Issue: April 2019
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Colleges on the brink
Demographic, financial pressures spell doom for three area schools Southern Vermont College President David R. Evans stands on the patio outside his office in the college’s Everett Mansion. The college is one of three in the region that plan to close this spring. Joan K. Lentini photo By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer With read more
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Naumkeag grows a new focus on spring
In bid to extend season, Naumkeag prepares first-ever daffodil festival The 44-room house at Naumkeag, built in the 1880s as the Choate family’s summer “cottage,” towers above its terraced gardens. The historic property will host its first-ever Daffodil Festival this month.Kate Abbott photo By KATE ABBOTTContributing writer STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. The linden trees may read more
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Rail trail to close key gap
Construction began in March on a new 8-mile stretch of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. When the work is completed in October 2020, it will link with two existing sections, forming a continuous 23-mile route through Columbia and Dutchess counties. Courtesy Photo By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer COPAKE, N.Y. Work is under way this spring read more
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Good, evil and a superhero
A winding multi-colored pathway gives the feeling of being on a gameboard as it leads visitors through “Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass.” The show by artist Trenton Doyle Hancock opened last month at Mass MoCA. Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art By JOHN SEVENContributing writer NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Every art show read more
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Uprising over farmers’ rents sent a governor packing
New York Gov. Silas Wright wrote that $500 was “reasonable and fair compensation” to state Attorney General John Van Buren, the son of former President Martin Van Buren, for two weeks of work representing the state at an 1845 trial stemming from the Anti-Rent rebellion. Critics disagreed, and made the sum, the equivalent of about read more
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Disappearing local colleges pose questions for future
As scandals go, this one was stunning in its scope yet somehow unsurprising. In mid-March, federal prosecutors accused nearly three dozen wealthy parents across the country of making six- and seven-figure payments to buy their children admission to top-ranked colleges from Yale to Stanford. The parents, authorities say, paid a corrupt educational consultant who then read more
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Activists push Hudson police on ICE arrests
The city of Hudson, N.Y., is reviewing its policies for how city police interact with federal immigration agents after an early March incident in which local activists thwarted the arrest of two immigrants from Central America. The city has an active sanctuary movement, and the mayor and other elected officials adopted a policy in 2017 read more