
Tag: New York
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Issue: August 2012
Channeling a pioneer of comedy
Local artist’s one-woman show tells the story of Totie Fields By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer SALEM, N.Y. If you’ve ever had a good belly laugh courtesy of the likes of Kathy Griffin, Rosie O’Donnell or Chelsea Handler, you can thank Totie Fields. Fields’ name may conjure up a hazy memory or be completely unfamiliar, depending read more
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Issue: August 2012
Finding fulfillment in a grass-fed flock
Professor’s sideline grows into full-fledged farm By TRACY FRISCH Contributing writer CLERMONT, N.Y.Jennifer Phillips’ love affair with grazing animals, and her subsequent farming career, started 10 years ago when she acquired a few lambs to mow her then two-acre yard. “I got my initial inspiration for mowing with sheep from the cover story of an read more
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Issue: August 2012
Is privatization the cure?
Counties push to sell public nursing homes, citing budget pressures By THOMAS DIMOPOULOS Contributing writer William “Beaver” Watkins remembers how “it all went to hell in a hand-basket.” Two years ago, the Washington County Board of Supervisors began to consider privatizing Pleasant Valley Infirmary, the county-owned nursing home in Argyle. Watkins, the Cambridge town supervisor, read more
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Issue: July 2012
From the woods to the fields
By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer GREENWICH, N.Y. For Chris Lincoln and Tammara Van Ryn, a return to New York after several years living in New Hampshire meant not only returning to their roots, it meant the realization of a longtime dream. For a dozen years, Lincoln was doing consulting work in forestry while Van Ryn read more
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Issue: July 2012
Lyme that lingers
By TRACY FRISCH Contributing writer QUEENSBURY, N.Y.When Holly Ahern found out several years ago that her daughter’s mysterious illness was Lyme disease, she quickly immersed herself in the subject. Ahern, an associate professor of microbiology at SUNY Adirondack, soon learned about the controversies swirling around the disease and came to realize that many others were read more
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Issue: June 2012
Family’s sideline grows into full-time farm
Roadside vegetable stand in ‘70s set stage for multi-generational business By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer ARGYLE, N.Y. Some family businesses are planned in advance, with every last detail crafted before being put into motion; others unfold by happenstance and evolve naturally over time. The latter has been the pattern at Butternut Ridge Farm. The farm read more
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Issue: May 2012
In rural Columbia County, a Quaker group tests a new model of community
In rural Columbia County, a Quaker group tests a new model of community By TRACY FRISCH Contributing writer CANAAN, N.Y.Along a quiet dirt road in the foothills of the Berkshires, a half-dozen new houses have taken shape on an old farm over the past decade. But the social norms and values of this new community read more
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Issue: May 2012
Ruling boosts Spa City reform effort
Vote possible this fall on government overhaul By EVAN LAWRENCE Contributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. A local citizens group won a major court ruling last month in its effort to force a referendum on overhauling the Saratoga Springs city government, but it’s not clear yet whether voters will get to weigh in on the issue read more
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Issue: May 2012
A hard act to follow — Hubbard Hall
As founder’s retirement looms, Hubbard Hall seeks a new leader By EVAN LAWRENCE Contributing writer CAMBRIDGE, N.Y.Hubbard Hall, the 19th century opera house that was reborn more than 30 years ago as a performing arts center for southern Washington County, is facing some big changes. Benjie White, the executive director of Hubbard Hall Projects Inc., read more

