Times Herald-Record
‘WE MUST DO BETTER’
Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff has promised to use frustration and outrage voiced by the campus community over the university’s handling of a former student’s allegations that she was raped at a campus fraternity house in 2024 to fuel...
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Cornell suspends frat parties, social events
Cornell University has suspended all parties and social events at its fraternity houses for the rest of the school year as the Ivy League college faces scrutiny of its role in an alleged gang rape that took place at the campus’ Chi Phi fraternity house...
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Hochul opts NY into school tax credits
Despite pushback from several top New York lawmakers and education advocacy groups, Gov. Kathy Hochul says she’s opting into a federal school tax credit program some say would negatively impact the state’s public schools. The Federal Scholarship Tax...
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‘Choosing each other again’
Pine Brook Manor in Sparrow Bush has selected a winner for its wedding giveaway. h Owners Colin and Indiana Crilley launched the giveaway earlier this year as part of a “We Need More Love” initiative to offer the facilities for free to one marrying...
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Leaf-peeping season is here
While there may still be some remnants of lush summer greenery in the mid-Hudson Valley, the tops of the trees have been kissed by the sun and vibrant foliage is fading in. h Those reds, yellows and oranges aren’t going to last for long. Chillier...
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OUTRAGE CONTINUES
Cornell University students continue to protest as the school’s administration attempts to address the outrage surrounding the Jane Doe allegations and the handling of her case. h A former Cornell student known anonymously as Jane Doe filed a civil...
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NY lawmakers oppose federal school tax credit
Two of New York’s top lawmakers are clashing with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s stance on a federal school tax credit program as they have concerns that it will negatively impact the state’s public schools. The Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, often referred to...
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‘Sanctuary policies are a disaster for our country’
CHAPPAQUA — Rep. Mike Lawler joined gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman and other campaigning Republicans to condemn New York’s new limit on police cooperation with immigration enforcement and spotlight two recent arrests in Westchester and...
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‘An uproar that’s going to help the community’
This story references domestic violence. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1800-799-7233 or visit thehotline.org or text “START” to 88788. Callers can remain anonymous. EMT and...
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Norris denies allegations in Cornell sexual assault lawsuit
Scott Norris, a Canandaigua, New York, native and one of seven men named in a civil lawsuit alleging a sexual assault at a Cornell University fraternity house in 2024, has publicly denied participating in sexual activity or drug use during the...
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School book bans reach record high
Public schools banned nearly 12,000 books in the 2025-2026 school year, according to new data from PEN America, marking the highest number since the organization began tracking book bans in 2021. That figure includes more than 7,300 unique titles,...
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NY Data centers, childcare and IBM
Candidates for New York Senate District 39 shared their positions on some of the Hudson Valley’s biggest business and economic issues at the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce’s September breakfast. Incumbent Robert Rolison and his...
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Cornell rarely expels students for sexual assault, violence
More than 1,200 incidents of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking were reported to Cornell University’s Title IX office from 2018 through 2024, USA TODAY found in an exclusive analysis of data the school reported to New York state....
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Pilots not warned about winds before fatal crash
An air traffic controller did not provide required information about tailwind conditions to the pilots of an Amazon cargo plane before it overran a runway at Miami International Airport and crashed Sept. 6, killing five people on the ground, according...
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NY sexual assault laws to be revisited
The New York State Assembly is forming a working group to take a closer look at the state’s sexual assault statutes in the wake of the recent filing of a civil lawsuit alleging a gang rape took place inside a fraternity house on Cornell University’s...
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The long afterlife of QAnon
On Election Day in 2024, as voters cast their ballots, Elon Musk posted a campaign music video supporting Donald Trump’s bid for president. h Set to Van Halen’s “Jump,” with a montage of 1980s cultural references and images of Trump in various...
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NY backing solar, wind farms despite pushback
Thirteen large-scale renewable energy projects from Albany to the Southern Tier and points north cleared a key hurdle recently as New York tries to build momentum for its clean energy buildout. The projects — a mix of solar, landbased wind and...
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SAVORING FALL FLAVOR AT GARLIC FESTIVAL
x Elise and Chris of Beacon take turns trying the garlic chowder from the Boy Scouts of America Troop 8 during the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties on Sept. 26. v Braided garlic hangs on display for sale at Gipperts Farm of...
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A MODERN TUDOR OASIS
TUXEDO — Amenity-laden new luxury living inspired by an old, smalltown feel in Tuxedo has opened leasing, with plans to move in its first tenants in October. Set across a 1,200-acre development, The Village at Tuxedo Reserve is a...
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ARRIVAL, INSPECTION, DECISION
You do not have to go to Ellis Island to search for a family name. h A passenger’s name, age, occupation, nationality, last residence and destination can now be pulled from a database far from New York Harbor, far from the ferry, far from the Great...
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West Point named NY’s top liberal arts college
West Point Military Academy was again ranked the top liberal arts college in New York, according to the latest ranking from U.S. News & World Report. In the latest annual report, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was ranked No. 1 among...
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CLAIM YOUR MONEY
MIDDLETOWN – “Cash that check,” New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli told Orange County and Hudson Valley residents at a press conference announcing unclaimed funds Sept. 23. The event at 22 Maltese Drive in Middletown was attended by several local...
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‘It will come at a cost’
County officials across New York are putting together their 2027 budgets while grappling with a cost hike imposed by Washington that makes it harder to avoid or minimize propertytax increases. As part of last year’s federal tax and spending cuts,...
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Global diesel shortage unlikely to ease by 2027
NEW YORK – A global diesel shortage fueled by wars in Iran and Ukraine is unlikely to ease before next year, according to storage market indicators and industry participants, extending a spike in fuel costs that is weighing on economies worldwide. The...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sept. 22. On this day in: 1862: President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that enslaved people in the rebellious states would be free as of Jan. 1, 1863. This pivotal act reframed the Civil War as a...
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Tuxedo mansion goes international
Abathrooms,1920s estate in Orange County’s gated Village of Tuxedo Park is in open auction with a current highest bid of $7 million as of Sept. 18, broadening the field to an international market of buyers. Renamor, a 22,400-square-foot mansion...
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The herd immunity ‘illusion’
Students across New York are once again renewing old acquaintances, breaking in new backpacks and showing off freshly purchased outfits. They also possess what state and local health officials say is among the most important back-to-school accessories...
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GOP lawmaker publicly breaks with president
A Republican congresswoman from Florida running for reelection in a heavily Hispanic district is criticizing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in a new campaign ad, an extraordinary public break with the president for a GOP candidate. Rep....
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Many in NY struggling to afford basic needs
Recently released data paints a picture of extensive financial pressures facing mid-Hudson Valley residents. According to the United Way of New York State and United For ALICE, nearly half of residents in Dutchess and Orange counties are feeling the...
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U.S. human rights scores plummet
In the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections, how is the U.S. government performing in terms of human rights? Listening to politicians, it can be difficult to know. On one hand, some have pointed to a number of potential human rights abuses committed...
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SEX-TRAFFICKING CRACKDOWN STALLS
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has repeatedly said the fight against sex trafficking is one of its top priorities. But investigations have stalled and prosecutions declined because of staffing shortages, funding cuts, immigration enforcement...
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DIGITAL DETOX
A trove of recent articles bemoan the collapse in recreational reading among younger Americans, with COVID-19 pandemic-related reading declines, artificial intelligence and social media often described as causes. But as the authors of “How Gen Z...
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IDA weighs $69M Amazon tax package
The Orange County Industrial Development Agency held a public hearing on Sep. 10 to discuss the revised tax incentives for the Amazon Bluebird project proposed at 22 McBride Road in the Slate Hill hamlet in the Town of Wawayanda. The amended proposal...
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FROM ASHES TO ILLNESS
Ageneration later data now show that three times as many people have died with a confirmed 9/11-related illness than perished during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Some 9,677 people have died since their exposure to the toxic mix of chemicals...
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FDNY chief dedicated retirement to service
The first thing former New York City Fire Captain Dan Daly noticed the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, was how beautiful a day it was. A great day to fly to Block Island on his day off, he thought. At the time, Daly, who would later retire as an FDNY...
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THE 9/11 SKY
Twenty-five years after 9/11, Greg Semendinger’s aerial photos still transport him back to that fateful day. h Semendinger, a detective and helicopter pilot for the New York City police, had been dispatched to the World Trade Center right after the...
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World Trade Center beam tour comes to West Point
Hundreds of first responders, family members and others gathered in the rain at the United States Military Academy at West Point Tuesday, Sept. 1, to view, touch and, in some cases, offer a prayer before an original steel beam from the World Trade...
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New data reveals 19K ICE arrests in NY
PORT CHESTER — Jirandy Martinez’s voice trembled with anger as she talked about the deportation push that has swept up immigrants in Westchester County and left children to wonder if their parents will be next. “It is unacceptable that in this...
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GRIT, GRACE & GRATITUDE
Jeffrey Coniglio is dressed in white down to his shoes, his daughter Giada in a flowing pale green gown. They are twirling across the dance floor to music from “The Greatest Showman” when, suddenly, Giada flips head over heels and then swings out into...
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Speaking Colonially
Did loyalists to the English crown think that George Washington, John Adams and Ben Franklin were a bunch of snollygosters and belswaggers brabbling as they droiled and desudated in the July heat? h Did their hearts ake, missing the wimmin and dawters...
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PRESS UNDER PRESSURE
In his White House Correspondents’ Association dinner speech on July 24, President Donald Trump made his usual diatribes against the news media. He derided the “failing” New York Times and reiterated his complaint that CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins...
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Mid-Hudson teacher earns lifetime achievement award
One local classroom will soon be welcoming back a teacher who was recently recognized with a national lifetime achievement award. It’s Linden Avenue Middle School‘s Martha Strever, who has been a math teacher in Red Hook since 1961. The district is...
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‘ISOLATED’
Severe storms, heat waves and wildfires can shut down the social life of a community, flooding out festivals, canceling community events and keeping people indoors. They’re also evidence of how climate change isn’t just changing the environments we...
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Confession thrown out in 9/11 case
A U.S. military judge has thrown out Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s 2007 confession to FBI agents about his alleged lead role in the 9/11 attacks, ruling that it wasn’t given voluntarily and can’t be used against him at trial. The Aug. 28 ruling by the...
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Wawayanda board meeting broils over
TOWN OF WAWAYANDA — The town planning board meeting to consider the proposed Marangi waste station on Dolsontown Road drew a raucous full house where residents often shouted and opposed the plans while invoking Wawayanda history, its rural, tranquil...
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2026 midterms target of record spending Crypto, AI, betting firms fuel campaign donations
NEW YORK – A handful of billionaires and companies are driving corporate spending in midterm elections this year, and they aren’t the usual power brokers who have sat atop the political food chain in Washington in previous decades. Crypto companies,...
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Officials call USPS ballot rule impossible
Current and former election officials said it would take something close to “an act of God” for their states and localities to comply with a new U.S. Postal Service mail-in ballot rule just weeks before the midterm elections. The rule, which the...
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Colleges confront decline in reading
Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students’ reading habits, or rather nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than an unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age. Reading – not just...
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ICE agreement ban now in place in New York
Most of the formal cooperation agreements between local law enforcement agencies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York were dissolved ahead of the state’s ban going into effect on Tuesday, Aug. 25, according to Gov. Kathy...
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Sheriff: Ex-fire chief shot wife, then himself
Two well-known Poughkeepsiearea community members were found dead Friday, Aug. 21. More information has now been released by the Ulster County Sheriff ’s Office, and the investigation has determined that James Brugger, 66, murdered his 54-year-old...
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Gov. Hochul urged to restore victim aid funds
Several Republican lawmakers in New York are pushing to restore funding for New York’s crime victim assistance centers as they’re expected to take a funding hit in the coming months. On Friday, Aug. 21, Senate Republicans sent a letter to Gov. Kathy...
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Embryo personhood debate gains notice
About 100,000 babies were born through in vitro fertilization in 2024, according to the most recent U.S. data. But IVF commonly involves trying to create multiple embryos, because success is never guaranteed. If unused, those embryos can be frozen,...
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Honoring ‘Backpack’ Jim
Murray Farm in Westtown is not a farm in the conventional sense. It is 84 acres of wooded land with a “secret shelter” for thru-hikers located at the border of New York’s Orange County and New Jersey. The property welcoming strangers belonged for...
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Iran vows ‘devastating’ response to threat
DUBAI – Iran said on Aug. 21 that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership. Washington prepared for...
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TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Aug. 21. On this date in: 1831: Believing that God had chosen him to lead his people to freedom, enslaved minister Nat Turner began the deadliest slave revolt in the United States. The rebellion killed 60 people and required a 3,000-man...
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Trump plan could hit science funding
Most Americans don’t read the rules that govern the federal grants funding science. Those rules, called the Uniform Guidance, shape how cancer research is funded, graduate students are trained, clinical trials are sustained, universities stock their...
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Prosecutions pursued more aggressively under Trump
Christian Garcia was charged by the U.S. government following an immigration protest, only to have all charges dropped.
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Trump orders S. Korea drill cuts
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Aug. 16 instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with long-term Asian ally South Korea, citing the cost of the drills and Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against...
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CONTROVERSIAL EXCHANGES
Will President Donald Trump say the words “fake news” during his next public appearance? Who will be the 2028 Republican or Democratic presidential nominee? How many tweets will Elon Musk post next week? On what date will the price of gas hit...
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Making a case for the midterms
Bruce Blakeman was fired up and sounding confident about his campaign as he laced into Gov. Kathy Hochul’s record and talked up his own feats as a county leader from Long Island. Blakeman, leading the charge for New York Republicans this fall as their...
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Mangione pleads guilty to stalking
NEW YORK – Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in a surprise decision that allows the 28-year-old to avoid a federal trial and could affect a separate murder case against him in connection with the fatal shooting of a health care...
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3 kids hurt from power lines at camp in Fallsburg
Three children were injured Wednesday after high-voltage utility lines fell at a day camp in Sullivan County, according to county officials. The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Aug. 12 at Camp Shopron, also known as Machaneh Shopron, along Route 42...
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Al-Qaida, Islamic State group adopting AI
Artificial intelligence may not create a new kind of terrorism, but it makes existing tactics cheaper, faster and easier. That is the central argument of a July report from the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. h It...
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Before dating apps, there was the Catskills
Before dating apps, social media, and swiping right, there was the Catskills. For much of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers escaped to the mountains each summer looking for fresh air, great entertainment, and time with family. But...
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Military bases delay toxic PFAS cleanup
It’s been almost five years since Brandi and Brad Hyatt found out the well at their home next to an Army base in Washington is contaminated with “forever chemicals.” h They started using bottled water for everything from making coffee to rinsing off...
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10 Local bars we wish made the USA TODAY Bars of the Year STILL AMAZING SPOTS
Goodnight Kenny, the City of Poughkeepsie bar that just about every local will point to as a good choice for a night out, was honored as one of USA TODAY’s 2026 Bars of the Year. To get this, USA TODAY Network food journalists across the country named...
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HOW NEW YORK’S ROUTE TO A RENEWABLE ENERGY FUTURE WENT OFF COURSE
In summer, Bill Leonard looks out his front door onto a lush green hillside bordered by cornfields and hay bales. Eagles, owls, deer, coyote, even a moose. Leonard’s seen them all during the 32 years he and his wife Patricia have lived in the Cape...
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Reports: U.S. missile supply badly depleted
The war on Iran has severely depleted key U.S. missile stockpiles and left the nation and its allies in a vulnerable position for potentially years to come, several experts and reports say. U.S. missile stockpiles were low before President Donald...
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A debt of gratitude
A community member is raising funds after a fire at Coldenham FireRescue injured five firefighters and caused significant damage to the facility building and equipment in the Town of Montgomery. The fire was discovered in the garage bays in the early...
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Gunshot detection tech ignites controversy
When gunshots ring out on America’s streets, bystanders face an instant, high-stakes dilemma. h Do I call the cops? Were those even gunshots? Maybe it was just fireworks. h Every moment of hesitation risks a delay in medical treatment or gives a...
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‘THE DECLINE IS SIGNIFICANT’
When Ashton Reed voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, he was drawn by Trump’s vow to recharge the economy and curb the inflation that many around his hometown of Jackson, Missouri, blamed on then-President Joe Biden. Reed, 22, who has worked at...
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Petition wants Mamdani to skip 9/11 event
Some relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks are urging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend this year’s 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony, arguing that his presence would detract from what they say should remain a solemn day...
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Support grows for ‘Death Gamble’ bills
GOSHEN — Touting a bipartisan, unanimous collaboration, lawmakers joined law enforcement officials at the Orange County Correctional Facility on July 30 to announce the passage of two “Death Gamble” bills. Held outside the county facility on 110 Wells...
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The Teflon Officer
TOP TWO: Portions of Marlborough Police Department documents show supervisory concerns about Joseph DeAngelis’ conduct while employed at the department as a dispatcher. When officer Joseph DeAngelis interviewed for a job at the Poughkeepsie Police...
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Attack sparks fears wars could merge
WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States insisted that leaders in Kyiv are not playing “a game of chess” with their recent drone strike on an Iranian ship and have no interest in leveraging their conflict with Russia into a wider, global...
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Hudson Valley creator turns ruins into award-winning storytelling
This local podcast is redefining the format. It is not about listening to people who sit around a table and talk to each other. It is in a strange realm between real and fantasy, somewhere between a documentary and fictionalized radio drama....
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