A former Monsey man was among the 140+ people given a pardon or whose sentences were commuted yesterday by former President Donald Trump. The Times Herald Record says 66 year-old Sholam Weiss was serving an 835-year sentence for racketeering and money laundering by defrauding the National Heritage Life Insurance Company of $450 million. It is believed to be the longest sentence in history for a white-collar crime. A White House statement said Weiss’ sentence was unduly harsh, and noted he is in poor health. Trump also pardoned his former real estate partner and ex-husband of the former Westchester D.A. and current FOX News Channel host, Jeanine Pirro. Albert Pirro was convicted of tax fraud in June 2000, sentenced to 29 months in prison and released in May 2002.
Rockland Declined Direct Access to Pfizer Vaccines, County Loses Seven More to COVID
Don’t feel too bad for the governor, whose letter to Pfizer asking for a direct connection to purchase vaccines was rejected by the company. He’s in good company, the county executive was also shot down. In his own letter to the Pearl River-based company, Ed Day thanked Pfizer for helping bring the pandemic to an end, and he noted that many of the company’s employees are Rockland residents…
The county health department got just over 2-thousand doses of COVID vaccine yesterday, but all were accounted for in just about a half-hour. And while we still don’t have a central location for vaccine distribution in Rockland County, governor Andrew Cuomo said in his press conference yesterday that the state has 12-hundred distribution sites across the state…
Cuomo added he expects to see more product coming from Moderna and Pfizer in the coming months, and possibly new vaccines from Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca.
COVID-19 by the numbers now, here in Rockland, we lost seven more to COVID, the total is 817, and we reportedly have the second highest fatality rate per capita in the state. We’ve got 92 hospitalized confirmed with coronavirus, and 2,477 active cases. Our total case count is 32,137, that’s 253 more than Wednesday.
Ramapo Workshop and Possible Vote on Draft Environmental Document for Northeast Corridor is Tonight
The town of Ramapo’s workshop and possible vote on a draft environmental document that could alter the zoning in the northeast part of the town is being held tonight. The northeast corridor includes the old Minisceongo Golf Course, the Striker property off Route 45 in Pomona, and land near the Gracepoint Gospel Church on New Hempstead Road in New City. The Ramapo meeting is being held via Zoom tonight at 7pm, click here for the details.
Clarkstown Hosts Information Webinar for Businesses Looking for COVID-related Grants
There are some grants and loans that businesses can take advantage of during the pandemic. The town of Clarkstown hosted a webinar yesterday that sought to help folks cut through the clutter and find solutions that are right for them. Tom Morley is the Director of Rockland’s New York State Small Business Development Center, or SBDC, and he talked about the federal Payroll Protection Program and several others, but noted, things are fluid and always being revisited…
For more information click here, or click below for the webinar.
Frustration in Rockland with State Vaccination Plans Reaching Boiling Point
Anger over the lack of a state-run vaccine center in Rockland continues to fester among Rockland elected officials and others. Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski says the process here in Rockland thus far has been too haphazard…
One caller to “The Morning Show” yesterday explained the state’s website was so sensitive, her appointment in Westchester appeared to have been inadvertently cancelled…
Rockland County Executive Ed Day says the state should let the county’s own Health Department run things here in the county…
On top of all that, the governor’s request to have the state purchase vaccines direct from Pfizer was denied by the company. In a statement Pfizer said they would need federal permission before selling the vaccine, and they are open to working with the department of Health and Human Services to find a distribution model that gets the vaccine to more Americans quickly.
COVID-19 by the numbers now, here in Rockland, we lost four more to COVID, the total is 810. We’ve got 98 hospitalized confirmed with coronavirus, and 2,811 active cases. Our total case count is 31,884, that’s 216 more than Tuesday.