Orange County, NY | featured news

NEW PALTZ — The State University of New York board of trustees has approved renaming six buildings at SUNY New Paltz that are named after slave owners who settled the region.SUNY officials say the board on Wednesday approved the name changes for the buildings that make up the Hasbrouck Complex at SUNY New Paltz.Students had been pushing for the change because the buildings were named after the slave-owning Huguenot families who arrived in the late 17th century and [...]

When I reminded the winner of last year’s March Madness pool that Villanova took it all in 2018, the defending champ asked — tongue in cheek — whether Yeshiva University was in it this year.The champ, who wishes to remain nameless to protect that prognosticating reputation, figured a Yeshiva victory could be an equal opportunity pick — since Villanova is a Catholic school.After I stopped chuckling — and checking that what I [...]

WHITE PLAINS - Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a former cop charged with abducting and killing four Middletown men in 2016.The four men, Martin Santos-Luna, 41; his nephews Urbano Morales-Santiago, 35, and Miguel Sosa-Luna, 25; and friend Hector Gutierrez, 32, disappeared on April 11, 2016. A relative’s 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, borrowed for the day, was found outside the Chester Diner in Chester.Prosecutors say Nicholas Tartaglione, 51, a [...]

GREENVILLE — Port Jervis building inspector David Rivera and his wife, Rachel, were arraigned in Greenville Town Court on Wednesday on charges stemming from a scuffle at a Port Jervis bar on Jan. 26.Outside the courthouse, two bar employees who attended the arraignment described the incident.Shanell O’Connell, a server at Fox N Hare Brewing Co., said she was getting ready to go home, with her tips on a table, when the Riveras came into the bar with several [...]

As lawmakers push for state aid to help counties shoulder the cost of implementing early voting this fall, the amounts the Assembly and Senate have requested pale in comparison to what county taxpayers may have to spend on poll-station equipment, workers and other costs.The statewide estimate, not including the cost of electronic poll books for New York City, is more than $145 million, according to a state Board of Elections spreadsheet obtained by the Times Herald-Record that shows a [...]

ELDRED — Thanks to a major source of unexpected revenue, the Eldred Central School District will not have to ask voters to go over the tax cap for its 2019-20 budget.Now that Millennium Pipeline Company's natural gas compressor station in the Town of Highland is online, the school district will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on its assessed value, according to Superintendent John Morgano."The value could be anywhere from $50 million to half [...]

Mark Ruffalo’s doing it.So are Bill Murray and Selena Gomez.Omar Epps and Brie Larson are doing it, too.Just like George Clooney, Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Paul Newman, Anthony Hopkins, John Krasinski and Emily Blunt.All of these stars are shooting, or have shot, films or TV shows in the Hudson Valley and Catskills.Now we’re about to host the biggest production the region has ever seen, according to Laurent Rejto, who [...]

MONTICELLO — Sullivan County is tapping a Navy veteran to become its next deputy county manager.John Liddle, a Pennsylvania native, comes to Sullivan after recently retiring as a lieutenant commander with 20 years of experience in the Navy, according to a news release from the county.The Sullivan County Legislature confirmed Liddle's appointment Thursday. His first day will be April 1.Liddle's annual salary will be $110,000.The previous deputy county [...]

NEW YORK — Jay-Z, Dead & Company and the Killers will headline one of the 50th anniversary shows commemorating the groundbreaking Woodstock festival this summer.Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang announced Tuesday that Miley Cyrus, Santana, Imagine Dragons, Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, the Black Keys and Chance the Rapper will also perform at the Woodstock 50 Music and Arts Fair, which will take place Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, about 115 miles [...]

GOSHEN — A group opposing legalization of marijuana in New York laid out its arguments before Orange County lawmakers on Tuesday to dispel what it said were misperceptions and urge them to pre-emptively ban pot sales before the state has even legalized them.Garth Van Meter, vice president of government affairs for Smart Approaches to Marijuana, warned that modern marijuana is much more potent than it once was and endangers young people's developing [...]