Overlook

Assemblymember Chris Tague, whose 102nd Assembly District includes all of Greene and Schoharie counties and parts of Albany, Delaware, Otsego, and Ulster counties, said he had not realized the extent of the funding available through the Catskill Watershed Corporation until he attended the group’s annual meeting this week. “Until today I didn’t know the scope […]

The Ulster County Board of Elections narrowed 315 submissions to its annual “I Voted” sticker contest to six finalists and is leaving the final decision to the public. The board and a panel of volunteer judges from the local arts community selected the finalists, several of whom also entered designs in previous years. Voting is […]

Air quality reached levels considered very unhealthy in parts of the Catskills on Thursday, with readings climbing to 206 in Hurley and 201 in Pine Hill as smoke from Canadian wildfires lingered across the region. The AirNow Fire and Smoke Map recorded highs of 176 in Woodstock, 161 in Saugerties, 162 in Shokan, and 176 […]

A New York City TikTok influencer’s critical video about a Tannersville supermarket has drawn millions of views and fierce backlash, opening a broader debate over food access in Greene County’s mountain towns. Catherine Ebs, who has 1.6 million TikTok followers, posted the since-deleted video on Friday, July 3, documenting a trip to the Tops Friendly […]

Communities across The Overlook region are opening cooling centers and pointing residents to air-conditioned libraries as dangerously hot conditions settle over the Catskills this week. An Extreme Heat Warning is in effect until 8 p.m. Friday, with heat index values of 105 to 110 expected, according to the National Weather Service. In Woodstock, temperatures are […]

Shandaken Deputy Supervisor Robert Drake secured the Democratic nomination for District 22 of the Ulster County Legislature on Tuesday, beating incumbent Kathy Nolan with 59.64% of the vote compared with Nolan’s 40.36%. District 22 encompasses the towns of Shandaken, Olive, Denning and Hardenburgh. Some 847 of the district’s 3,183 registered Democrats voted in the primary, […]

Early voting begins June 13 and ends June 21 for Democratic and Republican primaries at three locations in Ulster County and one in Greene County ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, June 23. Voting is open to registered Democrats in Ulster and Greene counties and registered Republicans in the 19th Congressional District, which includes all […]

Flood preparedness is the focus of the 2026 Ashokan Watershed Conference, a program that will include three library presentations, a guided stream walk, and technical training for municipal officials. The conference, titled “Summit to Stream: Building Watershed Resilience Together,” will explore how water moves through the Catskills’ mountainous landscape and what that means for local […]

Voters approved school budgets, propositions, and school board candidates this week in districts that include communities in The Overlook coverage area. The votes will help shape the 2026-27 school year in the Saugerties, Hunter-Tannersville, Windham-Ashland-Jewett, and Onteora central school districts. Results remain unofficial until they are certified by each district’s board of education. The Overlook […]

Ulster County officials have begun what they say is the county’s first formal effort to rebuild a relationship with descendants of the Esopus people, whose ancestral homeland includes much of the Hudson Valley. County Historian Eddie Moran and a small group of local scholars traveled to Ontario, Canada, from April 12 to 14 to meet […]

The High Falls nonprofit, which cares for nearly 300 rescued farmed animals, is backing state legislation to ban commercial octopus farming before the industry takes root in New York. The sanctuary has never housed an octopus. Its leaders say that is partly the point. “It really just depends where we think things are winnable,” said […]

Onteora Central School District voters will decide Tuesday, May 19, whether to approve a roughly $66.5 million budget for the 2026-27 school year, along with a separate capital reserve proposition and school board seats. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Onteora Middle/High School, 4166 Route 28 in Boiceville. Voting will […]

Farmers markets return to Woodstock, Phoenicia, Saugerties and Windham this month, each with its own character, and most on a different day of the week. The Woodstock Farm Festival market opened May 13 and will run every Wednesday from 3 to 7 p.m. through Oct. 14 at the Mountain View Parking Lot in Woodstock. The […]

The much-debated Zena Homes project on the Ulster-Woodstock border moved closer to clearing a key environmental hurdle after a Town of Ulster consultant said the development doesn’t pose a significant impact on the environment. Max Stach of Nelson Pope Voorhis, whom the town appointed as town planner last year, told the Planning Board at its […]

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announced $268 billion state budget is drawing criticism from environmental advocates who say it would weaken a key law that gives residents a voice on major projects planned near homes, streams, wetlands and forests. At stake is the State Environmental Quality Review Act, which Hochul wants to amend to help spur badly […]

Onteora High School announced its 2026 valedictorian, salutatorian, and Principal’s Award recipient on Wednesday, with all three students planning to pursue STEM fields in college. Valedictorian Shelby Buryk, of West Hurley, will graduate with an Advanced Regents Diploma with Distinction and the New York State Seal of Biliteracy in French. She is the treasurer of […]

The Overlook won five awards in the New York Press Association’s 2025 Better Newspaper Contest, including first place for photographic excellence. The awards were presented April 23 and 24 at the association’s spring convention in Saratoga Springs. This year’s contest drew 2,732 entries from 150 publications across 67 categories, with members of the Michigan Press […]

Greene County will not have a poet laureate this year. On Wednesday evening, the Greene County Legislature voted unanimously, without discussion, to rescind the January appointment of writer Esther Cohen as the county’s first poet laureate. The vote formalized a decision outlined in an April 3 letter by Patrick Linger, chairman of the legislature, to […]

One man detained by ICE agents in Tannersville on Wednesday morning was identified as Francisco “Pancho” Marmolejo-Silva, a longtime local contractor, according to local lawyer Greg A local lawyer identified the man detained by ICE agents in Tannersville on Wednesday as longtime local contractor Francisco “Pancho” Marmolejo-Silva, while the Greene County Sheriff confirmed a second […]

The chairman of the Greene County Legislature is revoking the appointment of Esther Cohen as the county’s first poet laureate, citing two of her Facebook posts that lawmakers said appeared to celebrate the prospect of President Donald Trump’s death. In an April 3 letter, Patrick Linger, chairman of the Republican-majority Legislature, told CREATE Council on […]

Ulster County residents with private wells can now apply for free PFAS testing and, if contamination is found, rebates to help cover the cost of treatment systems through a new state pilot program. The Private Well PFAS Testing and Mitigation Rebate Pilot Program makes eligible property owners and some tenants eligible for free testing for […]

For the sixth year in a row, the Ulster County Board of Elections is inviting artists ages 9 to 18 to enter its “I Voted” sticker contest. The winning design will be distributed to voters during the Nov. 3, 2026, general election, including throughout early voting from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1. Submissions should include […]

Ulster officials delayed a decision on whether to recommend a deeper environmental review of the contentious Zena Homes development, opting to visit the site first. The Town of Ulster Planning Board on Tuesday deferred its decision on whether to issue a positive or negative declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQR, pushing […]

Shandaken, Tannersville, and RUPCO won $343,250 of so-called smart growth grants from the Department of Environmental Conservation, including funding for a town zoning plan, design work around Gooseberry Creek and Rip Van Winkle Lake, and infrastructure tied to an affordable housing project in Pine Hill. The three awards account for more than half of the […]

Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger banned all non-essential vehicular travel on public roadways Sunday, Feb. 22, at 9 p.m., as Winter Storm Hernando threatened to bring over a foot of snow and wind gusts as high as 50 mph to the region. The restriction, originally set to run through 10 a.m. Monday, was lifted early […]

Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger used her annual State of the County address on Wednesday to propose a 10% cut in property taxes for full-time residents, aiming to shift more of the levy to the part-timers who flocked to the Hudson Valley in the wake of the pandemic.  The county is working with State Senator […]

The towns of Saugerties and Hurley have become focal points in one of the Catskills’ most divisive debates: whether lithium-ion battery storage projects are necessary, and whether they are safe.   The issue was front and center again this week. In Saugerties, officials held a nearly three-hour presentation and question-and-answer session on battery energy storage systems, […]

Four local projects were among dozens statewide awarded funding through two state initiatives, Kathy Hochul announced last week. As part of $463 million being distributed to address New York’s housing crisis and jump-start regional economies, projects in Olive, Shandaken, Hunter and Woodstock are slated to receive funding. In Hunter, $1.166 million will go toward relocating […]

For as long as cell phones have existed, a familiar tension has shaped much of the Hudson Valley and Catskills: The need and desire for better cell service often collides with public opposition to the construction of new cell towers. That dynamic is expected to be tested again in the coming year, as proposals for […]

A third fire in two years at lithium-ion battery storage facilities in Warwick, N.Y., has renewed concerns among local officials about proposed projects in Ulster County and intensified a growing political rift over the safety of such sites.  The most recent fire started Friday night at a facility operated by Convergent Energy. Officials in Orange […]

There will be no Mountain Jam festival in 2026, according to a message posted on the festival’s official website and confirmed by organizers. The festival’s founder Gary Chetkof expressed a return in 2027. “Keep spreading the love, and—as always—jam on.,” the message reads.  Mountain Jam had an enduring 14-year run at Hunter Mountain, featuring artists […]

The Ulster County Sheriff’s Department has violated the state Freedom of Information Law multiple times over the past four months. The law, known as FOIL and enacted in 1974, is intended to ensure government transparency and provide citizens and journalists access to public records. From late July through early December, the region’s third-largest law enforcement […]

Voters endorsed a $41.9 million capital plan Wednesday to overhaul the Onteora Central School District’s Boiceville campus and prepare it to serve all students from kindergarten through 12th grade by 2028. The approval sweeps aside months of objections from residents who argued the price tag was too high and urged the district to keep Woodstock […]

Up to eight inches of snow blanketed the area this week as nighttime lows dipped into single digits. For many, the wintry blast is a long-anticipated symbol of the region’s beauty and tranquility. But for those unable to pay heating bills, it’s a sign of looming distress.  Tens of thousands of people throughout the region […]

The Ulster County SPCA is bracing for an uptick in requests by pet owners to surrender or rehome their animals as President Trump threatens to defy a court order and withhold SNAP benefits until a five-week government shutdown can be resolved. “Sometimes it comes down to they just cannot keep the pet in their home,” […]