Potential ICE Facility Draws Backlash

Parents Save Boy from Drowning Pool Safety

Haldane first-grader pulled from pool The end of the school year is always a big day, but for a 6-year-old Cold Spring boy, it almost marked the end of his life. Haldane kindergarteners and first graders, along with their parents, celebrated the start of summer at a backyard pool party in the village on the afternoon of June 24, the Wednesday of the final week of school. Bethany Califano said that when she picked up her son, Georgie, from his first-grade classroom at Haldane Elementary that day, "he said everyone was talking about the party, and he really wanted to go." By 2 p.m., the party was in full swing; Georgie was standing by the shallow end of the in-ground pool. "He was waving at me, and I took a picture of him," Califano recalled. But things quickly became a blur for the mother of three. Moments later, while tending to her 1-year-old, she heard someone say, "Are you OK?" "I just knew they were talking about Georgie," she remembers thinking. Stephen Selman, one of the fathers at the party, noticed a boy at the bottom of the deep end of the pool. Because his arms were moving, Selman hesitated. Before he could remove his shoes, Stefanie Kean, a mom, dove in and brought Georgie to the surface. Selman helped her pull him out. Georgie was not breathing. His eyes were open, his lips and eyelids were blue, his skin was gray and his tongue was sticking out, Selman said. Selman, who was a lifeguard as a teenager and trained in CPR, gave Georgie rescue breaths. He was joined by two other dads with CPR training, Aaron Ernst and Aaron Bartkiw, and the three worked as a team, doing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth. "I pinched his nose, pulled his head back and blew as hard as I could into him," said Bartkiw, also a former lifeguard. "He threw up all over me." Ernst said Georgie, after vomiting four times, started screaming. "It was the best scream that I've ever heard!" Ernst said. "I was just crying and praying; I've never prayed so hard in my whole life," Bethany Califano said. "I've never been so happy to hear him scream; I held him, and he didn't want to let go." After a call to 911, first responders arrived within minutes, Selman said. At that point, a frightened Georgie was talking coherently. He was taken by the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, with his mother, to Mid-Hudson Hospital in Poughkeepsie. "We walked into about 20 doctors and nurses," she said. "It was pretty intense." After doctors examined Georgie, he was transferred to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Westchester County because of concerns about "secondary" or "delayed" drowning, which can occur up to 24 hours after a near drowning. Fluid builds in irritated and inflamed lungs, potentially causing respiratory failure. After his father, Bobby, and two sisters visited with Georgie, Bethany spent the night with him. He answered all the medical staff's questions quickly and alertly, allaying concerns about possible brain damage due to oxygen deprivation. "They kept giving him random prompts; in the middle of talking to me they'd ask him his favorite color, and he'd answer 'blue' immediately," his mother said. Georgie told his mother that he remembered standing in the shallow end and taking a step "and then it was deep," Bethany said. It isn't clear how long he was underwater. Children typically lose consciousness in 30 to 60 seconds, and brain damage can occur within four to six minutes. "I'm always watching the water, and every time I looked around there were two or three sets of eyes on that pool," Selman said. "There wasn't any neglect, but there is a lesson here about how quickly it can happen." Bethany said hospital staff emphasized that drowning doesn't usually occur as depicted on TV. A victim doesn't scream and splash. "It was so quick, so quiet," she said. "And he's a loud kid." After Georgie spent the night at the hospital, his classmates visited him via Zoom before he was released. Three days later, he spotted a children's inflatable...

Potential ICE Facility Draws Backlash

Feds lease warehouse in Newburgh Elected officials and Hudson Valley residents are mobilizing against a potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Town of Newburgh, four months after the agency reversed plans to buy a warehouse in Chester. A notice published by the federal General Services Administration announced that ICE has signed a 15-year, $35.6 million lease with Houston-based Leverage Enterprises Inc. to rent 42,377 square feet at 800 Corporate Blvd., a warehouse owned by the National Realty & Development Corp. near Stewart Air National Guard Base. Citing concerns about the safety of its officers, ICE refused to confirm the warehouse as its location, and the GSA did not respond to questions about its tenant, according to the Times Union in Albany. But the GSA's solicitation in June 2025 sought space in Newburgh that could accommodate "a dedicated sally port/garage" with "secure access into [the] building for deliveries by government vehicles, including detainee buses and vans." More specific is a spreadsheet listing properties owned and leased by the GSA and posted at data.gov. As of Thursday (July 9), the warehouse at 800 Corporate Blvd. is identified as "New Lease-DHS ICE." The lease, first reported on June 30 by the investigative news site Project Salt Box, has sparked bipartisan opposition. Gil Piaquadio, Newburgh's supervisor and a Republican, said on July 2 that the town "will pursue all available legal options to prevent this facility from being established in our community." U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat whose District 18 includes Newburgh and Beacon, said the same day that he was "urgently seeking answers." "We've made it clear: We strongly reject a mass detention center or any ICE facility in the Hudson Valley," said Ryan, who attended a rally on Tuesday (July 7) at Algonquin Park in the town. "We won't stand idly by while ICE moves into our community, terrorizes our neighbors and makes us all less safe." That same furor greeted ICE's proposal to buy a former Pep Boys distribution facility in Chester to expand detention space as the agency implements President Donald Trump's mass-deportation plan. At least eight people have been shot and killed by immigration agents since Trump returned to office in January 2025, according to The Associated Press. They include a Mexican man killed by an ICE officer in Houston on Tuesday, and at least three U.S. citizens. In addition, over 50 ICE detainees have died, more than the previous five years combined, according to ICE data. Flush with funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE planned to expand its detention capacity by spending $38.3 billion to buy and retrofit warehouses capable of holding 1,000 to 10,000 immigrants. But its "detention reengineering initiative" faced nationwide opposition, including lawsuits. In February, Brian Maher, a Republican whose state Assembly district includes Chester, said ICE had confirmed it would not be purchasing the warehouse there. Opponents of a Newburgh facility are demanding the same decision. "This is about more than one building," said Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose Assembly district includes Newburgh and Beacon, at the Tuesday rally. "It's about deciding what kind of community we want to be." In June, The New York Times reported that ICE planned to sell or give to other federal agencies seven warehouses it bought in other states for $700 million. The agency still held, as of April, an average of 154 people at its detention facility at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, more than double its detainee population in January 2025, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Its largest facility in New York is in Batavia, between Buffalo and Rochester. ICE says it is expanding the 650-bed Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia in response to a recent state law that will bar the agency from detaining people in county jails, according to a report published Thursday by New York F...

Putnam Remakes Ethics Board Pandemic funding Livestreaming

Legislators will appoint most members The Putnam Legislature on Tuesday (July 7) approved a law giving it the power to appoint the majority of the Board of Ethics. At the same time, it dissolved the current five-member panel, which had three vacancies. The 5-3 vote (with one legislator absent) could be vetoed by County Executive Kevin Byrne. The executive currently nominates all five volunteer members, who then must be confirmed by the Legislature. The revision reduces the executive's nominations to two and gives one to the Legislature's chair, one to its minority leader and the fifth to a majority of the Legislature. In 2025, according to its annual report, the Board of Ethics investigated three complaints of potential conflicts of interest and received one request for an advisory opinion. It also reviewed 193 financial disclosure forms. It lost three members in 2025: Roderick Cassidy resigned, Joseph DeMarzo decided not to seek another term and John Sweeny died. The board has a budget of about $31,000 for 2026, including $25,000 to hire outside counsel for ongoing litigation. Under the current system, "the Legislature's only role was to vote 'yes' or 'no' " on the county executive's nominees, said Legislator Jake D'Angelo, whose district includes parts of Carmel and Kent. "The public never knew how the candidates were identified, what their qualifications were or who else may have even been considered." As the Legislature's sole Democrat and minority leader, Nancy Montgomery would nominate one member for the panel. A proposal by Legislator Erin Crowley, who represents parts of Carmel, to eliminate the minority-leader nomination failed to gain enough support. "There was a lot of political grandstanding" about the minority nomination, said Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and Putnam Valley. "It's not about giving the minority control; it's about independence and public confidence." The measure shortens board members' terms from three years to two and retains language banning appointees who are lobbyists or officeholders in a political party. It also drops a requirement that at least one member of the board be a county officer, employee or elected official and instead bars anyone in those positions from serving. In addition, if the Legislature's nine members are from the same party, the county chair of the "non-controlling party" gets to choose the minority-party nominee. Putnam's code requires that Byrne hold a public hearing no later than 20 days after receiving the legislation and approve or veto it within 25 days. The Legislature can override a veto with six votes. The current board has two members: Barbara Scuccimarra, a former Republican legislator who was defeated by Montgomery in 2018 and 2021, and Paul Eldridge, Putnam's personnel officer. Despite the three vacancies, legislators decided in June against confirming two Byrne appointees because of the Legislature's plans to change the appointment process and dissolve the current board. A third Byrne appointee, John Molloy, dropped out amid concerns that his position on the Putnam County Republican Committee violated the ban on appointing members who hold office in a political party. Byrne accused legislators of trying to "hijack" the board and "block the board from doing its job." He also said that Molloy "had already taken steps to resign from the GOP committee upon his appointment." The Legislature formally reallocated $2.1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding initially earmarked for a mental health crisis center to paving projects. People USA had planned to lease space for the 24-hour "stabilization" center above a childcare center in Brewster, but that sparked outrage from residents and led the Town of Southeast to impose a moratorium on permits for medical and mental health clinics. The nonprofit then tried to open a center in an office building in Carmel. That provoked similar opposition, and the town's Planning Board rejected the applicatio...

River Pool Cancels Annual Hudson Swim

Newburgh dock withdraws as starting point The Annual Great Newburgh to Beacon River Swim, in which more than 200 swimmers accompanied by dozens of kayaks and other support boats traverse a mile-wide section of the Hudson River, has been canceled for this summer. Scheduled for Aug. 1, the fundraiser for the Beacon River Pool was called off after the Riverfront Marina of Newburgh withdrew as the starting point, said Karen Frillman, president of the River Pool board. The group has held the swim annually since 2004, except for one year during the pandemic. Frillman said the Riverfront Marina told her that its insurance company will not allow swimming from its docks, although River Pool has event insurance and participants sign liability waivers. Marina representatives declined comment. The swim is the primary fundraiser for the River Pool, which opened last week for its 18th season at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park in Beacon. The event raises about $50,000 annually to pay for lifeguards and other operating costs. In addition to a $75 entry fee, swimmers raise money through sponsors. The pier at the Riverfront Marina was an ideal place to start because it projects into the river, allowing swimmers to jump safely without wading over rocks and other obstacles, Frillman said. "We do four groups of 50 swimmers, and they jump in. It's deep enough. You go down, but you don't touch the bottom. And you take off." Frillman said the marina has been the starting point for most of the event's history. In the early years, swimmers left from a dock by Torches restaurant, now Blu Pointe. Frillman said that no one has ever been seriously injured jumping off the docks. "People may have gotten a scratch, but we've never had any kind of an insurance issue, never had any kind of a problem," she said. She said River Pool has been unable to find another safe starting point that allows a direct swim to Beacon. The group will refund 2026 entry fees and look for a solution for 2027. Frillman acknowledged that the swim across the Hudson is risky, which is why the event has at least one kayak minder for every three swimmers. "Getting 200 people across this tidal river is tricky," she said. "You get pushed down by the ebb tide. Then there's slack tide. And then the flood tide kicks in." The River Pool itself takes precautions against risks of swimming in the river. The pool is designed with a walkway that allows swimmers to cross tricky rocks to reach it, and it is 17 feet wide and 30 inches deep, with a net bottom. It's attached to the riverbed with cables, allowing the pool to move with the tide. The pool was modeled after the floating swimming cribs anchored in the East River off Manhattan in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Scenic Hudson prohibits swimming in all of its two dozen waterfront parks, in part because of liability, said Seth McKee, executive director of its Land Trust & Land Programs. Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston, which the nonprofit created with New York State, will soon offer supervised swimming.

'Full, Complete and Comprehensive' 1154 North Ave.

Beacon developer ordered to make project right The developer of a Main Street building in Beacon must return to the Planning Board on Tuesday (July 14) with a "full, complete and comprehensive" list of how the nearly complete structure at 364 Main deviated from a site plan approved four years ago. The property owner, Eric Baxter, and other project officials came to the board in May seeking approval of an amended site plan after acknowledging that nearly two dozen features on the building — material selections, window and facade details, the replacement of Juliet balconies and others — had been changed during construction. With Chair John Gunn absent, board members rebuked Baxter but took no action. Last month, Gunn took the project team to task. Applications for prominent sites such as 364 "establish our Main Street," Gunn said on June 9. "Our Main Street," he repeated, with emphasis. "The Main Street we all have to look at, experience and live with, and this applicant ignored all of the time that we put in to that review." His voice raised sharply, Gunn said he was "beyond angry at the waste of our time, including this time" spent reviewing the plan again. "I want it known by every applicant that we don't sit here just for our health, or for the fun of it. This is a waste of our time, and I'm tired of it. I want that clear," he said. Gunn said he expected the applicant to return this month with a list of "every single item" that deviates from the plan approved in April 2022. "And I'm not going to talk any more about this until next month when we have that list, and we're going to go line by line, is that clear?" he said. "It's very clear," said Taylor Palmer, the developer's attorney. The project team is taking the matter "very seriously," he said, and intends to "make this project better overall, not just return to center." A public hearing will be required before the board can approve changes, but Gunn said it is too early to schedule one. Once complete, the three-story building will have commercial space on the first floor and 20 apartments on the second and third. A public hearing will continue Tuesday on a proposal to convert an art gallery at 1154 North Ave. (Route 9D) to a karaoke bar. The project was introduced in May and drew immediate pushback from neighbors, who said that people congregating at the venue late at night would disrupt nearby residences. In response, the project team submitted a five-page management plan last month that it said could allay some concerns. It states that the venue will operate primarily via online reservations, though walk-ins may be accommodated if capacity allows. Walk-ins who cannot be accommodated will either wait at the bar or leave and receive a text notification when space is available. Staff will be trained to address capacity-related issues. Patrons will not be permitted to congregate on sidewalks, at the rear of the building or near emergency exits, the plan says. A rear exit will be used for emergencies only. Smoking will be permitted in a designated outdoor area on the southwest corner of the building, but the space will not be used as "an outdoor gathering area." The venue is proposed to be closed on Monday and Tuesday, and open from 2 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday and Thursday, noon to 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 11 p.m. on Sunday. On holiday weekends, Sundays would revert to Saturday hours. "That means a Sunday goes to 1:30 a.m. on a holiday? I don't know about that," Gunn said during a June 9 meeting. The applicant, Eric Weitner, said he had based the hours on comparable businesses, including the Vinyl Room and Piggy Bank (both open until 2 a.m. on weekends) and the Happy Valley Arcade Bar (open until 1:30 a.m. on weekends). But if the Sunday schedule is a problem, "we're amenable to bringing that back," he said. Patrons would be encouraged to use public transportation or park on-street or in one of the nearby municipal lots. Noise has been the gre...