News

The 29th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act was celebrated Friday by BRIDGES, Rockland County’s Independent Living Center. The ADA provides for national standards to help eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities. Carlos Martinez is BRIDGES’ Executive Director, and says despite the law, there’s still work to be done…

Friday’s event at Palisades Center honored five area residents who serve as mentors and supporters for people with disabilities.

The town of Ramapo recently settled a lawsuit with four former state parole officers who claimed the town racially profiled them. Supervisor Michael Specht says the federal civil rights suit was settled for $16,000…

The four had been stopped by an unmarked police car five years ago. The parole officers were executing a warrant at a home in Airmont but never told Ramapo police it was happening.

Just weeks after he was released from prison, one of the men convicted of killing Pearl River teen Paula Bohovesky is back behind bars. Richard LaBarbera reportedly violated parole and is being held at the Erie County Jail pending administrative hearings. He had been sent to live in Buffalo after the outcry from area residents who didn’t want him to be allowed to return to Rockland. That he was nabbed again so quickly doesn’t come as a surprise to County Executive Ed Day…

Day wants the governor to review recent Parole Board decisions. It’s not known what his alleged parole violation was, but in a statement, Lohud.com said the parole board indicated Labarbera did not commit a new crime. LaBarbera was released from Sing Sing Prison on July 8th. Bohovesky was murdered in October 1980 as she walked home from the Pearl River library.

The Rockland County Department of Health says for the first time this season a group of mosquitoes has tested positive for West Nile Virus. The infected mosquitoes came from a trap in Ramapo earlier this month. No human cases have been reported thus far. A bite from a West Nile Virus-infected mosquito can cause serious illness, and in some cases, death. Although a person’s chances of getting sick are small, those over age 50 are at the highest risk. If you think you have symptoms of West Nile Virus, see your doctor right away.

The Rockland County Legislature’s minority leader is concerned about future Tappan Zee Bridge tolls, but there’s not much the county can do about it, he says, other than try to sway the panel deciding what the tolls might be. Legislator Lon Hofstein says it was short-sighted not to include a railway system on the new bridge…

Hofstein calls New York City’s congestion pricing plan “another way to pick people’s pockets” that will ultimately force people to flee the state. Thruway tolls are frozen through at least 2020.