Radio Chatskill

A nearly $18 million rehabilitation of the Callicoon-Damascus Bridge will get underway this July, while the study of alternatives for the closed Skinners Falls-Milanville Bridge is expected to wrap up by the end of summer.

Jason Dole spoke to Laurie Ramie, Executive Director of the Upper Delaware Council, about the plans for ten Delaware River Crossings.

Joe Johnson is a former Port Jervis science teacher and Radio Catskill volunteer. He's bringing science stories that caught our eye recently:  otters utilizing tools in new ways; the discovery of another new planet; and researchers say a new procedure that burns stomach lining may help decrease production of a hunger hormone.
 

The Delaware River Basin Commission is hosting a public meeting on June 5 in Narrowsburg, where the public can share their concerns and demands about the state of the Delaware River.

Reporter Marin Scotten is joined by Tracy Carluccio from the Delaware River Keeper network to hear more about the event, their work as an organization and what actions they are demanding from the DRBC.

For the fourth year, CAS will celebrate Pride (LGBTQIA+) month with a special month-long installation and performance from the queer identifying and Roscoe-local, Terry DamE.

The sound artist and creative technologist will present an interactive, geographically specific sound installation for the entire month of June in the second-floor River Gallery. Inspired by the artist’s love of nature, sound and maps, the project involves recording and transforming sound environments from specific geographic areas into creative materials used to build a work of sonic and visual art. Participants draw on a large wall mounted paper canvas with sound triggering graphite bars that hang down over the surface. The “sonic pencils” trigger a combination of virtual instruments created using field recorded sound gathered from the Southern Catskills region which Dame then digitally manipulates into “playable” sounds, and more recognizable traditional musical sounds.

Culture Reporter Valerie Mansi spoek to Terry Dame.

About the Artist

Terry Dame is a creative technologist, sound artist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator based in New York and Roscoe. Currently, she creates and performs with interactive sensor-driven musical instruments, sculptures, and installations using found objects and found sounds to explore pathways between creativity, technology, nature, and human habitation. From 1998 to 2012, she led the percussion-based ensemble Electric Junkyard Gamelan. The group toured nationally and internationally, performing original compositions on Dame’s own artist-made instruments built from recycled objects. Dame also has an active career composing for film and dance and is an alumna of the Sundance Institute Composer Lab. 

Her work has been presented at prestigious venues internationally, including the Kennedy Center, MoMA, Detroit Institute of Art, International Festival of Recycling Art, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and Festival Archstoyanie. Dame has received support from HarvestWorks Digital Media Center, Fractured Atlas, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Rockefeller Foundation, NYSCA, and Meet the Composer. She holds a BFA in Environmental Planning from the University of Massachusetts and an MFA in Composition and Performance from the California Institute of the Arts. Dame is currently on faculty in the MFA Computer Arts Department at the School of Visual Arts and BFA Media Arts Department at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.

After the first regular meeting of the SUNY Sullivan Board of Trustees with its new President, Dr. David Potash, it was announced that several programs at the college would be cut. 

Among the resolutions discussed, six programs were considered for elimination. Ultimately, five programs were approved to be cut, while one program, the Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) program, was spared.

The five programs approved for elimination are:

1.  Media Arts Associate in Science (AS) program
2.  Theater Associate of Arts (AA) program
3.  Environmental Science AS program
4.  Liberal Arts & Sciences AS - Biology Concentration program
5.  Liberal Arts & Sciences AS - Mathematics Concentration program

Dr. Teresa Hamlin, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, was quoted in the Sullivan County Democrat, saying, "Everyone needs to understand that we're in support of keeping the theatre here and still having productions. We just can't afford to keep the formal degree in theater, but we can keep theatre as part of this community and part of this college that's important to all of us on the board."

Scientists have uncovered a massive, untapped reservoir of lithium in wastewater from Pennsylvania natural gas fracking sites, a finding that could help meet surging demand for the vital battery material.

The researchers, publishing their work in the journal Scientific Reports, estimate the wastewater contains enough lithium to supply up to 40% of U.S. demand.

Tim Bruno spoke with Philadelphia’s WHYY News Climate Desk reporter Susan Phillips about how Pennsylvania could become a massive contributor to the country’s quest for lithium after scientists discovered a large reservoir of the chemical element in fracking wastewater in the Marcellus Shale. 

Victoria Skutham and Katie Slemmer two local scouts who want folks to think, speak and act in the spirit of peace and harmony.

They're planting a "Peace Pole" in Callicoon Creek Park on May 30 to promote peace, caring and acceptance.  The peace pole features the message, “May Peace Prevail On Earth,” in multiple languages.

Katie and Victoria spoke to Tim Bruno about the project on Radio Chatskill. 

After a near-fatal stroke and a separation, amidst a global pandemic, Rick Van Noy decided to go for a paddle. In Borne by the River, he charts the story of discovery, and healing that came from this solo canoe journey. 

Paddling two hundred miles on the Delaware River to his boyhood home just upriver from Trenton, New Jersey, Van Noy contemplates his fate and life, as well as the simple joy of sitting in a small boat floating down a large river with his dog, Sully.

Culture Reporter Valerie Mansi has more.

Coach, author, motivational speaker and "father to all children," Pedro Tweed of Monticello has spent his life teaching and mentoring children since the 1970's. 

He has a new Children’s Book called “ The Gymnastics Adventures of Coach Tweed” which teaches children life lessons around overcoming obstacles and mental blocks and learning to reset your mind. 

Coach Tweed spoke to Jason Dole. 

You might have seen them crawling up the trees in your backyard or maybe on your Adirondack chair. Spongy moth caterpillars, identifiable by their dark, hairy bodies and blue and red spots, are back.

This year is shaping up to be a bad spongy moth year in the region.

Jason Dole Spoke to The River Reporter’s Ruby Rayner about the spongy moth’s seasonal return.