Lissa Harris
About us:
Lissa Harris is the founder and publisher of the Watershed Post.
Articles
Jun. 13, 2012
In today's New York Times, reporter Danny Hakim writes that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration is quietly pursuing an entirely new plan to regulate hydraulic fracturing.
Anonymous sources, including a senior Department of Environmental Conservation... Read more
Jun. 12, 2012
Around 6pm on the evening of Friday, June 8, 23-year-old Machteld Klok was killed when the car she was driving struck a tree on Case Hill Road in Franklin, according to Sergeant Gary Leahy of the New York State Police.
Leahy said that Klok was driving... Read more
Jun. 8, 2012
In a move that has angered local residents and town officials, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has walked away from the bargaining table over the building of a sewer treatment plant for the hamlet of Phoenicia.
Last month, after... Read more
Jun. 8, 2012
Catskills Photography took a sweet shot of this 1998 Corvette, now living a second life as the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office's DARE car.
There's a story behind Sullivan County's hot rod: The car used to belong to a crack cocaine dealer who parked it... Read more
Jun. 7, 2012
A familiar face at the Trout Parade: Bud Wertheim's Giant Brook Trout float. Photo from the first annual Livingston Manor Trout Parade in 2004; from the Trout Parade website.
New Orleans has Mardi Gras, Rio has Carnaval -- and Livingston Manor has the... Read more
Jun. 7, 2012
A kayaker at the 2011 Kingston Kayak Festival. Photo courtesy of Kenco; for more photos of last year's festival, check out their Facebook album.
On Saturday, June 9, the Kingston Point Beach hosts an all-day kayakstravaganza (shhh, that's totally a word... Read more
Jun. 6, 2012
Above: A 1940 U.S. Census record from Margaretville, New York, posted on Ancestry.com. On the highlighted lines are Sheldon and Madeline Birdsall and their daughter Dawn, the writer's great-grandparents and grandmother.
A treasure trove has just been... Read more
Jun. 5, 2012
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Above: A Google map showing a 2.1-mile stretch of Highway 30A that the NYC DEP is funding repairs to this summer. (Google Maps, whose road names can be capricious in the rural stretches of upstate New York, calls it NYC Rd. No. 6 and BWS... Read more
Jun. 4, 2012
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the muddy lower Esopus is being written -- and officials in Ulster County are clamoring to be more than just a footnote in it.
On May 23, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced that they had... Read more
Jun. 4, 2012
Photo of hop flowers by Flickr user Dave Shea. Published under Creative Commons license.
Over the weekend, the Beardslee Hop House in Pittsfield hosted a few hundred curious visitors -- there to learn about the area's agricultural history, check out the... Read more
May. 31, 2012
For years, the state-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center in New York's Catskill mountains was a playground for police officers and other “VIP” skiers who were allowed to ski for free at the discretion of Belleayre management.
Two years ago, Belleayre... Read more
May. 31, 2012
The Times Herald-Record reports that Bethel councilman Richard Crumley died unexpectedly on Sunday, May 27 at the age of 69.
The paper spoke with town supervisor Dan Sturm, who said the town board will decide soon whether to appoint a replacement for the... Read more
May. 31, 2012
A familiar sight that won't be cropping up along Delaware County roadways this year: The iconic cow signs for the Meredith Dairy Fest. Photo by Carolyn Simmons of West Laurens; shared in the Watershed Post Flickr group pool.
As if the brutal economy... Read more
May. 30, 2012
For a story in today's paper, Wall Street Journal reporter Joseph Avila made the trek from Manhattan to Middletown to spend some quality time with one of the Catskills' most notorious movers and shakers: Dean Gitter, the developer who's been pushing for... Read more
May. 30, 2012
The dreaded tornadoes we were warned about never materialized, thankfully, but New York State was pelted with epic thunderstorms on Tuesday. And in a few places, hailstones.
A couple of Watershed Post readers sent us photos of hailstones from the deluge... Read more
May. 29, 2012
Via NY-Alert: There is a tornado watch on across northeastern New York and the Capital Region, including Greene and Schoharie counties, until 9pm.
The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Central New York that includes... Read more
May. 24, 2012
Above: A severed water pipe in the basement of a house owned by Middleburgh mayor Matthew Avitabile. Photo by Matthew Avitabile.
In this week's Times Journal: A house owned by Middleburgh's new mayor has been broken into, in an incident that looks like a... Read more
May. 24, 2012
This week, the Liberty Independent and the Sullivan County Democrat are hot on the trail of a local scandal: The Walmart in Monticello has apparently failed its fourth consecutive health inspection.
Yesterday, the Liberty Independent posted a photo of a... Read more
May. 24, 2012
Above: A video showing the damage Irene wreaked on the Bridge Street Bridge in Phoenicia. Taken August 29, 2011 by YouTube user mjanensch1.
Phoenicia's Bridge Street Bridge, which was feared to be irreparable after the wrath of Irene, will officially re-... Read more