Issue #044 · LatestWednesday, October 28, 2026 · Carmel · Cold Spring · Mahopac · Nelsonville
Southeast prepares to rename its Lakeview Community Center for the town's first woman supervisor, Mahopac science students worked the Hudson River, and the Carmel family fund passed $110,000
Free local email · written by Catherine Rosado · 4-minute read
The name on the building may change. Southeast's Town Board heard the proposal at its monthly meeting this week, after Putnam County Historian Jenifer Cassidy asked the town to recognize women's history, and the Lakeview Community Center would become a memorial to Lois Zutell. She was the town's first and so far only woman supervisor, holding the job from 1996 to 2003 after a decade on the Town Board, with service on the Planning Board and the Recreation Commission along the way.
The tributes from people who knew her carry the story. Tony Hay, a former supervisor, remembered her as a classy woman who presented herself professionally, and retired Town Clerk Michelle Stancati called her an inspiration. Family friend Christina Grant recalled her father's line at the dinner table: if Lois has anything to do with it, rest assured it will be done and done right. Zutell died in January 2020 at 84, and beyond office she was a Friend of the Brewster Library, a supporter of the Putnam County Land Trust and a charter member of the Southeast Museum.
The renaming remains a proposal; the board has not adopted it. If it matters to you, a Town Board meeting is the place to say so, and the town's contact information is on its website.
The questions Putnam searches this week, answer first, source after.
Where did Mahopac students spend a day of science fieldwork?
On the Hudson River waterfront in Verplanck. Mahopac High School students joined the region's day of river research, collecting fish and other aquatic organisms with seine nets, then testing water samples for chemical indicators including pH and salinity. The event drew more than 5,000 students and educators across 90 sites, building a one-day snapshot of the river's ecology, and findings get shared among schools so each group can compare its observations. The program runs through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation with the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. If your student came home talking about fish counts, that was the day.
How much have neighbors raised for the Carmel family facing brain cancer?
More than $110,000 in a few days. Samantha Knapp, 36, was diagnosed with Grade 4 glioblastoma while pregnant, and her son Nico arrived more than three months early; he remains in neonatal intensive care while she continues chemotherapy after 30 rounds of radiation. Her husband Chris has stepped back from work to care for both of them, and family friend Filomena Vasapolli started the family's GoFundMe, where the total keeps climbing. Medical costs are the point of the fund, and the family's updates live on that page.
With her back at Little Cabin's Farm in Carmel. The four-year-old Highland cow got out of her enclosure on October 20 and spent four days on the loose, spotted trotting along local roads while officers from several agencies tried to bring her in; at one point an officer attempted a lasso from a patrol vehicle. Neighbors tracked sightings and videos on Facebook the whole time until officers returned her to her owners, Mariana and Stephen Brophy. She is pregnant and recovering from her excursion, which is the detail that turned a runaway story into a neighborhood one.
AI Corner: one plain-English AI thing, every issue
This week: finish your voting plan before the last early voting day arrives.
Sunday, November 1 is the final day, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at both county sites, the Board of Elections at 25 Old Route 6 in Carmel and the American Legion at 10 Cedar St. in Cold Spring. Hours shift daily: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. today, noon to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Pull the schedule from boe.putnamcountyny.gov, paste it into an assistant, and ask it to match the remaining windows against your week, then pick your day and site.
Two checks before you go. Confirm where you vote with the polling place locator on the Board of Elections site, because several locations have been permanently changed, and anyone who votes early does not vote again on Election Day. Assistants misread tables now and then, so keep the county page open and treat the assistant as the draft, the county page as the source.
Reply with questions; they become future AI Corners.
The Dates-Ahead Calendar
Early voting runs 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; the Legislature is expected to adopt the 2027 budget at a special meeting at 7:00 p.m., open to the public
Early voting: both county sites · Meeting: Historic Courthouse, Gleneida Avenue, Carmel · putnamcountyny.gov
Early voting runs noon to 8:00 p.m.; the county executive also holds public hearings at 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. on the proposed charter change about the vote needed to override certain budget vetoes (Reso #262); written comments can go by mail to the Legislature, Room 318, 40 Gleneida Ave., Carmel, or by fax to (845) 808-1901
Early voting runs 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the eighth of nine days; it is also Halloween, so daytime hours leave the evening free
Board of Elections, Carmel, or American Legion, Cold Spring · boe.putnamcountyny.gov
Last day of early voting, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at both sites; after today the next chance to vote is Election Day itself
Board of Elections, Carmel, or American Legion, Cold Spring · boe.putnamcountyny.gov
General Election Day, polls open 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; anyone who voted early does not vote again today, and early voting results are canvassed after 9:00 p.m.
