Hoboken Film Festival to Leave Middletown
The Hoboken International Film Festival (HIFF) will not return to the Paramount Theatre in Middletown for a fifth year, several media have reported. Mayor Joseph DeStefano cited declining value and declining attendance as some factors that caused the city not to renew the contract, and said the Paramount Theatre will be going in another direction. HIFF Chairman Kenneth Del Vecchio said he has gotten offers from other communities in Orange, Rockland, and Bergen counties to have the festival. HIFF has been held annually from the end of May through the first week in June and has drawn some top name actors and actresses as well as filmmakers, producers, and other artists. The festival came to Middletown in 2013 after Superstorm Sandy destroyed the theater it was being held in in Hoboken.
Handgun Permits Surge in Orange County
About 1,600 people had the Orange County Sheriff’s Office take their fingerprints to apply for a handgun permit, the Times Herald-Record reported. The county is on track this year to surpass its previous application peak of 2,615 in 2013, when demand soared after the state enacted the SAFE Act to tighten gun restrictions in response to the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., according to the Record.
Historic West Point Cemetery to Undergo $3.5 Million Expansion
WEST POINT—The final resting place of some of the nation’s most distinguished soldiers is being expanded to provide more burial space. The Times Herald-Record reports the nearly 200-year-old West Point Cemetery is down to 40 burial spaces, but a $3.5 million expansion will add 308 gravesites when the project is completed early next year. Officials at the U.S. Military Academy informed the academy’s Board of Visitors on July 12 that a larger, $18 million expansion is planned but still needs approval. That project would accommodate burials for the next 50 years. The more than 8,000 burials at the cemetery include Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and more than a dozen Medal of Honor recipients.
From The Associated Press
Washington Street in Newburgh Closed
The City of Newburgh announced on July 11 that Washington Street will be closed to through traffic between Colden St. and Marine Drive through July 22 to install piping. Traffic wishing to utilize this closed section of Washington Street will be detoured as there will be no public access. For further information or questions, contact the Newburgh City Engineer 845-569-7448.
State Awards County $100,000 to Fund Regional Family Navigator (RFN) Positions
The state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services has awarded Orange County’s Department of Mental Health $100,000 to fund Regional Family Navigator (RFN) positions. The part-time RFN positions will begin work in the fall and will provide support to families with a loved one battling opioid addiction. RFN staff will also assist in assessing what services individuals may need when seeking alcohol and/or other substance abuse treatment, providing information about insurance coverage, housing, and primary health care.
County Incubator May Have Satellite Office in Middletown
The Accelerator, operated by the Galileo Technology Group for the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) may set up an office in Middletown, Galileo co-founder Vincent Cozzolino told the Times Herald-Record. Services for the county’s small business incubator are in demand. “We want to make sure we have enough space, and also enough outreach,” Cozzolino told the Record. The Record reported that Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano has shown Cozzolino and Laurie Villasuso, chief operating officer of the IDA, potential sites in the city. The Accelerator will lease a 3,000 square foot former military building at Stewart International Airport. There are now 10 client businesses at The Accelerator headquarters in New Windsor.
Orange County Airport to Get $6.8 Million in Federal Funds
The Federal Aviation Administration has allocated $6,866,280 for the Orange County Airport in Montgomery. The funds will be used to build a new runway and taxiway and control environmental pollution. With these funds, the airport will be able to handle increased air traffic. The funding came through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) which provides grants to public agencies for the planning and development of public-use airports that are included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS).
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