New Paltz

Upcoming Events in New Paltz

Paul Rishell & Annie Raines

May 18, 2013 - 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Memorial Day Weekend Barn Sale

May 25, 2013 - 9:00am - May 26, 2013 - 4:00pm
Fifth Friday Dance Meet Up: Big Joe Fitz & the Lo Fi's

May 31, 2013 - 7:30pm - 10:00pm
The Maestrosities

June 1, 2013 - 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Annie & The Hedonists

June 8, 2013 - 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Maria Zemantauski Trio with La Nina Flamenco Dancer

June 15, 2013 - 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Mohonk Mountain Stage Readers Theater presents "Other Desert Cities"

June 21, 2013 - 8:00pm - June 29, 2013 - 12:00pm
Pirate School! with David Engel

June 22, 2013 - 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Wildlife Show with Andrew Simmons

July 7, 2013 - 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Fifth Friday Dance Meet Up: Cajun dance with Too Much Fun

August 30, 2013 - 7:30pm - 10:00pm

Community Announcements

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USDA's new definition of 'rural' could hurt small towns

By Lissa Harris
3/1/13 - 12:40 pm

Rural enough for ya? Photo of dirt road in the Delaware County town of Meredith by Flickr user somervillebikes; shared in the Watershed Post's Flickr group.

A newly-released report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends a change in the agency's definition of "rural," a shift that would make larger towns newly eligible for a variety of USDA grants.

The new definition, if adopted, would replace several different definitions currently used in different USDA grant programs with a single criterion: To be considered "rural," a community must have less than 50,000 people.

Under the old definitions, to be eligible for community water and waste disposal grants and loans, a community could have no more than 10,000 people. For community facility grants and loans, the upper limit was 20,000 people. Read more

New York State toughens law on hydrocodone prescription

By Lissa Harris
2/27/13 - 5:45 pm

Photo by Flickr user Jeff Adams; published under Creative Commons license.

A new state law intended to combat illegal recreational use of hydrocodone, a highly addictive opiate that is the main ingredient in Vicodin and other prescription painkillers, went into effect this week.

The law reclassifies hydrocodone from a Schedule III to a Schedule II drug, tightening restrictions on prescribing the drug and banning automatic refills. It also establishes a new statewide online database for doctors and pharmacists to report and track controlled narcotics, dubbed the Internet System for Tracking Overprescribing, or I-STOP.

Other opiates with high addictive potential, like oxycodone, have been on the Schedule II list for some time. Many public health advocates have argued that hydrocodone deserves to be regulated more strictly, citing the drug's widespread abuse, addictive nature and the frequency of hydrocodone-related deaths. Read more

Heavy snow to fall in the Catskills

By Lissa Harris
2/26/13 - 6:12 pm

Forecasters are calling for heavy, wet snow to fall across the Catskills late this evening and overnight, moving from south to north.

Accumulations could reach 5 to 10 inches in western Greene and Ulster Counties, according to a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service in Albany:

Maximum Snowfall Rates...An Inch Per Hour...Mainly Late Tonight Through Wednesday Morning. * Timing...Snow Arrives After Midnight. Snow Possibly Heavy At Times...Mixing With Or Changing To Rain In Some Areas By Wednesday Afternoon...Then Changing Back To All Snow Wednesday Night. * Ice Accumulations...A Minor Coating Of Ice Is Possible Over Western Greene And Western Ulster Counties.

Schoharie County is under a winter weather advisory, with forecasts of up to 3 to 8 inches of wet snow. Read more

Fuel truck, meet tree

By Lissa Harris
2/25/13 - 10:37 am

Photo courtesy of Woodstock Fire Department; reproduced by permission.

A Bottini fuel truck driving on Glasco Turnpike in Woodstock early Saturday afternoon veered off the road and struck a tree, leaving the driver trapped in the cab.

In an account of the accident on their website, the Woodstock Fire Department wrote that the driver had to be extricated from the truck, and suffered minor injuries. There was no fuel spilled, and Bottini was on the scene within an hour to offload the fuel from the truck.

The driver was 50-year-old Robert Lang of Palenville, the Freeman reports. Read more

Maple syrup season gets underway in New Paltz

By Charlene V. Martoni
2/24/13 - 10:06 pm

Six-year-old Lucas Lemos gets a taste of fresh maple sap at Brook Farm in New Paltz. Photo by Dawn M. Cservak.

Three bundled-up boys huddled in the morning mist to catch drops of sap as it trickled out of a freshly drilled 1-inch deep hole in the bark of an old maple tree. Lucas, 6, licked the sap from his finger and looked up at his father, 39-year-old Luciano Lemos of Riverdale, in shock.

“It tastes a little like syrup,” he said, smiling. “Like watered down syrup.”

A handful of folks from all over New York State traveled to Brook Farm on Saturday, February 23 to take part in a maple sugaring prep-work party. The volunteers scrubbed metal buckets for sap collecting and piled up firewood to be used later for distilling the sap. They also set up maple tree taps on the 20-acre property.

The Brook Farm Project is a nonprofit sustainable farm just west of the village of New Paltz. The farm runs on a community supported agriculture (CSA) model, where members purchase shares of the season's produce and pick up fresh crops each week from June through November. Read more

Snow and sleet in the Catskills forecast

By Lissa Harris
2/23/13 - 11:30 am

Watch out on the roads tonight, drivers: Winter weather advisories are in effect this evening across the Catskills region, and forecasters are calling for freezing rain changing over to snow overnight.

The National Weather Service in Albany has issued a winter weather advisory for Greene, Ulster, Columbia and Dutchess Counties, from 6pm tonight til 7am Sunday morning: Read more