Orange County, NY | featured news

ELLENVILLE – Fire investigators' preliminary findings indicate HBO’s equipment may have caused the fire that leveled an Ellenville used car dealership where an HBO TV miniseries was being filmed on Thursday, the village’s mayor said on Friday.Mayor Jeff Kaplan said early findings appear to show that one of HBO’s battery-charging stations, used for on-set equipment, caused the fire. The blaze tore through 613 Automotive Group at 188 South Main St. [...]

Orange County Legislator Mike Anagnostakis announced this week that he’s asking the state Comptroller’s Office to investigate what became of past interest earned by the county’s nursing home, following the recent pledge by county officials to pay the home $600,000 in interest for last year alone. The decision to forward those earnings acted as a […]

GOSHEN — A Newburgh man was arraigned Friday on charges he shot another man during a February armed robbery.An Orange County grand jury indicted Lamar Bennerman, 26, on felony counts of first-degree robbery, first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a robbery. On Friday in Orange County Court, Bennerman's lawyer, Peter Green, entered a not-guilty plea for his client.Prosecutors say Bennerman and another person, who was not charged, robbed the [...]

THOMPSON — Kartrite Resort & Indoor Waterpark leaders celebrated the property at a ceremonial opening Friday, while vowing they’ve overcome operational difficulties since the park’s April 19 debut.“Our first week was not our best, and we profusely apologize for that,” said Alex Cabanas, CEO of the park’s management company, Benchmark Resorts & Hotels, before joking that “you just all wanted to come at the same time. [...]

GOSHEN — Longtime Orange County official John McCarey was lucky to have Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Eberhardt close at hand one morning last month during a life-threatening medical crisis at the county Government Center.McCarey, director of real property services for the county for the last 19 years, collapsed in a chair in the vestibule of County Executive Steve Neuhaus' office suite, stricken by what turned out to be an episode of cardiac arrhythmia — a [...]

VALHALLA — Just 19 months old, little Anna Riley knows how to make an entrance: snuggled in mom's arms, wearing a headband that matches her floral-patterned pants, big sunglasses perched on her nose, snacking on a piece of pizza.Anna was born with a very rare genetic condition called harlequin ichthyosis. Her body produces skin at a highly accelerated rate, but she can’t shed skin cells, sweat or retain moisture the way most people do.Without proper care, her [...]

BETHLEHEM — Police say a body has been found floating in the Hudson River near Albany.The Albany Times Union reports that two people who were fishing spotted the body shortly at about 6 a.m. Saturday in Bethlehem.Bethlehem police officers removed the body from the river with help from the Selkirk Fire Department.Police say the body was that of an adult. An autopsy will be conducted, and police are reviewing missing person cases.

LIVINGSTON MANOR — Sullivan BOCES, in partnership with the Catskill Art Society, is hosting the annual CAS Sullivan County High School Art Show at 48 Main St., Livingston Manor.This exhibition, appearing throughout the CAS Arts Center through May 11, will present the work of high school students from the county’s school districts plus student work from Sullivan BOCES. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. [...]

WARWICK— The Warwick Valley Chorale will perform two concerts in May. This season’s repertoire, directed by Stanley Curtis and accompanied by Gail Johnson, represents 1,000 years of song.The Cambridge Songs Suite No. 2 was composed in 2018, using 11th-century lyrics (whose original tunes have been lost) to create a modern cantata. The Warwick Chorale will join the composer’s own choruses to sing the world premiere of this work at Carnegie Hall on June 10. [...]

Kelly Esposito-Broelmann’s darkest hour came in a car heading down the West Side Highway."I got the call from my doctor and I remember screaming, blood-curdling screaming and hysterically crying," she says. "My poor father was driving, and I’m not sure how he held it together.""But the doctor said I was going to be OK, and he gave me his cellphone number and told me to call him when I was ready to talk," she says.It was September 2016 and Esposito- [...]