Issue: May 2013
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Small theaters struggle to convert before film reels disappear
By THOMAS DIMOPOULOS Contributing writer “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” The movie industry is arguably experiencing its biggest technological revolution since Al Jolson spoke those first words, in “The Jazz Singer,” to usher in the era of the talkies in 1927. By the end this year, the major read more
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Mercury threat persists, studies show
Health risks linger in region despite cuts in emissions By CRAIG IDLEBROOK Contributing writer Despite tougher pollution standards that have led to a sharp reduction nationally in emissions of airborne mercury, several new studies suggest that high concentrations of the toxic heavy metal are persisting in the environment and continuing to pose a health read more
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Group aims to preserve grasslands for bird habitat
By EVAN LAWRENCE Contributing writer FORT EDWARD, N.Y.After several years of raising public awareness about the birds and landscapes of the Washington County grasslands, a local conservation group says it wants to move beyond education to actually buying and preserving some of the open land. “We’re planning a fund-raising campaign to purchase land from read more
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Building a grass-fed future
Beef farmers band together for access to new markets and new hope By TRACY FRISCH Contributing writer HEBRON, N.Y.At first glance, Sarah Teale seems an unlikely person to organize an agricultural cooperative for small-scale producers of grass-fed beef. She lives in Manhattan, where she has a successful documentary filmmaking career and her own production read more
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Local airwaves, local voices
By JOHN TOWNES Contributing writer HUDSON, N.Y.The motto for WGXC-90.7 FM, the local radio station that started broadcasting to Columbia and Greene counties just over two years ago, is “hands-on radio.” The phrase sums up why WGXC stands out in the era of chain-owned commercial radio stations whose homogeneous programming typically is produced in read more
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Town green for a localvore era
Owners aim to turn old fairgrounds into center for local agriculture By DAVID SCRIBNER Contributing writer GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.At the town’s southern gateway on U.S. Route 7 lies the derelict Great Barrington Fairgrounds, a complex of ramshackle stables and barns, an overgrown racetrack with vine-shrouded stewards’ towers, a crumbling grandstand, and ticket booths encased read more