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Filmmaker drew inspiration from Philipstown Lily Weisberg, a 26-year-old filmmaker from New York City, has been directing and producing films in Philipstown since she was a student at Yale. Rare Birds, her most recent short film, was inspired by the natural beauty and "inherent intimacy" of rural Putnam County, she says. She spent many summers in Garrison, riding Metro-North from the city to attend camps at The Depot Theater. Her parents moved to Philipstown while she was in college. Weisberg's 10-minute film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 5 and will be shown again today (June 12) and Saturday. "It's a festival I've dreamed about having a movie in as long as I've been making movies," she said. In the film, a serial klutz named Jerry (Tony Macht) risks losing his job at a local antique store. "He's like a bull in a China shop," Weisberg said, with a laugh. "He obviously should not be working in an antique store." Jerry is also a camp counselor, and one of the campers, 12-year-old Candice (Zoe Ziegler), is a frequent visitor. She is determined to get Jerry fired so the friends can spend more time together. Their relationship, says Weisberg, is "the kind that can only really exist in a small town. They're both these oddball characters, but they're united because they are similar and from the same place." The film was shot at Bowen Barn, a shop in Stanfordville, but Weisberg and her team scouted antique stores in and near Philipstown and Beacon. "We used what we saw in our set design," she said. "I liked the idea of creating this sort of cocoon for them —a cozy, dark antique store where everything's fragile, but it's kind of desolate." Weisberg directed two previous short films, Studio 210 (2021) and Working Summer (2024), at her parents' home. Her mother's studio and gardens served as inspiration for the former, in which an aspiring artist spends a summer at his friend's mother's studio. "I wanted to make something that used all of this beauty that she'd created," said Weisberg of her mother, Deborah Needleman, a basketmaker. Achieving small-town authenticity has its challenges. Child labor laws limited how long Ziegler could be on set, and the Bowen Barn contains many fragile items that required caution when moving cameras and lights. On the plus side, "the energy is just so good with a crew that lives and works in the Hudson Valley," said Weisberg. "People are happy because they're surrounded by nature and beauty. "The fact of just loving a place comes through in a movie," she says. "I want to work in places that I love and have a relationship to." Rare Birds will be screened in New York City today (June 12) at 8:30 p.m. at Spring Studios (50 Varick St.) and on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. at AMC 19th St. East 6 (890 Broadway). See tribecafilm.com/films/rare-birds-2026. For Weisberg's earlier films, see dub.sh/weisberg-films.

Hoving Home will reroute, widen waterway The Philipstown Conservation Board determined on Tuesday (June 10) that there would be no significant environmental impacts if the Hoving Home removes a dam and reroutes a section of Philips Brook that runs through its property in Garrison. The board's vote concluded the environmental review for the $1.8 million project, under which the treatment program for women plans to remove a 10-foot-high dam originally built decades ago to create a swimming pond. It will then move 800 feet of the brook north into a new 30-foot-wide channel that will be 3 to 5 feet deep, enabling it to hold more water. Some sections of the stone wall constraining the brook as it flows west to Constitution Marsh will be removed, as will one of the footbridges and one of three lower dams, or weirs. Dirt excavated for the new channel will be used to fill 300 feet of the brook and the two other weirs. Despite multiple repairs, the dam and the stone walls have sustained extensive damage from flooding and face greater water pressure as storms intensify and become more frequent, according to Inter-Fluve, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm overseeing the project. If the dam failed, the rush of water could damage downstream properties, creating a liability risk for the Hoving Home, said Nick Nelson, a fluvial geomorphologist with Inter-Fluve who reviewed the project during a Conservation Board public hearing last month. The project is also expected to improve passage for fish and other aquatic species and reduce flooding along Snake Hill Road. "There's water still flowing through, but what used to be a pond is filled with gravel and cobble," said Nelson. "If that dam were to fail catastrophically during a storm, all of that material would be washed downstream." Hoving Homes submitted an application for a wetlands permit in June 2025. After neighbors raised concerns about potential flooding, the board asked its consultant, SLR Engineering, to review Inter-Fluve's projections. SLR found Inter-Fluve's modeling to be adequate. The Conservation Board, which still must issue a wetlands permit, concluded that the Hoving Home had taken steps to reduce temporary "moderate-to-large impacts" related to drainage, erosion and flooding during construction. Beth Greco, the Hoving Homes president and CEO, said it plans to begin the project in the spring. Under a permit approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Hoving will be prohibited from undertaking in-stream work from Oct. 1 to April 30, when trout spawn and incubate. Once finished, the new channel will be wider and shallower than the existing one. Boulders will be placed along its bed to create "step pools" — areas of deeper water to slow the flow and reduce erosion of the banks. The pools also provide "resting stops" for fish and oxygen-rich water during periods of turbulence, according to Inter-Fluve. Native plants will cover the new bank. In addition, according to Inter-Fluve, the reconstruction will avoid two areas of "archeological sensitivity" identified in consultation with the state Historic Preservation Office, which considers the site eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The configuration will send "additional flow" through a culvert that carries the brook under Avery Road, according to project documents. Walter Hoving received a $200,000 grant to replace the town-owned culvert, which is considered undersized. But Greco said last month that the property lines bordering the culvert prevent it from being widened. "It's in good enough shape to keep," she said.

Ambulance corps covers about half of town The Town of Fishkill is exploring a contract with Empress Emergency Medical Services to provide ambulances to residents in Chelsea, Dutchess Junction and Glenham because it will be cheaper than the Beacon Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Brett Lesniak, the deputy chief for BVAC, said it has been covering Chelsea, Dutchess Junction and Glenham without funding from Fishkill and when it has an ambulance available. But rising expenses, unchanged reimbursements from Medicaid, Medicare and other insurers and treating uninsured residents mean "the cost of operations is drastically different" for BVAC, he said. To guarantee dedicated coverage to the three areas — Chelsea is north of Beacon, Dutchess to the south and Glenham, northeast — would cost $1.1 million annually, with $500,000 paid by the town and the rest covered by insurance reimbursements, said Lesniak. Empress Emergency Medical Services, whose ambulances serve Fishkill residents in the Rombout fire district, estimates that it could cover the town for about $100,000 less. During its meeting on June 3, the Town Board agreed to work with Empress on expanding its coverage. Although BVAC's leaders say they "have no intention of not covering" the Beacon fire district, Supervisor Ozzy Albra said the corps told him it would discontinue service at the end of this year without an agreement. "I don't like being threatened that we're going to be abandoned," said Albra. "I'm not going to take public safety into risk, and I'm not going to let somebody have a heart attack or medical issue because an alleged not-for-profit is not going to service our three districts." In December, BVAC announced it had resumed advanced life support, which had been discontinued in 2018. Advanced life support is a higher level of service provided by full-time paid paramedics, compared to basic life support provided by part-time volunteer emergency medical technicians. BVAC officials met with Albra to discuss charging the town for covering Chelsea, Dutchess Junction and Glenham. They also discussed having BVAC cover Rombout, but since Empress provides ambulances there, getting a "certificate of need" from New York State would be difficult for the corps, Lesniak said. Albra said the bottom line is money. "BVAC priced themselves out of this," he said. Empress covers Rombout from a station at Fishkill Town Hall on Route 52. Robert Stuck, the company's executive director, said during the June 3 meeting that its ambulances received 2,325 requests from the district in 2025 and responded to 2,098 of the calls at a cost of about $187,000 to Fishkill. Most of the remaining calls were handled by an ambulance crew funded by Dutchess County as part of an initiative to fill service gaps. The county ambulance is stationed in Wappingers Falls, said Stuck. Empress would need an additional ambulance, costing another $200,000, to expand to Chelsea, Dutchess Junction and Glenham, where BVAC covered 1,327 calls in 2025, he said. Of those calls, 865 ended at a hospital. Billing for those transports is how ambulance providers generate revenue, he said. Both Empress ambulances would be staffed with paramedics skilled in advanced life support, said Stuck. The easiest way to fund the expansion would be to extend the Rombout ambulance district to the entire town, said Stuck. Doing so, said Albra, will require research, and finalizing the expansion may not be possible before the town completes its 2026-27 budget. But Stuck said Empress would be able to step in even if BVAC ended its service immediately. "We will work with you to make sure that if they turn off the spigot tomorrow, you have coverage for those three areas," he said.

Haldane weighs how students are ranked Will future Haldane classes have more than one valedictorian? That's one question raised by a change to the school's grading system, which will be implemented this fall with the incoming ninth-grade class. Haldane, like Beacon and many high schools, gives bonuses when calculating grade-point averages for schedules that include rigorous courses, such as Advanced Placement, honors and college-level classes. At Haldane, AP courses get a 1.1 multiplier, meaning that 100 becomes 110 when calculating a student's four-year GPA. The top grade in an honors course is 105. "We had a few students with over 100 percent GPAs this year," said Julia Sniffen, the Haldane High School principal. At Beacon High School, 15 to 20 seniors crack 100 each year, said Principal Corey Dwyer. Max Sanders, the valedictorian of the 2026 Haldane class, which is scheduled to graduate today (June 12), said he has a GPA of about 101. At Beacon High School, the valedictorian, Oscar McKible, said he finished with around 105 to lead his class, which will graduate on June 24. Starting with Haldane's Class of 2030, Sniffen said the district is going to cap GPAs at 100. Rigorous courses will remain weighted, she said, but "you can't be better than perfect." She said administrators are still discussing how to award valedictorian and salutatorian in 2030 if several students have perfect GPAs. "Does this impact who speaks at graduation?" she said. It's not unheard of to have multiple valedictorians. This year, Jericho High School on Long Island has 21, shattering its previous record of 15. The district does not weight its courses, so any student who receives an A+ in every class over four years is honored. Rather than giving speeches, the valedictorians lead the procession, wear sashes and are featured in a video honoring their accomplishments. The Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington, Virginia, has a variation on the theme. It names any student with an A+ average as valedictorian and often has 100 or more. But only the student with the absolute highest GPA, including weighted classes, speaks at graduation. By contrast, the Cherry Creek School District near Denver, which serves 53,000 students, stopped recognizing valedictorians at its nine high schools this year. The district called naming a valedictorian "outdated" and inconsistent with its "core values of teaching all students, rather than ranking and sorting them." At Haldane, Sniffen said that capping the four-year GPA at 100 encourages a more well-rounded high school experience. "We want to focus on the whole child, a balanced experience through high school," she said. "They should take courses they're interested in and don't look at it like 'I'm being penalized if I want to stay in band for four years.' " Sniffen added that the change won't impact how universities evaluate student transcripts. She said colleges ignore weighting anyway and have their own processes for evaluating academic performance. Amanda Cotchen, a guidance counselor at Haldane, said some students do seem to select classes for the bonus points. "I have been asked, 'What's the weighting on each of these classes?' My reply is usually, 'Are you interested in the course?' " Sanders said he chose his courses not because of weighting but based on rigor. "I just asked, 'What classes do I want to fill my schedule with? For me, it happened to be APs." In retrospect, he wished he'd found time for Discrete Mathematics, an unweighted elective. "I was doing AP Calculus, and that was very involved," he said, so he took a study period instead. McKible said he scheduled difficult classes to keep his GPA at 100 or better. But he doesn't think he missed anything. The only thing he changed was dropping a study period and lunch "to take more heavy classes," he said. The senior successfully lobbied the administration to add weight to a science research class offered through the University at Albany. "I thought that w...

Delivers groceries to Brookside Park Residents of Brookside Senior Citizen Co-op in Philipstown are again receiving free produce and groceries. In March, a Cornell Cooperative Extension program that had three local stops, including Brookside and the Chestnut Ridge Apartments and Philipstown Friendship Center in Cold Spring, ran out of federal funding. On Wednesday (June 3), the Regional Food Bank Hudson Valley, based in Montgomery, made its second monthly visit to provide food assistance at Brookside, a mobile home community on Route 9 for people ages 55 and older. The stop is supported by a grant from the Field Hall Foundation and donations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

State revises landmark climate legislation In 2019, New York State enacted ambitious climate goals: 70 percent of electricity produced by renewable sources by 2030; 100 percent zero-emissions electricity by 2040; and 85 percent less greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 than in 1990. Last week, the ambition was adjusted. Gov. Kathy Hochul argued that the goals had become unrealistic because of the pandemic, the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, supply chain problems and the Trump administration's shutdown of renewable energy projects. As part of budget negotiations with the Legislature for 2026-27, key provisions of the 2019 law were scaled back. The first goal is off the books (the state already estimated it would take at least until 2033), and the 2040 target was changed to 60 percent fewer emissions compared to 1990, if "feasible and cost-effective." Only the 2050 target remains unchanged. Rachel Spector, a lawyer for the environmental group Earthjustice, isn't sure what that means. "We were always going to only be reducing emissions to the extent feasible," she said. Earthjustice and other environmental groups sued New York State last year for failing to follow its own climate law. Hochul said meeting the climate goals would result in "enormous costs to families" in energy bills and that she wanted a "reality check." A memo released by the state in February claimed that some New York households could face $4,000 or more in additional energy costs by 2031 under the climate law, a figure critics called misleading. Legislators said there was no way to get a budget deal done if they didn't agree to change the benchmarks. "We are watching New York become the first state in the country to roll back its climate laws," Assembly Member Anna Kelles, whose district includes Ithaca, told NY Focus. "It's disappointing and embarrassing." The 2019 law gave the state five years to enact specific legislation governing how emissions reductions would happen. It spent several years designing a "cap-and-invest" program, in which large polluters would be fined for excess emissions and the proceeds would be invested in renewable energy, grid upgrades, job creation and consumer rebates, among other benefits. In 2025, a year after the deadline, the state abandoned cap-and-invest. That led to the lawsuit. The state argued in court that economic conditions made enacting cap-and-invest unfeasible — a state judge in Ulster County responded that the law is the law. In October, the judge ruled that the state had to start a cap-and-invest program or change the laws. With the passage of the 2026-27 budget, it did the latter, setting a new deadline of 2028 to pass emissions-reduction laws that could include cap-and-invest. While environmentalists consider the 2028 deadline a minor victory (Hochul had proposed 2030), Spector said the changes seem designed "to allow the state to wiggle out of being held accountable. Whether we're talking about climate or criminal justice, this is how it works. The Legislature makes laws, agencies implement them, and if they don't do it according to the law, people have the right to go to court." Instead, the governor "hijacked the budget process" to avoid accountability, she said. In addition to moving the benchmarks, the new law changes how New York State calculates emissions. In the past, the formula accounted for the potency of each greenhouse gas. For instance, methane, the primary component of natural gas, is far more powerful than carbon dioxide, but its impact fades after about 12 years. Carbon dioxide, by contrast, remains in the atmosphere for centuries. As a result, when the 2019 law was drafted, scientists urged the state to calculate the impact of methane over a 20-year horizon and of carbon dioxide over a 100-year horizon. The state complied. But now, methane has been shifted to a 100-year horizon, which many scientists believe underestimates its impact on global temperatures. In addition, New York will...

Beacon council continues review of capital needs More than 60 percent of the sidewalks and 80 percent of crosswalks in Beacon are in "good" to "very good" condition, meaning they are at least generally accessible to people with disabilities and, for crosswalks, adequately visible with little damage, according to a recent Dutchess County study. Creighton Manning, a Poughkeepsie engineering firm, spent 124 hours in the field, noting 2,400 observation points, from last fall through the spring, to produce a report on the city's pedestrian facilities. A draft of the report, which was funded by the Dutchess Transportation Council, was shared with the City Council on Monday (June 1). The study cataloged Beacon's sidewalks, crosswalks, curb ramps and pedestrian signals, evaluating each on a scale from 1 (worst) to 4 (best). Seventeen percent of the city's 281,000 feet of sidewalks were considered "fair" (2); 19 percent were "poor" (1). There are 274 crosswalks; 11 percent were visible with some damage (2), but just 2 percent were extremely deteriorated (1). The city's 856 curb ramps, the sloped section of sidewalk leading into a curb, were ranked highly, with 82 percent "good" or "very good" (3 or 4), 12 percent "fair" (2) and 6 percent "poor" (1). There are pedestrian signals at about a dozen sites in Beacon, and all were said to function properly. Creighton Manning also created maps showing priority locations for sidewalk and curb ramp improvements, with each ranked for proximity to Main Street, schools and public parks. Needs were spread throughout the city and Mayor Lee Kyriacou said they mostly reflected his own observations. While not part of the report, Transportation Council data collected by volunteers in 2025 showed that Beacon's Main Street had the most pedestrian traffic in the county. The Creighton Manning study found the sidewalk on Main Street to be "very good," the highest of the four grades, although a number of sidewalks in the Main Street-adjacent Transitional Zone were graded "poor." Crosswalks on and around Main Street were largely given a 3 or 4 as "adequate" or "like new." The City Council will hold a public hearing on June 15 on nearly $10 million in spending on equipment and capital projects scheduled for 2027. Each year, the council must approve funding for the following year's capital plan by July 31. Of five funding streams for 2027 projects, the city expects to receive the most ($4.3 million) from state and federal aid, said Finance Director Susan Tucker. Most of that ($3.6 million) will be used to rehabilitate Beekman Street. Tucker said Beacon plans to borrow $3.1 million and allocate $1.9 million of it as additional funding to construct a water-storage tank at the Mount Beacon Reservoir. (The city budgeted $1.6 million on the project in 2026.) About $2.4 million of the city's savings will be used for other projects, the most expensive of which is the first phase of improvements to the southwest corner of Memorial Park ($308,000). The final two funding sources, grants and a recreation trust that developers pay into, will provide $55,000 and $92,000 next year, respectively. Two weeks ago, during the council's initial review of its five-year capital plan, there was some debate about when and how the city should move ahead with plans for a community or enhanced recreation center. On Monday, council members seemed to agree that the next step would be to dedicate funding in the 2027 operating budget for a feasibility report. The council has the option each year to set aside funding for planning studies; the 2026 budget includes $100,000 to be split between a study to create a biking master plan and housing resources. A study in 2027 would likely provide insight into programming needs. Further research would be needed to determine whether improvements to the Recreation Department building at 23 West Center St. could satisfy Beacon residents' desire for a "third space" where the community — particularly chi...

New film chronicles longtime celebrity reporter For three decades, George Carroll Whipple III, who lives in a castle atop a hill in Philipstown, has been a beloved staple of 24-hour cable channel NY1. With his trademark eyebrows, the entertainment reporter would snag the attention of passing red-carpet celebrities and was such a fixture he was parodied on Saturday Night Live. And next weekend, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, a documentary about his life, Whipple's World, will premiere. When director Adam Paul Verity proposed the film several years ago, Whipple demurred. "I said, 'That is a very stupid idea because nobody would be interested in my life,' and even though I'm sort of a public person, I'm an extremely private person." Verity persisted, and Whipple participated, but says he doesn't have immediate plans to see the 78-minute film. "I can't watch myself," he says. "But, somehow, Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal took it into the Tribeca Film Festival [which they founded following 9/11], which was extremely gracious and kind of them." How did a prep school (Choate) and Ivy League (Columbia) grad become a paparazzo and entertainment reporter in signature Brooks Brothers suits? Blame Andy Warhol. The two met at Studio 54. "He always had that Minox camera," Whipple says. "He said to me, 'Take pictures of your friends, George. It's very important.' Andy realized it was a gilded youth and a very unusual time. So I started photographing my friends, and I did that for a decade while I was practicing law." After a decade as a photographer for publications like Playboy, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine and Town & Country, Whipple enrolled at New York University's film school. His student film, he says, was terrible. "I decided I'd report on movies instead of making movies," he says. Whipple digitized his 30 years of celebrity interviews for The Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio). He considers them part of the history of New York City. Whipple's World follows him to Putnam County, where his family has farmed for generations. Today, he's on the board of directors and specializes in employment law at Epstein Becker Green. His Whipple Heritage Conservation Foundation preserves endangered North American livestock breeds. "When I grew up here, we used to have to stop on the way home, and the cows would cross the road," he says. "Those days are gone, but I would like to have children in the next generation to at least be able to glimpse farm life." Another family foundation, Preserve Putnam County, protects historic buildings and landscapes. He has been hands-on with one landmark: Castle Rock, where he lives with his daughter, Elizabeth. Whipple purchased the 10,518-square-foot mansion, which had been vacant for 35 years, in 2021 and began restoration work. "My friends who grew up in castles, from old English families, said, 'George, you can never finish a castle. They're always falling down.'" Whipple is a Putnam County booster and is working with former Gov. George Pataki and others for the county's celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence. "But for the chain [across the Hudson], we would be under a British flag," he says. "No question about it. The revolution was won in Putnam County." Whipple's home includes a room where he displays an impressive collection of Putnam County artifacts and memorabilia. He also has a wig and Revolutionary uniform ready for reenactments. Next on his list: rebuild the Ludington Mill that burned in the 1970s. "Washington was there. We fed the troops from that mill, and it should be reconstructed," he says. "As George Pataki says, 'The only problem with George Whipple is he doesn't have any energy.' " Whipple's World will have screenings during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on June 12, 13 and 14. See dub.sh/whipples-world.

Changes give municipalities more control The state's 2019 climate law wasn't the only environmental legislation to get an overhaul in budget negotiations. It also amended the State Environmental Quality Review Act to exempt much of the new housing construction from the standard environmental review process. Gov. Kathy Hochul argued that SEQRA, enacted 50 years ago, is redundant because development projects undergo local review. The revision had support from some environmental groups, who hoped it would reduce sprawl while making it easier to build affordable housing. "SEQRA has improved a lot of planning in New York, but it still creates these real costs in the development process," said Johnathan Clark of Scenic Hudson. But Scenic Hudson and other environmental groups felt the law had too many loopholes; the final version addressed many, but not all, of their concerns. One requirement Hochul proposed is that projects exempted from the SEQRA process must be on a "disturbed" site rather than on untouched areas. Critics asked if a 50-acre property had a single house, could a buyer argue that the entire 50 acres was "disturbed"? Clark noted that the enacted law lets local planners interpret the rules. "We see that as an improvement," he said. Hochul's previous housing plan, a 2023 proposal to build 800,000 units over 10 years, fell apart after municipalities said that it would compromise their autonomy. "This is more respectful of home rule," said Pete Lopez, a former state legislator and regional EPA director who works for Scenic Hudson. "This is less prescriptive than what created that uproar in the past." The law also clarifies that former industrial sites, or anything adjacent to them, cannot escape SEQRA review. "A lot of contamination can move off of an immediate property line," said Tracy Brown, the president of Riverkeeper. Hochul's original proposal included two sizing requirements for a project to be exempt: one for New York City and one for the rest of the state. Environmental groups argued that there should be more categories; otherwise, a 300-unit development exempted in Yonkers or Buffalo could also be built in Cold Spring. The final law sets three caps: 250 to 500 for New York City, 300 for urbanized areas outside of New York City and 100 for non-urbanized areas. "That's still a lot for Garrison or Cold Spring, but at least it's better than 300," said Brown. The law also clarifies that any project in a municipality without zoning laws — a distinction that applies to about 20 percent of the state — must undergo a SEQRA review for projects over 20 units. "These SEQRA changes might make certain kinds of development easier, but it's still the actual local laws that are saying what can be built and where," Clark said.

Includes rebate checks, retiree changes Teachers in the Beacon, Haldane and Garrison school districts, waiters at Highlands eateries and millions who filed income tax returns in 2024 are among the winners in a newly enacted $269 billion state budget that also seeks to reduce auto insurance rates and utility costs. After several contentious issues delayed passage of the budget for nearly two months past the April 1 start of the fiscal year, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislators finalized a 2026-27 spending plan on May 28. The budget is 10 bills passed by the Senate and Assembly on May 26 and 27 and enacted by the governor. Sen. Rob Rolison, a Republican whose district includes the Highlands, voted yes on all the bills except for one funding public protection and general government. He was the only Republican to vote yes on two bills: one to pay for health and mental hygiene programs, and one for miscellaneous legislation. Assembly Members Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, and Dana Levenberg, a Democrat whose district includes Philipstown, voted yes on all 10 bills. One of the provisions is a round of rebate checks that will be issued this fall in response to rising electricity and gas rates. An estimated 8.2 million residents who filed taxes in 2024 and made up to $300,000 will receive checks ranging from $100 for individuals to $200 for joint filers. Another utility-related initiative in the budget will freeze electricity and gas rates at existing levels if the Public Service Commission denies a utility's request to increase prices. Jacobson, who introduced the proposal in the Assembly, said it amends state law that allowed a utility to automatically receive its full request if the PSC rejects its proposed new rates without proposing an alternative. "For too long, utilities have held customers hostage to their demands," he said. "Now, if the PSC determines that the rate increase should be zero, it will be zero." Waiters, bartenders, food deliverers and other workers who rely on tips will not have to pay income taxes on gratuities up to $25,000, in line with a federal law that expires in 2028. Hochul and state lawmakers also agreed to revise the Tier 6 retirement bracket, which applies to state and local public employees whose service began on or after April 1, 2012. The state budget is a series of bills passed by the Senate and Assembly and enacted by the governor. Here is how Sen. Rob Rolison, a Republican whose district includes the Highlands, and Assembly members Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, and Dana Levenberg, a Democrat whose district includes Philipstown, voted on May 26 and 27. State Operations (S9000D) Senate 43-19: Rolison yes | Assembly 102-40: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Legislature and Judiciary (S9001A) Senate 45-17: Rolison yes | Assembly 98-44: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Debt Service Fund (S9002A) Senate 48-10: Rolison yes | Assembly 109-34: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Aid to Localities (S9003D) Senate 44-18: Rolison yes | Assembly 112-30: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Capital Projects Budget (S9004D) Senate 45-17: Rolison yes | Assembly 111-31: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Public Protection and General Government (S9005C) Senate 39-22: Rolison no | Assembly 93-47: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Education, Labor, Housing, Family Assistance (S9006C) Senate 58-3: Rolison yes | Assembly 119-25: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Health and Mental Hygiene (S9007C) Senate 42-20: Rolison yes* | Assembly 102-41: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Transportation, Economic Development, Environmental (S9008C) Senate 53-10: Rolison yes | Assembly 110-33: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes Miscellaneous Legislation (S9009C) Senate 38-24: Rolison yes* | Assembly 91-52: Jacobson yes; Levenberg yes *Rolison was the only Republican to vote yes on this bill. Teachers and teaching assistants in that bracket will be able to retire five years earlier, at 58. The changes also increase the amou...

A searchable database of the most consequential decisions This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for its newsletter here. It's two months late, but it's finally here: New York state's $269 billion budget. The big story of this year's budget was the face-off between Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who made "tax the rich" a rallying cry of his campaign. Even as she stumped for Mamdani last fall, Hochul was adamant that she would not raise taxes on the wealthy. In the end, they split the baby. Mamdani didn't get what he most wanted: a tax hike on New York's top earners. But he did get billions of dollars from the state to plug a hole in the city's budget, new funding for child care, and a tax on luxury second homes in New York City, giving him something to burnish his socialist cred. Hochul and Mamdani also had to contend with major federal cuts and threats from President Donald Trump about more pain to come. The governor and mayor have managed to stay on good terms. As the budget neared completion, Mamdani said in a statement that they had "partnered through every step of the process." The budget contains hundreds of new programs and laws. Some of the most important: limits on police collaboration with ICE, a significant weakening of the state's landmark climate law, and removal of a major barrier to new housing statewide. We've pored over thousands of pages of budget documents to make this guide, which will tell you about several dozen of the most important decisions lawmakers made this budget cycle. In the chart below, you can see where each party stood and what made it into the final deal. Below that, you can find written descriptions using the drop-down menus. Happy reading! Total spend: The total sum the state expects to spend over the next year is $269 billion. That's more than what the governor ($260 billion) and Assembly ($266 billion) proposed spending, and nearly what the Senate proposed ($270 billion). Tax the rich? The budget does not hike personal income taxes or corporate taxes, despite a push by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and both legislative chambers. It does extend a pandemic-era corporate tax hike by three years — maintaining the current 7.25 percent rate through 2029. Rainy day fund: While an exact figure for how much money is in the state's rainy day fund isn't public yet, Budget Division spokesperson Tim Ruffinen said it's about $15 billion, roughly the same as when the budget process started. Public pensions: The state's major public sector unions won significant boosts to their workers' pension plans. Public school teachers will now be able to retire at 58 with full pensions. Many public employees will have their pension payments boosted, and their required contributions to the state pension fund lowered. The Department of Budget has estimated that this change will cost $557 million per year. Most of that cost is expected to fall on local governments and school districts, which generally had opposed the change. Foundation Aid: Lawmakers were successful in their push to revise the state's complicated school funding formula to better address the needs of vulnerable student populations. While Governor Kathy Hochul's executive proposal left the Foundation Aid formula unchanged, the final budget adds a new weight for students who are homeless or in foster care and increases funding for English language learners. Districts will also receive a funding boost of at least 2 percent over last year, bringing the total Foundation Aid allocation to $27.4 billion. CUNY funding: Funding for the City University of New York system will stay roughly the same as last year, at $6.7 billion, including over $650 million to support capital projects and infrastructure improvements. Hochul's budget would have allocated $6.4 billion to the system, while the Senate proposed $8.3 billion and the Assembly $15.1 bill...

Beacon considers five years of capital outlays The Beacon City Council will continue its review on Monday (June 1) of the city's five-year capital plan. Spending for 2027 purchases and projects must be approved before July 31. The city updates its five-year schedule annually; expenditures for the following year are approved, and estimates are calculated for future projects. A public hearing on the 2027 plan will be held on June 15. Next year's plan includes nearly $10 million in capital work and equipment purchases, although not all of it will be the city's responsibility. The most expensive project will be a $3.6 million rehabilitation of Beekman Street funded by grants. The street leading toward the Metro-North station will be repaved; sidewalks will be repaired and installed where there are gaps; and a bike lane will be added on the uphill side of the road. The next-highest expenditure is $1.9 million to construct a water-storage tank at the Mount Beacon Reservoir. The council approved $1.6 million for the project last year; the additional funding for 2027 will complete the work. The city plans to spend $500,000 in each of the next five years to mill and pave streets and install curb ramps to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Similarly, $400,000 is allotted in each of the next three years for improvements to the southwest corner of Memorial Park that tentatively will add pickleball courts, updated lighting and a second public restroom. In 2028, $3.3 million is budgeted for upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant, although Deputy City Administrator Ben Swanson and Finance Director Susan Tucker stressed during the council's May 18 meeting that prices can change. A ladder truck for the Fire Department, authorized as a $1.7 million expenditure in 2025, is now more than $1.9 million, Tucker noted. Two proposed expenditures drew a lot of attention: $5.4 million in 2028 for a 3.3-mile rail trail from the waterfront to the Town of Fishkill and, in 2031, $5.3 million to create a community center. Many residents have advocated for a community center for years, but the idea has never moved from the final year of the rolling five-year plan, a pattern that irked Council Member Lastar Gorton. "Why is that not a priority when this is what the community has been continuously asking for?" Gorton said, calling the rail trail a project for tourists. Mayor Lee Kyriacou disagreed, saying the trail "has nothing to do with tourism" but will be a recreational asset for residents. Gorton argued that "many, many, many, many" community members have called for a community center, including the Beacon Community Collective, a nonprofit that says it is fundraising for such a facility. The organization says its mission is to help establish something in the spirit of the Martin Luther King Cultural Center, which operated on South Avenue from 1969 to 2011, and the Beacon Community Resource Center, which was located for decades in what is now the Recreation Department building on West Center Street. Kyriacou noted that recreation funding has grown from $304,000 in 2014 to $1.15 million this year, allowing the department to run its after-school program, Camp at the Camp and partnerships with Green Teen Beacon, among other initiatives. The programmatic funds, combined with $15 million in capital improvements to public parks over five years, are "far more important than any building," he said. Kyriacou said he is pitching funders on the rail trail and hopes the project "will be largely funded by other people's money." Conversely, funding for a community center would come from borrowing or taxes, he said. The city must "make choices as to what's most important and in what order we should be doing things," he said. "But most important to who?" Gorton asked. Council Member Carolyn Bennett Glauda added, "Seeing the community center all the way at the end really feels like we kicked it down the curb." The $5.3 million estimate for the project is...

Philipstown filmmaker profiles Trump accuser Ivy Meeropol, who lives in Philipstown, directed her first documentary, Heir to an Execution, about her grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 as Communist spies. In the 22 years since, Meeropol has made films about Red-baiting lawyer Roy Cohn, the Indian Point nuclear power plant and a surge of seals and great white sharks on Cape Cod. Her latest film, Ask E. Jean, tells the story of E. Jean Carroll, a women's magazine advice columnist, writer and New York City personality who, in 2019, accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her 25 years earlier in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. She appeared that year on the cover of New York magazine in the dress she said she had been wearing. She sued Trump for defamation and battery, and in 2023 was awarded $83.3 million in damages. The following year, after the former president denied the allegations and called Carroll a "wack job" whom he did not know, a jury awarded her another $5 million. Trump has appealed the $5 million judgment to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Wednesday (May 27), CNN reported that the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into whether Carroll committed perjury. Meeropol grew up with the legacy of her grandparents, whose federal espionage trials were a defining moment of the Cold War, sparking anti-Communist hysteria and a global debate over civil liberties. The world was similarly divided by competing political visions when Meeropol spent time with Carroll and her lawyer, Robbie Kaplan, during their preparations for the 2023 lawsuit. "I feel that I have been a witness to history — like I had a front row seat to incredible events," Meeropol says. Both her grandparents' and Carroll's stories drew her in "because of who I am, because I grew up with being fully aware and always curious about what was going on behind the news — stories that are not censored but just not fully told. "I always want to humanize the people involved in these epic stories, because they end up being owned by the public or judged in a certain way, and it's limited," she says. "With my grandparents' case, it was that they're totally evil, or they were these pure, perfect martyrs who people revered. There was something else in there that was the truth." She says that Carroll was vilified in the press, "with Trump leading the charge, to make her out to be a Democratic operative, a wack job, a kook, a weirdo who would 'go up in the dressing room with a man.' It was important to me that we get to hear her story and see what she went through. It still amazes me that a lot of people don't even know that he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation by two juries. They just don't know." The problem was, Carroll wasn't interested in participating in a film. But a friend recognized Meeropol's name; Carroll liked her films. Even then, there was reluctance. "Numerous times along the way, she said, 'Oh, people don't need to hear … They won't want to hear this story.' Yeah, they do. They will!" Carroll was crowned Miss Indiana University in 1963 and Miss Cheerleader USA in 1964. "She was the cheerleader, a beauty queen, a sorority sister and then a television talent," Meeropol says. "Her contradictions were so interesting to me. She was telling women, 'You don't need to be married. Go to college!' but at the same time accommodating men's horrible behavior and making excuses for it, and saying that women should be tougher." Meeropol believes that young women, including her 17-year-old daughter, need to learn about E. Jean's life. "For young people, especially young women, to see this and have empathy and understanding for what she went through and then be inspired by where she is now is important." The film made its New York City debut on May 22 at the IFC Center. "For the audience seeing this together in a theater, it is electric," Meeropol says. "Watching it together is important, because t...

Eclectic jazz performer coming to Cold Spring Modest but accomplished actor and musician Nellie McKay is reticent when asked to discuss her work and style. She's more animated on political passions, like feminism and animal rights, and more talkative onstage. McKay (pronounced "McKye"), who will perform a sold-out show on June 6 at the Chapel Restoration in Cold Spring for its Jazz at the Chapel series, is comfortable enough there to reveal many personal details, like the story about why she mispronounced her guitarist's name after a 2011 appearance at NPR's Tiny Desk: "I was stoned when I met him." Three years ago, while a guest on a radio show in North Carolina, her face brightened when she heard that Sierra Nevada sponsored the segment. "Brought to you by a beer? I love that; it's about time." The host replied, "It's that time sometime" — i.e., 5 o'clock somewhere. Responding with a coy smile, she said, "All the time." The show is broadcast from the campus of Isothermal Community College in the state's Appalachian west: "I feel like I'm going to school again; I want to get some supplies," she said, not in reference to textbooks or pens. Then she launched into "The Drinking Song," a melancholy number about drowning sorrows after the death of a loved one, vowing to "drink, drink, drink" and "dream, dream, dream" when sleeping off the binge. McKay's musical knowledge is vast. She's hip to the Hawaiian music craze that brought the ukulele to the mainland in the 1920s and 1930s. As a pianist, she recorded a tribute album to music, movie and television icon Doris Day, who broke out in the mid-1940s and promoted animal rights. When the topic of World War I came up in conversation, McKay immediately referenced Death of the Liberal Class, by Chris Hedges, which focuses on the Committee on Public Information, a federal agency that created and spread propaganda. "That's where the war economy and the misinformation in the mass media started," she says. "I have to be political — we're such pawns." To escape, she tries to avoid the noise. "It's so good to unplug," she says. "Silence is my favorite music, but it can be hard to find." McKay is a seasoned actor and writer of themed musicals that cover obscure historical figures, like Barbara Graham, the third woman in California to die in a gas chamber (at San Quentin). She also encapsulates the life of Billy Tipton (born Dorothy) in a "Girl Named Bill," a play on Johnny Cash's biggest hit, "A Boy Named Sue." Tipton, who kicked off a career as a jazz pianist and bandleader in the 1930s, passed as a man for her entire life. Paramedics who responded to her death in 1989 discovered the truth. McKay lives on the road, with no fixed address. "Sometimes venues put me up, but I just travel," she says. "I'm a trucker." The Chapel Restoration is located at 45 Market St. in Cold Spring. McKay's performance, which begins at 7 p.m., is sold out, but tickets may be available at the door. To download music, see nelliemckay.com.

Putnam Republicans seize party line Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne failed to get the support of the Putnam & Westchester Libertarian Party but succeeded in becoming its candidate. On Tuesday (May 26), Byrne and three other Republican incumbents — Clerk Michael Bartolotti and coroners John Bourges and Michael Nesheiwat — submitted petitions to the county Board of Elections with about 2,500 signatures, 1,000 more than needed to appear as Libertarian candidates on the November ballot. Unless someone successfully challenges the validity of their petitions before today's (May 29) deadline, they will be the first Putnam candidates to carry the Libertarian line since 2020. They will do so over the objections of the party, which said it endorsed Byrne's Democratic opponent, Brett Yarris, and never met with Bartolotti, Bourges or Nesheiwat. For Byrne, the benefit is clear. He earned an endorsement from Putnam's Conservative Party when he first ran for county executive in 2022. But this year, the party nominated its chair, William Spain, leaving Byrne with the prospect of appearing solely on the Republican line. In a triumphant Facebook post on Tuesday, he declared "broad support" from "Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives and unaffiliated voters all coming together around a positive vision for Putnam County." In 2020, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo enacted a law restricting the ballot to parties whose candidate for president or governor received at least 2 percent (or 130,000, whichever is greater) of votes cast in the preceding election. That change cost the Libertarian and Green parties their guaranteed place on the ballot. Today, only four parties qualify: Conservative, Democratic, Republican and Working Families . Their candidates often file nominating petitions for independent parties, so they will appear on more than one line on the ballot, believing this will win votes from people registered with that minor party or those unhappy with the two major parties. Six years ago, Putnam Judge Anthony Mole, Carmel Justice Daniel Miller and then-Justice Camille Linson of Philipstown were the most recent local candidates to run as Libertarians. That year, the state reported 155 active Libertarian voters in Putnam, the last time it collected registration data for non-major parties. Byrne isn't a Libertarian, the Putnam/Westchester chapter said in a statement on May 18, adding that Bartolotti, Bourges and Nesheiwat had not asked for the party's endorsement. Yarris won the endorsement because "he's way more libertarian, and seems to be a straight shooter," according to the party, but did not file a nominating petition to appear on its ballot line. Instead, he will appear on the Democratic, Working Families and For the People lines. The Libertarian chapter's vice-chair, Bill O'Donnell, called Byrne's petitioning "despicable" in a post at Hudson Valley Digger, a Substack newsletter by David McKay Wilson. "He's trying to imply that he is Libertarian," said O'Donnell, who lives in Philipstown. "He's not at all a Libertarian. He is trying to trade on our name. It's very underhanded." But another Libertarian, Jeffrey Chang of Carmel, said in a letter circulated to news organizations that he backed Byrne. As a party that supports small government, Yarris' "big government ideas turn true Libertarians, such as myself, off," said Chang. "If someone wants the Libertarian Party line on the ballot, and the support of the party, you do the work to earn it. Byrne did it, and his tax-cutting record backs it up." Several other Republicans in Putnam filed petitions to run as Libertarians: Christian Russo, who hopes to replace Bill Gouldman as the District 2 legislator representing most of Putnam Valley; Gouldman, who is seeking the Putnam Valley supervisor seat; and Robert Nachamie, who is running for Putnam Valley town justice. Several Democratic candidates also beat the Tuesday deadline to submit nominating petitions for an independent line. ...

For 11 years, she navigated village forestry Jennifer Zwarich has had a thing for trees for a long time. "I've always been a tree person, although I'm not a tree hugger, exactly," she said. "I was a tree climber as a kid and trees always made me feel small in a good way." On Arbor Day (April 25), Zwarich stepped down as chair of the Cold Spring Tree Advisory Board, a role she took on before the panel was created 11 years ago. In 2012, a handful of volunteers formed the Shady Lane Campaign to tend to village-owned trees. A year later, the Village Board appointed an ad hoc committee to investigate whether a tree board and local tree law were needed. When Zwarich wrote Mary Saari, then the village clerk, to volunteer, Saari replied, "Would you like to chair the committee?" Zwarich soon learned that even tree care can become political. What was supposed to be four quick meetings and a recommendation to the Village Board became much more. A session at Butterfield library drew a passionate crowd. Some vehemently opposed forming a committee. "It was baffling to me," Zwarich recalled. A subsequent meeting at Village Hall also got boisterous. "About 30 people fought for almost an hour over whether to call it a board, a committee or a commission," Zwarich said. (She says now that "board" was the right choice because it carries weight and helped her secure nearly $100,000 in grants.) Looking back, she feels some who opposed the committee felt it would be another layer of government, taking money from the budget. There was also concern that a tree law could infringe on private property rights, although the board only deals with village-owned trees. After the dust settled in 2015, the board added "Chapter 122: Trees" to the Village Code, and a Tree Advisory Board was established, with Zwarich as chair. An initial survey found the village owned about 500 trees, she said. "Our goal was to plant many more trees than we were losing," she said. Since the board was created, volunteers and Highway Department staff have planted about 230 trees, and 592 have been inventoried by species (72) and condition. Zwarich said that while residents seem to love them or hate them, the Main Street tree pits were her favorite project. "They have improved the health of a lot of trees," she said, although some need weeding. She views that as "an invitation for volunteer-minded people and businesses to get involved." Village-Owned Trees Norway maple (50)* Callery pear (48) Black oak (32) Red maple (32) Honey locust (30) Zelkova (22) Cherry (21) Serviceberry (20) Black gum (19) Oak (16) Pin oak (16) Black locust (15)* Sugar maple (15) Plum (14) Gingko (13) Linden (13) Japanese tree (12) Silver maple (11) Sweetgum (11) Eastern red (10) London (10) *New York invasive species Urban forestry can be challenging. "The sidewalk strip is not a place for trees; they're growing in awful conditions most of the time and getting peed on," she said. In addition, many side streets lack tree cover because there's no space to plant on village property. "The oldest trees are all on private property, where they have more rooting space," she said. Zwarich noted that in some places, such as Rhinebeck, the municipality donates and maintains trees near sidewalks that are on private property. "I don't know if it would fly here, but that's the next frontier," she said. She believes most people know trees are good for the environment, giving off oxygen, taking in carbon dioxide and reducing pollution. But she said the economic benefits are overlooked. "Shading your house can reduce your summer electrical bill, and the increase in property values by having trees around your house or in your neighborhood is huge." She said that when the tree committee was created, the village forest lacked diversity, including an overabundance of Norway maples, which grow fast. "They ended up being a real problem," Zwarich said. "They're weak-wooded and brittle and shed branches during storms," creating ...

Latest Beacon venue hosts its first shows Around 25 years ago, as gentrification creeped in, stickers and graffiti emerged in Texas urging people to "Keep Austin Weird." Going for a punk aesthetic, an early version of the poster promoting the triple bill on Saturday (May 30) at The Cafeteria, a new venue in Beacon, shows a singer with a mohawk wearing a Dead Boys shirt. Two slogans adorn the bottom quadrant: "Keep Beacon Weird" echoes the call in Austin and "Hot Lunch Lives" nods to the space's former role as a high school cafeteria. It's now occupied by Clutter Gallery, which manufactures collectible designer toys and recently moved from Main Street. The old high school is home to the KuBe Art Center, and the event is homegrown. Happy Valley Arcade Bar brings food and drink. Gavin Hecker booked the bands under the new Prophecy Lab brand that differentiates his live music arm from Prophecy Hall, the former church on the west side of town. The Cafeteria holds 150 people and will host music shows twice a month, says Clutter co-owner Josh Kimberg. On May 30, alt-rock combo Monski opens for guitarist Jeffrey Lewis, coming from New York City. A veteran of the Austin music scene, he crossed paths with Ed Hamell, who is playing at Lucky Dog in Beacon today (May 29). The troubadours convey clever lyrics with simple but emphatic chords. Lewis also hobnobbed with Daniel Johnston, an influential Austin musician who received a modicum of fame after someone photographed Kurt Cobain wearing a shirt depicting the cover of his 1983 album Hi, How Are You. It featured an abstract drawing of a frog, dubbed Jeremiah the Innocent. Johnston, who died in 2019, was a friend of Ron English, another local designer-toy artist. Kimberg is working with Johnston's estate to create works related to the figure. Also on the Saturday bill is Nick Yulman and the Bricolo Mechanical Band, housed in his basement at the foot of Mount Beacon. Active in the automated music circuit, he's played gigs at the New York Botanical Garden, the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Composer Angelica Negron has written several pieces that incorporate his contraptions for the Sö Percussion ensemble, which has performed twice for the Howland Chamber Music Circle. Yulman's works are heavy on thuds, chimes and disembodied vocals. Sounds emanating from a modified keyboard — along with an analog vibraphone and percussion instruments — are triggered by a computer program that operates jury-rigged solenoids (valves with plungers). One rig can play every key on his modified reed organ; other controllers manipulate drumsticks and pedals on command. At the show, Yulman will sing and play guitar to accompany the robots. The set-up includes wooden boxes that he hangs around the room, adding an element "that alters the sound depending on where you stand," he says. "You can mix your own experience by moving around." Tracks are layered so thick that he laughs when asked how many a typical composition contains. Onscreen, the MIDI keyboard's programming panel looks like the paper rolls with cutouts from player pianos of the early 1900s. "Mechanical music isn't new," he says. "But triggering weird sounds on my laptop didn't move me. This is a lot more fun." The Cafeteria is located at the Clutter Gallery, 20 Kent St., in Beacon. Tickets for the May 30 show are $20 ($25 door). See dub.sh/cafeteria-5-30.

Changes cover debris, snow removal, vegetation The Nelsonville Board of Trustees, which is rewriting the Village Code, on May 20 reviewed rules governing how residents must maintain their properties. At the monthly meeting, Trustees Alan Potts and Maria Zhynovitch summarized proposed revisions that combine sections on exterior maintenance; litter, snow and ice removal; and vegetation upkeep into a single chapter. "That was part of the goal — to put them all in one area you could easily find and reference," said Potts. The height of grass, brush and weeds would still be limited to 10 inches, but the draft code exempts crops, flowers, native plantings, ornamental grasses, pollinator gardens and other "lawfully cultivated" gardens. In those cases, residents will be prohibited from allowing vegetation to spread to public rights-of-way or neighboring properties, or obstruct the view for motorists and pedestrians, especially at intersections. Snow and ice removal from gutters and sidewalks, which is currently required in a "reasonable time" after a storm, would have to take place within 24 hours under the new regulations. The revised code also mandates that property owners create sidewalk paths that are at least 36 inches wide without discarding snow onto sidewalks and streets or blocking drains and fire hydrants. Properties must be free of "litter, debris, garbage, refuse, rubbish, combustible materials or other waste materials," but compost, mulch, manure and materials used for agriculture, gardening and landscaping are exempted. "We're trying to bring a lot of clarity and avoid situations where, let's say, someone has a bunch of lumber in front of their yard because they're doing an addition," said Zhynovitch. "It's not going to be done in a day, but if it's there for a couple of months, they're technically in violation." Mayor Chris Winward recommended that fines be capped at $250. As drafted, a property owner could be penalized up to $250 for a first offense, up to $500 for a second offense within a year and up to $1,000 for a third violation within a year. "They're a little high," said Winward. "In addition to the fine, depending on whether the village had to act and remedy the situation ourselves, there's also a reimbursement for that remedy." Zhynovitch said she will review Cold Spring and Philipstown's rules for boat and vehicle storage before crafting similar guidelines for the property-maintenance code, and look into adding a section on the removal of garbage cans from sidewalks after trash pickup. The code rewrite began with revised guidelines for animals, including bees and chickens. All the changes will remain in draft form until they are voted on, which Winward said she hopes will happen in December. The board voted to renew a contract with its village attorney, Keane & Beane. The contract runs from June 1 through May 31, 2027, and will pay the firm $230 per hour for general services such as preparing resolutions, providing legal opinions and advising the trustees and the planning and zoning boards. A separate contract approved May 20 retains Kevin Irwin as the village prosecutor for violations and misdemeanors under state vehicle and traffic laws. Irwin's contract pays him $150 an hour and continues through May 15, 2027.

1866 painting depicts forging of Parrott rifle In 1866, John Ferguson Weir painted "The Gun Foundry," depicting workers pouring molten iron into a casting pit at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring to create a Parrott gun. The painting, which lives at the Putnam History Museum, was last cleaned 50 years ago. Kara Mattsen, the director of curation, said the staff noticed "it had gotten a little foggy." It was "dirty, very dirty," said conservator Nadia Ghannam, who on Friday (May 29) will reveal the results of her thorough cleaning, funded by state grants. Ghannam has worked in the conservation departments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Guggenheim, among other museums. At Dia Beacon, she worked on the 102-piece Andy Warhol collection. As you might expect, refreshing a 160-year-old oil on canvas entails far more than a toothbrush and a bottle of Mr. Clean. "In 1973, it underwent a very aggressive treatment," Ghannam said, including a coating of acrylic varnish. "I did tests to see what I could do to improve that synthetic coating, because it was a little thick and gray-looking. It's a small window to find the right combination of materials so you can safely remove a discolored coating without removing paint." She concluded the 1973 layer wasn't discolored enough to take the risk. Ghannam noted that Weir painted "The Gun Foundry" during the Industrial Revolution, a period when artists started using mass-produced materials. "They were using a lot of crazy stuff in the paint," she said. "Some of it's difficult to take off now. For this surface cleaning, I used water with diammonium citrate, a mild chelating agent [which is gentler than acids]. Then I used a mild solvent to deal with the acrylic layer." She laughed while explaining that organic chemistry "nearly killed" her while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Cornell University and a master's degree in art restoration at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. "You have to understand paint chemistry and have a knowledge of artist materials and art history," she said. "My specialty became 19th- and early 20th-century American paintings." She noted that her work on "The Gun Foundry" was not a restoration, which involves repainting, a practice that conservators don't tend to use. "My approach is more minimal," she said. "I did some retouching, but only where there's something missing." On Weir's painting, the damage was limited to the bottom edge and perimeter. There, she used a watercolor formulated for conservators that mimics oil paint. Ghannam also refurbished the wood frame, which she described as "original and beautiful. It has interesting techniques like burnished gold, then matte gold, then textured gold leaf, which was popular in the 19th century." She found no major problems, such as a tear. "It's in good condition, a pretty solid painting — a sign of the painter's good technique," she said. Her work enabled details in Weir's painting to re-emerge. Before the cleaning, even Ghannam didn't notice a dog in the lower part of the painting. Weir's art bucked a 19th-century trend, Mattsen noted. "Much the art at that time reflected the Hudson River School approach of sweeping landscapes and beautiful scenery," she said. "Weir departs from that, focusing on this industrial scene with everyday workers at the forefront." Weir (1841-1926) grew up at West Point, where his father was a professor of drawing and provided much of his formal training. He had 15 siblings. He was fond of visiting the gun factory in Cold Spring, referring to it in his journal as "the dear old foundry." Mattsen said the painting also portrays a who's who of the foundry elite, including founder Gouverneur Kemble and Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point grad who designed a rifled cannon that was mass produced during the Civil War. (A replica is displayed on the Cold Spring waterfront.) Weir started sketching inside the foundry in 1864 and some of his early drawi...

County called on to spend more of savings Putnam County has a good problem: how to best return $6.5 million from a swollen surplus to residents. Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, and other legislators weighed legality and logistics at the May 12 meeting of the Rules Committee as they volleyed ideas. Among the proposals: $200 rebate checks to homeowners; replicate a state program in which homeowners receive a property-tax credit or check; send funds to residents burdened by the cost of energy, childcare or other necessities. The debate is the progeny of a pandemic-era explosion in sales-tax revenue and federal and state aid. Incoming funds more than doubled the size of Putnam's "unassigned fund balance," an unrestricted pool that County Executive Kevin Byrne and legislators can choose how to spend. Forecasting is never precise, but between 2020 and 2024, sales-tax revenues exceeded estimates by $47.5 million. State and federal legislators also plied municipalities with pandemic aid. Over those four years, the unrestricted surplus ballooned from $29.9 million at the end of 2019 to $78.3 million by 2024. (The 2025 figures are being finalized.) That bounty sparked a clash between Byrne and some legislators and municipal officials who believe more of it needs to be spent. Some funds have been dedicated to capital projects to avoid "saddling taxpayers with unnecessary long-term debt and interest costs," said Byrne. "Putnam County's strong financial position is not money sitting idle." But Montgomery and other legislators say the county should use some funds on direct aid to residents. They voted last year to set aside $6.5 million for tax relief or another giveback. The debate over how to do that continues, but people "need relief now," said Montgomery. "A strong fund balance is good fiscal management, but ours is more than a rainy-day fund," she said. "We're holding public money while our residents are struggling. We should invest in housing, mental health services, childcare and transportation." While state law prohibits school districts from holding surpluses that exceed 4 percent of their budgets, municipalities (cities, counties, towns and villages) and fire districts are allowed to carry over a "reasonable" amount" each year. Putnam's surplus in 2024 represented 38 percent of its $205 million budget for 2025. By comparison, Dutchess County ended 2024 with $104.3 million in its unassigned fund, or 17 percent of its $630 million spending plan for 2025. One reason for Putnam's surplus is unexpected sales-tax growth. Putnam, Dutchess and other counties anticipated a financial hit when New York State ordered non-essential businesses to close in March 2020 due to COVID-19. But Putnam was too conservative: Its revenues in 2020 exceeded its projection by $5.7 million. As the state's economy recovered, Putnam's sales-tax revenues exceeded projections by $18.9 million in 2021, $17.4 million in 2022, $13.6 million in 2023 and $8.6 million in 2024. Nearly $28 million of the surplus has been spent since 2021. Byrne and the Legislature spent $13.2 million in the 2025 budget, including the $6.5 million sought by legislators for tax relief and $150,000 for food programs. This year is also the first in which Putnam is sharing sales-tax revenue with its towns and villages. Philipstown will receive $169,000, and Cold Spring and Nelsonville the minimum $50,000 each, from $2.3 million. The money, which is allocated based on population, is restricted to infrastructure projects. "This is funding that otherwise would have remained in the county's general fund," said Byrne, who also wants to use $2 million for mental-health services. "It is now helping our local partners invest in infrastructure, public works and taxpayer relief in their own communities." Former Legislator Paul Jonke, who proposed the homeowner rebate program before he left office in 2025, said during the Rules Committee meeting that the $6.5 ...

Olana (Hudson) Olana is less than 50 miles north on Route 9 or the Taconic Parkway. Now is the perfect time to visit the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Hudson River School of Art painter, Frederic Edwin Church, in the home he designed with architect Calvert Vaux and on the grounds that were his visual embodiment of a bucolic landscape. The current exhibit, Global Artist, which runs through Oct. 25, portrays the multitude of landscape paintings from distant lands. The exhibit is on the second floor of Church's home, which was inspired by his trips to Persia in the 19th century. You will see works on loan from many museums and private collections that depict the Parthenon, an iceberg off Newfoundland, Petra in Jordan, the Andes in South America, and yes, the sunsets over the Hudson River. Church's own iconic paintings adorn every part of his living space, with European masters in the dining room. There is also fascinating ephemera throughout his sitting rooms, library and studio. Large windows highlight the landscape. The home is surrounded by 250 acres, now a state park, that was thoughtfully planned by Church. Apparently, he was fond of collecting seeds during his travels. As you stand on the grounds, you may feel like part of one of his paintings. Within 10 minutes is Hudson, another gem of a bygone era, where whaling vessels had safe harbor. Hudson is home to upscale boutiques of house furnishings and clothing by makers and designers, food markets and antique stores. For simple, affordable fare, try Baba Louie. Another local stronghold on Warren Street is Red Dot. Or pack a picnic basket, weather permitting, and dine at Olana. Olana, at 5720 Route 9G in Hudson, is open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. Home tours take place daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. except Monday and start at $20 (children ages 16 and younger are free). You can explore the house on your own on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for $25. Picnics and dogs on leashes are allowed on the grounds. See olana.org. Campus Art Tour Two college campuses within an hour of the Highlands have well-kept secrets. The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at SUNY-New Paltz, is housed in a nondescript building that is also home to the Parker Theater. There are three areas in the main exhibit area to explore, which is across from a studio that features local artists (e.g., the annual Hudson Valley Artists Show) and contemporary themes (e.g., language, society and power). In the Main Hall, A Living Collection highlights the museum's assortment of permanent acquisitions or commissions. The art includes paintings by American masters (e.g., Milton Avery, George Inness, Joel Meyerowitz) and contemporary sculpture and collectible objects of great distinction. One featured exhibit and program hang from four to six months and is frequently curated by a member of the art faculty. Recent exhibits highlighted the artistic heritage of New Paltz faculty and global connections amongst international artists that had all crossed paths with a teacher in New York. There is also a dedicated space to sit for a while where creative experimentation is encouraged with art materials provided in a hands-on activity room. It is a chance to ponder the impact of what was viewed during the walk through the gallery. Conversation with museum staff — university students who share artistic interests — is welcomed. Overall, the hallmark of the visit is having a self-paced tour, without rush or crowds. The low-key art adventure continues by traveling across the Mid-Hudson Bridge to Vassar. Take a lunch break at Meyer's Olde Dutch on Collegeview Avenue in Poughkeepsie, a recent expansion from Beacon. After lunch, a walk across the campus, which is an arboretum, takes you to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center near the South Gate. The Loeb is double the size and packs more into its galleries than the Dorsky. It will take twice the amount of time to wander and absorb the art treasures. Starting with the Founding G...

Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. Divers hired by an insurance company searched the river just south of Newburgh for a canal boat that sank with a cargo of marble valued at $8,000 [about $250,000 today]. According to The Cold Spring Recorder, "some fiend in human shape" broke into the Newburgh Telegraph and stole several cases of type. The First National Bank of Fishkill Landing installed a chronometer [timer] lock on its safe. John Hannon, a switchman at Dutchess Junction, mangled his hand while coupling cars. The Hudson River Railroad Co. began construction on a brick-and-iron depot at Fishkill Landing that measured 28 feet wide by 85 feet long. William Thompson of Matteawan invented a rubber saddle pad. John Schlosser, principal of the Fishkill Landing school, was admitted to the bar. Several gentlemen, "highly distinguished in their professions in New York," according to a news account, offered to give an entertainment at Fishkill Landing to benefit the Howland library. Seventeen cows on their way to Orange County via the Newburgh ferry plunged into the river at Long Dock, but all were rescued. According to the Newburgh Telegraph, William Daly, while drifting for shad, caught a sturgeon weighing 310 pounds. Sixty-four iron columns arrived for the first story of a weaving mill at Glenham to support an iron girder running the length of the building. A young man named Timothy Ryan fell from the Glenham bridge while drunk and was not expected to live. In its annual report, Highland Hospital in Matteawan said that it had treated 15 boys and men for a total of 671 days. Two remained in the hospital. No one had died. Its receipts were $4,400 [$137,000], of which $555 [$17,000] was collected by 20 churches on Hospital Sunday. Each patient cost $1.26 [$39] per day, including food and medicine. Burglars broke into Mrs. Newlin's house on the road to Poughkeepsie, about 1½ miles from Fishkill Landing, but found nothing to steal. H.N. Barton, who owned a gun shop at the rear of Raizell's market, was showing a customer a pistol with a safety cap on the nipple when he pulled the trigger, unaware it was loaded with shot and slugs. The charge passed through the shop door into the market, hitting James Phillips in the arm and Charles Livington in the chest, mortally wounding him. J.W. Spaight, editor of The Fishkill Standard, purchased a photograph gallery at Fishkill Landing. William Holton announced he would operate a 6:30 a.m. coach from Fishkill that stopped at two hotels on its way to the Fishkill Landing depot. After a state court released a list of 42 people seeking U.S. citizenship, Mayor Ernest Macomber objected to the petitions of Stanley and John Kishkiel, owners of the New Haven House, because they had been accused of disorderly conduct. Their bar had been raided by federal liquor authorities, and the brothers, immigrants from Russia/Poland, and a patron resisted. After being arrested, the men put the bar up for sale and returned to their previous trades as a shoemaker and a paper hanger. Frederick Futterer, the director of physical education and athletic coach for the Beacon public schools, was hired as director of recreation for the City of Albany. While driving four members of his family to a Baptist church conference in Washington, D.C., Robert Doughty slid off the road in Port Jervis and hit a telephone pole. His wife and sister-in-law were hospitalized. Sherwood Robinson of the Mahwenawasigh Tribe in Beacon was elected deputy grand sachem of the 11th district of the Hudson Valley region of the Improved Order of the Red Men, a fraternal organization. Robert Jones, a one-armed laborer at the Nicholson brickyard in Dutchess Junction, attacked Thomas Powers with an ax during a craps game, cutting him a dozen times. Dr. Charles Keating said Powers was expected to recover unless the wounds became infected. Frank Knapp purchased the Melzingah Hotel and the Beacon Stadium, which was...

Speaks in Rockland County to boost Rep. Lawler President Donald Trump, while visiting Rockland County on Friday (May 22) to appear with Rep. Mike Lawler, began testing his midterm message that was ostensibly on the economy. Lawler's district, which includes Philipstown, will be one of the most closely watched House races this November. The event at Rockland Community College in Suffern was meant to promote the tax law Trump signed last year, particularly the quadrupling of the deduction for state and local taxes, which is critical in a high-tax state like New York. Trump called Lawler "fantastic" and mused about how the congressman was a "pain in the ass" as he badgered the administration on expanding the deduction. He pulled Lawler onstage during the event, and the congressman thanked the president "for working with me to deliver a big win" for the people in his district. He said that more than 90 percent of the people in District 17 were able to fully deduct their state and local taxes. During his remarks, the president veered away from the economy from the start, going off on tangents about voter identification, crime in cities, transgender women in sports and "Dumocrats," his new chosen moniker for the opposition party. He complained that toiletries are locked up in pharmacies, making them harder to buy, and polled the audience on what he should call his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. Eventually, he landed on the topic of the speech, telling the crowd that he and his party worked to slash taxes and increase take-home pay, while Democrats opposed the effort at every turn. "I cut your taxes, cut the taxes on workers, families, small business, who are the soul of this state," Trump said. Listing off the provisions of the tax law, the president said: "These are all Republican tax cuts. The Democrats voted against every one of these tax cuts." Also appearing with the president at the event Friday was Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Trump-backed Republican candidate for governor. Trump said, "Guys like Mike Lawler, guys like Bruce Blakeman, you put them in, they'll turn it around." The White House has been looking for more opportunities to highlight Trump's economic accomplishments as his approval rating on the economy has slumped. About one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the economy, according to a new AP-NORC poll, down slightly from 40 percent at the start of his second term. Trump had promised to bring prices down, but gas prices have surged this year due to the war in Iran. Lawler is just one of three House Republicans who represent a district won by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024. Unlike the other two — retiring Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon and Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who's been a critic of Trump policies — Lawler has chosen to embrace the polarizing president in hopes of not alienating Republican voters who support the party's leader. "Look, the people who hate the president — and that's their sole basis for their vote — are likely never voting for me, and you know, obviously, you need to turn out your base, and you need people energized," Lawler told The Associated Press in an interview on the sidelines of the White House congressional picnic earlier this week. "Moreover, I have a record in my district that is one I'm very proud of, and a record that appeals to a broad middle." Lawler, wearing a red ball cap emblazoned with "Mr. SALT," the acronym for the state and local tax deduction he fought to include in the bill, added, "I am confident that I will be reelected on my own merits and my own record." Trump established a SALT cap in 2017 through his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Last year's law expanded the SALT deduction to $40,000 from $10,000 after arduous negotiations with Republicans, including Lawler, whose district has high local taxes. The law also raised the average tax refund for New Yorkers to more than $3,800, according to data provi...

Public schools face many challenges. In this, the first part of an ongoing series, we examine the effects of declining enrollments. For the last two decades, public schools in the Highlands have been losing enrollment. It's the same story across much of the country, thanks to declining birthrates and the rise of homeschooling and charter schools. In New York, the problem has been exacerbated by people leaving the state. The Beacon district, which includes four elementary schools, a middle school and high school, had 3,600 students in 2004 but fewer than 2,500 today, a drop of 31 percent. Haldane had 846 students and 774 today, a 9 percent drop. Garrison had nearly 300 students; now the K-8 district has fewer than 200, a 34 percent drop. Overall, New York state has lost 17 percent of its student population. At the same time, the cost of educating each student has risen faster than inflation over the past 20 years because of the rising costs of special education, English language learners, health care, energy, school security and social and emotional support staff, according to Brian Fessler, chief advocacy officer of the New York State School Boards Association. In 2004, the cost per pupil in Garrison was the equivalent of $32,000 when adjusted for inflation; today it is about $40,000, an increase of 24 percent. For Haldane, the cost grew from $29,000 to $35,700, or 23 percent. In Beacon, it rose from $22,600 to $32,700, a 45 percent increase. Statewide, the cost per student went from $25,000 to $34,000, or 38 percent. Declining enrollment, rising costs and a tax-levy cap formula that ties rates to inflation or 2 percent, whichever is lower, has created a crisis for some districts. In January, the state comptroller identified 31 of New York's 675 districts — none from the Highlands — in "fiscal stress," up from 22 in 2024. In Yonkers, the public schools face a $100 million deficit for 2026-27 and have discussed major layoffs. In New York City, public schools have been consolidating due to the loss of 100,000 students in the last five years. In the Highlands, the gradual loss of students, rising costs and the rate cap have created staffing and financial challenges. Haldane, Garrison and Beacon each proposed the maximum tax-levy increases allowed for 2026-27, ranging from 2.27 to 5.53 percent, which voters approved on Tuesday (May 19). Beginning in the fall, Haldane will expand its middle school to include fifth grade to avoid layoffs due to declining enrollment, said MaryAnn Seelke, the principal. Seelke projects that enrollment in sixth, seventh and eighth grades will decline over the next four years from 185 to 150, or by 21 percent. The district would normally have four teachers per grade, plus a special educator, depending on need. "As enrollment declines, that's a lot of teaching power for a small number of students," said Seelke. Bringing the fifth grade into middle school will add two teachers, bringing the total to six for the fifth and sixth grades. The district is losing a fifth-grade teacher through retirement, Seelke said. Haldane began planning for declining enrollment three years ago by aligning the elementary and middle school schedules. "This is the last step," Seelke said. "It is designed to better utilize faculty so that we don't have to put people on the furlough list." There are also pedagogical reasons for placing fifth graders in middle school, she said. Other Hudson Valley schools have expanded their middle schools to give 10- and 11-year-olds more support as they mature (see below). Haldane to Shift Fifth Graders When Haldane expands its middle school to include fifth grade in the fall, it won't only be to address declining enrollment. The district will also follow an approach to nurturing adolescents adopted by districts across the country. Fifth graders — typically ages 10 and 11 — are experiencing "exponential growth, physically, socially and emotionally," said MaryAnn Seelke, Haldane's middle scho...

Municipalities, nonprofit, residents challenge review As anticipated by votes earlier this month by the Cold Spring and Philipstown boards, the municipalities on Wednesday (May 20) filed a state lawsuit challenging the conclusions of a mandated environmental review of the proposed 7.5-mile linear park that would connect Beacon to Cold Spring. At the same time, a nonprofit group, Protect the Highlands, filed its own lawsuit. The legal actions name Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Inc., a subsidiary of Scenic Hudson, and the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Both allege that a recently completed state environmental review fails to adequately assess the project's impact on the village and town. The lawsuits had to be filed before May 20, or 120 days after the end of the environmental review process, to meet a state deadline. The legal actions are Article 78 proceedings, which enable municipalities and others to challenge the actions or inactions of local and state agencies. Protect the Highlands filed its challenge in Albany County, along with four Cold Spring residents — Tom Impellittiere, Stephanie Impellittiere, Stephanie Skiptunis and Rosanne Powell — whom the filing says "will suffer direct environmental, aesthetic and community impacts distinct from those experienced by the public at large." The village and town filed their lawsuit in Putnam County. The municipalities hope to have Putnam County join them, but the Legislature did not vote on the request before the filing deadline. At the Wednesday meeting of the Village Board, Mayor Kathleen Foley said that the lawsuit "does not stop the project, as some have erroneously asserted," but that "we would be delinquent in our duties if we did not challenge the findings." She said that, earlier in the week, the village received an email signed by residents who support the Fjord Trail, requesting a referendum on the project. Foley said a vote "is not a possibility under state law." She added that she could say "with certainty that even if every resident in this village stated their unconditional support for the Fjord Trail project, this board would still be asking fiscal, environmental and quality-of-life questions." The lawsuit also names Putnam County, and Cold Spring resident Laura Bergman, which Foley said was done to give both the opportunity to join as petitioners or respondents. Bergman owns property at the entrance to Dockside Park. Both lawsuits focus on the southern section of the trail, from Cold Spring to Breakneck Ridge. In February, HHFT said it would delay construction on the southern end by at least two years to collect data on a stretch of the Hudson River where an elevated boardwalk is planned. A pedestrian bridge at Breakneck, which underwent a separate environmental review in 2022, is under construction, along with a parking lot on Route 9D across from the former Dutchess Manor, which will be the HHFT headquarters. Protect the Highlands alleges that the state's "findings statement," which cleared the way for HHFT to move forward, was "arbitrary, capricious and irrational on several fronts" and should be annulled. The municipal suit asks that the findings statement be nullified for the southern section, and notes that HHFT must get land-use and Zoning Board approvals from Cold Spring and Philipstown for sections of the trail on private property or within the state park. (The environmental review concluded that HHFT does not need local approval for parts of the trail built on state land.) In addition, the suit says that access to Dockside Park, which is owned by the state and maintained by the village, would only be available through an easement on private land. It asks the court to rule that the easement does not provide the access required to reach the trail. Cold Spring and Philipstown argue that concerns regarding traffic and emergency services "were marginalized, if not completely ignored," and that several findings were "arbitrary a...

Employment program provides work experience Beginning in July, as many as eight Beacon teenagers will have a chance to work at jobs that could pay dividends. The city's youth employment program, managed by the Recreation Department, will hire residents aged 16 to 18 for summer work. In its second year, the project is funded by county grants. Applicants' families must be eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a state program, to qualify. The program was created by Samantha Brittain, a supervisor in the Recreation Department. She was encouraged to apply for funding by Louise McLoughlin, the executive director of the Dutchess Workforce Investment Board, who knew Brittain from her time working for Green Teen Beacon, a program of Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County. "We struggle with getting someone in Beacon to run a youth employment program," McLoughlin said. "I knew that Sam would know what I was talking about, so I called her." Days after receiving the first grant, in May 2025, Brittain hired three teens for the department's after-school program. The idea was to provide participants with work experience while hiring for positions the department has had trouble filling. Last summer, six teens were hired to help the Department of Public Works clean city parks and Main Street. Another group joined the after-school program in the fall. One of those employees is Zion Segarra, 17, a senior at Beacon High School who has been part of the project since its beginning. He hopes to study HVAC at Dutchess Community College, but his 15 hours per week with the after-school program also qualify him for employment at any state-certified childcare facility. At South Avenue Elementary, Segarra and the other teens supervise activities to keep the K-5 students safe. Many are working their first jobs. "They lead by example," said Kyra Cimino, who manages the after-school program. "It's cool to do what the older kids are doing." In addition, "a lot of what they do is one-on-one conversations," Brittain said. "That's where the love grows." Segarra recalled connecting with a student earlier this year who said he felt out of place. "I make sure everybody feels welcome," he said. "If they need to talk to somebody, they don't need to be scared." This year's summer program begins in July and, noting that "it's challenging to encourage 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds to do manual labor in the heat of summer," Brittain plans a more diverse curriculum. The teens will work with the DPW for two hours each day, but they'll also visit city departments to observe how a municipality operates day-to-day. Students will learn financial literacy, resume-writing and interviewing skills. In August, they'll help for two weeks at the Recreation Department's Park Days summer camp at Memorial Park. "The kids start to realize that these are all important skills, even as simple as they are," said Mark Price, the recreation director. "Longer-term, maybe one of them goes, 'I want to be a teacher.' They may be good at it." There's a bonus: Summer employees are eligible to enter New York's State and Local Retirement System. There is no deadline to apply; Beacon teens can email Brittain at sbrittain@beaconny.gov.

Haldane virtuosos team up for concert For the first time, longstanding Haldane pals Sofia Kelly and Delia Starr are performing their greatest hits together at an independent, one-off concert at St. Mary's Church in Cold Spring on May 31. In the fall, Kelly will attend the University of Cincinnati to study classical vocal music. Many selections on the program will highlight her dramatic, operatic style and are works she submitted on audition tapes for college applications and competitions, like attending the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan and singing at the International InterHarmony Music Festival in Italy. In a video of the lieder "Die Stille Stadt" by Alma Mahler (wife of Gustav), recorded at St. Mary's and on the program for Sunday, she looks ready to vanquish a village as her booming voice resonates. Starr began plunking the piano at age 5 and is a fourth-generation musician. In addition to composing solo piano works in the classical vein, she wrote a piece at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute for a string quartet and will perform a "Piece for Clarinet and Piano" at the show (Katherine Filatov will accompany). Beyond their passion for European art music, the two share another bond: Their fathers are professional musicians. Composer and jazz pianist Daniel Kelly learned to play classical after Sofia cottoned on to the genre a couple of years ago, and will accompany her on a tune by Randy Newman and one of his originals based on a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. Eric Starr's father, Nelson, played trumpet in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Eric composes, leads Haldane's jazz performance program and teaches drums and piano at his Cold Spring studio. He also holds annual recitals at the Chapel Restoration, where Delia has played three solo shows. Kelly decided to attend a large school where she could minor or double-major in environmental studies. Starr, a junior, is applying to conservatories as well as universities and will major in composition, perhaps with a minor in piano performance. "It's nice to meet other people with different interests," says Starr. "I love music, but don't want to be trapped in a bubble with the same type of people." She's expanding her writing prowess beyond the piano because "it makes you a better candidate," she says. "I'm gearing up for tours and applications." Pecking out parts on the keyboard, she also plays back MIDI simulations of other instruments in her software program. "That's why piano is so great; all the notes are in front of you, and I use that to my advantage because it's easy to translate lines or chords for other instruments," she says. At the concert, Starr will perform her original music alongside pieces by Chopin and Beethoven. Her compositions hint at Brahms' cinematic style, and she admits an affinity for French impressionists like Fauré and Debussy. "I love film scores, and that may be something I get into," she says. Kelly and Starr crafted a thoughtful program that features guest artists, offers varied musical styles and contrasts vocals with instrumentals. "We've been talking about doing a concert together for so long, and it's now or never in our Haldane lives, so we're ready for a musical goodbye," says Kelly. "Delia and I share a sense of deep camaraderie in the music world, and we'll always be in the same orbit." St. Mary's Church is located at 1 Chestnut St. in Cold Spring. The free concert begins at 4 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.

Purveyor of art toys shuts down Ron English opened Popmart at the corner of Wolcott Avenue (Route 9D) and Beekman Street in 2019, and it thrived. New York City residents trekked north to buy collectible figures made from his designs — otherworldly creations like the three-eyed, three-breasted Bunnny Rabbbit and toys-cum-cultural critiques such as the McDonald's derivative MC Supersized and the General Mills cereal-inspired Franken Fat and Honey Butt: The Obese Bee. "We'd release something new, and they want to be the first to get it," said English, a painter, muralist and sculptor who has been designing toys for two decades. "You could buy as many as you want from us, so they'd buy 10 and sit in the parking lot and list them on eBay." Those memories will survive Popmart, which is being emptied after going supernova on April 25, less than two weeks after an end-of-an-era fire sale on the livestreaming site Whatnot. Clutter Magazine hosted a party afterward at the KuBe Art Center, inside the former Beacon High School. A coming development with 64 apartments and retail space in two 4-story buildings sealed Popmart's fate. The building, which English leased, will be demolished. That is at least a year away, according to English. The business could have remained open longer, but "then came Trump," he said. Before the president imposed across-the-board tariffs last year, Popmart paid $5,000 in shipping costs to import figures from Mindstyle, its manufacturer in China. When the tariffs took effect, the cost ballooned to $25,000, said English. "We don't want to lose money doing this," he said. Two days after the closure, Jennifer Moyer, who organized the Whatnot sale, loaded an SUV with toys to deliver. Meanwhile, the task of emptying the building continued, with help from English's wife, Tarssa Yazdani, and his apprentice, Beacon artist Mike "Skatchface" Long. They were dismantling an idea that emerged from English's partnership with Mindstyle, one of the best-known manufacturers of art toys. Its owner, MD Young, "made all of my toys," said English. After English moved to Beacon 20 years ago, Young encouraged him to find a storefront. "He goes, 'I hear your town's hot,'" said English. Popmart began with a stunt — a "fake store with fake products" — before English began selling his toys, which are made in limited editions of 100. The shop was open four days a week. On other days, people would hang out and drink beer while English signed toys. "These kids would be like, 'It's really you,' " he said. "You wouldn't expect the artist to be there." Part of the building housed a recording studio for a music project called The Rabbbits. English recruited the musicians and wrote the songs. He and Yazdani toured the U.S., China and Asia, selling toys at pop-up events. "We could roll into your town and set up the whole store in two hours," he said. "I sign for two hours, and then we break down and drive to the next town. It was fun." Mindstyle, which paid the rent at Popmart, continued paying even after rising tariffs halted imports, according to English. However, about two months ago, he said, Young withdrew his support. Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Trump's tariffs to be illegal, Young doubted that it would ever get better, said English. The final three months drew a stream of visitors, he said. In addition, more than 1,000 toys were sold during the 13-hour Whatnot marathon that began April 12. "We can still do stuff in Asia — we can make it there and sell it there," said English. "We just can't come here anymore."

D.C. trip included Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Day will hold added meaning for 82 members of the Haldane High School junior class following a four-day trip to Washington, D.C. The first three days of the March trip included visits to the U.S. Capitol, the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, the September 11 Memorial and Museum, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Smithsonian Institute. On the final day, the group traveled to Arlington National Cemetery. It is there that Rhys Williams and a few classmates visited the grave of his grandfather, Preston Williams. Preston Williams' military service included two Army tours during the Vietnam War. In May 1967, as commander of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, and just short of his 25th birthday, Williams was in combat for nine straight days. During a two-hour firefight, he moved from position to position, directing supportive fire — gallantry that earned him a Silver Star. He was also awarded a Purple Heart, four Bronze Stars and other commendations during his service. Williams died in June 2024 and was buried at Arlington with military honors. Rhys said he remembers his grandfather's funeral vividly, including the 21-gun salute. "I realized the impact he had on others, how he meant a lot to so many people beyond our family," Rhys said. On March 27, he revisited the burial site. "I wanted to see it again," Rhys said. "I felt very proud of my grandfather; you can see all his awards on the gravestone." The trip to Arlington concluded for the juniors with Cooper Corless and Christine Junjulas, accompanied by Jaiden Gunther and Elaina Johanson, placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on behalf of Haldane High School. "Having the opportunity to actually lay the wreath was so powerful; I was really moved," said Corless. Junjulas echoed that sentiment: "It was a really cool way to have our school honor the people who have done so much for our country." Both have family members who served in the military. Teachers Kristen Peparo and Marilyn Granese, co-advisors for the class, planned the Washington trip. "I think the students felt a reverence for our country, its leaders, our history and the sacrifice many made to fight for our democracy," Peparo said. She said that, while visiting Arlington, the Haldane group passed by a military funeral. "Our students were so respectful and considerate of the grieving family," she said. "It was wonderful to see them pay such deep respect for those who made the ultimate sacrifice."

Part of civilian flotilla taking aid to Gaza A former Clearwater captain was among 428 activists detained by Israel while aboard a flotilla attempting to break the naval blockade of Gaza, according to a group called Global Sumud Flotilla. Liam Henrie, who last year served as a captain for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which is based in Beacon, was on board La Cirena, one of the vessels intercepted by the Israeli Navy on Monday (May 18). He and the other detainees was released as of Thursday and deported to Turkey. Global Sumud Flotilla alleged the detainees were subjected to "extreme violence and sexual humiliation" by Israel Defense Forces. Global Sumud Flotilla said that 31 of about 50 vessels were "boarded, disabled and seized" on May 18 near Cyprus. The flotilla had left from Turkey and was carrying food and medical supplies. By Wednesday, the detainees had been taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The Times of Israel reported that the national security minister, Ben Gvir, posted a video online from a detention center in which he is shown taunting the prisoners, who are kneeling with their hands tied. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an unusual statement criticizing his minister. "Israel has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza," he said. "However, the way that Minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel's values and norms. I have instructed the relevant authorities to deport the provocateurs as soon as possible." Global Sumud Flotilla said that Henrie, who lives in Kingston, also was among 180 people detained on April 29 when their flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces near Greece. The group said the activists were held on a prison ship for 36 hours.

High school teachers organize showcase Surrounded by students' work in the administrative office at The Lofts at Beacon, a funky historic building bathed in natural light, Beacon High School art teachers Mark Lyon and Claudine Farley beamed with pride. The showcase, which closes May 30, features pottery and visual images. Friendship is a recurring theme. Opposite the entrance hang three striking paintings by Luna Ayers-Uekawa, Elena Moleano and Willa Staempfli with bright colors and fantastical beasts. "I gave them the freedom to go on a rollercoaster ride," says Lyon. "No bullseyes, and it had to be an original work that does not copy a picture." Several students won Scholastic Art Awards, and Carlos Lampon received a full scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design. His painting, "Explore Friendship," is a complicated construct: the heads of eight young people rotate around the frame as if everyone is lying in a circle; one cozies up to a glowing orb that resembles the moon. Alina Joseph Caleb Ramirez Carlos Lampon Elena Moleano Luna Ayers-Uekawa Mira Miller Nicholas Perry Nora Marshall Pen Lipari Prince Jones Samantha Garcia Shannon Colandrea Suvi Oshea Taylor Kelliher Willa Staempfli Zenis Haris Lampon renders complex features such as hair, hands and rumpled shirts with skill. In another acrylic, a lady in red lounges on a porch. The long shadow cast by a post crosses her body and pierces the frame. Mira Miller's untitled painting portrays her and some pals working on an Eagle Scout woodworking project. Amidst the chaotic scene, a self-portrait appears in a corner, with Miller holding tools and donning safety googles. A fun-filled painting by Taylor Kelliher features soft lighting and a dog, while her arresting final project from this year shows a girl in a colorful costume strutting her stuff while reflected in a mirror from behind. "Her brush strokes are more confident," says Lyon. "She's come a long way." Some of Farley's pottery students replicated yellow rubber ducks to reflect their personalities. One young artist who values sleep topped the work with an old-fashioned nightcap. More advanced students created personalized paper bags from clay, including "What's Next," which features a sad face. "It laments the situation of seniors, whose world is breaking up as they move on from high school," says Farley. A charcoal drawing by Alina Joseph demonstrates a sophisticated balance between shade and light. Prince Jones created photos with movement; "Heart Eyes" is the result of waving lights around a dark stage. The background and the subject wearing pink glasses are multiplied, manipulated and over-exposed. Caleb Ramirez shot photos at Long Dock Park, Shannon Colandrea shares an image taken in Iceland, and Samantha Garcia zoomed in for a close-up of her dog's nose. A digital artwork by Zenia Haris captivates in part because it's disorienting and challenging — even after digesting it for an extended period. Using an iPad and the program ibisPaint, he wielded a stylus to draw in the digital realm, creating deep shades of blue and purple, as well as bright reds and oranges. His cut-paper collage "Losing Touch" is an allegory about how he's "jealous of my younger self; it was much easier to make friends." No matter what path he takes at SUNY Albany, Haris says he will keep creating. "I've been doing art projects since I was a little kid," he says. "There are always ideas floating around my brain." The Lofts at Beacon Gallery, at 18 Front St., is open Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed for lunch 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.) and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

250 Years Ago (May 1776) Gen. George Washington wrote the Continental Congress, asking that two or three thousand stands of arms [weapons for one soldier] reserved for provincial use be "borrowed" to defend New York City. He enclosed a report from troops in the Highlands, where Col. Ritzema said his regiment had only 97 flintlocks and seven bayonets. The Board of Treasury asked New York and five other colonies to conduct a census of their inhabitants for tax purposes. The carpenters, boatbuilders and painters who had been drafted for military service by Major Gen. Israel Putnam were ordered to gather at sunrise outside his New York City headquarters to receive their orders. A general order was issued in New York City to double the number of night sentries due to fears of a surprise British attack. The Third Provincial Congress, based in New York, declared its independence from British rule. Robert Livingston wrote from Philadelphia to his sister, Catherine, at the family estate in Clermont, on the Hudson River in Columbia County. "We have reason to believe that our enemy will make great efforts this summer," he wrote. "I hope, however, by the blessing of God, to see them repelled & this country, after a glorious struggle, emancipated from the tyranny of an inhuman prince." 150 Years Ago (May 1876) Burglars broke through a rear window of William Rumpf's shop and stole hundreds of his best cigars, along with some chewing tobacco. In an item under the headline "Wonderful," the editor of The Cold Spring Recorder reported that "three wagonloads of dirty and dishonest nomads came down Main Street at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, turned onto Garden Street and pushed for the Fishkill Landing road without stopping!" The new Putnam County sheriff, Charles Brewster, a Cold Spring native, ended the practice of allowing inmates at the Carmel jail to lounge outside. According to The Recorder, two patrons of a Cold Spring saloon measured the distance around its walls and raced around the room until they had walked at least three miles. Mrs. P.K. Paulding of Paulding Avenue reported she had lost an oxidized silver pencil with a chain. The schools "have been nearly depopulated for a fortnight" by the measles, according to The Recorder. "Nearly every house has a case." James Trimble and James Kennedy were convicted of breaking the window of Morrison's boathouse before threatening to burn down the shanty and drown its occupant. Both were sentenced to six months in the penitentiary. From The Recorder: "Lost, between Chestnut Street and the post office, on Thursday afternoon, a black feather." Late on a Friday night, after they heard voices inside the Champlin blacksmith shop in Nelsonville, friends of the proprietor went quietly to a back door. Suddenly, two or three men dashed past them. Inside, the friends found a pile of chisels, saws and hammers, ready to be carried away. It was supposed that the intruders planned to free two prisoners at Town Hall. Roger Maher died suddenly on a Wednesday afternoon at C.M. Brown's tavern. The bartender said he had taken a sip of whiskey when his head dropped. Jacob Southard still had his grandfather's discharge papers from the Revolutionary War signed by George Washington and other top officers. The Recorder suggested paying children 10 cents [about $3 today] per cup of potato bugs they collected and delivered to a kitchen stove. While driving along the Garrison road, William Ladue came across a raccoon that had been treed. After going home to retrieve a rifle, he shot the animal dead, then brought the carcass into Cold Spring to show off his marksmanship. David Robinson informed The Recorder of the need for a fence around the New Burying Ground to prevent grazing cattle from knocking down the headstones. Enoch Lawrence, 84, the oldest resident of Cold Spring, was painting his house on Garden Street. William Purdy was jailed at Town Hall after being accused of assaulting his wife. His brother came from Tarrytown to...

HVS opens theater in Philipstown Standing under the curving wooden proscenium of the just-finished Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center in Philipstown, Davis McCallum recalled the moment last month when he showed the company's actors the building for the first time. Some of them were speechless, said McCallum, the artistic director of Hudson Valley Shakespeare. Some cheered, danced or sang. Some hugged him. But the actors who had been part of the troupe for years, performing under a seasonal tent at Boscobel and then at its current home, the former Garrison Golf Course on Route 9, said it felt like a homecoming. "It's hard to overstate the commitment that a person makes when you decide you want to be a theater actor," said McCallum. "There's not a lot of glory; there's not a lot of remuneration. You do it for the love of the craft and the art of theater. To have a space dedicated to exactly that feels like a real validation for the company." "It's as simple as it needs to be, and it provides everything you could need to do your job very well," added Kendra Ekelund, the managing director. HVS provided the media — reporters from The New York Times, Times Union, Times of London and NY1, among others — with a sneak peek on Thursday (May 14) during the building's ribbon-cutting. The public will be able to visit the 451-seat theater for the first time during an open house with tours and music on Sunday (May 17), 599 days after the 2024 groundbreaking. Once the season opens on June 10 with previews of As You Like It, the HVS grounds will be open to the public from dawn to dusk. "The golf course was a place that people were already very accustomed to walking their dogs and having access to, and we wanted to maintain that and honor the incredible opportunity that receiving this land is by sharing it with our neighbors as a public good," said Ekelund. "And there's great birding here," said architect Jeanne Gang. Gang is a founder of Studio Gang, a past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant and named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2019. Her work has been hailed for incorporating sustainability in surprising and practical ways. The WMS Boathouse at Clark Park doubles as a stormwater management system for the Chicago River, diverting runoff from the sewers and the river itself. The Gilder Center, which opened in 2023 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, swirls around a towering atrium that lets in enough natural light and air circulation to drastically lower the building's energy demands. Even the roof of Studio Gang's Chicago office has been transformed into an urban prairie, with nearly 100 species of native wildflowers. Before the May 14 ceremony, Gang and Ekelund showed off the features they hope will qualify it to become the country's first purpose-built theater rated LEED Platinum, the highest possible rating offered by the U.S. Green Building Council. Some features, such as solar panels and dots on the soaring windows to prevent bird collisions, are obvious. But tucked behind an elegant green room where actors will relax before performances sits a massive tank that captures rain from the roof to flush the toilets. Photos by Ross Corsair "It was important for us to be water-conscious because the golf course had been such a large user of water," said Studio Gang's Teo Quintana, the project leader. The theater presents a stark contrast from what HVS actors, technicians and audience members experienced for decades under the tent at Boscobel. No longer will crew members have to fight off raccoons determined to chew through lighting cables, or audience members sit behind support poles, or actors use dressing rooms outfitted with folding chairs, card tables and black curtains thrown over pipes. The crew will also no longer have to stay up until 2 a.m. after each performance to shake sand from the costumes and drive for miles to an off-site laundry r...

Plus, other construction updates The Beacon Planning Board held a public hearing on Tuesday (May 12) on a developer's proposal to open a karaoke bar called The Howl just off Main Street. The plan would convert the former art gallery space at 1154 North Ave. (Route 9D), near the west end of Main, to a venue for "immersive live-performance experiences." The site is across from the police station; the next street over, West Church, is residential, while two 4-story buildings with 64 apartments and nearly 14,000 square feet of commercial space have been approved nearby on Beekman Street. The parcel is owned by a group that, through several LLCs, holds more than two dozen properties in Beacon, most of them on and around the west end of Main Street, including the housing development under construction at 2 Cross/172 Main. The applicant, Eric Weitner, told the board on Tuesday that the two-story brick structure will have an 80-person lounge on the first floor. The second floor will have six private karaoke suites and, while designed for 80 people, its expected usage will be "more like 40" patrons, the project architect said. According to project materials, The Howl was conceived as a "value-add to the local community and aligns with Beacon's long-standing tradition of fostering arts, music and creative gathering spaces." Weitner said he is working with an acoustic engineer on noise control and will submit a report with plans for next month's meeting. The intention is to "not disturb any of the neighbors," he said. The venue would be closed Monday and Tuesday and open from 2 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday and Thursday, from noon to 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 11 p.m. on Sunday. A consultant said the venue will need 38 parking spaces at peak; it would use the public lot at City Hall, the same one that could be utilized by Prophecy Hall and a future hotel at 1064 Wolcott Ave. There should be about 10 spaces left in the lot after accounting for those uses, the consultant said. Several residents submitted emails to the Planning Board supporting or opposing the project, and others attended the Tuesday hearing. "This business is going to be located in my backyard," said Rob VanCott, who lives on West Church. "I'm not a fool; people are going to be hanging out in the back of the property" doing what "comes along with having a good time." Weitner said a rear door would be an emergency exit only and "there won't be an influx of people waiting outside to get in." There will be no outdoor seating, he said. Board members asked him to return with plans showing how customers would be evacuated in an emergency. The public hearing remains open. Planning Board members on Tuesday chastised the owner of 364 Main St., where a three-story building with commercial space and 20 apartments is nearly complete. The project was approved in 2022, but officials returned seeking approval for architectural changes that occurred during construction. The changes do not affect the building footprint but include material selections, facade changes, window detailing and the replacement of Juliet balconies and doors with double windows. There is also a reduction in rooftop area and, after discovering that the first-floor elevation is two feet higher than anticipated, a front patio was modified. Board members were unhappy. "Why these changes were made without communication is a hot potato," said Randall Williams, who acted as chair in John Gunn's absence. Len Warner said that, after dropping approved features, "what we're left with is a really drab building." Karen Quiana added: "The Main Street facade is completely unacceptable in my view. It is awful." In a comment responding to a Facebook post in March, architect Aryeh Siegel wrote: "This isn't the building I designed. It's embarrassing." On Tuesday, an architect from a different firm appeared with Eric Baxter, the owner. Williams asked Baxter to return next month with "substantial suggestions, n...

Mexican restaurant began in Philipstown After 25 years of serving his trademark Mexican cuisine at locations in Philipstown, Fishkill, Beacon and Wappingers Falls, Luis Pinto, the owner and affable presence at the Maya Café on Route 9, has sold the business. He and his restaurant had come a long way since his days growing up in Merida, the largest city on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. "It had about 250,000 people when my family moved to Dallas when I was 15," recalled Pinto, 69. "Now it's a city of 1.5 million!" In 2000, Pinto moved to Philipstown, where he still lives, and a year later opened the Maya Café in Perc's Plaza (now Philipstown Plaza) on Route 9. "It was the best thing that happened in my life," said Pinto, who still runs into his original customers. "They told me it was the best Mexican food they had ever had." They were also fond of his spiked "Mexican lemonade," which he provided at no charge. The café initially didn't have a liquor license, but a wine store next door made it easy to bring your own. The staff consisted of Pinto and a friend. In 2005, he moved the restaurant up Route 9 to Fishkill, where he purchased Moog's Farm Restaurant. Steve Carlson, a Philipstown contractor, renovated the building. It was a significant expansion. At Perc's Plaza, the cafe served 30 to 35 people. In Fishkill, Pinto could seat up to 140. Pinto learned to cook in his mother's kitchen in Mexico and from his grandmother, who prepared meals for the employees at the family bakery and grocery. "My grandfather was the best baker in Merida," Pinto said. "He made everything by hand and supplied 40 stores." As a high school junior in Dallas, Pinto worked as a dishwasher in a Mexican restaurant. As he took on more duties, he became known as "the king of nachos." In 1986 Pinto met his wife, Joni, while working at a hotel in Cancun. The Buffalo native spoke no Spanish, but the two operated a stall at a Cancun market, where they sold tacos, and Pinto served his favorite recipe, cochinita pibil. "It's a typical Yucatan dish," he said. After marinating a pig with sour orange for a day and adding spices, it's wrapped in banana leaves, buried in a charcoal pit and roasted for several hours. Pinto said he has kept his café menu "pretty authentic," but he didn't use much oil and included plenty of vegetables. He traveled to Mexico regularly to purchase about 90 pounds of spices per trip. "You can get the same spices here, but the quality isn't the same," he said. He still enjoys cooking and creating dishes. One of his Saturday night favorites has been salmon and avocado stuffed with shrimp, surrounded by fruit. Pinto operated a Maya Café in Beacon for a year in 2006. He ran a Wappingers Falls location for 15 years until it closed in 2025. Last month, Pinto sold the Fishkill restaurant to the Van Wyck Restaurant Group. "I'm at a point in my life where I want to visit my daughter and grandchildren in Dallas more," he said. "Joni retired 10 years ago, and I want to travel with her." Pinto said he had his children and grandchildren in mind when he kept a small piece of the business as part of the sale. He will continue to be a presence at the café for a while, but the 60-hour workweeks are over.

Asked to join Cold Spring, Philipstown lawsuit The chances that Cold Spring and Philipstown will have Putnam County's resources in their quest to overturn New York State's approval of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail environmental review just dimmed. One week before a May 20 deadline for the village and town to file a court challenge, the Putnam Legislature's three-person Protective Services Committee voted 2-to-1 to refer a request for the county to participate to the Legislature's legal counsel. Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley in the Legislature, cast the "no" vote. If the committee had approved the request on Wednesday (May 13), it would have gone to the full Legislature, which does not meet until June 2. But Thomas Regan Jr., who chairs the committee, said the request from County Executive Kevin Byrne came two days before the meeting — without a draft lawsuit, cost estimates and enough notice to include the item on the meeting agenda. "Regardless of my feelings on the topic, it would be ill-advised in any circumstance — for just learning about something and say, 'We're going to go in with this lawsuit and see where it goes,' " he said. Before the vote, Cindy Trimble, a Philipstown resident, demanded that Montgomery recuse herself because she has expressed support for the trail and "has not publicly addressed" concerns about the project. "What law says I have to recuse myself?" asked Montgomery. Regan repeatedly asked Trimble to limit her comments to the vote on whether to refer the request to the legislative counsel. He banged a gavel as the back-and-forth continued. "This landed on our desk 48 hours ago, which has now put us in a hot seat," said Regan. "We have constituents who have concerns on both sides of this, and we want to do right by everybody." In a "findings statement" dated Jan. 20 that concluded the mandated environmental review, state parks said that HHFT "avoids, minimizes or mitigates potential adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable" and "will achieve a balance between the protection of the environment and the need to accommodate social and economic considerations." The town and village boards said the review of the project — a 7.5-mile trail between Dockside Park in Cold Spring and Long Dock Park in Beacon — did not adequately address potential visitor impact on parking, traffic, emergency services and local quality of life. The municipalities have 120 days from the date of the findings statement to file an Article 78 proceeding. Earlier this month, their respective boards authorized Mayor Kathleen Foley and Supervisor John Van Tassel to ask Putnam to join a lawsuit. After the Protective Services Committee voted to refer the request, Van Tassel asked the legislators, "Can I just mention the timeline that we're up against?" Legislator Jake D'Angelo responded: "That's not our problem."

The last time I spoke to Shannon LaDeau at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in February, we were in the middle of our first classically cold winter in several years, thanks to a wonky polar vortex. I asked Shannon if all the deep freezes might lead to a down year for ticks and tick-borne illnesses. She reminded me that blacklegged ticks, the buggers responsible for Lyme disease, are well-adapted to cold weather. However, to pass pathogens to us, the ticks must feed on an infected animal, typically a deer or a white-footed mouse. If the brutal cold affected them, we could frolic with less concern. Unfortunately, it appears we will not have a carefree tick season. LaDeau and her colleagues are starting their annual tick counts in Millbrook, and there isn't any hard data yet on the deer and mice populations, but "the ticks so far do not seem to be showing any signs of suffering from winter effects," she said last week. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that emergency room visits for tick bites are three times what was reported at the same time last year. That's especially bad news considering a report that LaDeau and the Cary Institute just put out with researchers at SUNY Albany: Ticks in the Hudson Valley are becoming more likely to carry more than one pathogen, increasing the chances that you could get multiple diseases from just a single bite. The Cary Institute has been studying ticks for more than 30 years. It has decades of data and ticks placed in cold storage in anticipation of additional funding and improved technology. For the recent study, the researchers screened 10 years' worth of nymphal blacklegged ticks — the poppy-seed ones that are so difficult to detect — for 16 pathogens. They found that about 10 percent were carrying more than one pathogen, but that the rate had increased over the years. The most prevalent pathogens were those that cause Lyme disease and babesiosis, a malaria-like disease that can be devastating for some but has little effect on others. (I found out seven years ago that I had it only because it came up in a test when I gave blood.) If there's good news, it's that diseases such as the Powassan virus, which can cause brain inflammation and meningitis, only showed up in a single tick, and the bacteria (Bartonella henselae) that cause "cat scratch disease" didn't show up at all. The researchers also didn't find any ticks with alpha-gal, a molecule that can cause allergic reactions to red meat. That's not surprising, because lone star ticks are most likely to cause alpha-gal syndrome. While they have been found on Long Island, they are not prevalent in the Hudson Valley and haven't been found at Cary. But the researchers did find a few ticks carrying pathogens responsible for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which usually isn't found in blacklegged ticks. What's causing these changes? It's not clear, but LaDeau has some hypotheses. If nymphs carry more than one pathogen, it's likely they picked them up from the animal they bit, because they're probably too young to have had multiple meals. That would suggest deer and white-footed mice can also carry multiple pathogens, possibly from having been bitten repeatedly over years. Contracting one pathogen might also make hosts more vulnerable to infection from a different pathogen. "There are some lab studies that suggest that that's possible," said LaDeau. If you find a tick has been feasting on you for at least 12 hours, get tested for multiple infections. LaDeau worries that the prevalence of Lyme disease in the Hudson Valley has made doctors less likely to test for other infections or to start patients right away on an antibiotic such as doxycycline, which is not the best strategy for other infections. For instance, treating babesiosis requires anti-malarial drugs. It's also worth noting that Pfizer recently announced that its Lyme vaccine, which has completed Phase 3 trials, is 70 percent effective and has no repo...

Cold Spring designer to exhibit at furniture fair Many interior designers understand lighting, but few know about electrical wiring, says Charles Burleigh, a Cold Spring resident who recently retired from the industry. Seeking to illuminate dollhouses as a child, he learned the basic engineering concepts from his father. Taking advantage of newfound free time, Burleigh developed a method for turning out flowing porcelain bowls that offered elaborate form and just enough function. Though he dabbled in other media, he always returned to the flowery bowls, figuring that their striking appearance could be put to a practical use. One night, an epiphany: "I figured I could turn them over or mount them on a wall as lamps." It was a simple concept that prompted many possibilities, including acceptance to the juried Launch Pad section for emerging designers at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) at the Javits Center in New York City, which debuted in 1989 to offer an alternative to the Salone del Mobile in Milan. Burleigh will man a 25-square-foot booth for three days at the prestigious annual trade show, which will be open to the public on Tuesday (May 19). "In the interior design world, OMG, you have to go," he says. Acanthus Ceiling Mount Acanthus Wall Mount Helianthus Table Lamp Helianthus Wall Mount Lisianthus Table Lamp Ranunculus Table Lamp Sabelica Pendants Standing in his Cold Spring studio across from Depot Square while constructing the booth, Burleigh contrasted his career and new pathway. "It's nice to have merit-based recognition," he says. "In my other gigs, it was always who you know." The goal is to get a gallery or showroom to represent his work. "I just want to make things and not deal with the business end," he says. Another eureka moment led him to the name, the Herbarium Collection, which is appropriate because the work appears to be organic. Green-glazed pieces resemble cabbage leaves. Others look like seashells or flowers. All are fragile. Some of his white-ish lamps, adorned inside with gold glaze, are ghost-like. The interplay between the glaze, the porcelain and the illumination makes each handcrafted work singular. "I started doing pinch-pots at the Garrison Art Center, little cups, and everything grew from that simple idea," Burleigh says of his textured collection. Raw porcelain consists of 10-pound clay-like chunks. Burleigh places the malleable material into a colander coated with a paper towel, then pinches and presses away, working the material into a translucent state. Deploying the latest LED technology, which uses the power equivalent of a nightlight but emits the brilliance of incandescence, he figured that for some pieces silvered bulbs — with tops coated in silver, gold and other colors to mute the glare — would spotlight the artistry and enhance the presentation. For now, he's sticking with the artisanal approach. "Some people come out of design school and present chairs at ICFF that can be easily replicated," he says. "My work is more involved because I'm showing one-of-a-kind pieces that could be roughly recreated. But if someone wants to mass-produce something based on the style, I'm all ears." ICFF will be open to the public at The Javits Center, 429 11th Ave. in New York City, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 19. Tickets are $250 ($35 students) at icff.com/fair/attend-register. To explore the Herbarium Collection, see charlesburleighporcelain.com.

Classical music star quickly sells out Howland At age 29, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason is a classical music superstar who knew about Beacon even before her handlers booked a gig at the Howland Cultural Center on Sunday (May 17) that quickly sold out. "I follow other piano players on the circuit, and when I saw that Emanuel Ax played there [in 2024], I was excited and couldn't wait," she says of the Howland Chamber Music Circle series. On April 15, she performed and signed products at the flagship HMV music store in London, a ritual typically reserved for pop stars. Fueling her solo career, the Nottingham native grew up in what her mother Kadiatu calls a "house of music," the title of her 2021 book about raising what is often called the world's most talented family. Last year, 60 Minutes aired a profile. All seven siblings, along with mom and pop, Stuart, specialize in classical but play other styles. Isata, the eldest, says, "If I didn't take it up, the dominoes may not have fallen as they did." Her brother, Sheku, 27, is renowned for playing cello at the wedding of Prince Charles and Megan Markle in 2018, and the two will tour together later this year. For her Chamber Music Circle concert, she crafted a theme that reflects "darkness moving into light." Most of the works will be new to her repertoire. The proceeding will kick off with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, ear candy that Ax performed on the same piano two years ago. Next comes Gaspard de la nuit, by Ravel, which "gets pretty wild and weird," she says. Kanneh-Mason champions the work of female composers, including Clara Schumann and the "exceptionally talented but overlooked" Fanny Mendelssohn, older sister to Felix. Also on the program are Nocturne and Halo, two works by Dobrinka Tabakova, 46, with whom the pianist shares a BBC connection. "They're calming pieces that fit with the dark-to-light journey," she says. "The Waldstein sonata [by Beethoven, which caps her program] is sometimes referred to as 'The Dawn. ' " With their classical chops firmly established, Sheku and Isata also branch out. He is influenced by hip-hop, Bob Marley and Brazilian grooves. She performed an impressionistic version of George Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm," a showpiece for jazz pianists after Oscar Peterson put his stamp on the tune in 1951. "I like the arrangement [by Earl Wild], and it's an exciting piece to perform," she says. "I try to bring all aspects of the range of music I like into my playing." Captured in a slick video, the rendition crackles as she reels off challenging passages as if they were a walk in the park. The piece opens with a skittering cascade of descending notes, then seesaws between aggressive runs and elegant, classical-inspired flourishes. Beyond playing the music, Kanneh-Mason acts, looking for the cameras and flashing her wide eyes. In the creepy crawl toward the end that climbs up the keyboard's register, several notes represent shards of the song's melody. Though she digs jazz, improvisation remains under wraps. "I'm developing my ear and trying new things, but I don't do it in public — yet." Tickets for the Howland Chamber Music Circle's 2026-27 season will go on sale in July. See howlandmusic.org.

Changes inspired by Hudson Highlands Reserve Philipstown has amended its regulations for "conservation subdivisions" that sowed some confusion among Planning Board members last year when they reviewed a proposal for a 24-unit housing development called Hudson Highlands Reserve. The project was Philipstown's first conservation subdivision, a residential development in which houses are clustered to preserve more land as open space. Philipstown's zoning allows developers to build more units in exchange for maintaining features such as forests, scenic views and wetlands. The previous regulations required projects to be considered as potential conservation subdivisions but gave the Planning Board discretion to allow a conventional site plan, even if it determined that the plan would adversely affect the town's rural character. Based on recommendations from a Zoning Update Committee, the Town Board on Thursday (May 7) approved language specifying that the Planning Board "shall require" a conservation subdivision if it has fewer adverse effects on the rural landscape or natural resources than a conventional plan. In addition, the new regulations remove steep slopes and wetlands from the calculations for how much land must be preserved and eliminate a "density formula" as one of two methods (along with a "yield plan") for calculating the number of permitted units. (A yield plan requires a preliminary design, with minimum lot sizes ranging from 3 to 20 acres per unit, depending on the district. The density formula allowed 75 percent of slopes, wetlands and other "constrained" land to be subtracted from the buildable area used in determining the number of units.) In March, the Planning Board approved the revisions by a 6-to-1 vote. In reviewing Hudson Highlands Reserve, the board "tore itself up on yield plan versus density and didn't understand why both were there," said Neal Zuckerman, its chair. "We really struggled on why they were getting so much credit for conserving land that could never be built upon in the first place." The changes, which included removing convenience stores as an allowed use in a conservation subdivision, "add clarity, simplicity and directness," he said. Climate Smart Martha Upton plans to resign as coordinator of Philipstown's Climate Smart program. Upton, who became coordinator in 2022, will step down in September or sooner if the town names a replacement. "I reluctantly will have to accept this," said Supervisor John Van Tassell, adding that he knew residents who are interested in the position. "She has really provided us with a lot of equipment, a lot of resources," he said. "So, my appreciation to Martha for her years of service." Tubman Byway The board approved a resolution expressing its support for the state to designate the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad New York Scenic Byway, a 550-mile corridor between Manhattan and Niagara Falls. Phase One runs 173 miles between Niagara Falls and Auburn, home of the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park. Philipstown is along the Phase Two route, which covers 376 miles between Manhattan and Auburn. Public notices The board tabled a resolution supporting the proposed Local Government Notice Modernization and Transparency Act, which would allow municipalities to post public notices solely on their websites, rather than paying to have them printed in newspapers. Last month, Nelsonville's board approved a resolution supporting the legislation. But Philipstown's board members said they wanted to continue advertising in print newspapers. "I would add that a healthy community relies on a healthy press, and I think we should support our papers where we can," said Ned Rauch, a member of the Town Board and a former journalist. For decades, Philipstown, Cold Spring and Nelsonville used The Putnam County News & Recorder as their "official newspaper" for notices. But after the weekly closed last month, all three municipalities switched to The Poughkeepsie Journal, whi...

Fire companies to be honored for 2025 rescue Marathon site At the Wednesday (May 6) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board, Mayor Kathleen Foley addressed questions she said had been raised about the 12-acre Marathon site on Kemble Avenue during public sessions hosted by the owner, The Kearney Group, and an urban planning firm, Speck-Dempsey. "They were not village events, and there is no application [before village boards] yet for the site," Foley said. "This board is not authorized to act on its own related to this parcel, and I certainly have no authority to authorize anything on my own." The Zoning Board, Planning Board and the Historic District Review Board are the reviewing bodies, the mayor said. She said the process will follow Chapter 134 of the Village Code, which regulates planned mixed-use projects. "There are a lot of thoughtful hoops that project will have to go to before it's ever approved," she said. "There are many process points at which there will be opportunity for public comment, and to shape the outcome." Mountain rescue The Cold Spring and North Highlands fire companies will be recognized at the Putnam County EMS banquet later this month for a mountain rescue they performed, along with the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corp, on May 3, 2025. CSFC Chief Matt Steltz said the victim had been critically injured by a falling tree limb. First responders administered medical care and transported the victim off the mountain, he said. CSFC has conducted four mountain rescues since March. The department answered 14 calls in April, including seven activated fire alarms, three mutual aids to local fire companies and two injured or lost hikers. Police tasers The board approved a recommendation by Matt Jackson, the Police Department's officer-in-charge, to accept a $106,382 bid from Axon Enterprise for tasers and training, amortized over 10 years. Jackson said the units will replace models with outdated technology that are no longer supported by the supplier. CSPD responded to 137 calls in April, including 17 alarms, 16 assists to local EMS and 11 traffic stops. Officers also investigated four suspicious incidents and two calls each involving fraud and harassment. In other news… The Climate Smart Committee's food scrap recycling program will be expanded from weekly pickup to twice weekly. In addition, beginning June 1, any type of food scraps can be deposited in the bin at 46 Kemble Ave. on Tuesday mornings for pickup that evening or on Thursdays for Friday pickup. The board authorized RACE Coastal Engineering to conduct a three-phase structural evaluation of the Cold Spring dock at a cost of $30,125. The board approved in principle a request by the Cold Spring Boat Club to upgrade the club's entrance gate, but tabled a request to allow a food truck to operate on the site. The riverfront property is owned by the village and leased to the club. The board tentatively approved a request for a film crew to shoot in the village on June 3, pending information about traffic control and other details. The areas affected would include Depot Square, a small section of Main Street and the Our Lady of Loretto parking lot. The board accepted Ben Cheah's resignation from the Planning Board, effective June 30, and will seek applicants to fill the position. A youth baseball clinic will be held at Mayor's Park from June 29 through July 1. The park will remain open to the public.

Room rates at former Craig House start at $513 Local and county officials gathered in Beacon on Thursday afternoon (May 7) for the ribbon-cutting of the luxury Mirbeau Inn & Spa on Route 9D, which opens today for guests with rooms ranging from $513 to $693 per night. The Mirbeau Companies, which owns a day spa in Albany and three resorts (in Rhinebeck and Skaneateles, New York, and Plymouth, Massachusetts), purchased the 64-acre estate for $10 million in 2022. Its centerpiece is a 14,000-square-foot, neo-Gothic mansion built in 1859 for Civil War Gen. Joseph Howland and his wife, Eliza. It later became a private psychiatric hospital, Craig House, that closed in 1999 and had sat empty since. Mirbeau began construction in February 2024. As unveiled on Thursday, the mansion is a spiffed-up pink brick jewel surrounded by incipient plantings, newly sodded lawns and a pool and water feature with a bridge and winding paths. Mirbeau tore down a 1978 hospital wing and built a chateau with the spa and 63 rooms in its place. In his remarks, Ed Kellogg, the general manager, admitted that finishing the project went "right down to the wire." Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou confirmed this, saying he received a call from Kellogg at 11 that morning saying the city's Building Department had just issued the certificate of occupancy required for opening. Kellogg noted that Craig House, the treatment center of choice for the rich and famous such as Zelda Fitzgerald and Jackie Gleason, had a "long history of wellness and rehabilitation. We're excited about that." He praised the city and the Planning Board as "wonderful," hailing their professionalism. "It was a challenge," he said, but "it was a great experience." Kyriacou thanked Mirbeau founders Linda and Gary Dowers and "the entire Mirbeau team for bringing this gem of a historic asset back to life." He said that Dia art museum coming to Beacon in 2003 was a "first huge leap" for the city. "This is the second leap for us," he said. "I want to say how important I think this will be for Beacon to take that next step of becoming a destination for tourism, for the arts and for people to come here and help enjoy our Main Street and keep it alive, keep it going," Kyriacou said. "I will say that we will be adding more catalysts in short order: The Fjord Trail and the Beacon Rail Trail are coming soon and will be important additions and very natural fits" for the spa. Restoring a historic property comes with a plethora of rules and regulations. "This was the most challenging project we've ever undertaken," said Michael Dal Pos, the CEO of Mirbeau Hospitality Services. "But the results speak for themselves." Kellogg noted that Mirbeau was not able to add an elevator in the original home because it would have altered the roofline and jeopardized the company's historic preservation tax credits. Instead, guests reach the second-floor rooms by climbing a wooden staircase. Mirbeau installed a dumbwaiter to move luggage. The main suite was the Howlands' original bedroom. Its furnishings play up the antique look with a wooden vanity, plush upholstery and draperies. The bathroom in this primary suite is bigger than many New York City studio apartments and has a clawfoot tub and lavish-looking glass-enclosed shower. On the ground floor, there is a suitably dark lounge and library with an adjoining game room dominated by an ornate 1873 Johnson & Company 58-pipe organ. There is a bar and several pretty dining rooms, with a few blank spots on the walls (and signs begging pardon for work in progress). A large banquet room has views toward the river. There are several outside terraces furnished with tables, chairs and umbrellas that have views of the manicured grounds, but also look down on a wooded area and parking lots. Photos by Ross Corsair The chateau's lower floor houses the spa, which includes a gym, yoga room and solarium that are flooded with natural light. Doors lead out to a Monet Garden (the ...

Five takeaways on plans and public response The development of the last substantial piece of real estate in Cold Spring took a significant step forward in public sessions held April 27 to 30 at the Chapel Restoration and the St. Mary's Church rectory. The urban planning firm Speck-Dempsey presented initial concept plans for a mixed-use development on the Kemble Avenue parcel, while residents voiced concerns and shared ideas regarding the 12-acre tract. There were standing-room-only crowds at each of the two charrettes that included presentations; the other two were open houses. The Marathon Battery factory operated on the site from 1952 to 1979, discharging cadmium and other toxins into the soil and the adjacent Foundry Cove and the Hudson River. The Environmental Protection Agency ordered that the cove be dredged in 1972 and, in 1987, began a nine-year cleanup of the property that included demolition of the factory. (For a detailed history, see highlandscurrent.org/marathon.) Kearney Realty Group purchased the property in 2003. In 2023, Cold Spring amended the zoning from light industrial to planned mixed-use. Residents want smaller homes Informal votes among the residents who attended the charrette at St Mary's included a few unrealistic suggestions, such as "nothing" and "a parking lot," but housing received the most attention. Residents advocated for reasonable rents, 12 homes, tiny houses, 55-plus housing, a ban on short-term rentals and a shared, central green space ("cottage courts"). The architecture will echo Cold Spring's historic buildings in style and scale, according to Speck-Dempsey. Sustainability also scored well, with requests for low light pollution, solar power, energy-efficient buildings, trees, green space and preservation of the forest buffer. Community-oriented ideas included an aquatic center, ballfield, skate park, pavilion, safe walking and community-oriented retail. Some people wanted to see a bodega or restaurants that serve Thai and Indian food. The site is larger than it looks Speck-Dempsey drafted 12 concept plans and recommended two, which it dubbed The Amble and The Angle. Each contains 100 to 150 units, which raised some concern. Office uses, live-work spaces, upstairs apartments, small apartment villas and a few medium-size houses were also part of the mix. Restaurants or cafes could be added, but would require a zoning change. To illustrate capacity, Jeff Speck of Speck-Dempsey said two Forge Gate condominium complexes, or 136 units, could fit on the Marathon site with substantial open space. Public spaces would include a playground, the protection and enhancement of the wooded bluff at the south end, paths and viewing areas. Speck stressed the proposed neighborhood's "walkability" and noted that traffic calming devices, such as narrow lanes, are incorporated in the plans. The site is safe, says EPA While some residents have lingering concerns about the polluted past, Chris Dempsey of Speck-Dempsey said the EPA determined that the site was safe for development more than a decade ago. Excavation for construction "won't get close" to the 15-foot limit set by the EPA, environmental monitoring will be carried out throughout construction, and all plans require approval by the EPA and state regulators. Dempsey said the village has indicated it has the capacity to handle water and sewer for the development, although he reserved the right to reassess once detailed plans are ready. Because the site's groundwater is contaminated, the units cannot use wells for drinking water. Traffic flow seems tight Speck-Dempsey say that, even within the narrow confines of Rock Street, Kemble Avenue and Wall Street, traffic will not be a problem, including safe pickup and drop-off at the adjacent Montessori school. It plans to commission a traffic study and will look at access from Lunn Terrace or by connecting Kemble with Chestnut Street, although those options seem unlikely. Changing Kemble to two-way traf...

Activists have a plan for weekend service A year after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority discontinued a commuter ferry on the Hudson River between Beacon and Newburgh, activists are hoping to raise $200,000 to launch their own weekend service. The Save the Ferry coalition, whose members live on both sides of the river, envisions a free boat running 10 hours on each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from mid-June through October. They hope to demonstrate that demand still exists for the route, which the MTA has replaced with shuttle buses. The service would rely on the Nellie Bly, a 40-person vessel supplied by the New York Boat Co., which runs charter cruises from Peekskill. The coalition said it is in talks to use the Sloop Club dock in Beacon and the Riverfront Marina in Newburgh. The MTA suspended ferry service in January 2025 due to river ice. During the hiatus, the agency said it discovered damage to the floating dock it used in Beacon. Because ridership had also been declining — from an average of nearly 250 people per day in 2008 to 62 in 2024, according to the MTA — the agency officially canceled the service in June, before it ever restarted. If the coalition can secure funding, weekend service "would be one incremental step in the whole restoration of that regional transportation link," said Victoria Manning, a Newburgh resident. Organizers wouldn't say what they have raised so far, but they are asking Hudson Valley legislators to push for funding for their ferry pilot in the 2026-27 state budget. They estimate the $200,000 will cover marketing, insurance, permitting, docking fees and a crew for the season. If funding doesn't materialize, the coalition says it will try again in 2027-28. While the MTA ferry ran only during commuting hours, bringing Newburgh residents to Beacon's Metro-North station to catch trains toward Poughkeepsie or Grand Central Station, the coalition believes a weekend boat would attract casual riders as well as people who work on Saturday and Sunday. "Businesses and individuals have been clamoring for this," Manning said. An MTA spokesperson said on Wednesday (May 6) that the agency has no plans to restart a ferry between Beacon and Newburgh. The bus shuttles are free through 2026; an express route to New York Stewart International Airport has been added. For the third year, the agency will also operate a seasonal weekend ferry between Haverstraw in Rockland County and Ossining in Westchester County beginning this month. Members of the coalition don't understand why that can't happen farther north. Amanda Brown, a Beacon resident and professional mediator, said the MTA told her it shut down the Newburgh crossing because of low ridership. But she believes the agency didn't do enough to examine the reasons behind it. In January, Brown began surveying Main Street business owners in Beacon. Some told her, she writes in a report she hopes to share with the Beacon and Newburgh city councils, that they are certain some customers come from Newburgh. Others said that "anything that could draw people to the area in general would be good for them," said Brown, who plans more interviews. Based on 2024 state tourism statistics, the coalition says its conservative estimate is that 60 passengers on a weekend ferry would generate $187,000 in retail revenue in the two cities over the season. At the high end, they said, with more passengers spending more money, it could reach $750,000. "Newburgh does not have the same level of weekend tourism as Beacon, so our small business community needs this connection," said Manning, a museum registrar who rides the train into New York City three or four times a week. According to the state Department of Transportation, usage of the Newburgh-Beacon bus shuttle more than doubled in the past year. But the numbers don't reflect an important difference between the bus and the ferry, said Manning, who takes a 6 a.m. shuttle to Beacon. On the return trip over the Newburgh-Be...

West Point plans power line corridor opposite Garrison Conservation groups are raising concerns about a proposed power line that would cut a path through the forested mountain across from Garrison's Landing. The U.S. Army wants to upgrade and construct transmission lines and substations to increase power to West Point, which will alter the viewsheds of various registered historic districts, including Harriman State Park and the Thayer Hotel and Buffalo Soldier Field on base. Garrison's Landing is "in the direct view of this unfortunate proposal to scalp a 150-foot-wide swath through the forest, down that ridge to the Hudson River," said J. Jeffrey Anzevino, director of land use advocacy at Scenic Hudson. The landing was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. An Army report on the project maps a 2.5-mile right-of-way for two new lines that would each deliver 69 kilovolts (kV) of electricity. Of the existing 9.5 miles of lines, which run at 34.5 kV, some would be removed and others upgraded. In addition, three substations would be upgraded, a substation would be built next to one at Wilson Gate and a substation in Highland Falls would be decommissioned. A switching station would also be built. Neither West Point nor Orange & Rockland, the utility that would construct the lines and substation, responded to requests for comment. In its report, the Army acknowledges that the project "will noticeably and substantially alter the Hudson Highlands landscape" and "diminish the integrity of setting, feeling and association" of West Point and Garrison's Landing, but says its plan is still the best option. Upgrading the existing lines to handle larger loads and projected increases to up to 138 kV without building new lines would cost an estimated $60 million more than the $113 million approved for the project. Burying the lines would also be too expensive, it said, and impact wetlands and streams. Anzevino said conservation and preservation groups would like to know more about how the Army determined that other options, such as going underground, are not feasible. "The consensus is there's not an awful lot of detail in their rationale," said Edward Warren of the Hudson Highlands Land Trust. He cited research showing that while tunneling is more expensive, it reduces maintenance costs because the lines are protected from storm damage. The groups also would like more information about why the upgrades are needed. Anzevino said that he was only told by West Point that it has "electrical issues" every summer. "What is West Point doing to generate its own energy?" he said. "Renewables, battery storage?" He said the military told them the review doesn't have to consider that. The project must undergo a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, but because West Point is federal land, it will not be subject to state review. It's not clear if the public will be invited to weigh in, Anzevino said. "I don't believe West Point is going to allow the rank and file — the residents who are going to be viewing this — to be participating," he said. Pointing to an Army rendering that shows trees disappearing along Fort Putnam Street in Highlands Falls, he said, "I doubt the people on that street even know this is happening."

Library recounts war story of local family patriot Sitting onstage and decked out in brownish historical garb, Chapin Fish wore one black Adidas sneaker with white stripes as a mutton-chopped storyteller, Jonathan Kruk, reeled off highlights from the new Desmond-Fish Public Library exhibit, Nicholas Fish: Choosing Liberty, in dramatic fashion. On his other foot, Fish, a recent graduate of Fordham University with a degree in American studies, wore a white boot because of a foot injury. He otherwise hobbled around on crutches, adding a touch of irony to the proceedings, which celebrated his ancestor, who got "sick in camp" at the Battle of White Plains in 1776 and suffered a wound during the Battle of Monmouth. Despite those setbacks, Nicholas Fish played a prominent role in the Continental Army's leadership, fighting alongside George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benedict Arnold and the Marquis de Lafayette. Many other members of his family were Loyalists who remained faithful to the monarchy, says Anita Prentice, the library board chair, who wrote a 40-page biography that spearheaded the project. The exhibit began as a slow burn in 2019, when the library received a portrait of the war hero, now on display. Nicholas Fish's saga stretches from a 1775 raid by the Sons of Liberty and a Columbia University militia on British guns in Manhattan to the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. When the war formally ended in 1783, Fish rode with Washington to attend a banquet for Continental Army officers before they disbanded at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan. Six years later, he again accompanied the general to Federal Hall on Wall Street, serving as an eyewitness to the first president's swearing-in. In 1824, Nicholas reunited with an old pal, Lafayette, who was making a triumphant tour of the nation, including the Hudson Valley. (His visit to Beacon is commemorated by a blue-and-gold plaque at the waterfront.) During the Revolutionary War, Nicholas visited Philipstown often but never established ties, says Prentice. He was a regular at the Beverly Robinson house, which served as Washington's headquarters (it was on Route 9D south of Route 403 but burned down in 1892), and often ferried to West Point. After the war, Fish rattled around New York City (his birthplace), abandoned by his family and "struggling with PTSD, I'd imagine," says Prentice, a retired history teacher. "He fought for eight straight years with no time off, longer than Washington, because he had nowhere else to go." Things turned out OK. Fish raised five children, including his eldest son, Hamilton, born in 1808, four years after his namesake died in a duel. Hamilton Fish made a lasting impression, serving as New York governor, a U.S. senator and secretary of state under President Ulysses S. Grant. The now-abandoned home at Glenclyffe, dating to the 1850s, became one of the family's three mansions and their local foothold. The meat of the Desmond-Fish exhibit is 15 wall panels packed with information and punctuated by portraits, illustrations and paintings. Artifacts include Nicholas Fish's hefty bible and some of his silverware. After the portrait donation, Prentice thought the library would need two or three panels to tell Fish's war story. "But he went wire to wire and participated in almost every major battle and incident, and his story is much more amazing than I ever could have imagined," she says. The Desmond-Fish Public Library, at 472 Route 403 in Garrison, is open daily. See desmondfishlibrary.org. The exhibit continues through June 15. The library will host the Hearts of Oak Reenactors from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday (May 9).

Also, updates on parking, historic properties Beacon residents will be able to apply later this year to serve on a committee tasked with updating the city's comprehensive plan. New York State recommends that municipalities update their plans — the blueprint for how a city will grow — every 10 years; Beacon's was last revised in 2017. That document was drafted by a consulting firm with input from a committee of residents and city officials. Public workshops were held in the fall of 2016. There has been a general shift from doing "everything and the kitchen sink" rewrites of comprehensive plans to focusing on priorities, planning consultant Natalie Quinn told the City Council on Monday (May 4). The 2017 update focused on the waterfront and Metro-North train station area. Council members should begin thinking about important areas, because the 2027 plan will guide future councils as they enact zoning laws, said City Attorney Jennifer Gray. Topics mentioned Monday included non-vehicular transportation, smaller housing units as an affordability tool, climate adaptation and protected scenic views. Council Member Lastar Gorton disagreed with the approach, saying she would prefer a review of the entire plan. "Beacon is completely different now" than in 2017, she said. "Let the community have its say." Historic properties A public hearing on properties nominated for Beacon's historic district, scheduled to continue on May 18, will likely be adjourned to June 1. In the meantime, the city is creating an FAQ to explain the program. Many residents who spoke during the first part of the hearing last month seemed uncertain about the details. Properties added to the district will be required to obtain approval from the Planning Board before making alterations to certain historic features, but there are tax and assessment benefits that come with the designation, Mayor Lee Kyriacou said. Parking requirements It's too soon to say whether Beacon's new parking requirements for developments will affect the number of apartments being built in the city. In August 2024, the City Council eliminated minimum parking requirements for new developments and substantial reconstructions in "core" walkable areas, such as Main Street and parts of the waterfront. Instead, there is now a maximum number of spaces developers may provide. Studies have concluded that minimum parking requirements added to the cost of new housing and hindered the development of affordable units. A report by the Planning Board looked at 10 projects approved by the end of last year. In that time, four applicants provided the same parking as would have previously been required, three provided one to three fewer spaces, and two provided as many as 40 fewer spaces. In several cases, the report said, applicants voluntarily provided on-site parking because of design considerations and anticipated demand. But developments on Main Street provided fewer spaces. The Planning Board said it's too soon to know how reduced supply will impact demand for on-street spaces, because the developments have not been built. Moving forward, the board said it will monitor applications that provide no parking but rely on municipal lots, to avoid over-allocating or "double-counting." In addition, overuse of city lots could be an issue during snowstorms. As for the new parking regulations and the density of development, "unit counts" are affected by factors other than parking, Quinn told the council. Future data will provide more clarity, she said. Council Member Carolyn Bennett Glauda remarked: "If we want to encourage people to come here and not have cars, we need to talk about our bike comprehensive plan, and we need to talk about public transportation as viable options." Meeting schedule The City Council seems ready to continue meeting on the first and third Monday of each month, instead of weekly, as it had done for decades. The shift to every other week (except during months with five Mondays) has allowed ...

Beacon Photo Club to host second book arts fair According to the authorities, the definition of an art book (aka artist's book) is serious stuff. For Printed Matter, a nonprofit bookstore in Manhattan, they are "publications conceived as artworks in their own right." The Center for Book Arts calls them "artistic practices related to the book itself as an art object." Of the 28 vendors exhibiting at the Art Book Fair at the VFW Hall in Beacon on May 16, 13 live in the city or nearby. This is the second iteration of what the Beacon Photo Club intends to be an annual event, according to Emma McDonald Diamond, who founded the group. Broadly, the genre ranges from black-and-white zines to uber-elaborate permutations that make a paperback look like a cave painting. "What binds them is that they're self-published," says Chiara Di Lello, co-founder of the collective Little Histories, which will be there. One creator is Jennifer Lauren Smith, who will share her Weeping European Beech Baby Sleep Tonic. Her website reveals precise details about the binding, paper, color plates and cover, which is giclee on Hahnemühle Photo Rag. All 15 editions were printed, engraved and bound in Beacon. The reception is positive: Reed College will acquire an edition for its art collection (Smith is an alum), and another will be displayed at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts beginning June 12. Smith just completed a month-long Interlude Artist residency in Hudson and is in the second year of The Photobook, a long-term residency program with the Penumbra Foundation. "The books are so laborious and precious, I'm almost embarrassed," she says. "But that's why they're expensive [$200 each]. I work in sculpture, so I'm a craftsperson, and I take the materials seriously." Little Histories will present zines with themes, such as using Wordle guesses to create the text. There's also one based on crosswords, says Di Lello, who previously created a formal art book exhibited at a Brooklyn show. The members of Little Histories, including co-founder Chelsea Mize, write personalized poems on the spot with a typewriter, hammering away at a piece of gray paper. "We talk with the person — I call it 'intake' — and figure out where their head is at, and if it's intended for them or someone else," says Di Lello. "They come back later and pick it up. They're not hovering over us." Andrea Moed, a ceramicist, is bringing zines along with hand-drawn comics. The cover of no costume depicts the view from her front door, including the porch, power lines, a pickup truck and her neighbors' houses. Her plans include Street Furniture of Beacon, New York, which will feature "a lot of weird stuff beyond the dummy light" in Beacon, she says. "At the foot of Mount Beacon, near the bus stop, there's some mutant, non-functioning contraption with four prongs." Moed also is a paper engineer (think pop-up books) using the digital Cricut machine at the Desmond-Fish Public library in Garrison to create little lamps. Scrawled on the walls of her studio are instructions for improving panels of her comic Monoculture, along with affirmations like "Less Think More Draw!!!" sketched out in colorful bubble letters. "Many people are tired of being online, and the pendulum is swinging back to tangible interests and hobbies," says McDonald Diamond. "CDs, vinyl records, cassettes and shooting photos with film are making a comeback, and this event reflects all that." The VFW Hall is located at 413 Main St. in Beacon. The Art Book Fair is scheduled for May 16 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and open to all ages. See beaconphotoclub.com/2026-beacon-art-book-fair.

Haldane graduate bringing quartet to St. Mary's Robert Freimark is best known for two things: his complicated jazz piano compositions and his hair, which is so long and straight that it serves as curtains over his face when he plays. The look resembles that of Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman. "Someone told me that recently, but I had no idea who he is," says Freimark, 18, a 2025 Haldane High School graduate who is studying music at William Patterson University in New Jersey. "It makes me more recognizable." On Saturday (May 9), Freimark will perform in Cold Spring as part of the Music at St. Mary's series with his quartet: Carter Stein on saxophone, Maria Kolesnik on drums and Gabriel Balado on bass (stepping in for Marcelo Díaz). Earlier this year, Freimark won a Young-Arts National Competition Award in jazz, one of 741 musicians selected from some 13,000 applicants. His goal is to make a living as a professional musician. He started playing piano at age 7, taking lessons in classical repertoire, but shifted to jazz when his teacher, Jesse Stecken at Forte Piano Studio in Beacon, encouraged him to improvise. A turning point, Freimark says, is when he nailed a solo arrangement of "Rhapsody in Blue" during his sophomore year at Haldane. Conversant with standard and more obscure repertoire, his style is subtle but sophisticated. His goal is to reel off any of hundreds of instrumental jams on the fly. "That's what being a jazz musician is, and I'm going through acute ear identification training," he says. "Another skill is listening and being able to identify chord changes on the spot, even if you don't know the song — 'ear-balling it,' as some people say." Freimark arranged a version of "My Favorite Things," adapting John Coltrane's sax rendition for piano, changing the time signature and delivering a straightforward groove. He can replicate and build on the style of odd-bird Thelonius Monk, whose wobbly, off-kilter phrasing shook up jazz in the 1950s and '60s. "Just You Wait," an original Freimark composition, which sounds like it's dredged from the classic Monk era, opens with a bebop-influenced passage in which the bass, played by Stecken on keyboard in a video shot at the Howland Cultural Center, doubles the piano's left hand through a few bars of Freimark's solo, then shifts into swinging, walking phrases to provide a launch pad for the pianist to modulate the timing and make other low-key modifications. "A bunch of notes came to me so fast; I figured I should write them down immediately," Freimark says. "From that draft, not much has changed. There are abstractions, but it still feels grounded." Reflecting the influence of his mother, Sandy McKelvey, a guitarist who is passionate about the music of Central and South America, Freimark also explores Latin Jazz, executing his feathery touch to "Soñando con Puerto Rico." On Saturday, he and his bandmates will perform an extended version of "Just You Wait," along with a mix of "songbook standards and compositions that are important to jazz musicians," he says. Though he began playing at a young age, Freimark never considered himself a prodigy. "There were always kids half my age who could play more difficult music," he says. "I'm just trying to do my own thing." St. Mary's Church is located at 1 Chestnut St. in Cold Spring. The concert, which begins at 2 p.m., is free, but donations for Music at St. Mary's are welcome.

State weighs second license for the village A cannabis dispensary opened in Cold Spring on Friday (May 1), nearly five years after village residents voted to allow retailers and as the state considers an application for a second shop at the Butterfield complex. Mogu opened in a small space at 137 Main St., where it sells cannabis flower grown at its farm in Warwick, pre-rolls, edibles such as gummies, disposable vapes and accessories such as grinders, lighters and rolling papers. Adults 21 and older can book five-minute appointments online or order pre-rolls and flowers for pickup. The products have names such as Bob Hope, Chubby Bunny, Jelly Donutz and Purple Runtz. The shop operates under a "microbusiness" license awarded by the state Office of Cannabis Management in November 2024 to Pleasant View Harvest LLC, based in Brewster. A microbusiness is allowed to operate a retail shop but can only sell cannabis that it grows and processes. According to its website, the dispensary is open from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, and from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. "Hopefully, we get a good name and reputation with the folks in the village and people who live in the nearby area," said the store's manager, Greg, who declined to provide his last name because cannabis is still banned by the federal government, and he said some people associated with marijuana businesses have reported having credit cards canceled. According to Cold Spring officials, the Office of Cannabis Management is also considering an application for a dispensary at 10 Julia Lane, adjacent to the U.S. Post Office. The village was notified in December of the application by NYC Sour Apple, doing business as Cannabis Realm of New York. The Office of Cannabis Management also awarded a processor license in 2024 to Two Puffs and Pass LLC, a company registered at an address in Philipstown. Processors extract concentrated cannabis and its compounds and blend, infuse and manufacture them for resale. New York legalized recreational marijuana in March 2021. Under state law, villages, towns and cities could "opt out" of allowing sales and/or on-site consumption. Cold Spring sent the issue to the ballot, and residents voted to allow retail but not on-site consumption. The Philipstown and Nelsonville boards voted to opt out of both, though they can opt in at any time with a second vote. The Beacon City Council took no action, allowing sales and on-site consumption. Today, three dispensaries operate in the city: LotusWorks Wellness, at 261 Main St., and Hudson Valley Jane, at 544 Main St., are microbusinesses, while The Station Beacon, at 463 Main St., can sell cannabis but not cultivate it. New York has 647 licensed dispensaries selling recreational marijuana. In April, the state announced that sales had exceeded $3.1 billion, including more than $400 million in 2026. Sales are taxed at 13 percent — 9 percent goes to New York State, and 4 percent is shared by the county and municipalities where the store is located. (The split on the latter is 75 percent to the city, village or town and 25 percent to the county.) Beacon estimates it will receive $15,000 this year from its three dispensaries, compared to $13,600 in 2025. Despite earning the state billions of dollars in revenues, more than two-thirds of the cannabis businesses surveyed by the Office of Cannabis Management in September 2025 were concerned or very concerned about taxes, out-of-state products infiltrating New York's market, the illegal sales of marijuana, the concentration of proximate businesses and state regulations. Less than half of businesses overall reported being profitable, with variations among retailers (58 percent), growers (46 percent) and microbusinesses (20 percent). Revenue among retailers open at least a year averaged $2.9 million, ranging from $1.2 million to $5.5 million. To boost profits, half the businesses surveyed said they were switching suppliers, cutting advertising and marketing...

After arson, a dispute over rebuilding The former owner of a Beacon boardinghouse that burned down in 2023 has sued the city, accusing its Zoning Board and a former building inspector of causing him to lose money on his investment. The lawsuit, filed April 24 in federal court, alleges that the city illegally canceled a building permit for then-owner Yeshia Berger's property at 925 Wolcott Ave. Specifically, it says, the city "extinguished a vested, permit-backed, legal preexisting non-conforming, constitutionally protected use through an unreasonable interpretation of an ambiguous ordinance after affirmatively authorizing its continuation and reduction." Along with the city, the suit names the Zoning Board of Appeals and former Building Inspector Bruce Flower as defendants. The sequence of events that led to the lawsuit was unusual. On the morning of Jan. 3, 2023, a former tenant, Brian P. Atkinson, started a fire that destroyed the 4,136-square-foot, three-story structure. Atkinson had been due in court that morning to protest eviction proceedings; instead, he walked to the Beacon Police Department and turned himself in, authorities said. He pleaded guilty later that year to third-degree arson and was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in state prison. The boardinghouse had been a longstanding "legal non-conforming use" allowed in an area zoned for single-family homes. Before the fire, Berger had received a permit to convert the 16 single-occupancy rooms into nine larger units. But in July 2023, the Zoning Board upheld Flower's determination that Berger must rebuild after the fire in accordance with the zoning code. Flower said he relied upon a provision requiring structures that have been more than 50 percent destroyed, such as by fire, to be rebuilt according to current standards — in this case, as a single-family home. Even the vote by the five-member Zoning Board was complex. Its members first reversed two of Flower's determinations: that the non-conforming use had been "removed" by the fire and that a non-conforming building cannot be "structurally altered during its life" if the alterations amount to more than 25 percent of its value. The board did agree that the structure should be rebuilt only under current regulations; Berger would have been allowed to proceed only if the Zoning Board had reversed all of Flower's determinations. In response, Berger asked the board to consider two types of variances, but withdrew his appeal before a decision was made. According to the lawsuit, he was forced to sell the parcel for "less than half" of the $650,000 he paid in 2022. He argues that the city code is "at best, ambiguous" and should have been "interpreted in a light most favorable to the property owner." Berger said he sold the property in February 2024 to Faust Design Build, "a luxury designing and building firm" that constructed a single-family home. Dutchess County records show that the parcel was last sold in October 2024 for $300,000. Many Beacon residents opposed Berger's rebuilding plans, speaking out at public hearings and submitting petitions to the Zoning Board. Some said fights and other disturbances had taken place at the site for years; others suggested that Berger planned to construct a "luxury building." In his 35-page complaint, Berger said that the proposed reduction in units would have decreased traffic "and any other impacts." The units would have continued to be single-room occupancies; all he "was trying to accomplish was to rebuild the building for affordable housing consistent with city code," he said. Instead, "it is clear that the city succumbed to generalized community opposition."