The Local Edition

For more than a decade, Delaware Currents has been a trusted, independent voice covering one of our region’s most vital lifelines — the Delaware River and its watershed. Founded by journalist Meg McGuire, the online publication has shined a light on the people, policies, and places that shape the river’s future — from drinking-water issues and dam management to environmental justice and the communities that depend on this shared resource.

But after ten years of in-depth, nonprofit journalism, Delaware Currents will shut down at the end of the year. Recently, Meg McGuire spoke with Radio Catskill’s Patricio Robayo about how Delaware Currents began, the stories she’s most proud of, the challenges of sustaining independent local journalism, and what led to the difficult decision to bring the publication to a close.

They also talked about what’s next — both for Meg and for the future of environmental reporting in the Delaware River region.

According to the FBI, 2024 saw a 33% rise in money lost from online scams. October is Cyber Security Month so Radio Catskill spoke with Mike Sinno,  the Director of Security Engineering at Google. He says artificial intelligence is one of the reasons scams are getting harder to spot:

"Using AI, the attackers are really supercharging themselves because it used to be you'd get an email and it was pretty obvious that it was phishing. The grammar was wrong. There were bad references. But now you can just prompt engineer it and say, 'write me an email that says this, and it's grammatically perfect...' So it's very easy for people to fall for. I know plenty of technical folks that, if you're under enough stress or you're not paying a hundred percent attention, it's very easy to just click on the thing because you're trying to get it done. And then you realize later on that they took your credit card number or whatever they were asking for."

Sinno explains that basic steps like creating unique passwords and verifying suspicious texts can make a huge impact. But, there's a responsibility on companies as well. Google, like many tech companies, has drawn concern over the use of AI data. Sinno says he cannot speak to specific policies but that users should be aware of privacy terms when interacting with any artificial intelligence.

He says Cyber Security Month is primarily about awareness and that at its core, internet safety can be remarkably simple. "My mom always said when I was little, 'don't talk to strangers.'" He emphasizes, "You need to approach everything with a level of skepticism that if you're not a hundred percent sure who you're communicating with, you need to verify it."

For Hispanic Heritage Month, Radio Catskill speaks with Isabelle Taft, immigration reporter for New York Focus, about her work covering the intersection of immigration, state policy, and human stories across New York.

Taft’s reporting sheds light on how state and local governments are responding to federal immigration enforcement — from county jails holding ICE detainees to statewide efforts to resettle recent arrivals. Her stories highlight how these policies shape not only immigrant lives but the entire fabric of New York communities.

“People think of immigration as a federal issue,” Taft says, “but what local sheriffs, mayors, and state officials do has a huge impact on whether New York lives up to its values.”

She also discusses the challenges of reaching detained or fearful sources and the importance of making direct contact with those most affected. “I try to make sure I’m hearing from people who are directly impacted, not just officials,” she explains.

As New York continues to navigate its role as a place of refuge and reinvention, Taft’s work underscores a truth at the heart of Hispanic Heritage Month — that telling the stories of immigrants is essential to understanding who we are.

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

Carter Walker, Votebeat

Oct 6, 2025 at 5:00am EDT

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Pennsylvania’s free newsletter here.

In August, President Donald Trump vowed on social media to “lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS.”

In Pennsylvania, though, Republicans are sending voters a different message as they work to unseat three state Supreme Court justices this November, a historically difficult feat that will require turning out as many voters as they can.

“In 2024, we voted by mail and flipped Pennsylvania red,” a video ad from the Republican State Leadership Committee said, before urging voters to go to a website to request their mail ballots for the judicial retention election.

Republican voters in the commonwealth have been getting these kinds of clashing messages for years, said veteran GOP consultant Christopher Nicholas, noting that Trump’s conflicting statements mail voting in particular has meant “it has taken our base longer to integrate new voting options.”

But as state-level Republicans increasingly embrace mail voting, it appears voters are starting to as well.

For this November’s election, about 12,000 more Republican voters have requested mail ballots than did for the last municipal election in 2023, and there are still more than three weeks left to request a ballot.

As more of these voters use mail voting, Nicholas said, it has become less “scary” to them.

How the rhetoric on mail ballots shifted

It took the party a while to get to this point.

After the 2020 election, many Republicans cast doubt on the integrity of mail voting, and some legislators even tried to repeal the 2019 law that made it easier to vote by mail in Pennsylvania.

Republican voters shied away from it, too. For the six primary and fall elections from 2021 through 2023, Republicans made up only about 22% of all requests for mail ballots.

But the Republican rhetoric on mail ballots started to shift in Pennsylvania a few years ago.

After losing his 2022 bid for governor by roughly 15 percentage points, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Trump ally, said Republicans “have to embrace no-excuse mail-in voting,” and blamed his loss on their reluctance to do so.

Last April, in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, was featured in an ad encouraging Republicans in the state to vote by mail.

“If you’re working a double shift, or family responsibilities prevent you from voting on Election Day, Joe Biden wins,” he says in the ad. “Pennsylvania, I need you to join the mail-in voting list today.”

Trump himself also encouraged mail voting at times last year.

And it seemed to have worked. In the 2024 presidential election, Republicans made up 32% of voters requesting mail ballots, a greater portion than ever before.

Still, Trump has persisted with his rhetoric against mail voting.

“ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS,” he wrote in an Aug. 18 social media post. “I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS.”

Jim Billman, chair of the Berks County GOP, said he agrees with the president’s recent statements and would like to see non-absentee mail voting eliminated, as he considers it too susceptible to fraud. But despite how he feels, he said Republicans still need to take advantage of the option in order to be competitive with Democrats.

“Even though we want to see this end someday, right now, it is the law of the land,” he said, so his advice to voters is “If you can’t get out to cast your ballot in person, cast a mail-in ballot.”

Infrequent voters are the target

When considering turnout, political parties and activists often think of voters in terms of how often they vote within a four-year election cycle. A “four year,” or “4y,” voter is one who votes every election, and can generally be counted on to cast a ballot.

But voters who rarely or never cast ballots, or only vote in the even-numbered years associated with bigger federal elections, are the ones parties hope might use mail ballots.

These are the “iffy votes” that Billman said he’s targeting for mail-in ballots. “You really have no excuse if your mail-in ballot comes to your house.”

The state Republican Party takes a similar line. James Markley, communications director for the Pennsylvania GOP, told Votebeat and Spotlight PA that while mail voting has its flaws, the party encourages voters to use any “legal means necessary” to cast their vote.

“If mail-in balloting is part of the process, and voters can’t make it to the polls on Election Day, then they should request a mail-in ballot and make sure their voices are heard,” he said.

The state GOP’s website gives three ways to cast a ballot, with the first two being versions of mail voting, and in-person voting listed third.

Scott Presler, a conservative activist who primarily focuses on turning out swing state voters for Trump, has also been pushing mail voting heavily on his social media pages, calling it an “emergency backup ballot” voters can use if they are unable to make it to the polls on Election Day.

Nicholas, the Republican consultant, said that for party officials, how GOP voters turn in their ballot is much less important than making sure they vote.

“Winning a campaign,” he said, “is preeminent.”

Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at [email protected].

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for their newsletters here.

Speaking from inside Woodbourne Correctional Facility, incarcerated activist Atit Weston is urging state lawmakers to close what he calls a “constitutional loophole” — the failure of 28 U.S. states, including New York, to fully codify the anti-slavery language of the 13th Amendment into their state constitutions.

Weston, currently serving a 15-year sentence for manslaughter and robbery, has dedicated his time behind bars to research and legislative advocacy. Along with fellow inmates, he discovered that more than half of U.S. states have yet to fully adopt the federal amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865.

“There is no reason why any state should not already be in full compliance,” said Weston. “Without the 13th Amendment, minorities in America would still be acknowledged as property.”

Weston’s activism extends beyond prison reform. He recently proposed a federal bill — the Torture and Terrorism Deterrence Act of 2025 — which he says was acknowledged by Congressman Pat Ryan’s office. The bill seeks to prosecute mass shootings, hate crimes, and cyberattacks as acts of terrorism and would enhance protections for public officials and critical infrastructure.

Despite his incarceration, Weston continues to seek clemency, citing what he calls an unconstitutional conviction. “All human beings are worthy, regardless of the mistakes they’ve made,” he said.

He’s also critical of current prison conditions, describing retaliation and deteriorating quality of life for inmates following recent staffing shortages and strikes. While he credits the military presence at Woodbourne with improving professionalism, he questions its legality under New York military law.

Calling on lawmakers and civil rights groups to act, Weston hopes his efforts will inspire legislative change — both inside and outside the prison walls. “This is about respect, human dignity, and fixing what should have been corrected 160 years ago,” he said.

Peter Kowey, MD. is an esteemed Cardiologist at the Lankenau Institute. His book, "Failure to Treat: How a Broken Healthcare System Puts Patients and Practitioners at Risk," discusses the issues affecting people seeking healthcare: mainly, financial waste. However, argues Dr. Kowey, the waste isn't where politicians seem to think it is. During his time as a doctor, he's seen outrageous administrator salaries, pharmaceutical sales practices, and advertising budgets. But in his opinion, the proposed cuts to insurance subsidies by federal Republicans are missing the source of the problem.

He told Radio Catskill over Zoom:

"One of my daughters works for the government. Nobody wants the government workers to suffer. That's a terrible situation. However, what the Democrats in this situation are arguing for is to change the drastic nature of the cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, and also in the supplements for Obamacare. They're right. If those things go into effect as they're currently in the bill, it will be a catastrophe for healthcare."

He elaborated, "The big loser's going to be the hospitals. And the hospitals right now in this country are in (a) very tenuous financial situation."

The "Fall Salt Snapshot" is being measured from October 1-15 this year across Delaware County. The Stroud Water Research Center is trying to determine how salinized the area's waterways are outside of winter, when road salt is most prevalent. David Bressler, who leads community science initiatives at Stroud, says bringing in outside help gives them more access to crucial data. " You need actual people to go out to streams and collect samples. There's a big time component involved that is simply just about the actual simple logistics of moving around the landscape and getting into the stream, or lowering a bucket from a bridge." He says accessing waterways, collecting samples, and measuring results takes resources the Stroud Center wouldn't otherwise have.

Some areas are in particular need of volunteers but measurements from all over are being sought after. A notice sent out in July by Bressler is addressed to the "stream monitoring community in PA, DE, NJ, MD, and NY" and reads: "The Stroud Center is planning this community science stream monitoring event to characterize salt pollution levels and patterns in streams and rivers to better understand the accumulation of road salt across a wide variety of landscapes. The primary goal of this effort is to generate the best data possible to illustrate the year-round presence of road salt contamination in our watersheds and use these data to help start local conversations and bring the pervasive salt pollution issue more into the public eye. Road salt is an especially local issue because private applicators and municipalities are major sources of road salt, and this means that local data are important, if not vital, in this conversation."

By Patricio Robayo | Radio Catskill | Hispanic Heritage Month Series

As part of Radio Catskill’s continuing Hispanic Heritage Month series, Radio Catskill’s Patricio Robayo spoke with María Hinojosa, the longtime host and executive producer of Latino USA, which now airs Thursdays at 2 p.m. on Radio Catskill.

Hinojosa, born in Mexico City and raised in Chicago, has spent more than three decades reporting stories that often go unheard in mainstream media — stories that highlight the lives, struggles, and achievements of Latino communities across the United States.

She is the founder and CEO of Futuro Media Group, a nonprofit newsroom based in New York City dedicated to elevating diverse voices in public media. Over her career, Hinojosa has earned multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting for the podcast Suave. She is also the author of Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America.

Hinojosa on Hispanic Heritage Month

During the conversation, Hinojosa reflected on how her view of Hispanic Heritage Month has evolved over the years.

“I was not a big fan of Hispanic Heritage Month,” she said. “I don’t even use the word Hispanic to describe myself. But now, given our reality, I’m a big fan of Latino Heritage Month. We need to celebrate who we are — and tell the truth about who we are.”

Hinojosa said the celebration has taken on new urgency in recent years, as misinformation and political rhetoric have distorted public perceptions of Latino communities.

“For basically a decade, the Republican Party and Donald Trump have created a narrative about us that is not true,” she said. “We have to do the hard work to tell the truth about who we are. Look around — the Latinos in your community are not who this administration says we are.”

Independent Journalism and the Fight Against Misinformation

Hinojosa described Latino USA as “100 percent independent,” produced by the nonprofit newsroom Futuro Media, which relies on listener support rather than corporate or political influence.

“You can’t fire us,” she said with a laugh. “The only people who can fire us are our listeners.”

That independence, she said, allows her team to pursue “journalism with heart” — fact-based reporting that balances seriousness with humanity.

“We never set out to be activists,” Hinojosa said. “We just wanted to be journalists. But now, the truth itself has become our mission.”

Hinojosa said the program seeks to reflect the full spectrum of Latino life — not just hardship, but also joy, humor, and culture.

“We don’t only want to do journalism that’s sad or depressing,” she said. “Our responsibility is also to bring humor, laughter, and culture. That’s why people trust us.”

A Changing Community, A Changing Show

After more than 30 years on the air, Latino USA continues to evolve. Hinojosa said the Latino population in the United States is growing rapidly and diversifying, and her newsroom is adapting to reflect those shifts.

“We have to be curious about how the Latino and Latina population keeps changing,” she said. “We’re flexible, and that helps us tell these stories well.”

Looking ahead, Hinojosa said she hopes to expand Latino USA’s presence on social media and explore producing visual versions of the program to reach new audiences.

“We’re always evolving — that’s what’s kept Latino USA on the air for three decades,” she said.

Hope for the Future

Despite growing challenges — from political division to misinformation — Hinojosa said she remains optimistic.

“There is no bad from which good cannot come,” she said. “Out of this moment, leaders will emerge — young people whose lives are being shaped right now. They’re going to redefine what it means to be Latino in America.”

Hinojosa said she sees the next generation as key to shaping the country’s future and urged those with privilege or visibility to speak out and support democracy.

At the close of the conversation, she and Robayo reflected on the importance of representation in public media.

“You are one of the reasons I fell in love with public media,” Robayo told her. “There was a voice that spoke to my community — one I wasn’t hearing anywhere else.”

Hinojosa replied, “Each one teach one — and others will follow you. That’s how we keep this going.”