Did you get a chance to go to the Big Apple Circus during its stop this year in West Nyack? We went tonight. Great fun, as always, though every year the show is so different, it’s hard to compare.

One thing that hasn’t changed over the past several years is Big Apple’s association with Rockland 21st Century [...]

Today, I decided to cruise over the Tappan Zee Bridge to see just how bad the bump was from the plates and bolts that have been slowing the morning commute. Seems that nine raised steel plates, about 35 feet apart in the two right Westchester-bound lanes are causing the morning commute to stall as drivers [...]

George Carlin, who died of heart failure on Sunday, was controversial. He could offend just about everyone, even when he was agreeing with them (remember the routine on feminists?) But I remember some of his greatest routines that had nothing to do with dirty words you can’t say on radio or television, or why white [...]

Rockland came of age (with the TZ Bridge) when one-acre zoning was the holy grail for homeowners. Suburbs were the thing. Now, suburban sprawl is the bane of land-use wonks, who see it as an inefficient, isolating lifestyle that puts people in their cars for even the smallest errands.

One of the salves for the ills [...]

There’s little question we need to pay close attention to the issues of substance abuse (including alcohol) and for DWI (driving while intoxicated) prevention in Lower Hudson Valley. We have had more than our share (and more than enough) of people killed in drunk-driving accidents. We have seen parents charged with DWI with their kids [...]

I now know a lot about “potty parity” after talking with Robert Brubaker of the American Restroom Association about Rockland’s Board of Health decision to deliniate a toilet ratio for restaurants with over 51 seats. And, for the record, Brubaker, who knows more about bathroom use, length of time spent, types of facilities, traffic flow [...]

Today, Keep Rockland Beautiful announced it had received its 100th report to its “litterbug hotline.” The hotline, 845-708-9164, allows “litter witnesses” to call and report offenders (like the one spotted today on New Hempstead Road). Callers, who remain anonymous, give the time and location of the trash tossing, along with the vehicle’s license plate number [...]

West Haverstraw has moved to make the head of its Department of Public Works an appointed position. Tomorrow that appointment is expected to go to current village trustee Joseph Denise. That would be a mistake. The village is essentially discarding the valuable screening process and qualifications threshold of the civil-service system. In its place, West [...]

So, here we are, on May 28, three days left in the month, and no big announcement by the Tappan Zee Bridge/Interstate 287 Project Team on its “preferred alternative” plans for the 30-mile corridor that stretches from Suffern to Port Chester. The Department of Transportation-led team had planned to announce its favored mass transit component [...]

Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, announced that Penny Jennings, the founder of Adults Caring For Teens, Inc., has been named a 2008 New York State “Woman of Distinction.”

Jennings, a Pomona resident who runs her ACT Inc. mentoring program from the Nyack Center, deserves that and other accolades. She has taken an idea—to help at-risk teens [...]