LAKEVILLE — The Salisbury Forum hosted “The Future of American Journalism,” a panel discussion with four veteran journalists, at The Hotchkiss School on Friday, Sept. 16.
The moderator was television journalist Brian Ross, who spoke with former Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron, Subrata De, executive vice president and global head of programming at VICE News, and John Coston, editor of The Lakeville Journal.
The event was part of the celebration of The Lakeville Journal’s 125th anniversary and drew an audience of more than 300.
Ross, a member of the Lakeville Journal Foundation board, started off asking about the panelists’ news habits.
Baron said, “I’m totally online.” He reads The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Berkshire Eagle, subscribes to a Bloomberg newsletter, and regularly reads The New Yorker and The Atlantic.
“Hardly any television,” he added.
De said she does watch TV news, follows social media, listens to the radio and reads major newspapers, “but not a daily set.”
“I mostly need to know where people are.”
Coston, a part-time farmer, said the first thing he does is “make sure the sheep are in the pasture.”
Then he takes in a mix of local, national and international news, from The Journal, Post, Times, CNN, Fox, PBS, the Northwest Corner Chatter Facebook page, the Waterbury Republican-American and the Hartford Courant.
Ross asked about the Post’s slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
“It wasn’t me pressing for it,” said Baron. He said Post owner Jeff Bezos wanted a memorable slogan, and it took a year and a half to come up with something.
Ross asked if the slogan was a defensive response to the Donald Trump presidency, and to the president’s harsh words for the press, such as “enemy of the people.”
Baron said no. “We were working on it well before he was elected.”
He said people assumed the slogan was directed at Trump, and when Joe Biden won the 2020 election, it was suggested that the paper could drop the slogan as no longer necessary.
De said in her experience Washington reporting was conducted in something of a bubble. “VICE was never in the bubble. Our motto is ‘Breaking the News.’”
Ross asked if the idea of balanced reporting, in the sense that each side gets a say, is outdated. De said “the story gets the say.” She said most of VICE’s audience is under 30 years old. “Every story needs to get that full treatment.”
Coston was asked about working at The Lakeville Journal, “still in existence.”
“We have to produce a paper that people have to have, said Coston. “One that truly reflects what the community is all about.
“We have to be neutral, and give everybody their say.”
Coston said that with The Lakeville Journal’s nonprofit status comes responsibilities.
“We are the training ground for future journalists.”
Asked about press being neutral “or more proactive,” Baron said, “I don’t like how these things are framed.” He said he sees the job as collecting facts, asking questions and, while keeping an open mind, writing “the totality of it and tell people what the story is.”
“There are always more than two sides, so I don’t think in terms of neutrality.”
Ross observed that “no president has loved his press coverage,” but Trump took it further, going after Bezos’ primary business, Amazon.
“What was that like?”
Baron said it was not a surprise, given that Trump routinely announced his plans on Twitter. Trump “interfered” with a $10 billion Department of Defense contract that ultimately went to Microsoft Corp., not Amazon.com Inc., Baron added, but it made no difference to the Post’s coverage.
“Bezos did not intervene or interfere” with the Post. “He let us do our job.”
Ross said that Trump’s “enemy of the people” description of the press gained some popular support.
De said that news organizations in general have experienced “a separation from people,” and added that most outlets have had to make do with fewer resources.
Asked about younger and/or aspiring journalists, Baron said he has found, to his surprise, “tremendous interest” in the profession. “I detect a different posture” in younger reporters, he continued. “They do want to express themselves. We were trained not to express ourselves.”
“So what were your rules?” asked Ross.
Baron said Post reporters are expected to use “care and restraint” on social media, and to not participate in protests, and not donate to causes. He said most observed these limits but a few did not, which he found unacceptable.
“If you want to express an opinion there are many other options. It’s not our role as a news organization.”
Ross said that VICE stories are “not passive,” and De said that VICE has its own “standards and practices.”
“It is different,” she said. “It’s personal, relational. It’s still journalism but it feels different.”
Coston said “to some degree the more prevailing issue is young journalists think it’s OK to ‘round off the numbers.’ In a small community you can’t get away with it.”
Asked about the value of community journalism in smaller communities, Coston cited First Selectman Gordon Ridgway of Cornwall. “Gordon said The Lakeville Journal is why we have a ‘Northwest Corner.’”
Graham Corrigan
The Washington town pool in the hamlet of Mabbetsville along Route 44 sits ready for the start of the 2026 season.
MILLBROOK — Members of the Washington Town Board are calling for upgrades to the town’s recreation area in Mabbetsville along Route 44, saying the park’s roughly 80-year-old pool is outdated and increasingly difficult to maintain.
Former Washington Councilmember Mike Murphy presented a new report to the Town Board during its regular meeting on Wednesday, May 13, detailing the needed updates to the park.
His report is part of a larger Washington project called the Recreation Area Strategic Planning Committee. Starting in 2024, Murphy and a committee of 11 community members undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the property, focusing on the town pool and its facilities. “It’s nobody’s fault,” Murphy said. “But over the years, it’s just aged out.”
The committee was made up of various community experts including contractors and environmentalists. The group used last year’s Community Day to field suggestions from local residents, asking what changes they’d like to see at the park.
An online survey followed, and the committee compiled those suggestions for the town board. Suggestions included indoor facilities, a children’s playground, a dog park and pool improvements.
The Town Park consists of the pool and several athletic fields. The town bought the lower part of the property in 1946 for $16,000, and it became a municipal pool soon after. The athletic fields were added in 2006.
The 29 acres “are a jewel within the town,” Murphy said. “We need to figure out how to get people to use it.” But the pool’s aging infrastructure has made maintenance and upkeep unwieldy. It also lacks modern amenities popular in other municipal pools, like splash pads or fountains. Millerton and Newburgh, Murphy noted, both included those elements in their new pool plans.
Washington has more serious fixes to make, like updating the pool’s filtration system. One estimate Murphy received approximated that cost at six figures. “The tax structure of this community will never be able to handle the major costs that are coming down the road,” Murphy said.
Instead, the Committee to Re-Imagine the Town Park proposed several non-structural ways to stimulate the park’s activity, and resulting revenue: extended hours, a third pavilion, more athletic facilities, and an easier way to access the park.
Currently, there’s only one way in or out of the park. It makes for a crowded drop-off — especially when summer camp is in session. Murphy said connecting the park’s entrance to Little Rest Road to the west is one feasible solution.
Nathan Miller
A Life Flight medical helicopter carried a man to Westchester Medical Center after he sustained injuries to his foot caused by lawn mower blades.
MILLERTON — A man was flown by helicopter to a regional hospital Friday after a lawn mower caused injuries to his foot.
New York State Police troopers arrived at 43 Scenic View Drive in the Scenic View trailer park at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, May 15, after a 52-year-old man had gotten his foot stuck in the blades of his lawn mower.
A police spokesperson said the man sustained serious injuries. A helicopter operated by private ambulance company Life Flight landed in Eddie Collins Memorial Park to transport the man.
He was taken to Westchester Medical Center for treatment. The man’s identity and current conditions are unknown as of press time.
Leila Hawken
Enhancing educational opportunities for students in the Millbrook Central School District since 2001, the Millbrook Educational Foundation took part in the Millbrook Volunteer Fair on Saturday, May 16. Residents were invited to learn about volunteer opportunities with the foundation and a variety of other local and regional organizations. The event, now in its fifth year, was held at the Millbrook Library.
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Christine Bates
Known as the “Ice House,” 12 State Line Road on 3.81 acres was sold by the mortgage holder after standing vacant for years. The property was later renovated and resold for $400,000 on April 15.
MILLERTON — North East’s housing market continued to cool this spring, with home prices holding relatively steady and sales activity slowing compared with the post-pandemic surge that drove prices sharply higher across the region.
The 12-month trailing median sale price for residential properties in the Town of North East, including the Village of Millerton, was $420,000 for the period from May 1, 2025, through April 30, 2026. That figure remained essentially unchanged month-to-month, but marked the second consecutive year of declining annual median prices.
The residential median includes all types of housing sales — from modest village homes to large estates with significant acreage — but excludes commercial properties and vacant land sales. Among the higher-end transactions during the period was the sale of 5-15 Homestead Lane for $3.1 million.
Outside the village, where homes are generally situated on larger parcels, the median sale price reached $575,000. Within the Village of Millerton, where lots are typically smaller, the median price for the 10 homes sold during the period was $410,000.
The townwide median price of $420,000 was down 2% from the $430,000 median recorded during the 12-month period ending April 30, 2025. It was also 4% below the median recorded the year before that, continuing a gradual market slowdown following the price increases seen during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sales activity has also slowed considerably. North East recorded 24 residential transactions on a trailing 12-month basis at the end of April, down from 37 sales during the previous year.
Housing inventory showed modest improvement entering the spring market. In early May, 14 homes were listed for sale in North East, including four properties with asking prices above $1 million. Among them was the Hudson Valley Magazine “design home,” listed for $3.99 million.
Only two residential properties were listed for sale within the Village of Millerton in early May. Meanwhile, four commercial properties remained on the market in the village, along with eight parcels of vacant land throughout the town.
Town of North East March and April property sales
710 Smithfield Road — 23.89 acres were sold on April 20 for $190,000.
26 South Center St. —An investment property in the Village of Millerton was sold on April 15 for $700,000.
12 State Line Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath renovated home on 3.8 acres sold on April 15 for $400,000.
5-15 Homestead Lane — 3 bedroom/2 bath home built in 1950 on 258 acres sold on March 27 for $3.1 million.
Town of North East and Village of Millerton closed sales for March and April from realtor.com with property details from Dutchess Parcel Access. Median price and activity calculations for all residential properties from NY State Sales Web transfers through February 2026 with updated residential sales for March and April. Current market data from One Key MLS. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Millerton News
Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Harlem Valley area activity report May 10 to May 13
May 10 — Deputies responded to Kings Apartment located at 20 Pine Drive in the Village of Pawling for multiple 911 calls reporting a disturbance. Three tenants at that location reported getting into a verbal and physical altercation with a female at the same location. The matter was resolved without further police intervention.
May 11 — Deputies responded to a residence in the Town of Stanford for a fraud complaint. The caller reported that she was contacted by a local realtor who made her aware of the fact that he received correspondence through a messaging app where the sender was trying to sell her home. Caller reports that another realtor showed up at her home to look at it after receiving similar correspondence. Caller reported that her home is in fact not for sale. Investigation on-going.
May 12 — Deputies responded to Oak Summit Road in Washington for a verbal domestic dispute between a mother and son. The matter was resolved without further police intervention.
May 13 — Deputies responded to Old Route 22 in Amenia for a domestic dispute between a boyfriend and girlfriend. The matter was resolved without further police intervention.
PLEASE NOTE: All subjects arrested and charged are alleged to have committed the crime and are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are to appear in local courts later.
If you have any information relative to the aforementioned criminal cases, or any other suspected criminal activity please contact the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 845 605 CLUE (2583) or email dcsotips@gmail.com. All information will be kept confidential.
Graham Corrigan
MILLBROOK — Innisfree Garden is set to welcome northeast Dutchess residents for its annual Spring Community Day.
The beloved community event returns Saturday, May 23 — with free admission for residents of Millerton, North East, Amenia, Wassaic, Pine Plains, Clinton Corners, Dover Plains, Pleasant Valley, Stanford, Wingdale, Washington, and of course, Millbrook. Visitors seeking free admission must present identification showing residency in one of the listed towns or hamlets.
There’s a day of programming in store, too. The garden opens at 10 a.m., then Qigong exercise lessons with Cris Caivano kick off at 10:30 a.m. Discounted tickets for the day’s events are available to Dutchess County residents, who are invited to “stretch like a tiger, twist like a dragon,” through guided stretching and acupressure exercises.
Then at 2:30 p.m., visitors are invited along on The Great Pollinator Ramble. Part scavenger hunt, part live theater, the Ramble features larger-than-life pollinator puppets spread across Innisfree’s 185 acres. Nature lovers can use the provided habitat map to find and identify 10 key pollinators that frequent the garden.
“We’re always looking for ways we can introduce the arts into Innisfree,” said Innisfree Executive Director Laura Palmer. “It’s a celebration of the natural environment and all the richness of the natural world.”
Birds, butterflies, beetles and other pollinators will be represented through the oversized puppets, which were designed by Processional Arts Workshop, a Red Hook-based collective led by co-directors Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles.
The concept dates back five years, when the COVID pandemic challenged Processional Arts to develop outdoor programming that could activate public spaces.
“The idea was, if you set loose pollinator puppets in a natural environment, you can encourage people to look deeper at their surroundings,” Kahn said. “It becomes a kind of hide and seek with these species.”
After successful rambles at Catskill’s Thomas Cole House, Hudson’s Olana State Historic Site, and Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Kahn and Michahelles are bringing their pollinators to Innisfree.
The puppeteers are instructed to be elusive and shy, hiding in the garden’s remote corners — as their real-life counterparts might. In that way, visitors are encouraged to investigate parts of the grounds they might bypass.
Spring Community Day is in its sixth year at Innisfree. It serves as the kickoff to the garden’s warm-weather programming season, which includes guided nature walks, wellness workshops, calligraphy classes and live music. A full calendar is available at innisfreegarden.org/events
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