The Catch Up

Leon Botstein has given up all his roles at Bard College after five decades. In a new two-reporter format for The Catch-Up, editor Emily Sachar and arts and entertainment reporter Matt Moment look at what that means for the music he built. JoAnn Falletta, James Bagwell, Zachary Schwartzman and Tan Dun are taking over the conducting and rehearsals. TŌN’s stipends alone cost roughly $1.3 to $1.5 mil...

A unanimous four-judge panel of the Appellate Division has upheld the Town of Red Hook’s decision to acquire the Red Hook Boat Club by eminent domain for a public waterfront park. Publisher Walter Mullin and Editor-in-Chief Emily Sachar, who reported the story with Aleah Gatto, explain what the court decided: that the town established a legitimate public purpose, adequately considered alternative...

Last week, Leon Botstein resigned from every remaining Bard-affiliated position. That includes his professorship, The Orchestra Now and the college’s music programs. It came after Representatives Jamie Raskin and Madeleine Dean called for a federal investigation into his possible involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. Publisher Walter Mullin sits down with Daily Catch founder and editor-in-chief...

Nearly four years ago, a developer bought 47 acres south of Red Hook’s Hannaford and promised a 120-room hotel, with the jobs, tax revenue and lodging the town has long wanted. Since then almost nothing has happened. Then two visitors from Argentina showed up unannounced at Supervisor Robert McKeon’s office. They said the developer, Ruben Santurian, was no longer involved, and they asked how far t...

In less than 48 hours last week, Dutchess County's network of 65 Flock license plate reader cameras went from bipartisan law enforcement tool to switched off. A packed community forum in Pleasant Valley drew more than 100 people, and about 30 of them spoke out against the system. By Friday, District Attorney Anthony Parisi, Sheriff Kirk Imperati and County Executive Sue Serino had all withdrawn th...

In 2023, Ben and Lindsey Shute of Hearty Roots Farm bought 97 acres of farmland on Route 9 in Red Hook. Because the land had been farmed conventionally, they had to wait three years before anything they grew there could be certified organic. That wait ended this month with a harvest of kabocha squash. Publisher Walter Mullin talks with Daily Catch senior reporter Claire Greenberger, who was in the...

As Red Hook's Hardscrabble Day turns 50, publisher Walter Mullin sits down with reporters Matt Moment and Athan Yanos to unpack the festival's history. They dig into where the "Hardscrabble" nickname came from, its 1975 bicentennial origins tied to founding father Egbert Benson, and decades of oddball traditions, from Civil War reenactments to a Marc Molinaro dunk tank. They also discuss the event...

It's back to school week in the Hudson Valley, and Walter Mullin sits down with The Daily Catch's new education reporter, Aleah Gatto, for her debut on the podcast. Aleah walks through Rhinebeck's district-wide math curriculum overhaul, including the Bridges in Mathematics program and its "number corner" exercises, plus a new costume and fashion design course at the high school. Then the conversat...

In his first extended sit-down since taking over on July 1, Bard College Acting President Jonathan Becker joins Daily Catch editor Emily Sachar to address the college's most consequential leadership transition in more than 50 years. Becker discusses succeeding Leon Botstein, whose 51-year tenure ended after a WilmerHale-reviewed investigation into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein; the preside...

Recorded live from the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Emily Sachar chats with Carolyn McGraw, the new 4-H Youth Leadership and Workforce Development Program Leader at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Carolyn shares her own path from lifelong 4-H'er to program leader, explains how 4-H builds confidence and public-speaking skills far beyond the show ring, and gets candid about the hardest lesson kids le...

Rhinebeck school officials say the district's buildings need serious work, from 60-year-old ventilation equipment to new security vestibules, playground upgrades, and bathroom renovations. Voters will decide on a $15.7 million capital improvement plan in a special election October 20th, split into two propositions: a tax-neutral $8 million Proposition 1 covering the most urgent fixes, and a $7.6 m...

Rhinebeck is debating how much hospitality development it can handle. The Town Board has proposed a nine-month moratorium,extendable up to 27 months on new hotels, restaurants, bars, and tasting rooms, pausing nearly all new applications while officials study the impact of recent growth. Last week, roughly 100 residents packed a Chamber of Commerce-organized panel to hear the business case against...

Susan Rohrmeier lost her nephew Nick Scribner to a kratom overdose in November 2024. She joins The Catch-Up alongside Daily Catch reporter Athan Yanos to explain what kratom is, how it differs from the more potent synthetic compound 7-OH, and how Nick's death helped drive new state labeling and age-restriction laws. Yanos walks through where things stand locally and at the county level: Dutchess C...

A year ago, Red Hook's wastewater treatment plant was in crisis, state violations piling up, one of its two treatment systems offline, and residents worried about the Saw Kill. Daily Catch reporters Claire Greenberger and Athan Yanos have been tracking the plant's remarkable turnaround under new operator H2O Innovation, and this week they join Emily Sachar to explain what changed, why the equaliza...

Two years into the fight over the Red Hook Boat Club, Commodore Richie Ross sits down with Emily Sachar for an extended, personal interview. He traces his family's history at the club back to his grandparents joining in the 1970s, explains how he reluctantly became commodore, and walks through the tangle of litigation now underway in three separate courts: the Supreme Court of Dutchess County, the...

A routine Red Hook town board meeting turned into one of the tensest nights at town hall in months. New board members Kristina Dousharm and Ken Migliorelli forced a vote on the town's eminent domain push against the Red Hook Boat Club, and lost, keeping the board's three-two split intact. But the bigger flashpoint came during public comment, when Supervisor Robert McKeon tried to cap speakers at f...

Ken Migliorelli has spent his entire life farming, and after 50 years he's ready to slow down. He's put his 210-acre orchard on Guski Road in Red Hook back on the market, the second time he's tried to sell it, hoping this time he finds a buyer who'll care for the land the way he has. Walter Mullin talks with Ken about what led to the decision, from the punishing hours of peak season to the liabili...

This week on The Catch Up, host Walter Mullen talks with Daily Catch reporters Claire Greenberger and Eloise Goldsmith about two stories shaping the future of hospitality in the region. First, Claire breaks down the latest twist in the proposed Six Senses wellness retreat: the developers have sued the Clinton Planning Board over its decision to require a full environmental impact statement, arguin...

Two days after winning the Democratic primary for Rhinebeck Town Supervisor with 76% of the vote, Debbie Hecht sits down with Emily Sachar to break down how she did it. She credits an old-fashioned ground game, what she calls an analog campaign, with campaign manager John Rossi at the wheel and nearly 2,000 voters reached one conversation at a time. Hecht talks about the stories she collected at t...

The Daily Catch's new arts and entertainment reporter Matt Moment joins Emily Sacker to preview Bard SummerScape 2026. He looks ahead to comedian James Austin Johnson at the Spiegeltent, a six-decade retrospective from dance pioneer Lucinda Childs, who turns 86 on opening night, and the world premiere of Suddenly Last Summer, a new opera by Courtney Bryan based on the Tennessee Williams play. Mome...

Three Red Hook High School juniors heard there'd be no Pride celebration in their village this year, so they built one themselves. Ada, Harper, and Violet join Emily Sachar to talk about Red Hook Youth Pride, the day they pulled together that drew hundreds of people for a parade, live music, food, and community booths in the Village municipal lot. They get into the parts nobody warns teenagers abo...

Daily Catch reporter Athan Yanos has been covering the growing controversy surrounding a proposed expansion at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and he joins Walter Mullin this week to discuss. The aerodrome, a beloved Hudson Valley institution that has drawn aviation enthusiasts from around the world for nearly seven decades, is seeking approval from the Red Hook Planning Board to nearly double its bu...

The Daily Catch reviewed the latest campaign finance filings in the Rhinebeck Democratic primary for town supervisor, and reporter Claire Greenberger joins Emily Sacker to explain what the records show heading into the June 23rd primary. Amanda Miller reported a little over $15,000 in contributions to Debbie Hecht's roughly $8,700, but Miller is largely self-funding through herself, her husband, a...

The complete audio of the Rhinebeck Town Supervisor Democratic forum, recorded live Sunday, May 17 at Rhinebeck High School in partnership with the Rhinebeck High School Student Council. Editor Emily Sachar moderates a two-hour conversation with the two Democratic candidates, Debbie Hecht and Amanda Miller. Topics include housing and the proposed community housing fund, Rhinebeck schools, tourism...

Some 280 people packed Rhinebeck High School Sunday afternoon for the first forum between Debbie Hecht and Amanda Miller, the two Democrats running for Rhinebeck Town Supervisor. Emily Sachar, who moderated, joins Walter Mullin in the studio for a recap: tourism and hospitality growth, the Six Senses lawsuit, the future of Linwood, two very different housing proposals, the Starr Library funding sh...