Above: Amy’s Take-Away Ensalada Mixta from 4 local farms — Story’s, RSK, Migliorelli, and Foxcroft, by Robert Sink, one of the entries so far in the 2015 Catskills Food Guide Photo Contest. 

The contest is closed. Check out all great entries on the Catskills Food Guide Facebook page, or on our Flickr page. To see who won, click here. Thanks to everyone who entered! - Ed

As part of our 2015 Catskills Food Guide, which we're working on now, we're hosting a Catskills Food Guide Photo Contest, sponsored by the Peekamoose Restaurant & Tap Room in Big Indian.

On Monday, September 8, a group of plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit accusing the town of Mamakating and the village of Bloomingburg of engaging in "pervasive, government-sponsored religious discrimination" against Hasidic Jews.

The plaintiffs ask the US District Court's Southern District of New York to prevent the village of Bloomingburg from voting to dissolve itself on September 30. They also ask for $25 million in damages. 

It's an election year, and today is the day to vote in the primaries. 

The biggest race in the primary is on the Democratic ticket, where underdog candidate Zephyr Teachout is challenging New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. Teachout is attacking Cuomo from the left by comparing his fiscal policies to those of Ronald Reagan.  Cuomo is doing his best to ignore Teachout's campaign entirely. (Literally. During a Labor Day parade in Manhattan, Cuomo managed to ignore Teachout as she stood directly in front of him.

Teachout's running mate, Tim Wu, is running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor against Kathy Hochul, Cuomo's running mate. The race is its own separate primary, and if Wu wins, he could find himself in the odd position of being Cuomo's running mate in the general election.

As for local Catskills races, there are a few worth noting. 

Left: Bryan Babcock. Photo via Babcock's campaign. 

The Delaware County town of Franklin is holding a Republican primary for a town council seat. Bryan Babcock, the owner of Handsome Brook Farm and Bed & Breakfast who is also a professor at Hartwick College, is vying with Lisa Huyck and Donald Smith for one of two seats on the board. Babcock has criticized the town board for not implementing a comprehensive plan for Franklin.

"With several major infrastructure projects on the horizon in Delaware County," Babcock said in a press release. "it is essential that we protect our roads and utilities. To do this we need to be proactive as a Town Board. I feel that my experience as a business leader will help the Board be even more effective for Franklin residents."

In the Ulster county towns of Hardenburgh and Denning, the Sullivan County town of Neversink, and the Delaware County towns of Andes, Bovina, Davenport, Delhi, Hamden and Meredith, there is a Republican primary race for the 101st State Assembly District, which features a contest between Claudia Tenney and Chris Farber.  According to the Daily Star, the outcome of the primary doesn't matter -- both Tenny and Farber will make it to the ballot in November. 

The New York State Department of Transportation has closed Route 42 in Greene County's Halcott Mountain Pass for a few days this week to remove the remains of a rockslide that cut across the road in May.

Beginning today, Monday, September 8, Route 42 in the town of Lexington will be closed from "just south of Beech Ridge Road to a point approximately four miles north of Route 28," according to a DOT press release. Drivers will be re-routed from Route 23A to Route 214 to Route 28.

The road is expected to be closed for the entire week.

On July 2, floodwaters stood two feet deep on Main Street in the Sullivan County village of Jeffersonville. Other spots in the towns of Callicoon and Delaware, including the Villa Roma Resort, were also inundated by flash flooding.

But the amount of damage -- particularly to the Jeffersonville sewer system -- wasn't enough to trigger an infusion of federal disaster aid. So Cuomo appropriated $2.8 million from a state emergency fund to cover the damage instead, he announced on September 3.

"The State support will help cover the public costs of the County’s cleanup effort as well as make infrastructure improvements to prevent future flooding along NYS Route 52," according to a press release issued by the governor's office this week.

Cuomo is running for re-election, so the announcement included lavish praise from many Sullivan County officials.