Breaking News

Statement from Rockland County Executive Ed Day:

According to reports from our Office of Fire and Emergency Services conditions within Rockland are rapidly deteriorating with flooding on major roadways including the Palisades Interstate Parkway and many other locations around the County. I ask all of our residents to stay off the roads for the remainder of the evening and overnight until the conditions we are seeing improve.

We have requested that the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services relocate their prepositioned water rescue assets to the Rockland County Fire Training Center in Pomona which they have agreed to do in case they are needed locally.

This storm is dangerous and the risk to your life if you attempt to travel right now is severe. Please stay off the road, stay safe and allow our first responders to do their jobs.

New York’s governor is looking to tackle COVID head-on to keep the numbers from getting any worse here in the state. Governor Kathy Hochul yesterday announced a plan to test school staffers who are not vaccinated on a weekly basis. Hochul also wants to decentralize booster shot distribution and put it in the hands of local health departments…

Hochul said there won’t be a need for any shutdowns as long as people stay vigilant – by getting the vaccine, wearing masks, washing their hands, doing the things that have been working.

Another Rocklander has died due to COVID-19, the first reported coronavirus fatality since August 11th, the total now 971. We have 18 hospitalized with COVID and a total of 641 active cases. Meanwhile, state health officials are now reportedly requiring face masks at all schools. Published reports said the state Health Department filed an emergency regulation Friday requiring all students, faculty and staff of all public and private schools to wear masks inside school buildings.

After delaying their convention due to COVID concerns, Rockland Democrats will be holding their nominating convention tonight at Bowline Park in Haverstraw. That’s according to the Journal News. The convention is being held to choose a party chair, recommend an elections commissioner, and fill committee vacancies.

An area lawmaker is introducing legislation that would ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory and its concepts in New York State Schools. Industry publication “Education Week” describes Critical Race Theory as “an academic concept that states racism is not only the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.” Stony Point and Orange County Assemblyman Colin Schmitt calls that “uniquely anti-American”…

Rockland State Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick says Critical Race Theory is misunderstood by too many people…

The concept of CRT was introduced in the late 1970s.

Opposition by Rockland law enforcement, supporters and political leaders to the former governor’s granting of clemency to a Brinks Robbery participant has nothing to do with politics, it’s personal. That’s according to Rockland Sheriff Lou Falco who, along with many others from the county, continues to blast former governor Andrew Cuomo for his last-minute move to give David Gilbert the chance to get out of prison early…

Rockland Assemblyman Mike Lawler says Gilbert will have a parole hearing next month, and if he is freed, he could be out of prison on October 18th, just two days shy of the 40th anniversary of the crime. Lawler has a petition on his website to urge the Parole Board to keep Gilbert in prison. Gilbert has served 40 years of a 75-years-to-life sentence so far, and he’ll still need to convince the parole board if he’s going to be set free early. Nyack police sergeant Edward O’Grady, officer Waverly Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige were killed in the heist.