Quiet comeback

This past week has been a momentous one for that staple of American life: the newspaper.

We want to pause a moment to take stock of our good fortune and thank everyone who supports our work by reading the paper week after week and by advertising in its pages. Our mission is to be relevant to your lives and businesses, and to also be interesting and entertaining.

The financial support that we receive from your generous donations, steady subscriptions and consistent advertising has allowed us to recover from the pandemic, which forced sharp cutbacks. Today, we are making a quiet comeback. We get a chill when we read news of other newspapers that are facing existential threats. Last week, that threat become real for three longstanding New York suburban newspapers that suspended operations. The Scarsdale (New York) Inquirer suspended publication after giving readers a weekly report for the last 123 years. The Rivertowns Enterprise, owned by the Inquirer and serving Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, and Irvington in Westchester County, also suspended operations, as did The Record-Review, an award-winning community newspaper serving Bedford, Lewisboro and Pound Ridge.

Local newspapers reflect a community’s life, and when they vanish there is no image coming back to us from the mirror, revealing our own truths.

This past week also was a dark one at the Los Angeles Times, which announced that it was laying off 20 percent of its newsroom, marking one of the biggest cuts in staffing in the paper’s 142-year history. The Washington Post and the venerable Sports Illustrated have faced recent staff reductions. And we have reported on the pages over the past year about the impact of the changing landscape on community newspapers — more than half of all American communities now are considered news deserts because they no longer have an authoritiative source of local news. There are more than 1,000 public radio stations in America, but only about one in five is producing local news, according to a 2023 study by the Medill School of Journalism. It’s noteworthy, too, that many of these publications have been witness to life in their communities for the past century, or more. The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News fall into that category.

We began this commentary by appreciating you, our readers and advertisers, for continued support. Without this pact with our community we would not have succeeded in our mission to provide relevant, interesting and entertaining news week to week, or offer a venue for your letters and columns, so that what we see when we all look in the mirror is our community looking back at us.


The digital era has been hard on the news business in a variety of ways. For the past year — again due to your generous backing — we have embarked on a path that will bring the news to you on a more frequent pace and on a platform that suits life in today’s world. The weekly print edition is here to stay! But our new, refreshed websites feature a more modern look and the stories to be found there are free for the reading.

Latest News

A scenic 32-mile loop through Litchfield County

Whenever I need to get a quick but scenic bicycle ride but don’t have time to organize a group ride that involves driving to a meeting point, I just turn right out of my driveway. That begins a 32-mile loop through some of the prettiest scenery in northern Litchfield County.

I ride south on Undermountain Road (Route 41 South) into Salisbury and turn right on Main Street (Route 44 West). If I’m meeting friends, we gather at the parking area on the west side of Salisbury Town Hall where parking is never a problem.

Keep ReadingShow less
Biking Ancramdale to Copake

This is a lovely ride that loops from Ancramdale north to Copake and back. At just over 23 miles and about 1,300 feet of elevation gain, it’s a perfect route for intermediate recreational riders and takes about two hours to complete.It’s entirely on quiet roads with little traffic, winding through rolling hills, open countryside, picturesque farms and several lakes.

Along the way, you’ll pass a couple of farmstands that are worth a quick visit. There is only one hill that might be described as steep, but it is quite short — probably less than a quarter-mile.

Keep ReadingShow less
North East town records brought into the digital age

Chris Virtuoso reorganized parcel records in the North East Town Hall basement by parcel number during the process of scanning and digitizing the documents.

Photo by Grace DeMarco

MILLERTON — Within the walls of the two-story Victorian housing the North East Town Hall lies a room-full of town records dating back to the late 19th century. Stored in labeled cardboard boxes and protected by dehumidifiers, the records are in the process of being dated, organized, and scanned into categorized online programs.

As the Town Hall works to relocate to 5603 Route 22 at the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness, the consolidation and digitalization of records, as well as the disposal of those unneeded, is a time-sensitive project. Marcy Wheatley, the Deputy Town Clerk, emphasized their current heavy focus on organizing and scanning. “Now, when we move, we can get rid of a lot,” Wheatley stated.

Keep ReadingShow less
Fun, food and facts bring crowds to downtown Millerton

Nora Garcia, 6, of Millerton, bottom right, gets a face painting treatment from Maddy Rowe, a Webutuck High School senior. Nora’s sister, Juliana, 8, top right, is decorated by Giana Kall, a Webutuck senior. The program was sponsored by the Webutuck PTA.

Photo by John Coston

Correction: the Millerton News Street Fair was a collaborative effort between the Millerton News, the Millerton Business Alliance and the North East Community Center.

MILLERTON — Locals and visitors packed into downtown Millerton Saturday, June 28, for the first ever Millerton Street Fair hosted by the Millerton News, the Millerton Business Alliance and the North East Community Center. Representatives from local nonprofits, businesses along Main Street, Bee Bee the Clown and face painters from Webutuck High School drew in crowds all afternoon.

Keep ReadingShow less