It’s a scene that seems perhaps a little out of place — dragonflies chase each other through clusters of lush rice grass, rooted in verdant wetlands. These rice paddies are not in some Asian river delta or even the “Rice Belt” down south. They’re tucked behind a bend of a country road in Esopus.
The graduation rate at Kingston High School is up again — a modest jump of a little over a percent to 84.5, should the students in summer credit recovery courses complete their work as anticipated. School officials noted that the overall graduation rate for the Class of 2012 was just 72 percent.
The owners of the Hudson Valley Mall say they’re bucking the trend in a plunging retail sector by making a $1 million-plus “sacrificial investment” in it.
Topics include: A dachshund’s loyalty and new vision needed for mall.
An incident at a local gym was revealing of this political moment. Confronting a man who declined to vacate a piece of equipment he wasn’t using, a woman said: “You must be one of those people who voted for Trump.” Game on.
The city plans to install payment kiosks in six municipal lots within the next few weeks. According to Mayor Steve Noble, the kiosks, in which parkers will have to put in 75 cents per hour, are expected to become active as early as September 1.
The parent company of the HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley and a health-insurance provider have reached an agreement in principle to settle a 16-month dispute that has adversely affected tens of thousands of subscribers in the region. Officials from Westchester Medical and Blue Cross said they expected to have an agreement in place by September 1.
A local resident advocated “for a certain group of creatures” noting that “dogs and cats are petrified by fireworks.”
City officials say they’re willing to pardon an Uptown pooch which a city building inspector says bit her earlier this spring. But the dog’s owner, astrologer, radio show host and investigative journalist Eric Francis Coppolino, says he wants the charge against him thrown out and the city to institute a written dog policy and new training for inspectors, so both city employees and pet owners will avoid future conflicts.
According to a recent survey, 57 percent of the 56,000 registered voters in the 19th congressional district who are not enrolled in any political party failed to vote. A huge voting block is up for grabs— if only the candidates can put together an attractive message to reach them.