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Schools
This Hudson Valley School District Latest To Ban Students' Cell Phones: Here's Where This Hudson Valley School District Latest To Ban Students' Cell Phones: Here's Where
This Hudson Valley School District Latest To Ban Students' Cell Phones: Here's Where Students in another Hudson Valley school district will be forced to look up from their phone screens, as officials will be requiring them to lock up their devices for the entire day.  In its end-of-summer newsletter, the Garrison Union Free School District in Putnam County announced that it will no longer allow cell phone use during the instructional day between 8:25 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.  During this time, students will have to store their devices in lockers and keep them powered down or in silent mode. More information about the policy will be contained in the district's updated&nb…

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by Ben Crnic
News
NY County's Mask Ban Causes 'Great Stress, Fear,' Federal Lawsuit Argues NY County's Mask Ban Causes 'Great Stress, Fear,' Federal Lawsuit Argues
NY County's Mask Ban Causes 'Great Stress, Fear,' Federal Lawsuit Argues A New York county’s controversial mask ban is already facing legal challenges. Click here for a new, updated story: Mask Ban Arrest: Hicksville 18-Year-Old First Person Charged Under Controversial Law In a class action lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York on Thursday, Aug. 22, Disability Rights of New York argued that Nassau County’s law barring face coverings in public violates federal law and discriminates against people with disabilities. The filing came a little more than a week after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, signed the “Mask Transparenc…

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by Michael Mashburn
News
COVID-19: Here's When Free At-Home Tests Will Become Available Again By Mail COVID-19: Here's When Free At-Home Tests Will Become Available Again By Mail
Covid-19: Here's When Free At-Home Tests Will Become Available Again By Mail Just days after the approval of a new COVID-19 vaccination booster shot, the Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it will restart its program of offering free rapid tests for the virus through the mail. Every American household may order four nasal swab tests starting at a date to be announced in late September, visiting covid.gov/tests. The new vaccines have been updated with a formula to more closely target currently circulating variants and provide better protection against severe consequences of COVID, including hospitalization and death. The updated vaccines incl…

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by Joe Lombardi
Business
Walmart Issues Massive Recall For Juice Product Sold In 23 States, Including NY Walmart Issues Massive Recall For Juice Product Sold In 23 States, Including NY
Walmart Issues Massive Recall For Juice Product Sold In 23 States, Including NY Apple juice sold at Walmart has been recalled due to high arsenic levels. The US Food and Drug Administration says 9,535 cases of the company's  Great Value brand 100 percent apple juice were sold in six-packs of 8-ounce plastic bottles bearing this expiration date: Best if Used by DEC2824 CT89-6, and a UPC code of 0-78742-29655-5. According to the FDA, the product contains inorganic arsenic above the action level set in industry guidance (13.2 parts per billion). They were sold in 23 states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia,…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Here's How Much Shootings In NY Have Declined In Past Year, Report Says Here's How Much Shootings In NY Have Declined In Past Year, Report Says
Here's How Much Shootings In NY Have Declined In Past Year, Report Says State leaders are crediting major policing reforms for a marked decline in shootings across New York State. In 21 counties outside of New York City, the number of shootings with injuries dropped 29 percent through July compared to the first seven months of 2023, a Division of Criminal Justice Services report shows. The data came from police departments across the state participating in the Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative, which provides agencies with state funding for equipment, overtime, personnel, training, and technical assistance aimed at reducing shootings and firea…

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by Michael Mashburn
Police & Fire
Rollover Crash In Front Of KFC Caught On Video On Busy Westchester Road Rollover Crash In Front Of KFC Caught On Video On Busy Westchester Road
Rollover Crash In Front Of KFC Caught On Video On Busy Westchester Road Two drivers were summonsed following a rollover crash in front of a busy KFC locale in Westchester that was caught on camera, police said.  The crash happened on Tuesday, Aug. 27 just before 1 p.m., when a gray sedan and a dark-colored SUV collided in front of a KFC in Yonkers at 124 Nepperhan Ave., according to Yonkers Police.  An investigation later found that the gray sedan unsafely pulled into traffic before hitting the SUV, which had also failed to stop at a stop sign on Nepperhan Avenue. As the two vehicles collided at slow speed, their front tires hit each other, sending th…

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by Ben Crnic
Police & Fire
Residents Evacuated After Car Slams Into Apartment Building In New Rochelle Residents Evacuated After Car Slams Into Apartment Building In New Rochelle
Residents Evacuated After Car Slams Into Apartment Building In New Rochelle An apartment in Westchester was evacuated after a driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into one of its walls, police said. The crash happened at around noon on Tuesday, Aug. 27, when an 89-year-old driver lost control of his car in the parking lot of a New Rochelle apartment building at 643 Pelham Rd. and collided with a wall, according to New Rochelle Police Captain J. Collins Coyne.  After the collision, the apartment's residents were evacuated as a precaution, and fire and building department officials responded to the scene, Coyne said.  The driver did not repo…

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by Ben Crnic
News
$2.4M Scheme: Former Westchester Town Employee, Business Owner Admit To Illegal Dumping Plot $2.4M Scheme: Former Westchester Town Employee, Business Owner Admit To Illegal Dumping Plot
$2.4M Scheme: Former Westchester Town Employee, Business Owner Admit To Illegal Dumping Plot A former Northern Westchester town employee has admitted to allowing a business owner to illegally dump unauthorized material at an environmentally fragile facility in exchange for cash bribes, federal officials announced.  Verplanck resident Robert Dyckman, age 52, and Cortlandt Manor resident Glenn Griffin, age 55, both pleaded guilty to charges related to the $2.4 million scheme, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on Monday, Aug. 26.  According to federal officials, Dyckman, the former Assistant General Foreman for the Town o…

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by Ben Crnic
Politics
RFK Jr. Drove Decapitated Dead Whale's Head To Westchester, Daughter Reveals RFK Jr. Drove Decapitated Dead Whale's Head To Westchester, Daughter Reveals
RFK Jr. Drove Decapitated Dead Whale's Head To Westchester, Daughter Reveals Even though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dropped out of the presidential race, that hasn't stopped him from stirring yet another odd animal-related controversy thanks to a resurfaced interview with his daughter. In the 2012 interview with Town & Country Magazine, Kennedy's daughter, Kick, revealed that her father, the former independent presidential candidate who is now 70 years old, rushed to Squaw Island in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in 1994 when she was just 6 years old.  This was after he heard that a dead whale had washed up on the shore. After an hours-long trip, Kennedy…

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by Ben Crnic
Police & Fire
Man Dies After Being Shot In Broad Daylight At Park In Westchester Man Dies After Being Shot In Broad Daylight At Park In Westchester
Man Dies After Being Shot In Broad Daylight At Park In Westchester Two men were shot during an incident at a public park in Westchester, including one man who later died of his injuries, police said. The shooting happened just after 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 26 at Doyle Park on Ashburton Avenue in Yonkers, when two men were found with gunshot wounds, according to Yonkers Police Detective Sergeant Frank DiDomizio. Both victims were soon taken to nearby hospitals, where one was pronounced dead. The other is now in stable condition, DiDomizio said. Authorities have not yet identified the victim who died. Yonkers detectives are now investigating the incident…

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by Ben Crnic
Police & Fire
Driver Hospitalized After Crashing Into Building At Marina In Westchester Driver Hospitalized After Crashing Into Building At Marina In Westchester
Driver Hospitalized After Crashing Into Building At Marina In Westchester A building at a Northern Westchester marina had to be stabilized after a vehicle crashed into it.  The crash happened on Sunday, Aug. 25 around 10:30 a.m., when a vehicle struck the Hudson House building at the Half Moon Bay Marina in the village of Croton-on-Hudson, according to the village's fire department.  The driver had experienced a medical emergency just before the crash and was able to get out of his vehicle on his own, firefighters said.  Soon after the collision, fire crews rushed to the marina and stabilized the car while also shutting down the building's electri…

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by Ben Crnic
Police & Fire
3 Armed Robberies Reported In 3 Days In New Rochelle 3 Armed Robberies Reported In 3 Days In New Rochelle
3 Armed Robberies Reported In 3 Days In New Rochelle Several people face criminal charges following three armed robbery incidents within three days in a Westchester County city that left victims injured, police announced.  The robberies happened in New Rochelle on Saturday, Aug. 24, and Monday, Aug. 26, the city's police department announced.  The first of the incidents occurred just after 10:30 p.m. on Saturday when a 23-year-old videographer was robbed at knife-point at 45 May St.  According to New Rochelle Police, the victim had been contacted by Instagram to film a music video at that location. When he arrived, he met with…

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by Ben Crnic