Becton Dickinson’s North Canaan plant opened in 1961 with eight employees and a 25,000 square foot facility. Today the operation employs more than 540 people and encompasses 385,000 square feet.
NORTH CANAAN — New production lines installed in 2024 at Becton, Dickinson and Company’s Connecticut and Nebraska plants are now pumping out critical medical devices — including syringes, needles and IV catheters — to meet the burgeoning needs of the nation’s health care system.
One syringe production line is already fully operational at the vaccine manufacturer’s 385,000 square foot North Canaan plant, with additional lines expected to start up in the coming months, the leading global medical technology company announced on Jan. 15.
The new production lines will boost BD’s capacity for safety-engineered injection devices by more than 40% and conventional syringes by more than 50%, adding millions of units annually to support hospital procedures, vaccinations, medication preparation and drug delivery to patients, company officials said.
The Connecticut plant manufactures small-size syringes and syringe and needle combination products. Operations take place around the clock and are sold in every region worldwide.
“Domestic manufacturing is crucial for ensuring a resilient supply of essential healthcare devices,” said Eric Borin, president of Medication Delivery Solutions at BD.
“By expanding our production capacity, we are not only meeting the critical needs of patients and providers, but we also are reinforcing our commitment to the nation’s health care infrastructure,” Borin said.
To support this production, the vaccine manufacturer has hired more than 215 full-time employees at its facilities in Nebraska and Connecticut, with more than 145 of those jobs based in North Canaan, boosting that plant’s employee roster to more than 540.
The North Canaan plant, which opened in 1961 with eight employees and a 25,000 square foot facility, is Northwest Connecticut’s largest employer.
In 2024, the company invested more than $10 million to expand its manufacturing capacity at its Connecticut and Nebraska facilities in response to quality issues with plastic syringes imported from China that were uncovered in late 2023 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In late November 2023, the FDA announced its probe into reports of leaks, breakages and other quality problems with China-made plastic syringes not cleared by the FDA, and in August 2024 recommended that healthcare providers “use syringes not manufactured in China, if possible.”
At that time, Fallon McLoughlin, director of public relations and corporate communications for the Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based company, announced that production lines and production staff were being relocated to North Canaan from other BD plants as part of the expansion.
Becton, Dickinson and Company, which operates more than 30 manufacturing and distribution facilities around the country, announced plans last week to invest more than $30 million in 2025 to expand manufacturing capacity for IV lines at its plant in Utah. That facility, said officials, is the largest producer of IV catheter lines in the world.
The company’s Connecticut, Nebraska and Utah plants alone have collectively 200 years of experience in manufacturing critical medical devices, company officials said, and are the only remaining large-scale manufacturing sites in the country.
WASSAIC — Ariel Yotive has a motto, “Work with what you’ve got.” Her unique Vitsky Bakery in Wassaic has the fruits of that motivation flying off the shelves.
Literally, during apricot season, one of her neighboring farm orchards may be harvesting fresh-off-the-tree fruit that is transformed into danishes. Local hives supply honey for Cream Buns with White Chocolate or a Ricotta Custard with a chunk of honeycomb floating in the middle. “I use what is around,” said the baker.
At Vitsky Bakery, Yotive’s approach has become a defining philosophy. Working closely with nearby farms, beekeepers and gardeners, she creates a constantly shifting menu shaped by the season, surplus and chance, turning overlooked or fleeting ingredients into inventive pastries that have made her Wassaic bakery a destination for locals and weekend visitors alike.
Yotive wanted to be a baker since she was five and has a video of her vowing to do it way back when. Working beside her grandfather in Illinois at his Quality Bakery, she learned to make bread — and still has his recipes and notes — but got started out in the food trade roasting whole animals and cooking everything in a resort camp in Patagonia.
After a stint at Bard College from 2006 to 2010, she worked at Troutbeck in Amenia and fell in love with the Oblong Valley, where today she has created a warm, sun-splashed mecca for baked goods of all sorts.
Vitsky Bakery is located at the south end of Wassaic’s Main Street, nestled in front of the Metro-North railroad, which flies by behind the counter, and an atmospheric creek that burbles along with its otters and snapping turtles.
There are chairs outside and picnic tables to sip coffee and tea, and even on a brisk, snowy day, a family munched pretzel scones and traditional hot cross buns. Yotive is still working on getting a café inside.
Yotive’s workday starts at 1:30 a.m., baking bread and proofing yeast. Dozens of muffins take three to four hours, and some mornings in the winter she has to shovel snow. She opens at 8:30 a.m. every Friday, which includes a challah bread special, and on Saturday and Sunday, which feature the big hits: cardamom buns and bialys.
The baker describes her style as French/Jewish with viennoiserie and “Frankenstein” touches — meaning she puts together unlikely components. One morning she made croissants that didn’t work out. Rather than trash them, she repurposed them as her famous and madly popular Walnut Croissants, cut in half and rebaked after being filled with walnut frangipan. “I bake what I want and what is local,” she said, avoiding ingredients like lemons which don’t grow in these parts. “I’ve learned to let go of expectations.”
If a local grower’s garlic bulbs are too small for market, they become sandos, Yotive’s name for sandwiches, with zucchini from an overflowing nearby garden combined into Goat Cheese Danish/Beet Lettuce with HBE’s (Hard-Boiled Eggs), a sandwich that Yotive said started as a joke and later became a regular offering.
A bumper crop of rhubarb became Sugar Twists and Raspberry Rhubarb Cobbler. Any flowers of the week adorn Elderberry Custard Buns, Apple Rose Scones, Winterberry Pastries, and Wildflower Honey Twists. Local syrup becomes Maple Custard Pie.
Yotive’s partnership with local organic farms and neighbor-sourced ingredients has created a network of local businesses that help support one another. Part of her philosophy is to be part of the community and bring people together. Yet long hours and driving from farm to farm to collect ingredients takes its toll. “It’s hard to have a social life and a family when you work from the middle of the night to late afternoon, instead of 9 to 5.”
Using fresh also requires long hours preserving and freezing the fruit or vegetables of the moment. Tomatoes later become fabulous Focaccia Slices, bottled jams, or herbs turned into Cheddar Dill Biscuits. She also has “regular” bakery items like chocolate croissants, cookie boxes, sunflower bread, babka, honeyoat rye and even gluten-free options.
Yotive said she tries to allow her brain to combine what is immediately available with a standard item. This produces her Brown Butter Apple Custard, which goes beyond the bakery status quo. “I like to punch it up, try the exotic, and go beyond food culture,” she said, mentioning her Earl Gray Buns.“I try to utilize what I have.”
Walk-ins account for 90% of her sales, with a steady stream of customers through the day, but she also sells online. Yotive doesn’t make cakes to order but she said customers are glad to accept whatever she has available.
And as for the name? Ariel Yotive’s grandfather dropped the “Vitsky” from the family name “Yotvitsky” so his Quality Bakery didn’t sound too exotic, Yotive said. Ariel has picked it up and run with it. Her outpost of inventive and enticing baked goods must be visited to be appreciated, an experience best summed up by one customer who bought for his family one of everything that was left. He absentmindedly bit into something he just purchased without knowing the clever name, or the unexpected ingredients, only the flavor that turned his face to joyous wonderment.
Ed Sheehy and Tom Taylor of Copake, New York, and Karen and Wendy Erickson of Sheffield, Massachusetts, traveled to Salisbury on Saturday to voice their anger with the Trump administration.
SALISBURY — Impassioned residents of the Northwest Corner and adjacent regions in Massachusetts and New York took to the Memorial Green Saturday morning, Jan. 10, to protest the recent killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good at the hands of a federal immigration agent.
Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot at close range by an officerwith Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE, on Wednesday, Jan. 7. She and her wife were participating in a protest opposing the agency’s presence in a Minneapolis neighborhood at the time of the shooting.
The incident sparked protests and vigils nationwide, both in remembrance of Good and in opposition to what demonstrators described as a broader pattern of government overreach.
In Hartford on Thursday evening, Jan. 8, two vehicles that authorities believe were operated by ICE officers drove through a crowd that had gathered in memory of Good. Connecticut Public Radio reported that at least one person had been struck by the vehicles and that police are investigating potential charges.
In Salisbury, the protest unfolded calmly but with a palpable sense of urgency. Just before noon, roughly 160 demonstrators lined Route 44, holding signs and cheering as passing motorists honked their horns.
Organizer Sophia deBoer stood alongside her husband, Lee deBoer, and fellow activists Kathy Voldstad and Amy Lake to greet demonstrators as they arrived. Along with Al Ginouves, the group has organized weekly protests against the Trump administration since April 2025’s nationwide “Hands Off” movement.
“It’s time that people stood up to this lawless administration,” Sophia deBoer said as the crowd waved their signs.
Local immigrants’ rights advocate John Carter echoed that sentiment. “I need to put my body where my soul is,” he said.
Attendees cited a range of emotions for turning out, from anger and fear to cautious optimism
Joan Gardiner said it was “outrage and fear” that brought her to the protest, while Christine Clare said, “Being out here today, this makes me hopeful.”
Calls for justice dominated many of the messages displayed on protesters’ signs. Asked what motivated him to attend, Salisbury resident Louis Tomaino pointed to the words on his sign: “We all saw Renee Good murdered. And we all saw murder excused.”
Area ambulance squad members, along with several first selectmen, attend a Jan. 5 meeting on emergency service providers hosted by Nuvance/Northwell.
FALLS VILLAGE, Conn. — Paramedic coverage in the Northwest Corner is continuing despite concerns raised last month after Sharon Hospital announced it would not renew its long-standing sponsorship agreement with Northern Dutchess Paramedics.
Northern Dutchess Paramedics (NDP), which has provided advanced life support services in the region for decades, is still responding to calls and will now operate alongside a hospital-based paramedic service being developed by Sharon Hospital, officials said at a public meeting Monday, Jan. 5, at the Falls Village Emergency Services Center.
“We haven’t missed a beat; we’re still taking calls,” said Andrea Downs, president of the Falls Village Volunteer Fire Department and an employee of NDP, speaking at the meeting, which was attended by ambulance squad members, first selectmen and representatives of Sharon Hospital.
Sharon Hospital announced Dec. 11 that it would not renew its annual agreement with NDP, ending a 28-year relationship and initially stating that service would cease Jan. 1. Hospital President and CEO Christina McCulloch said the decision was based on compliance concerns tied to the hospital’s role as sponsor.
“Being a sponsor is a big deal,” McCulloch said. “Our concerns were big enough that we couldn’t sign. It was a difficult decision.”
She said the hospital had discussed the issues with NDP representatives and cited unmet state requirements.
Without a sponsoring hospital, NDP could not operate in Connecticut. That issue was resolved when NDP finalized an agreement with Stamford Hospital, allowing it to continue providing services in the Northwest Corner.
At the same time, Sharon Hospital is establishing a hospital-based paramedic service through Nuvance/Northwell, owner of the hospital. Under the current model, the service consists of a single paramedic, who begins the day at New Milford Hospital before traveling to Sharon, prompting concerns from some volunteer ambulance crews about response times while that paramedic is in transit.
Addressing those concerns, hospital officials said while the new paramedic service covers a wide area, so too does NDP, which is based out of Rhinebeck. Some volunteer ambulance crews also said their concerns relate to the transition to two providers, with Sharon Hospital’s service still being built out and not yet fully stationed in Sharon.
Falls Village First Selectman David Barger asked whether more than one paramedic service could operate in the region.
“There could be more than one,” McCulloch said.
Matt Cassavechia, director of emergency services for Sharon Hospital, said Litchfield County Dispatch, which handles all ambulance and fire dispatching for the region, will call whichever paramedic service is available at the time of an emergency.
He acknowledged that the current arrangement could be improved and said the hospital hopes to expand on-site paramedic coverage in Sharon. Doing so would require state approval through a need-for-service application, which Cassavechia said would benefit from letters of support from the community and area first selectmen.
Several volunteer ambulance representatives expressed concern about how changes could affect basic life support services and volunteer operations. Cassavechia said the hospital does not intend to replace volunteer squads.
“We’re not snapping up patients,” he said. “That’s not what we do. We are deliberate and purposeful. We have zero intent of putting volunteers out of business.”
Questions were also raised about possible delays in transferring patients from Sharon Hospital to other facilities.
Gabrielle Tessler, of Copake, writes on a large sheet of paper expressing her opposition to the project as speakers address more than 100 attendees at a community meeting Saturday, Jan. 10, at Copake’s Memorial Park Building.
COPAKE — There was standing room only on Saturday, Jan. 10, when more than 100residents attended a community meeting to hear experts and ask questions about the proposed 42-megawatt Shepherd’s Run solar project that has been given draft approval by New York State.
The parking lot at the Copake Memorial Park Building was filled, and inside Sensible Solar for Rural New York and Arcadian Alliance, two citizen groups, presented a program that included speeches, Q&A, videos and workshop-like setups.
Speakers urged everyone to attend public hearings on the Hecate Energy LLC plan that are scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 21, and Thursday, Jan. 22, in person at the Copake Town Hall, and in a virtual setting on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
There were representatives from local, state and county government on hand, including from State Sen. Michelle Hinchey’s, D-41, office. Hinchey has expressed concerns about the project. Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, D-106, plans to attend one of the in-person hearings. Sam Hodge, chair of the Columbia County Democratic Party and a potential primary challenger to Barrett, was also present, as were Columbia County Clerk Holly Tanner and Copake Town Supervisor Richard Wolf.
“The vast majority of Copakians don’t want this project,” Wolf said as he began to talk, arguing that the local environment would be damaged, no permanent jobs would be created and the electricity generated would be transmitted downstate.
The state has overridden 16 of the town’s zoning regulations, he said.
“I encourage people to come to the hearings,” he said. “Make your opinions and voices heard.”
Wolf has been frustrated in dealing with the Chicago-based solar developer from the start and asserts that Hecate has “no interest in Copake.”
“I haven’t heard from anybody at Hecate in 20 months,” he said.
Lindsay LeBrecht, a Copake Lake resident, spoke as a member of a panel and questioned why prime farm land is being taken for this so-called solar farm. “It’s not a farm,” she said. “It’s an industrial site.”
One concern cited by the project’s opponents is the adjacency to Taconic Hills Central School in Craryville and the prospect of fire risk. William Murphy, a retired Battalion Chief with the New York City Fire Department, spoke about the fire threats, and said there isn’t enough fire-fighting capacity in the Craryville, Copake and Hillsdale area to adequately respond in the event of a fire. In New York in 2023, he said, there were three large solar facility fires. He also said they are increasing in number and often are unreported.
When he was asked by the school to develop an evacuation plan, he said he declined.
“No plan is fast enough to keep the students safe,” Murphy said.
Animal expert Nick Jacinto, who is based on Long Island and who brought two live owls and a falcon to the community meeting, expressed concern about probable breeding pairs of peregrine falcons and bald eagles that could be threatened by the project.
“Will solar panels become this generation’s DDT,” he said, in a reference to the pesticide that nearly devastated bald eagle populations in the U.S. in the 1960s.
Questions from attendees focused on ways to stop the project, such as banding together to raise funds that could be used to buy out the lease options on the land, or having the town bring a lawsuit. Supervisor Wolf said there is a contingency plan that could bring this into court, but he didn’t believe the lease options can be touched at this point.
There was a lot of community spirit to go around. After the two-hours elapsed, people clustered together to continue discussing the project that has been in the wind in the agricultural hamlet since 2017.
Vicki Sander, a member of Sensible Solar who helped organize the meeting, said she invited Hecate to come. But “I didn’t hear back.”
