A tangled tale
A story of legislative sausage-making, alleged anti-Semitism, and state money.
Voices
Ask a professor: Robert Miraldi discusses First Amendment challenges in the age of digital and social media
We have met to talk about the unprecedented journalistic conditions of the Trump Age, in which the press finds itself demonized, discredited and (often literally) attacked. Meantime, digital media have created all kinds of new sources, opportunities and venues for journalists, who, in the podcast and oral history age, enjoy latitude for opinion and personal identity as never before. And no one really gets paid much for any of it. New media companies still appear to work in spacious, urban, open-plan offices, but it is a stock Getty image. Everyone’s actually holed up in a bedroom somewhere drinking Monster.
X-stuff and Planet Nine
Astronomers use the letter X followed by a constellation name to represent objects emitting X-rays — a rarity in the cosmos.
Healthy conclusion
Implementing single-payer on a state level might result in a better system than nationwide Medicare for All. At least that’s the opinion of Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, who has forgotten more about health-care policy than most will ever know.
Hunting stories
Hunting season is upon us. Though this sport has lost favor in the last few years, I still await clothed hunters who now with bright day-glow orange are easily recognized at convenience stores and gas stations. Most sport their tags on the backs of their jackets.
Asked to dance
Like many institutions today, SUNY New Paltz puts a premium on increasing diversity and inclusion. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the college’s ambitions for inclusion will be in the quality of its graduates. What skills will they contribute to a world sadly in need of healing? Will they be able successfully to bring to their careers the civic values they learned in their student days?
Letter: The Kingstonian’s trinity of deficiencies
“The Kingston Planning Board’s determination that the proposed Kingstonian project won’t have an impact on the character of the Stockade district highlights the ethical, personnel and institutional deficiencies in our city government,” writes a reader. “It defies reality.”
Kingston After Dark: It’s all about delivery
The big show I want to plug this week in none other than rising Rochester act Mikaela Davis, who comes to BSP Kingston Wednesday, Nov. 27. Her Rounder Records album Delivery was produced by Grammy winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, David Byrne, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) and features a wide array of influences. I really enjoyed the title track video on YouTube, an evocative black-and-white performance video that reminded me of a weird shared space between Norah Jones piano jazz, sentimental indie rock and personal revelation.
Ruthless prioritization
Pat Ryan’s let’s-get-on-with-it leadership style exudes restlessness. Ulster County government’s chief executive is impatient with undirected conversation, unclear goal-setting and slow decision-making. He wants to move the county’s economy forward now, he says (among other things). Occasional inevitable policy mistakes, he maintains, are no excuse for inaction. The tone is one of urgency.
Letter: Rise Up Kingston rebukes Carnright
An open letter from the activist group in response to DA Holley Carnright’s comments regarding “anti-police sentiment” in Kingston.