Feeling autumnal today? Yup, it’s now officially fall (so will we get a little Indian summer and

finally have that warm weather we missed most of the summer?!?!)

According to the ILoveNY.com foliage report, there’s plenty of leaf peeping to be had in the Adirondacks and Catskills. According to their map, Rockland is still solidly in the [...]

In today’s editorial, Safe food 101, we looked at health code violations in school cafeterias.

John Stoughton, a senior public health sanitarian with the Rockland Health Department, has been in charge of regulating food safety compliance for 28 years. He says that for the most part, Rockland’s schools have a good track record.

Why? Stoughton believes there are [...]

It’s primary day, and in certain communities in Rockland, that’s prime time. Places like Spring Valley (and pretty much Ramapo) and Nyack are likely to be decided today, with the Democratic primaries.

Here’s a take on some of the big races:

Nyack mayor: Three current village trustees — Denise Hogan, Richard Kavesh, Marie Lorenzini — and businesswoman [...]

The New York State Senate unanimously passed legislation to add Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to the list of diagnoses that would be covered under Timothy’s Law, which ensures insurance coverage parity for biologically based mental illnesses. State Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, a longtime champion of Timothy’s Law, introduced the PTSD coverage.

The addition is timely, [...]

A recent news story and editorial on a $1.63 million “Restore New York grant  for a new, state-of-the-art kosher poultry slaughterhouse in New Square has grabbed plenty of attention. Many have focused on the list of state officials who contacted Empire State Development (which manages Restore NY grants) about the New Square grant application. A [...]

A couple years of bickering, and back-and-forth in court, and finally a settlement announced in August.

Now, we’ll see tomorrow, some action to fix the construction mess in front of the Tappan firehouse. It’s all over a disputed curb: The county put in a curb in front of the firehouse parking lot during a hamlet revitalization [...]

It was a wild time at last night’s public hearing on a proposal to cull Rockland’s deer herd by allowing bow hunting in county parks. (See story here.) Voices were raised, snipes were met with sharp retorts, and that was just among speakers at the podium. There was plenty of cross-talk in the audience, which [...]

Today’s editorial, explores Rockland legislators’ efforts to launch a Silver Alert program in the county that would help find people who have Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia if they go missing. (The Lower Hudson Valley, as Director of Putnam County’s Office for the Aging William Huestis describes it, a “gray belt,” with a [...]

Most people in Ramapo, and Rockland, have heard of Preserve Ramapo, an environmental activist group that has morphed into a ballot line, and has spoken out long and loud against the policies of Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher P. St. Lawrence. Preserve Ramapo’s Web site defines the group as “The not so silent majority.” (Personally, I [...]

Today, amid a busy, crazy, newsy kind of day, I joined many of my colleagues to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of our former colleague and my neighbor, Myra Dembrow. Myra was just 58, so young, with an attitude of a fighter, a challenger-of-all-things, an intellectual giant, a devoted and wonderful mother and [...]