At this time, please DO NOT enter Rod Bigelow’s Facebook page and BE AWARE of scammers.

Many people know Rod Bigelow as a Dannemora historian, co-author of the book Dannemora, and President of The Bigelow Society. Unfortunately, a scammer took over his Facebook page, removing important Dannerora history and personal information. The scammer is saying that Rod has a Bitcoin certificate to deal with bitcoins, and he is raving about how well a particular company is doing to lure Rod’s friends to buy from him. He also says that Rod is selling cats, anything, to get people’s money. All this is because the scammer took over Rod’s pages and wanted Rod to pay $800 to him to get his pages back. Rod refuses, so the scammer hopes to get Rod’s friends to pay instead. 

Facebook’s Directions to report a scammer 

Former resident Gus Rietsema makes generous pledge to New YMCA

Click here for the Sun Community News story 

Clinton County Awarded $790,040 

Click here for the Sun Community News story 

Click here for the Sun Community News story 

First subject: “The Digital Dollar Debate”

Click here for the Sun Community News story 

Click here for the VTDigger story 

Click here for the VTDigger story 

(PLATTSBURGH, NY – January 30, 2025) When Strand Center for the Arts employees are not on the clock, they are making their own artwork. To celebrate the talents of those who work hard to maintain Plattsburgh’s cultural hub, Strand Center for the Arts is scheduled to host “On The Brink 2025,” an art exhibition featuring the works of the SCA’s staff, board members, studio techs and teachers.

The exhibition opens to the public on Friday, Feb. 7, with a free gallery reception from 5 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will remain on display through Saturday, Mar. 29. The gallery is free and open to the public to attend during operating hours.

Staff members featured in this show possess diverse skills in many different artistic disciplines. Thus, this exhibition will display a variety of works, including paintings, drawings, sculpture, digital art, photography, ceramics, and more.

Strand Center for the Arts Gallery Hours:

• Open 1 p.m.—9 p.m. Wednesday

• Open 1 p.m.—5 p.m. Thursday and Friday

• Open 10 a.m.—3 p.m. Saturday

• Closed Sunday—Tuesday

Kara Stark Elliot

Alex Edwards

Alex Edwards and Kara Stark Elliot bring expertise and community focus to board

CVPH News Release PLATTSBURGH, NY (01/30/2025) – Chairman of the University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) Board of Trustees Joseph Donnery, DPM welcomed new Trustees Alex Edwards and Kara Stark Elliott at the board’s first meeting of the new year.

“Alex and Kara, with their backgrounds in finance, promise to be great additions to the Board and are most welcome.  Alex has past CVPH Board experience and Kara joins the Board with enthusiasm and pertinent community connections.  We look forward to their participation and contributions to our discussions and decision-making,” he said.

Edwards is filling a seat vacated by Tom Recny who served 9 years as trustee, the maximum allowed by the Board’s bylaws. With the addition of Stark Elliott, the Board membership increases from 12 to 13 members. Board bylaws provide for up to 15 trustees.

“This Board will miss Tom, a member for many years who was a trusted voice in matters coming before the Board.  He brought his valuable experience in local industry to the table for our benefit with ever-insightful input.  Tom will be missed as a Board member but remains as a friend,” said Dr. Donnery.

CVPH President Michelle LeBeau offered, “Our success in delivering the care our community needs is directly tied to the work of our Board of Trustees. The people who dedicate their time and expertise to this organization ensure that the community’s needs are well represented and the teams of professionals delivering high-quality care are supported in meaningful ways.”

Community Dedication and Professional Expertise
Edwards is the secretary/treasurer of Alexander Edwards and Company, CPAs, and P.C. He holds two bachelor’s degrees and an associate’s degree.  Edwards was a member of CVPH’s corporation board and eventually its Board of Directors, where he served as chairman of the audit, finance, and pension committees, hospital Treasurer, and member of the executive committee.  He has also served on the University of Vermont Health Network audit (vice chair), investment, defined contribution investment (president pro tem) and compensation committees.

Edwards previously served twelve years on the Board of Trustees of the Plattsburgh Public Library. He was a 33-year member of the National Ski Patrol, holding local and regional leadership roles. That organization honored him with a National Appointment #10678 and a Meritorious Service award #298.

Stark Elliott is a certified public accountant and manager at The Hoffman Eells Group CPAs, P.C. in Plattsburgh. She oversees a diverse portfolio of clients, specializing in business consulting, tax compliance, and not-for-profit auditing. Before transitioning to public accounting, she built a distinguished 10-year career in financial management roles within the Department of Defense, culminating as deputy chief financial officer of the Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants at the Washington Navy Yard.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Bentley University and a master’s degree in accounting from Keller Graduate School of Management.

A proud Plattsburgh native, Stark Elliott returned to her hometown with her husband, Dan, to raise their three energetic sons in the heart of the North Country. She is deeply committed to her community and serves on the boards of Behavioral Health Services North and Pine Harbour Assisted Living.

Both Edwards and Stark Elliott began their three-year terms in January, joining the 13-member board focused on aligning the hospital’s mission with the community’s health care needs. In addition to Chairman Donnery, they join Vice Chair Elizabeth Goerlitz-Coryer, Treasurer Graham Niles, Secretary Linda Bourgeois, Members at Large Neil Fesette and John McAuliffe, MD, Immediate Past Chair Betsy Vicencio and Trustees Kelly Donoghue, Richelle Gregory, Molly Ryan, and Richard Webber, MD, PhD.

Click here for the Syracuse.com story

The renowned Québécois band Le Vent du Nord opens the 2025 Hill and Hollow Music performance series on Sunday, February 9 at 3:00 pm at the historic Strand Theater in Plattsburgh, New York.  A leading force in Québec’s progressive francophone folk movement, Le Vent du Nord performs French-Canadian traditional music with a contemporary twist. The “essential” instruments are all there: fiddles, button accordion, guitar, foot percussion, and vocals, but the unique, defining sound of this band is the hurdy-gurdy, which adds an earthy flavor and rough-hewn texture to their zesty musical stew.

Reserved-seating tickets are available online at strandcenter.org or in person at the Strand Center for the Arts box office during regular business hours (closed Monday). For further information, please telephone 518-293-7613, e-mail ambrown.hillholl@gmail.com, or visit.hillandhollowmusic.org. 

Le Vent du Nord’s dynamic live performances expand the boundaries of tradition in striking new directions. While the group’s vast repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions rooted in the Celtic diaspora, they infuse that energetic and soulful music with a broad range of global influences, including Mediterranean and Scandinavian. This is the modern sound of tradition, a music of here and now!

Since forming in 2002, Le Vent du Nord has enjoyed meteoric success, performing over 2000 concerts on four continents and racking up several prestigious awards, including a Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, two Junos (Canada’s Grammys), a Félix at ADISQ, a Canadian Folk Music Award, and “Artist of the Year” at the North American Folk Alliance Annual Gala.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts

Click here for the Syracuse.com story 

Click here for the VTDigger story 

Click here for the VTDigger story 

NYSCOPBA and northern lawmakers condemn recent incidents at Upstate Correctional and other facilities

Click here for the Sun Community College story 

Hopes to strengthen workforce through community college tuition support

Click here for the Sun Community News story 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8 – 10:30 A.M. – 1 P.M.

Join the Peru Free Library Community Learning Series. Interested in Community Solar? This is the event for you. Learn about the HamilSun solar farm right here in Peru. Bring your NYSEG bill to sign up at the library if you have a low to moderate income. Save up to 20% off your energy costs.

CCC News Release – Clinton Community College plans to relocate the educational space for its renowned nursing and EMT programs to The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) beginning with the Fall 2025 semester. The move is a unique opportunity to further develop the college’s leading nursing and emergency medical programs as it prepares for the August shift of the main campus and most of its other operations to buildings on Beekman and Court Streets at the SUNY Plattsburgh campus.

Read more »

Blood collected by Donor Center supports regional hospitals 

PLATTSBURGH, NY (01/29/2025) –   The Adirondack Regional Blood Donor Center, a program of the University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) in partnership with numerous community sponsors, has several blood drives open to the community planned this month.

Blood and blood products collected by the Donor Center meet the needs of CVPH patients, as well as patients at Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, Elizabethtown Community Hospital (including the Ticonderoga campus), Massena Memorial Hospital and Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake.  The following is the February schedule:

• Monday, Feb. 3, Adirondack Medical Center’s Redfield Room, Saranac Lake,
  noon to 4 pm
• Tuesday, Feb. 4, Essex County Department of Social Services, Elizabethtown,
  10 am to 2 pm
• Thursday, Feb. 6, Beekmantown Fire Department, 4 to 7 pm
• Friday, Feb. 7, Medisca, 626 Tom Miller Road, 1 to 4 pm
• Monday, Feb 10, Willsboro Fire Department, 3 to 6 pm
• Wednesday, Feb 12, Churubusco Fire Department, 4 to 7pm
• Thursday, Feb. 13, Oak Street School, 1 to 4 pm
• Friday, Feb. 1, Clinton County Government Center, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm
• Monday, Feb. 17, St. Augustine Parish Center, Peru, 3 to 6:30 pm
• Tuesday, Feb 18, BHSN, 2215 Route 22B, Morrisonville, 2 to 5 pm
• Wednesday, Feb. 19, Bloomingdale Fire Department, 3:30 to 6:30 pm
• Thursday, Feb. 20, Cumberland 12 Cinemas, 4 to 8 pm
• Friday, Feb. 21, Burke Adult Center, 9 am to 1 pm
• Monday, Feb. 24, West Chazy Fire Department, 4 to 7 pm
• Tuesday, Feb. 25, Ellenburg Knights of Columbus at Holy Name Church, 4 to 7 pm. Held in memory of Ronnie Manor
• Wednesday, Feb 26, Plattsburgh VA Clinic, 10 am to 2 pm
• Thursday, Feb. 27, Champlain Valley Vascular, 11 Hammond Lane, 11 am to 3 pm

The Adirondack Regional Blood Center also welcomes donors to its Donor Center located at 85 Plaza Blvd. The Donor Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4 pm.  Walk-ins are welcome.

Blood donors must be at least 16 years old (16- and 17-year-old donors must have written parental/guardian consent), in generally good health, and weigh at least 110 lbs. Prior to donating, a screening questionnaire addressing personal medical, social, and travel history must be completed, and a donor card or another form of identification is also required. Donors must wait 56 days between donations.

Learn more about the Adirondack Regional Blood Center, giving blood and becoming a sponsor at UVMHealth.org/GiveBlood or call 518-562-7406.

On Jan. 7, a Sergeant with the Lewis County Sherriff’s Office contacted NYS Environmental Conservation Officer Kraeger to report a hawk trapped in a local grocery store’s deli in Lowville. Officer Kraeger responded to the store and observed employees guarding the entrance to the deli area. The manager advised the bird flew into the grocery store through the front entrance sliding door and ended up in the deli. ECO Kraeger located the hawk perched on a shelf in a storage area, safely captured it, and then released the bird a short distance from the store, where it flew off successfully.

Click here for the NCPR story 

Click here for the NCPR story