Westchester Now

Goodbye, punch. Hello, tap.

Every week or so I take the zombie train from Pearl River to Penn for journalistic repointing and managerial face time at our Manhattan office.

I take the 5:22 a.m. on the Pascack Valley Line and I'm easy to spot. I'm the shambling, coffee-spilling wreck with the nine-months pregnant computer bag.

But today, NJ Transit's pilot digital ticketing made...

A local Rockland County reporter known for walking the political beat is now taking a run on the campaign trail.

Dylan Skriloff, 33, editor-in-chief at the Rockland County Times, was nominated by the county's Republican Party this week as its pick for Stony Point's town supervisor, making him the only contender so far against incumbent Geoffrey Finn.

But Skriloff, who was born in Rockland...

Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin may have to look to other avenues to pay for her legal fees as some residents aren’t eager to open their wallets for her legal defense fund.

“She ruined Spring Valley,” said village resident Colette Lamar, 42.

“She’s been caught red-handed and she has to face the consequences. It’s outrageous to ask the public for funds," said Lamar, who went as...

Amid the hubbub last week about Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino’s dispute with the Department of Housing and Urban Development over affordable housing, it was easy to miss the other news in his State of the County address.

In the Tuesday speech in the county courthouse, Astorino pledged to submit a 2014 budget later this year that won’t contain tax increases.

The Republican...

Talk about a big catch.

About 200 anglers – possibly more – will be competing this weekend in the Hudson River Striped Bass Derby in hopes of a $100,000 payoff. Those who compete for the grand prize will need to haul in a winner that weighs at least 50 pounds and measures more than 48 inches.

There’s also a regular contest with a top pot of $1,000 for the heaviest fish of the weekend,...

The Peekskill signs at the city's made-over Metro-North station look like something ripped from the cover of a Grateful Dead album.

Flowering vines creep around railings and columns to spell "Peekskill" beneath the station platform's eaves and above elevator banks.

Artist Jan Taylor says it wasn't Jerry Garcia or his band mates that she had in mind when she designed the carbon...

Months before filing for candidacy is even permitted, the seventh Spring Valley mayoral hopeful is set to announce his run this Saturday.

Miguelino Joseph, 24, a property manager who works for a not-for-profit organization in Brooklyn, is the latest Rocklander to step forward. He intends to make a formal announcement Saturday afternoon outside his childhood apartment on Eckerson Road.

The...

Amy Seiden was outbid online Wednesday by a 13-year-old in Ossining who really wants to win that shoe-shopping trip with teachers Sarah Arbitrio and Linda Whitney.

And with just three days to go, the leading bid to be assistant princpal for a day at Roosevelt Elementary School is up to $50.

The Ossining MATTERS fundraiser, which antes up cash for extracurricular programs and equipment,...

First a Styrofoam head looking like something out of ancient Greece or Rome is found bobbing in the Hudson by some Marist College crew team members.

Now comes word of a tree whose ancestors date back to the dinosaur era living in North White Plains.

What's next? Prehistoric fish living under the Tappan Zee Bridge? Oops, already have those.

Metro-North officials say they recently...

Not one to let an opportunity pass, state Sen. Greg Ball (R-Patterson) is trying to parlay an on-air skirmish with CNN's Piers Morgan into some campaign dollars.

On Tuesday, the Republican lawmaker, known for his conservative views, sent an email blast to supporters patting himself on the back for putting "Piers in his place" and banging on his tin cup for contributions.

"Just...