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Highlands Current Audio Stories
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The Highlands Current is a nonprofit weekly newspaper and daily website that covers Beacon, Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, New York, in the Hudson Highlands. This podcast includes select stories read aloud.
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Countdown to Zero: In the Dark
Mar 2700:08:58Tap to summarizeSeven years ago, New York enacted a law to eliminate fossil fuels as a source of electricity by 2040. The grand plan has not been going well. When Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican whose district includes Philipstown, stood before the partially deconstructed Indian Point nuclear plant earlier this month, he pointed to its 2021 closing as an example of Democrats creating "an absolute disaster for New York's energy grid." As part of a long-shot bid to get the reactors restarted, he cited the state ban on fracking gas, the blocking of pipelines, the denial of permits to the Danskammer methane power plant near Newburgh, electric vehicle mandates, laws to electrify construction and, most of all, "the passage of the disastrous CLCPA." The state enacted the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act in 2019. Its goal was to transition over several decades to renewable energy sources that don't contribute to global warming. This week, the United Nations issued the latest in a series of increasingly alarmed announcements. "Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits," said U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, urging the world to transition away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible. "Every key climate indicator is flashing red." The climate law has three primary targets: (1) 70 percent of electricity produced by renewable sources by 2030; (2) complete zero-emissions electricity by 2040, and (3) 85 percent less greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 than were produced in 1990. Lawler and other critics argue that the law is unrealistic and costly. "Hudson Valley families are being suffocated with rising energy costs because of Gov. [Kathy] Hochul's failed and disastrous energy policies," he said at Indian Point. "It is time to reverse course." Those who support the climate law are also frustrated with it, for different reasons. "These claims that we're seeing that the climate law is the cause of the energy emergency and the cost-of-living emergency and affordability crisis are pretty bunk, because the law isn't being implemented," said Kobi Naseck, the director of programs for the coalition group New York Renews. In October, a state judge in Ulster County agreed, siding with a contingent of environmental groups that sued the state for failing to follow the law. Last summer, a state analysis found that New York is three years behind its 2030 goal and six years behind its 2040 goal. Smaller, less-publicized climate targets in the law have fared no better. An online tracking tool created by Columbia University lists actions that have missed deadlines, from the collection and disposal of mercury thermostats to the capture of methane from landfills to energy audits of larger buildings. The lawsuit argues that the state is paying lip service to its emission-reduction goals because it has not established any way to enforce industry violations. New York did announce a "cap-and-invest" program in which large-scale polluters would be fined for emissions over a certain threshold; the fines would be invested in renewable energy, upgrading the electrical grid, creating jobs and consumer rebates, among other benefits. But after two years gathering comments and creating outlines, Hochul in January 2025 "made it clear that those regulations were not going to be coming anytime soon, and there was no Plan B for what the state was going to do to implement the climate law," said Rachel Spector, a lawyer with Earthjustice, the lead organization in the lawsuit against the state. The judge in Ulster County gave the state two options: Issue the overdue regulations or change the law. Last week, Hochul said she would work with the state Legislature to change the law. "We need more time," she said, proposing that the state promise to adopt regulations by the end of 2030 and change the 2040 and 2050 target dates. Hochul also wants to change the way the state calculates emissions, particularly methane and biofuels, using a more forgiving formula. She is pus...
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Three Years After School Scare, Case Resolved
Mar 2700:03:06Tap to summarizeFormer Cold Spring resident pleads guilty to minor charge The proverb that begins, "The wheels of justice turn slowly…" certainly could be applied to the prosecution of former Cold Spring resident Alexander Welsh, who was arrested in May 2023 but didn't see his case resolved for nearly three years. Just after noon on Friday, May 19, 2023, a Putnam County Sheriff's deputy stationed at the Haldane school reported hearing what sounded like gunshots. The sounds startled elementary students and staff on the playground and prompted a law enforcement response that included additional deputies and officers from the state police and the Cold Spring, Kent and Metro-North departments. School administrators locked down the campus for about 90 minutes. After a resident told police they had seen smoke outside a nearby home, police found what appeared to be recently exploded fireworks in the yard at 34 Mountain Ave. When the occupants were uncooperative, officers returned at 7 p.m. with a search warrant. Welsh, then 28, was arrested and charged with felony criminal possession of cannabis, misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor criminal nuisance. He was given a ticket to appear in the Town of Philipstown Court; the case was later transferred to the Cold Spring Justice Court. Two weeks later, on June 6, a Poughkeepsie-based attorney, Kevin MacKay, notified the court that he represented Welsh. The clerk sent MacKay the case documents, and a hearing was scheduled for June 14. What followed was 33 months of delays, frequently due to adjournments requested by MacKay, who said he had conflicting court dates in Dutchess County. Further delays were caused by procedural details and, most recently, the retirements last year of Justice Thomas Costello and clerk Cathy Costello. Welsh, who last appeared in person in court in May 2023, pleaded not guilty to all three charges. On March 11, MacKay submitted a signed affidavit in which Welsh pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Justice Luke Hilpert fined Welsh $250 plus a $125 fee. Under state law, the sentence could have included up to 15 days in jail. MacKay did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Putnam County district attorney, Robert Tendy, said he offered a plea deal because Welsh has stayed out of trouble since his arrest and that MacKay had kept his office apprised of his client's progress. "Mr. Welsh is now living in California and is leading a law-abiding life," Tendy said. "Given that he has no prior convictions, and is continuing to do well, I thought it appropriate to permit him to plead to a violation instead of holding him to a criminal conviction." Tendy said it appeared Welsh didn't intend to cause chaos when he lit fireworks near the school, "though it was certainly thoughtless and potentially dangerous."
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Newspapers are Dying? Not at Local High Schools
Mar 2700:06:02Tap to summarizeHaldane, Beacon have vibrant publications Student newspapers, like their professional counterparts, are disappearing nationwide. Only 45 percent of high schools have newspapers, down from 64 percent in 2011, according to the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University. Peter Bobkowski, a professor there, said the decline follows the decline of journalism classes and local journalism in general. But you wouldn't know it in the Highlands, where journalism clubs at Haldane and Beacon high schools have revived their student newspapers. Two years ago, Lincoln Wayland started a journalism club to publish The Haldane Outlook, a quarterly that has had more than 70 contributors. In addition to posting stories at haldaneoutlook.com, students print 500 copies for distribution on campus and in the community. "More people will read it if it's on paper," said Wayland, a junior who is editor-in-chief. Students at Beacon High School hadn't published a newspaper for 30 years when, in 2022, the district started a journalism class and a journalism club, which launched Breaking Beacon, said Kelly Hamburger, its faculty advisor. The club publishes the paper monthly; The Highlands Current publishes excerpts several times each year (see dub.sh/breaking-beacon). At Haldane, The Outlook replaced The Blue Print, which had been produced as part of a journalism or English class, with some stories reprinted in The Current. The journalism class still produces articles but focuses on producing a podcast, said Ashley Linda, its instructor. Wayland said he began exploring an independent student newspaper because he wanted a more robust journalism experience. "I was writing all these articles that no one was going to see because there wasn't really any distribution process," he said. His father, John, who helped start a student newspaper at his Nantucket high school, The Veritas, and his mother, Jennifer Zwarich, agreed to be advisors. With Keira Shanahan, who would be the first editor-in-chief, they requested a grant from the Haldane School Foundation. The paper also receives some funding from the district and has expanded coverage to Haldane Middle School. School newspapers are "a way for students to build self-confidence and find a purpose in school," said Lara Bergen, of Press Pass NYC, which promotes student journalism in New York City, where only 27 percent of schools have newspapers. Bergen said a key to a successful school newspaper is avoiding "prior review," in which administrators approve stories, a practice allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988 in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Unlike 18 states, New York hasn't enacted legislation prohibiting administration censorship. "The best journalism happens in the freest student newsrooms and brings pride to administrators," said Bergen. Student Journalists at The Current Six years ago, with support from readers and donors such as the Haldane School Foundation and the McManus Foundation, The Current launched a Student Journalists Program, which paid Beacon and Philipstown students to report for the paper, with guidance from editors. Last year, although 10 students signed up to participate, engagement dwindled. The students might not admit it, but we know they prefer to write for their own publications, neither of which existed in 2020. We continue to support student journalists by reprinting stories from Breaking Beacon, paying for occasional assignments, providing office space, holding our weekly editorial meeting at Beacon High School once a year, covering the fees for scholastic journalism conferences and distributing The Outlook. At the college level, each summer we hire a journalism student from Marist University as a reporter and each fall partner with a documentary film class. The contributions of students to the paper have been invaluable. Chip Rowe, Editor The Outlook's charter says it is "committed to remaining an independent voice. We reject prior review by school officials or admin...
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Legislator Sues Over Central Hudson Rates
Mar 2500:05:18Tap to summarizeAccuses state regulator of neglecting customers A member of the U.S. House who represents Central Hudson customers in Columbia, Greene and Ulster counties has asked a judge to overturn the utility's latest rate increase. Rep. Josh Riley, a Democrat representing the 19th District, filed suit on March 13 against the seven-member Public Service Commission, which in August approved Central Hudson's request for increases to the average monthly bill for electricity delivery by $18.30 over three years and for gas by $31.37. The new rates will produce $144 million in revenue that Central Hudson says it will spend on infrastructure, labor costs (including incentives), energy efficiency programs and a 9.5 percent return on equity for its shareholders. The utility has 315,000 electricity customers, including 6,900 in Beacon and 5,200 in Philipstown. Rory Christian, who chairs the Public Service Commission, praised the Central Hudson plan because it "significantly" reduced the increase the utility had sought for the first year. Christian said it "satisfies a balance of the various interests involved, both protecting consumers and ensuring the long-term viability of the utility." Riley is questioning whether the PSC adequately protected customers because its review did not analyze the financial interests held by Fortis, Central Hudson's Canadian parent, in the utility, whose operating revenues rose by $157 million last year to $1.16 billion. Central Hudson's net income also rose by $45 million, to $135 million. In recent years, Fortis shareholders have received an average of $80 million from Central Hudson, according to Riley. In February, Fortis cited the utility's new rates as one factor in the growth of its net earnings to $151 million in 2025. Although Fortis owns Central Hudson, "sufficient ring-fencing provisions are in place" that "no further in-depth review" of its ownership was needed, according to the Public Service Commission. Riley also accuses Central Hudson of "pleading poverty" to the PSC while saying in its report for the first quarter of 2025 that "cash from operations, funds obtained through its financing program and equity support from its parent will be sufficient for the foreseeable future" to meet its needs. He is seeking a court order to reverse the new rates and refund customers the difference between the new charges and the rates in effect before the increase. "Upstate New Yorkers are being crushed under the weight of high utility bills," Riley said in a statement. "Meanwhile, the utility monopolies are making massive profits, which they are sending to their foreign parent corporations." Kim Mashke, a representative for the Department of Public Service, the PSC's staff arm, said it does not comment on pending litigation. But she said the commission is "committed to protecting" utility customers and "carefully reviewed" Central Hudson's request. "We welcome the scrutiny of our processes, as it can only help to protect ratepayers and further highlight and clarify the legal parameters within which we operate," said Mashke. Joe Jenkins, a representative for Central Hudson, said Fortis has invested more than $720 million in infrastructure upgrades since buying Central Hudson in 2013, and that the utility did not contribute any money to shareholder dividends from 2017 to 2024. Amid anger over rising utility costs, state legislators and consumer advocates say they want greater scrutiny of Central Hudson's payouts to executives and shareholders and of the Public Service Commission's approval process. The rates requested by utilities are usually reduced during PSC review. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in February 2025 that the PSC will review the salaries and compensation of non-union management employees at 13 utilities, including Central Hudson, "to protect New Yorkers from unfair rate hikes." She also signed, in January, a bill introduced by Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose Assembly district includes Beacon, that uti...
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Looking Back in Philipstown
Mar 1400:11:23Tap to summarize150 Years Ago (March 1876) Two young men from Peekskill opened a pistol-shooting practice gallery in the Lloyds building (the former Methodist Episcopal Church). In their first organized competition, in which shooters stood erect and fired from 55 feet, William Ladue won the silver cup, hitting the target with 25 of 25, 48 of 50 and 446 of 500 shots. On his last target, he fired five consecutive shots within an inch of each other inside the bull's eye. In a sermon at the Baptist Church, the Rev. C.J. Page explained how a Christian's dying day was better than his birthday. The Cold Spring budget included funds to improve Parsonage Street between Main and Pine and deepen the well on Stone Street. A boat filled with lumber that sank near the lighthouse at West Point was raised and towed to shore to be unloaded. At Fort Montgomery, two amateur actors were wed by the Rev. Mr. Millett as part of a play. The next day, the woman claimed it had been a legal marriage. The ballot for the annual Cold Spring election included 20 candidates for trustee, 10 for assessor, 11 for street commissioner and eight for fire warden. A four-day warm spell that began March 5 swept away the last vestige of snow in the village and ice on the Hudson. The barn of Charles and Daniel Hustis, on the road to Fishkill just north of the North Highland schoolhouse, caught fire at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday. The brothers managed to get two horses out, but Charles nearly lost his life enticing one of the other two. Neighbors gathered, but nothing could be done. The brothers lost the horses, wagons, harnesses, farming utensils, a mowing machine, grain and hay. That same night, at 11 p.m., Pierce Denny walked outside his family's home in Putnam Valley and noticed a bright light in the northern room, where a fire had been kept part of the day. Because they had difficulty rescuing a blind boarder, Maria Davenport, Denny and a laborer, John Van Buskirk, had time only to save one item: a melodeon. Josiah Hustis, 60, of North Highland, after serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of Mrs. Shaw, returned home and complained of pain at the base of his skull. He was taken by neighbors to his sister's home in Fishkill, but died there within an hour. The Cold Spring Library Association canceled a free evening of literary readings and music after spectators filled all 450 seats and every corner at Town Hall, including the stairwells and stage. The editor of the Cold Spring Recorder scolded the organizers for the debacle and said he would no longer advertise free events. "Ten cents for admission and ten cents' worth of common sense would have made the evening a pleasure," he wrote. However, the next week, he reversed himself when the association said the rescheduled event would require a free ticket. In a commentary entitled "Youthful Depravity," the Recorder editor wrote: "It is a pity that we cannot, in some way, mete out punishment by the laws to that worse class of sins — those which lie way down in the dirty soul. But alas, the spirit of our laws is to punish the effect and leave the cause to produce other effects. We refer to the arrest of several schoolboys and self-esteemed young men for breaking the windows and otherwise damaging John Chase's house [at Breakneck] on the night of the 4th. [Chase had apparently been accused of living with a woman without being married.] The injury to the property is the far lesser crime — the devilish instinct which leads our lads to chase every filthy, drunken and beastly creature in woman's form which comes within 2 miles of the village is 10,000 times worse than the occasional tearing down of a railroad shanty." Joseph Cox came into town for the first time since Dr. George Murdock removed his right eye. The sheriff sold the stock of William Coleman, the bankrupt West Street grocer. The Kellogg Opera Troupe, led by Philipstown resident Clara Louise Kellogg, was touring New England. The Recorder noted that more than 100 inches of snow had f...
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A Glimpse into Beacon's Past
Mar 1300:05:53Tap to summarizeCity clerk rescues 19th-century records from dump You never know what you're going to find at the dump. Just ask Amanda Caputo. Last fall, the Beacon city clerk discovered the handwritten articles of incorporation for the Village of Matteawan buried under decades of dirt, dust and who knows what else at the city's Transfer Station. Dated May 28, 1886, and recorded by Fishkill Town Clerk G.W. Bradshaw, the articles are in remarkably good condition. They signify the formation of Matteawan, a manufacturing hub of about 4,400 residents centered around Fishkill Creek. Matteawan was 1½ miles east of Fishkill Landing, the neighboring village with which it would merge in 1913 to create Beacon. A follow-up meeting was held on June 29, 1886, at Fishkill Town Hall, where town officials voted to approve Matteawan's secession. Records show that village leaders expected to spend $2,500 (about $86,500 today) on "ordinary expenses" in the first year. The articles were the most significant find inside seven hardbound books discovered by Caputo. The books, which also contain records from Fishkill Landing, were recovered from Beacon's incinerator building, a brick structure with an adjacent smokestack that's next to the wastewater treatment plant on Dennings Avenue. Once the destination for the city's wastewater sludge and trash, it has been — aside from a first-floor office — largely vacant for years. "No one expected anything useful to be in there," said Caputo. "Why would you keep valuable records at the dump for 30 years?" The best guess is that the books — along with an assortment of urban renewal and community development documents, property assessments and financial and court records — were stashed at the three-story building in the mid-1990s, when the current City Hall was under construction. Some of the documents were transported in filing cabinets. Loose materials, including the seven books, were taken upstairs, where scores of pigeons would later enter through broken windows and take roost. In 2024, city workers replaced the windows, and a private company helped clean out 30 years of bird waste. "Then we were like, 'There's all those records — I wonder what's in there?' " said City Administrator Chris White, who served on the City Council in 1996 and 1997. White said he recalled the building being "in really bad shape" even then. While the structure had been cleaned out, it wasn't spotless when Caputo got to it. The top layer of boxes and loose paper "was just covered in grime," she said. "Once you started moving stuff, the dust started flying. Thankfully, these books were covered by records that were much less remarkable." Although the covers and spines of the books have deteriorated, the inside pages are nearly all intact, still white with numbers printed in blue in the upper corners. Flipping through them, one gets a glimpse into the world 140 years ago. The Aug. 18, 1886, meeting of the Matteawan Board of Trustees was held at 7:15 p.m. in the office of a hat factory, the Matteawan Manufacturing Co. (now The Roundhouse). Its superintendent was Willard H. Mase, the village president, who would later that year be elected to the first of five terms in the state Assembly. In 1887, Mase financed a volunteer fire company that was named for him. One of the first orders of business on Aug. 18 was approving the minutes of the previous meeting. Another was the appointment of Sherwood Phillips as the village clerk. His salary was left "open-carried." In a list of village ordinances, the first prohibited "amusement, such as playing ball, shinny, the discharge of firearms, fireworks," or any other act "by which person or property is endangered." The second notes that the peace and quiet of the village shall not be disturbed on Sunday, under threat of a $10 penalty. The records reflect attention to detail, Caputo noted. A letter from February 1903 advised Miss Van Rensselaer that the Matteawan Board of Trustees had noticed the "flag walk" i...
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Advocates Cheer Bridge Fencing
Mar 1300:05:12Tap to summarizeSuicide barriers planned for Bear Mountain Lorraine Lein once again found herself standing on the Bear Mountain Bridge on June 30. On that day in 2023, she visited the bridge with her son, Jake Simmons. On the same day last year, she carried a picture of the teenager framed in cardboard and a bouquet of flowers that she wired to one of the bridge's rails. On the cardboard, she wrote two dates: May 1, 2006, the day of Jake's birth, and June 30, 2023, the day he jumped from the bridge. By the end of 2028, Lein should have something to celebrate at the bridge: the installation of mesh fencing that advocates believe would have prevented the deaths of Jake and other people who have used the Bear Mountain and Newburgh-Beacon bridges, and three other spans owned by the New York State Bridge Authority, to take their own lives. The fencing is part of a $93.8 million contract NYSBA approved last month for the redecking of the Bear Mountain Bridge. When Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the project on Feb. 25, her press release mentioned the fencing but not the lobbying by Lein and groups like the American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide. Lein brought an urn with Jake's ashes to a NYSBA board meeting in 2024. She also described June 30, 2023: driving Jake, 17 years old and distraught over a girlfriend's infidelity, to Bear Mountain State Park for a mood-elevating hike; Jake fleeing after they arrived; police cars speeding to the Bear Mountain Bridge; begging an officer blocking her path to give her access to where Jake jumped. NYSBA said on Feb. 25 that the fencing "marks an important milestone" in its "longstanding commitment to public safety and mental health awareness." Lein said she is "ecstatic" about the barriers, but "sad that it took so much pressure and so long and so many people to die" before the authority agreed to install fencing. Now the goal, she said, is to get barriers installed at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and NYSBA's three other Hudson River spans, the Kingston-Rhinecliff, Mid-Hudson and Rip Van Winkle bridges. "It will stop people from dying," said Lein. On the day Jake jumped, NYSBA's bridges were outfitted with emergency phones, security cameras that were monitored at an around-the-clock command center and security guards. The agency also required that bridge workers be trained in preventing suicides. Despite those measures, people continue to jump. Alongside Jake's image, Lein wrote "24 more deaths, 6/23-6/25" in reference to the number of suicides on NYSBA bridges since Jake's. Sean Gerow, who chairs the Hudson Valley/Westchester County chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and is associate executive director for the Mental Health Association in Orange County, said he has trained "probably 90 percent" of NYSBA's bridge workers in suicide prevention. Those workers have prevented people from jumping, but fencing "is probably the biggest thing that we can do to save lives as well," he said. Clare Redden's master's thesis at Teachers College, Columbia University, argued for barriers on NYSBA bridges, drawing inspiration from an actual incident. While rowing in the Hudson River in 2022, Redden encountered a 19-year-old man who had jumped from the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. As he clung to the tip of her rowboat, said Redden, he kept repeating: "I don't know what happened, I don't know what happened; I think I jumped." Redden, who is AFSP's advocacy chair, cites a study from the 1970s in which a researcher tracked people who had been prevented from jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; he found that only 10 percent went on to kill themselves, belying an argument that people will just find another way if prevented from jumping. "It's a big deal," she said of fencing. "Short of a gun, a bridge is the second-most-lethal means for suicide, and reducing access to the utilization of that means prevents that suicide from occurring." NYSBA operates on tolls collected at its bridges. In Ma...
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Lawler Announces Plan to Rebuild Indian Point
Mar 700:13:06Tap to summarizeEffort would cost $10+ billion and require governor's approval Rep. Mike Lawler believes he's found the answer to soaring energy bills. Standing in the cold and drizzle at the shuttered Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan on March 6, the Republican, whose House district includes Philipstown, announced an ambitious plan to rebuild and reopen the plant. "Hudson Valley families are being suffocated with rising energy costs because of Gov. [Kathy] Hochul's failed and disastrous energy policies," he said. "It is time to reverse course." He was flanked by Chris Wright, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, and Kris Singh, the CEO of Holtec International, the company that owns and is in the process of decommissioning the plant. The announcement came as the Trump administration is attempting to have 10 new nuclear reactors under construction by 2030, and three smaller, experimental reactors up and running by July 4 of this year. It also comes as New York grapples with its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming. To reach its ambitious benchmarks, the state may need to modify its 2019 climate law, which requires New York to get 70 percent of its power from renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent zero-emissions by 2040. Nuclear energy is not renewable, but it is zero-emissions. Wright estimated that Indian Point could be reopened in five years for "a little more than" $10 billion. "The only reason this won't happen is if the politicians don't let it happen," he said. When Indian Point shut down in 2021, a legal agreement went into effect banning future nuclear energy production at the site without the unanimous consent of the Village of Buchanan, the Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York State and the Hendrick Hudson School District. Although both the county and the state recently reaffirmed their commitment to keep the plant closed, Lawler thinks the governor can be convinced. "Kathy Hochul has said a lot of things over the years, including that she wouldn't approve NESE," he said, referring to the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline. "And look what happened, she did. She said she wouldn't do congestion pricing and look at what happened. So, I don't really care what Kathy Hochul has previously said. The question is: Is there the political will to actually do something to drive down energy costs?" Buchanan Mayor Theresa Knickerbocker supports reopening. "It was a mistake to close this," she said. "It was reliable base power. I'm not against renewables. But nuclear is part of the energy equation." Getting the other four stakeholders to agree will be an uphill battle. Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said on March 6 that he hasn't changed his mind. "Let me be clear — because apparently I was not clear enough for Congressman Lawler and the Trump administration — restarting the Indian Point nuclear power plant is not welcome in Westchester County," he said in a statement. "New York State already has access to a range of low-cost, environmentally responsible energy alternatives, including solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower. We do not need — and we do not want — Indian Point back online. The health and safety of millions of residents in the Hudson Valley will always matter more than reopening a nuclear facility." Ken Lovett, a senior communications advisor on energy and the environment for Hochul, said on March 6 that the governor also isn't interested. "The governor has emphatically stated she will not support the reopening of Indian Point and is instead pushing her Ratepayer Protection Plan and a realistic energy strategy designed to keep the lights on and costs down," he said, referring to a suite of policies Hochul announced in January aimed at lowering energy bills, including tying executive pay for utility CEOs to affordability and energy assistance programs. "It's hypocritical that the same Michael Lawler who previously attacked Holtec over its decommissioni...
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Bank Opposes Return of Route 9 Property
Mar 600:04:52Tap to summarizeM&T disputes couple's claims of being conned M&T Bank is opposing an effort by the couple who lived and ran two businesses on Route 9 to regain the property amid claims they were scammed and bullied by an acquaintance now charged with grand larceny and fraud. In documents filed on Feb. 27, Valerie Breen, a senior vice president with M&T, and Seth Hibbert, an attorney for the bank, are challenging claims made by Sokhara Kim and Chakra Oeur in response to their eviction on Dec. 9 from 3154 Route 9. Kim and Oeur have petitioned Judge Gina Capone to vacate her approval in 2024 of M&T's foreclosure and sale of the property. From 1995 to early 2024, the property was owned by Kim through Mary Dawn Inc. and hosted her business, Nice & Neat Dry Cleaners; a residence she shared with Oeur; and a nail salon. The couple blames the loss of the property on Derek Keith Williams, whom they say convinced Kim that he had paid off a $570,000 loan secured by the property and transferred it to an entity he owned. The couple alleges that Williams hid the foreclosure by demanding that Kim "turn over any mail or paperwork relating to the property, Mary Dawn Inc., any court or any bank," and sign documents and submit filings without explaining what they were, said their attorney, Jacob Chen. Those claims are "entirely irrelevant" to M&T's right to collect on its debt, according to Breen, who said the bank became aware in 2019 that Kim was attempting to transfer the property to Williams. During the bank's "long and tortured history" with the property, it seemed "that Kim and Williams were working in concert to prevent and hinder the bank's recovery and collection efforts," she said. In his statement, Hibbert said "there did not appear to be any animosity between Kim and Williams" when they appeared in Philipstown Court in March 2025 to challenge the eviction. "My impression was the two were working in conjunction with each other, with each operating under their respective free wills," he said. Williams, a self-described "sovereign citizen," had been serving a six-month sentence in the county jail for driving an unregistered vehicle without a license when he was arraigned Feb. 25 on six felony counts: four for grand larceny and two for filing a false instrument with the intent to defraud. He pleaded not guilty before Judge Anthony Mole and was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail, $200,000 insured bond or $200,000 partially insured bond. He is scheduled to return to court on April 8. Kim said in court documents that by the time she met Williams in 2019 — through his girlfriend, Mauny Bun, who used to run the nail salon — the loan she used to rebuild the property after a fire in 2005 had been taken over by M&T Bank. Bun "reminded me a lot of my daughter … and I put a lot of trust and faith in her," said Kim. She stopped making payments after deciding to accept Williams' offer to buy the property for $1.2 million and transfer it to an entity called DKW Trust, none of which happened. Although Kim guaranteed the loan, said Breen, she did not have the authority to transfer the property to Williams because Mary Dawn is the owner of record. The bank eventually sued Kim and Mary Dawn for defaulting on the loan and in 2021 won a judgment in Erie County, where the bank is based. M&T filed to foreclose in 2022, and Capone approved the bank's request in February 2024. Four months later, a bank subsidiary, Chesapeake Holdings, paid $620,200 for the property at an auction. Chen alleges that the court "never acquired personal jurisdiction" over Kim during the foreclosure because the process server handed the original documents to a "co-worker." Chen also said that Oeur should have been included as a party to the foreclosure proceeding because he lived at the property and managed the Khmer Art Gallery. After the bank filed for foreclosure in 2022, said Breen, "it is entirely unreasonable" to believe that Williams confiscated mail sent to Mary Dawn and Kim before Septe...
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Recycling Restaurant Scraps
Mar 600:06:10Tap to summarizeNew program will compost commercial food waste Commercial kitchens in Philipstown can now do what households have been doing for four years — recycle food waste rather than send it to landfills. Jeff Mikkelson, the advocacy chair of the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Philipstown Climate Smart Task Force, is spearheading a pilot initiative to fund food-scrap recycling for up to six businesses and organizations. Mikkelson said 17 of 50 local kitchens surveyed expressed interest in the pilot. The program, the first of its kind in Putnam County, is being funded by the Williams College Community Climate Fund in conjunction with the Center for EcoTechnology (CET), a nonprofit that works with Rethink Food Waste New York, overseen by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The first four participants are the Garrison Institute (which uses Fresh Company to cater its events), Haldane Central School District, Marble Meat Shop and Cold Spring Farmers' Market, Mikkelson said, with two more spots available for restaurants, caterers, nonprofits and other food services with commercial kitchens. The initial $6,000 grant will support the program for six months, he said. The program will provide collection bins and liners and pay for hauling the waste, which can include vegetables, meats, dairy, cheese, fish, seafood and commercial and biodegradable packaging. The scraps are collected by Sustainable Materials Management in Cortlandt Manor, which was founded by the family that owns CRP Sanitation. Michael Fiumara, the sales manager there, said 100 cubic yards of food waste typically will produce the same volume of compost. Most of the material is purchased in bulk by landscapers, garden centers and municipalities, but retail customers can buy 1-cubic-foot bags. Recycling Food Scraps at Home Philipstown's Climate Smart Task Force initiated Putnam County's first household food scrap recycling program in 2022, establishing a Saturday collection station at the town recycling center on Lane Gate Road. About 100 families joined during the first year, and enrollment has more than tripled since. What began as an eight-month pilot is now funded annually. The Village of Cold Spring joined the program in 2024 and installed a collection station on Kemble Avenue for Tuesday drop-offs. "We consistently fill two 64-gallon totes — about 17 cubic feet of food waste per week," said Village Trustee Laura Bozzi, who serves on the Climate Smart Task Force. She said the village may expand the program by adding more bins or a second drop-off day. Karen Ertl, a volunteer who helped establish the household food-scrap program, said 323 families are enrolled. She said that as many as 1,600 pounds of scraps are collected each week at the two stations and processed into compost at Sustainable Materials Management in Cortlandt Manor. To participate, residents can register at Philipstown Town Hall on weekdays or at the Cold Spring Farmers' Market on Saturdays. An optional $20 starter kit includes a countertop pail, storage/transport bin and compostable bags. Food scraps can be dropped at the Recycling Center on Lane Gate Road between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and at the Kemble Avenue site between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. Fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, bread, rice, pasta, raw and cooked food, bones and seafood shells can be recycled, as can cut flowers, napkins, paper towels, wax paper, pet food, tea bags, coffee grounds, Popsicle sticks and wine corks. In Beacon, residents can drop food waste in containers at the Beacon Recreation Center (23 W. Center St.), Memorial Park or the Churchill Street parking lot near Hudson Valley Brewery. The program does not accept "compostable plastics," such as bin liners, bags, utensils or containers, unless they are made of bamboo. For more information, see dub.sh/beacon-food-scraps. Community Compost Co. offers residential pickup in Beacon starting at $26 per month or $281 per year. The...
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