Breaking News

Two Rockland towns are leaning toward giving volunteers a tax break now that the governor has signed a bill giving them the ability to do so. In Clarkstown, supervisor George Hoehmann says that possibility will be presented at a public hearing in late January…

Ramapo supervisor Michael Specht says the town assessor is reviewing the bill and will be reporting his findings to the board next month…

Each municipality, including the Rockland County government, all five towns and their villages, and the school districts, can opt into the bill, which would give a tax break to volunteer and EMS workers in New York State. The bill was authored by Rockland State Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick and supported in the Assembly by Ken Zebrowski and Mike Lawler.

The architect of the 1981 Nanuet Mall Brinks robbery that killed two Nyack police officers and a guard has been freed from federal prison after serving just under two-thirds of his sentence. 72 year-old Mutulu Shakur reportedly has stage three bone marrow cancer, but had been denied parole earlier this year. Rockland County Executive Ed Day says he’s not shocked, as parole boards continue their assault on law enforcement and law-abiding citizens…

Rockland County Sheriff Lou Falco compares Shakur’s release to ripping a scab off an open wound… 

Nyack Police Sergeant Edward O’Grady, Officer Waverly ‘Chipper’ Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige were killed in the heist at the former Nanuet Mall 41 years ago.

An elementary school in Rockland was cleared out today after receiving a bomb threat from an anonymous caller. Clarkstown Police say New City Elementary School staff were loading children onto buses to get them away from the building as the initial responding officers arrived on scene. Officers established a perimeter, notified surrounding agencies, brought in K9 officers from Ramapo PD, the Rockland Sheriff’s Department and State Police to aid in the search. Uniformed Police and drones were used in the search, which turned up nothing. The Clarkstown Detective Bureau is continuing their investigation onto the threat. If anyone has information, contact the Clarkstown Detective Bureau at 845-639-5840.

A local gun buyback program by various local and state police agencies Tuesday got 30 guns off the streets, including an assault rifle. Rockland County Sheriff Lou Falco says these programs help as people might come into ownership of a firearm, perhaps from a spouse or parents who pass away, and they want to get rid of it quickly, easily and safely…

Most importantly, Falco says, it keeps the weapons from falling into the wrong hands. Falco says they’ll be holding other buyback events in 2023 but none has yet been scheduled. The next one he says will likely be in Orangetown or Nyack.

Seven people have been arrested in a nearly one-year long cybercrime investigation led by the Rockland County D-A’s office called “Operation Catfish.” D-A Tom Walsh says federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies worked with his Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and found the seven people allegedly trying to lure children to meet for sex or disseminating child sexual abuse material. The D-A says many of the investigations began with tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Of the seven arrested, five were from Rockland, and they ranged in age from 24 to 40, one pleaded guilty last week. He faces three years in state prison.