Newburgh
Aquatic Center to Open Saturday
Season passes are on sale for a new, $15 million aquatic center through June 23 for city residents before they are made available to the public.
The center is part of the 27-acre Delano-Hitch Recreation Park at 401 Washington St. Funded entirely with state and federal grants, it opened May 24, continuing for 12 hours daily except Mondays through Labor Day.
The center includes a six-lane pool and 7,500-square-foot splash pad with a tipping-bucket tree, rainfall showers, spraying rings, water canons and fountains. There are also family restrooms, a concession stand and individual storage lockers on the pool deck.
Peekskill
Chamber Members Get Lesson in Immigration
An attorney for the nonprofit Neighbors Link on May 1 advised members of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce about responding to federal immigration enforcement.
According to The Peekskill Herald, Melanie Zamenhof said owners should have a plan if their business is subject to a raid. Along with knowing their employees’ immigration status, they should have a policy about who can speak to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and give consent for a search.
She noted that agents can’t enter a private space, such as a kitchen or offices, without consent or a judicial warrant. “Locked doors make it clear that the space is private,” she said.
Zamenhof said ICE has been conducting raids in Westchester County, targeting immigrants with deportation orders, arrest warrants or an arrest history.
Peekskill
City Faces Second Settlement
A second former employee who sued the city won a default judgment after its corporation counsel repeatedly missed court deadlines.
The first case, in 2024, cost the city $1 million to settle, according to The Peekskill Herald. In the more recent case, a former city employee sued after being fired in 2021; he claimed it was in retaliation for his complaints about workplace safety.
As in the earlier case, The Herald reported, the city’s counsel, Tim Kramer, failed to respond to the lawsuit in time, claiming that files had been misplaced and his office was short-staffed. He also missed an extension deadline, and the court awarded a default judgment.
A state judge will determine how much the city must pay, or Peekskill could offer to settle. A law firm now handles the city’s legal matters.
New Paltz
Organizers Move Event About Gaza War
An event billed as a “talk on boycott, divestment, sanctions” in response to the war in Gaza was moved this month from the Elting Memorial Library to Village Hall on the advice of the police chief, according to the Daily Freeman.
An organizer said the library retracted its invitation because of a telephone threat. The event was sponsored by New Paltz Women in Black, Hudson Valley Jewish Voice for Peace, Middle East Crisis Response, Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine, SUNY BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions), Kingston Women in Black, Veterans for Peace, New Paltz Society of Friends, Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, Hudson Valley Party for Socialism and Liberation and Rally Middletown.
According to the Daily Freeman, opponents online argued the involvement of the Democratic Socialists and the Party for Socialism violated a library policy that prohibits the use of its space for partisan political purposes.
Saratoga Springs
Insurer Declines to Renew Audubon Policy
The Hartford last month declined to renew property and casualty coverage for the Southern Adirondack Audubon Society, telling the organization it doesn’t insure advocacy groups.
Adirondack Explorer reported that, when pressed for details, the insurer said it was “not a market for associations who look to protect, analyze or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces.”
Following media coverage, The Hartford offered to renew the policy, saying its decisions “are not informed by political and social viewpoints of any persuasion,” but the Southern Adirondack Audubon Society said it was looking for another carrier.
Goshen
Judge Dismisses Defamation Lawsuit
A state judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by the Tuxedo school board president against a former board member and ordered the plaintiff to pay attorney fees under the state’s Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (Anti-SLAPP) law.
According to Mid Hudson News, Dan Castricone claimed Meg Vaught slandered him on Facebook last fall when she wrote that a claim he made about a payroll issue at a meeting was “blatantly false” based on documents she received through a Freedom of Information Law request.
The judge found that the records disproved Castricone’s claim “of the falsity of the statement” and also provided “objective support for the defendant’s claim that she knew the statement to be true.”
