P Putnam Local Scoop

Home · Issue #017

Issue #017 · Latest Sunday, September 27, 2026 · Carmel · Brewster · Cold Spring · Mahopac

Wind advisory until noon, a Purdys manhunt ends in arrest, and the old courthouse neighbor comes down

Free local email · Monday + Friday mornings · written by Catherine Rosado · 4-minute read

In this Putnam Local Scoop Issue…

Lake Gleneida in Carmel, the Putnam County seat. Photo: Daniel Case, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
The Lead

Wind advisory until noon, rain through Monday, and a dry, mild turn on Tuesday 90 percent showers this afternoon, 100 percent tonight, and Pickle Fest day two still listed (2 min)

The National Weather Service holds a wind advisory over Putnam until noon today, with gusts to 38 mph around Carmel before the wind eases this afternoon. Showers move back in by 2 PM with thunderstorms possible, tonight sits at 100 percent with a half inch to three quarters of an inch expected, and Monday keeps a 90 percent chance before the pattern exits. The turn arrives Tuesday, partly sunny near 68, followed by a mostly sunny 72 Wednesday and 75 Thursday.

Half the county has this weekend marked anyway: Putnam County Pickle Fest day two at the Patterson Recreation Center. Organizers still listed both days as of Saturday with no postponement notice on their site. The flood advisory that has hung over the county ends at 2 PM this afternoon, and the heaviest rain waits for tonight, but Sunday sits at 90 percent either way. Check the festival's page or social accounts before you drive, because weather calls can move overnight.

Downriver, Cold Spring rode out the weekend on alert. Hudson Valley Shakespeare canceled its Saturday shows of Les Misérables and will decide on the 5 PM Sunday finale, the last of its season, by noon today. The Garrison Fish and Game Club postponed its Kids' Fishing Derby. The village kept the Market Street parking limits up through the weekend and keeps sandbag material available at the rear of the Fair Street municipal lot.

Sources: NWS Putnam forecast · The Current, September 26 · famousfoodevents.com

Search answers

The questions Putnam searches this week, answer first, source after.

Did police catch the man who ran into the woods in Purdys?

Yes, after a manhunt that brought three agencies and two tracking dogs into the hamlet. Around 2 PM Friday, the Real Time Crime Center broadcast an alert that a vehicle wanted by Port Chester police was heading north on Route 684. A Westchester County officer spotted it past Exit 4 in Bedford, followed it without pulling it over, and watched it leave the interstate at Exit 7 in Purdys, where the stop happened on the ramp. The driver, a 31-year-old Bronx man, was held on a Port Chester grand larceny warrant. One passenger ran toward Route 116 and into a wooded area, so Westchester County, State Police and North Salem officers set a perimeter while county and state canines tracked him to a spot behind a rock, under leaves, near a riverbed. Miguel Mendoza, 22, of Queens, was charged with escape, reckless endangerment, obstruction of governmental administration and false personation, and officers later learned he was also wanted in New York City on a grand larceny warrant. He was taken to the NYPD's 50th Precinct in the Bronx, and more than a dozen police vehicles cleared the scene hours later.

Source: Mid Hudson News, September 26

Is the Putnam Pickle Fest still on today?

It was still listed as of Saturday: Saturday and Sunday, Sept 26 and 27, at the Patterson Recreation Center in Patterson, with no postponement notice on the organizers' site. Today's numbers: a 90 percent chance of showers, a wind advisory until noon, and the flood advisory ending at 2 PM, with the heaviest rain arriving tonight. If you make the drive, check the festival's page or social accounts first.

Sources: famousfoodevents.com · NWS Putnam forecast

What is happening to the old county building at 34 Gleneida Avenue in Carmel?

It comes down before the end of the year. The Legislature's Physical Services Committee approved demolition Wednesday and passed the recommendation to the full Legislature for a vote next month. The two-story building across from the courthouse has been an auto dealership, a temporary County Clerk headquarters, offices for the IDA and EDC, and most recently the home of United for the Troops. DPW Commissioner Thomas Feighery described broken windows, a failed heating system and a tenant list of rats and raccoons. William Bujarski of the county's Department of Highways and Facilities estimated about $200,000 to demolish the building and grade the site into green space. Former Legislator Richard Othmer, now Kent's highway superintendent, told the committee the debate has run 22 years, and developer Paul Camarda pitched a passive park with benches to draw people toward Lake Gleneida. A private bid to buy the building lost in June.

Source: Mid Hudson News, September 24

Roads & Rails

Gusts to 38 through noon, then the week turns dry and mild 90 percent showers Monday, partly sunny 68 Tuesday, mostly sunny 72 Wednesday (1 min)

Today brings a wind advisory until noon with gusts to 38, showers and a possible thunderstorm after 2 PM, and a high near 63. Tonight turns heavier at 100 percent with a half inch to three quarters of an inch. Monday holds a 90 percent chance before a 30 percent follow-up Monday night, and then the week clears: partly sunny near 68 Tuesday, mostly sunny 72 Wednesday, 75 Thursday. Ponding is the watch item on Routes 6, 22, 301 and 312 through Monday.

Metro-North kept the regular weekend timetable on the Harlem Line out of Brewster and Southeast, and the alerts feed logged no advisory for the line overnight. Check mta.info before you travel, since the coastal branches take the worst of the wind.

Sources: NWS Putnam forecast · MTA schedules

AI Corner: one plain-English AI thing, every issue

This week: turn a legal notice into rows you can act on.

Putnam posts its legal notices as paragraphs of careful language, and the county's hearing notice for the 2027 tentative budget is a good example: Monday, October 5, at the Historic Courthouse, with the public hearing starting at 8:00 PM or right after the County Executive's budget address. Paste any legal notice into an AI chat and ask for five rows: date, time, place, what is being decided, and how the public can be heard. Read the rows against the original before you rely on them, because a model can pull a time wrong, and this check takes two lines of follow-up.

Reply with questions; they become future AI Corners.

This space supports local journalism · advertise: advertise@putnamlocalscoop.com

The Dates-Ahead Calendar

Putnam County Pickle Fest, day two, at the Patterson Recreation Center

Still listed on the organizers' site as of Saturday · wind advisory until noon, flood advisory ends 2 PM · check famousfoodevents.com before driving

Deadline for County Executive Kevin Byrne to sign or veto the law restructuring the county Board of Ethics

Per The Current's report on the Sept 1 Legislature vote

Carmel Town Board voting meeting and work session, 7:00 PM

Carmel Town Hall, 60 McAlpin Avenue, Mahopac · on the town calendar

Budget and Finance Committee: County Executive's budget address, then public hearing on the 2027 tentative budget, from 7:00 PM, hearing at 8:00 PM or after the address

Historic Courthouse, Gleneida Avenue, Carmel · per the county's legal notice and Legislature calendar

Full Legislature meeting, 7:00 PM, with the Mahopac senior center security grant on the agenda

Historic Courthouse, Gleneida Avenue, Carmel · per the Legislature calendar; grant report from Mid Hudson News

How did we do on this issue? 💬

Reply and tell us what Wednesday's issue should lead with. Replies land us in more inboxes (and I read every one).

Keep Reading

Know a neighbor who'd read this? Forward it 👇

Free, every Monday and Friday morning. Putnam in 4 minutes.

✅ You're on the list — check your inbox to confirm