@watershedpost a closer shot of the building. Roof still on fire. I was not allowed to get closer. pic.twitter.com/maWb6wF42a

— Lucas Fox (@JPSXeserox) May 19, 2014

Above: A photo of a blaze on Main Street in Catskill, tweeted by a Watershed Post reader late Monday afternoon.

A fast-moving fire destroyed a building under renovation on Catskill's Main Street on Monday afternoon, the Catskill Daily Mail reports:

The structure, at 609 Main Street right next to Tatiana's Italian Restaurant, was fully engulfed a little after 5 p.m., and has been called a total loss...

...Catskill Assistant Fire Chief Ed Dolan said the basement and first floor were in flames when he arrived on the scene within a minute of the call going out.

Oorah, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that runs two summer camps for Jewish children in Schoharie County, filed a lawsuit this week against the town of Jefferson, where Oorah's Boy Zone camp is located. 

In the lawsuit, filed in Schoharie County court on Thursday, Oorah claims that the town and its building inspector, Keith Brooks, are delaying construction and deliberately withholding certificates of occupancy for the camp's new buildings. The camp claims that the town is seeking to obstruct the building project in order to keep Oorah from being granted full property tax exemption on the camp property. 

Oorah has asked the court to force the town of Jefferson to "approve construction plans, inspect construction, and issue certificates of occupancy" for their new gymnasium and other buildings. If the town approval is not granted, the camp will not be able to legally use the new buildings.

The current dispute is part of a larger battle between Oorah and the town of Jefferson over the camp's tax-exempt status. As a religious organization, Oorah is exempt from federal taxes, but the tax-exempt status of the camp itself is in dispute. 

Above: A landslide on a steep bank overlooking Route 42 in Lexington. Photo by Lissa Harris.

A stretch of Route 42 in Greene County was shut down on Thursday morning after a mudslide, and remains closed. Traffic has been shut down from Spruceton Road in Lexington to the Ulster County line, and drivers are being detoured around the area via Route 23A and Route 214. 

The mudslide was discovered around 9:40 a.m., according to Bryan Viggiani, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT). 

On Thursday afternoon, Viggiani said the DOT had staff at the site of the mudslide assessing the situation, and more were en route to the site. It is unclear when the road will be re-opened, he said.

A SUNY New Paltz student and two of his recently-graduated roommates got a real-life ethics test this March, when they bought an old couch for $20 -- and found $40,000 in cash stuffed into the cushions. 

The Little Rebellion, a student publication at SUNY New Paltz, recounts the tale of how third-year geology student Reese Werkhoven, recent New Paltz grad Lara Russo and Mount Holyoke grad Cally Guasti discovered that the grubby, smelly old couch they'd just brought home from the Salvation Army was stuffed with envelopes of twenty-dollar bills. 

Werkhoven told Little Rebellion reporter Hobie Ramin that the find was about $39,999.50 more than he'd ever found in a couch before:

“The most money I’d ever found in a couch was like fifty cents. Honestly, I’d be ecstatic to find just $5 in a couch.”

Then they found something else: A woman's name, scrawled on one of the envelopes. 

This Wednesday, Woodstock's eateries will be putting their best food forward at the second annual Taste of Woodstock. 

The event kicks off at 6 p.m. with a wine tasting at the Film Center on Rock City Road. There, participants can pick up a wristband and a map of over 20 participating restaurants and other well-loved members of the Woodstock food scene who will be offering tastings all over town. Restaurants hailing from beyond downtown Woodstock -- like the Red Onion in Saugerties, or Kingston's Blue Mountain Bistro to Go -- will be setting up shop at several venues in town. 

Wristbands, which will buy access to all of the tastings, are $75 through May 13, or $85 on the day of the event -- pricey, but with proceeds going to benefit the Woodstock Film Festival and Hudson Valley Film Commission, it's for a good cause.