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Frank Lalli
Millerton News
May 13, 2026
LAKEVILLE — Frank Lalli died on April 27, 2026, of complications of multiple myeloma, at Calvary Hospital in New York City. He was born on Feb. 20,1942, and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey. He earned a BA at Miami University of Ohio and went on to have a long career in journalism.
Frank and his wife, Carole Lalli, lived in New York City where they raised their daughters, Carla and Nina. His life was enriched by his city, for its cultural treasures and for the simple pleasures of everyday life--“the street,” as he put it. The family have had second homes in Lakeville for more than 30 years where they enjoyed time off even more when their grandchildren, Leo, Cosmo, Gia and Remo came along.
Frank began his career as a 20-year-old reporter at the Bergen Evening Record, in New Jersey. He went on to be a writer and then West Coast Bureau Chief for Forbes magazine; Executive Editor at New West; City Editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and spent 17 years at Time Inc, including five years as Managing Editor of Money magazine. He became Editor-in-Chief of George following the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. Frank’s journalism included his book, “Your Best Healthcare Now” (2016); he was the Healthcare Detective on NPR’s local station, Robinhood Radio, for several years. His work earned him many awards, but he was proudest of Magazine Publishers of America’s Champion of Diversity Award for his efforts to diversify the editorial staffs at Time Inc.
Frank’s greatest pleasures were reading, particularly on U.S. history and politics, travel in Italy, and the New York Yankees, but nothing came close to being at a table with family and friends. He will be missed.
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Lawrence Fredrick Twordusky
Millerton News
May 13, 2026
EAST CANAAN — Lawrence Fredrick Twordusky Jr., 79, of East Canaan, Connecticut, formerly of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully on May 1, 2026, surrounded by his family after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. A cherished husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend, Larry will be deeply missed by all who knew him, especially his faithful dog, Barney.
Larry was born on Feb. 2, 1947, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Lawrence and Esther Twordusky. He graduated from Tunkhannock Area High School and later from Johnson Technical School. In 1969, he married his high school sweetheart, Linda LaBar, before serving in the United States Air Force, where he was stationed in Mountain Home, Idaho.
Larry dedicated many years of service to Procter & Gamble, where he worked in various roles before retiring. A lifelong woodworker, he found great joy in carpentry and was known for his skill and meticulous craftsmanship. From building his own home to helping his daughters with home repairs, Larry’s handmade furniture and creations were treasured by those he loved. Larry had a deep appreciation for the outdoors. From a young age, he enjoyed hunting and fishing, and many of his most memorable stories came from time spent in the woods or out on the water.
Larry is survived by his beloved wife of 57 years, Linda; his daughters, Lori Twordusky (her fiancé, Jason English) of Bear Creek, Pennsylvania, and Amy Helminiak (Shane) of East Canaan, Connecticut; his granddaughters, Megan Woronko (her fiancé, Vance Collier) and Wren and Briar Helminiak; his great-granddaughter, Harper Collier; his sister, Sue Farrell of Montrose, Pennsylvania; and several nieces and nephews.
The family kindly asks that, if Larry touched your life in any way, you consider making a donation in his memory to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research:https://give.michaeljfox.org
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Webutuck Community Day returns this weekend
Millerton News
May 13, 2026
Producing a blizzard of bubbles, the Bubble Bus delighted visitors to the annual Webutuck Community Day at the high school on Saturday, May 17, 2025.
Photo by Leila Hawken
AMENIA — The Webutuck PTA’s annual Community Day is returning once again this Saturday, May 16.
Planned festivities will take place rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Webutuck High School on Haight Road.
This year’s installment of the annual event will feature the usual classic attractions — a bubble bus, balloons with Bee Bee the clown, a petting zoo and a car show all in Webutuck’s parking lot.
Vendors will be selling goods and food. Class representatives and extracurricular groups will also be selling items.
Community Day comes at the end of a three-day long book fair hosted inside Eugene Brooks Intermediate School and Webutuck Elementary School.
The Scholastic buy-one-get-one book fair ran from Tuesday, May 12, to Thursday, May 14, and will be open in the Webutuck Elementary School gym during Community Day on Saturday, May 16.
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Children’s health, caterpillars, Rudd Pond
John Coston
May 13, 2026
The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.
May 9, 1935
Woman, 78, Gets License For Hunting, Fishing
MT. WASHINGTON - Mrs. Emma Isaacson, 78, has been issued a combination sporting license by Town Clerk W. A. Hunt. Being over 70 years old, Mrs. Isaacson is entitled to a free license which allows hunting and fishing but no trapping privileges.
Child Health Consultations Will Be Held
A series of child health consultations to be conducted under the direction of Mrs. Mabel Rus-sell of Dover Plains, Dutchess County nurse, have been arranged for communities in the Harlem Valley. Pre-school children between the ages of six months and six years will be administered toxoid for diphtheria and will receive a physical examination at the Hose House in Millerton next Tuesday afternoon from 2 to 4 o’clock daylight saving time. Dr. A. F. Hoag will give the innoculations [sic] and examine the children.
Compete In Caterpillar Eradication Contest
AMENIA - Pupils of the nine district schools in the Town of Amenia are competing in a tent caterpillar eradication contest. Mrs. Joel E. Spingarn is in charge of the contest which will close the week of May. A prize will be awarded to the school collecting the most egg masses.
District Votes To Send Children To Millerton
After a long and heated debate at the annual school meeting Tuesday night, voters of the North East Center School District decided to contract with the Board of Education of the Millerton school to have the children transported here next year. Benjamin Booth was elected trustee of the district, succeeding William M. Sadler who was not a candidate for re-election. Mrs. Nettie Milton was re-elected collector and Mrs. Stella Willson, clerk.
New York Leads In Tree-Planting
ALBANY - New York led all the States of the Union in tree-planting in 1934, according to figures compiled and released today by Lithgow Osborne, Conservation Commissioner. This State planted 40,564,282 trees and of this total 37,882,432 were planted upon reforestation areas alone. The remainder was planted on State lands in the forest preserve.
May 13, 1976
Park Opens Anyway: Rudd Pond Operation Still Hangs in Limbo
The continued operation of the Taconic State Park at Rudd Pond still hung in limbo this week.
The facilities at Rudd Pond in the Town of NorthEast and at the Taconic Park at Copake Falls will be closed for the summer season unless money is restored to the budget of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation (OPR), according to State officials.
May 10, 2001
Desks, Desks, Desks at NECC
MILLERTON — “This is news,” said Partners for Children Director Karen Kisslinger during a speech at the North East Community Center (NECC) on May 4. “So often you read about horrible events, but wonderful things like this happen every day.”
Ms. Kisslinger was referring to the presentation of 20 desks, constructed by students at Webutuck High School, to children graduating from the Partners for Children Program and the Astor Center.
Lamay Promoted
MILLERTON-Private First Class Lamay was recently promoted to Lance Corporal. Lcpl. Lamay joined the United States Marine Corps in July, 2000 and is stationed at Camp LeJune[sic], North Carolina. While at Camp LeJune[sic], Lcpl Lamay continues training with the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marine Division India Co.
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AI judgement is fake news for authors
Peter Riva
May 13, 2026
I have been increasingly concerned over AI and questions of originality of journalists’ work, authors’ manuscripts, plagiarism.A new manuscript submission as agency made to a publisher was rejected because they ran the author’s text through an AI detector and claimed it was mainly AI generated. The manuscript was an anthology of short stories and true histories the author had written and compiled (about the history of dogs) over more than 10 years. The author claimed that most of the text was written before AI was around. The only editing he has done has been within the confines of MS Word (grammar and spell check). He has “NEVER used AI, ever.”
So I ran portions of the dog book text in Grammarly and Pangram and it came back “42% appears to be AI-generated” and “49% AI-generated,” respectively. Incredible.
So, as a test of these and two other AI detection systems, I ran 15,000 first (unedited) words of a manuscript I wrote in 2018 and was published in 2022 (Elephant Safari) and this was the result in a third AI checker: “75% of your text has signs of AI.” Considering I wrote this thriller on the dining room table in the dark of night without any copy and paste whatsoever, I knew this AI plagiarism was misleading, to say the least.
So I went further back and chose text from a book written in 1990… delivered in Nov. 1990, edited by Victoria Wilson at Knopf and still in print: Marlene Dietrich: By Her Daughter Maria Riva Result? On “JustDone” AI checker: “82% AI content.” This manuscript was handwritten on yellow legal pads.
So, the question we all have to ask is this: If AI memory already contains many of the materials, texts, of published books in AI memory… are they all now considered AI owned/generated? Or is AI actually saying that the material is not new to AI and therefore labels it as plagiarized?
The issue here seems to me to be a definition of “original” – original to whom? If an author sends a Gmail with a manuscript to an editor, Gmail (Google) has the file and their AI can presumably read it. Also, if Google or other AI platforms have scanned a previously published magazine article or a book, I believe the very familiarity of what is in the AI memory will give the result that “AI is familiar with this text” and therefore leads to accuse an author of plagiarism.
As for me, I have no faith whatsoever in these so-called AI detection systems. They provided complete nonsense on something I wrote in 2018 and an author delivered in Nov. 1990! To further illustrate the point, I ran Act 1 of HAMLET: “Most of your text is AI/GPT Generated,” so Shakespeare is also a plagiarist? Teachers, professors, and editors everywhere are relying on these false readings and contributing to fake literature appraisal.
Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, New York, now lives in Gila, New Mexico.
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