New York Almanack

Dangerous Dragonflies: Fast & Furious

Guest Contributor — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 23:03:27 +0000

Imagine you’re a fruit fly by a pond on a sunny day, whirring along in search of food or other flies. Suddenly, you’re scooped up, whisked to a perch, and efficiently devoured by a blue dasher dragonfly. For little flies like you, blue dashers have a 97 percent capture rate. For comparison, great white sharks only catch their prey 50 percent of the time. What makes dragonflies such successful hunters?

Stacey Combes and graduate student Christofer Brothers film dragonflies hunting inside a greenhouse to learn more about their technique.

A Complicated Birthday: 10 Years of Stonewall National Monument

Guest Contributor — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 22:47:30 +0000

New York City’s Stonewall National Monument, the only site in the federal park system focused on LGBTQ history, is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

In a nod to the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 250 rainbow flags were installed on the fence that surrounds Christopher Park, a tiny parcel at the heart of the monument in Greenwich Village.

A series of 27 posters that tell the story of the LGBTQ liberation movement went up in windows of neighborhood shops.

Rangers Recover Paddler’s Body; Respond to Overdue Hikers

Editorial Staff — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 22:07:18 +0000

Rainy weather last weekend kept many people from seeking outdoor recreation opportunities, but NY State Forest Rangers and State Police recovered the body of a paddler from an overturned canoe who could not swim in Wyoming County. They also responded to a call about a nine-year-old and an 11-year-old separated from their hiking group in the Adirondack High Peaks, and a 24-year-old overdue and unprepared hiker in the Johns Brook Valley.

Water Recovery

On June 19 at 11 p.m., Forest Rangers responded to a call from the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office for an overturned canoe and a missing subject on Java Lake in the town of Java, Wyoming County, NY.

Bass Tournament Permitting and Reporting System Year 1 Results

Editorial Staff — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 21:36:09 +0000

The results are in after the first year of the New York State Black Bass Fishing Tournament Permit and Reporting System. This system is provides DEC with information on the type, scope, and scale of black bass tournaments in New York, in order to understand and track tournament impacts on black bass fisheries.

Below are some key takeaways after the first year:

802 permits were issued, 81% of them to New York organizations; there was an 83% report rate on tournaments permitted.

New York’s Revolutionary Provincial Congresses 1775-1776

Guest Contributor — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 11:00:04 +0000

By May 1775 civil war between the American colonies and the British government had begun. The Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the seizures of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point told the story of an appeal to arms.

Town, county, city and state committees, as representatives of the people, assumed the functions of government, took the initiative in opposing the objectionable acts of the British parliament, and gradually, perhaps more or less unconsciously, prepared the people for the Revolutionary War.

16 Socialists Poised for State Legislature, Most in New York State History

Editorial Staff — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 19:00:43 +0000

At least seven Democratic Socialist candidates have won primary elections for the New York Legislature in districts considered safe in November. The primary sweep included multiple victories over incumbent Democrats and in competitive open seats.

Not only will it more than double the socialist contingent in the state house to 16 across both chambers, it will mark the largest socialist contingent in the state legislature in New York history.

Prior to this, the highest number of socialists was 10 elected in 1917.

The St. Lawrence River’s ‘Slick of 76’ Oil Spill

North Country Public Radio — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 17:00:44 +0000

Fifty years ago, on June 23, 1976, a National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) oil tanker ran aground, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the St. Lawrence River.

The so-called “Slick of ‘76” has become a thing of folklore and a warning of environmental devastation in the Thousand Islands and beyond. It even spawned a musical.

North Country native Emma French wanted to preserve the oral history of that time.

An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution

Editorial Staff — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:00:36 +0000

America’s founding generation drank a staggering amount of alcohol by today’s standards. It influenced their politics, built and sustained their relationships, and drove the economy.

Booze was not a small part of colonial society, nor covertly consumed in private spaces — it was integral to American life.

Americans in the era of the American Revolution drank an average of nearly 3.7 gallons of hard liquor per person annually, compared to modern averages of about 2.5 gallons.

Peggy Shippen Arnold: Wife of the Famous Traitor

Clare Sheridan — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:00:37 +0000

The latest episode of the Crossroads of Rockland History turns attention to the complex story of Margaret “Peggy” Shippen Arnold (1760–1804), the second wife of America’s most notorious traitor, Benedict Arnold.

Historian Char Weigel joined host Clare Sheridan their research, which centers entirely on primary source documentation, offering a nuanced and fascinating look at Shippen’s role in the infamous plot to surrender West Point to the British during the American Revolution.

‘Distance Scarcely Bounds’: An 1822 Visit to the Catskills

Guest Contributor — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:00:45 +0000

The following essay was first published in the Commercial Advertiser (NYC) on November 15, 1822.

On the 18th of September, 1822, a large party of ladies and gentlemen visited the Pine Orchard [two years later the Catskill Mountain House would officially open here], situated on one of the lofty summits of the Catskill mountains, and about twelve miles from the village of Catskill [Greene County, NY].

The road from Catskill to the base of the mountain, is tolerably good; and although it is over some considerable hills, the traveller feels little inconvenience, until he arrives at Lawrence’s Tavern, near the foot of one of the cluster of mountains, and about seven miles from Catskill.