A snow plow and two tractor trailers were involved in a series of accidents caused by "speed and poor decisions" at exit 96 on Route 17 in the Sullivan County town  of Rockland on Wednesday, according to the New York State Police.

One tractor-trailer driver fled the scene and was trailed by an off-duty New York State Department of Transportation employee for miles into Delaware County before being caught in the town of Hancock, police say. 

On Wednesday, March 4, "at the beginning of the morning commute," a tractor trailer hauling garbage attempted to pass a snow plow while heading west on Route 17, a press release states. While trying to pass, the truck side swiped the plow, and both vehicles stopped.

Above: Hilt and Stella Kelly at the 2014 Fiddlers! Festival in Roxbury. Photograph by Jill Ribich of Catskill Images. 

Hilton Kelly, the legendary Catskills fiddler and square dance caller, died on Tuesday, March 3 in Mountainside Residential Care Center in Margaretville, according to a friend of the Kelly family. He was 89 years old and is survived by Stella Kelly, his wife and bandmate of 66 years, as well as two children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

Above: Hilt Kelly playing at the Slow Jam at the Pine Hill Community Center, May 10, 2013. Shot by VeccVideography on Vimeo.

Above: New York State Broadband Program director David Salway, left, talks with Greg Henderson, middle, the owner of the Roxbury Motel, and Angela Liotta, right, the state's Broadband Outreach Director, on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Photo by Julia Reischel. 

In his draft budget for the 2015 - 2016 fiscal year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing an ambitious goal: high-speed internet for everyone, including in rural areas like the Catskills, by 2019. Greene County, in the Catskills, has the worst broadband access in the entire state, according to statistics released by the governor’s office. 

The Schoharie News, an online digital newspaper covering Schoharie County, is becoming a weekly print newspaper.

Left: Tim Knight. Photo by Erika Day. 

Tim Knight, the paper's 21-year-old owner, founded the Schoharie News as a digital-only online news outlet in June 2013. The site made a name for itself with Knight's careful reporting about the minutiae of county politics and his sharp-tongued, often fiery editorials about local government. 

Knight, who is graduating from SUNY Cobleskill with a degree in communications this spring, briefly sold the paper to another owner, Robert Panico, before buying it back last month. Now Knight plans to take the publication in a whole new direction.

Image provided by Spillian. 

What do fly fisherman do when trout season is a month away and the temperatures are still deep-freeze cold? At this time of year, reminiscing fondly about being thigh-high in a Catskills stream is about as close to fishing as you can get.

This Sunday, March 1, a group of consummate Catskills anglers with over 100 years of fly fishing experience between them is gathering at the Spillian resort in Fleischmanns to tell "Trout Tales." 

From the press release:

A not-to-be-missed historic opportunity to sit around the table as some of the living legends of fly fishing join us in an evening of anecdotes, recollections and reminiscences of friendships and time spent with legendary names like Art Flick, Frank Mele, the Darbees and the Dettes, Herman Christiansen, and others -- of the great fish and the great streams from the birthplace of American fly-fishing, the Catskills Mountains.