A 56-year-old woman riding on a float in a St. Patrick's Day parade in the Sullivan County hamlet of Rock Hill was killed on Saturday, March 14 after falling off and being run over by a trailer towing a backhoe, according to the New York State Police and the Times Herald-Record.

At 1:20 p.m., Susan McCormick was riding in the back of a Ford pickup truck that was towing a backhoe, police say. When the driver, 25-year-old Bjorn Egenes, pulled over at a gas station to talk to someone in the parking lot, McCormick stood up, "facing forward with her legs against the tailgate of the truck," a state police press release says.

When Egenes finished his conversation and pulled the truck forward, McCormick lost her balance and fell backward over the trailgate of the pickup and onto the ground, where she was run over by the trailer the pickup was pulling, police say.

Above: Students at Delaware Academy in Delhi celebrate the installation of solar panels at the school's sugarhouse. Photo via Catskill Solar's Facebook page. 

In the Catskills, students are tackling climate change in big ways. At Delhi's Delaware Academy, students helped install a photovoltaic panel to power the school's sugarhouse in 2013.

At the Manhattan County School in Roxbury, a geometry class partnered with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to tackle a real-world erosion control project on the Rondout Reservoir.

Even down on Staten Island, over 100 miles away from Delhi, students at PS 57 studying the effect of climate change in the Catskills. 

Above: Donna Lewis. Photo by Franco Vogt. 

Donna Lewis, the singer who brought us "I Love You Always Forever," a single that was ever-present on the radio in 1996, is coming to Bearsville.

Lewis has a new album, "Brand New Day," that features her trademark breathy voice, Neil Young and David Bowie covers, some new songs that showcase Lewis' classical training and jazz chops, and, yes, a new version of that single she'll be known by forever. 

Lewis will play the Bearsville Theater on Friday, March 13 as part of a New York tour celebrating the album's release. From the show's publicity materials: 

Above: The seat of Delaware County's government, in Delhi, NY. Photo via the Delaware County website. 

New York state’s comptroller has found that Delaware County awarded millions of dollars to third-party contractors between January 1, 2013 and June 9, 2014 without soliciting competition, or, in some cases, requiring contracts at all.

A lack of “proper administration and oversight” plagues Delaware County’s contractor system in the Departments of Aging, Public Health, Mental Health and Social Services, according to a report released on March 6 by Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“The County has awarded nine third-party contracts totaling $1.9 million without soliciting competition … and has paid three vendors $770,000 for various services without any written contracts with the vendors,” the comptroller’s staff wrote. “The lack of competition creates a risk that services will not be provided in the most prudent and economical manner.”