WHITE PLAINS WESTCHESTER DAILY NEWS SERVICE VISITS SINCE 2000 A.D. 25TH YEARl REPORTING THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW News Service Since 2000 A.D. 2026 WILL BE OUR 26TH YEAR OF COVERING WHITE PLAINS NEW YORK USA . John F. Bailey, Editor (914) 997-1607 wpcnr@aol.com Cell: 914-673-4054. News Politics Personalities Neighborhoods Schools Finance Real Estate Commentary Reviews Policy Correspondence Poetry Philosophy Photojournalism Arts. The WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER. TELEVISION: "White Plains Week" News Roundup, 7:30 EDT FRI, 7 EDT MON & the incisive "People to Be Heard" Interview Program 8PM EDT THURS, 7 PM EDT SAT on FIOS CH 45 THROUGHOUT WESTCHESTER AND, ALTICE OPTIMUM WHITE PLAINS CH 1300 Fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way. TOP 10 VISITORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD :1. USA. 2.BRAZIL3.VIET NAM 4. CHINA 5. JAPAN 6.UK. 7.CANADA. 8.INDIA. 9.AUSTRALIA 10.IRELAND 11.GERMANY 12..ARGENTINA 13.BANGLADESH 14.RUSSIA. 15.NEWZEALAND. 16. FRANCE. 17.MEXICO. 18.UKRAINE. 19.SOUTH AFVRICA. 20. IRAQ.
We are writing to seek your help on a new project. Mandate Masks NY is putting together a guide to businesses, museums, and other public spaces in NYC and surrounding areas that are still requiring masks and other COVID-19 prevention efforts to protect people, including high-risk staff, customers, and visitors.
We would love your help on this project! Do you know of any businesses or other public spaces that are still requiring masks and other COVID-19 prevention efforts in NYC and surrounding areas? And/or can you help us find out?
To collect info, we have an online form here- https://forms.gle/eKsgsQy4FV9SRcNNA . Please fill this out with any businesses or other public places that you know of that are still requiring masks and other COVID prevention efforts. (ex: grocery stores, bookstores, museums, pharmacies, banks, laundromats, etc). We are currently focused on NYC and the surrounding areas, but may expand at a later date.
We would love your help in finding more places to add to our list! More info and tips about contacting businesses are on the form. For those on Instagram, we have been highlighting and thanking businesses that are still requiring masks on our page at @MandateMasksNY.
We have already had some businesses we reached out to reinstate their mask mandate after we contacted them about this!
If you are interested in getting more involved with the project and helping to organize, please send us an email.
Mordechay Malka and Matityau Malka Convicted of Scheme to Kidnap 14-Year-Old Girl and 12-Year-Old Boy From Their Mother
WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. June 6, 2022:
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced that MORDECHAY MALKA and MATITYAU MALKA were convicted in White Plains federal court of kidnapping following a three-week jury trial.
The defendants, members of an extremist Jewish sect called Lev Tahor, participated in a scheme to kidnap a 14-year-old girl (“Minor-1”) and a 12-year-old boy (“Minor-2”) from their mother in Woodridge, New York in December 2018.
The kidnappers then smuggled the children across the U.S. border to Mexico, where they reunited Minor-1 with her adult “husband,” who she had religiously “married” when she was 13 years old.
After the children were recovered and returned to their mother, the defendants and their co-conspirators tried to kidnap the children a second time in March 2019.
Two co-conspirators, Nachman Helbrans and Mayer Rosner, were previously convicted of kidnapping and sexual exploitation charges in connection with this case after an October 2021 trial and have each been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Indictment, other court filings, and the evidence presented at trial:
MORDECHAY MALKA and MATITYAU MALKA are U.S. citizens and members of Lev Tahor, an extremist Jewish sect that has been located in several different jurisdictions, including New York, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala.
In or about October 2018, the mother of Minor-1 and Minor-2 escaped from Lev Tahor’s compound in Guatemala and arrived in the United States in early November 2018.
Also in November 2018, a Brooklyn family court granted her sole custody of the children and prohibited the children’s father, a leader within Lev Tahor, from communicating with the children.
After the mother fled and settled in New York with her children, MORDECHAY MALKA and other Lev Tahor members devised a plan to return Minor-1 and Minor-2 to the Lev Tahor community. Then, in December 2018, the kidnappers took the children in the middle of the night from a home in upstate New York and transported them through various states and, eventually, to Mexico.
MORDECHAY MALKA and his co-conspirators used disguises, aliases, drop phones, fake travel documents, an encrypted application, and a secret pact to execute on their kidnapping plan. At the time of the kidnapping, Lev Tahor leadership was seeking asylum for the entire Lev Tahor community in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Following a three-week search involving hundreds of local, federal, and international law enforcement officers, Minor-1 and Minor-2 were recovered in Mexico and returned to their mother in New York.
Then, in March 2019, members of Lev Tahor again tried to kidnap the children. The leader of Lev Tahor, Nachman Helbrans, attempted another kidnapping of the children while incarcerated in Westchester, New York. MATITYAU MALKA acted as the operative on the ground to execute the attempted kidnapping.
* * *
MORDECHAY MALKA, 27, of Guatemala, and MATITAU MALKA, 30, of Guatemala, were convicted of one count of conspiring to commit international parental kidnapping, to unlawfully use a means of identification, and to enter by false pretenses the secure area of an airport, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. MORDECHAY MALKA was also convicted of two counts of international parental kidnapping, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count. MATITYAU MALKA was also convicted of one count of attempted international parental kidnapping, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the FBI, United States Customs and Border Protection, the Department of State, the Transportation Security Administration, the New York State Police, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department, the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office, the Village of Spring Valley Police Department, Special Agents with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and our law enforcement partners in Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, and Israel.
This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Sam Adelsberg, Jamie Bagliebter, Jim Ligtenberg, and Daniel Tracer, and paralegal specialist Shannon Becker, are in charge of the prosecution.
Big Cherry Council Chamber set. Too real for comfort.
WPCNR STAGE DOOR.Theatre Review by John F. Bailey. June 6, 2022:
It is so appropriate that I am writing this piece on the night the White Plains Common Council is holding its monthly meeting in public at 55 Main Street, City Hall.
However because I saw The Minutes at Studio 54 Saturday afternoon, I can never watch a Common Council Meeting or a town hall fact-finding community zoom again and take them seriously.
I took a reporter’s holiday Saturday to see The Minutes the upstart play reveals the truth hidden beneath the pretense, patronizing, sentimentality and traditions of city councils across this land.
Playwright Tracy Letts has captured the essence of town and county governing principles (or lack of principles), as they are practiced in communities in a play that once seen you will never forget.
That’s what inspired plays do. The Minutes is one of those. It crackles!
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production at the majestic Studio 54 Theatre is a grandiose and pompous “governmental” environment fitting venue for a meeting of the fictional, but all too real Big Cherry Council meeting. The Big Cherry Council is insightful, satiric, ultimately devastating commentary on how governing bodies work, not just in America, (where it’s go along to get along, maybe, but never results) but everywhere.
You as the live attendees of the City Council meeting take seats in the Chamber with the Sousa classic Stars and StripesForever playing in the impressive still empty “City Council Chamber of the Town of Big Cherry” (set meticulously real by David Zinn) for one night.
It is about to be called to order by Tracy Letts, the writer of the crackling, fraught with fear and zinged with bolts of truth and consequences council meeting like no other you’ve seen.
But in reality you have.
Tracy Letts, playwright and lead actor is the facilitating orchestrating dominating Mayor Superba conducting his city council of actors, spot-on mimicking the foibles and Roberts Rules of Order, ordinances and explanations for “missing minutes” raised by new councilperson Mr. Peel, played by insistent self-righteous and relentness Noah Peel of “Schitt’s Creek.” Councilman Peel who did not attend the previous Council session and wonders where the minutes are.
As this realistic portrayal of a typical City Council meeting unfolded, I laughed so hard, a little too loudly having seen far too many similar real life exchanges at Council meetings the last twenty two years– this was like Down Memory Lane
As Mayor Letts called the meeting order, there was the elderly councilman Oldfield played with hilarious timing by Austin Pendleton in opening remarks drawing attention to the now vacated City Hall parking space and when it would be assigned. Mr. Pendleton’s “Councilman Oldfield” loses track of the items being discussed with hilarious inattentive questions. The audience loved him.
First up is a presentation of a design for a new fountain for the town square by Councilman who has researched designs and wishes to use the design of his sister for the fountain who is disabled, and have the fountain accessible. This was so reminiscent of every council presentation of a project – especially the old Fountain presentation years ago.
Councilman Carp’s design was sharply criticized for costs and making the fountain handicapped accessible. Wow! I thought I had stepped back in time. I have seen so many of those presentations. All that was missing were the lawyers. Councilman Carp should have called the usual lawyer experts to handle Council to finesse objections.
Then attention turns to renaming the Big Cherry Festival, suggested by K. Todd Freeman, the lone black councilman who feels the festival should be renamed Lincoln Smackdown to reflect more of the black experience that raised the Mayor Superba’s incredulous protest, “You feel Lincoln did not do enough for black people,” one of Mr. Letts’ best written sequences.
This leads to the new councilman Peele (who supports the fountain what was so important about the Big Cherry Festival and the play bursts into the City Council reenacting the famous rescue of a pioneer family from Indians that is part of the town lore.
As this winds down…the city council audience has no idea about what is to come.
Blair Brown as Ms. Innes, the City Clerk is continually asked by Mr. Peel about the missing minutes. Ms. Brown with the aplomb of City Clerks everywhere keeps explaining they were not ready. Ms. Brown in an interview said she was a city clerk at one time. She is so realistic totally unflustered and official in the attitude City Clerks have, it is in their DNA.
Then it appears, Ms. Brown under close questioning by the relentless upstart Councilman, Mr. Peel, reveals there were notes.
After a tense vote, (fraught with the drama characterizing many a key White Plains Common Council vote), the Big Cherry council votes to hear Clerk Innes read the notes contain the testimony of the resigned member of the council who arrives to recite his remarks and the real story of why the minutes were missing.
The question after the minutes are read, reenacted by the missing Councilmember Carp (Ian Bradford) in a compelling story of discovery is — what does the council do about the truth? What does Mr. Peel do after he learns the truth?
The council audience in the theatre sees what the City Council decides to do.
The ending is to be expected.
The City Council does what every council does.
They do the right thing for the cityl
The Minutes is a limited engagement through July 24.
Critic Warning Disclaimer: Thinking, introspection raised if you chose to attend this meeting of the Big Cherry City Council.
Persons viewing the shocking ending of this work will be subject to thoughts as to what would you do? What should the City Council do? What would be best for the city? Could you live with the City Council decision? How would you vote? Could you stay true to your principles?
The play is Shakespeare in impact
Mr. Letts weaves in the issues of self-perception, staying true to oneself and betraying oneself.
It is realistic in how a city council or governing body hides a lot of the truth to the public and never admits mistakes.
It is unflinching in portraying strengths (assuming there are some) and weaknesses (which are starkly revealed in this play, fear is one) of many representative panels making decisions.
It is unrealistic in one glaring respect, this is a city council that asks a lot of questions. Most councils do not.
One total inaccuracy
The Big Cherry Council lasted 90 minutes.
If you are ever even thinking about running for City or Common Council, Townboard anywhere, Americans, this play will cure you! It is acid reality.
It is 78 years today since allied troops died and lived on Normandy beaches in the largest military operation in history to turn the tide against Nazi Germany, the ultimate evil Third Reich.
It is a day to remember, reflect. Examine ourselves.
Would we have the courage those men and women did?
Do we have their belief in truth, justice and the American Way?
I thought in preparing my simple news program, what kind of a visual should I put up to remember those brave who faced massive, withering fire hitting them and killing them instantly on those beaches? Should it be the sobering pictures of the wounded? The shock of the lineups of corpses in the sand? An empty soldier’s helmet upside down on the beach? The overhead awe-inspiring photographs of the landing?
I chose this: thousands of crosses to remember who died togetherfighting tyranny and evil because you must always fight tyranny and evil and hate together. You cannot negotiate with it. There is no excuse for it then and certainly not today.
The crosses are all the same.
There are thousands of them in graveyards like the one shown here. The horror of sacrificed humanity, all the same in death, united in death, whether black, latino, Brit, American, Canadian, Australian, no matter their nationality, creed, religion. They were all equal in death comrades in death. All the same equal in every way.
Next time you hear the speeches of hate and prejudice and superiority, please remember this picture and this day.
Seventy-eight years ago this morning, thousands of troops stormed the beaches in Normandy, France in the largest invasion in history. The bloody assault against a heavily defended coastline requiring incredible courage and sacrifice (certain deaths) of allied troops, landing craft, paratroops, signaled the beginning of the end of the Third Reich and the evil regime of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
The quiet beaches of Normandy today. The hundreds of rows of white crosses in cemeteries around the little town bear silent eternal testimony and tribute to the sacrifice of those brave men and women who fought, died, and triumphed this day 77 years ago today.
We can in no way, or through any motion picture know what any veteran experienced that day. The veterans who still are with us do not like to talk about their combat experiences. And they do not.
One veteran of D-Day, asked what he thought of Saving Private Ryan, the movie of a few years ago depicting the landing and the realism of it, said the real D-Day was worse. However, veterans we have interviewed remark that they think of their combat experience every day. It is always with them.
The great battle was at its height this morning. Horror. Hell. Suffering beyond imagination.
It is inconceivable to me that I could ever be able to do what these men and women did. I would like to hope I could have.
The veterans did.
They had it.
They left ordinary lives as teenagers office workers, factory workers, farmers, accountants, and what have you and were able to go to war and “rise to the occasion,” or as they say today, “step it up to the next level.” The highest level.
Rising to the occasion is hard. Stepping it up to the next level is hard. Giving all in vain is heartbreaking.
Westchester County averaged 370 new cases of Covid a day the last 7 days, more than double the next most covid-infectious county, Orange which averaged 124. Sullivan County averaged 28 and Putnam, 29. For the record Rockland
Nassau County and Suffolk Counties on Long Island have been consistently the most covid-infectious areas in the New York area. Over the last 7 days according to the New York Covid-19 tracker, Nassau County has averaged 605 a day for its population of 1,355,090 and Suffolk averaged 597 a day from its 1,525,290 population.
On Friday, June 3, Nassau reported 693 new covid cases. Suffolk reported 659 new covid positives.
For the record, WPCNR extrapolated what the daily number of average infections average per 100,000 of population added up to in a week in the 9 surrounding counties, as of last Monday. The moving 7-day avg infections has to be multiplied by the number of 100,000 increments in each county population to produce the average numnber of covid new infections in a week.
The upshot is the number of infections per 100,000 is not a true indicator of the number of cases a week unless the aggregate amount of cases if accumulated by multiplying whatever aggregates of 100,000 make up each county total population.
Last week due to marked decreased tests administered appears to have severely understand the rate of spread on the disease in Westchester County.
WPCNR REALTY REALITY. Special to WPCNR from Paul Feiner, Greenburgh Town Supervisor. June 4, 2022:
Late this week the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly approved legislation sponsored by Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins and Assemblyman Tom Abinanti that will generate additional revenue for Greenburgh, towns, cities and villages throughout NYS and help us and municipal governments with our economic development initiatives.
The Greenburgh Town Board has been pushing for years authorizing a Greenburgh only and a state-wide bill that will assess condos and coops built after January 1, 2023 their full assessed value. The legislation now awaits the signature of Governor Kathy Hochul. The Assessors Association has been trying to get this legislation approved for decades.
The legislation that was approved will not impact existing condos or coops.They will continue to be assessed at the commercial values–which is less than single family homes are assessed. The new law only impacts new construction.
The Greenburgh Town Board had a special meeting on Tuesday and voted to support the home rule Greenburgh only legislation. We did not think the state wide bill would be approved –it was a last minute surprise. Voting in favor of the resolution: Councilmembers Francis Sheehan, Gina Jackson, Ken Jones and myself. Councilwoman Ellen Hendrickx abstained.
Members of the Town Board who voted yes feel that the legislation will help us maximize the taxes we get on mixed use development and on future developments in the future. For example, if a developer wants to build mixed use housing at the Four Corners in Hartsdale, on Central Ave — the new developments will be assessed and taxed at residential dollars. A state wide law is better than only a Greenburgh law because all new condos and coops in the state will be treated the same manner. We have lots of potential land use development in our town so this law is very helpful.
The Town Board has committed to only approve single family homes at the former Elmwood development and previously indicated that we will not support townhouses (condos) at that site. 113 single family homes will be authorized at that location.
(Editor’s Note: The Governor has not yet signed the bill.)
Residents of the town have started to receive their assessment letters from the Assessors office.
EVery year the Assessor sends out letters to all property owners highlighting the value of their property. Taxes are now based on property values. I asked Edye McCarthy to summarize her findings. The following is her report. Some key points: You can challenge the value by filing a grievance. That MUST BE DONE BY June 21st. Second– if your increase was less than 8% there should not be any significant impact on your taxes since most properties saw an increase in value of 8%. The phone of the Assessors office is 914-989-1520.
In 2016 the Town of Greenburgh underwent an important and much needed reassessment project. All properties were assessed at 100% of full market value. It is the goal of the Town to maintain its original investment in the 2016 project by continuing to maintain accurate property assessments at 100% of full market value. Accurate property assessments ensure property owners are apportioned their fair share of the property tax levy.
As planned, the Town just completed its annual assessment process for the 2022 assessment roll. Changes in assessments reflect market value shifts and/or physical changes due to a change in property inventory data. Property owners are asked to focus on their 2022 assessed value to determine whether this value reflects what is believed to be the current full market value of the property as of the applicable July 1, 2021 Valuation Date. We encourage you to visit the Assessor’s page on our website to view property information.
All property owners will be receiving in the mail New York State Official Change of Assessment Notice(s) for their property(ies). A change in your property’s assessment does not necessarily indicate that your taxes will change. Your tax liability will be affected by several factors, including: changes to school/county/municipal budgets, changes to assessments of other properties, changes to exemptions applicable to your property and other properties, and apportionment of school and county taxes among multiple municipal segments.
In fact, on average, most properties in the Town of Greenburgh saw an 8% increase in assessed value. If the increase in your assessed value is at or around 8%, the proportion of your tax burden will likely not change significantly, nor will your annual tax bill.
However, if you disagree with your full market value estimate, you are entitled to challenge your assessment through the Board of Assessment Review from June 1 through June 21st, 2022. Grievance applications (form RP-524) are available on our website at
Our office is open from 9 AM until 5 PM Monday through Friday, you can either send your Grievance in via USPS or deliver to the office. All petitions MUST be received on or before June 21 at 9PM. Please contact us directly at 914-989-1520 if you require more information regarding your 2022 tentative assessment.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO RETAIN THE SERVICES OF A TAX REPRESENTATIVE. This is a simple process, with instructions on our website. If you choose to hire a representative, please read the contract very closely!!!!!
