Orange County, NY, Middletown | featured news

CITY OF NEWBURGH — Go fly a kite.No, don't leave. We mean you can actually go fly kites at the annual Kites Over the Hudson event from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 28 at Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh.The first 150 children, ages 15 and under, to arrive will receive a free kite, courtesy of Friends of the State Historic Sites of the Hudson Highlands.The event is part of the Hudson River Valley Ramble, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary [...]

Local residents are among the Red Cross volunteers who have gone south to help their fellow citizens recover from Hurricane Dorian after it flooded parts of the Carolinas.Abigail Adams, a communications director with the American Red Cross in Greater New York, said three volunteers from Orange County and two from Sullivan County were among a group of 48 dispatched to the South, primarily in North Carolina, which bore the brunt of Dorian’s impact on the United States coast. [...]

Public-school enrollment has been dropping more quickly than the general population decline in the region, leaving almost every district in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties with fewer students than 10 years ago and six districts with enrollment plunges of more than 20 percent.Two of the biggest drops in Orange County were in the Minisink Valley and Port Jervis school districts, each of which had 21 percent fewer students last school year than they had in 2008-09. In Sullivan, [...]

A hundred miles out, the Atlantic Ocean is charcoal black at night, so dark you can barely make out waves. But the sky – OMG, the sky - is alive with thousands of bright stars, enough to read a book by.Right down the middle is the Milky Way, the edge of our own galaxy, and over there is the Big Dipper pointing the way to the North Star. Saturn, its rings perpendicular to Earth, is the brightest object.It’s an amazing celestial light show, until after midnight when [...]

MIDDLETOWN — For Middletown resident Samantha Baggatta Seekings, football is practically in her blood.When she was 6 years old, her father, Pete Baggatta, gave her a book with all of the Giants' players in it, which she memorized.A year later, her father took her to her first NFL preseason game and she's been rooting for the Giants ever since.Her dad's basement is what she calls a "Giants den," filled with memorabilia.For her and her family, [...]

WARWICK — The proposed development of property around an iconic rock in Warwick is causing a divide between the developer and some residents.Stephen Kitar says his planned Pulpit Rock Inn – near the southeast intersection of West Street and County Route 1 in the Town of Warwick – fills a need for accommodations in the town, which now has no hotels or motels. But opponents say the development of a main inn and six 2,000-square-foot eight-unit cottages [...]

As the grand larceny suspect sat handcuffed to a bench at the Warwick Police Department, nervously anticipating his first court appearance, he knew he "absolutely" needed a lawyer."A lawyer fights for your rights," he said in an interview.The suspect didn’t know any lawyers, but local attorney Mary Zugibe Raleigh drove to the court early on a Sunday morning to stand next to him and answer his questions as the charges against him were read and he was released [...]

CORNWALL — Homes used for Airbnb and similar short-term rental arrangements could soon be regulated in the town.The Town Board will hold a public hearing next month on a local law requiring registration of such properties and the issuing of permits.Supervisor Richard Randazzo said the town has had “a couple of issues” with people using their homes for such purposes. A petition with about 40 signatures from one neighborhood asked for regulation. [...]

FALLSBURG — Fallsburg Central School District’s Family and Community Liaison, Dr. Aleta Lymon coordinated four back-to-school events this summer at some of the larger resident community housing areas in the Town of Fallsburg. The events were to share information with parents on what's new, graduation requirements, the importance of parent involvement, and to conduct a parent needs survey.At each event, there was either a barbecue or sandwiches served, along with fried or [...]

It was a wonderful week for hundreds of first-year and transfer students who began their academic careers at Mount Saint Mary College, but a few new kids on campus really had a baaaalll: the four baby goats who were the starts of a session of goat yoga on Aug. 29. A perfect late summer day provided the backdrop while the yoga enthusiasts, from beginners to veterans, practiced their poses with the friendly goats. As the students stretched, the gleeful goats trotted from person to person, [...]