All week the National Weather Service has been issuing Red Flag Warnings for our area, meaning that critical fire weather conditions are expected or happening right now. It’s the combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and dry fuels — the wildland vegetation, such as grasses, shrubs and trees. Rockland’s Fire and Emergency Services Director Chris Kear says these conditions can make it that much easier for a fire to start…
The extreme fire conditions are expected to subside as more foliage starts to grow on the trees and lawns start to turn green again. WRCR Meteorologist Mark Hanok says it’ll be about three weeks before we have more significant coverage from the trees and grass.
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The two members of the Democratic Party expelled from the Tennessee Legislature have the support of Rockland’s Congressman, and he’s a Republican! Members of the GOP voted to expel two men, both African-Americans, from the Tennessee House of Representatives for recently joining peaceful protests against gun violence after a massacre at a Christian school in Nashville late last month. 17th district representative, Mike Lawler, told “The Morning Show” yesterday that their expulsion was, in his words, “ridiculous”…
On Monday, Representative Justin Jones got his seat back on an interim basis, until a special election is held for his seat. Representative Justin Pearson, the other Democrat who was ousted, could get his seat back today. Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, who was protesting alongside Jones and Pearson, escaped expulsion by just one vote.
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The annual worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Day, which honors the millions of Jews and others who were killed by the Nazis, will be held in Rockland on Monday, April 17th. The theme of the presentation by the Rockland Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education, the Justice Brandeis Law Society 9th Judicial District, and the Rockland Bar Association, is “Defenders of Democracy.” The guest speaker is Anne Minihan, the administrative judge for the 9th Judicial District. The event gets underway Monday in the jurors’ room at the Rockland County Courthouse at 2pm.
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The long-dormant Sain Building in New City may have an interested buyer, but there’s been no movement in the legislature as of yet to get the building sold and redeveloped. Minority Leader Lon Hofstein says part of the holdup is the process and cost of tearing down the building…
The Sain Building sits across New Hempstead Road from the County’s main offices and has been sitting idle since December 2017. A developer had offered to pay $4.5 million for the property and was going to take care of demolishing the building, but bailed in November 2018.