Day: July 29, 2025

Planned Parenthood Cuts Expose and Exacerbate Healthcare Disparities

Under Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” Planned Parenthood can lose federal Medicaid funding for one year, endangering 200 clinics nationwide that 1.1 million Americans currently depend on for healthcare. The provision targets not just Planned Parenthood but all nonprofit clinics that provide abortions and received more than $800,000 in Medicaid payments in 2023 — restricting […]

NY FOCUS: Four Months After Guard Strike, Prison Staffing Crisis Persists

This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here. CRIMINAL JUSTICE · July 22, 2025 The prison agency’s security ranks are 4,700 corrections officers and sergeants short of what it says it needs to run every program and housing area effectively. […]

Texas AG Sues New York Clerk for Refusing to Enforce Texas Abortion Judgment Against Telehealth Doctor

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Ulster County clerk for repeatedly refusing to file a summary judgement against a New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills to a Texas patient via telehealth. Paxton first sued Dr. Margaret Carpenter of New Paltz in civil court last year for allegedly violating the […]

Preventing Hot Car Tragedies: NHTSA’s Laura Dunn Urges Parents to “Stop. Look. Lock.”

As summer temperatures climb, safety experts are warning families about a persistent and deadly threat: pediatric heatstroke caused by children being left in hot cars. So far in 2025, 15 children have died this way, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Radio Catskill’s Patricio Robayo spoke with Laura Dunn, a Highway Safety […]

The Art of Emily Cole: From Porcelain to Tattoos

How does the botanical elegance of a 19th-century artist find new life in contemporary design? In this episode of Kaatscast: The Catskills Podcast, host Brett Barry follows the enduring influence of Emily Cole—daughter of Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole—whose delicate hand-painted ceramics helped define her artistic legacy. Cole was a founding member of the […]

Chronic Wasting Disease Detected in Wayne County Deer; State Establishes New Disease Management Area

A fatal neurological disease affecting deer has been detected in Wayne County, prompting state officials to establish a new Disease Management Area (DMA 10) in the northeastern part of the county. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is one of a group of diseases called prion diseases, similar to “mad cow disease,” but affects members of the […]

Wayne County

Andy Bicking Named Ulster County Director of the Department of the Environment

KINGSTON, N.Y. – Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger has appointed longtime environmental policy leader Andy Bicking as the County’s new Director of the Department of the Environment. Bicking, a 25-year veteran of environmental policy and community engagement, has lived in Ulster County for more than two decades. He succeeds Europa McGovern, who previously served as […]

Ulster County