Programs in New Paltz include the county, local police and the Tavern Association. They have many areas of focus, including spotting sexual assault, prevent violence and intoxication.

Held the day after International Women’s Day, the event was an excuse to demonstrate solidarity on a long list of issues impacting women, locally and around the globe, with a rally and march.

The onset of a snowstorm dampened the turnout but not the Carnival spirits of dozens of families who attended the Mardi Gras celebration on March 3 at the Elting Memorial Library. The walls of the library’s community room were covered with wallpaper evoking the ornate cast-iron balconies lining the streets of the Big Easy; display cabinets were filled with Mardi Gras masks; and book aisles were festooned with purple, gold and green decorations.

Faye Dunawaywith and Warren Batty, the leaders of an infamous Hollywood cult, will die at the Oscars. Was it murder? Every star in Hollywood has a motive. But who had the opportunity? Figuring that out — in between cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and dessert — will be your pleasurable assignment when you attend Mayhem at the Oscars, a benefit for this year’s High School Scholarship Fund awards from the New Paltz United Teachers on Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m., at the New Paltz Jewish Congregation Community Center.

Traditionalists won out in a recent vote that pitted the current policy against one that would give individual churches more autonomy. Local churchgoers say the church has been a “big tent” and fear it’s moving in the opposite direction.