Episodes

  • Pedestrian Tunnel Closed Until Dec. 5

    Pedestrian Tunnel Closed Until Dec. 5
    Dec 1 2025
    Cold Spring underpass being repaired
    The pedestrian tunnel under the Metro-North tracks in Cold Spring, initially scheduled for closure for repairs until Monday (Dec. 1), will remain closed through at least Dec. 5, the village announced.
    Officials noted that pedestrians walking to and from Market Street can use the Metro-North walkways flanking the tracks to reach the platforms, and then use the overpass staircase or elevators to cross the tracks.
    Alternatively, follow the sidewalk on the east side of Lunn Terrace to cross the bridge/overpass to Market Street; turn left to reach the Metro-North parking lot, or turn right to reach lower Main Street and the waterfront.
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    1 min
  • Comments Reflect Fjord Trail Debate

    Comments Reflect Fjord Trail Debate
    Nov 28 2025
    Writers express virtues, concerns
    A year ago, the state parks department released a draft of its environmental review of the proposed Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail. It then gave the public 60 days to submit comments to the more than 700-page report. After public outcry, the state extended the deadline to 90 days.
    New Yorkers used the extra time well, submitting over 500 comments addressing the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement and the project in general.
    The state recently told The Current that the finalized report is expected to be released early next year and that "all comments received were reviewed and will be acknowledged and responded to as appropriate in the final GEIS."
    Through a Freedom of Information Law request, The Current received copies of every comment submitted before the deadline. Then we read all 517, ranging from a five-word submission ("It is a good thing") to several that exceeded 10 pages, including 103 pages from a Cold Spring resident who criticizes the DGEIS page-by-page; the 143-page comment that professional consultants submitted on behalf of the Cold Spring Village Board; and 274 pages from a local resident who opposes the project.
    "I wish it wasn't so long," the person wrote in their cover letter. "I had a lot to say."
    Many who spoke out against the trail urged the planners to scrap the entire project and go back to the simple dirt trail originally proposed as a connection between Beacon and Cold Spring. "If you had quietly made a sweet little trail this might have worked," wrote one Beacon resident. "Let people find it and enjoy searching it out. Why all the hype and promotion?"
    Supporters point out that the original plan wouldn't address the overcrowding that has made Cold Spring unnavigable on many weekends and clogged Route 9D near the Breakneck Ridge trailhead with hikers running across the highway and looking for roadside parking. "I am so surprised that more people haven't been hit by a car on Route 9D," said one person.
    A Philipstown resident wrote: "The expansion of its purpose and its scope from a 'simple trail' (as originally conceived), to a more formal, accessible resource that greatly enhances the experience of hikers, bikers and strollers, makes it far more attractive, useful and effective."
    Others in favor of the trail addressed the ecological damage caused by the now-crumbling artificial shoreline built over 100 years ago to accommodate the railroad. "The natural riverfront no longer exists," wrote one Cold Spring resident, "and in some cases, the trail may improve the connection of the land to the river for flora and fauna that typically exist at that boundary."
    According to another village resident, "By removing invasive species, adding native plants and trees and bolstering marine habitat along the trail, it will provide better resilience to climate change."
    With construction of the trail's initial section now underway, here are 10 takeaways from the public comments.
    Support remains split
    The Current sorted the comments into those entirely or largely in favor of the trail as currently proposed in the DGEIS (209), those entirely or largely against the current trail (236) and those that were mixed (72). Many of the mixed comments did not take a specific side, but asked for more clarification on certain issues involving traffic, funding and emergency services.
    A nine-page form letter was used by 131 of trail's opponents, although many added additional comments. ("TOO MUCH. NO!" added a Scarsdale resident.) The letter raises issues about traffic and parking ("would irreparably destroy the scenic character of this area"), added visitation, wildlife and habitat loss, and the demand on emergency services.

    Heading upland
    The form letter urges the state to simply scrap the entire plan and instead go with the Upland Alternative suggested by the local group Protect The Highlands. The Upland Alternative would lead from the Metro-North train station in Cold Spring out of the vi...
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    13 mins
  • A Vision For Fishkill Avenue

    A Vision For Fishkill Avenue
    Nov 28 2025
    Committee completes study of Beacon corridor
    After nearly two years of work, the citizen committee studying the Fishkill Avenue corridor in Beacon this week released a 26-page final report whose broad range of recommendations spans zoning, viewsheds, housing and transportation and is supplemented by more than 100 pages of maps and appendices.
    Appointed by Mayor Lee Kyriacou in January 2024, the committee was asked to develop concepts and proposals for the northeast section of Beacon, an area that includes Fishkill Avenue (Route 52), Fishkill Creek, residential neighborhoods and former industrial sites. If constructed, the Beacon-to-Hopewell Junction rail trail would follow the dormant Metropolitan Transportation Authority rail line through that part of the city and toward the Town of Fishkill.
    "This has been a forgotten area of Beacon," said Pam Wetherbee, the City Council member who represents Ward 3, which includes the corridor. "There's so much potential. It's really like a hidden gem."
    Committee members met monthly, and in March held a public workshop attended by about 80 people. Committee Chair J.C. Calderon, who presented the report to the council on Monday (Nov. 24), said he saw the group's work as a "forensic study" of conditions in the 1.2-mile stretch from Blackburn Avenue (at Ron's Ice Cream) to Prospect Street (at Industrial Arts Brewing Co.).
    The report isn't meant to be "definitive or final in its recommendations," he wrote in the introduction, but a tool for city leaders, present and future, "to envision a future that encompasses the best interests" of Beacon.

    Thirty recommendations are spread across numerous categories, some sorted by location, others by topic. Timing runs the gamut, from short-term suggestions that can be taken up in 2026 to longer-term issues that the city will address as it refines a vision for the corridor.
    Some the city has already taken up. To encourage pedestrian-friendly growth around Fishkill Avenue, the committee earlier this year suggested "quick fixes" prohibiting new self-storage facilities, drive-thrus, gas stations, car washes, auto lots and repair shops. The council banned drive-thrus citywide in May and regulated self-storage facilities in June.
    Below are notable recommendations; some have been shortened due to space limitations.
    Industrial corridor (Fishkill Avenue east out of Beacon)
    Have industrial property owners improve the character of their sites with enhanced landscaping and alternative fencing without chain link or barbed wire.
    Remove self-storage facilities as a permitted use and consider restricting other "low-value or nuisance" uses.
    Evaluate the addition of employment-generating or green-manufacturing uses.
    Mixed-use corridor (State Street to Blackburn Avenue)
    Create a new Fishkill Avenue zoning district or extend the General Business district.
    Support uses such as office, retail, multi-family housing, restaurants, recreation and health care.
    Prevent over-concentration of any single use.
    Prohibit fast-food restaurants and self-storage businesses.
    Limit or gradually phase out autocentric uses.
    Allow buildings up to four stories, provided that the fourth story is recessed to reduce visual impact. Consider limiting height to three stories in viewshed areas.
    Evaluate Tallix and The Yard sites for infill development.
    Groveville (the historic neighborhood east of the train tracks)
    Implement a Groveville Historic District.
    Upgrade roads to city standards with sidewalks and trail connections.
    Improve Groveville bridge to enhance pedestrian and bike access to Liberty Street.
    Integrate housing through higher-density infill development while balancing open space preservation.
    Housing
    Retain multi-family housing as a permitted use within the mixed-use area and permit multi-family for future redevelopment proposals for the Tallix site.
    Regarding affordable housing, the group said that Beacon's existing requirement to designate 10 percent of new developments (of 10 units or ...
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    7 mins
  • Animal Shelters Face Changes

    Animal Shelters Face Changes
    Nov 28 2025
    New standards take effect in December
    Animal shelters and rescue organizations in Beacon and the rest of the state are facing new standards that will take effect next month and change how they care for cats and dogs and require some to spend tens of thousands of dollars on upgrades.
    Some minor renovations have already taken place at the Animal Rescue Foundation in Beacon, which is applying for grant funding to cover up to $100,000 in expected costs to comply with the Companion Animal Care Standards Act passed by the state in 2022. When the law takes effect Dec. 15, animal shelters and rescues will have to be licensed by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets and be inspected for compliance with stringent health and safety standards.
    Among the new guidelines, volunteers and paid staff will have to undergo training in caring for animals, with humane handling, zoonotic diseases and animal cruelty among the mandated topics. They will also have to begin keeping comprehensive records on each animal, including behavior and health, and provide regular grooming and at least 20 minutes per day of "positive social interactions," such as petting, walking or playing with toys.
    To prevent overcrowding, shelters will be prohibited from keeping more animals than they have housing units for, and the law sets guidelines for the infrastructure at licensed facilities, including indoor surfaces, drainage and noise and lighting levels. Facilities must keep temperatures in housing areas between 60 and 80 degrees, isolate animals with infectious diseases and provide at least eight hours a day of both light and darkness.

    Since 2017, shelters run directly by municipalities or contracting with them have had to register with Ag and Markets. But the new law establishes licensing and expands oversight to private facilities (generally considered "rescues" as opposed to municipal shelters). It will cover about 450 entities statewide, according to Libby Post, the executive director of the New York State Animal Protection Federation.
    During the gap between the law's passage and effective date, NYSAPF has used $500,000 in funding from three foundations to offer free assistance to shelters on meeting the new guidelines, said Post. Each facility receives a report that serves as a "roadmap of what they need to do to meet the standards," she said.
    "In the first year, it's going to be a learning year for everybody - for the shelters and rescues as well as Ag and Markets - and no one's getting shut down," said Post.
    Most of the standards reflect things already being done by ARF, said David Rocha, its board president. But volunteers and staff at ARF, which is one of NYSAPF's 150 members, will have to spend more time documenting how they are caring for the animals, he said. Those volunteers usually work two- to three-hour shifts taking care of as many as 24 cats and 10 dogs, said Rocha.
    "In that timeframe, we want the bulk of their attention to really go to the animals, not paperwork, so we're trying to make that as easy as we can," he said.
    Meeting the physical requirements of the legislation will be "more difficult" for ARF, whose original footprint once served as a water treatment plant for Beacon and has been augmented with additions, said Rocha.
    A "kitten room" for nursing mothers was recently added as one of ARF's first upgrades. But the cinder-block building, which "sits on 6 or 8 feet of concrete," will need its floors sealed and a generator to meet the requirement for backup power.
    In May, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced over $10.4 million in grants to 30 organizations from the state's Companion Animal Capital Fund, which launched in 2017. One of the awardees, the Dutchess County SPCA, received $270,000 for "new cat cages with upgraded climate control and bedding." Grants from the fund, which have been used on projects such as new HVAC systems, X-ray rooms and drainage, have totaled $38 million since 2017.
    ARF is applying to the fund to help with an e...
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    4 mins
  • Cuban Legend Coming to Beacon

    Cuban Legend Coming to Beacon
    Nov 28 2025
    Pedro Luis Ferrer is revered musician
    When artist and photographer Alejandro Lopez learned earlier this year that Cuban musician Pedro Luis Ferrer had relocated to Miami during the pandemic, he jumped at the chance to introduce the folk hero's music to a new audience at the Towne Crier in Beacon.
    Ferrer and his daughter Lena, who sings and plays handheld percussion, will appear at the club on Dec. 5 and are also performing two shows in New York City and at The Local in Saugerties during a 10-day mini tour booked by Lopez.
    "Miami is an art cemetery; I lived there," says Lopez, who moved to Beacon from Washington Heights in 2012 after delivering artwork to the KuBe Art Center and becoming enamored with the area.
    Ferrer, 73, a singer, guitarist and tres player who performs with passion and gravitas that is palpable even to non-Spanish speakers, "is a legend in Cuba," says Lopez. A revered artist who resisted the regime of Cuba's late president, Fidel Castro, Ferrer represents "more than entertainment," Lopez added. "He is a real creator, someone who tells it like it is."

    The sentiment of "If I Don't Leave Cuba" is subtle: "If I don't leave Cuba do not believe that I'm staying / I travel inside a ditch of hope and fear." The song "Rule of Law" takes a blunter approach: "Come the rule of law to govern on this island / Let it be a state of all the people not of one sect or one leader / Come the rule of law to the economy for the peasant and for the workers with its infinite fantasy."
    Ferrer got away with such lyrics for a while, but the Castro regime brought the hammer down in the 1990s. The story, says Lopez, is that after Ferrer told a reporter in Venezuela that he would be willing to sing with Celia Cruz, a stinging Castro critic known as the Queen of Salsa during her exile in New York City, the government banned his music from the airwaves and pulled the plug on his recording career.
    He created just three albums in his native land over 35 years, and one of the first discs he released outside the country is titled 100% Cubano.
    Ferrer continued to perform, often abroad, and fans circulated live recordings like Grateful Dead bootlegs. He told Mother Jones 20 years ago that "some of my songs have never been heard on the radio or TV, but that does not impede the public from singing along with me at concerts."
    Ferrer's original folk-style tunes fit into a broad framework called guaracha, which stretches back more than two centuries in Cuba and adapts well with the stripped-down arrangements he plays with Lena.
    His main instrument is the tres ("three" in English), which looks like a compact guitar and consists of six strings. The name derives from its unorthodox tuning, in which three pairs of strings are pitched with the same notes, unlike the standard style used by most guitarists.
    Ferrer has played in New York before with a 10-person band, but is now traveling light. "I'm not making any money here," says Lopez. "I'm doing this to give back to someone who tried to help and inspire our country for all those years."
    The Towne Crier is located at 379 Main St. in Beacon (townecrier.com). Tickets to the show, which starts at 8 p.m., are $30 ($35 door).
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    3 mins
  • Looking Back in Philipstown

    Looking Back in Philipstown
    Nov 23 2025

    250 Years Ago (November 1775)
    Gen. George Washington sent Henry Knox, his newly appointed chief of artillery, to New York City and Fort Ticonderoga to secure cannon, mortar, shells, lead and ammunition to continue a siege of British-occupied Boston. "The want of them is so great that no trouble or expense should be spared to obtain them," Washington said. Knox and his brother arrived in New York City on Nov. 25 and left three days later for Lake Champlain.
    150 Years Ago (November 1875)
    Johnny Mead broke his ankle while playing leapfrog with classmates from the Rock Street school.
    Tim Dunn nearly lost his ear when a chain slipped loose while he was loading filters aboard the schooner Norma at the foundry wharf.
    John Meisenbaher opened a Shaving and Hair Cutting Saloon.
    Hamilton Brown of Garden Street left home on a Friday morning, telling his wife he was headed to Glenham to look for work and would return on an afternoon train. Five days later, there was no sign of him. Investigators learned he had withdrawn all his funds from Fishkill Savings Bank, including a small sum in his 5-year-old son's name. (The Cold Spring Recorder reported that Brown returned home on the following Thursday, although it did not explain his absence.)
    William Warren, 14, employed by Mr. Ferris in the ice business, was sent home with the team and an empty wagon. On a nearby lane, he encountered the Cronk boys cutting down a tree. The Cronks said Warren told them: "Let 'er go, I can hold the horses," but William said the brothers let the tree fall just behind him, spooking the horses, who knocked a gate from its hinges and left him "demoralized."
    The Recorder suggested that, unlike in other parts of the state, and against the wishes of the "best class of our citizens," local police too often released suspects before trial for lack of evidence.
    Gen. Tom Thumb (aka Charles Stratton of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who was 3 feet, 4 inches tall), 37, and his wife, Lavinia Warren, appeared at Town Hall for two performances as part of a world tour. Tickets were 25 cents [$7.50]. The bill also included Minnie Warren and Major Newell, with songs, duets, dances, dialogues and comic acts and sketches. Stratton's small carriage and ponies were driven through the streets to draw attention to the shows. [P.T. Barnum "discovered" Stratton when he was 4 years old; he became a sensation in the 1840s after the showman taught him to sing and dance.]


    A Poughkeepsie man named Michael Mullen was arrested at Garrison's Landing on a Saturday night and accused of stealing a satchel from a fellow passenger on the 4 p.m. train. After Mullen had been held at the Town Hall jail for two days, the satchel owner said he couldn't identify him, and he was released.
    Thieves stole a beehive with 30 pounds of honey, valued at $25 [about $735 today], from outside the Nelsonville residence of Malcomb Evans.
    Mrs. Charles Cooney of Breakneck, after returning from a trip to Cold Spring, built a fire to boil water. The stovepipe, which extended through the floor above the kitchen, sent sparks into the woodwork and her modest home - worth about $100 [$3,000] - burned to the ground.
    Joseph Dore Jr., 6, was warming himself by resting his feet on a hot-water boiler when the lid tipped, scalding both feet.
    William Hustis lost 11 sheep overnight in the North Highlands to fatal injuries inflicted by wild dogs. David Hustis had earlier lost 17.
    Capt. Joshua Cronk was brought to his home on Fair Street after suffering partial paralysis on his left side while lying at anchor in Peekskill Bay to wait out a gale. The Recorder suggested that the cold and anxiety led to the attack.
    The same gale blew a 500-pound wagon in a semicircle around Thomas Jaycox's barn while spinning it around.
    The post office announced it would close at 10:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
    Village officials said the owner of a black lace veil could claim it at Town Hall.
    Thomas Reed completed a map of Putnam County from his own survey ...
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    13 mins
  • High Anxiety: Seniors

    High Anxiety: Seniors
    Nov 21 2025
    Everyone's brains seem to be on high alert in the digital age, although society has become more accepting of mental health struggles and treatment. In this, the third part of a series, we examine the challenges facing seniors.
    Tina is 94 years old and has attempted suicide twice this year.
    Once, she stuffed a plastic bag into her mouth. "I couldn't keep it in," said the Beacon resident. "If someone would have forced it on me, it would have worked. But I couldn't. I took it out."
    Another time, she took a scarf from her closet and tried to hang herself from a door in her apartment. But she slid to the floor.
    Her daughter called after seeing that attempt on a video monitor connected to her cell phone. "What are you doing?"
    "Resting," Tina responded.
    When asked if she was glad that her suicide attempts failed, she said, "Not really. I hated my life." Then she looked up at the ceiling and raised her hands like she was pleading. "Take me," she said. "I'm ready."
    Tina, who was willing to discuss her mental health struggles only if her real name was not used, is facing many of the typical health problems that come with aging.
    She and her husband, who is 91, used to enjoy driving to McDonald's in Fishkill for a meal before browsing at shops along Route 9. But a few years ago, her husband began showing signs of dementia, and her children insisted that she stop driving. "They said if there's an accident, we'll be responsible," she said.
    Dementia has taken a toll on her marriage of 50 years. "We hardly speak," she said. "Just little phrases like, 'Are you sleeping?' and 'You want to eat now?'" Her husband can no longer take out the garbage and is often puzzled by his electric razor.
    Tina has fallen several times. She traded in her cane for a rollator, a fancy walker with wheels, handbrakes and a seat.
    She was cheerful at a recent lunch. She enjoyed her food and seemed excited about her dessert, a chocolate bar. She was well-dressed, with nice jewelry. Her makeup and hair were impeccable. "I love to laugh," she said, adding that her life had improved recently with someone coming to her house to drive her and her husband to McDonald's.
    When it was suggested she seek help for her mental health, she said, "At this age, does it matter?"
    Tina's reaction is not unusual. According to federal government data, while people ages 65 and older comprise 17 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 22 percent of suicides, with men far exceeding women. One study estimates that a third of seniors worldwide experience symptoms of depression, although clinical depression is far less common. The key factors are well known: isolation, loss and physical infirmity.
    Dutchess and Putnam counties offer many resources to help older people with their mental health, including support groups and Friendship Centers where seniors meet, go shopping, have lunch and enjoy group activities.
    In 2023, Dutchess started a program called Friendly Calls, in which volunteers call seniors for conversation. This year, Putnam launched Putnam Pals, a program that pairs volunteers with seniors. "There's nothing better than seeing someone face to face," said Marlene Barrett, director of Putnam's Office for Senior Resources.
    Suicide Among Older People
    About 50,000 people kill themselves each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those ages 85 and older have the highest rates, at 22.7 per 100,000, followed by those aged 75-84 and 35-44. The lowest rates were among those aged 65-74 and 15-24. Men ages 75 and older have the highest rates overall (42.2 per 100,000).
    A study in the Journal of Affective Disorders of adults ages 50 and older in five low- and middle-income countries found that older adults experiencing moderate food insecurity were 2.6 times more likely to attempt suicide, and older adults experiencing severe food insecurity were 5.2 times more likely.
    If you are facing mental-health challenges, call or text 988. Counselors are ...
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    12 mins
  • Guarding Evil

    Guarding Evil
    Nov 21 2025
    Father of Cold Spring resident sketched Nazis at Nuremberg
    Eighty years ago this week, on Nov. 20, 1945, trials began in Nuremberg, Germany, for nearly 200 Nazis charged with crimes against humanity, including the killing of an estimated six million Jewish, Roma, gay and disabled people during the Holocaust.
    The international military tribunal is the subject of a new film starring Russell Crowe, who portrays Hermann Göring, the second most powerful man in Germany during World War II, behind Adolf Hitler.
    For Cold Spring resident Cassandra Saulter, the courtroom drama that unfolded at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice is more personal. Her father was among the U.S. soldiers assigned to guard the 22 major defendants, and he got Göring.

    Howard Saulter grew up in Queens and joined the Army at age 19. A private first class, he fought in late 1944 in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium's Ardennes Forest. Germany surrendered the following spring, and that fall, Saulter was assigned to guard the accused in court and its adjacent prison.
    The guards worked every other day on a rotation of two hours on duty followed by four hours off. Initially, each man monitored three prisoners. But after Robert Ley, a labor leader who once received a gift of a million Reichsmarks from Hitler, committed suicide on Oct. 25, each guard was assigned to one prisoner.
    The trials riveted people around the world, but for the guards, it was tedious. Saulter began drawing the defendants in their cells out of boredom. Interviewed in 1946 by The New York Times, he said: "I hated the job. I decided to sketch a few of the prisoners in their cells, and it helped a lot."
    "He thought he might sell the drawings to raise money to attend the Art Students League," said his daughter.

    Göring may have been one of the most infamous of the Nazis on trial, but Howard Saulter remembered him as a model prisoner. "Göring was the most pleasant on the whole, the best behaved and the best sense of humor," he told his daughter. "Every day, when he returned to his cell after exercise, he'd say to me, 'Well, here we are home again.'"
    But when Saulter asked the German for his fine leather boots, saying, "You're not going to need them where you're going," Göring was not amused. "He usually had a sense of humor - that was the only time Göring blew up," said Cassandra. "Usually, they had interesting conversations."

    The walled court of justice building in Nuremberg on Oct. 26, 1945. (AP)

    A cell in the Nuremberg Prison, photographed in August 1945, before the first defendants arrived. (AP)

    The first day of the trial, on Nov. 20, 1945 (AP)

    Wilhelm Frick, left, eats lunch with Arthur Seyss-Inquart, from Army mess kits in the Palace of Justice on Nov. 29, 1945. (AP)

    Goring (left) eats stew from an Army mess tin at Nuremberg on Nov. 29, 1945. (AP)

    In this photo, the defendants are seated in front of the row of guards. (AP)
    Göring was convicted of war crimes but swallowed a cyanide pill the night before his scheduled execution. It was never clear how he got the poison, but Cassandra said her mother, Lillian, had a plausible hypothesis. "My father used to fall asleep, especially when bored - he had narcolepsy," Cassandra said. Her mother wondered if Göring's lawyer waited until Howard nodded off, then passed the pill to his client, possibly inside a pencil, and Göring hid it in the toilet.
    Saulter never sketched Göring, to his regret, but he did draw Baldur von Schirach (the former leader of the Hitler Youth and commandant in Vienna who was sentenced to 20 years), Franz von Papen (a former vice chancellor and ambassador who was acquitted but sentenced by a civilian court to eight years), Wilhelm Frick (the interior minister, who was hanged) and Arthur Seyss-Inquart (the commander of the occupied Netherlands, also hanged). Only von Papen realized he was being sketched. All four autographed their drawings. Saulter also sketched Albert Speer (the minister of armaments and war production, who w...
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    6 mins