I spent the morning at the Summit on Financing Tappan Zee Bridge & I-287 Corridor, hosted by Rockland County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell at Rockland Community College.

I learned a lot about rocks. Not the kind you find smashed up by Tilcon into gravel for roadways. No. Like the kind you look under for funding sources.

Seems [...]

Now, Moshe Lefkowitz can’t figure out the fuss over debris, etc., at the site where he has been coordinating kapparot ceremonies for ultra-Orthodox Jews. The ceremony, performed during the period between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, involves passing a chicken over one’s head three times while a prayer is recited, a [...]

According to the Tax Foundation’s examination of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data on property tax data for owner-occupied housing for 2008, Rockland County now ranks No. 5 in median property taxes paid on homes. For 2007, Rockland ranked seventh. (Westchester again ranks No. 1 and Putnam County breaks into the Top 10, having [...]

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 [...]