Breaking News

A Clarkstown man was killed and two North Rockland men were injured, one seriously, after a crash in New City just before noon on Friday. Clarkstown Police Detective Norm Peters says two cars collided in the area of Route 304 and East Phillips Hill Road…

The two occupants of the Toyota, a 51 year-old Haverstraw man and a 54 year-old Stony Point man, were treated by New City Ambulance, Congers Ambulance and Rockland Paramedics and taken to a local hospital. The driver of the Hyundai, 84 year-old Patrick Tully of Nanuet, was pronounced dead at the scene. Route 304 was shut down for several hours as the Clarkstown Police Accident Investigation Team reviewed the scene. If anyone witnessed the accident or has any video footage, contact the Clarkstown Detective Bureau at 845-639-5840.

A long-awaited state report on the lack of water pressure when a fire raged through an adult home in Spring Valley nearly two years ago has determined that the water company isn’t to blame. Patch.com says the Public Service Commission report concludes that “multiple simultaneous withdrawals from the same main was a contributing factor” for the low water pressure. The March 2021 fire at the Evergreen Home for Adults killed a resident and Spring Valley volunteer firefighter Jared Lloyd. The report says the fire started thanks to the “reckless use of a blow torch” and hot, burning coals during a Passover ritual cleansing. Rabbis Nathaniel and Aaron Sommer face manslaughter, negligent homicide, and other charges. The report also noted decades of unresolved violations at the facility. Wayne Ballard and Raymond Canario of the Spring Valley Building Department have been charged with filing false reports about inspections at Evergreen. Their cases are still pending. In a statement, Rockland Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski said there is still much to be learned from this fire, but he is encouraged by the findings of the report.

Meanwhile, another Spring Valley facility owned by the same family that owns Evergreen is going to be shut down. The New Golden Acres Adult Home will close before the end of next month, and at the same time Evergreen will be rebuilt. The agreement comes as the state and the homes’ owners agreed not to take legal actions against each other. Justin Schwartz is the head of the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force, and that agreement doesn’t sit well with him…

And that was the former head of Fire and Emergency Services, Gordon Wren. According to The Journal News, the closure of New Golden Acres comes after Health Department inspectors uncovered 79 violations in 21 inspections over a four-year period starting in July 2018. Residents there will reportedly be transferred to other facilities and then get the chance to come to the new facility once it’s approve by the state.

No updates yet from Rockland’s Medical Examiner on the fetus that was found last week in a Nanuet sewer system catch drain. Rockland Sheriff Lou Falco says they also have no new information on the mother, but he is hoping she is safe, and not in any mental or physical distress…

Falco says there is no timetable for when the ME’s report will be complete.

An ambitious plan by the state of New York to address the state’s housing crisis by building 800,000 new homes over the next decade is being met with criticism here in Rockland. In her 2023 State of the State address last week, Governor Kathy Hochul said local land-use policies aren’t helping keep people in the state…

New York District 99 Assemblyman, Democrat Chris Eachus, covering Stony Point and parts of Orange County, is concerned the governor is overstepping her bounds…

Rockland County Executive Ed Day told “The Morning Show” Friday that New York is a home-rule state, meaning that local communities are supposed to have control over their own zoning. Day said Rockland localities have already been preparing for transit-oriented development and don’t need Albany politicians to decide what should be done here…

Hochul’s so-called “New York Housing Compact” is a multi-pronged strategy, that would, in part, require municipalities with MTA rail stations to locally rezone for higher-density residential development. There are different target objectives for downstate and upstate communities, though it was not immediately clear what qualifies as upstate or downstate.

The town of Ramapo is likely to vote and possibly approve a new law that would give local EMS and volunteer firefighters a break on their taxes. Ramapo supervisor Michael Specht predicts the board will vote unanimously in favor of the plan…

The board held a public hearing on the proposed law last week. Residents could still submit commentary to the town. Under the state bill that local governments could opt into, local volunteers could get a tax credit of up to 10%. Volunteers would have to have at least two years of service to qualify for the 10% exemption. The Ramapo vote is expected to take place on the 25th.