Orange County, NY | featured news

STONE RIDGE – Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Master Gardeners will host their 20th annual Garden Day on April 13.The day will begin with a keynote presentation about the life and legacy of Beatrix Farrand, an influential 20th-century garden designer. Presenters Anne Cleves Symmes and Karen Smythe will share the story of restoring Ferrand's garden at Bellefield Estate in Hyde Park. Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) is the woman behind Dumbarton Oaks in [...]

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Kodak says a new beer hitting the market can be used to develop its Super 8 movie film.Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware created its SuperEIGHT beer after a conversation with people at Kodak, the upstate New York technology company most famous for its photographic roots.Dogfish learned from Kodak that heightened levels of acidity and vitamin C in certain beers could make them a processing agent for film. That inspired the brewery to design such a [...]

Woodbury’s town and village boards will hold a joint meeting this week to try to resolve a lawsuit the town brought against the village last year to void two property transfers.The settlement discussion will take place at 7 p.m. Monday in the Village Hall meeting room, atop the Highland Mills firehouse at 455 Route 32.The case is an unusual legal dispute between two boards that govern virtually the same territory. The Town Board sued in state Supreme Court to challenge a [...]

Democratic Ulster County executive candidate Pat Ryan announced his support for marijuana legalization in New York and for welcoming pot businesses in Ulster, which like other New York counties would have the ability to ban pot stores and farms under an “opt-out” clause in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legalization proposal.“I believe this represents a tremendous economic opportunity for us, both in terms of boosting our agriculture community and generating [...]

The right to die issue continues on the legislative agenda in New York state. Several attempts over the years have not led to passage of what is now called the Medical Aid in Dying Act. This year in the New York state Legislature, Assembly Bill A 2694 and Senate Bill S 3947 may or may not be signed into law.The right to die is gaining momentum on a national scale. As of this year, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont and Washington allow physician- [...]

MIDDLETOWN — A six-foot banner stood beside the welcome desk at the annual Orange County Friends of the NRA Banquet on Saturday night at Kuhl's Highland House. It said POLITICAL ACTIVITY in a circle, with a line through it.The banquet, which always sells out, is in its 26th year. The organizers stress that the Friends of the NRA is not the NRA. They raise money to support gun-related programs involving safety and education. This year's event will probably take in $35,000. [...]

CHESTER — A two-alarm fire in the Whispering Hills condo development destroyed a six-unit townhouse Friday night, displacing its families and billowing smoke that could be seen from Route 17.No one was injured in the fire that started at unit 1307 Whispering Hills Drive and spread to the other five units. Two dogs that were trapped in the blaze died.Seven fire trucks from volunteer departments across Orange County arrived around 6:30 p.m. Friday. The entire building [...]

ALBANY — Jen Metzger, among the new crop of Democratic state senators, arrived a few minutes early one recent morning at the office of her fellow mid-Hudson legislator, James Skoufis, also a newbie in the Senate.She said she wanted to wait for Skoufis before starting the interview. And why not? They’ve embarked on their first terms remarkably in tandem, staging joint town hall sessions with residents on myriad issues including the upcoming state budget and what [...]

ALBANY — The Democrat-controlled state Assembly has approved legislation that would allow cameras to be mounted on school buses to catch motorists who illegally pass them while students are boarding or getting off.The bill sponsored by Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, a Syracuse Democrat, passed 146-0 on Tuesday.The legislation would allow the installation of cameras on the stop arms that extend from school buses when the vehicles stop to pick up or [...]

ALBANY — High school students opposed to the use of surveillance equipment in public schools are planning an event to let New York Gov. Andrew Como know about their concerns.The group plans to gather outside the Democratic governor's Manhattan office on Thursday for a press conference to highlight $30 million in state grants to schools for the purchase of surveillance technology such as video monitoring and facial recognition software.The students are all members [...]