News

An area state representative is very unhappy with New York’s budget which passed over the weekend. Western Ramapo and Orange County Assemblyman Karl Brabenec says he was hoping area libraries would get more money…

Assemblyman Colin Schmitt of Stony Point and Orange County says he was disappointed that Mirant debt relief for Stony Point wasn’t included in the budget, though it did have bi-partisan support…

Schmitt was pleased the budget made the property tax cap permanent, restored AIM funds to municipalities, and restored over $5 million to veterans’ mental health services.

New legislation in New York State has raised the legal tobacco purchase age to 21. Rockland State Senator David Carlucci says the bill can help save lives…

The bill includes e-cigarettes as well as tobacco-based products. Rockland had already passed a similar law last year.

Funding for “Donate Life New York,” the group that encourages organ donation, has been restored in the new budget, a line that was originally wiped out by the governor. Mike Prendergast runs the local chapter of Donate Life, now known as the Rockland Organ Donation Alliance, and says it’s been a successful program that deserves the funding…

April is National Donate Life month, designed to celebrate and build awareness about organ, eye and tissue donation.

If you suspect a neighborhood pet is being mistreated, the local Humane Society doesn’t want you to let that go unreported. Anne Marie Gaudio is the president of the Hudson Valley Humane Society in Pomona and says sometimes people have the best of intentions when they take in a stray, but then that leads to more and more under one roof, or even other problems…

You can confidentially report animal abuse to the Humane Society by calling 845-354-3124 or send an email to: “reportcruelty@hvhumane.org.”

Thousands are expected to attend a large funeral service for a Rabbi who headed the Chesed L’Avraham organization of Brooklyn. The funeral for Rabbi Yisroel Avrohom Portugal is at 11 this morning in Brooklyn and then later this afternoon here in Rockland at the Vizhnitzer cemetery on Route 306 near Brick Church Road. Mourners are being shuttled by bus from the Boulders’ ball park parking lot on Pomona Road. Village of Wesley Hills Mayor Marshall Katz says motorists will probably want to avoid the area of Route 59, Route 306, Kearsing Parkway, Jill Lane and Blueberry Hill Road. The entire Blueberry Hill neighborhood will be on complete lock-down; no vehicles will be allowed in or out. If you have a car parked anywhere in the frozen zone, it will be towed by the Ramapo or Spring Valley Police Departments.