Issue: December 2019-January 2020

  • Debate over New York bail system balances fairness, risk

    ,

    Local officials in N.Y. push back against bail system overhaul   Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen is among the local law enforcement officials calling for changes or a delay in implementing New York’s new bail reform law. Photo by Joan K. Lentini   EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer   Supporters of New York’s new bail reform read more

    Debate over New York bail system balances fairness, risk

  • Tale from a river town

    ,

    Conflict over Hudson fishing shacks provides inspiration for novel   A real-life controversy over a cluster of old fishing shanties along the Hudson River in Hudson, N.Y., has become the basis for a local author’s new novel. Susan Sabino photo   By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer HUDSON, N.Y. In the pre-dawn hours of a summer morning read more

    Tale from a river town

  • Advocates push to curb use of herbicide

    , , ,

    State, towns weigh new limits on glyphosate   Bruce Winn and Elia del Molino of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team stand amid a large patch of hardy kiwi at Burbank Park in Pittsfield. The group has organized a volunteer effort to control the invasive species without the use of herbicides like glyphosate. Hardy kiwi’s vines read more

    Advocates push to curb use of herbicide

  • Curtain rises at restored theater

    ,

    In Hudson Falls, community rallies to revive a long-dormant venue   Jonathan Newell stands at the ticket booth of the newly restored Strand Theatre in Hudson Falls, N.Y. Newell is executive director of Hudson River Music Hall Productions, which led a years-long effort to revive the long-dormant theater at 210 Main St. Joan K. Lentini read more

    Curtain rises at restored theater

  • Building community through art

    ,

    New Berkshires venue offers casual setting for cutting-edge works The Foundry’s Noah Bailey holds up one sample of the many fabric pieces, each quoting a presidential tweet, that form the “Tiny Pricks Project,” a new exhibit opening Dec. 7 at the venue.Susan Sabino photo   By KATE ABBOTTContributing writer WEST STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. On Tuesday nights, read more

    Building community through art

  • Election 2019

    ,

    Here are the results from major local races and ballot issues in the Nov. 5 general elecction in New York and Massachusetts. Winning candidates are in bold type. A brief summary follows the results for each county. The results shown for Rensselaer, Warren and Washington counties are final, official tallies certified by local election officials. read more

    Election 2019

  • In impeachment role, Stefanik hears no evil

    U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik has often cast herself in the role of a Susan Collins or Olympia Snowe, the current and former Republican senators from Maine, who over the course of many years built reputations as bipartisan pragmatists. But any pretense of bipartisan moderation was pretty much shattered last month by Stefanik’s new role in read more

    In impeachment role, Stefanik hears no evil

  • Local paper’s roots date to abolitionist era

    In the fall of 1842, the agricultural muses visited local poets, inspiring “odes” to be read at that year’s Washington County Fair. “In a sweet healthy air, with a farm of his own, secluded from tumult and strife, the farmer, more blest than a king on his throne, enjoys all the comforts of life,” began read more

    Local paper’s roots date to abolitionist era