An old rule of etiquette: Don't discuss religion or politics at the dinner table. In upstate New York, one might banish two more incendiary topics from polite dining conversation: Fracking and gun control. 

Since the hasty and controversial passage of New York State's SAFE Act, the question of how the state ought to regulate gun ownership has become an especially divisive issue in the Catskills region, and across upstate New York. Most of upstate New York's counties, and many of its towns, have passed non-binding resolutions condemning New York State's new law.

One such town was Shandaken, whose town board's recent passage of an anti-gun-control resolution has sparked a backlash and petition drive from the town's more pro-regulation residents.   Read more

From a glance at the New York State Police blotter, the arrest of two Stamford women on Monday evening on minor charges, after a "disturbance" at a local restaurant, doesn't look too unusual. 

But a local man who witnessed the incident described a bizarre and harrowing scene: An unhinged woman throwing plates and mugs at staff, tearing up money and throwing it in the air, and striking out and "hissing like a demon" at staff and patrons who tried to subdue her. 

The man -- who asked not to be identified -- told the Watershed Post that he was just about to leave Gabrielle's Restaurant in Stamford, after a quiet Monday evening dinner with his husband, another couple and their baby, when all hell broke loose. 

"The waitress came out to give us our receipt and she was shaking,'" he said. "She just started crying, and [the mother of the baby] hugged her. She said, 'There's a woman over there throwing plates and striking at me, it's crazy.'"  Read more

Pro tip: Don't lose these. Photo of kayak paddle by Flickr user Jan Smith; published under Creative Commons license.

Two men from Pine Bush who hoped to kayak the Neversink River on Sunday, from Holiday Mountain to Cuddebackville, had to be rescued by state police after their river expedition took a harrowing turn. 

The pair set off on their journey on Sunday around noon, according to a statement from state police, but ran into trouble along the way, overturning their kayaks several times and losing their paddles. Around 11:30pm, police got a report that kayakers were lost on the river, and began organizing a search for the men. Troopers used the kayakers' cell phone signals to track their location through the night, and found the men's vehicles.  Read more

Above: The last FEMA trailer in the village of Schoharie being towed away from Mary and Jim Bryant's front yard on Thursday, April 4. Photo by Alison Bryant; used by permission of Schoharie Area Long Term Recovery. 

The flood-ravaged village of Schoharie reached a big milestone last week, when the last FEMA trailer was hauled out of town for good. 

The news was announced recently by Schoharie Area Long Term Recovery (SALT), a regional coalition formed to help the Schoharie Creek Basin recover from the 2011 Irene and Lee floods. Jerrine Corallo writes that Mary and Jim Bryant, the last family in Schoharie still relying on a FEMA trailer, were able to get back into their flood-damaged house in time for Easter.   Read more