Getting around a largely rural county like Columbia is a quandary. Public transit is solid and reliable where it exists, but it isn’t found everywhere. Read moreTime for a shuttle-bus system
You know volunteer firefighters in New York State and in Greene and Columbia counties are in dire straits when somebody wants to put money for them in the state budget.
We’re all in favor of green, sustainable energy in Greene County, and in Columbia County, too. But what do you do when “green energy” means removing the natural green?
In bucolic Columbia County, like jurisdictions across New York, recent statewide “reform” legislation has hurt not just the victims of crime, but criminal defendants, as well. The combined impact of NYS bail and discovery laws harms offenders by limiting their ability to make advantageous pl…
If Philmont plays its cards right, the village will get a state-of-the-art housing development and all the benefits that come from it, and something else — a haven for the American bald eagle. Clover Reach Partners wants to build 16 houses on 22 acres of steeply sloped, forested terrain abov…
Round Two of Greenville parents vs. the Greenville Central School Board of Education went by narrow decision to the parents. And the fight ended Monday night with what this war over a book has been about all along: Transparency.
New York’s volunteer firefighters are saving taxpayers over $4 billion annually, and the state firefighters association is hoping legislators will take steps to ensure volunteer departments can continue to operate and provide those savings. In 2020, there were 6,944 active career firefighter…
So what does it mean, exactly, to “optimize the quality of life for people with autism”?
The Register-Star March 18-19 weekend edition contained two front page stories featuring U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro. The congressman was the special guest at the Lincoln Awards Dinner honoring the services of Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Flaherty. Both articles, by Jammel Cutler, contain ample quoted…
As we leave winter and move toward post-pandemic Memorial Day revivals and the reasons we celebrate the Fourth of July, we tip our hat to Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Flaherty and his heroism in wartime and peacetime.
Coxsackie Mayor Mark Evans will face a challenge from newcomer Veronica Foley on Tuesday, one of many surprises in the 2023 village elections. Another surprise is the lack of contested races in Columbia County. Nobody saw that coming.
In the last three and a half years, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany when the Child Victims Act became law. Under the law, adults who claimed they were victims of child sex abuse had a one-year look-back window in which civil cases could be fi…
The question of civility at local government meetings used to crop up as often as an appearance by Hailey’s Comet, but it is being asked amid the controversy swirling around Hunter Village Mayor Michael Papa and his behavior at recent board of trustees meetings. The furor over his alleged fu…
Take one look at the roads we travel daily to get to work or school or recreation, and you’ll see that we agree with Republican Assemblyman Chris Tague: Raise New York State’s proposed investment for the local roads programs Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, or CHIPS…
David Lochbaum of Holtec and a member of the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board, confirmed a Japanese study’s general conclusion that exposure to radioactive waste corresponds to higher cancer rates. But recent studies of the aquatic life and vegetation in areas surrounding Indian …
Homes that turn 50 years old this year. The amenities are aging. They’re no longer sustainable structures. We’re talking about Hudson’s Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments on the city’s waterfront.
In her Feb. 1 budget address, Governor Hochul asked if her administration has “met the moment” of making the New York dream a reality for all New Yorkers.
Four cars in a train heading south on the railroad trestle through Catskill broke loose when the train derailed and plummeted onto Main Street in a spectacular derailment in 1978. The cars, all tankers, were empty when they fell. Had they been fully loaded with oil or other hazardous materia…
In Steven Spielberg’s military drama “War Horse” (2011), a young man enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry.
Question: What are the local hot-button college courses in the Twin Counties? Answer: Cannabis — its sale, cultivation and processing.
Hudson’s truck routes aren’t designated for entertainment value. This was proved last Friday afternoon when the driver of a long, wide tractor-trailer hauling heavy lumber attempted to make a left turn from Warren Street onto 4th Street.
Parents and teachers in the Hudson City School District are as mad as hell and they’re not going to take this anymore.
The purpose of the vigil on the village green was to foster social consciousness on the plight of the Ukrainian people. As such, it is a noble project, one that people everywhere can readily identify with. Ukrainians have been invaded. They are suffering. Suffering as we can only imagine her…
The creation of a parking and mobility director position in Hudson could be the first step toward easing the city’s parking crunch, but it will take much more to solve the problem. If created, the parking director would be responsible for daily operations, enforcement, technology, planning a…
So what does it mean, exactly, to “optimize the quality of life for people with autism”?
The latest installment in Philmont’s Clover Reach development saga offered a plot twist this week when a Third Judicial District State Supreme Court justice pushed the brakes on the 16-unit project and ordered the company to resubmit its proposal to build a high-end housing subdivision.
The New York State Department of Labor’s decision to cap farm workers overtime to 40 hours by 2032 is a wrongheaded option that will harvest only a crop of problems in the future. Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon confirmed the final farm labor overtime regulations were adopte…
The Bank of Greene County’s $5 million low-interest loan program to individuals or businesses is just what the town of Cairo needed.
Seven years ago, it seemed inevitable that every household in Greene County would be wired for internet and have a computer. Today it’s hard to believe that one in five homes still have no access to the internet.
Farmland and water are two precious Columbia County commodities, both for health reasons and the local economy, and they also come at a premium when locally produced food is all the rage.
Pets aren’t meant to be abused and wild animals are meant to be left alone. These are two animal stories, one headed for a happy ending, the other will get there, eventually.
The Constitution of the United States of America was ratified on June 21st, 1788. It’s easy to imagine that it said somewhere that all citizens should be treated equally under the law. But it doesn’t. The closest our founding documents come to enunciating that idea is in the second paragraph…
The Constitution of the United States of America was ratified on June 21st, 1788. It’s easy to imagine that it said somewhere that all citizens should be treated equally under the law. But it doesn’t. The closest our founding documents come to enunciating that idea is in the second paragraph…
Appointment of a special municipal committee means it is supposed to conduct business with a clear, definable goal in mind, not serve political interests or listen to the ebb and flow of social media.
Who is Christopher Capone? The answer: He is the new president and CEO of Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. Capone has been with Central Hudson for 20 years. Starting in 2003, his responsibilities have included executive oversight of accounting, treasury, risk management, internal audi…
Every three months or so, we have to be reminded that the COVID pandemic is not going away anytime soon. It’s the same time we should remember a pandemic, local, of course, but equally devastating: the opioid crisis.
A sight we’ve grown familiar with since our parents and maybe our grandparents drove cars will vanish in the coming year.
Making something of value into something that has even more value is the future mission behind Catskill’s Recreational Trust Fund.
Greene County lawmakers, mostly Republican, have been waging a battle with Democratic governors in Albany for decades. Supervisors in Columbia County, mostly Republican, have been mixing it up with Democratic administrations for a long time.
About six weeks ago, the New York State Thruway Authority proposed its plan to increase tolls starting in 2024. We thought it was a bad idea.
It would be ideal if the endangered bald eagle were left alone in its upstate New York habitats, but with hunters, campers and hikers invading its territory, taking pot shots at it and leaving behind toxins deadly to these majestic birds, even without malicious intent, preservation efforts a…
Last week, 150 cats were found by police living in filth and squalor in a Cordial Road home in Yorktown Heights at about 9 p.m. as officers conducted a welfare check requested by a family member on its two occupants, who were found dead in the residence.
WASHINGTON — What aspects of today’s behavior will cause posterity to look down on us when they look back at us? Which of our practices will cause future Americans to exclaim, as many of today’s Americans do regarding their predecessors, “How (BEG ITAL)could(END ITAL) they have been so benig…
For parents, the thought of their children being targeted by extortionists through social media is nothing short of a nightmare.
Black families migrated in droves from southern states to upstate New York in the late 19th century. Many people want to deny this. But it’s a matter of historical record.
No doubt the rally held Sunday in the Columbia County Courthouse park was an impromptu response to the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols three days after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers. The crowd wasn’t large, but that isn’t the point.
The task of government is to control its population. If this sounds a little raw, call it leadership, but control is what leadership amounts to. Control is the fundamental. Leadership is how it’s implemented.
There was a silver lining to the story about a plot to kill an Iranian American journalist and activist in New York who was critical of the Iranian government. Federal officials arrested and charged three men with the crime.
The task of government is to control its population. If this sounds a little raw, call it leadership, but control is what leadership amounts to. Control is the fundamental. Leadership is how it’s implemented.
Why are policy-based exclusions — health care services that hospitals are licensed to deliver, but choose not to provide — used in some New York state hospitals? And why, in recent years, have policy-based exclusions primarily targeted for the removal of reproductive, gender-affirming and en…
It would be too easy to laugh out loud at DirecTV’s unceremonious cancellation of the extreme right-wing Newsmax for broadcasting from the planet Altair 4, so we’ll start with the more serious subject of censorship.
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