Westchester Now
Latest news and conversation around the news from Westchester, Rockland and the Hudson Valley.
Karl de Vries
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Night of poetry, music to honor Grand Central at 100
Photo credit: Getty Images
Poetry there will be.
To honor Grand Central on this its jubilee.
And music too
Beside the clock
Keeping time so you don't have to
Tick tock tick tock
100 years and still glowing
Where are all these people going?
The poetry promises to be a lot better than that when some of the nation's finest poets and musicians gather in Grand Central Terminal's...
Read more »Peekskill Middle School students study climate change
Photo credit: Megan Murphy
Students at Peekskill Middle School have turned the destruction from superstorm Sandy into a months-long investigation of climate change that they will present at a symposium in Florida next month.
Gathered to practice their 20-minute speech Thursday in a middle school art room, the students spoke of how power outages, downed trees and spoiled food made them think more about why two major...
Read more »Will Noramie Jasmin, Joseph Desmaret resign in wake of corruption probe?
Photo credit: News12
Just one day after Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin and the deputy mayor were brought down in a corruption scheme that spread from Rockland County to New York City, focus shifted from the hectic Village Hall to an unfinished mansion in a nearby hamlet.
A handful of reporters from across the Hudson Valley and New York City gathered outside Moses "Mark" Stern's Monsey home on Remsen...
Read more »40th anniversary of first cellphone call: How mobile technology has advanced
Photo credit: AP
Forty years ago today, Marty Cooper of Motorola made history when he placed the first-ever cellphone call while walking down Sixth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The recipient? Cooper's rival at New Jersey's Bell Laboratories, Joel Engel, whose work was also crucial to today's mobile infrastructure and who later founded JSE Consulting, a technology company in Armonk.
It took another decade before...
Read more »Geese live for another season in Mamaroneck village
Photo credit: News12
In the ongoing turf struggle between geese and peeps, the humans in Westchester County are definitely letting the birds live.
After Mamaroneck officials met Monday with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, plans have been canceled for rounding up and gassing the geese. But the USDA, which is the only agency in the country allowed to cull the birds, will still be returning to the village in...
Read more »Republican Frank Catalina challenges Mary Foster for Peekskill mayor
Photo credit: Faye Murman
The election is more than eight months away, but Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster has already drawn her first challenger for the city's top job.
Frank Catalina, a Republican, lawyer in private practice and former Peekskill city attorney, filed paperwork last week with the New York state Board of Elections seeking his party's nomination to run for mayor in the November election.
Catalina,...
Read more »Hudson Valley Republicans among frontrunners to challenge Cuomo
Photo credit: Rory Glaeseman
The New York Post kicked a hornet’s nest in the Hudson Valley’s political establishment on Monday when the tabloid published a story that included Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Rep. Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook) among a list of possible Republican challengers to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in November 2014.
Both Astorino and Gibson have been floated before as potential gubernatorial...
Read more »Peekskill weighs face-lift for dilapidated gateway
Photo credit: Faye Murman
With its cracked asphalt, crumbling sidewalks and stone walls, the gateway to Peekskill from Route 6 -- otherwise known as Main Street -- doesn't do much to instill civic pride. But city officials say they are hoping to change that blighted image and are considering a proposed face-lift along Main Street, from High Street to Hamilton Avenue. The project would add pedestrian-friendly amenities, including...
Read more »Ryan stays relevant in Westchester County exec race
Photo credit: John Meore
Members of Peekskill’s Democratic Committee threw their support behind Westchester County executive candidate Bill Ryan on March 28, a win that wasn’t a surprise but that illustrates how Ryan is still in the three-way race.
Ryan, a county legislator from White Plains, is running against New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson and Board of Legislators chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers) for the chance...
Read more »Westchester County capital projects prompt political finger-pointing
Photo credit: News12
Government officials are supposed to build roads, bridges and other infrastructure improvements. In Westchester County, they fight over them.
On Tuesday, Republicans on the Board of Legislators released a list of projects they claim are bogged down in the board’s Government Operations Committee, whose chairwoman is Legis. Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining).
Totaling $43.5 million in project...
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