Episodes

  • Eleanor Thompson (1946-2026)

    Eleanor Thompson (1946-2026)
    Feb 24 2026
    Eleanor Thompson, 79, who in 2001 was elected as the first Black member of the Beacon City Council, died Jan. 17.

    She was born April 23, 1946, the daughter of Rosalee Thompson, who in 1962 moved from Charleston, South Carolina, to New York City to provide opportunities for her daughters, Eleanor and Vera. Rosalee died in 2019.
    Eleanor earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Lehman College and, in 2000, a master's degree in education from Columbia University. She was a schoolteacher in New York City before moving to Beacon. After selling real estate for 18 years, she retired to Texas in 2010.
    Eleanor was elected as a Democrat in November 2001 to represent Ward 2, when she was 55, defeating Don Gallo, the Republican incumbent, 391-321. It was standing-room-only at her swearing-in, and the other officials sworn in that day, including Member-At-Large (and current mayor) Lee Kyriacou, all used the Thompson family bible. Thompson was re-elected in 2003, then elected to an at-large seat in 2005 and 2007. She also ran for the state Assembly in 2006 but lost to incumbent Thomas Kirwan, who won 56 percent of the vote.
    In 2007, as a board member at the Howland Cultural Center, Eleanor envisioned a program that would connect communities through music. "When it comes to cultural diversity, we're all students," she said. Her advocacy led to the creation of the Gospel Cafe, according to HCC.
    Eleanor began painting, drawing and taking photographs at age 9. In an interview with the Poughkeepsie Journal in 2000, she recalled visiting her aunt and cousin in Newburgh and painting pictures of the Hudson River, of men and boys fishing on the banks and of the ferry. (She described herself as "a water person.") She said she had recently thrown herself into sculpture after taking a class at Columbia. "It was the best thing that happened to me," she said. She focused on female figures. "My whole thing is I want to give my sisters out there some recognition — the brown ones, the black ones, the white ones, the yellow ones — we are fantastic."
    With the support of longtime HCC director Florence Northcutt, Eleanor expanded the focus of art exhibits to include more women and artists of color. She contributed to shows such as Women Artists of the Hudson Valley in 2000 and A Celebration of Women of Color in the Arts in 2006. In 2019, she returned to Beacon with her grandson, Bobby, for The 25th Anniversary of African-American Artists in the Hudson Valley.
    In addition to her civic service, Eleanor co-founded the Young Artists' Mentoring Project; served as program director at the Martin Luther King Community Center; established a curriculum for the Partnership with Schools and Businesses; and was a dedicated member of the Beacon Light Tabernacle Seventh-day Adventist Church.
    Among her awards: the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs' Community Award (2004), the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Award (2005), the Shirley Chisholm Legacy Award (2005) and the inaugural Beacon Community Award presented by Beacon City Concerned Citizens.
    A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday (March 1) at Beacon Light Tabernacle, 1568 Route 9D, in Wappingers Falls. Memorial donations may be made to the Howland Cultural Center (dub.sh/thompson-hcc).
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    4 mins
  • Update: ICE Says It Hasn't Purchased Warehouse

    Update: ICE Says It Hasn't Purchased Warehouse
    Feb 18 2026
    Agency buying facilities across U.S. to house detainees
    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said last week it had purchased a warehouse in the Hudson Valley to house detainees, but on Tuesday (Feb. 17) retracted the statement, saying it had been a mistake.
    The warehouse, located in Chester, is a former PepBoys auto parts distribution center. "These will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards," an ICE spokesperson told the Times Union on Feb. 12. "Sites will undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase."
    "ICE has not purchased a facility in Chester, New York," a spokesperson wrote in an email to the Albany paper on Tuesday. "That statement was sent without proper approval and this mistake has since been rectified."
    Last week, ICE said the Chester facility and its construction would create 1,246 jobs and contribute $153.4 million, plus $37.2 million in tax revenue but did not explain how the figures were calculated.
    At the same time, the Orange County clerk and the county attorney told the Times Union that no new deeds have been recorded or filed. The last sale on record was in 2021, when an LLC owned by former Trump adviser Carl Icahn bought the property.

    State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, a Democrat whose district includes northern Dutchess County, said in a statement that she would support the town and village boards as they use "every legal, zoning, and environmental tool available" to block the facility.
    On Friday, a document released by federal immigration officials said that ICE to spend $38.3 billion to expand its detention capacity to 92,600 beds by purchasing warehouses. ICE has bought at least seven warehouses in the past few weeks in Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Texas. Six other purchases were scuttled when buyers decided not to sell under pressure from activists.
    The Department of Homeland Security in January posted a notice announcing its intention to purchase the Chester warehouse for ICE operations. The agency said it would add a small guard building and an outdoor recreation area. The notice was required because the facility is in a 100-year floodplain.
    Legislation has been introduced in at least five states to ban state and local government contracts for ICE detention facilities. In New York, one proposal would prohibit governmental entities from entering into immigrant detention agreements (Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, and Dana Levenberg, a Democrat whose district includes Philipstown, are co-sponsors), while another would prohibit the use of public funds or resources for new immigrant detention facilities without state legislative approval.
    ICE Detention Facilities
    There are 225 ICE detention facilities in the U.S., including eight in New York (below). Texas has the most facilities (28), followed by Florida (18).
    Allegany County Jail (Belmont)
    5 females, non-criminal
    Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center
    25 males, criminal; 86 males, non-criminal
    Broome County Jail (Binghamton)
    3 males, criminal; 44 males, non-criminal
    Buffalo Service Processing Center (Batavia)
    128 males, criminal; 610 males, non-criminal
    Clinton County Jail (Plattsburgh)
    2 males, non-criminal; 2 females, non-criminal
    Nassau County Correctional Center (Long Island)
    1 female, criminal; 11 females, non-criminal
    Niagara County Jail (Lockport)
    12 females, non-criminal
    Orange County Jail (Goshen)
    85 males, criminal; 81 males, non-criminal; 1 female, criminal
    Source: U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement
    In a little over a year, the number of detention facilities used by ICE has more than doubled, to 225 sites spread across 48 states and territories. Most of that growth came through existing contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service or deals to use empty beds at county jails. More than 75,000 immigrants were being detained nationwide by...
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    8 mins
  • Storm Could Bring Foot of Snow

    Storm Could Bring Foot of Snow
    Feb 21 2026
    Expected overnight on Sunday
    The National Weather Service is predicting that up to a foot of heavy snow could fall in the Highlands on Sunday (Feb. 22) and Monday.
    Dutchess is expected to receive 6 to 12 inches, and Putnam is expected to receive 10 to 13 inches. Wind gusts could reach 45 mph, it said.
    A Winter Storm Warning will be in effect in Putnam County from 6 a.m. Sunday to 6 p.m. Monday. "The strong winds and weight of snow on tree limbs may down power lines and could cause sporadic power outages," the service said. The strongest winds are expected Sunday night into Monday.
    The Village of Nelsonville announced parking restrictions from noon Sunday through Monday. Parking will be prohibited on village streets, including on Main Street/Route 301. Designated winter parking spots are available on Adams Avenue and the west side of the Secor Street lot.
    For updates, see our Storm Resource Page.
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    3 mins
  • Looking Back in Beacon

    Looking Back in Beacon
    Feb 21 2026
    Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing.
    150 Years Ago (February 1876)
    Officer Stevenson of Fishkill Landing received a $200 reward [about $6,000 today] for his part in capturing the horse thief Jeremiah Storm.
    Four empty barges belonging to the Knickerbocker Ice Co. arrived at Dutchess Junction to be loaded with ice cut at LaGrange for shipment to New York City.
    The Bachelor's Social Club held a Leap Year party on Feb. 29 at Swift's Opera House in Fishkill Landing.
    After members of the Matteawan school board were criticized by parents for being out of touch, they visited the schoolhouse to see how the students were doing.
    The Matteawan Seamless Clothing Manufacturing Co. closed suddenly, putting 450 men, women and children out of work. The owner, Mr. Falconer, attributed the closure to $60,000 [$1.8 million] he had spent on a dam, machinery and buildings to produce the new patented Crossley carpets. Falconer also invested in French felt suits for women, which sold poorly, and spent $30,000 [$900,000] on a Methodist meeting ground on Long Island. The firm's chief creditor was Fred Butterfield, Falconer's son-in-law, who toured the shuttered plant and said he and others would continue to back it.
    James Member of Fishkill Landing planned to open a hotel in Philadelphia for Dutchess County residents visiting the Centennial Exhibition. But after a visit, he abandoned the plan, saying there were already many hotels, and real estate was being sold and rented at exorbitant prices.
    An arsonist set fire to the stable and wagon house of David Davis, a retired merchant. He lost a carriage and 50 bushels of oats, but his horse was saved.
    After Mrs. Hamlin refused to pay Dewitt Rogers for installing a pump in her home, he sued for damages. She testified that Rogers had installed three pumps in succession, but none worked, so she had the final one removed. A jury ruled in favor of Rogers, but an appeals court overturned the judgment.
    In 1867, a wealthy millwright in Boston introduced Milo Sage, president of the Fishkill Landing Machine Co., to Norman Wiard, who said he had invented a boiler attachment that would save fuel and prevent explosions. Sage paid Wiard for the exclusive rights, and Wiard began ordering dozens of "prototypes," for which he eventually owed Sage $15,000 [$450,000]. Sage later learned that Wiard was selling the attachments to the U.S. military.
    100 Years Ago (February 1926)
    Theodore Moith resigned after 44 years with the Beacon Police Department and 13 years as chief. In return, Mayor Ernest Macomber agreed to drop charges that Moith, who also served as a deputy sheriff, had collected questionable fees.
    Benjamin Roosa, age 67, felt ill while on a walk and stepped into a store on Fishkill Avenue but died before Dr. Julius Hayt could arrive. Roosa had been a railroad station agent and general manager for many years. He was also a former village president.
    The Beacon High School basketball team lost at Poughkeepsie, 14-11, in a game that included four ejections and a fourth-quarter dustup in which spectators ran onto the court and threw punches. Referee Mike Palen banished two players from each team. In the first quarter, Palisi, the Beacon captain, was forced to the bench for a few minutes after he was kicked in the stomach.
    At a roast beef dinner, members of the St. Rocco Society made plans to build a two-story clubhouse at the corner of South Chestnut and Dewindt.
    John Pomarico, described as "a well-known local wrestler," sued the city for $10,000 [$180,000] after he slipped on an icy sidewalk on Beekman Street and broke several ribs.
    The Denning's Point Brick Co. was installing machinery that its owners said would increase production from 166,000 to 300,000 bricks a day and eliminate the need for manual labor.
    The Frander Motor Sales Co. planned to open a Studebaker dealership in the former Stafford garage at the intersection of Main and South Chestnut.
    A snow melter invented b...
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    14 mins
  • Registration Lax on Short-Term Rentals

    Registration Lax on Short-Term Rentals
    Feb 20 2026
    Beacon cites lack of resources to compel compliance
    Nearly six years after Beacon legalized short-term rentals, most Airbnb listings are not registered with the city.
    According to Inside Airbnb, a data collection project based in Newburgh, 133 units in Beacon were listed on the booking site in July 2025. But files obtained by The Current under the Freedom of Information Law show only 33 are registered with the city, as the law requires.
    STR laws typically allow municipalities to limit the number of housing units being rented to visitors and ensure that rentals have safety features such as smoke detectors and don't disrupt neighborhoods.
    The 2020 Beacon law allows homeowners and tenants to rent or sublet their homes or apartments for up to 30 days at a time, for a maximum of 100 days per year. Rental spaces must be the host's primary residence, and accessory dwelling units cannot be rented.
    According to Inside Airbnb, which pulls its data from information posted by the platform, the hosts of 14 Beacon listings live in New York City and six live out of state. The 133 listings are more than triple the number (40) on the site a decade ago, but nearly the same as in June 2020 (126), when the council amended the zoning code.
    City Administrator Chris White said this week that Beacon does not have the staff to adequately enforce its STR regulations. Since Building Inspector Bryan Murphy was hired in March, the department has prioritized health and safety issues, including overdue fire inspections and enforcing sidewalk snow removal. White said enforcement of STRs has been mostly in response to complaints about noise or parking.
    New York State authorized Beacon to collect a 2 percent occupancy tax on hotel stays and STR rentals as of Jan. 1, 2025. The Roundhouse, Mirbeau Inn & Spa and other hotels are expected to generate the bulk of the $200,000 in tax revenue in 2026, White said. Airbnb will begin collecting the Beacon tax on its platform starting March 1.
    The City Council is likely to revisit its STR regulations this year. During a discussion of agenda priorities on Tuesday (Feb. 17), Mayor Lee Kyriacou noted that enforcing limits on short-term rentals could have the quickest impact on the "acute" need for housing. "The fundamental issue is rental costs are really high because there's not enough supply," he said. "Restricting short-term rentals would force them into the long-term rental stock immediately."
    According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, 41 percent of Beacon households are renter-occupied, and 185 units are listed as vacant, meaning they do not have long-term renters. "If some of those units were returned to the market, it would make it easier to find housing," said Murray Cox, who founded the data project.

    A New York City law adopted in 2023 is stricter than Beacon's: It also requires hosts to register with the city before accepting rentals of 30 days or less. Property owners must reside (and remain) in the unit; bookings are limited to two guests; and booking platforms cannot process transactions for unregistered listings. The law had an immediate effect, with 50,000 listings falling off the services between 2019 and 2023. There are now about 5,000, Cox said.
    In 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation authorizing counties to establish STR registries. Dutchess County officials have discussed creating a list; there has been no discussion in Putnam, a representative said.
    In Cold Spring, the Village Board enacted a law in 2021 to regulate STRs but began to review the measure three years later, saying the regulations were too cumbersome to enforce. Mayor Kathleen Foley says updating the STR code is a priority for 2026. The Philipstown Town Board this week discussed revisions to regulations it drafted in October that would require annual permits and inspections and ban parties.
    Critics say STRs need to be limited because they remove long-term housing from the market, drive up rents and negatively affect com...
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    7 mins
  • Nursing-Home Guardians

    Nursing-Home Guardians
    Feb 20 2026
    Programs advocate for long-term-care residents
    When Janice Munson walks through the entrance of a local nursing home, she has a list of names of the aged and disabled residents who have called for help.
    After those visits, she'll check in with other residents, sometimes asking if they have a physical therapy plan and if they are being taken for supervised walks to maintain their mobility. The answer is often no. "They'll say, 'I know there aren't enough staff, so I don't want to ask.' "
    Ensuring that residents obtain services is one of Munson's primary roles as a long-term care ombudsman, a position created by the Older Americans Act of 1965. The legislation requires states to provide independent advocates for residents in nursing homes, adult care homes and assisted living and rehabilitation facilities.
    Munson is among the eight volunteers who, along with five paid staff members, monitor 120 facilities in Region 4, which covers Putnam, Westchester and Rockland counties. Based in Cold Spring and led by Philipstown resident Judy Farrell, the region is one of 15 in the state. Region 5, based in Fishkill, covers Dutchess and five other counties.

    Nursing homes are the priority; the state wants them visited weekly and other facilities at least quarterly, said Farrell, who is also a member of the Philipstown Town Board. Although physical abuse draws headlines, complaints range from a staff member giving a resident the wrong medication or failing to follow therapy plans to dirty rooms, substandard food and a lack of recreation. Along with residents, the friends of residents and facility staff can report concerns, said Farrell.
    During the pandemic, when quarantines prevented families from visiting long-term care facilities, Farrell arranged for "compassionate care" visits. In one case, she helped a man unable to get his dying mother discharged to home hospice care. When she arrived home, he called Farrell, crying and grateful. "You can't replace that feeling," she said. "It's greatly satisfying."
    Arnold Tanner knows the feeling. A volunteer in Region 4, he visits a facility near his home in Sleepy Hollow twice a week. Carrying an iPad filled with notes, he meets first with people in the long-term-care units before introducing himself to newcomers and checking in at the rehab unit.
    He sometimes gets "a little better feel for the place" from newcomers and rehab patients, who are less reluctant to speak up, he said. Those in long-term care may fear retribution by staff, which is also a source of complaints.

    Statewide, the ombudsman program received 18,346 complaints during fiscal 2024, including 1,680 to the Cold Spring office. About a third were care-related, a broad category that includes accidents, falls, general requests for assistance and concerns about medications and physical therapy.
    Another 15 percent were complaints about staff failing to "honor and promote a resident's right or preferences" about healthcare, privacy, visitors and other areas. Many complaints related to food and admissions, including discharges and evictions. "Sometimes people face discharge for nonpayment when they might be eligible for Medicaid," Farrell explained.
    Complaints occasionally lead to legal action. In 2024, the state attorney general announced a $45 million settlement with Centers for Care, which owns four facilities, including one in White Plains, for "years of tragic and devastating mistreatment and neglect." According to the attorney general, "call bells regularly went unanswered, residents were forced to sit in their own urine and feces for hours, meals were not provided in a timely manner and personal belongings, including hearing aids, dentures and clothing, were often lost or stolen."
    After making On the Shoulders of Giants, a film about the orthopedics department at NYU Langone that was a Tribeca Film Festival Special Jury Award finalist in 2024, Cold Spring resident Peter Sanders turned to ombudsman programs. In March 2025, he began ...
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    8 mins
  • Do You LARP?

    Do You LARP?
    Feb 20 2026
    Documentary about role-playing Putnam camp to screen at Howland
    Alex Simmons was deep in the jungles of the Amazon, shooting a documentary for National Geographic about black market gold mines, when his co-director, Carina Mia Wong, turned to him and asked, "What do you know about LARPing?"
    Simmons didn't know anything about LARPing, or Live Action Role Playing. But when Wong told him about a LARPing summer camp in the Hudson Valley called Wayfinder, in which adolescents and teens spend a week running around in the Putnam County woods, improvising elaborate fantasy tales and whacking each other with foam swords, he agreed they'd found the subject for their next film.
    "When you're a kid, everything gets delineated," Simmons said. "You're told that you can either be into sports or be a nerd. But when I was a kid, I liked sports and Dungeons & Dragons."

    After an epic campaign through the festival circuit resulting in a dragon's hoard worth of awards, including a special jury award at the 2024 SXSW Festival in honor of the film's "bravery and empathy," We Can Be Heroes comes to the Howland Cultural Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday (Feb. 26). After the screening, presented by the Beacon Film Society, Judson Packard, the Wayfinder camp director, will answer questions.
    "What matters is that the campers get to tell their own stories," Packard says in the film. "And for each one of them, they are the main character of that story."
    Packard found Wayfinder as a wayward and moody teenager 20 years ago. It is a place where neurodivergent, LGTBQ+ and/or teens who don't feel like they fit in can be themselves. As a camper in the film exclaims: "It's all just a bunch of nerds, straight up vibing."

    Wayfinder was happy to participate with the filmmakers. But logistics were more challenging. "You have 40 kids running through 500 acres of land," said Wong. "How do we film that?"
    The filmmakers spent a summer figuring out how to film at night in the woods, where to place cameras and when to do tick checks (constantly). They also looked for campers they could follow. "It was a gut feeling," said Wong. "Who has the potential for a transformation? Whose journey are we invested in? Where can things go in a week?"
    The documentary focuses on kids like Cloud, an 11-year-old, first-time camper from White Plains who puts in two hours of daily lightsaber practice. There's Dexter, a 15-year-old homeschooler from Manhattan who's written two-thirds of a fantasy trilogy but just wants to get his crush's phone number by the end of the week.

    And there's Abby, a 17-year-old, budding animator who is battling gastroparesis and spinal muscular atrophy and has been given a troubling long-term diagnosis.
    Nevertheless, arriving at camp, Abby tells the filmmakers, "I'm pumped as hell. … Am I allowed to curse?"

    The scene gets more deliriously chaotic when the campers begin the "adventure game," an improvised, multi-day storyline. Entitled "The Last Green," the scenario posits that the campers form six tribes of faeries facing a mysterious black void that is closing in around them.
    The story becomes a film within a film as the tribes figure out whether they can work together to save their world. What happens next is something completely unexpected.
    Before the game kicks off, some campers say they see the story as a metaphor for climate change. But there's another darkness that the kids have been fighting off: The film was shot in the summer of 2022, as the pandemic began to wane. For many campers, even though they're wearing full-body cardboard armor and giving themselves names like Shard Dorpington and Infernuis Nocturna, this is the most normal thing they've done in years.
    "During the filming, it hit us how impactful COVID has been on this generation," said Simmons. "They were telling us, 'I didn't get to have my senior prom,' or 'It was supposed to be the most important year of my life, and I missed it.' I still get emotional thinking about it."
    The Howland Cultural ...
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    4 mins
  • The Scholar and Her Nazi

    The Scholar and Her Nazi
    Feb 20 2026
    Play recounts detention in German library cell
    In 1933, after the Reichstag parliament burned in Berlin, Hitler took power and imposed martial law. Fear and loathing roiled the Prussian State Library, where a young writer and philosopher, Hannah Arendt, drew the attention of the newly formed Gestapo.
    In Jenny Lyn Bader's play, Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library, based on actual events, Arendt spends eight days in a basement holding cell in the building while being interrogated about her affiliations.
    To convey the tight confines, The Depot Theater, where the production opens Friday (Feb. 27), is using a singular set, says artistic director Alice Jankell.
    The premise provides readymade tension. "Some of my favorite plays take place in rooms with no escape," says Jankell, who is directing. "Tight ensemble pieces where we can dig into the characters and let the actors fly make my socks go up and down."
    The Nazis suspect Arendt and her coterie are sending so-called "horror propaganda" about the mistreatment of Jews to media outlets abroad.
    In Arendt's words, she collected "antisemitic statements in ordinary circumstances," which made her "very happy. First of all, it seemed a very intelligent thing to me, and second, it gave me the feeling that something could be done after all."

    She may have sympathized with leftist and Zionist causes but never joined any organization. Even better, Arendt had cover while conducting research at the repository for her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, an influential German Jew with an identity crisis who died in 1833.
    The drama is driven by the intellectual interplay that animates the interrogation room, where Arendt (Lily Ganser) is interviewed by Karl Frick (Logan Schmucker), 26, a polite policeman promoted to the Gestapo.
    This is Frick's first interview of a political suspect, and he's required to hit tight deadlines, "follow the rules" and "fill in these boxes." Pivoting from bringing charges against perps to quantifying thought crimes is a perplexing task.
    The kernel of the story came to Bader when she found a brief mention of the detention in a translation of a three-hour interview Arendt did in 1964 with a German television station.
    "I made friends with the official who arrested me," said Arendt. "He was a charming fellow" who "had no idea what to do." He kept telling her, "ordinarily, I have someone there in front of me, and I just check the file, and I know what's going on. But what shall I do with you?"
    In response, "I told him tall tales," Arendt recalled.
    "Arendt only told that story once in public, and even though it's just a snippet, it's such a surprising description of a Gestapo interview," says Bader.
    After the play's 2024 premiere, more than 100 versions bounced around Manhattan to Martha's Vineyard and New Jersey. Bader humanizes Frick so well that "people often come up to me and say, 'I loved the Nazi character,'" she says. "I'm always out to defy stereotypes."
    The Depot Theater is located at 10 Garrison's Landing. Tickets are $35 ($30 students) at depottheater.org. Performances continue weekends through March 15. For more information on Arendt, see the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College (hac.bard.edu).
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    4 mins