Shows / Highlands Current Audio Stories
Highlands Current Audio Stories
The Highlands Current is a nonprofit weekly newspaper and daily website that covers Beacon, Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, New York, in the Hudson Highlands. This podcast includes select stories read aloud.
Episodes
Highlands Current Audio StoriesBail Granted in Philipstown Killing
Grigoroff faces third trial for 2008 shooting A Putnam County judge on Tuesday (June 16) granted a request from a former Lake Peekskill man to be released on…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesGarrison's Landing to Get New Meters Food pantry Memorial garden Grant resolutions Road paving
Philipstown to begin billing for water usage Philipstown moved forward on Wednesday (June 10) with replacing broken meters installed at the homes and…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesNotes from the Cold Spring Village Board Reservoir permit In other business…
Voltpost addresses EV charging station safety At the Wednesday (June 10) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board, James Everley, a representative of Voltpost…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesLooking Back in Philipstown 250 Years Ago (June 1776) 150 Years Ago (June 1876) 100 Years Ago (June 1926) 50 Years Ago (June 1976) 25 Years Ago (June 2001)
Gen. George Washington returned to New York City from a visit to Philadelphia to consult with the Continental Congress. On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesThe Race for District 17
Five Democrats compete to face Lawler A lot has changed since the November 2024 general election, when Republican Mike Lawler defeated Democrat Mondaire Jones…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesThe Race for District 39
Three hopefuls vie for Democratic line Beacon and Philipstown have not been represented by a Democratic state senator since 2015, and the party hopes this year…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesBetter than Perfect
Haldane weighs how students are ranked Will future Haldane classes have more than one valedictorian? That's one question raised by a change to the school's…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesLife and Wisdom at 100
From the Depression to the iPhone When Mary Williams forgets something important about one of her countless life stories, it isn't a problem: She consults her…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesSmall-Town Characters
Filmmaker drew inspiration from Philipstown Lily Weisberg, a 26-year-old filmmaker from New York City, has been directing and producing films in Philipstown…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesDispute Resolution Television
Conflict TV produced in Philipstown "Conflict is inevitable, but combat is a choice." That's the message the Dispute Resolution Center, which serves four…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesCelebrating Little Stony Point
Duo led by Woody Guthrie's grandson will perform Music is embedded in the DNA of the Little Stony Point Citizens Association. Pete Seeger and pals lit bonfires…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesLaughing in the Face of Death
Traveling troupe brings romp to Howland The jolly play Death and the Fool presents a musical romp through medieval Europe, when droves of people died from the…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesFull Circle
Cold Spring sailor returns after 364 days In the early morning hours on June 1, Aaron Wolfe quietly moored Badger, his 27-foot Vancouver cutter, at the Chelsea…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesPhilips Brook Dam Removal Advances
Hoving Home will reroute, widen waterway The Philipstown Conservation Board determined on Tuesday (June 10) that there would be no significant environmental…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesFishkill Seeks to Replace Beacon Medics
Ambulance corps covers about half of town The Town of Fishkill is exploring a contract with Empress Emergency Medical Services to provide ambulances to…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesMobile Food Bank Adds Stop
Delivers groceries to Brookside Park Residents of Brookside Senior Citizen Co-op in Philipstown are again receiving free produce and groceries. In March, a…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesCountdown to Zero: Shifting Goals Part 1: In the Dark Part 2: Backup Power
State revises landmark climate legislation In 2019, New York State enacted ambitious climate goals: 70 percent of electricity produced by renewable sources by…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesSidewalks, Crosswalks, Community Spaces Capital plans Community center
Beacon council continues review of capital needs More than 60 percent of the sidewalks and 80 percent of crosswalks in Beacon are in "good" to "very good"…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesAmong the Stars
New film chronicles longtime celebrity reporter For three decades, George Carroll Whipple III, who lives in a castle atop a hill in Philipstown, has been a…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesEnvironmental Review Gets Overhaul
Changes give municipalities more control The state's 2019 climate law wasn't the only environmental legislation to get an overhaul in budget negotiations. It…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesState Approves $269 Billion Budget How They Voted Auto insurance Childcare Education Environmental Immigration enforcement Public safety Utilities
Includes rebate checks, retiree changes Teachers in the Beacon, Haldane and Garrison school districts, waiters at Highlands eateries and millions who filed…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesWhat's in the 2026 State Budget Fiscal Education Social Services Child Care Housing Criminal Justice Climate and Environment Immigration New York City Car Insurance
A searchable database of the most consequential decisions This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesBig Visions, Limited Resources
Beacon considers five years of capital outlays The Beacon City Council will continue its review on Monday (June 1) of the city's five-year capital plan…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesMeet E. Jean
Philipstown filmmaker profiles Trump accuser Ivy Meeropol, who lives in Philipstown, directed her first documentary, Heir to an Execution, about her…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesNellie at The Chapel
Eclectic jazz performer coming to Cold Spring Modest but accomplished actor and musician Nellie McKay is reticent when asked to discuss her work and style…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesYear of the Libertarians
Putnam Republicans seize party line Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne failed to get the support of the Putnam & Westchester Libertarian Party but succeeded…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesCold Spring's 'Branch Manager' Steps Down
For 11 years, she navigated village forestry Jennifer Zwarich has had a thing for trees for a long time. "I've always been a tree person, although I'm not a…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesThe Cafeteria is Open
Latest Beacon venue hosts its first shows Around 25 years ago, as gentrification creeped in, stickers and graffiti emerged in Texas urging people to "Keep…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesNelsonville Drafts New Property Code Legal contracts
Changes cover debris, snow removal, vegetation The Nelsonville Board of Trustees, which is rewriting the Village Code, on May 20 reviewed rules governing how…
Highlands Current Audio Stories'Gun Foundry' Gets a Cleaning
1866 painting depicts forging of Parrott rifle In 1866, John Ferguson Weir painted "The Gun Foundry," depicting workers pouring molten iron into a casting pit…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesBig Putnam Surplus Sparks Debate
County called on to spend more of savings Putnam County has a good problem: how to best return $6.5 million from a swollen surplus to residents. Nancy…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesThree Summer Day Trips
Olana (Hudson) Olana is less than 50 miles north on Route 9 or the Taconic Parkway. Now is the perfect time to visit the celebration of the 200th anniversary…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesLooking Back in Beacon 150 Years Ago (May 1876) 100 Years Ago (May 1926) 50 Years Ago (May 1976) 25 Years Ago (May 2001)
Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. Divers hired by an insurance company searched the river just south of Newburgh…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesPresident Trump Visits Hudson Valley
Speaks in Rockland County to boost Rep. Lawler President Donald Trump, while visiting Rockland County on Friday (May 22) to appear with Rep. Mike Lawler, began…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesFewer Students, Higher Costs Haldane to Shift Fifth Graders
Public schools face many challenges. In this, the first part of an ongoing series, we examine the effects of declining enrollments. For the last two decades…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesTwo Lawsuits Filed Against Fjord Trail
Municipalities, nonprofit, residents challenge review As anticipated by votes earlier this month by the Cold Spring and Philipstown boards, the municipalities…
Highlands Current Audio StoriesHelp Wanted: Beacon Teens
Employment program provides work experience Beginning in July, as many as eight Beacon teenagers will have a chance to work at jobs that could pay dividends…