WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

Hits: 198

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From White Plains City School District. May 23, 2020:

The White Plains Board of Education will conduct a public hearing on the 2020-2021 School District Budget at a Special Meeting on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at 7 P.M   The meeting will be videoconferenced as per the Governor’s Executive Order 202.4, COVID-19.  Zoom Link:

https://zoom.us/j/95032893523?pwd=VEpBbThRWTBCRnJEZEJkK0Z1TjFIdz09

Teacher appointments to tenure will also be on the agenda that evening.

The public vote on the budget and the election of Board Members will take place on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, by absentee ballot only.  Ballots will be sent to all qualified voters who are registered to vote.  Ballots must be returned to the District Clerk by 5 P.M. on June 9^th.

            Two Board seats will be up for election, each for a three-year term of office, beginning July 1,

2020.  Incumbents Rosemarie Eller and Randy Stein are running unopposed.   In addition to the budget, the ballot includes a proposition on the use of funds from the Capital Reserves.

Information on the election and budget is available on the district’s website:

www.whiteplainspublicschools.org  or call 422-2000.

Hits: 104

Hits: 130

WPCNR TRAVELMON. Special to WPCNR from the Department of Homeland Security. March 22, 2020:

With the Memorial Day holiday weekend kicking off the start of summer, the Transportation Security Administration is preparing a very different travel season given the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

TSA has implemented changes to the security screening process that reduce the potential for cross-contamination at the security checkpoint in an effort to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

TSA has already begun implementation of these changes – with more to be implemented at airport checkpoints nationwide by mid-June.

“In the interest of TSA frontline workers and traveler health, TSA is committed to making prudent changes to our screening processes to limit physical contact and increase physical distance as much as possible,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “We continue to evaluate our security measures with an eye towards making smart, timely decisions benefiting health and safety, as well as the traveler experience.”

Over the past couple of weeks, TSA has experienced a steady growth of travelers coming through airport checkpoints. As procedure changes begin to rollout in the coming weeks, travelers should expect to:

Keep possession of their boarding passes. Instead of handing their boarding pass to a TSA officer at the travel document podium, travelers should now place their boarding pass (paper or electronic) on the boarding pass reader themselves.

After scanning, travelers should hold their boarding pass toward the TSA officer to allow the officer to visually inspect it. This change reduces the TSA officer’s need to touch a passenger’s boarding pass thus reducing potential for cross-contamination.

Separate food for X-ray screening. Passengers should place their carry-on food items into a clear plastic bag and place that bag into a bin.

Food items often trigger an alarm during the screening process; separating the food from the carry-on bag lessens the likelihood that a TSA officer will need to open the carry-on bag and remove the food items for a closer inspection.

This requirement allows social distancing, reduces the TSA officer’s need to touch a person’s container of food and reduces potential for cross-contamination. TSA Precheck members do not need to remove items from their bags.

Pack smart. Passengers should take extra care to ensure that they do not have any prohibited items, such as liquids, gels or aerosols in quantities greater than 3.4 ounces, in their carry-on bags (water bottles, shampoo).

In response to COVID-19, TSA is allowing one liquid hand sanitizer container, up to 12 ounces per passenger, in carry-on bags.

Passengers are required to remove the hand sanitizer from the carry-on bag before being submitted for X-ray screening. If a bag is found to contain a prohibited item, passengers may be directed to return to the divestiture table outside of security with their carry-on bags to remove the item and dispose of the item.

The passenger may also be directed back outside of security to remove, items that should have originally been divested (such as laptops, liquids, gels, and aerosols, and large electronics) and resubmit their property for X-ray screening.

By resolving alarms in this manner, TSA officers will need to touch the contents inside a carry-on bag much less frequently, reducing the potential for cross-contamination.

Practice social distancing.  Passengers should allow for social distancing to reduce direct contact between employees and travelers whenever possible without compromising security.

Noticeable adjustments leading up to the security checkpoint include, increasing the distance between individuals as they enter the security checkpoint, placing visual reminders of appropriate spacing on checkpoint floors and staggering the use of lanes where feasible.

No two airports are alike, so this could look a little different at each airport.

Wear facial protection. TSA officers at checkpoints are now using facial protection. Travelers are encouraged to wear face protection to the checkpoint as well.

Please note, however, passengers may need to adjust it during the screening process. Travelers are also encouraged to remove items such as belts, and items from their pockets, like wallets, keys and phones, and put them directly into their carry-on bags instead of into the bins to reduce touch-points during the screening process.

Travelers who have not flown since the pandemic are also likely to notice some other changes. They include:

• Reduced security lane usage due to the reduction in passenger volume.
• All TSA officers at checkpoints wearing masks and gloves.
• TSA officers optionally wearing eye protection and clear plastic face shields at some locations.
• TSA officers will continue the practice of changing gloves after each pat-down.
• Plastic shielding installed at many travel document checking podiums, divest, bag search and drop off locations.
• TSA officers practicing social distancing.
• Routine cleaning and disinfecting of frequently touched surfaces in the screening checkpoint area.

Many airlines and airports are also providing specific COVID-19 related guidance to travelers; please check with your airline prior to your trip.

Travelers are encouraged to arrive at the airport early as COVID-19 has affected staffing and operations across the airport environment. This will allow adequate time for checking bags, completing security screening and getting to the departure gate.

Individuals who were traveling in the early months of the pandemic became accustomed to arriving at the security checkpoint shortly before their flight departure time. TSA recommends that travelers no longer do so (or arrive well in advance of their flight) since more people are flying and new procedures such as social distancing have been implemented in airports, potentially adding time to the pre-flight experience.

For more information on the TSA security screening process during the pandemic, visit www.tsa.gov/coronavirus.

Hits: 0

WPCNR THURSDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING. By John F. Bailey May 21, 2020 UPDATED 4:36 PM EDT :

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said he is considering starting Coronavirus screening on newcomers arriving at airports, temperature taking of airflight arrivals at NY airports, saying it is a question of jurisdiction but he is considering it.

The Governor tempered the continued good news of the lowest number of new covid cases, 246, since before the NY coronavirus infections started and total hospitalizations down to 5,187 and continued sinking incubation rates with the news that Inflammatory Syndrome cases affecting children had risen to 157 cases being investigated by the New York Department of Health, and is continuing to increase at 10 cases per day being discovered. Governor Cuomo updated the numbers of countries and other states reporting the syndrome have grown to 13 countries and 25 other states in one week have reported cases of this COVID-related illness in children.

The governor described Pediatric Multi-Symptom inflammatory Syndrome (PMSIS) as in the discovery stage, and the state is still learning about the disease. He said there is no progress yet in determining a “common dominator” other than coronavirus diagnosed children and children with coronavirus antibodies (of ages 1 to 21)

He said in the “Q & A.” session of the briefing on summer camp situations,  he makes decisions on what he would do with his children in view of the situation, and presently he would not send his children to camp.

He announced that New Yorkers will begin receiving calls for Tracers following up to persons named by an coronavirus-infected person as being contact, if they were indicated by a person discovered to have coronavirus symptoms as being seen by the infectee. The governor said persons receiving a call from a person identifying themselves as “NYS Contact Tracing” you should answer the call.

He extended small  business deadlines for sending in March 20 Sales taxes to May 20.

He announced Rockland County was now cleared for its hospitals to schedule elective surgeries.

He said schools across state had to submit reopening plans by July 1 based on guidelines the state will issue June 1.

He emphasized the success of reopenings of regions around the state depended solely on “what we do.” To enforce compliance with reopening guidelines he announced a hotline for employees who feel their employers are not complying with social distancing, supplying masks and other guidelines to call 1-888-364-3065 to report the employer.

He warned persons heading to the beach over Memorial Day Weekend that the 50% capacity at open beaches might be closed by 10 AM depending on the rush expected.

He saluted EMS WORKERS WEEK AND IN OBSERVING THAT 105 NEW YORKERS DIED YESTERDAY FROM THE CORONAVIRUS HE RECOGNIZED THREE EMS WORKERS WHO DIED IN TREATING NEW YORKERS:

GREGORY HODGE, 25 YEARS A VETERAN OF THE FDNY EMT; MIKE FIELD OF THE VALLEY STREAM FIRE DEPARTMENT, A 33 YEAR EMT VETERAN, AND A TASK FORCE VOLUNTEER FROM COLORADO SPRINGS, PAUL CARY.

Hits: 165

WPCNR CORONAVIRUS REPORT. From the Governor’s Press Office. May 20, 2020:
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo confirmed 1,525 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 354,370 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 354,370 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows (Downstate Counties highlighted in Boldface type) :

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	1,682	27
Allegany	44	0
Broome	436	7
Cattaraugus	70	1
Cayuga	68	0
Chautauqua	50	1
Chemung	134	0
Chenango	118	0
Clinton	94	0
Columbia	350	0
Cortland	36	0
Delaware	69	0
Dutchess	3,724	14
Erie	5,131	94
Essex	34	0
Franklin	18	0
Fulton	184	2
Genesee	184	2
Greene	215	1
Hamilton	5	0
Herkimer	93	1
Jefferson	71	0
Lewis	18	0
Livingston	111	0
Madison	292	32
Monroe	2,465	89
Montgomery	75	0
Nassau	39,368	73
Niagara	858	13
NYC	194,550	729
Oneida	802	17
Onondaga	1,718	53
Ontario	170	18
Orange	10,043	55
Orleans	171	3
Oswego	90	1
Otsego	67	0
Putnam	1,168	9
Rensselaer	453	9
Rockland	12,831	33
Saratoga	438	2
Schenectady	633	2
Schoharie	48	0
Schuyler	10	0
Seneca	52	1
St. Lawrence	195	3
Steuben	237	1
Suffolk	38,411	84
Sullivan	1,267	9
Tioga	114	1
Tompkins	145	3
Ulster	1,571	6
Warren	235	0
Washington	221	1
Wayne	103	5
Westchester	32,517	115
Wyoming	79	0
Yates	34	8

###