Latest News
Celebrating community
Nathan Miller
Sep 22, 2026
Photo by Nathan Miller
Millbrook came together to celebrate the end of the summer season with its annual Community Day, drawing crowds to Franklin Avenue on Saturday, Sept. 19, for a day of shopping, congregating, and live music. Highlights included the Bubble Bus at the Millbrook Library and a classic car meet at Reardon-Briggs Hardware.
Keep ReadingShow less
Rainy battle
Nathan Miller
Sep 22, 2026
The Webutuck Wildcats battle through a cold drizzle at the Millbrook Blazers’ home field on Thursday, Sept. 17. The hard-fought game ended in a 6-0 win for the Blazers on their home turf. The Wildcats and the Blazers are set to match up again at Webutuck High School on Monday, Sept. 28.
Photo by Nathan Miller
The Webutuck Wildcats battle through a cold drizzle at the Millbrook Blazers’ home field on Thursday, Sept. 17. The hard-fought game ended in a 6-0 win for the Blazers on their home turf. The Wildcats and the Blazers are set to match up again at Webutuck High School on Monday, Sept. 28.
Keep ReadingShow less
In the field
Graham Corrigan
Sep 22, 2026
Photo by Graham Corrigan
The Pine Plains Bombers girls’ field hockey and boys’ soccer teams both hosted games at Stissing Mountain High School on Thursday, Sept. 17. The girls’ field hockey team went head-to-head with Coxsackie-Athens High School while the soccer team battled Ellenville.
Keep ReadingShow less
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
$13 million boost for Sharon Hospital
Ruth Epstein
Sep 22, 2026
SHARON, Conn. — Sharon Hospital will receive $13.1 million in federal funding to expand care for older residents, improve access to specialists and establish an outpatient rehabilitation facility outside its campus.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced Sept. 16 that the award is part of $50 million in first-year agreements finalized by the Connecticut Department of Social Services under the Rural Health Transformation Program.
The statewide funding package includes $46 million for four rural hospital systems and nearly $4 million for technical assistance.
Sharon Hospital, part of Northwell Health, plans to combine its $13.1 million award with investments from the health system to support three initiatives: a healthy aging program, a staffed virtual health office and an off campus rehabilitation facility.
The healthy aging program will bring blood pressure checks, glucose monitoring and cholesterol screening to community settings where older residents already gather. Hospital officials said the gatherings will also provide opportunities for social interaction.
The virtual health office will provide a dedicated space at Sharon Hospital where patients can consult remotely with specialists, with clinical staff available to assist. The service is intended to help older residents, working families and patients whose medical conditions make travel difficult.
The planned rehabilitation facility will provide an additional location for physical therapy and rehabilitation, which hospital officials described as among the area’s most sought-after services. Existing rehabilitation services on the hospital campus will continue.
“These resources will help us strengthen access to care, invest in services that meet the unique needs of our rural community and continue building a healthier future for the patients and families we are privileged to serve,” Sharon Hospital President Christina McCulloch said in a statement.
Other first-year awards include $20.2 million for Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam and a combined $12.7 million for Hartford HealthCare’s Windham Hospital and Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington.
The grants are intended to help rural hospitals address challenges that include staffing shortages, aging facilities, low patient volumes and a heavy reliance on public insurance programs. Projects statewide will include equipment upgrades, building renovations, expanded telehealth capacity and efforts to stabilize the health care workforce.
“Connecticut’s rural hospitals are essential to their communities, and they have unique challenges in ensuring that people who live in these areas can access the healthcare they need,” Lamont said.
The announcement follows other investments since Sharon Hospital became part of Northwell Health in May 2025, when Northwell merged with Nuvance Health, the hospital’s former parent organization.
Earlier this year, McCulloch described upgrades to the hospital’s radiology department, including a replacement CT scanner, and an expanded training program that brings family medicine residents to Sharon for experience in rural health care.
Connecticut is expected to receive approximately $154.2 million during the first year of the five-year federal program. The $50 million announced Sept. 16 represents the first group of finalized agreements with hospitals and a technical-assistance provider.
Sharon Hospital has not specified when its three initiatives will begin, where the offsite rehabilitation facility will be located or how the $13.1 million will be divided among them.
Keep ReadingShow less
Building robots
Leila Hawken
Sep 22, 2026
Samuel Johnson, 8, and his 10-year-old brother Emmett, right, of Amenia, build a car out of legos that they will then use a computer to program and drive at the Amenia Free Library on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Photo by Leila Hawken
Samuel Johnson, 8, and his 10-year-old brother Emmett, right, of Amenia, build a car out of legos that they will then use a computer to program and drive at the Amenia Free Library on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Mark Edward Peck
Millerton News
Sep 22, 2026
VILLAGE OF MILLERTON — Mark Edward Peck, 70, a lifelong area resident died peacefully at his childhood home in Millerton, New York, just as his beloved father had several years prior. Mark worked as a self-employed roofing contractor for MCM Construction in Millerton, prior to his illness.
Born June 5, 1956, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he was the son of the late Alan G. and S. Jean (Bathrick) Peck. He was educated in the Webutuck School District and he graduated high school with the class of 1974. On Sept. 22, 1984 in Copake Falls, New York, he married the love of his life, Jane E. Robertson. Mrs. Peck survives at home in Millerton.
Mark was an avid musician and played and sang in multiple bands throughout his life. He loved the outdoors and especially enjoyed caring for his lawn and yard work in general. He was an avid New York Giants fan and greatly enjoyed long rides over Mount Riga with his beloved wife Jane. Mark will forever be remembered as an all-around good guy and he will be dearly missed by his family and many dear friends.
In addition to his wife Jane, Mark is survived by his son, Edward Brammer III and his wife Amy of Sandisfield, Massachusetts; two brothers, Bruce Peck of Au Sable Forks, New York, and Glenn Peck and his wife Lynn of Webster, New York; two grandchildren, Jessica Stevens and her husband Will of Canaan, Connecticut, and Abby Magner and her husband Alex of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and five great grandchildren, Brayden, Lyla, Eli, Wyatt and Noah. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by a brother, Gary Peck of Copake, New York.
Calling hours will be held on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, New York. A funeral service will take place at 3 p.m. at the funeral home. Pastor William Mayhew will officiate. A reception in Mark’s honor will follow at the Millerton Firehouse. To send an online condolence to the family, flowers to the service or to plant a tree is Mark’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com Arrangements have been entrusted to Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546.
Keep ReadingShow less
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
loading
