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The Highlands Current is a nonprofit weekly newspaper and daily website that covers Beacon, Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, New York, in the Hudson Highlands. This podcast includes select stories read aloud.

  1. 3d ago

    Lawler Attacked on Health Care Lawler Discloses Drunk-Driving Arrest

    Ads blame congressman for insurance coverage losses Before Cait Conley won the Democratic primary in June to set up a clash with Rep. Mike Lawler for the U.S. House district that includes Philipstown, a group called Empire State Voices had already been buying ads criticizing the two-term Republican congressman's record on health care. In a February video that ran on YouTube, a woman identified as "Tracey from Pearl River" (Lawler's hometown) recounted draining her 401K after being denied coverage for cancer, and then regaining insurance through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. She was afraid Lawler "wants to take that away." In a YouTube ad that ran from late April to May, "Karen from Peekskill" accuses Lawler of cutting the Medicaid her parents rely on to "give tax breaks to billionaires." Lawler countered this month with an ad on Facebook and Instagram: "When premiums were on the line, Rep. Mike Lawler crossed party lines to extend the enhanced ACA tax credits that keep coverage affordable for NY-17 families." But the extension of those Affordable Care Act credits did not pass Congress. That failure and changes to the Republican-led One Big Beautiful Bill that could cut Medicaid enrollments by millions of people are two of the major themes as Conley, Democrats and advocacy groups target Lawler in November's midterm elections. His seat is considered a toss-up and is one of Democrats' main targets as they seek to regain control of the House, which has 218 Republicans, 212 Democrats, one independent and four vacancies. Their success may depend in part on the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed on July 4, 2025. The legislation, which Lawler voted for, extended tax cuts set to expire at the end of last year; temporarily raised to $40,000 (from $10,000) the amount of state and local taxes that can be deducted on federal returns; and allowed workers to temporarily deduct up to $25,000 in tips. But its provisions were also projected to cause 7.8 million people to lose Medicaid coverage by 2034. The bill also affected the health care exchanges New York and other states established when President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. A year after the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the effects on health care coverage are starting to emerge. New York said that because of cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill, the state's no-premium, no-deductible Essential Plan for low- and middle-income residents could no longer cover households earning between 200 and 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The estimated 450,000 people who lost coverage include individuals earning $31,920 or less annually and four-person households earning up to $82,500. Most of the affected enrollees — including an estimated 13,987 in District 17 and 15,656 in District 18, which includes Beacon — have until Aug. 30 to find subsidized health insurance on New York State of Health, the state's health exchange. But unlike their Essential Plan coverage, monthly premiums and deductibles will be required. Danielle Holahan, the executive director for the exchange, told New York Focus, a statewide news organization, that 150,000 to 200,000 Essential Plan users will be unable to buy insurance on the exchange or get coverage through their employers. Their dilemma, which took effect July 1, was the subject of a Facebook ad from a group called Families Over Billionaires. It featured state Assembly Member Dana Levenberg, whose district includes Philipstown. Calling the One Big Beautiful Bill the "big ugly bill," Levenberg charged that Lawler "lied to us. Not once, not twice but three times you voted to cut Medicaid, and you don't represent the people, you represent Donald Trump and all his flunkies." Rep. Mike Lawler, whose House district includes Philipstown, said in an interview with News12 on Wednesday (July 15) that he was arrested on St. Patrick's Day in 2012 on suspicion of drunk driving. At ...

  2. 3d ago

    Little Support for Philipstown Land Fund Water meters Short-term rentals Student honored Vacancies

    Town board also finalizing rental law A survey of Philipstown residents found little support for a tax on home purchases that would fund the purchase of open spaces, wildlife habitats and other natural resources, according to Town Board member Nat Prentice. The Trust for Public Land funded a three-week poll to "test out support" for a Community Preservation Fund, said Prentice at the board's July 9 meeting. "The results, from 307 responses, "suggested that the voters would not support a community preservation fund at this time, citing mostly cost-of-living reasons," he said. "All they heard was tax." Ted Warren, the public policy manager for the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, told the board last year that a tax of up to 2 percent would apply to the portion of a property purchase exceeding the median price for home sales in Putnam County, which was $580,000 in 2025. For example, a house that sold for $700,000 would be taxed on $120,000 of the sale. Philipstown took an initial step to create the fund, which would need voter approval, in August 2023 by adopting a Community Conservation Plan. But Supervisor John Van Tassel said at the time that the idea of a new tax during the pandemic "did not settle well" with the board. In addition, said Warren, another survey of Philipstown residents conducted by the Trust for Public Land showed "a lot of ambivalence" about a fund. Under the Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act, a state law that grants municipalities in Putnam and Westchester counties the authority to establish conservation funds, the money would be administered by a five- or seven-member advisory board composed of volunteer residents. The Town Board on Wednesday (July 15) approved a $95,050 bid by Cemco Water & Wastewater Specialists to buy and install water meters at properties in the Garrison's Landing Water District. The other bids were $276,400 and $320,200. The previous meters failed in 1999 after the district's source "went from a ground/surface-fed system to a well-fed system" and the pressure increased, Van Tassel said. Philipstown officials said the town did not have the funds to buy meters until the board authorized borrowing $500,000 last year to cover capital upgrades. To repay the loan, the town added a $2,500 levy to the tax bills of property owners within the district, including those who are not connected but use wells. Once the meters are installed, the town will calculate a per-gallon usage fee for properties that use the water, Van Tassel said. Philipstown is finalizing regulations governing short-term rentals, such as those offered on Airbnb. The town is expected to introduce a local law at its Aug. 6 meeting and schedule a public hearing. At the suggestion of Board Member Ned Rauch, the board agreed on Wednesday to add language clarifying that the limit of two people per sleeping area includes an exception for parents who want an infant or small child in their room. Prentice suggested the town eliminate an inspection requirement because STRs are "a very market-driven, self-regulating industry where bad operators don't survive." He noted that the owners of about 100 of the roughly 140 STRs in Beacon have not registered, as mandated by the city. "You could get people to attest that they are keeping in line with code and that their insurance covers them," said Prentice. "If you made it easy on them, they'd all sign up." But Van Tassel said he "would never rely on a homeowner" to ensure an STR unit is safe. In the past, he has cited a 2024 fire at an unregistered Airbnb in Salt Point that killed a Cape Cod woman and her 1-year-old daughter. The owners of the unit, which did not have smoke detectors despite an attestation that it did, were charged with manslaughter. "My feeling would be to send a building inspector," said Van Tassel. The Town Board presented a proclamation to Haldane High School student Allegra Clementson, who organized a food-scrap recycling program in the district as part of a pilot pro...

  3. 3d ago

    Righting the Wrongs 1154 North Ave. 321 Main St. Edgewater 248 Tioronda Ave. Mirbeau Inn & Spa 536 Main St.

    Beacon building draws Planning Board's ire For the second straight month, Beacon Planning Board Chair John Gunn blasted the 364 Main St. development team on Tuesday (July 14) as the board parsed discrepancies between the nearly complete building and plans approved four years earlier. According to a spreadsheet submitted by the Poughkeepsie-based Baxter group, which purchased the property in 2024, at least 21 features on the fenced-off structure deviate from the approved site plan. Some changes were made to architectural drawings that were approved when building permits were issued, project officials said. Others were "field changes" approved, sometimes verbally, by city officials onsite. A final category listed applicant/contractor changes. The changes range from window-sill sizes and detailing and the installation of sidewall vents to more noticeable deviations such as the replacement of fire-rated windows with solid walls in stairwells and in a rooftop lobby. In another instance, standard double windows were installed instead of Juliet balconies. A patio at the front of the building was modified because the floor height and Main Street sidewalk were not accurately represented on drawings. Steps and gates next to the adjacent Masjid Ur Rashid mosque were on the site plan but never constructed. A canopy over the residential entrance was removed, with a recessed entryway constructed in its place. Custom wood windows with decorative trim on the storefront were replaced with aluminum windows with insulated metal panels. At least one change — replacing the approved thin-brick veneer with full-depth bricks — likely enhances structural integrity, though it's unclear whether the city approved it. "I've looked at the timeline," said Jason Anderson, the president of ADG Architects, a firm recently hired by Baxter. "The contractor came in, got the building permit and built what was on the drawings, with the exception of the field changes. We have a finished painting that we're trying now to correct." The inconsistencies infuriated Gunn, who acknowledged he was repeating himself. "Do you understand the position that this applicant put the city in?" he asked, his voice rising. "This is a goddamn mess, and you're asking us to help you fix a giant mistake. This is an ugly building. It's built poorly. It looks horrible." Pointing at diagrams, he shouted: "It's not what we approved!" The issues have also derailed the tenants who expected to occupy the building's 8,800 square feet of commercial space and 20 apartments. The owner of Pure Physique, a gym set to open on the first floor, said in a letter to the board that she has had to provide membership refunds while absorbing the financial impact "of a business that is fully prepared to open but is unable to operate." Most of the apartments had been rented, project attorney Taylor Palmer said, but about 25 percent of the tenants pulled out because the building lacks a certificate of occupancy. After more than an hour of back-and-forth, the developer agreed to confer in a work session with the city's consultants. "We need better ideas," Gunn said. The board could vote as early as next month on a proposal to convert a two-story brick building to a karaoke bar called The Howl. The project has received pushback from nearby residents, but Gunn said Tuesday that a city consultant agreed that the applicant's plans to mitigate noise "appear to be very robust." Eric Weitner, the applicant, said he had scaled back operating hours to 2 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 p.m. to midnight on Thursday, noon to 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 11 p.m. on Sunday. Sundays will no longer revert to Saturday hours on holiday weekends. There will be no parking in the rear of the building, which adjoins the residential neighborhood. Responding to public concerns, Weitner said staff at The Howl will conduct "perimeter checks" five times per eight-hour shift to keep patrons from congregating outside. Security ca...

  4. 5d ago

    State Issues Data Center Moratorium

    Facilities face pushback nationwide Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order on Tuesday (July 14) imposing the country's first moratorium on data centers, whose hunger for electricity and water has raised fears of higher electricity bills and depleted aquifers. The order prohibits the Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing permits or licenses for pending data center applications for one year. It also tasks the agency and the Department of Public Service with developing standards to assess potential environmental impacts from the facilities. The warehouse-sized centers can house thousands of servers that are the repositories for the documents, images and video stored and shared by Americans through their smartphones and computers. Their construction has accelerated in recent years, driven first by cloud computing and cryptocurrency trading, and now by the processing needs of artificial intelligence (AI). Local officials and residents have expressed concerned that the energy required to run data centers will leave homeowners and small businesses paying higher rates and footing the bill for upgraded power lines. There are also fears that the water used to cool equipment will threaten aquifers and groundwater. New York will establish the "strongest standards in the nation," said Hochul, who opted to issue an executive order rather than sign a one-year moratorium approved by the Legislature. Her order directs Empire State Development to develop guidance for municipalities to obtain benefits from companies that want to build data centers. Earlier this year, Maine seemed poised to establish a similar moratorium. But the measure was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills because it would have blocked a proposed data center in a town that has struggled after a mill closed. Moratoriums have been proposed in at least a dozen states but have not gotten far, though some counties and municipalities have imposed temporary bans. For instance, the East Fishkill Town Board approved a three-year moratorium on June 25 after a nearly two-hour public hearing. The moratorium, which ends on July 1, 2029, prohibits permitting or consideration of any data center "until the completion of federal and state studies" of their power and water usage, noise and heat emissions. It passed amid protests from residents who learned that Treetop Companies had asked the New York Independent System Operator, which operates the state grid, to study the impact of an AI processing and cloud computing center at its property off Donovan Drive. While Treetop's center would connect to Con Edison's grid, NYISO will also study its effect on the Central Hudson's system, which distributes power to residents in Beacon and Philipstown. A proposal to build a 200-megawatt data facility at the shuttered Indian Point is also being studied. Protests also accompanied a vote by the Orangetown Planning Board on July 8 to require DataBank to undergo an environmental impact study of its plan to expand an existing data center. Bloomberg and JPMorgan want to expand data centers in Orangetown, and a developer is proposing to build a facility there. More than 100 communities nationwide have passed moratoriums, and eight municipalities and the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina have approved permanent bans, according to the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker. The Associated Press contributed reporting.

  5. Jul 10

    Parents Save Boy from Drowning Pool Safety

    Haldane first-grader pulled from pool The end of the school year is always a big day, but for a 6-year-old Cold Spring boy, it almost marked the end of his life. Haldane kindergarteners and first graders, along with their parents, celebrated the start of summer at a backyard pool party in the village on the afternoon of June 24, the Wednesday of the final week of school. Bethany Califano said that when she picked up her son, Georgie, from his first-grade classroom at Haldane Elementary that day, "he said everyone was talking about the party, and he really wanted to go." By 2 p.m., the party was in full swing; Georgie was standing by the shallow end of the in-ground pool. "He was waving at me, and I took a picture of him," Califano recalled. But things quickly became a blur for the mother of three. Moments later, while tending to her 1-year-old, she heard someone say, "Are you OK?" "I just knew they were talking about Georgie," she remembers thinking. Stephen Selman, one of the fathers at the party, noticed a boy at the bottom of the deep end of the pool. Because his arms were moving, Selman hesitated. Before he could remove his shoes, Stefanie Kean, a mom, dove in and brought Georgie to the surface. Selman helped her pull him out. Georgie was not breathing. His eyes were open, his lips and eyelids were blue, his skin was gray and his tongue was sticking out, Selman said. Selman, who was a lifeguard as a teenager and trained in CPR, gave Georgie rescue breaths. He was joined by two other dads with CPR training, Aaron Ernst and Aaron Bartkiw, and the three worked as a team, doing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth. "I pinched his nose, pulled his head back and blew as hard as I could into him," said Bartkiw, also a former lifeguard. "He threw up all over me." Ernst said Georgie, after vomiting four times, started screaming. "It was the best scream that I've ever heard!" Ernst said. "I was just crying and praying; I've never prayed so hard in my whole life," Bethany Califano said. "I've never been so happy to hear him scream; I held him, and he didn't want to let go." After a call to 911, first responders arrived within minutes, Selman said. At that point, a frightened Georgie was talking coherently. He was taken by the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, with his mother, to Mid-Hudson Hospital in Poughkeepsie. "We walked into about 20 doctors and nurses," she said. "It was pretty intense." After doctors examined Georgie, he was transferred to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Westchester County because of concerns about "secondary" or "delayed" drowning, which can occur up to 24 hours after a near drowning. Fluid builds in irritated and inflamed lungs, potentially causing respiratory failure. After his father, Bobby, and two sisters visited with Georgie, Bethany spent the night with him. He answered all the medical staff's questions quickly and alertly, allaying concerns about possible brain damage due to oxygen deprivation. "They kept giving him random prompts; in the middle of talking to me they'd ask him his favorite color, and he'd answer 'blue' immediately," his mother said. Georgie told his mother that he remembered standing in the shallow end and taking a step "and then it was deep," Bethany said. It isn't clear how long he was underwater. Children typically lose consciousness in 30 to 60 seconds, and brain damage can occur within four to six minutes. "I'm always watching the water, and every time I looked around there were two or three sets of eyes on that pool," Selman said. "There wasn't any neglect, but there is a lesson here about how quickly it can happen." Bethany said hospital staff emphasized that drowning doesn't usually occur as depicted on TV. A victim doesn't scream and splash. "It was so quick, so quiet," she said. "And he's a loud kid." After Georgie spent the night at the hospital, his classmates visited him via Zoom before he was released. Three days later, he spotted a children's inflatable...

  6. Jul 10

    Potential ICE Facility Draws Backlash

    Feds lease warehouse in Newburgh Elected officials and Hudson Valley residents are mobilizing against a potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Town of Newburgh, four months after the agency reversed plans to buy a warehouse in Chester. A notice published by the federal General Services Administration announced that ICE has signed a 15-year, $35.6 million lease with Houston-based Leverage Enterprises Inc. to rent 42,377 square feet at 800 Corporate Blvd., a warehouse owned by the National Realty & Development Corp. near Stewart Air National Guard Base. Citing concerns about the safety of its officers, ICE refused to confirm the warehouse as its location, and the GSA did not respond to questions about its tenant, according to the Times Union in Albany. But the GSA's solicitation in June 2025 sought space in Newburgh that could accommodate "a dedicated sally port/garage" with "secure access into [the] building for deliveries by government vehicles, including detainee buses and vans." More specific is a spreadsheet listing properties owned and leased by the GSA and posted at data.gov. As of Thursday (July 9), the warehouse at 800 Corporate Blvd. is identified as "New Lease-DHS ICE." The lease, first reported on June 30 by the investigative news site Project Salt Box, has sparked bipartisan opposition. Gil Piaquadio, Newburgh's supervisor and a Republican, said on July 2 that the town "will pursue all available legal options to prevent this facility from being established in our community." U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat whose District 18 includes Newburgh and Beacon, said the same day that he was "urgently seeking answers." "We've made it clear: We strongly reject a mass detention center or any ICE facility in the Hudson Valley," said Ryan, who attended a rally on Tuesday (July 7) at Algonquin Park in the town. "We won't stand idly by while ICE moves into our community, terrorizes our neighbors and makes us all less safe." That same furor greeted ICE's proposal to buy a former Pep Boys distribution facility in Chester to expand detention space as the agency implements President Donald Trump's mass-deportation plan. At least eight people have been shot and killed by immigration agents since Trump returned to office in January 2025, according to The Associated Press. They include a Mexican man killed by an ICE officer in Houston on Tuesday, and at least three U.S. citizens. In addition, over 50 ICE detainees have died, more than the previous five years combined, according to ICE data. Flush with funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE planned to expand its detention capacity by spending $38.3 billion to buy and retrofit warehouses capable of holding 1,000 to 10,000 immigrants. But its "detention reengineering initiative" faced nationwide opposition, including lawsuits. In February, Brian Maher, a Republican whose state Assembly district includes Chester, said ICE had confirmed it would not be purchasing the warehouse there. Opponents of a Newburgh facility are demanding the same decision. "This is about more than one building," said Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose Assembly district includes Newburgh and Beacon, at the Tuesday rally. "It's about deciding what kind of community we want to be." In June, The New York Times reported that ICE planned to sell or give to other federal agencies seven warehouses it bought in other states for $700 million. The agency still held, as of April, an average of 154 people at its detention facility at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, more than double its detainee population in January 2025, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Its largest facility in New York is in Batavia, between Buffalo and Rochester. ICE says it is expanding the 650-bed Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia in response to a recent state law that will bar the agency from detaining people in county jails, according to a report published Thursday by New York F...

  7. Jul 10

    Putnam Remakes Ethics Board Pandemic funding Livestreaming

    Legislators will appoint most members The Putnam Legislature on Tuesday (July 7) approved a law giving it the power to appoint the majority of the Board of Ethics. At the same time, it dissolved the current five-member panel, which had three vacancies. The 5-3 vote (with one legislator absent) could be vetoed by County Executive Kevin Byrne. The executive currently nominates all five volunteer members, who then must be confirmed by the Legislature. The revision reduces the executive's nominations to two and gives one to the Legislature's chair, one to its minority leader and the fifth to a majority of the Legislature. In 2025, according to its annual report, the Board of Ethics investigated three complaints of potential conflicts of interest and received one request for an advisory opinion. It also reviewed 193 financial disclosure forms. It lost three members in 2025: Roderick Cassidy resigned, Joseph DeMarzo decided not to seek another term and John Sweeny died. The board has a budget of about $31,000 for 2026, including $25,000 to hire outside counsel for ongoing litigation. Under the current system, "the Legislature's only role was to vote 'yes' or 'no' " on the county executive's nominees, said Legislator Jake D'Angelo, whose district includes parts of Carmel and Kent. "The public never knew how the candidates were identified, what their qualifications were or who else may have even been considered." As the Legislature's sole Democrat and minority leader, Nancy Montgomery would nominate one member for the panel. A proposal by Legislator Erin Crowley, who represents parts of Carmel, to eliminate the minority-leader nomination failed to gain enough support. "There was a lot of political grandstanding" about the minority nomination, said Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and Putnam Valley. "It's not about giving the minority control; it's about independence and public confidence." The measure shortens board members' terms from three years to two and retains language banning appointees who are lobbyists or officeholders in a political party. It also drops a requirement that at least one member of the board be a county officer, employee or elected official and instead bars anyone in those positions from serving. In addition, if the Legislature's nine members are from the same party, the county chair of the "non-controlling party" gets to choose the minority-party nominee. Putnam's code requires that Byrne hold a public hearing no later than 20 days after receiving the legislation and approve or veto it within 25 days. The Legislature can override a veto with six votes. The current board has two members: Barbara Scuccimarra, a former Republican legislator who was defeated by Montgomery in 2018 and 2021, and Paul Eldridge, Putnam's personnel officer. Despite the three vacancies, legislators decided in June against confirming two Byrne appointees because of the Legislature's plans to change the appointment process and dissolve the current board. A third Byrne appointee, John Molloy, dropped out amid concerns that his position on the Putnam County Republican Committee violated the ban on appointing members who hold office in a political party. Byrne accused legislators of trying to "hijack" the board and "block the board from doing its job." He also said that Molloy "had already taken steps to resign from the GOP committee upon his appointment." The Legislature formally reallocated $2.1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding initially earmarked for a mental health crisis center to paving projects. People USA had planned to lease space for the 24-hour "stabilization" center above a childcare center in Brewster, but that sparked outrage from residents and led the Town of Southeast to impose a moratorium on permits for medical and mental health clinics. The nonprofit then tried to open a center in an office building in Carmel. That provoked similar opposition, and the town's Planning Board rejected the applicatio...

  8. Jul 10

    River Pool Cancels Annual Hudson Swim

    Newburgh dock withdraws as starting point The Annual Great Newburgh to Beacon River Swim, in which more than 200 swimmers accompanied by dozens of kayaks and other support boats traverse a mile-wide section of the Hudson River, has been canceled for this summer. Scheduled for Aug. 1, the fundraiser for the Beacon River Pool was called off after the Riverfront Marina of Newburgh withdrew as the starting point, said Karen Frillman, president of the River Pool board. The group has held the swim annually since 2004, except for one year during the pandemic. Frillman said the Riverfront Marina told her that its insurance company will not allow swimming from its docks, although River Pool has event insurance and participants sign liability waivers. Marina representatives declined comment. The swim is the primary fundraiser for the River Pool, which opened last week for its 18th season at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park in Beacon. The event raises about $50,000 annually to pay for lifeguards and other operating costs. In addition to a $75 entry fee, swimmers raise money through sponsors. The pier at the Riverfront Marina was an ideal place to start because it projects into the river, allowing swimmers to jump safely without wading over rocks and other obstacles, Frillman said. "We do four groups of 50 swimmers, and they jump in. It's deep enough. You go down, but you don't touch the bottom. And you take off." Frillman said the marina has been the starting point for most of the event's history. In the early years, swimmers left from a dock by Torches restaurant, now Blu Pointe. Frillman said that no one has ever been seriously injured jumping off the docks. "People may have gotten a scratch, but we've never had any kind of an insurance issue, never had any kind of a problem," she said. She said River Pool has been unable to find another safe starting point that allows a direct swim to Beacon. The group will refund 2026 entry fees and look for a solution for 2027. Frillman acknowledged that the swim across the Hudson is risky, which is why the event has at least one kayak minder for every three swimmers. "Getting 200 people across this tidal river is tricky," she said. "You get pushed down by the ebb tide. Then there's slack tide. And then the flood tide kicks in." The River Pool itself takes precautions against risks of swimming in the river. The pool is designed with a walkway that allows swimmers to cross tricky rocks to reach it, and it is 17 feet wide and 30 inches deep, with a net bottom. It's attached to the riverbed with cables, allowing the pool to move with the tide. The pool was modeled after the floating swimming cribs anchored in the East River off Manhattan in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Scenic Hudson prohibits swimming in all of its two dozen waterfront parks, in part because of liability, said Seth McKee, executive director of its Land Trust & Land Programs. Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston, which the nonprofit created with New York State, will soon offer supervised swimming.

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About

The Highlands Current is a nonprofit weekly newspaper and daily website that covers Beacon, Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, New York, in the Hudson Highlands. This podcast includes select stories read aloud.

Information

  • Creator
    Highlands Current
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Clean