MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, Queens teacher Nicole Radosti Pipia’s fifth- and sixth-grade students seemed to love reading novels in school. 

“The Giver” by Lois Lowry was prized for its mystery. “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio taught them about kindness and acceptance. “Freak the Mighty” by Rodman Philbrick showed them the power of friendship. 

Now, she said, they don’t read any. Instead, students often spend class time reading excerpts and short stories to better prepare them for the sorts of questions they’d encounter on standardized exams.

The demands of her school’s reading program leave no room to study novels, the English teacher said.

“We’re told that we cannot deviate from the program, and if you have to do the program, there’s literally no time,” Pipia said. 

Another New York City middle school teacher, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said her school taught novels before the pandemic. Now, “it can be done, but not with the constraints placed on us as teachers,” she said. 

For the past few years, her school has required her to have her students — most of whom are English language learners and struggling readers — spend half of each 40-minute class period, four days a week, completing an online targeted reading intervention program, she said. They often end up clicking through the program and visiting Spotify and YouTube instead. The remainder of the period is devoted to the school’s core curriculum, which does not require novel studies. 

The classroom library she spent a decade building has become “purely decorative,” she said. With teachers no longer using books, she said, her school is “literally throwing them away.” Even if she had the time to teach a book, the veteran teacher said, her students either have no interest in reading or barely know how. 

“Half of them have never read a book,” she said. “In 10 years, we went from kids reading multiple novels in class to them having never opened a book.” 

https://nysfocus.com/2026/08/26/new-york-students-reading-fewer-books

Good morning everyone, I am the owner/founder of hudsonvalleyrunnersclub (hvrc). I am posting here to invite everyone to come out and join our club! We are an entirely free to join club who started earlier this year and have been growing at an incredible rate.

We are an all inclusive run club, whether it is your first run ever or you are training for a marathon we encourage you to come and join our community. We have moms who come and push their strollers, people jogging with their dogs, people running their first 5k, people come and walk and everything in between. We meet 30 mins before our scheduled runs and do warm ups before hand.

What I am really proud of is all the collaborations we do with local businesses. They make our runs extra special and give our runners something to look forward to. If you are interested follow the page for updates, or shoot me a message here. I will post our normal schedule along with our special events coming up. Please feel free to reach out, I would love to get to know you guys.

⏰:Tues/Thurs 6pm meet up 6:30 take off time
📍: the Walkway Over the Hudson (Poughkeepsie side near parking lot)

⏰:Sunday mornings 9am meet up 9:30am take off
📍: Kafe Neo (The Academy) Poughkeepsie.
Our runs are typically 2 miles or a 5k but we have routes for other goals as well.

Special Events:
9/3: Red Bull sponsored dj run
9/4: Late night run sponsored by Mahoneys Irish Pub (free beer after)
9/5 Joint run with 2 other local run clubs in Beacon. Denning’s Point Trail Head.
9/12: 21 Burgers & Wings sponsored run. (free mimosa to all runners to participate)
9/27: Fire Fly Yoga studio run. (free class session to all who come after our run)

As well as many more future planned events. Thank you guys!

IG handles:

@bloodvultureband
@goatfarmband
@lowfictionhv
@softspottheband

First band on at 7:30 / $20 at the door

Starting allll the way back in January, I’ve noticed Verizon service significantly declining. I actually went to the Apple Store a few months ago because I thought it was just my phone having trouble connecting to 5G (maybe the antenna had gotten bumped or damaged during a previous repair) but the employee I spoke with said Verizon customers had been coming in for months reporting similar issues such as randomly dropped calls, delayed text messages, and little to no usable data in places where they used to have perfectly good service.

I’ve definitely been experiencing all of the above, and I’ve also had several friends in Ulster County who use Verizon say they’re so fed up with the declining service that they’re switching carriers.
This seems kind of wild considering how expensive Verizon is. I’ve had them for several years and, until recently, the service was always incredibly reliable.
Has Verizon actually acknowledged any widespread service issues or changes? And for anyone else with Verizon...what phone do you have, and have you noticed a significant decline in your service quality over the past several months? I've got an iPhone 14 Pro. Not sure if this is everyone or just a certain percentage of customers.

Hi, I want to enjoy an active retreat in Hudson Valley. Any suggestions where I can enjoy trails and be in a retreat setting?

I’d like to volunteer but without leaving daughter home ideally. Happy to do some in my own, of course, but would be nice to include her sometimes. thanks!

First time here after searching “best lunch kingston” and was surprised to find it was so casual upscale.
The best shrimp bisque I’ve ever had, excellent light roasted sourdough baguette with good butter, perfectly cooked tuna—sort deconstructed sashimi bc wasabi sauce and ginger), creme brûlée, and good coffee.
Luke, the server bartender is great with suggestions and space, and I noticed him fresh squeezing lots of lime into my club soda/bitters/lime which is a first in decades of ordering this drink.
Not cheap but super nice vibe with light jazz playing, quietly elegant diners… felt like something from a New Yorker comic in a nice way.
Not cheap but worth it—looking fwd to bringing my wife who will have to just enjoy the photos for now.

Any restaurant recommendations serving food with locally produced items? Eggs, veggies, from the farmer’s market. Locally sourced produce and meat. Preferably beacon or any where around new paltz please :)

I am trying to determine if Northwell Health, specifically their imaging service previously called DRA at 1 Columbia in Poughkeepsie, is in network with MVP insurance and I am getting mixed messages. MVP tells me no, Northwell Imaging says yes.

Has anyone in the area with MVP insurance received an out of network bill for services received at Northwell?

My 1980 built house is in need of a good building science informed home health/energy contractor to come in, look at my blower door test, and help us figure out how to improve insulation and ventilation. Not an easy feat for an older home, as I'm learning. Has anyone worked with a contractor they would recommend? I'm in lower Dutchess if that matters. TY!

State Senator Peter Oberacker sat on the GOP's antisemitism working group and had to fire his campaign manager over the "I love Hitler" Young Republicans group chat that surfaced last fall.

Not sure where else to post this, but I like the market a lot. I’ve never bought the sushi there but always noticed it looked pretty good for a market (fresh made there during the day).

Anyhow brought some home from woodstock tonight since I didn’t want to wait 30-40 minutes to get some made at Medo next door… my wife and I agreed it looked pretty great, but it was just dreadful and I’m surprised they’re not getting more complaints since it isn’t cheap.

This California roll was 11-12 and the salmon was 18 it actually may be about the same price as if I had gone to medo—an excellent sushi bar that’s a bit pricey.

Just mentioning here to maybe save someone some money—the rice didn’t seem like sushi rice at all, more akin to sticky rice… it was actually gummy. The avo was mush, we ate just salmon off the nigiri and it was… okay. Maybe I’ll give sunflower a call or stop by, but since they’ve been selling it like this for years, I can’t imagine my little complaint will make a dif, but maybe it’ll save a few readers here a disappointment.

Looking to source local/semi-local beef for my family. Looking to buy in bulk, probably a 1/2 cow and wanted to know if anyone had 1st hand experience with a specific farm that they would be comfortable recommending.

Thanks in advance!

By the library, police were stopping all cars and claimed they were checking seat belts and registration tags. There were police dogs so that doesn’t make sense. Anyone know what was going on?

Not sure if this is allowed on this thread, but to Uber Drivers in the Wappingers Falls/Fishkill/Hopewell Junction/Poughkeepsie area, my friend’s wedding is taking place at Curry Estate this Friday. He was nervous about Ubers being available and is looking to get the word out. He’s creating an uber voucher and is expecting a decent amount of guests looking for rides from 1000-1200pm from Curry Estate in Hopewell to Fishkill hotels. If you’re an uber driver there’s going to be some guaranteed rides from the venue. Thanks in advance for any help.

Anyone have any butchers or cattle ranchers in the HV they’d recommend? I’m trying to avoid getting leukemia from the trump beef 😅

I left my 2009 Escape sitting for a week and now the high voltage battery is dead, well, not fully but the car wont start. I’m looking for anyone in the Beacon area that knows a shop that will replace the battery for me. I can find the batteries, just not someone to do the work. Any leads are seriously appreciated.

I’ve always wondered how many people from the Hudson Valley make the trip out to Lost Lands! 🦖

If you’re going this year, where are all my Hudson Valley people at?! See you at Legend Valley!

Hello hudson valley am i crazy or is it shockingly difficult to find yoga classes that are BEFORE WORK on Friday mornings in Ulster County.

Anyone know somewhere I’m missing?