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.

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Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Help Wanted

PART-TIME CARE-GIVER NEEDED: possibly LIVE-IN. Bright private STUDIO on 10 acres. Queen Bed, En-Suite Bathroom, Kitchenette & Garage. SHARON 407-620-7777.

The Salisbury Association’s Land Trust seeks part-time Land Steward: Responsibilities include monitoring easements and preserves, filing monitoring reports, documenting and reporting violations or encroachments, and recruiting and supervising volunteer monitors. The Steward will also execute preserve and trail stewardship according to Management Plans and manage contractor activity. Up to 10 hours per week, compensation commensurate with experience. Further details and requirements are available on request. To apply: Send cover letter, resume, and references to info@salisburyassociation.org. The Salisbury Association is an equal opportunity employer.

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To save birds, plant for caterpillars

Fireweed attracts the fabulous hummingbird sphinx moth.

Photo provided by Wild Seed Project

You must figure that, as rough as the cold weather has been for us, it’s worse for wildlife. Here, by the banks of the Housatonic, flocks of dark-eyed juncos, song sparrows, tufted titmice and black-capped chickadees have taken up residence in the boxwood — presumably because of its proximity to the breakfast bar. I no longer have a bird feeder after bears destroyed two versions and simply throw chili-flavored birdseed onto the snow twice a day. The tiny creatures from the boxwood are joined by blue jays, cardinals and a solitary flicker.

These birds will soon enough be nesting, and their babies will require a nonstop diet of caterpillars. This source of soft-bodied protein makes up more than 90 percent of native bird chicks’ diets, with each clutch consuming between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars before they fledge. That means we need a lot of caterpillars if we want our bird population to survive.

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Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and the home for American illustration

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett

L. Tomaino
"The field of illustration is very close to my heart"
— Stephanie Plunkett

For more than three decades, Stephanie Haboush Plunkett has worked to elevate illustration as a serious art form. As chief curator and Rockwell Center director at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she has helped bring national and international attention to an art form long dismissed as merely commercial.

Her commitment to illustration is deeply personal. Plunkett grew up watching her father, Joseph Haboush, an illustrator and graphic designer, work late into the night in his home studio creating art and hand-lettered logos for package designs, toys and licensed-character products for the Walt Disney Co. and other clients.

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Free film screening and talk on end-of-life care
‘Come See Me in the Good Light’ is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.
Provided

Craig Davis, co-founder and board chair of East Mountain House, an end-of-life care facility in Lakeville, will sponsor a March 5 screening of the documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light” at The Moviehouse in Millerton, followed by a discussion with attendees.

The film, which is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, follows the poet Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley as they are suddenly and unimaginably forced to navigate a terminal illness. The free screening invites audiences to gather not just for a film but for reflection on mortality, healing, connection and the ways communities support one another through difficult life transitions.

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Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.