Orange County, NY, Middletown | featured news

WEST POINT — Vice President Mike Pence told West Point’s Class of 2019 on Saturday they are entering the Army at a dangerous and challenging time, and it is "virtually certain" they will find themselves fighting on a battlefield some day.Because of their training at West Point, Pence said, "When that day comes, you will fight and you will win."Pence assured the graduates they will go into battle with America’s people and government behind them. [...]

FALLSBURG — Before an audience on May 16, the Fallsburg High School Music Department warmed the hearts of all with a beautiful Spring Concert. Led by Chorus Director Colleen Barbara and Band Director Danna Clear, the singers and musicians performed with excellence. Leon Hilfstein was piano accompanist.Two songs stood out because of the incredible voices of many soloists when the Junior Senior Chorus performed “Can You Hear” and “We Can Dream.” After [...]

MONTICELLO — A Sullivan County woman who was driving a taxi while drunk early Tuesday morning was arrested, police said.Village officers saw a taxi being driven erratically on Pleasant Street around 4:30 a.m. and initiated a traffic stop, according to a news release from Monticello police Lt. Mark Johnstone.Officers smelled a strong odor of alcohol from the driver, Elizabeth M. Smith, 37, of Rock Hill, and saw an open container in the vehicle, the news release [...]

Voters in Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties passed a majority of school budgets on the ballot Tuesday, deciding on close to $3 billion in school spending region-wide. Only one district's proposals were completely shot down.Minisink Valley voters rejected both the board’s proposed operating budget and request to purchase 10 school buses. Minisink schools pitched a $97.46 million budget, calling for a 7.97 percent tax-levy increase that would have exceeded the state's tax cap, [...]

Results from our local school board and school budget elections.

KINGSTON – The Hudson River Maritime Museum will start Rondout Lighthouse tours for the season on Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27.For the first portion of the lighthouse season, between May 25 and June 21, tours are limited to six people per trip onboard the museum's smaller boat, SkillyPot. Starting June 22, the new, solar-powered, 27-passenger tour boat Solaris will be used for the rest of the season.Tours aboard the SkillyPot will be offered every weekend until mid- [...]

GOSHEN — The United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) held the National Detector Trials in Albany from May 5-9. It is open to K-9 teams throughout the nation. The trials were hosted by Sheriff Craig D. Apple and the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.Deputy Michael Muller, and his K-9 partner Maverick, competed in Albany, only after successfully certifying at the Region 7 trials held in April of this year. Competing against fifty K-9 teams from around the United [...]

ROCK HILL — The Sullivan County School Boards Association named eight Sullivan County educators "Outstanding Educator," and nine individuals and one organization "Outstanding Friends to Education."For their contributions to the field of education in Sullivan County, this year’s recipients of the Outstanding Educator Award are Joshua Glantz, Eldred School District; Leah Exner, Fallsburg School District; Maria "Pia" Caro, Liberty School District; Laurie Allen-Kuehn, [...]

MONTICELLO — The George L. Cooke Elementary School Student Council has been looking for ways to pay it forward to the community. On Earth Day, when they learned about how long it takes for sneakers to decompose in the local landfill, they wondered if there was a way to recycle sneakers instead of throwing them away.The students came up with the idea of collecting sneakers and shipping them to developing countries to help keep sneakers out of the local landfills, while also [...]

PORT JERVIS - Megan Wieboldt wanted to teach her seventh grade Life Science class at Port Jervis Middle School about echolocation.That’s how bats and dolphins, for example, aim high-frequency sounds at objects and then gauge the time, direction and strength of the returning signal - the echo - to locate obstacles in their paths or other objects such as prey. It’s the same underlying principle for the science that created radar and sonar navigational devices.A Life [...]