By Joe Moskowitz
Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget is calling for $2 million to be spent on expanding “rail trails’ in Ulster County. That has some people excited, while others fear it may signal the end of the line for what has become a popular tourist attraction.

The money would go toward extending a rail trail from Kingston to the Ashokan Reservoir. Ulster County Executive Mike Hein says it would create a “world class destination.” He says it would provide a big boost to tourism and provide many other economic benefits.

Making connections

Staff report
State police are investigating an apparent hit-and-run accident that occurred on upper Main Street in the Village of Margaretville around 10:30 p.m. Sunday evening that injured a resident of the home.

By Joe Moskowitz
In rural upstate New York, guns are considered a way of life. In urban and suburban downstate, many see guns as a way of death, especially after the tragedies in Newtown, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado.

Last Monday and very early Tuesday morning, the state legislature did something it rarely does. It acted quickly and passed Governor Andrew Cuomo’s sweeping gun control law.

By Geoff Samuels
At the January 16 Margaretville Central School Board of Education meeting, several parents expressed alarm at the apparent miscalculation of their children’s grades.

During the time allotted for public comment, Doris Warner of Margaretville read a prepared statement in which she claimed that her son’s year-end grades had essentially been miscalculated using “mathematical calculations that simply cannot be explained.”

By Joe Moskowitz
If you have a cough, a sore throat, or a runny nose, you are not alone. In fact, if you don’t have any cold, flu or symptoms of whatever it is that’s going around, then you have an immune system to be envied, or it just hasn’t been your turn yet.
Schools have long been great places for viruses and bacteria to gather and do what they are here to do, make people sick, and this year they deserve to be on the illness honor roll.

By Jay Braman Jr.
The Onteora Central School’s Board of Trustees has made a deal with its teachers union for a three-year contract that increases salaries slightly, but also hikes up the teachers’ contributions to their health care coverage. And the teachers get a couple more days off too.

In a district where teachers have been accustomed to healthy wage hikes and a base salary higher than most neighboring school districts, the teachers union this time around agreed to a salary increase of only 1.91 percent spread out over three years.

By Jay Braman Jr.
Dales Hughes, a former Margaretville attorney, faces up to one year in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling over $220,000 from an Ulster County volunteer fire company.
On Wednesday, Jan. 16, Hughes made a plea of guilty to a charge of second-degree grand larceny. The tentative plea agreement, reached with the Ulster County District Attorney, allows Hughes to serve up to one year in jail and avoid a tougher sentence. His alleged crime could bring a sentence of between five and 15 years in prison without a plea bargain.

By Joe Moskowitz
The debate over gun control has turned many people into experts on the U.S. Constitution.
This what the Second Amendment says: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

By Brian Sweeney
Math students in Greg Funck’s classes at Roxbury Central School are improving their skills by an innovative teaching tool that has them doing math problems on their desks. Literally.

Over the Christmas holiday, unbeknownst to students (except one who assisted with the project), Mr. Funck orchestrated a project that turned all the desks in his classroom into erasable “white boards.” Now, students work out math problems on their desks, making calculations on school equipment that has traditionally been used for unauthorized classroom doodling.

By Geoff Samuels
A vote to change the wording in an amendment to section 3.07 of the sewer-use law took place at the Margaretville Village Board Meeting last Thursday night.