Amenia Planning Board discusses Keane Stud visual impact
Amenia Town Hall
Photo by John Coston
Latest News
Paul Winters concert series returns to Amenia
Lucia Landolo
Jul 07, 2026
Chain Gang Band performs in the gymnasium at Amenia Town Hall for the kickoff of the town’s Paul Winters Summer Music Series on Monday, July 6.
Photo by Leila Hawken
AMENIA — The Paul Winters Summer Music Series has returned this summer, kicking off July 6 and running through Aug. 10.
The concerts are held from 6 to 8 p.m. on the basketball court next to Town Hall, and feature music from a different band each Monday night.
The series is a weekly event for residents to enjoy at no cost. It is named in honor of Paul Winters, a late Amenia Town Councilman who was heavily involved in community events and recreation.
The performance was moved inside due to rain.Photo by Lucia Iandolo
The bands all hail from the Hudson Valley, including Chain Gang Band, The Tailgate Band, The Crew, Famous Rock Band, The Rivals and Northwest Passage. Chain Gang Band was the first group to perform on July 6.
The weekly sets include a variety of different music that residents of Amenia can enjoy in a family-friendly environment, free of charge.
Chain Gang Band singer Sam Castanzo.Photo by Lucia Iandolo
Keep ReadingShow less
Big band sounds
Millerton News
Jul 07, 2026
Big Band Sound performs at Millbrook’s Bandshell on July 4, 2026. The show is a part of Millbrook’s free Summer Sunset Series, put on by the Millbrook Arts Group.
Photo by Eloise Pickering
Big Band Sound performs at Millbrook’s Bandshell on July 4, 2026. The show is a part of Millbrook’s free Summer Sunset Series, put on by the Millbrook Arts Group.
Millbrook farmers market welcomes new and expanded programs
Millerton News
Jul 07, 2026
MILLBROOK — Organizers of the Millbrook Farmers and Makers Market have set their sights on increased engagement, market accessibility and sustainability as it enters its 36th year.
Every Saturday morning until Oct. 1, up to 30 vendors fill the parking lot of 3263 Franklin Ave. selling food, fresh-grown produce and hand-made crafts. New initiatives this year include a composting program and food assistance programs, and organizers are continuing to host children’s activities.
This summer, the market committee has begun a composting partnership with McEnroe Organic Farm Soils & Compost, with a bin placed at the entrance of the market.
Pre-season market manager and vendor Rebecca Klima said the committee is developing a waste collection system to start a composting program as part of a long-term project of starting a municipal composting program in Millbrook.
“We’re really excited about getting the message out there and getting enough compost to make a sizable donation,” Klima said. “We’re trying to inform more people about what the compost takes and why it’s important for our environment.”
The market introduced food assistance programs, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, FreshConnect and Veterans Benefits in 2025, and will continue to expand throughout 2026.
On-site market manager Anna Benlien said the market also provides activities for kids every week led by the market committee, the Millbrook Library, or groups such as local nonprofit Angels of Light.
“We want to just make sure that kids are also being involved in making it a fun space for them,” Benlien said.
Through a four tiered sponsorship program, the committee is able to support the weekly market and its vendors.
Benlien feels that the Millbrook Farmers and Makers Market is an important part of the community, and one that she’s passionate about.
“It’s really a hallmark to Millbrook,” Benlien said. “It’s just been so much fun.’
Keep ReadingShow less
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
North East moving forward with search for new Highway Superintendent
Millerton News
Jul 07, 2026
MILLERTON — North East Town Board members are preparing to start the search for a new Highway Superintendent nearly three months after longtime Superintendent Bob Stevens’s death in April.
The North East Town Board is set to vote on the job posting at a regular meeting scheduled for July 9 at 7 p.m. Board members are expected to remove a town residency requirement in order to widen the pool of candidates.
Board members raised concerns last week regarding the proximity of prospective hires, citing the emergency contact role of the position in the town’s hazard mitigation plan. The posted job description will highlight the necessity of candidates residing close to the town without specifying an exact allotted mile or time measurement. The acceptable distance will be determined on a case by case basis when sifting through applicants, board members said.
The Town of North East’s Highway Superintendent position is appointed rather than elected, making the town an outlier in Dutchess County.
This proposed change to in-town residency requirements will only affect the superintendent position, not other future town hires. If approved on July 9, the changed local law can be implemented immediately following the meeting’s conclusion, board members said.
Hiring will not be conducted until August following the meeting on Aug. 13.
The board is in the process of finalizing the official job posting. It still must be determined if state law requires that a salary range and benefits package be included in the listing. The town’s 2026 adopted budget recorded an annual salary of $75,000 for the position.
The listing will be posted both in the newspaper and online at the hiring website Indeed.com.
Keep ReadingShow less
Hillsdale residents champion innovative building material for efficient houses
Millerton News
Jul 07, 2026
Steven Bluestone’s passive house in Hillsdale, New York on July 3, 2026. Passive houses are gaining ground in the Hudson Valley.
Photo by Eloise Pickering
HILLSDALE, N.Y. —Two Hillsdale residents are using a lightweight form of concrete rarely seen in the United States to build highly energy-efficient passive houses, hoping to demonstrate a different approach to residential construction.
Consultant Dan Levy has been in the passive house industry for over 15 years, and has built two houses that meet passive house certification standards. He has joined forces with Steven Bluestone — a construction company owner who has built five passive houses and three passive apartment buildings over 13 years — over an appreciation for a type of concrete that’s 80% air.
Passive houses are homes designed to use as little energy as possible, reducing the demands for heating and cooling. They aim to be airtight with double or triple-paned windows and built to work with the sun by having wide overhangs that block summer rays but allow a low winter sun to enter the home.
Levy thinks one of the best building materials for the high-efficiency homes is a type of concrete that’s up to 80% air, but is sturdy enough for multi-story buildings. Autoclaved aerated concrete is a lightweight building material originally developed in 1923 in Sweden. Made from sand, lime, cement, and aluminum powder, the concrete is 75% to 80% air and durable for structures, Levy said. It also has a higher fire rating than regular concrete.
While passive houses are not always built using aerated concrete, Levy and Bluestone have used it for their own homes.
Levy and Bluestone met around 10 years ago in Woodstock, New York, when Levy was building one of the first passive houses using aerated concrete in the U.S. in 2014. He felt relieved when he met Bluestone, as Bluestone had the same idea.
“It’s been so nice to have an ally,” Levy said. “It started to reach the point, finally, where people don’t think I’m crazy. Because if Steve Bluestone can do it, then Dan Levy can do it.”
Bluestone and Levy built the first two certified passive houses using AAC in the country, finishing construction just weeks apart.
Levy has since left his passive Woodstock home and lives in Hillsdale, where he’s built himself another passive house using aerated concrete. Construction took two years, but Levy moved in during early 2025 before it was finished.
Proper insulation is vital in a passive house to ensure inside temperatures remain stable and energy usage stays low, Levy said.
In a traditional wood frame house, insulation fills the middle of the wooden studs — which isn’t optimal, Levy said. In a passive house, insulation should be continuous on the outside, rather than interrupted by studs. In Levy’s home, six inches of mineral wool, an environmentally safe material, line the aerated concrete. Stucco covers the outside of his home, as wood can support mold.
“You couldn’t come up with a simpler building,” Levy said.
Since passive houses are airtight, or as close as possible, bugs and mice are almost nonexistent in Levy’s home, he said. Pollen and dust inside the home is also rare.
Bluestone has lived in his home for 12 years, and is currently building an addition. He used a different insulation than Levy, but both homes use aerated concrete for the structure. Bluestone’s house is also airtight and the structure doesn’t support moisture build up or mold.
Using proper building materials and insulation, passive houses are built so the indoor temperature is consistent, otherwise known as mean radiant temperature. Maintaining inside temperature ensures that comfort is maintained throughout the house and energy usage isn’t dedicated towards temperature differences on surfaces or near doors and windows.
“In the middle of the winter, the walls are kept warm by the heating system because the air is warm,” Bluestone said. “Hopefully no one has a telescope, but I can walk around in my birthday suit when it’s 0 degrees outside, and I’m really comfortable everywhere in the house.”
Both Levy and Bluestone said that AAC and the passive house model could be used to support apartment buildings and multi-story homes. Levy’s house is a duplex, and he does short term rentals in his spare rooms.
“People come to experience it and learn about how this is built or just come to have a comfortable place to stay,” Levy said.
AAC remains relatively uncommon in U.S. residential construction, but it is widely used throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe, according to a January 2026 report by Strategic Market Research.
“The attitude in the United States is, if this was so good, why isn’t everyone else using it? Well, everyone else is using it. They just don’t live in the United States,” Levy said.
China has over 2,000 AAC plants, while the United States has two. According to Levy, using AAC is about comparable in price to using wood framing.
“I’ve been trying for years to show people we actually can build better buildings,” Levy said.
In addition to supporting an energy efficient home, AAC is reusable. After a house is demolished, AAC can be recycled to make more.
Bluestone has 30 solar panels on his house, and Levy will be implementing solar panels in the near future. Once Levy’s solar panels are hooked up, his house will be close to net zero energy usage, he said. Both houses use systems to limit energy usage in water, heating and lighting.
In Bluestone’s house, a button heats the water before it’s dispensed from the faucet. This limits water waste while waiting for the temperature to rise.
“It’s a little bit here and a little bit here,” Bluestone said. “Passive houses actually have a lot of rules, and one is related to that. They want to make sure that the amount of time that you’re running the water, the sink to get the hot water, is minimal.”
According to Bluestone, passive houses are gaining popularity in the Hudson Valley not just for costs, but because the people who live in the region are more environmentally cautious. That’s why Bluestone became interested in building passive houses and using AAC.
“I think it’s the right thing to do. I do believe in global warming and how it’s gonna affect us, how it is affecting us,” Bluestone said.
Keep ReadingShow less
Original radio play celebrates America’s 250th anniversary
Leila Hawken
Jul 07, 2026
Residents and visitors gather at Millbrook assisted living facility The Fountains to hear “We the People,” a production of the Fountains Radio Workshop, on Friday, July 3. The event was fittingly in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Photo by Leila Hawken
MILLBROOK — A local group that regularly performs original radio plays at an assisted living facility celebrated the nation’s 250th anniversary with yet another original staging.
The Fountains Radio Workshop tipped its hat to the nation’s 250th anniversary by presenting “We the People,” on Friday, July 3. There were 22 in the cast and a capacity audience out front.
Project director and Fountains resident Marge Wardrop created a verbal tableau that traced familiar quotes beginning with a reading of the Declaration of Independence punctuated by a chorus of “We the People.”
“Who are we, the people?” asked announcer Jim Wardrop.
The answer began with a quote from George Washington, followed by quotes from American heroes, well-known historic figures and the not so well known, but all contributing to the tested fabric of history as people met the challenges of their times. Those times included the early years of the young country, various periods of war, the Depression, the long civil rights movement and its heroes, all the way up to a modern-day voter, mindful of the responsibility of being one of the nation’s people.
Sound work was by Janet Robinson.
Keep ReadingShow less
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
loading
