helpdesk1

The town of Clarkstown is poised to be the first in the county to get a medical marijuana dispensary. LoHud.com reports “Valley Agriceuticals” will be opening a shop on Route 304 in Bardonia. It’ll be one of 25 dispensaries across New York. State regulators will have to decide when the shop can open to the public.

Rockland officials yesterday announced more than 200-thousand dollars in grants for groups that promote tourism in the county. Andrew Horn is the executive director of Stony Point’s Penguin Rep Theatre, one of the recipients of a grant. Horn said he’s proud of Penguin’s reputation and standing as one of the handful of theaters outside major cities in the country that puts on original productions…

Director of Economic Growth and Tourism Lucy Redzeposki said the grants are helpful, but working together has helped boost Rockland’s visibility as a tourist destination…

County Executive Ed Day said it’s important to be welcoming to visitors so that they share in the county’s beauty and spend time — and their cash — here…

The average county household would have to pay an additional $555 annually in property taxes to maintain current services if not for money generated by tourism. Other recipients of grant money include the Garner Arts Center, Rock-Bergen Music Festival, Visit Nyack and others. See the complete list here:

Three Rockland schools have been identified by the state Education Department as needing academic improvement. Under the new federal “Every Student Succeeds Act,” Spring Valley and Ramapo High Schools in the East Ramapo school district and James Farley MIddle School in North Rockland need “support and improvement.”

The permit application for a Ramapo girls’ school looking to move into Nanuet has been denied by Clarkstown’s building inspector. Clarkstown supervisor George Hoehmann says potential suitors for the Grace Baptist Church on Demarest Avenue were turned down due to various issues, including the potential increased traffic burden the school would cause for the neighborhood…

Hoehmann says the school could sue or file an appeal to get the variances they’d need to occupy the church. The sale of the church could fetch between 4 and 5 million dollars.

Also in Clarkstown, a landscaper licensing law will be on the town board agenda for a public hearing tonight. Hoehmann says too many people have been leaving their leaves in the street, illegally, for too long…

Tonight’s meeting gets underway at town hall at 7pm.

North Rockland’s newest representative in the state Senate, James Skoufis, was sworn-in Sunday at the Monroe-Woodbury middle school, where he went as a young man. Skoufis told the crowd that everybody in his district will be treated the same way as everyone else…

In addition to North Rockland, Senator Skoufis’ district covers portions of Orange County.