Highlands Current Audio Stories

Women describe fear after January attack Police Chief Tom Figlia said this week that investigators have pored over "countless hours" of video as they try to identify the man who attacked a woman in Beacon five months ago. His comments revealed new details about an incident that many girls and women say has them living in fear. Police received a call from Dutchess County 911 on the morning of Jan....

Redevelopment of state prisons proves challenging Two years after New York State selected Conifer Realty to construct a mixed-use campus with up to 1,300 apartments at the former Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, the company has yet to submit a proposal to the town's Planning Board. Two and a half miles away, redevelopment plans at another decommissioned state prison, the Beacon Correct...

Reliability concerns keep power plant open, for now Danskammer Energy, which runs a gas-fired plant on the Hudson River in the Town of Newburgh that operates only during peak demand, and which the company hoped to convert to full-time operation, filed for bankruptcy on June 10. The Chapter 11 petition, filed in Delaware, says the company owes creditors $13 million, including $11.8 million to the N...

Passes Highlands on way to NYC New York State announced on Tuesday (June 16) that a 339-mile transmission line that carries hydroelectricity from Canada to New York City has been completed. The line passes the Highlands under the Hudson River. The state said the 1,250-megawatt Champlain Hudson Power Express will deliver 10.4 terawatt-hours of renewable energy and provide up to 20 percent of New Yo...

Grigoroff faces third trial for 2008 shooting A Putnam County judge on Tuesday (June 16) granted a request from a former Lake Peekskill man to be released on bail while he prepares for a third trial in the 2008 killing of Philipstown resident John Marcinak. Over the objections of Putnam District Attorney Robert Tendy, Judge Joseph Spofford set bail for Anthony Grigoroff at $300,000 bond. Grigoroff...

Philipstown to begin billing for water usage Philipstown moved forward on Wednesday (June 10) with replacing broken meters installed at the homes and businesses supplied by the Garrison Landing Water District. A resolution approved by the board authorizes the town to solicit bids for the purchase and installation of 30 meters. The previous ones failed in 1999 after the source "went from a ground/s...

Voltpost addresses EV charging station safety At the Wednesday (June 10) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board, James Everley, a representative of Voltpost, the company contracted to install an electric vehicle charging station in the village-owned parking lot on New Street, addressed concerns raised about flooding, electrocution and fires. The Voltpost system includes a dual-charging unit moun...

Gen. George Washington returned to New York City from a visit to Philadelphia to consult with the Continental Congress. On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution to Congress: "Resolved, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection betwe...

Five Democrats compete to face Lawler A lot has changed since the November 2024 general election, when Republican Mike Lawler defeated Democrat Mondaire Jones to win a second, 2-year term representing U.S. House District 17, which includes Philipstown. The Democratic president, Joe Biden, was unpopular, a regular gallon of gas in New York state averaged $3.09, inflation stood at 2.7 percent and 39...

Three hopefuls vie for Democratic line Beacon and Philipstown have not been represented by a Democratic state senator since 2015, and the party hopes this year to flip the seat, held by Rob Rolison, a Republican seeking his third 2-year term. First, there will be a primary on June 23 to decide which of three Democratic candidates will challenge him in November: Lisa Kaul, a Dutchess County legisla...

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 Advanc...

From the Depression to the iPhone When Mary Williams forgets something important about one of her countless life stories, it isn't a problem: She consults her laptop. Born on May 13, 1926, she's been writing detailed accounts of her life for at least 80 years, from surviving hurricanes and losing her hair on a drill press, to working as an operator for AT&T ("Ma Bell") and traveling the world. She...

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 atten...

Conflict TV produced in Philipstown "Conflict is inevitable, but combat is a choice." That's the message the Dispute Resolution Center, which serves four counties, including Putnam, wants to convey to residents of the Highlands through a new, locally produced television series, Conflict TV. The nonprofit provides mediation services, usually at no cost, to help those dealing with strife, from divor...

Duo led by Woody Guthrie's grandson will perform Music is embedded in the DNA of the Little Stony Point Citizens Association. Pete Seeger and pals lit bonfires on the beach and jammed into the night after he discovered the Philipstown riverside spot. In 1984, The New York Times reported that 200 people attended the association's informal kick-off. Several musicians performed, and Alex Clifton and...

Traveling troupe brings romp to Howland The jolly play Death and the Fool presents a musical romp through medieval Europe, when droves of people died from the plague and purveyors of whimsical folly did their best to leaven the mood. The play, which will be performed by the Happenstance Theater on June 20 at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, is promoted as family-friendly, although one of the...

Cold Spring sailor returns after 364 days In the early morning hours on June 1, Aaron Wolfe quietly moored Badger, his 27-foot Vancouver cutter, at the Chelsea Yacht Club just north of Beacon for the first time in 364 days. The 59-year-old Cold Spring resident sailed 14,166 miles, a voyage that included two solo crossings of the Atlantic Ocean. A year earlier, after sailing south to New York City,...

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 fo...

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 fro...

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...

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 pand...

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, sp...

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...

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...

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...