A lot has changed since July 4, 2010
Time is a quirky thing, and our perception of it can be puzzling at times. There are moments when it feels not long ago that I hitchhiked to Montreal as a teenager, even though the calendar confirms that 56 years have passed.Â
Yet when I think of something as recent as June 2010, when Gordon Stewart approached me in the Foundry Cafe in Cold Spring and asked me to join his yet-to-be-launched local news outlet as a reporter, it sometimes feels like the distant past. For the record, I was thrilled that he asked.
I had been reporting for the Putnam County News & Recorder, the local weekly established more than a century and a half ago. I loved the idea of contributing to something completely new, but had no idea I’d be joined by Alison Rooney, Liz Schevtchuk Armstrong, Michael Mell and Kevin Foley, colleagues at the PCNR.
I also had no idea that Gordon Stewart had been President Jimmy Carter’s speechwriter. In our early story meetings Gordon would sometimes digress, captivating us with his firsthand accounts of President Carter, the White House, Camp David, Air Force One and Middle East peace talks.

A lot has happened since Gordon’s digital newspaper, Philipstown.info, first hit computer screens on Friday, July 4, 2010. One of our first stories detailed how Wachovia Bank (Wells Fargo now occupies the site) closed for a day due to a noxious odor. It seemed like breaking news at the time!
Two years later, with many newspapers cutting costs by abandoning print in favor of online-only, Gordon did just the opposite. On June 1, 2012, the first edition of Philipstown.info’s The Paper rolled off the presses.Â
Front-page stories included traffic snarls on Route 9D at Indian Brook Bridge, Democratic congressional hopefuls, including Sean Patrick Maloney, vying to oust Republican Rep. Nan Hayworth, and the Haldane Blue Devils defeating Tuckahoe to win the sectional baseball championship.Â
At that time, both our print and digital editions focused solely on life in Cold Spring, Nelsonville, Garrison and greater Philipstown.Â
I was at my son Drew’s wedding in Costa Rica in November 2014 when I learned of Gordon’s death at age 75. I don’t mind saying I cried. For Gordon, Philipstown wasn’t just a municipality. It was his community, and The Paper contributed significantly to its well-being by keeping residents informed.Â
Our office, then at 69 Main St. in Cold Spring (now Barber & Brew), hosted election forums, local musicians, dramatic readings and displays on Philipstown life. An online radio station even operated on weekends in the front window. Less than a year before his death, on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013, the community packed St. Mary-in-the-Highlands Episcopal Church as Gordon conducted an emotionally charged performance of Handel’s Messiah. Â
By 2015, The Paper had expanded to include news from Beacon, and we became The Highlands Current to better reflect our coverage area.
Today we cover two villages, a town, a city, three school districts, two county governments and the Highlands’ representatives in the New York State Legislature and the U.S. Congress. Add to that high school sports, the arts and columns dealing with food, gardening, the outdoors and the environment.
We’ve done in-depth reports on subjects ranging from the opioid crisis, climate change and hunger and poverty to COVID-19, Black history and immigration. Reporting is always through the lens of life in the Highlands, including how national and even international issues affect local residents. Very few local weekly papers do that.Â
Just as The Current’s coverage has expanded over the years, my journalistic horizons have also broadened considerably since that unsolved odor at Wachovia Bank. My most remarkable interview to date was with Tomiko Morimoto West, a Japanese-American who survived the bombing of Hiroshima as a 12-year-old.
I chronicled 10 Highlands residents who attended the iconic Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. During the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, I was able to speak live via Zoom with a retired industrialist in China, the epicenter of the global pandemic. I told the heartbreaking story of a young Warren Eitner, a Haldane graduate and true World War II hero killed in action when his B-17 bomber was shot down over Germany. And I got to interview Pete Seeger. Â
I think Gordon Stewart would be pleased with how Philisptown.info evolved to become The Highlands Current. He must have smiled broadly when as a team we earned three consecutive New York Press Association Newspaper of the Year awards. But I think what would please him most is that we remain a community newspaper. The geographic boundaries have expanded but the mission is unchanged: report on local life and what matters most to residents.Â
We can ask two things of you, our readers. Be our critics; tell us when we get it right and hold our feet to the fire when we don’t. And please contribute financially. Across the U.S. more than 3,200 print newspapers have ceased to exist since 2005. Your contribution will help us continue to report on the Hudson Highlands. So many important stories remain to be told.
I very much like your newspaper. I only wish that your coverage area included Putnam Valley.