The week between Christmas and New Year’s is usually pretty slow, news-wise — and that’s just fine with us. Enough already, 2016.
Still, a few things happened in the Catskills this week, like they do.
Gov. Cuomo’s taking some flak for using the state helicopter to fly Robert DeNiro to the Catskills this summer for a tourism promotion thingy. [Politico, Times Herald-Record]
Hillary Clinton was spotted at the Mohonk Mountain House on Wednesday, gazing sadly into her smartphone. [Washington Post]
“This is not Woodstock.” — Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn, on the president-elect's failure to book any A-list talent for the upcoming inauguration. [Rolling Stone]
As for Woodstock’s own original visionary, Michael Lang, he’s looking ahead to a 2017 music fest in the Hudson Valley focused on yoga and electronica. [Poughkeepsie Journal]
Officials responsible for a couple of low-lying local hamlets — Lexington and Boiceville — are looking into the prospect of relocating whole sections of town outside of the floodplain. That’s not gonna be cheap or easy. [Woodstock Times]
The recently-reincarnated Smokin Boars BBQ in Lake Katrine isn’t the only new restaurant on the block. There’s a tasty-sounding new Central American place in Winchell’s Corners, and a new restaurant and lodge planned for the old Tiso’s building in Mount Tremper. [WP, Woodstock Times, Catskill Eats]
The SS Columbia, one of the last surviving steamboats in the country, is moving to Kingston in 2018 for restoration. [Kingston Times]
A guy living in a tent in a West Shokan backyard invited a local newscaster over recently to talk about what it’s like to be homeless in rural Ulster County in the wintertime. [Hudson Valley News Network]
The Stephen Petronio dance troupe has bought a new Catskills home: The Crow’s Nest, on 175 acres near Cairo. [New York Times]
The New York City DEP is buying 117 acres of forest near the Schoharie Reservoir from the New York Power Authority. The Power Authority had plans for the land a few decades ago, but apparently they don’t need it anymore. [Times Union]
Thursday's snowstorm was a nasty one on the roads, with dozens of accidents across the region. [Daily Mail, Times Herald-Record]
A horrific accident earlier in the week claimed the life of a 72-year-old Mountaindale man, but his wife was rescued from their partially-submerged car by some quick-acting neighbors. [Times Herald-Record]
Three hunters were arrested in Sullivan County earlier this month for deer-baiting. [DEC]
In case you needed reminding not to move wood: Oak wilt has infected trees in Brooklyn and Long Island. It's already in Schenectady County. We don’t need that stuff up here. [Times Herald-Record]
Police are looking for a bald guy with a scorpion tattoo, who cashed a fraudulent $5,050 check at a South Cairo store and skipped out on his court date. [Times Union]
Under investigation: A fight between two men in Jefferson Heights in which one was shot, and both were injured. [Register-Star]
A state appeals court has ruled that the Coxsackie Correctional Facility can legally force-feed an inmate who’s been on hunger strike since 2013. [Daily Freeman]
Click here for more of NewsShed, our regular roundup of what's new, what's hot, and what's just plain weird in local news. (Got a news tip for us? Let us know at editor@watershedpost.com.)
