Breaking News

The Rockland County legislature is expected to take up a bill next week that will ask the Department of Homeland Security to help keep members of the Haitian community here in the United States. Last month the Trump administration said they would scale back the use of the Temporary Protected Status designation, or TPS, which gives people legal authority to be in the country but doesn’t provide a long-term path to citizenship. That could result in nearly half a million Haitians being deported by August. Rockland County District 17 legislator Dana Stilley, who covers portions of Orangetown and Clarkstown, says Haitians who have made Rockland their home, are very concerned…

Last month Rockland Congressman Mike Lawler of the Hudson Valley’s 17th district told “The Morning Show” he was working to get TPS extended…

Meanwhile, in Haiti, violence continues in the nation’s capital. The Associated Press reported that a coalition of powerful gangs launched new attacks earlier this week, driving dozens of families from their homes. And Reuters reported that a building in Haiti’s capital that once served as headquarters for the nation’s oldest radio station, was destroyed in a fire set by gangs. Radio Caraibes left the building a year ago after gangs moved into the area.

A teaching assistant at the Jesse Kaplan school in West Nyack has reportedly been arrested and charged this week with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. That’s according to News 12. They report that Catherine Rios is expected back in Clarkstown Justice court next week. She allegedly pushed two students’ heads under water while they were in a therapeutic pool, leaving one of the students gasping for air. Neither student was injured, but after an internal investigation was done by Rockland BOCES, and reports were filed with Clarkstown Police and the State Education Department, Rios was placed on administrative leave. In a statement sent to parents, Rockland BOCES said the incidents were isolated, and they are fully cooperating with Clarkstown Police as the investigation continues.

Local state lawmakers and their staffs are beginning the work of combing through the individual budgets submitted by the Assembly and Senate, comparing them with the governor’s and gearing up for the infamous deadline that’s just under three weeks away. Rockland’s New York State Senator, Republican Bill Weber of the 38th District, says a vote’s been slated for Thursday on the Senate plan…

Over in the Assembly, Rockland Assemblyman, Democrat Patrick Carroll of the 96th District, covering Clarkstown and parts of Haverstraw and Orangetown, is getting his first chance at taking on the state budget…

Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Budget proposal comes out to just over $250 billion dollars. The deadline for the budget to be passed is April first. Last year’s budget was just over two weeks late.

Over a dozen people were injured, including one child who was in critical condition, when a school bus heading to New Square from Lakewood, New Jersey, crashed on the Garden State Parkway in Montvale last night. The accident happened around 7:30 on the northbound side of the parkway just north of Exit 171 near the James Gandolfini Service Area. 31 people were on the bus at the time. There’s no word on what caused the bus to crash and topple over onto its side, and the incident’s under investigation by New Jersey State Police.

Brooklyn Man Charged with Using Fake Money to Buy Gift Cards in North Rockland

A Brooklyn man has been accused of using counterfeit money to purchase over $14-hundred dollars’ worth of gift cards from a North Rockland store. Stony Point Police say 27 year-old Myles Rowley tried to buy the cards in August 2022 at the Walgreens in Stony Point. Rowley was charged with Possession of a Forged Instrument and Grand Larceny. He was processed, arraigned, and released. He is due back in Stony Point Justice Court next week.

The town of Clarkstown and the Clarkstown Police Department are cracking down on illegal massage parlors. Supervisor George Hoehmann and Police Chief Jeff Wanamaker say the initiative takes aim at violations of local town codes, human trafficking concerns, and illicit activities associated with unlicensed establishments. The campaign against the businesses advertised as spas began in October last year. So far seven women from Fort Lee and Palisades Park New Jersey, Queens, and Forestdale, Massachusetts, have been arrested for their connection to the Happy Spa in Congers, HNS Spa in Bardonia, Oasis Spa in Congers, Maggie Spa in Nyack, and Nanuet Day Spa. All defendants have been issued appearance tickets, and they are due back in Clarkstown Justice Court at future dates. Residents are asked to report suspicious businesses or activities to the Town by calling the non-emergency police number at 845-639-5800 or using the My Clarkstown App.