Who needs an Oscar? The first place winners at the Catskill Mountains Film Festival take home a home-grown version of the iconic golden statuette: the "Catty," a cat hand-carved by a Catskills woodworker out of foraged mountain birch.
Left: A "Catty," the official award of the Catskill Mountains Film Festival. Contributed photo.
One hundred films hand-picked films from New York State and beyond will screen at three local venues during the 2014 festival, which runs from Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4.
Adult, high school and college-aged filmmakers will vie to win the coveted Catty in each of six categories, from narrative and documentary features and shorts to music videos and animation.
A raccoon that was killed in a recent fight with a dog in the Delaware County hamlet of Bloomville was found to be infected with rabies, county health officials announced.
The raccoon was sent to the New York State rabies laboratory for testing. County officials received a positive rabies test result on Friday, April 25.
The dog was up to date on its rabies vaccinations, and received a booster shot after the attack. No humans were exposed to rabies in the incident.
Above: A trailcam in Delaware County catches a nocturnal glimpse of an elusive wild boar. Photo taken in August 2013; courtesy of USDA APHIS.
A statewide ban on the hunting and trapping of feral swine -- also known as wild boars or Eurasian boars -- went into effect on Monday, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced in a press release.
Above: A graphic from the National Weather Service in Binghamton, showing the flood watch area across upstate New York and Pennsylvania that is in effect Wednesday through early Thursday morning.
Heavy rains are in the forecast for eastern New York and Pennsylvania Wednesday afternoon and evening, prompting the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue flood watches across the Catskills region.
For the second year running, a pair of bald eagles nesting near the Gilboa Dam has hatched a pair of fuzzy gray eaglets, according to a press release from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the dam.
A man was severely injured after losing control of his all-terrain vehicle on Route 10 just north of the village of Sharon Springs on Thursday, April 24, according to press releases from the Schoharie County Sheriff's Office.
The man, Franklin Butler of Sprakers, was driving a 2003 Arctic Cat south on the highway at 7:56 p.m. on Thursday night when he lost control and was ejected from the ATV, according to the press release.
Butler sustained head and neck injuries and was airlifted to Albany Medical Center. As of 11 a.m. this morning, he was still at Albany Medical Center, diagnosed with "severe head trauma."
The Sharon Springs Fire Department and Rescue Squad, the Schoharie County Sheriff's Office, and Schoharie County Medics responded to the accident.
The Sheriff's Office is investigating the cause of the accident.
Above: Business owners discuss a proposed bed tax for Delaware County at a public meeting in Arkville on March 25, 2014. Photo by Julia Reischel.
The Delaware County Board of Supervisors took the first step towards levying a two percent tax on room and hotel rentals in Delaware County at a meeting on Wednesday, April 23.
Seventeen of 19 town supervisors voted to approve a resolution requesting authorization from the New York State Legislature to impose the tax, known as a bed tax or an occupancy tax. The tax, according to the text of the resolution, would "provide a dedicated funding stream to promote and develop the tourism industry in Delaware County." (The resolution is embedded at the bottom of this story.)
At around 7:50 p.m. on March 18, Mattice, 24, awoke from a nap to a smell like a burnt candle. The hallway outside his room was filled with smoke. When he ran downstairs and opened the kitchen door, flames burst out at him.
His sister Sarah ran inside and let their four dogs out. Their father Charles went in and pulled her out after. When the fire started, they were in their freestanding garage away from the house.
Once Nick was on the ground, he broke into a side door and got a fire extinguisher, which didn’t work. Desperate, he threw snow at the fire.
Within five minutes, the fire roared out of the house.
Above: Photo of the Bull Run culvert passing under Main Street in Margaretville, the site of a proposed flood mitigation project that may be carried out with funds from the NY Rising program. Photo by Tetra Tech; from the Margaretville NY Rising Committee's Community Reconstruction Plan.
Two communities in Delaware County that were heavily damaged in the Irene and Lee floods -- the villages of Margaretville and Sidney -- have won $3 million bonus awards from Gov. Cuomo's NY Rising program, in a competition among flood-affected communities for state funding.
Above: Police announce the arrest of 21-year-old Basheem Bennett for a 2 a.m. shooting at Murphy's Restaurant and Pub in New Paltz that left one man dead and a woman injured. Left to right: Lt. Perry Soule of the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, Chief Joseph Snyder of the New Paltz P.D., and Ulster County D.A. Holley Carnright. Photo by Katherine Speller.
In a Wednesday morning press conference held at the New Paltz Police Department, chief Joseph Snyder announced the arrest of 21-year-old Poughkeepsie resident Basheem Bennett on second-degree murder and first-degree assault charges.
Days before Bennett's arrest, New Paltz police chief Joseph Snyder told reporters and local residents that the shooting was not random. Snyder writes in a press release issued Monday:
"This is not a random act of violence nor the act of an active shooter running around town. We believe that the victims and perpetrator were known to each other. This incident is a spillover from some incidents in the City of Poughkeepsie," Snyder wrote. "This incident did not take place due to an overcrowed bar, filled with intoxicated people that began to fight and resulted in this shooting incident. This act just happened to take place where it did based on window of opportunity."
Our correspondent Katherine Speller was on hand for this morning's press conference. Below: Tweets from Speller and other reporters at the conference.
Left: A "Catty," the official award of the Catskill Mountains Film Festival. Contributed photo. 
