116 years of Mohonk weather records show strong warming trend
Folks on both sides of the global warming debate have been known to accuse one another of “junk science” — of crunching some numbers in ways that support their arguments while ignoring others. But here in the mid-Hudson, we are privileged to have as a neighbor an entity that collects climate data in a manner...
Ashley Poulin illustrates classic kids’ song “Risseldy Rosseldy”
If you were a young art student dreaming of a career writing and illustrating children’s books, what would be the best way to get started? Seems like you couldn’t ask for a more auspicious beginning than winning a competition that results in your first book being published. And that’s exactly what happened to Marlboro resident...
Dr. Donald P. Christian will be sworn in as SUNY New Paltz president next Friday
Former provost and vice president for Academic Affairs Dr. Donald P. Christian has served as interim president of SUNY New Paltz since Steven G. Poskanzer stepped down from the post of president in June 2010. But apparently the trustees of the college saw him as no mere placeholder, since the requisite national search for a...
New Paltz High School students to perform “Seussical”
New Paltz High School (NPHS)’s annual spring stage musical, Seussical, officially hits the boards next Thursday evening, March 22, and runs through Saturday, March 24. Judging by a peek backstage at rehearsals last week, all the kids (and a few adults) involved in the production are psyched up and in fine voice. The timing is...
Teachers share literacy tips and tricks at Hudson Valley Writing Project’s free seminars
In this high-tech era of texting and tweeting, how can our schools ensure that the ability to express oneself in writing doesn’t go extinct, and that our kids grow up prepared to meet the working world’s demands for literacy skills that transcend fluency in Instant Message acronyms? In a harsh economic climate, when politicians are...
Gardiner supervisor-elect Carl Zatz
While the whole country lately seems to be in a “Throw da bums out” sort of mood, there’s definitely something to be said for an incoming officeholder having a short learning curve. The Town of Gardiner kicks off 2012 with a new supervisor who also happens to be a familiar face: Carl Zatz, who served...
Gardiner Year in Review
In a community as small as the Town of Gardiner, sometimes issues that seem fairly minor in retrospect become subjects of hot controversy, if only because they’re the only game in town for residents who relish the sport of politics. Decisions that happen routinely in larger burgs can take years to resolve while every active...
Chomsky lecture on Zinn packs SUNY New Paltz
In an article in last week’s Alm@nac previewing Noam Chomsky’s Dec. 4 visit to SUNY-New Paltz, this correspondent described the speaker as a “rock star” to linguistics geeks. But I seem to have underestimated his appeal — at least combined with the appeal of the subject of his lecture, the eminent historian Howard Zinn. Never...
One-stop resource for new parents now open at New Baby New Paltz
The more things change, the more things stay the same, it’s said. Breastfeeding babies has been around as long as there have been…well, babies to feed; and La Leche League has been around since the 1950s. But we still read news stories like the recent one about a Michigan judge who publicly humiliated a woman...
Gardiner Livable Communities Committee to publish Senior Resources guide
Many Ulster County residents are transplants from busier places, lured by a romantic vision of Life in the Country. We came seeking peace and quiet and less pollution and a slower pace, in bucolic communities where one worries more about deer eating one’s shrubbery than about muggers or burglars or street gangs. Gardiner, with its...
Gardiner voters pick Zatz, Reynolds, Wiegand, Blatchly and Haynes
Election night turned out to be a happy occasion for Gardiner Democrats who gathered to watch the returns at the home of Town supervisor candidate Carl Zatz. The Dems swept every contested race in the town, prevailing over their Republican/Conservative/Independence Party opponents. Former County legislator Tracey Bartels ousted incumbent District 16 legislator Jack Hayes by...
Veteran county legislator challenges incumbent in Gardiner’s District 16
Besides the local races for town supervisor, town board, highway superintendent and town justice, the citizens of Gardiner have the opportunity on Election Day to choose between two seasoned contenders as their District 16 representative in the Ulster County Legislature. Both incumbent Jack Hayes, 68, and former legislator Tracey Bartels, 41, have brag-worthy accomplishments under...