Judith A. “Judy” Hester, 86, a longtime Red Hook resident, died on Monday, Feb. 24, 2026, at Northern Dutchess Hospital. Born on February 16, 1940, in Elizabeth, NJ, Judy moved to Saugerties as a teen when her father took a position at IBM. Judy met her husband of 50 years, William J. “Bill” Hester, at IBM, and once they married, she left her career to raise their family in Red Hook.  Judy is remembered as a strong and devoted homemaker who found her greatest fulfillment in caring for those she loved, with home-cooked meals and a welcoming home. Whether it...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/judith-a-hester-bard-employee-and-beloved-grandmother-dies-at-86/

Northern Dutchess Day Care to Launch First Infant ProgramNorthern Dutchess Day Care Center (NDDCC), the longest-operating preschool and only nonprofit early childhood center in the Rhinebeck area, will open its first infant care program in early April, expanding services to children ages 6 to 17 months. The new full-time classroom will accommodate eight infants and marks the first time in the organization’s more than 50-year history that it will provide care for children under 18 months. Northern Dutchess Day Care will add an infant care room, believed to be the first in Rhinebeck. (Photo courtesy of NDDC) As with the...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/the-short-catch-new-infant-care-at-northern-dutchess-a-food-and-learn-event-school-tax-credits-a-student-art-award/

Barry Milea says people don’t drink alcohol like they once did. Barry Milea is seeking approval from the Clinton Planning Board to convert his sparkling wine taproom on Schultzville Road into a fine-dining restaurant. (Photo by Claire Greenburger) “They will not drink unless they have food,” said Milea, the owner of Milea Estate Vineyard on Hollow Road and Clinton Vineyards on Schultzville Road. It’s a line he has repeated at recent presentations before the Clinton Planning Board.  The shift in drinking culture underpins his pitch to Planning Board members to allow conversion of the former sparkling wine taproom on Schultzville...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/milea-vineyard-restaurant-plan-uncorks-new-development-debate-in-clinton/

Editor's Note: This story was updated with new information at 8:08 p.m. following a Tuesday evening vote of the Bard Faculty Senate. In the aftermath of the release of hundreds of emails revealing a long-standing relationship between Bard College President Leon Botstein and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Bard’s Faculty Senate formally voted Tuesday evening to present a statement to the Board of Trustees calling for stronger faculty involvement in the College’s governance and greater transparency in the ongoing investigation process.  Bard faculty voted Tuesday evening to pass a statement calling for their stronger involvement in College governance, in the wake...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/one-third-of-bard-faculty-gather-to-debate-statement-on-botstein-conversation-is-civil-but-divisions-emerge/

Planning Board review of the Rhinebeck Villas hotel development on Route 9G has ground to a halt because the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says it has identified an issue with the project’s proposal for discharging treated wastewater. Planning Board Chair Melodye Moore said the Board is pausing the Rhinebeck Villas’ environmental review. (Photo by Eloise Goldsmith) Planning Board Chair Melodye Moore said at Monday’s Planning Board meeting that, as a result of DEC’s concerns, the Board is suspending the project’s environmental review, which includes weighing the potential impact of the project on bodies of water like...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/rhinebeck-planning-board-suspends-review-of-rhinebeck-villas-as-state-regulators-flag-developers-wastewater-plan/

On a late Sunday morning in Milan, while her husband Mike laces up for club soccer in Rhinebeck and her 10-year-old daughter Aveline settles in with cartoons, Juliet Izon opens her laptop and slips into a fictional world of her making, buzzing with rock music, family secrets, and coming of age. It’s there, in their Upstate house perched on a small hill, with a slight view but scads of trees, that her mind stills and the hours feel briefly elastic. Juliet Izon will read from her debut novel, The Encore, on Wednesday evening at Oblong Books. (Photo courtesy of Juliet...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/milan-author-debuts-novel-of-music-and-long-buried-secrets-at-tuesday-oblong-reading/

With just over two weeks until the Village of Red Hook’s special election for two seats on its governing Board, Trustee Frances Uku has endorsed newcomers Perry Allen and Craig Rothstein for the two open positions. With just over two weeks until the Village of Red Hook election, Trustee Frances Uku has endorsed Perry Allen and Craig Rothstein for the two seats available. (Photo by Athan Yanos) After meeting with all three candidates over the past two weeks, Uku said she decided not to endorse current Trustee Anthony Maccarini because he has less time to devote to the position, given...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/uku-backs-newcomers-allen-and-rothstein-for-red-hook-board-as-allen-issues-letter-citing-lack-of-trust-in-leaders/

In her 24 years as a real estate agent, Wendy Maitland says no property holds as much personal history for her as the Belvedere Mansion at Pawling Manor. It’s where she grew up and where her daughter was married. The Belvedere Mansion at Pawling Manor, just south of Rhinebeck Village, is on the market for .5 million. (Photo by John Codling for Atelier by Wendy Maitland) Now, she will try to sell the property — known to many locals as the spot where the Habitas-on-Hudson project went belly-up, shuttering after less than a year. Habitas, which has rebranded to “Our...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/after-habitas-collapse-belvedere-mansion-goes-up-for-sale-with-broker-wendy-maitland-sharing-lifelong-ties-to-estate/

While total lunar eclipses aren’t as rare as total solar eclipses, skywatchers early Tuesday, March 3, are in for a treat as the moon moves into the shadow of the Earth. This graphic shows the positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon during a total lunar eclipse. (Source: https://www.space.com/4999-total-lunar-eclipse-tonight.html) The eclipse will begin at around 3:44 a.m. in Clinton, Rhinebeck, and Red Hook. At this time, observers would note a dark curved-shape shadow moving across the moon. Sometimes totality is reached in the middle of the night, but this year on March 3, the moon will be completely in the...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/clear-skies-ahead-with-blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-set-to-take-the-stage-tuesday-morning/

Editor's Note: State Police on Tuesday, Feb. 24, released new details about the auto accident that killed Shutong Li, detailed below. Police report that Li was outside of his vehicle in the right lane of the Taconic Parkway southbound at Mile Marker 59.1 in the Town of Clinton on Feb. 11 at about 11 p.m. when a 2025 GMC operated by a 65-year-old man struck him. The GMC then continued southbound and struck Li’s disabled vehicle, a 2024 Lexus, which was partially parked on the shoulder, Police said. The southbound driver was not injured and remained at the scene; he...

https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/young-bard-conductor-35-dies-after-injuries-sustained-fixing-a-flat-tire-on-taconic-parkway/