Westchester Now

Westchester County Democrats don't appear to be fielding challengers against Legis. Mike Kaplowitz (D-Somers) and Legis. Virginia Perez (D-Yonkers), the lawmakers who crossed party lines last year to give Republican County Executive Rob Astorino the two Democratic votes he needed to enact his 2013 budget.

But that doesn't mean Kaplowitz and Perez aren't looking over their shoulders.

“I'm...

East Ramapo School Board President Daniel Schwartz didn't say exactly how officials discovered that they shouldn't be holding interviews for appointments to the School Board behind closed doors, but he did reverse the board's policy Thursday, pre-empting a Newsday story citing critics and a legal opinion questioning the legality of such secrecy.

At 9:32 a.m. Thursday, I emailed Schwartz to...

Not surprisingly, New York and Texas have had vastly different reponses to securing schools since the tragic massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

In New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made it a felony to have a gun on a school campus.

In Texas, at least one school is arming employees and teachers. On Wednesday, this resulted in one employee being shot during a gun training, according...

Terrance Raynor, a former Mount Vernon police chief, has the inside track to become Mount Vernon's next top cop, a City Hall source speaking on condition of anonymity told Newsday.

"Raynor's the administration's first choice," the source said.

Mayor Ernie Davis declined to comment Wednesday on his first choice for the job, saying he intends to fill the post by the end of the...

Parents and administrators from a dozen lower Hudson Valley school districts are aiming to flood Albany with letters about high-stakes testing, the tax cap, teacher evaluations and the loss of local control in school districts.

“Parents have to get involved,” said Tracy Pyper, advocacy chairwoman for the Westchester East Putnam Region PTA and chairwoman of the consortium, said in a news statement....

If you live in the City of Poughkeepsie, it could be worse. You could live in Detroit. Or Flint. Or Milwaukee.

The Forbes 2013 report on America's Most Miserable Cities ranks Poughkeepsie at number 18, sandwiched between Cleveland at 17 and Gary at 19. The magazine released its annual list of the most miserable cities this week, citing Poughkeepsie's inclement weather, long commutes and high...

Who's the most liberal Republican in congress?

It's Rep. Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook), according to the National Journal, which ranked lawmakers based on the votes they cast last year.

That might be a surprise to heartland conservatives, but it shouldn't raise an eyebrow among Gibson's constituents, which include people from liberal bastions like Woodstock, Saugerties and New Paltz. But...

By seeking to publicly vet the private groups that someday might manage Rye Playland, the Westchester County-owned amusement park, the Board of Legislators has managed to garner criticism from both well-heeled women and construction workers.

Folks from Rye packed the Westchester County Board of Legislators public hearing on Playland last week. Most were angry 30-something ladies who wore expensive...

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo catches a lot of heat for claiming to be making swift progress on the replacement Tappan Zee Bridge when he has yet to secure a long-term, low-interest federal loan that's key to the project's financing. But a recent inquiry to the U.S. Department of Transportation revealed that few other projects are making headway in obtaining loans from the Transportation Infrastructure Finance...

The Feb. 8-9 snowstorm had many New Yorkers spending the weekend indoors. The collective desire not to trek through the snow resulted in the cancellation of numerous blood drives throughout the state, but most hospitals continued conducting business as usual during the storm, prompting the New York Blood Center to declare a blood emergency.

There is not enough blood in stock in New York or...