Radio Chatskill

Over the past decade, there has been increased awareness that U.S. military veterans often grapple with significant mental and physical health issues related to their service.

In response, many policies and programs have been put in place to support veterans and improve their access to needed services. Despite these efforts, rates for physical and mental health problems and concerns about the health and overall well-being of veterans remain high. 

The New York Health Foundation commissioned a new report that highlights the serious challenges facing recently discharged veterans in New York.

The report, “Understanding Veterans in New York”, surveyed 1,122 veterans discharged between 2018 and 2023. The data sheds light on several pressing issues, including high rates of PTSD, depression, suicide risk, and alcohol misuse. 

New York Health Foundation Senior Program Officer Derek Coy discussed the findings on Radio Chatskill.

Catskill Art Space will present new works by emerging choreographer Madison Hicks as part of the Ardsley Dance Residency. Audiences are invited to open rehearsals on Friday, October 11 and a performance on Saturday, October 12 at CAS in Livingston Manor. 

Contributor Isabel Braverman spoke to Hicks about her piece and the process behind her work. 

Once upon a time, music videos were important cultural events. Many of the first videos MTV aired became hits and pop culture phenomenons.

Today, music videos - and video in general - are common occurrences across multiple platforms in the age of smartphones and social media. 

Shane Rennison, the indie pop-rock singer-songwriter from the Catskills, is hoping to engage fans and break through the digital detritus by premiering two brand-new music videos Thursday at the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre. In person. For free. 

He appeared on Radio Chatskill to talk about why he wants to connect with fans on a more personal level. 

According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will develop breast cancer, but when detected early, it can be treated successfully

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Garnet Health is offering free breast screenings, including mammograms, to qualified individuals on October 26 in Middletown and October 30 in Harris, NY.

Garnet Health Director of Community Relations Moira Mencher is coordinating the free breast screening events and spoke to Tim Bruno on Radio Chatskill We should note Garnet Health is a business supporter of Radio Catskill. 

In the current episode of Kaatscast: The Catskills Podcast, host Brett Barry takes us to the Woodstock Film Festival's Youth Film Lab (YFL), a three-week intensive filmmaking program for teens in Kingston, NY.

Each summer, participants learn filmmaking from industry professionals like Gregg Bray, Megan Sperry, Saskia Madlener, and David Becker. The YFL provides a tuition-free launchpad for young filmmakers to produce documentaries and narrative films, which go on in the fall to be screened at the ⁠Woodstock Film Festival⁠.

Kaatscast is a biweekly series featuring Catskills culture, history, sustainability, local interviews, literature, and the arts. Shows are hosted by Brett Barry and produced by Silver Hollow Audio, in the heart of the Catskills. Kaatscast has been voted “Best Regional Podcast” three years in a row. 

Currently, Sullivan County transports its waste to Seneca Meadows landfill in northern New York, costing the county around $10 million annually. 

Seneca Meadows is seeking state approval for an expansion due to dwindling capacity, but there’s no assurance that the state will grant this request. As a result, the counties that rely on this landfill are exploring alternative solutions.

Sullivan County has developed a draft Local Solid Waste Management Plan, exceeding 450 pages. This plan proposes various strategies to enhance environmentally friendly waste disposal, including the expansion of a countywide composting initiative. Additionally, it recommends three feasibility studies to explore new waste management methods: an efficiency assessment of current practices, the potential for privatization, and the construction of a "waste-to-energy facility" in Sullivan County.

However, environmental advocates are raising concerns about the waste-to-energy option, describing it as "greenwashing" for what is essentially an incinerator.

We spoke with Rebekah Creshkoff, a retired communications professional and co-founder of Beyond Plastics Sullivan County NY, along with Barbara Arrindell, Chair and Chief Science Officer of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, to discuss the proposed solutions for managing the county’s growing waste problem.

We should note that Damascus Citizens is a business supporter of Radio Catskill.

In the pre-cell phone era, finding a familiar face in the crowd of 400,000 people who sang, danced and slid in the mud at Woodstock '69 would have proven to be an impossible feat. But one red maple tree that stood 60 feet over the sea of concertgoers became an impromptu bulletin board and, inadvertently, a symbol of connection on that August weekend of peace, love and music.

Fifty-five years after the festival’s muddy end, the tree was cut down September 25. Approximately 100 to 150 years old, the tree had been slowly dying and was in danger of falling.

The Times Union's Maria Maria M. Silva has more.

Image: Woodstock attendees hang out next to the Message Tree with many notes pinned to its trunk. (Credit: Ilene Levine/Bethel Woods Collection)

With cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis on the rise in New York state, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for increased coordination between local and federal agencies. From the New York Public News Network, WAMC’s Aaron Shellow-Lavine has more.

Following the first human EEE death in New York in more than a decade last month in Ulster County, the Democrat announced a two-pronged approach to controlling the mosquito-borne illness Tuesday in Glens Falls.

Schumer called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work with the Environmental Protection Agency to survey and track mosquitos.

He said, “The national organizations have a unique ability to track these mosquitos to see how to deal best with these deadly diseases. And with climate change the patterns of these mosquitos has changed, so top-notch new federal information can really help out our localities fight these mosquitos which can be deadly.”

Schumer also pushed for an additional $65 million in funding for the CDC’s Vector-Borne Diseases programs.
 EEE has been found in horses across the state this year, but infected horses cannot spread the virus to humans. Human cases have also been identified in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

The leaves are changing throughout Upstate New York and Northeastern Pennsylvania, and parts of the Catskills and Adirondacks are at the midpoint of fall foliage. But why do leaves change colors this time of year? 

Joe Johnson is our resident science guy and he’s here with the science of fall colors and other science stories that caught his eye, including archaeologists have discovered arrowheads that reveal the presence of a mysterious army in Europe’s oldest battle and fast radio bursts reaching the earth after 8 billion years.

On July 18, 2019, New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act) was signed into law. 

Under the Climate Act, New York has goals and benchmarks in place to reduce gas emissions and to achieve zero-emission electricity in the next few years.

But, as of today, the state is not on track to meet those goals - for a number of reasons. 

Elise Kline, of the New York Public News Network, dove into the state’s approach to its environmental goals  and the work ahead.