Rural utility companies call it the "last mile problem": Even in places where there is a network nearby that carries data, the final connections that bring service to individual houses are the most difficult and expensive to build. In the rural Catskills, where houses are far from one another and remote from population centers, many homes and communities still lack access to high-speed internet or cable television.
Board chairman Jim Eisel, supervisor of Harpersfield, told the Watershed Post that at Wednesday's meeting, two supervisors objected to the wording of several items in the initial resolution: Marge Miller of Middletown and Dennis Valente of Davenport.
"[Miller] felt there were some inaccuracies in it. She moved to table it, and Dennis Valente seconded it," Eisel said.
Rather than send the resolution back to committee and delay a vote by another month, Eisel said, he opted to take a recess and rewrite the resolution on the spot. Read more
Over a year and a half since the Irene and Lee floods wreaked devastation on the Catskills, the long work of recovery is still going on.
This week, the Catskill Watershed Corporation announced a new initiative: a grant program to help nonprofits that were badly damaged in the 2011 floods. The program is open to any 501(c)3 organizations or state-chartered museums with buildings located inside New York City's Catskill-Delaware watershed. Read more
A newly-released report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends a change in the agency's definition of "rural," a shift that would make larger towns newly eligible for a variety of USDA grants.
The new definition, if adopted, would replace several different definitions currently used in different USDA grant programs with a single criterion: To be considered "rural," a community must have less than 50,000 people.
Under the old definitions, to be eligible for community water and waste disposal grants and loans, a community could have no more than 10,000 people. For community facility grants and loans, the upper limit was 20,000 people. Read more
The newly restored Delaware Inn, located at 54 Main Street in the Village of Stamford, will be the location of the next holiday pop-up farners' market on Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 10 AM to 1 PM.
The Delaware Inn has a long history in the Village of Stamford and has been recently renovated into a 19-room luxury destination inn. The first election of Stamford village officers took place there in 1870. The post office was located in the building for many years, and Theodore Roosevelt is said to have stayed there in the early 1900s when he was Police Commissioner for New York City.
In 2007, the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC), a non-profit local development corporation responsible for economic development in the NYC Watershed, purchased this landmark inn and began a massive reconstruction project. Two guided tours will be given on the day of the market (10:30 AM and 12 PM).
On Wednesday, 3/6 at 6:30pm in Margaretivlle, come to a beginner's guide to online advertising on Facebook, Twitter, Google and more. Call or email Julia Reischel at 845-481-0155 or julia.reischel@watershedpost.com, or register online below.
Introduction to online advertising
Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, LinkedIn, and more: Online advertising is a billion-dollar-a-year business. But most people are mystified by how online ads work. Here’s the beginner’s guide to setting up an ad on three different sites and making sure you don’t pay too much for it.
At the end of the session, you will be able to: Read more
The law reclassifies hydrocodone from a Schedule III to a Schedule II drug, tightening restrictions on prescribing the drug and banning automatic refills. It also establishes a new statewide online database for doctors and pharmacists to report and track controlled narcotics, dubbed the Internet System for Tracking Overprescribing, or I-STOP.
Other opiates with high addictive potential, like oxycodone, have been on the Schedule II list for some time. Many public health advocates have argued that hydrocodone deserves to be regulated more strictly, citing the drug's widespread abuse, addictive nature and the frequency of hydrocodone-related deaths. Read more
Maximum Snowfall Rates...An Inch Per Hour...Mainly Late Tonight Through Wednesday Morning. * Timing...Snow Arrives After Midnight. Snow Possibly Heavy At Times...Mixing With Or Changing To Rain In Some Areas By Wednesday Afternoon...Then Changing Back To All Snow Wednesday Night. * Ice Accumulations...A Minor Coating Of Ice Is Possible Over Western Greene And Western Ulster Counties.
Among a slate of resolutions to be taken up at the Delaware County Board of Supervisors' next meeting on Wednesday, February 27 is a four-page declaration of opposition to the SAFE Act. The resolution was brought forward by Tom Axtell, the Republican supervisor of Deposit.
"[Gov. Andrew] Cuomo did it in the dead of night and got it through. I think it's an abuse of power, and it certainly isn't democracy," he said. "I don't think we can change it, but we are going to oppose it." Read more
Watch out on the roads tonight, drivers: Winter weather advisories are in effect this evening across the Catskills region, and forecasters are calling for freezing rain changing over to snow overnight.
Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, LinkedIn, and more: Online advertising is a billion-dollar-a-year business. But most people are mystified by how online ads work. Here’s the beginner’s guide to setting up an ad on three different sites and making sure you don’t pay too much for it.
