Day: June 11, 2025

State Democrats Get Behind NY Prison Reforms in Legislative Session’s Final Days

Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly agreed late Monday on a set of prison reforms that would increase oversight in New York correctional facilities, months after the beating deaths of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi at the hands of corrections officers while incarcerated. The omnibus bill, which lawmakers hope to pass in both chambers […]

Catskill Mountainkeeper Urges Action to Ban Toxic Sludge in Farming Before Session Ends

Before the New York State Senate and Assembly leave for summer recess, Catskill Mountainkeeper is pushing for a statewide ban on toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in farm fertilizers. An environmental advocacy group in Sullivan County, Catskill Mountainkeeper is sounding the alarm about the use of biosolids in fertilizers to grow food. They are calling for […]

Sullivan County

How a Shoplifting Arrest in Upstate NY Summoned ICE and Separated a Family

The call was dispatched as a routine case of shoplifting in Rotterdam, a blue-collar suburb of Schenectady. Security cameras at a Hannaford grocery store caught a Hispanic couple stashing merchandise in the bottom of a stroller carrying a 3-year-old girl. But then the male suspect, Michel Garcia Rojas, presented police officers with the only ID […]

Fear at Home, Disruption at School: ICE Raids Shake Rural Families, Prompt Action

As federal immigration enforcement actions escalate across the country, rural communities in the Catskills and Northeast Pennsylvania are feeling the ripple effects—prompting fear among immigrant families, disruption to daily life, and calls for organized resistance. Juana Cortes-De Torres, Immigration Legal Rights Project Director at Rural & Migrant Ministry, said there’s a growing anxiety felt […]

Science Stories with Joe Johnson

This week, our resident science guy Joe Johnson dives into a trio of surprising and thought-provoking discoveries—from an ancient agricultural marvel buried beneath Michigan forests to the latest in space exploration, and even the mystery behind wrinkly fingers after a swim. LiDAR Uncovers Massive Indigenous Agricultural Site in Michigan A new study published in the […]

Rockland Central School District Unveils New Mascot and School Colors

The newly unified Rockland Central School District has officially adopted the Wolves as its mascot and purple and black as its school colors, following a months-long process centered on student input and community engagement. The decision marks a major milestone in the district’s transition following the merger of Livingston Manor and Roscoe Central Schools. At […]