A Very Good Year for Wild Mushrooms
The agaric mushroom (this particular one is an Eastern yellow fly agaric) looks like the classic illustration from a fairy tale.
Photo by Pamm Cooper
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The front door to the apartment building at 7-9 Main St. in downtown Millerton hosts a sign bearing the words "Unsafe Structure. Stay out." A fire in the basement that started in the furnace filled the building with carbon monoxide, prompting emergency responders to evacuate the building.
Photo by Nathan Miller
MILLERTON — As many as 18 people, including four children, were displaced early Saturday morning after a basement furnace fire sent carbon monoxide and smoke through an apartment building at 7–9 Main Street just before 4:45 a.m.
Emergency and fire crews from Millerton, Amenia and Lakeville, Connecticut, responded to the scene and evacuated residents from the building, located between the Harney Tea Room and the Mercantile Photo Gallery. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and ventilated the building. No injuries were reported.
Millerton Fire Chief Keith Roger said the fire was contained to the furnace before crews were able to extinguish it. The fire caused high amounts of carbon monoxide to spread through the building, he said.
Roger said he observed the basement filling with smoke after forcing entry. Following the evacuation, crews worked to ventilate the building.
“Everyone worked great together,” Roger said, adding that he is proud of his department and grateful for the support from surrounding communities.
The Town of North East Medic 1 and Northern Dutchess Paramedics also responded to the scene to provide any necessary emergency medical services.
The American Red Cross also responded later in the day and is supporting two of the families with temporary housing and additional assistance.
The building did not sustain structural damage, though it is unlikely residents will be able to return in the near future. Mayor Jenn Najdek said the village’s code enforcement officer is in contact with the building’s owner, but there is no timeline for reentry.
“I want to acknowledge the Millerton Fire Department for opening up the doors all day for the displaced residents, and all of the volunteers involved,” Najdek said.
Assisted by the Millerton Fire Department, residents were allowed to enter the building for five minutes at a time to retrieve essential items, a measure intended to prevent additional exposure. Roger said that while the building is currently uninhabitable, residents will be permitted to return to retrieve belongings as conditions allow.
Roger said he was relieved that no one was seriously injured but expressed concern for the families who were forced to leave their homes.
“It’s unfortunate with some of these types of buildings that don’t get the proper attention they need,” he said.
Community jumps in to help
A community-wide effort to support the displaced families began Saturday morning, bringing together the fire department, village and town officials, staff from the NorthEast-Millerton Library and the North East Community Center (NECC), among others.
Village Deputy Mayor Matt Hartzog said he arrived on the scene at about 10 a.m. to provide hands-on assistance. Along with the Red Cross and NECC, he helped supply families with essential items, including blankets, towels, toothbrushes, and a debit card loaded with funds for basic necessities.
“This is really an example of the community coming together,” Hartzog said. He added that community members who wish to help can donate to NECC, which provides critical resources to local families and residents.
Town Councilman Chris Mayville spent most of the day Saturday working alongside the fire department and elected officials to support the displaced residents.
"You appreciate living in communities like ours in times like these when you really see people coming together," Mayville said. “No matter what role people were in, it was comforting to see everyone come together to help.”
Mayville said he was particularly grateful for the Millerton Fire Department, which received four additional calls on Saturday. “They would respond to another call and come back and pick right back up where they left off.”
Two displaced residents required accessible transportation assistance that could accommodate a wheelchair. Library Director Rhiannon Leo-Jameson and Town Councilwoman Meg Winkler worked to identify possible options and made calls for help.
"It is heartening that our community can just react on a moment's notice and work together to try to resolve obstacles," Winkler said.
Leo-Jameson agreed.
“Millerton has always been a community that steps up,” she said. “It’s heartwarming to see public officials coming together to help.”
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Why the focus on Greenland?
Jan 28, 2026
As I noted here in an article last spring entitled “Hands off Greenland”, the world’s largest island was at the center of a developing controversy. President Trump was telling all who would listen that, for national security reasons, the United States needed to take over Greenland, amicably if possible or by force if necessary. While many were shocked by Trump’s imperialistic statements, most people, at least in this country, took his words as ill-considered bluster. But he kept telling questioners that he had to have Greenland (oftenechoing the former King of France, Louis XIV who famously said, “L’État c’est moi!”.
Since 1951, the U.S. has had a security agreement with Denmark giving it near total freedom to install and operate whatever military facilities it wanted on Greenland. At one point there were sixteen small bases across the island, now there’s only one. Denmark’s Prime Minister has told President Trump that the U.S. should feel free to expand its installations if needed. As climate change is starting to allow a future passage from thePacific Ocean to the Arctic, many countries are showing interest in Greenland including Russia and China but this hardly indicates an international crisis as Trump and his subordinates insist.
Researchers believe that, buried beneath the mammoth glaciers covering most of the land are rich deposits of various rare earth minerals including those needed for modern batteries and other hi-tech devices. Trump has already made a deal with Ukraine to supply them more arms in return for rights to its underground “rare earth” deposits. Some have called this extortion but to Trump it was business as usual. Greenland’s buried treasures could be a much bigger deal.
But perhaps Trump’s lifelong obsession with size is the dominant reason he feels he must have the world’s largest island; like his planned White House ballroom, for him this is essentially an ego trip.
Greenlanders and Danes have made it clear from the beginning that they do not wish to become American and are not for sale, Trump’s subordinates have tried to advance a scheme whereby Elon Musk might buy a majority of the individual Greenlanders’ votes to sell their country to the U.S.; however Denmark has the last word and is not about to agree to selling Greenland to anyone.
Although Greenlanders have largely been in favorof eventual independence, since Trump’s intemperate demands they have locked arms with Denmark. Recently, large demonstrations in both places have expressed anger, but even more, sadness that their staunch ally would turn against them.
Other than Trump’s appointees those who support the President’s claim to Greenland are hard to find in the U.S. or elsewhere. While most Republican political leaders have avoided speaking out on the matter, a few have including Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and former Majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, both condemning the possible “taking” in no uncertain terms . Seasoned diplomat, Michael McFaul has called Trump’s insistence on “owning” Greenland as “the worst idea in American history.”
After speaking to the assembled crowd of political leaders and industrialists at Davos, Trump began discussions with Mark Rutte, secretary General of NATO and others after which, in a striking turnaround,he announced that they had put together the basis of a “deal” regarding Greenland.
But neither Greenland nor Denmark had been involved in those discussions; both rejected the agreement’s proposal that the United States would have sovereignty over the military bases both new and existing. Another facet of the proposal giving the U.S. control of underground mineral rights may proveexcessive to both Greenland and Denmark.
Although everyone seems relieved that the crisis appears to be largely over, the rupture between Europe and the U.S. remains. Considering President Trump’s erratic state of mind (in his speech at Davos he referred to Greenland as Iceland at least 3 times), who knows what he may demand tomorrow?
Architect and landscape designer Mac Gordon lives in Lakeville.
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Military hardware as a signpost
Jan 28, 2026
It is hard not to equate military spending and purchasing with diplomatic or strategic plans being made, for reasons otherwise unknown. Keeping an eye out for the physical stuff can often begin to shine a light on what’s coming – good and possibly very bad.
Without Congressional specific approval, the Pentagon has awarded a contract to Boeing for $8,600,000,000 (US taxpayer dollars) for another 25 F-15A attack fighters to be given to Israel. Oh, and there’s another 25 more of the F-15EX variant on option, free to Israel as well.
Meanwhile, many European countries have switched their purchases of the F-35 fighters to the French Rafale or the Joint European Fighter as well as Saab’s advanced concept fighter Gripen.Turkey and Airbus, meanwhile, have sold the Hurjet trainer to Spain and other countries over the US trainer. And France is about to begin laying the keel for a new aircraft carrier (though that will take almost a decade). Meanwhile, Airbus is now, since 2024, the primary supplier to all EU countries for military helicopters… Saab is making GlobalEye airborne aircraft for France, Italy and Germany… France’s Rafale Company is making and delivering Iron Beam high-energy laser weapons… Airbus has ramped up delivery to all its new EU customers of 18 new C295 tactical transports.
Some may wonder why EU leaders as well as the UK, have been so soft tongued when it comes to this Administration’s recent diplomatic transgressions over Greenland (oops, Iceland?). The reason is simple: For decades the US has been the cheapest and best supplier of the finest military hardware – planes, tanks, weapon systems, and defense capability. What every nation understood was that the US held the controls of the safe operation of those aircraft. For example, the electronics of every F-35 can be controlled remotely from the US. Go against us? We can pull the plug. That was never an issue before, where we had trust and mutual goals. The current rush to re-prioritize local EU manufacture and longer term self reliance in the EU is a direct consequence of this Administration’s changing of priorities and allied trust.
It is true that DJT can take credit for EU and UK increased military budgeting and preparedness, his actions have forced them to that reality. It is also true that his long term damage to American jobs and industry are just now becoming evident as less of our hardware is attractive to foreign buyers and our military oversight will be slowly eroded to a position where nations no longer feel the need for diplomatic or industrial reliance on America.
Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, New York, now lives in Gila, New Mexico.
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A small group of protesters voice opposition to President Trump's administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Amenia's Fountain Square at the intersection of Route 44 and Route 22 on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025
Photo by Nathan Miller
The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, and before him Renée Good, by federal agents in Minnesota is not just a tragedy; it is a warning. In the aftermath, Trump administration officials released an account of events that directly contradicted citizen video recorded at the scene. Those recordings, made by ordinary people exercising their rights, showed circumstances sharply at odds with the official narrative. Once again, the public is asked to choose between the administration’s version of events and the evidence of its own eyes.
This moment underscores an essential truth: the right to record law enforcement is not a nuisance or a provocation; it is a safeguard. As New York Times columnist David French put it, “Citizen video has decisively rebutted the administration’s lies. The evidence of our eyes contradicts the dishonesty of the administration’s words.”
Separately, law enforcement agencies across the country are expanding their capacity to watch the public. Here at home, as we’ve reported, Dutchess County’s Real Time Crime Center brings together feeds from automated license-plate readers, including systems provided by Flock Safety, allowing police to track vehicles across jurisdictions in real time. These tools collect detailed movement data on vast numbers of people who are not suspected of any crime, often with limited public discussion of safeguards or oversight.
When citizens document state power, they are told to step back or trust official explanations. When the state documents the public, continuously and at scale, it is framed as efficiency. One form of observation is treated as suspect; the other as routine.
What magnifies the alarm in the Minnesota shootings isn’t just the loss of life, but the response that followed. Federal force was used against members of the U.S. public, and officials responded not with clarity or accountability, but with statements that collapsed under visual evidence. That willingness to lie, and to do so reflexively, signals a deeper problem: an administration increasingly willing to treat truth as an obstacle rather than an obligation.
A democratic society depends on shared facts. The right of citizens and journalists to observe, record, and document matters because it anchors truth in evidence, not authority. That right is not a threat to public safety. It is among the few remaining tools the public has to insist that power remains answerable to the truth.
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