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Jeff Lewis

RCC Opens as COVID Testing Site Today

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Rockland’s County Executive says RCC will open today as a New York State COVID-19 testing site. The state has partnered with Quadrant Biosciences to run the site and provide oral, saliva-based PCR COVID-19 tests. Governor Kathy Hochul says RCC is among nine new locations at community colleges to open across the state…

Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski says the site is open for testing weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. To make an appointment click here.

Meanwhile, though the county’s COVID-19 death count is on the rise again, hospitalizations and total cases are down. Friday’s updated count from the health department shows seven more fatalities due to COVID, for a total of 1,057. The number of active COVID cases is down almost 3,000 to 16,390, and the number of residents hospitalized with confirmed cases of coronavirus is down 11 for a total of 139.

Hi-Tor President Due in Court Today

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The President of Hi-Tor Animal Care Center in Pomona indicted earlier this month is due back in court today. Rockland County District Attorney Tom Walsh said 51 year-old Debbie Dibernardo faces 17 charges, one a felony, for filing false documents on 17 animals in the shelter’s care. Walsh said the incidents took place during the summer of 2020. Rockland County Executive Ed Day has said the county remains committed to putting up a new animal shelter facility, with more than $8 million in funding, on top of the various grants and donations the shelter has been given over the years. The Hi-Tor Animal Shelter has been in operation since 1973 and annually takes in 2,000 animals, primarily cats and dogs.

Spring Valley’s MLK Center Celebrates Life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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The Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center in Spring Valley held their 12th Annual “Unity Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Dr. King” ceremony yesterday honoring their namesake’s birthday. The virtual event featured Spring Valley High School graduate, Rockland Congressman Mondaire Jones…

And that was New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Nathan Mungin, the Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center, said he’s often asked why the center does what they do…

The presentation also featured a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by East Ramapo students, and a video of children’s activities at the Center. For more information about the center, visit their website, mlkmpc.org.

Rockland Green Prepared to Take Over Hi-Tor, Should it Come to That

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Rockland Green, the county’s recycling agency, is poised to take over the beleaguered animal shelter if it ever comes to that. Talk over that possibility has resurfaced since the indictment last week of the President of the Hi-Tor Animal Care Center in Pomona. Howard Phillips is the head of Rockland Green, Rockland’s solid waste management authority, and says if the county executive and the legislature decide to move that direction, the group is ready to help…

Rockland’s County Executive insists a new shelter will be built, and emphasizes the indictment of Hi-Tor president Debbie DiBernardo has nothing to do with any shelter funding or finances. DiBernardo is scheduled to return to court next week. The county has committed more than $8 million in funding, on top of the various grants and donations the shelter has been given over the years.

Area Legislators Look to Combat Gun Violence, But Disagree on Approach to Solutions

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The gun violence crisis in the U-S has taken a toll on communities across the country. Here in New York, a Westchester state lawmaker’s bill would require licensed gun dealers to hold off on immediately delivering a firearm to a purchaser, instead implementing a mandatory 10-day waiting period after purchase. The thought behind Assemblymember Amy Paulin’s bill is that lives could be saved, as people with mental-health challenges sometimes impulse buy weapons for immediate use. Research shows states with waiting-period laws had 51-percent fewer firearm suicides than states without them. Rockland state senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick says there are a number of bills dealing with gun safety up for consideration…

Katherine Schowalter of the group “Moms Demand Action” says those 10 days in Paulin’s bill could prompt anyone thinking about using physical violence to reconsider…

Rockland Assemblyman Mike Lawler questions the motivation of such laws, when the majority in the state continue to back bail and criminal and justice reform laws that haven’t helped…

Homicide, mostly driven by gun violence, has been on the rise in New York since 2020 as well as across the country. New York City recorded 485 homicides in 2021. That’s the highest total since 2011, when 515 people were murdered, according to New York Police Department records.