Spring and the sheriff likely knew it would be difficult to get reimbursement from the Village Board for their expenses or a reward. A horse left untied by a pineapple peddler at Moshier's fish market was found near the Pacific Hotel. The Cold Spring and Nelsonville rifle clubs held a friendly match, shooting at targets of 50, 75 and 100 yards with Hunter's Pet guns. Cold Spring won, 390-375. Frederick Osborn, 17, drowned while swimming off Mine Point. "His brother made a heroic attempt to save him, but finding that both were sinking, said goodbye and released his hold," according to The Recorder. A passenger on the Montreal Express who disembarked at Cold Spring forgot his pocketbook, with a large amount of cash. He rushed to the telegraph office. His message and the train reached Poughkeepsie at the same time, and the pocketbook was found on the seat, undisturbed. At 7 p.m. on a Tuesday, Miss Kellogg called a girl playing the violin on Main Street for change to her carriage, where they conversed in Italian. After a series of overnight burglaries and home invasions, the Village Board adopted a resolution "that the constables of the town and police officers of the village be specially requested to arrest and take into custody and detain all persons of suspicious character found roaming through the village at any unreasonable hour of the night, or found under suspicious circumstances at any time justifying their arrest and convent without delay to the police magistrate." Billy McCormick, jailed in Cold Spring for stealing a barrel of liquor, claimed he was paid $250 [about $7,300 today] for the job but would not say by whom. A tornado at West Point broke 140 gas hotel lights and moved artillery guns. After a shot was heard at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, two Fair Street men took their guns to Sandy Landing to investigate. They found a dog belonging to Michael O'Brien, of Garden Street, had been shot dead and supposed it was causing trouble for thieves hiding their goods. Passengers aboard the Boardman and Cornwall steam yacht complained that young male swimmers waiting for the swell created by the boat would stand naked on the dock rather than jumping in the water in advance of her passing. Burglars visited B Street, where they attempted to break into the home of James Ball and took a watch from under a mattress in the house of John Butler. A child in Nelsonville was pushed into the road while he and a playmate jostled to catch a pear falling from a tree, and only skillful horse management by Mr. Mangham prevented ...

Line down from 3 to 9 p.m. but calls rerouted Dutchess County reported at 3 p.m. on Tuesday (July 15) that its 911 emergency response system was down. It was restored at 9 p.m. The county said the outage was caused by "an issue with a Verizon fiber optic transmission line. Verizon crews from Poughkeepsie and Kingston worked to restore the lines. Incoming emergency calls were rerouted to 7-digit landline numbers without incident during the outage." For future updates, see the Dutchess County Emergency Management page on Facebook or download the Ready Dutchess! mobile app.

Glenn Rockman and his longtime partner, Darron Berquist, love many things about their 3,700-square-foot home off Route 9 in Philipstown (shown above): the quiet woods, the modern architecture, the river views. They also love their electric bill: $21.50 a month. The bills could be lower, but Central Hudson requires a basic service charge to be hooked up to the grid. The one time the bill was higher, it was because they had accidentally left the air conditioning on for 10 days while on vacation. The only gas the home uses is propane in a backup generator. This is all possible because Rockman and Berquist live in a certified Passive House, one of a growing number of ultra-efficient homes whose solar panels generate more power than the owners use. Rockman said they are hooked up to Central Hudson only as a precaution; occasionally, on hot days, the 9-kilowatt solar panel doesn't generate enough power to cool the house. But more often, it's sending electricity to Central Hudson and using a net meter to stockpile credits. Rockman expects to soon replace the backup generator with a whole-house battery that can store the excess production. Budget Busters Federal law could raise electricity costs By Brian PJ Cronin If you're considering making your home more energy-efficient, act now. The federal budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 will eliminate tax credits for solar panels, heat pumps, induction stoves, insulation and energy-efficient windows after Dec. 31. It also will eliminate, as of Sept. 30, a tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying or leasing an electric vehicle. The law could lead to higher utility costs because it kills many industry subsidies for wind, solar and large-scale batteries, which made up more than 90 percent of the new energy added to the grid. The REPEAT Project at Princeton University estimates 30 gigawatts that would have been generated by wind and solar annually may be lost. "Renewables are the cheapest source of new electricity generation, with or without the tax credits that the bill phases out," said Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Although the cost of installing solar and batteries has fallen by 90 percent over the past decade, and wind costs have fallen by 70 percent, the bill "will put a damper on new renewable and energy storage investment over the next decade, which is going to mean less new cheap, clean power getting added to the grid, and higher electricity prices," she predicted. At this point, "we can't build enough new fossil plants to fill the void that might be left by killing renewables," she said. Due to supply-chain issues, there's a backlog of up to seven years for natural gas turbines, for example. Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced plans to build more nuclear power plants upstate, but that won't happen immediately: The most recent nuclear plants built in the U.S. were years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. "Renewables and storage are the only resources available to be deployed today at reasonable cost," said Levin. "We won't be able to build new, unexpected, unplanned investments in other types of non-clean energy at least until the 2030s." The budget may mean fossil-fuel plants scheduled for retirement will need to stay open. Over the next few decades, electricity demand is expected to increase by 25 percent, primarily due to the growth of data centers. Relief could come at the state level if New York moves forward with a "cap-and-invest" plan, said Kobi Naseck, director of programs and advocacy for NY Renews, a progressive coalition. The program was announced by Hochul in 2023; corporations that produce more pollution than allowed would pay penalties that fund the state's climate plans and rebate checks for consumers. NY Renews forecasts that a cap-and-invest program could produce savings of up to $2,000 a year for households earning less than $200,000 annually. In Cold Spring, Chelsea Moze...

Westchester buyer to pay $1.8 million for Mase station Beacon officials have entered into a contract to sell the city's decommissioned Mase Hook & Ladder fire station for $1.8 million. The buyer, Michael Bensimon, signed an agreement on June 24 to acquire the property at 425 Main St., including the three-story brick firehouse that has stood there since 1911. Bensimon, who lists a Port Chester, New York, address on the agreement, made a down payment of $180,000. According to the sale contract, which was provided to The Current, he has a 45-day due-diligence period during which the sale can be canceled and the down payment refunded. City Attorney Nick Ward-Willis said he expects the transaction to close by the end of August. Bensimon and his attorney each declined to comment. Dutchess County records show that an LLC with the same Port Chester address owns 475 Main St. in Beacon, next to the Howland Cultural Center. Although Dutchess records incorrectly combine three parcels - the Memorial Building at 423 Main St., Mase at 425 Main and the adjacent municipal parking lot - into one, Bensimon plans to purchase only the fire station property. It is in Beacon's Central Main Street zoning district; Planning Board approval would be required to bring a commercial or residential use to the building. The city will retain the parking lot, which it intends to restripe for a more efficient layout. Bensimon will receive three spaces. Verizon Wireless will retain its lease to place an antenna on the firehouse roof and equipment in a fenced area behind the building. The site is also part of Beacon's protected historic district, which means that substantial exterior changes to the building would require a "certificate of appropriateness" from the Planning Board. According to the contract, Bensimon must apply for permits to begin interior renovation of the building within six months of closing, and obtain certificates of occupancy, compliance or other municipal approvals within 18 months. Mase and the former Beacon Engine Co. firehouse at 57 East Main St. were listed by the city for sale in May. Both became surplus after a $14.7 million centralized fire station opened near City Hall last fall. Accessory dwellings Homeowners earning up to 120 percent of the Dutchess County median household income ($97,273) can apply beginning Monday (July 14) for grants of up to $125,000 to create or upgrade an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). Beacon and nine other municipalities in Dutchess County were awarded $6 million earlier this year through a state program designed to help low- and moderate-income residents build ADUs. The program is being administered locally by Hudson River Housing, a Poughkeepsie nonprofit. See hudsonriverhousing.org. The City Council on July 7 also adopted amendments meant to simplify regulations of accessory apartments. The law now permits ADUs in all zoning districts but only on lots with a single-family residence. One of the structures must be owner-occupied, and the ADU cannot be used for short-term rentals such as through Airbnb. A maximum size was removed from the law, but Planning Board approval will be required if the unit is greater than 1,000 square feet and its floor area is greater than 50 percent of the primary building's floor area. No off-street parking is required. Capital plans The City Council on Monday (June 7) unanimously adopted a five-year capital plan that details $29 million in equipment purchases and infrastructure upgrades for 2026 to 2030. The plan authorizes $6.5 million in spending for 2026, a year that will be highlighted by the renovation and greening of the southwest corner of Memorial Park, estimated to cost $400,000. The city plans to resurface the basketball courts, install pickleball courts, construct a softball batting cage and renovate the bathroom at that end of the park for public use. The adjacent skateboard park has been repaved, with new skating elements and an "art wall" installed. Phase 2 o...

Lost meal demolishes windshield Christine Ortiz, the owner of Oh! Designs Interiors on Stone Street in Cold Spring, was enjoying an average Monday on July 7, but there was nothing average about what happened at 4:15 p.m. as she stepped outside for a walk. "I heard a loud crash and thought something had broken, maybe inside the pub" on the corner, she said. At that same moment, Michelle Kupper was next door, sitting at her desk at the Philipstown Behavioral Health Hub, when she heard what she described as "a loud pop." Kupper saw Ortiz walk by and joined her. "What in the world happened to my car?" Ortiz asked aloud, as they stared at the Subaru parked in a shared driveway. The rear windshield was shattered. "My first thought was that a rock had been thrown," Kupper recalled. "Then I thought maybe the heat made it implode." Kupper peered through the broken glass. She spotted something bright orange. "It's a fish!" Kupper told Ortiz. "What do you mean it's a fish?" Ortiz replied. "Are you kidding me?" To be precise, it was a koi. But how did it end up in the backseat of her Subaru? Talon marks indicated the fish had been taken by a raptor, possibly an eagle or hawk. Ortiz felt it was unlikely to have come from the brackish Hudson River; koi are freshwater fish. "I felt bad; I knew someone was missing a pet," Ortiz said. "That's why I didn't post anything" on social media. The mystery of the Stone Street koi would not be solved by Facebook, Instagram or X. It was a story made for the rumor mill and backyard detectives. Neighbors talked to neighbors. Text messages flew around Cold Spring. Residents shook their heads. All but one, that is. "I heard about it through the grapevine," Garden Street resident Alex Wilcox Cheek said, adding that Teresa Lagerman, who lives across from Oh! Designs, had told him the tale after Ortiz texted her. "It sounded like some Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon story," Wilcox Cheek said. It also sounded close to home. "I know exactly whose koi that is," he thought. Phil Heffernan, who lives on Church Street and has a koi pond in his backyard, was in California when he received a text from Wilcox Cheek. His pond lies just three blocks due east of where the fish met its end. Wilcox Cheek sent along one of Kupper's photos. Heffernan confirmed it was his koi, and that it had a name: Lucy. In 1953, the previous owner of Heffernan's home had built a 4-foot-deep kiddy pool. In 1990, Heffernan converted it to a fish pond that he keeps well-aerated with "supercharged bubblers" for up to 30 koi. "I always had an aquarium as a kid," he said. Flight Risk July 21, 2024: A fish damaged a Tesla parked in a driveway in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, about a mile from Raritan Bay. After the car alarm went off, the owners investigated and found scales and blood on the broken windshield. They suspected the eagles who had a nest in their backyard. July 13, 2021: Building inspectors in Neenah, Wisconsin, found one of their sedans in the city lot on Monday morning with the hood caved in and a carp, probably from Lake Winnebago, lying on the asphalt nearby. Sept. 5, 2016: Lisa Lobree was walking on Labor Day in Fairmont Park in Philadelphia when she was hit in the face by a 5-pound catfish. "I smelled disgusting," said Lobree, who suffered a cut and had some swelling. While he has never seen an eagle near the pond, hawks are common and the week before Lucy was taken he saw a large peregrine falcon in the backyard. Koi prefer the pond bottom, where the water is coolest. But Heffernan said when temperatures surpass 90 degrees - as they did the week Lucy was taken - the water warms and loses oxygen, and the fish surface to gulp air from the atmosphere. "An eagle would not have dropped that fish; they have claws the size of my hands," he said, adding that on that hot afternoon the hawk would have seen "a mat of koi" on the pond's surface. "The hawk's eyes were bigger than his claws and he grabbed the biggest fish he could," Hef...

Seeks to annul approval for Route 9 project The Revolutionary War is over, but a preservation group is continuing its battle over a hotel and retail project planned for Route 9 on a part of a historic site used in the late 18th century as a supply depot for the Continental Army. Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot and two of its members, Brenda and William McEwing, filed a lawsuit on June 27 in which they asked a state judge to nullify the Fishkill Planning Board's approval of Continental Commons. The lawsuit names the town, its building inspector, the Planning Board, the Planning Board chair and GLD3 LLC and Snook-9 Realty, development companies owned by Domenico Broccoli. As proposed, Continental Commons would combine a 90-room hotel with a restaurant, visitors' center and a replica barracks that would house a museum devoted to the history of the Fishkill Supply Depot. Established under Gen. George Washington, the 74-acre Revolutionary War encampment stretched from Philipstown to the Village of Fishkill and parts of what is now Beacon. The 10.5-acre site, which contains a Speedway gas station owned by Broccoli and a burial site that Friends of Fishkill Supply Depot say may contain the remains of war dead, is across Route 9 from Dutchess Mall and across Snook Road from the Van Wyck Homestead, a former headquarters for the supply depot and current home of the Fishkill Historical Society. The plaintiffs contend that the final site plan signed by the Planning Board chair in April is invalid because the developers failed to fulfill two conditions from the preliminary approval in December 2023 - a work permit from the state Department of Transportation and a letter confirming required excavation. They also claim the site plan and a special-use permit issued to the project have expired because the developer failed to meet a deadline to apply for building permits within a year of site-plan approval. The Planning Board granted the developer multiple 90-day extensions, the most recent of which expired June 12. Among the exhibits submitted with the lawsuit is a May email from the state Department of Transportation, in response to a Freedom of Information Law request, stating that the agency had yet to issue a final work permit. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs have made multiple requests to the Planning Board under the Freedom of Information Law for evidence that the conditions of the preliminary approval have been satisfied. Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot and the McEwings also appealed a state judge's decision in 2020 to reject their attempt to overturn the Planning Board's determination that Continental Commons would not have a "significant adverse impact" on the environment or historical resources. Judge Maria Rosa said she did not have the power to "substitute her judgment for that of the agency." The appeal, filed in May 2021, is still active. Broccoli has also gone to court. In March, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit he filed accusing members and supporters of Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot of conspiring to "devalue" the property so they could buy it for "pennies on the dollar." That same month, Broccoli alleged in a lawsuit that statements made in 2023 by Louise Daniele, a former member of the Fishkill Town Board, caused him "reputational harm, substantial emotional distress and humiliation and damage to his key business relationship." In a motion filed May 8, Daniele denied that she defamed Broccoli when she said that Board Member John Forman should recuse himself from votes involving Continental Commons because he rented office space from Broccoli's cousin and the developer donated to Forman's 2012 state Assembly campaign. In June, Daniele filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Scientists install first public monitors Eli Dueker pointed to a projected map of the U.S. covered in green dots. Each represented a sensor used to produce air-quality reports on hot summer days, or when Canadian wildfire smoke blows south into New York. "Notice this Hudson Valley-shaped hole here?" asked Dueker, the director of Bard College's Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, during a presentation in Poughkeepsie. There were no green dots. Desiree Lyle, who manages the Community Sciences Lab at Bard, explained that the lack of local sensors means that apps must rely on data from elsewhere "and come up with an algorithm that approximates what the air quality might be in the Hudson Valley." This is the problem that Bard is working on through its Hudson Valley Community Air Network (dub.sh/hvair-network). The lab has so far installed four sensors that provide real-time data through justair.app, a website created by JustAir, an environmental justice technology company. The devices, which also measure air temperature and humidity, are located at Bard near Red Hook, Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center in Kingston and the roof of the Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie, where the June 24 event was held. The program came about after Kingston's Conservation Advisory Council asked Dueker where they could get data on air quality to identify the largest sources of local pollution. Due to the lack of sensors, there was no data. Darren Riley, a computer scientist who co-founded JustAir, had run into the same problem. After moving to Detroit from Houston, where he grew up, Riley developed asthma. His new Michigan neighborhood was within one of the most polluted ZIP codes in the country, and many residents struggled with respiratory health issues even before the pandemic swept through. Riley said that when the community asked local officials to address the air pollution, they kept hearing in response that there was no scientific data to prove that the neighborhood was polluted. He helped create JustAir to obtain it. Along with the four sensors mentioned earlier, Bard has installed about a dozen air-quality monitors made by PurpleAir in the doorways of Hudson Valley libraries. "It's another way that libraries continue to be bastions of knowledge," said Dueker. The data from those monitors is posted by PurpleAir online. There are only a few of the company's sensors in the Highlands, with a notable exception being the tent at Hudson Valley Shakespeare. But they come with challenges. They start at $275 each and are placed wherever someone feels like putting one up; Riley said that he's seen the sensors on back porches next to charcoal grills. And because PurpleAir owns the data, it could disappear if the company shuts down or is sold. PurpleAir charges $500 in annual licensing fees per sensor to allow its data to be posted on a public website such as JustAir. That's a steep price, but over the past few months, the Trump administration has removed an enormous amount of public climate data. "There's no way the Environmental Protection Agency can be with you everywhere you go to make sure that you're safe and healthy," said Dueker. "The only folks who can do that are the people who live and breathe and work and drink water in the town or the city that you live in." During the Poughkeepsie presentation, Riley displayed a map of the JustAir network in Detroit. The sensor readings were shown as brown, reflecting one of the worst possible ratings. "This is what we mean by environmental justice," he said. "For some people, the world is already on fire."

HVS goes to source of hit film shot in Garrison During the Great Depression, Thornton Wilder wrote a play called The Merchant of Yonkers, which flopped. Revising it in the 1950s as The Matchmaker, it might also have passed as The Taming of the Scrooge, as miserly and miserable businessman Horace Vandergelder repents at the end. This is the raw material that Broadway impresario David Merrick turned into the musical Hello, Dolly!, which debuted in 1964, won 10 Tony Awards and ran for 2,844 performances (The Matchmaker played 486 times on Broadway). Though the story is set in Yonkers (and Manhattan), producers for the 1969 Hollywood version shot several scenes at Garrison's Landing in part because Vandergelder indicates that the train station is less than a minute from his house. A yellowing window decoration created for the movie set is still preserved on the ground floor of a brick office building that served as an inn during the 1800s, when the play takes place. The Matchmaker is a subversive screed against greed that critiques capitalism, champions adventure (mentioned 17 times) and calls for the redistribution of wealth: Money, says Nance Williamson, who portrays Dolly Levi in the ongoing Hudson Valley Shakespeare production, "is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow." Letting emerging painter Ambrose Kemper (Blaize Adler-Ivanbrook) in on her plan to marry Vandergelder and free up the hoarder's lucre, she says that the value of cash is to trickle "like rainwater. It should be flowing down among the people." The play also explores the toll that work takes on the toilers, unable to live a life with much leisure or pleasure. When Manhattan hat shop owner Irene Molloy (Helen Cespedes) loses herself dancing and imbibing at the fancy Harmonia Gardens restaurant, she says, "to think that this goes on in hundreds of places every night while I sit at home darning my stockings." It's worse for Cornelius Hackl (Carl Howell), chief clerk at Vandergelder's hay, feed and provisions store, who awakens at 6 a.m. and closes shop at 9 p.m. He sleeps in the bran room and only gets Sundays off. When Hackl, 33, asks for another evening to himself after getting an ersatz promotion, Vandergelder (Kurt Rhoads) tells his charge that he should get up earlier and close the shop at 10 p.m.: "If I'd had evenings free [as a young man], I wouldn't be what I am now!" he thunders, with irony. The grueling work schedule hinders Hackl's personal life and he finds it difficult to speak with women in a social setting. In rebellion, he talks his apprentice Barnaby Tucker (Tyler Bey) into playing hooky and heading into Manhattan - vowing not to return until they've kissed a woman. According to the script notes, "farces are notoriously tricky to stage." After spotting Vandergelder (who is visiting the city to propose to Molloy), they duck into her hat shop. Things get hairy when the wayward clerks are inevitably discovered. As directed by Davis McCallum, HVS's artistic director, several scenes feature the stage and house filled with actors screaming, running amok and almost colliding with each other. The book is peppered with witty jokes and pithy insights, but the main comedic thrust rests in the situations and shenanigans. As Miss Flora Van Huysen, upon whose townhouse everyone descends during the wee hours, Katie Hartke channels a humorous Nora Desmond from Sunset Boulevard. Like The Comedy of Errors, the other offering at HVS through early August, The Matchmaker unfolds like a zany sitcom and concludes on a high note: Clerk Hackl finds a wife, the artist Kemper is approved to marry Vandergelder's niece and Dolly gets to spread the manure around. All's well that ends well. Hudson Valley Shakespeare is located at 2015 Route 9 in Philipstown. Tickets are $10 to $100 at hvshakespeare.org or at the door. The Matchmaker runs on select evenings through Aug. 3.

Their comments range from angry to anguished, some typed in all caps and punctuated with exclamation points. An 80-year-old retiree who said his charges from Central Hudson are outpacing last year's 2.5 percent increase in his Social Security check is among the 182 people submitting comments in response to the utility's latest request to increase the rates it charges to deliver electricity to homes and businesses. A single mother who said she lived with two children in a 700-square-foot house while earning $1,400 a month bemoaned the surge in her monthly bill from $100 to more than $200. "If the rates keep going up, I will have to freeze to death together with my teenage sons," she wrote. For the homeowners, renters and business owners who have been railing against Central Hudson's rising costs online and in public hearings before the state Public Service Commission, the frustration goes beyond the company's latest request to raise rates. Its pending three-year plan is lower than the company's original request but would still add $18 per month during that period to the average customer's bill. Those customers, along with residents served by New York state's other utility companies, are paying the most in at least 25 years for electricity, according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Utility bills statewide averaged 25 cents per kilowatt-hour in March, compared to 19 cents in March 2015. Nationwide, energy bills are forecast to continue rising through next year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. "It's unbearable for customers," said Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon and other areas served by Central Hudson. "We get complaints all the time about their costs and their service." Extreme Weather Powers Demand Cooling, heating rises as aid disappears by Brian PJ Cronin The spikes in energy bills come as Americans feel the increasing effects of climate change, including more frequent "heat dome" events like the Highlands experienced last week when temperatures reached into the high 90s. Those events spur even greater electricity usage as residents crank up air conditioners and fans to sustain themselves. Don't expect a trade-off from warmer winters, however. Climate change is also manipulating the polar jet stream, pulling colder air from Canada south in the winter. This past winter, those polar-vortex events allowed freezing temperatures to blanket the Highlands, adding higher heating bills to the higher cooling costs residents faced during the summer. These bills aren't just a source of frustration and anxiety anymore. They're literally a matter of life and death. Between 1999 and 2023, 21,518 deaths recorded in the U.S. were attributed to heat as the underlying or a contributing factor, according to a study published in Aug. 2024 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The total number of deaths nationwide doubled from 1,069 in 1999 to 2,325 in 2023, according to the study. In New York state, extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths, said the state Department of Environmental Conservation in a report published in June 2024. Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration fired the entire federal staff responsible for the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps more than 6 million families avoid utility shut-offs. A representative from New York's Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance said that the state had already received its LIHEAP funding for the year, but next year is in doubt. Part of this year's funding is going toward the state's Cooling Assistance Program, which will help approximately 18,000 households purchase either an air conditioner or a fan. The application window for the program is closed, but New Yorkers who suffer from asthma may still be eligible. See dub.sh/cooling-help for more information. Customers face costs on two fronts: the rate utilities bi...

Low ridership, cost drive MTA decision Commuter ferry service between Newburgh and Beacon will not return after being suspended since January, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said last week. NY Waterway has operated the Beacon-to-Newburgh ferry under contract with the MTA since 2005, but the company in March announced that its weekday rush-hour service was discontinued indefinitely due to damage at the Beacon dock. On June 23, Evan Zucarelli, the MTA's acting senior vice president of operations, said during a Metro-North committee meeting that the initial suspension of service was triggered by "typical river icing." However, subsequent assessments "revealed significant damage" to the floating ferry dock the MTA attaches to Beacon's pier, "requiring long-term solutions," he said. After reviewing ridership, which had been "steadily declining" prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the $2.1 million annual cost of the service, the ferry will not return, Zucarelli said. An average of 62 riders used the ferry each day in 2024, down from "approaching 250" per day at its peak in 2008, said Andrew Buder, Metro-North's director of government and community relations. Ridership usually doubles over the summer, but last fall did not rebound to match its numbers from a year earlier, Buder said. "Even with that, we don't see a drop in ridership on the [Metro-North] train correlating to the drop in ridership on the ferry," he said. "If those people are still using the train, they're just choosing to get there a different way." Bus service costing $1.75 per ride will continue ferrying commuters between the two cities on weekday mornings and afternoons for the rest of the year, after which it will become free. The MTA has been working with New York State to expand the frequency and coverage area of the service, Zucarelli said. When pressed by an MTA board member, he said the agency would consider implementing free bus service before 2026. Another factor in the decision, Zucarelli said, is that Beacon is "actively developing plans to activate its dock area for tourism," while in Newburgh, where the MTA had been using a temporary dock, city officials are preparing for similar growth in 2027 with the opening of the $14.3 million Newburgh Landing Pier. The MTA's license to attach its ferry dock in Beacon expired June 30, and the agency notified the city that it did not intend to renew the agreement, City Administrator Chris White said. Neal Zuckerman, a Philipstown resident who represents Putnam County on the MTA board, pushed back against the plans during the June 23 meeting. "It is counterintuitive to me that, at the same time you've mentioned that both Newburgh and Beacon are enhancing their waterfront, that we are finding that use of the waterfront is not valuable," he said. Zuckerman said that what's happening on the Newburgh waterfront is "shockingly nice," while Beacon is a "TOD [transit-oriented development] dream, because it was once a moribund, empty area." Then, when Dia Beacon arrived in 2003, "it created an extraordinary resurgence" in a community that, because of the MTA, was "an easy one to get to." Whether ferry service returns or not, restricted access to the dock has hindered the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which would typically dock in Beacon for at least six weeks out of its April-to-November sailing season. Clearwater has had to reschedule school sails aboard the sloop to depart from either Cold Spring or Poughkeepsie, while some fee-based sails for private groups and pay-what-you-can community sails, which draw about 45 people per outing, have been canceled, said David Toman, the organization's executive director. "Our core - the idea of getting people out on the sloop, out on the water - provides a unique impact that you can't get otherwise," he said. "It is critically important to be in Beacon and be able to serve the community from that access point." Steve Chanks, an art director who lives in Newburgh, often ...

Millions expected to lose coverage In addition to love, health insurance pushed Catherine Lisotta and her husband to marry. The Garrison resident's job in the magazine industry offered coverage after he lost his job. When Lisotta got laid off, the couple turned to New York's health exchange, an insurance marketplace where people without access to coverage from employers, and incomes too high for public insurance, can enroll in a private plan using tax credits that lower premium costs. She never considered going without health coverage. "It would worry me too much," said Lisotta, whose insurance is covering a recent hip replacement that would have cost her over $20,000. "It would be like tempting God." Lisotta and other people using exchanges in New York and other states are now facing changes to health care that are estimated to raise the number of uninsured people by 12 million. Those proposals, embedded in U.S. House and Senate versions of the One Big Beautiful Bill, will cost 7.8 million people coverage through Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office The bill was narrowly passed in the House on Thursday (July 3) after passing the Senate on Tuesday (July 1). President Trump signed it on Friday (July 4). New York's two Democratic senators - Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, voted against the legislation, as did Rep. Pat Ryan, a House Democrat representing the 18th Congressional District, which includes Beacon. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican who represents the 17th District, which includes Philipstown, voted for the legislation. New York State predicts that 1.5 million statewide will lose insurance, including 38,400 in the 18th District and 31,200 in the 17th District. The bill's provisions would also affect the health care exchanges in New York and other states established when President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Among the changes, people will have to verify their eligibility before enrolling instead of being allowed temporary conditional eligibility. The bill also changes a provision that allows any immigrant who is legally in the country to be eligible for coverage and subsidies through the exchanges, largely limiting that benefit to green-card holders and barring enrollment for refugees and people seeking asylum. There is also concern that Congress will not extend the more-robust tax credits, and expanded eligibility, approved under the administration of President Joe Biden and expiring at the end of the year. Letting them expire would cost 4.2 million people insurance, according to the CBO. Premiums could more than double in both Lawler and Ryan's districts without the extension, according to KFF, a health policy organization. Christine Ortiz, who owns Oh! Designs Interiors in Cold Spring, is among the insured who has been receiving text messages from the state warning that "federal rules may change your health insurance." She not only uses the exchange, but so do a son and daughter. One of them is also self-employed. "The only reason that we can be self-employed is because of health care," she said. "I have a studio in the village, trying to build my business, and having to not have to worry about health insurance has been such a blessing." Sun River Health, whose 40 locations include one in Beacon, estimates that 20,000 of its patients will lose Medicaid, said Ernest Klepeis, its chief of government affairs and advocacy. As the OBBB has worked its way through Congress, Klepeis has been urging senators and representatives to reject the Medicaid cuts, which include stronger work requirements for childless adults between 19 and 64, and a new requirement that recipients recertify their eligibility every six months instead of yearly. While Republicans say that the changes will only impact people who refuse to work, advocates say that most of the people who lost coverage from more stringent work requirements imposed in Arkansas and Georgia were actually eligible for Medicaid. ...

Maasik out; Cheah withdraws as independent candidate Nat Prentice and Ned Rauch won the two Democratic lines on Tuesday (June 24) for the Philipstown Town Board. Rauch, who was endorsed by the Philipstown Democratic Committee, will appear on the Democratic and independent Philipstown Focus lines. He edged John Maasik by 24 votes for the Democratic line. Ben Cheah, the other candidate endorsed by the Democratic Committee, would have appeared on the November ballot on the Philipstown Focus line but on Friday filed with the Putnam County Board of Elections to have his name removed. In a statement on Facebook, Cheah wrote that, before the primary vote, "there was a lot of speculation that Ned and I would continue on to the November election on an independent line, regardless of the primary outcome. For me, that was never the plan." He said he withdrew because "this is the healthiest choice for both the Philipstown Democratic Party and my own career" and endorsed Rauch and Prentice. Voters had to be among the 3,597 residents in Philipstown registered with the Putnam County Board of Elections as Democrats. Turnout was 31 percent. The Board of Elections said some votes remain to be counted, such as affidavit ballots filed at the two polling sites and absentee ballots postmarked by June 24 that arrive by Tuesday (July 1). The results below are unofficial until certified. Democratic Nat Prentice 631 (29%) Ned Rauch 543 (25%) John Maasik 519 (24%) Ben Cheah 467 (22%) In a statement on Wednesday, the Philipstown Democratic Committee congratulated Prentice and Rauch, thanked all four candidates and said it looked forward "to supporting our candidates in doing the good work." It added that, "as a committee, we are disappointed that our candidate Ben Cheah was not selected yesterday; we thank him for the passion, hard work and thoughtfulness for service to the town he put into this campaign." It will vote at its July meeting whether to endorse Prentice. In a statement on Wednesday, Maasik said, "I'm proud that the non-endorsed candidates combined for the majority of the votes and gave the town a choice in this election." He added: "The community deserved to have an opportunity to see all four candidates at one forum to better understand our similarities and differences, and I wish we could have made that happen." Two Cold Spring residents invited all four candidates to a June 18 forum at their home, but Rauch declined the invitation on behalf of himself and Cheah, telling Marianne Sutton and David Watson that "Ben and I are unavailable on the 18th. With just two weeks remaining until the primary, our schedule is already packed." Watson said about 25 people attended to hear Prentice and Maasik. Jason Angell and Megan Cotter, Democrats elected to the Town Board in 2021, did not seek second terms. John Van Tassel, who is running unopposed for his third term as supervisor, will appear in November on the Democratic and Philipstown Focus lines. Because of a new state law that pushes most town and village elections to even-numbered years, the winners of the two open seats will serve until 2028, or three years, rather than four. At the same time, the supervisor position, usually a two-year term, will be on the ballot again next year. Putnam Valley Jacqueline Annabi, the Putnam Valley supervisor, fought off a challenge for the Republican line from Stephanie Waters. Annabi will face Alison Jolicoeur, the Democratic candidate, in November. Republican Jacqueline Annabi 301 (54%) Stephanie Waters 258 (46%) Putnam County There will be three open seats on the nine-member Legislature, which has eight Republicans and one Democrat (Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley). Each member serves a three-year term. In District 5, which includes the hamlet of Carmel and eastern Lake Carmel, Jake D'Angelo, 23, defeated incumbent Greg Ellner for the Republican line. Brett Yarris will appear on the Democratic and For the People lines...

Who's to blame for these skyrocketing electricity bills? The causes are many: aging infrastructure, economic uncertainty, tariffs, wars, red tape, the failure to build enough renewable energy, inefficient construction, rising demand, the responsibility of investor-owned utilities to generate profits for shareholders and rapidly changing climates, both atmospheric and political. Over the next few weeks, we'll examine some of these causes and innovative solutions being proposed. But to understand utility prices, you first must understand how the largest machine in the world works - one so ubiquitous that although we use it every minute of every day, we hardly notice it. New York's power grid consists of 11,000 miles of transmission lines that can supply up to 41,000 megawatts of electricity. The problem is that the grid is losing power faster than it can be replaced. Fossil-fuel plants are aging out of service. Since 2019, New York has added 2,274 megawatts while deactivating 4,315 megawatts. "It's an old system," said Rich Dewey, president of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the nonprofit tasked with running the grid, on an episode of its podcast, Power Trends. "The expectation that it's going to continue to perform at the same high level that it has, say, for the last couple of decades, is just not reasonable. We're going to need to replace those megawatts" to maintain a reliable transmission system. The state has undertaken several initiatives to boost the energy flowing through the grid. Six years ago, the state Legislature passed an ambitious law that stipulates that New York must be powered by 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent zero-emission electricity by 2040. Last year, 48 percent of the energy produced by the state was zero-emission; nearly all that energy is produced upstate, where solar and hydropower are abundant. The $6 billion Champlain Hudson Power Express, which will carry 1,250 megawatts of renewable energy from Quebec to New York City, and passes by the Highlands buried beneath the Hudson River, is expected to go online in 2026. This week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her intention, citing the Build Public Renewables Act of 2023, to construct nuclear plants that will produce at least 1 gigawatt. The site or sites for those plants are expected to be in less-populated areas upstate or in western New York, which would make them subject to the same problem that prevents solar and hydropower from reaching downstate, including the Highlands: a bottleneck where the upstate and downstate grids meet. The $2 billion question If Jeffrey Seidman, a Vassar College professor, sounds philosophical when discussing climate change, it's to be expected. Seidman is an associate professor of philosophy. A few years ago, he began having second thoughts about his chosen field of study. "Watching the world visibly burning, I began to doubt that continuing to teach philosophy was morally defensible at this moment," he said. A career change seemed out of the question - Seidman had just turned 50 - but Vassar's Environmental Studies department is interdisciplinary. So he developed a class called Climate Solutions & Climate Careers. Lately, he has been taking his lectures outside the classroom to clear up misinformation for lawmakers. Renewable energy faces strong headwinds these days, as President Donald Trump's executive orders and proposed legislation demonstrate that he intends to make it more difficult to build wind and solar projects. Before relenting, the federal government briefly halted an offshore wind project that was under construction off Long Island. At a June 3 meeting of Dutchess County mayors and supervisors, Seidman explained the potential of battery energy storage systems (BESS) to facilitate the transfer of renewable energy from upstate to the Hudson Valley. Jennifer Manierre of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) discussed how the state can help ...

City says it was not notified or involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided a residence on North Elm Street in Beacon on the morning of Friday (June 20), according to a statement issued by Mayor Lee Kyriacou. City officials said they do not know who ICE detained. It is unclear whether a judicial warrant was presented or the nature of any charges. ICE did not respond to a request from The Current for information. "I want to make clear that at no time leading up to this incident did city staff, including our Police Department, have any notice of or involvement in ICE operations," Kyriacou said. "As a city, we remain committed to our safe, inclusive community policy, to preserving rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and to avoiding any policies which engender fear among law-abiding families." The mayor said his office had been informed about the raid by residents and that Police Chief Tom Figlia confirmed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that an ICE operation had occurred. Figlia said this week that ICE returned the following day (June 21), but he did not know if anyone was detained. Mayor's Statement Earlier today, my office was informed by several residents of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in the City of Beacon. I want to make clear that at no time leading up to this incident did city staff, including our Police Department, have any notice of or involvement in ICE operations. As a city, we remain committed to our safe, inclusive community policy, to preserving rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, and to avoiding any policies which engender fear among law-abiding families. Our city's police chief was able to confirm with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, after the fact, that an ICE operation occurred in Beacon earlier this morning. At this time, the city has no information as to the identity of the individual who was arrested or detained, the nature of the charges, or whether a judicial warrant was presented or not. The City of Beacon also has no information as to the current location of the person who was arrested or detained. Our Police Department is actively seeking further information regarding the situation at this time. Lee Kyriacou, Mayor, City of Beacon Andrew Canaday, a Beacon resident, wrote in a comment posted below that he witnessed the raid. "ICE, the FBI and what appeared to be one police officer (not from the City of Beacon) staked out the house, parked at different locations along the street around 6 a.m., presumably to apprehend him on his morning commute," he wrote. The federal agents were armed and wearing body armor, Canaday wrote. He declined further comment. Once news of the action circulated, hundreds of residents in Beacon and surrounding areas created an "unofficial neighborhood watch," according to one participant who asked not to be identified. They are concerned that ICE is "confronting and taking our community members from their homes without due process," the person said. Volunteers have circulated pocket-sized cards with phrases such as "I do not give you permission to enter my home" and "I choose to exercise my constitutional rights" in English and Spanish. A second card offers tips for bystanders, such as how to observe safely, when to speak up and how to document what they see if witnessing a person being detained. Joseph Lavetsky, an immigration attorney in Beacon, said that people who have been in the U.S. for less than two years, or who don't have proof that they've been in the country for more than two years, are the most at risk because they could be subject to expedited removal. If a person is detained, they will be held pending a bond hearing in an immigration court, he said, which would not take place in Beacon. The nonprofit New York Legal Assistance Group has created Designation of Standby Guardian forms for at-risk immigrants who have children to file in Surrogate Court or Family Court. Lavetsky noted that D...

Finance chief says loan hobbles contractor Putnam's finance commissioner is recommending that the county spend $4.7 million to pay off the loan used to acquire its golf course in 2003 and rebid the contract to run the operation. Michael Lewis told the Legislature's Audit Committee on Monday (June 23) that the county would save $477,000 in interest with the early payoff of the tax-exempt bonds whose proceeds were used to buy the former Lake MacGregor Golf Course in Mahopac. He also presented an alternative in which the county would use $1.7 million to pay off a portion of the bonds, saving $175,198 in interest, when they are eligible for redemption on Jan. 15. In addition to saving on interest, retiring the bonds would release the county from IRS rules that have proved "restrictive" for Homestyle Caterers & Food Services of Yorktown Heights, the company hired to provide beverage and food service for golfers and events. Those rules mean that Homestyle cannot "claim ownership, claim depreciation and/or amortization deductions, investment tax credits or deduct for any payment" related to the golf course, according to Lewis. Because of the restrictions, Putnam also owns the drink, food and pro shop inventory and is responsible for the cash-handling, said John Tully, the commissioner of general services. Without those rules, a company holding the golf course contract would own the inventory and simply pay Putnam a share of the revenue from the course. In addition to Homestyle, Putnam contracts with Troon Golf to run and maintain the golf course and its pro shop, and a third company hired "to protect our interests and make sure that those two other contractors are playing nice in the sandbox, and that they're coordinating events and all things together," said Tully. "There would be a benefit to the county to only have one person or one entity to deal with, and that entity could be one of the three operators that are there today or somebody new," he said. Putnam spent $11.35 million in 2003 to purchase a 375-acre property, which included the money-losing golf course and its banquet facility, the former Mahopac airport and Hill-Agor Farm. The county took the money from $40 million it received under a watershed agreement signed with New York City but later had to repay $5 million to the fund. Since the purchase, the county has spent millions more on upgrades, ranging from repaving the parking lot to renovating the clubhouse. The upgrades included making the facility accessible to people with disabilities to settle a lawsuit filed in 2016 by Westchester Disabled on the Move Inc. Homestyle has also faced accusations. A 2018 report by the Journal News centered on catering contracts that appeared to show that the campaign of then-County Executive MaryEllen Odell and a nonprofit founded by Legislator Amy Sayegh and directed by an Odell assistant were charged less than other groups for events at the course. Odell's campaign denied the accusation. Sayegh is now the Legislature's chair. In 2022, the Legislature voted to use $400,000 of Putnam's $19.1 million in federal pandemic relief funds to renovate the golf course's restaurant, despite a $272,000 profit the year before. Putnam reallocated the money after being told the golf course project did not meet eligibility guidelines. Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, has repeatedly called for more disclosure about the golf course finances. "I like the idea of saving money," she said on Monday. "But I think, for the public's interest, we need to review everything from the inception of the golf course."

State will provide funds for breakfast, lunch Haldane students will receive free breakfast and lunch at school in 2025-26 thanks to a newly created state program funded largely by the federal government. The Universal Free Meals program, included in the state's 2025-26 budget, will provide breakfast and lunch at no charge beginning in the fall, said Carl Albano, the interim superintendent. About half of the district's 800 students in kindergarten through 12th grade buy meals in the cafeteria, and about 150 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. In Garrison, meanwhile, the district included funding in its 2025-26 budget to offer lunch to its 200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade but has encountered obstacles. Garrison students bring their lunches except on Friday, when they can purchase pizza provided by the eighth-grade class as a fundraiser. The district budgeted $150,000 to pay for upgrades to its kitchen and for staff to launch a pilot lunch program in the fall but has had trouble finding another district to partner with. Because Garrison's kitchen is not currently equipped to provide meals, the district hoped to have Hendrick Hudson in Montrose send lunches from its high school cafeteria, said Superintendent Greg Stowell. The plan was to sell meals for about $6 on weekdays except Friday, when the pizza fundraiser would continue. About two weeks ago, he said, the plan fell apart when Hendrick Hudson High School joined the Universal Free Meals program, which has requirements that complicate partnerships. Hendrick Hudson is also going through personnel changes among its food-service supervisors. Stowell said Garrison is trying to determine how much it would cost to partner with another district and provide Garrison students with free lunches, a decision that would need to be made by the end of July. If the district becomes subject to the regulations of the Universal Free Meals program, it would have to serve meals five days a week and could not have the Friday pizza fundraisers, which last year raised $8,000 for eighth-grade programs, including a class trip. The Beacon school district has provided free breakfast and lunch for all its students since January 2024 through a different state program called Community Eligibility Provision, said Anthony Rollins, its lunch director. To be eligible, a district must show that 25 percent of its students would qualify for free or reduced lunch under the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, which were established in 1946. Rollins said the Beacon district, which has 2,600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, serves 900 breakfasts and 1,700 lunches a day.

New Beacon vegan joint already has a following Despite running a pizza place, Mickey Dwyer is not sick of pizza. "I don't get to eat enough of my pizza, actually," he said while sliding a sausage and peppers pie into the oven at Trixie's, the pizzeria he owns and operates. "I keep selling out and then I'm bummed that I don't have any left for myself." Dwyer sells out despite a lack of advertising and his pizzeria being impossible to stumble upon. It's located in the rear of 144 Main St. in Beacon, next to a semi-secret soccer field. Its unlikely location keeps the rent cheap, which comes in handy since it took Dwyer and friends a year to get the former guitar repair shop up to code before he could open. Trixie's, named after his family's late chihuahua, had a soft opening in April that went so well Dwyer's never had a chance to have an official opening. Pizza orders open online on Wednesdays in 20-minute slots for Thursday, Friday and Saturday pickup. They fill quickly; Dwyer can only fit four pizzas at a time in the oven. "I like the time slots so I can tell how many pizzas to make," he said. "There's less food waste. And the pizza is just gonna come out better. I understand that everyone in Beacon wants to eat at 6:15, but if I made pizza for everybody at 6:15 then some are going to be undercooked. This way I can give every pizza the same amount of attention." There's one other thing that makes Trixie's unique: Everything is vegan. "I can't use 2 pounds of cheese as a crutch to cover up 'mid' pizza," he said. The sausage is made of a meat substitute; Dwyer adds sage, garlic and fennel. The mozzarella is cashew-based, and what looks like parmesan is a potato starch-based substitute that's not available in stores. Even the hot honey is vegan, made from apples and chilis. If potato-starch cheese doesn't sound appealing, rest assured that Dwyer, who grew up in Wisconsin, is picky about cheese. "All the cheese that the New York pizzerias use is made in Juda, Wisconsin," he said. "You might not think we know a lot about pizza in Wisconsin, but we know a lot about cheese." Dwyer himself isn't vegan but guesses most of his customers aren't either. "Vegans make up less than 6 percent of the population, so you're going to go under unless you make something that appeals to everyone," he said. Beacon's vegan doughnut shop, Peaceful Provisions, is an example of this. "Nobody cares that it's vegan - they just care that it's a delicious doughnut." Before he had the Main Street space, Dwyer used the commercial kitchen at Peaceful Provisions to make 100 pounds of dough on Wednesdays. He said the Saturday doughs, with their longer ferment, had more complex flavors, although he admitted he may be the only one who noticed the difference. With all the dough now made at Trixie's, the dough for each pizza gets a two-day cold ferment. "That means every pizza takes three days start to finish," he said. "Everybody thinks that pizza is fast food, but good pizza is slow food." Dwyer began making pizza as a hobby soon after he moved to Beacon in 2016. Around the same time, he and his wife began eating less meat and dairy, and creating a vegan pizza that didn't taste like a vegan pizza recipe became an obsession. Dwyer bought an old coffee trailer and sold pizzas from his driveway. At Trixie's, Dwyer is working on building a small outdoor patio and has applied for a beer and wine license. He's also finally with a food distributor so he no longer must drive back and forth to Adams and ShopRite for ingredients. This month he hired his first employee. "She'll be taking orders and talking to people," he said. "I was spreading myself too thin. I'd be talking to customers and answering their questions, and the pizzas would be in the back, burning. Now I'll just be able to focus on the pizzas. I can make more, and I can make them faster." Trixie's Pizza, behind 144 Main St. in Beacon, is open 4 to 9 p.m. on Thursday and 4 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday...

Hudson Valley Shakespeare rolls with the punchlines Highbrow and lowbrow collide as history and pop culture are run through a blender in the production of The Comedy of Errors at Hudson Valley Shakespeare. The play opens with a few notes of The Godfather theme, rewinds to the Big Band Era, then fast-forwards to 1950s rock 'n' roll. There's also a bawdy "Star-Spangled Banner" joke, another one associating "wee wee" with "yes yes" in French and three kick-line dance numbers. "That's the good thing about doing plays that have no copyright or family members alive - you can do anything you want," says director Ryan Quinn. Movement fuels the madcap mayhem: The opening scene unspools like a silent film that animates a long backstory monologue by Kurt Rhoads as Egeon. The actors sway on deck as their ship goes down, a segment choreographed by Susannah Millonzi and punctuated by Sean McNall running around in a gleaming-yellow fisherman's bucket hat. It's funny to watch Zach Fine as the servant Dromio of Syracuse get chased. Or just stand and make strange faces, eat popcorn and shake his legs. After Fine's scene-stealing appearance with the ribald French joke, national anthem quip and dose of Robin Williams, the audience on June 22 erupted with applause. Quinn added a dash of Guys and Dolls: the more menacing characters and two female roles deliver the Bard's words with faux Brooklyn accents. As Luciana, Helen Cespedes channels the renowned squeak of Adelaide from the 1950s play and Katie Hartke (Adriana) joins the fun as cases of mistaken identity erupt into chaos. The flaw to Shakespeare's logic is that each set of twins shares the same names. And, to keep the ruse going, they must be dressed in the same garb. Nonetheless, Luis Quintero (Antipholous of Syracuse), plays a low-key foil to Fine's Dromio as a happy-go-lucky chap who finds himself in maddening situations. As the other brother, Antipholous of Ephesus, Anand Nagraj presents a blustering blowhard who amalgamates the Wicked Wolf and Ralph Kramden when the hijinks get out of hand. The cast metes out more beatings than a Three Stooges film and Quinn leans into slap-schtick territory. At one point, cast members play-slap the entire audience and even the stage manager hurls water balloons at Antipholous of Ephesus. Tactful ad-libs, mostly from Cespedes, add to the playfulness and lack of pretense. One of Shakespeare's early works (circa 1594), with rhyming lines that sometimes flow like rap, The Comedy of Errors is funny not so much because of the words but in the situations. That means it's up to the actors to put it over. As written, the Dr. Pinch scene is staid, but McNall's manic depiction of an exorcism elicited howls of laughter. After arriving in what looks like a moon buggy with two white-coated helpers in glittering goggles, he gesticulates wildly and unleashes otherworldly noises. Holy water is splashed about like kindergartners in a kiddie pool. Beyond the funning and fighting, Quinn focuses on family. In one subtle, recurring gag, after the Syracusans are introduced, they walk up the hill behind the stage, and the servant Dromio tries to hold his master's hand but is swatted away. The gimmick occurs a few more times, but at the end, both Dromios in near-identical costumes clasp hands with vigor as they exit stage rear, reunited. And it feels so good. Hudson Valley Shakespeare is located at 2015 Route 9 in Philipstown. Tickets are $10 to $100 at hvshakespeare.org or at the door. The Comedy of Errors runs on select evenings through Aug. 2.

Pipe Band registers Highlands 'sett' A distinctive look can establish pride and set a group apart, whether it's Yankee pinstripes, the golden helmets of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame or the iconic painting scheme of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. For the Hudson Highlands Pipe Band, what distinguishes it from other bands is its tartan, or "sett," which became official when it was listed last year in the Scottish Register of Tartans, established by the country's Parliament in 2008. "For years, we wore the Royal Stuart tartan," says James Hartford, the band's pipe major. Red is its dominant color, making it popular with fire departments. The local pipe band, established in 2005, was originally associated with the Cold Spring Fire Co. but later became Cold Spring Pipes and Drums and, more recently, the Hudson Highlands Pipe Band. Hartford, an architect, designed the tartan with help from Aeneas Eaton, a graphic designer who sometimes plays bass drum with the band. Each of its colors represent an aspect of the Highlands' history or geography, Hartford says: blue for the Hudson River; amber for the mountains and foliage; red for iron industries, including mines and West Point Foundry; blue-grey tones for West Point; and two white lines for the railroads that flank the river. A tartan can have three to five variants. The Hudson Highlands tartan features the "Hunter" version, historically associated with stealth because it can blend in with woodland surroundings. The band also considered "ancient" and "contemporary" variants that feature muted and vivid tones, respectively. Creating the tartan inspired considerable debate among the band's 25 members, Hartford says, particularly over the colors. Hartford says the group reached consensus once he explained the rationale behind each color. The fabric, a heavy wool, was produced by Lochcarron of Scotland. The first kilts arrived in the fall. In the U.S., tartan and plaid are often used synonymously, but while a tartan is a plaid, not all plaids are a tartan. Tartans have the same pattern of stripes running vertically and horizontally, creating overlapping square grids. Plaids are not necessarily identical in both directions and can vary in size, pattern and color. Tartan is also usually woven in a two-over-two twill pattern, creating an illusion of new colors when the original hues are blended.