Above: Vendors set up at a Stamford holiday market in 2013. Photo via the Greater Stamford Area Chamber of Commerce's Facebook page.

Farmers and artisans will give you one last chance to buy Catskills-made local gifts this weekend in Stamford at a Holiday Pop-Up Farmers' Market hosted by the Greater Stamford Area Chamber of Commerce.

Local meats, cheeses, maple products, honey and jam and herbal teas will be available, as will pottery and sewing crafts. The Ate.O.Ate Food Truck will dispense holiday snacks as you shop. 

Above: A rendering of the Montreign casino.

The New York State Gaming Facility Location Board has chosen to allow one developer to build a casino in the Catskills: the Montreign Resort Casino in the Sullivan County town of Thompson. The board also granted two other casino licenses in two other regions in the state in its selection report, which it released today. (Read the full report by clicking here.)

Montreign, a division of Empire Resorts, will be built on the site of the former Concord Resort Hotel in Monticello. The casino will be part of a larger destination resort called the Adelaar.

Above: After two people fell to their deaths while hiking Kaaterskill Falls in 2014, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation installed a new fence and signage at the top and bottom of the waterfall. Photo via NY DEC. 

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is drafting an amended management plan for Kaaterskill Falls, a spectacular Greene County waterfall where two hikers died in 2014.

After lobbying by state and town officials, the DEC installed new fences and signage at the waterfall in October, according to the Daily Mail.

Above: New York City Department of Environmental Protection staffers install a new "under-ice water quality monitoring buoy" on the Ashokan Reservoir on Thursday, Dec. 11. Photo via the NYC DEP's Flickr page. 

Before this year, scientists at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection had to spend the winter taking an airboat into the icy waters of the Ashokan Reservoir to sample the quality of the water destined for the city's taps by hand.

Now a robotic sensor designed to spend the winter under the ice will take over the job. 

Robots mounted on large rafts already sample the water on the city's Catskills reservoirs in warmer months, but they are too large and fragile to handle ice and snow. Every winter, they are hauled out.

Eighteen people were arrested on drug charges after a 14-month investigation by Greene County and New York State police and officials on Friday, Dec. 12, according to a press release from the New York State Police.

The arrests spanned Greene County from Jewett and Lexington to New Baltimore. The lengthy investigation involved undercover operatives buying cocaine, crack, heroin and prescription drugs from suspects around the region. Sealed indictments were handed down throughout November and December, police say.

The list of the 18 people arrested is below:

Joey Rodriguez, age 34, of Catskill, N.Y.: Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 2nd (2 counts) and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 2nd (2 counts)

Gregory “Rebel” Bernard, age 37, of Catskill, N.Y.: Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 2nd (2 counts) and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 2nd (2 counts)

Brian Bridgham, age 31, of Catskill, N.Y.: Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 3rd (1 count) and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 3rd (1 count).