2002: how the New York Times reports the Hudson Valley

Poughkeepsie: Adopted Child Goes Home

“A Poughkeepsie woman and her adopted Vietnamese daughter returned home Tuesday night, after a nearly two-month delay in which the Immigration and Naturalization Service questioned whether the 4-month-old baby had been properly put up for adoption.”

On 1.3 Acres, a Little Sweden-on-Hudson

“During the week, Ms. Thorsen, 57, works as a commercial real estate broker in Manhattan. On weekends in Columbia County, two hours north of Manhattan, she becomes her own carpenter, upholsterer, painter, landscape architect and general contractor.”

A Getaway From Ground Zero

“Still jumpy from living in the terror-war target zone — my apartment in Battery Park City is across the street from the World Trade Center site — I escaped to High Falls, where residents scan the winter sky for woodpeckers, not aircraft.”

A New Leaf, or a Fig Leaf?

“‘I call Newburgh green beret training for city managers,’ he said in a telephone interview from his home, which he is leaving for a rented house in Long Beach. ‘After you’ve done Newburgh, you can do anything, because it’s such a caustic political place.'”

Building an Audience for Live Jazz and Blues

“‘We in Westchester benefit from being close to the blues musical hub of Poughkeepsie,’ said Mr. Schwartz.”

9/11, a Man Went to Work. His Fate Is a Mystery.

“Juan Lafuente, a laconic Cuban immigrant, lived in the shadow of his prominent wife, Colette, mayor of the city of Poughkeepsie.”

When the Well Runs Dry

“In Westchester, about 10 percent of residents rely on private wells, while farther north in Putnam about 85 percent of residents have private wells. In Dutchess, about 60 percent have private wells.”

In Poughkeepsie, for One of the Last Outdoor Picture Shows

“Where once there were dozens; there are now no drive-ins left in Westchester, Putnam, New York City, Long Island or New Jersey. But there’s still the Overlook, in Poughkeepsie.”

Mark McDonald: Mr. Modernism Leaves Town

“Having opened a small gallery, 330, in nearby Hudson in November, Mr. McDonald said he plans to spend less time in his small Manhattan apartment and more at his new base of operations.”

And So, On to Millbrook

“The news of a summer in Millbrook, no less than in any resort of the ultrarich, is of real estate and servants and marriages and breakups and horses with colic and bird dogs that won’t hunt and whether the woman with a knack for shooting sporting clays will set her sights on the married millionaire with a fortune derived from fast-food franchises in several Midwestern states.”

Tilting at Windmills, Only This One’s a Bridge: Walkway Over Hudson Is One Man’s Fixation

“‘He had that dream, and he infected people with it,’ said Robert Shepard, town supervisor in Lloyd, N.Y., on the bridge’s western side. ‘I believed in it.'”

Poughkeepsie: Teenager Gets Jail In D.W.I.

“The accused, Christopher Smith, 18, of Red Hook, Brooklyn, had a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit during the Aug. 1 crash, the district attorney’s office said.”

Catskill Old or Catskill New?

“The fight is between those who say this little village on the Hudson in Greene County is poised for a revival as a tourist mecca — largely because of its Victorian Main Street, which remains nearly intact — and those who see the area as blighted and crime-infested.”

Albany No Longer a Secret In High-Tech Chip World

“And then, too, there was that talk of ‘Tech Valley,’ and the grain of truth behind it. I.B.M. is nearing completion of a $2.5 billion microchip plant in Dutchess County.”

Hudson Journal: Where Daylight’s a Risk, Dark Is a Time to Shine

“The camp is intended to give a high-energy, outdoor camp experience to those with a rare genetic disorder, xeroderma pigmentosum, which makes them unable to tolerate ultraviolet light.”

On a Harbor Cruise, Under a Rainbow

“Along the way the boat will dock in places like Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, although Mr. Gill said: ‘You’d be amazed by how few towns have docks. These towns that owe their very existence to the Hudson and there’s no place for a boat.'”

Poughkeepsie Journal: Adding Life and Color To a Once-Faded City

“But Mr. Max, who is still going strong, has set his sights on a building here to house his creative vision, and city leaders are hoping that he will do for Poughkeepsie what the Andy Warhol Museum did for Pittsburgh.”

Suddenly, One House Isn’t Enough

“Today’s second-home buyers are looking for instant nostalgia: meadows and fireplaces and postal carriers to greet by name.”

Circus Truck Flips, but Elephants Just Walk Away

“Paula, 35, and Kristy, 22, never saw the curve in the road that forced their tractor trailer to overturn yesterday on Route 9 in Rhinebeck, N.Y. They were in the back of the trailer, eating hay.”

A Precarious Life Goes From Bad to Worse

“The dual impact of terrorism and recession has spread to places like Newburgh, a hilltop city of grand Victorian homes, faded row houses and crumbling factories overlooking the Hudson River, where Hispanics make up more than one-third of the population of 28,259.”

In Upstate Hills, Modish Replaces Moo

“Now a younger set of artists, architects, publishing and media people are beginning to demand the kind of cultivated creature comforts without which weekend sojourns can never be entirely satisfying: an indie film theater and imported coffee beans.”

In Classes, Acting Bug Bites Hard

“These teenagers were taking part in neither a specialized summer camp nor Off Off Off Broadway summer stock, but rather a distinctive hybrid known as the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival apprentice program, now in its seventh year.”

A Main Artery of the 1800’s

“A tidal lock, it opened onto Rondout Creek, where barges completed the journey to Kingston, on the Hudson, with its still-vibrant waterfront and maritime museum.”

A Humble River Town Acquires the Ambience of Art

“Down the hill, toward the Hudson River, Dia:Beacon is emerging in a din of whirring, grinding, sawing and polishing, as a former 1929 Nabisco box-printing factory becomes a stunning 292,000-square-foot Clean White Space, the perfect north-lighted container envisioned — and so named — by the Minimalists of the 60’s generation.”

Newburgh Journal: Melee Upstate Is Sign of Urban Woes

“‘Newburgh is an inner-city atmosphere,’ Deputy Police Chief Michael D. Ferrara said. ‘Any problem that any city has, we have a smaller version.'”

Weekender | Garrison, N.Y.

“Tall, dense trees abound in Garrison, hiding houses and people, and many outsiders, even New Yorkers, haven’t a clue where the hamlet is in the first place.”

New York Exports Mentally Ill, Shifting Burden to Other States

“Officials at Hudson River Psychiatric Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., told Susan Meyer that the Andover nursing home in rural Sussex County would be wonderful for her sister, Marcia Berger, who suffers from schizophrenia, Ms. Meyer said.”

For Second Homes, How Far to Go?

“One Manhattan psychiatrist who ended up buying in Ghent, N.Y., owns his feelings. ‘Two hours is my cutoff,” he said. ”Any more than that and I turn into ‘The Shining’ in our car.'”