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.
WPCNR BOOKMARKS.By John F. Bailey OCTOBER 30, 2019:
WPCNR has noted that the White Plains Public Library attracts today’s big name authors when they are having a new “Best Seller” is coming out. It’s a must stop.
This year is no exception because the library will host Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City(2003), and the blockbuster In the Garden ofBeasts (2011) –a scathing eye-opening book on how the American State Department ignored the plight of German Jews in the 1930s even when their own ambassador to Berlin reported fearlessly on the march to the holocaust.
Mr. Larson specializes in “You Are There” impeccably researched and sourced from real documents and letters creating riveting narratives that keep you forging ahead as he covers an historical event as a journalist would, but he reads like a novel. He delivers blunt insights on how historical events that alter and illuminated our time . His most recent book was Dead Wake (2015), which examined the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 told from documentation from both sides.
This spring the White Plains Public Library will present Mr. Larson at their annual Gala on March 14, 2020 as the featured author.
Mr. Larson’s new book that you can acquire by attending the spring Library Gala is about Winston Churchill. Given the circumstances Mr. Larson has rounded up in the three books I mentioned earlier I cannot wait to see how approaches Mr. Churchill.
Thriller aficianados, history buffs and damn good read enthusiasts are advised to keep March 14 in mind. Look for the official invitation for one of the best galas going and this year will be most interesting.
WPCNR BOOKMARKS.By Savannah Jacobson, from the Columbia School of Journalism. Oct. 29, 2019:
Alberto Cairo is on a mission to improve how journalists use charts.
“Visualizations, charts can be incredibly powerful at exploring data,” he told me recently. They can also be powerful as tools for communicating information to news readers. “If you know how to use them well,” Cairo added. To his endless frustration, too many reporters do not.
In his new book, How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information, Cairo, who is the Knight Chair in visual journalism at the University of Miami, aims to dispel the myth of objectivity, and the air of truthfulness, that has been undeservedly awarded to numbers.
A chart, he said, is a “visual argument” that is only as strong as the data on which it’s based. To tell a reliable story with a chart requires an understanding of its data—what it consists of, how it was gathered, who it might leave out.
“We journalists are mediators,” Cairo explained. “Mediators between science and complexity, and the general public.”
Throughout the book, Cairo breaks down common mistakes journalists make.
First up: assuming that correlation indicates causation. To demonstrate why that’s wrong, Cairo produces a chart, using data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations, showing that cigarette consumption by country is positively correlated with life expectancy.
“I have seen graphics like that described by journalists—including myself because most of these things are mistakes that I have made myself— describing this kind of chart as ‘the more we smoke, the longer we live,’” he told me. But in reality, he writes, “a chart only shows what it shows, and nothing else” (emphasis his).
Cairo then breaks the data down further, with fifteen more charts, grouping countries by income and region. Ultimately, he shows, the original chart cannot prove anything definitive—it can merely point to a pattern.
His step-by-step instructions, at risk of becoming dry, are livened up with humor (a data point about the glam rock band Poison has no place in a chart about heavy metal, he argues).
“I try to do it in a way that could be used as a template by translators, communicators, journalists, to do the same thing,” he told me.
When journalists are wrong, Cairo warns, there can be serious repercussions. A town in danger of storm damage, for instance, may fail to take proper precautions because a broadcaster misinterpreted a graph.
Just look at Hurricane Dorian projections: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration relies on a graphic—called the cone of uncertainty—to explain potential paths for major storms and, during Dorian coverage, many reporters interpreted the cone graphic as showing the entirety of the storm’s wrath.
That left out a lot of possibilities. “I have seen TV newscasters explaining this map wrong and it drives me crazy,” Cairo said. “Like saying, ‘Oh you’re outside of the cone, you may not be in danger.’ Well that’s actually not true.”
Cairo doesn’t want to put journalists off charts, and he has ideas about how to produce them effectively.
When news outlets design their own graphics, Cairo suggests, they should introduce a “me-layer” into the design. Why was the New York Times’ dialect map so popular? “Because people see themselves in the data,” he writes. “And they see their families in the data, and they can compare the way they talk with how other people talk.”
Perhaps most important, Cairo writes, reporters shouldn’t assume that visuals serve as a substitute for words. Sometimes, a lengthy explanation is what’s required. At the same time, when reporters are trying to make a point, they need to just spit it out:
“If you really want to emphasize something, emphasize it,” he said. “So people will not miss it. If there’s a particular pattern, or a particular data point or a particular fact that should not be missed, just show it.”
And when all else fails, ask a data scientist. “You need to basically give them whatever it is that you’re writing,” Cairo advised, “and very openly say, ‘please destroy it.’”
Below, more on Cairo and how journalists use visual data:A chart with dubious political categorizations of media outlets, and reportedly being taught in media literacy classes, spread around the internet this week.
Good news: you can ignore it.
“The main reason this chart is so deceptive,” Cairo writes on his blog, “is that it compares things that aren’t comparable. Come on, Breitbart or The Federalist rags at the same level of ‘bias’ as Vox? The Washington Examiner at the same level as NPR? Those aren’t equal. Neither in terms of trustworthiness, nor in terms of ideological bias.”
“His book reminds readers not to infer too much from a chart, especially when it shows them what they already wanted to see,” The Economist writes in a review of Cairo’s book, noting that he has sent a copy to the White House.
You are cordially invited to attend the 243rd Anniversary Commemoration of the Battle of White Plains on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at the Jacob Purdy House National Historic Site (Washington’s Headquarters) located at 60 Park Avenue, White Plains, NY 10603.
Revolutionary camp featuring American, British and Loyalist regiments, crafts people, and Native American culture will open at 10 a.m in Jacob Purdy Park. Commemoration ceremony begins at 1 p.m. sharp, and the Jacob Purdy House will be open to the public immediately thereafter. As usual, admission and refreshments are FREE!
Can’t get to the polls on Election Day? No problem. This year you can vote from Saturday October 26 through Sunday November 3
Early Voting for White Plains Residents will be at Westchester County Board Elections; 25 Quarropas St. White Plains
The Board of Elections polling place will be open for Early Voting on:
Saturday, October 26, Sunday October 27, 12 P.M. to 5 P.M. Monday, October 28 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. Tuesday, October 29 12 P.M. to 8 P.M. Wednesday, October 30 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. Thursday, October 31 12 P.M. to 8 P.M. Friday, November 1, 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. Saturday, November 2, Sunday November 3 12 P.M. to 5 P.M.
On Election Day, Tuesday November 5, you must vote at your regular polling place when polls will be open 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
If you take advantage of Early Voting you may not vote on Election Day For more information Westchester County Board of Elections (914) 995-5700 citizenparticipation.westchestergov.com
PATRICIA MURPHY ARCHBISHOP STEPINAC HIGH SCHOOL DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATES THE ARCHBISHOP STEPINAC HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE IN ACTION WITH JOHN BAILEY– ON A “PEOPLE TO BE HEARD” SPECIAL THURSDAY AT 8 AND SATURDAY AT 7 ON FIOS CH. 45 AND CABLEVISION CH. 76, WHITE PLAINS TV.
WHAT IS TRANSFORMATIONAL LEARNING?
HOW DOES THIS INTERACTIVE MEDIA CLASSROOM MAKE LEARNING BETTER?
WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the White Plains Board of Education. October 21, 2019:
At the Board of Education meeting October 7, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Dr. Debbie Hand presented the New York State Assessment Data for 2018-19.
She reminded everyone that this is only one measurement of academic performance and that a singular moment in time does not characterize a child’s abilities.
Test refusal (or opting out) creates a challenge when tracking data. Dr. Hand also noted that a lot of effort goes into the analysis of the data and the determination of where more targeted instruction, and possibly curriculum changes, are needed.
Some of the findings in the data:
*Results for Grades 3-5 ELA were very similar to 2018.
*ELA results show a decrease for Grades 6-7 but a steady increase for Grade 8.
Steady gains in Math are being made in Grades 4-6-8
A strong cohort Math performance for Grades 4 to 6 and 6-8 were shown.
Grade 8 students scoring at or above 65 was 99% in Algebra and 100% in Geometry.
Editor’s Note: In the White Plains City School District, 43% of Students taking the ELA were “Proficient”, placing in levels 3 & 4, compared to 45% being deemed proficient in 2018. In Math, White Plains students improved to 44% “Proficient” compared to 41% in 2018.
WPCNR BIZBUZZ.From the Business Council of Westchester, October 19, 2019.
The Business Council of Westchester, the county’s largest and most influential business membership organization, has elected Heidi Davidson its new Chair of the Board and a new slate of members to its Board of Directors.
Ms. Davidson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Galvanize Worldwide, the largest distributed network of marketing and communications experts in the world, was elected chairman of the Board of Directors at the BCW’s Annual Dinner on October 10, along with six new board members who will take office January 1.
Davidson of West Harrison is a marketing and communications executive who has worked for BlackBerry and MasterCard Worldwide. She has served on the BCW’s Executive Committee and is responsible for key Business Council policy initiatives including the launch of the BCW’s Data Exchange. She will succeed Anthony Justic, a partner with accounting firm Maier, Markey and Justic LLP, who has served as chairman for the past five years.
“From the revitalization of our urban centers to our advocacy for responsible enhancements at the county airport and leadership on the future of our energy supply, the BCW has been a dominant player on economic development issues that matter to Westchester businesses,’’ said Marsha Gordon, President and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester. “Tony Justic’s leadership played a key role in that success. In 2019, the BCW continued to build on its success and I am certain that Heidi Davidson will bring us to new heights and lead our organization into the future.”
Davidson said that she was honored to lead the BCW. “I look forward to continuing the upward trajectory and inclusiveness that the BCW has experienced under Tony Justic’s leadership,’’ she said. “My goal as chairman is to build on that success and to expand the BCW’s role as an economic development leader in Westchester and beyond.’’
Before co-founding Galvanize Worldwide, Davidson spent four years as part of the turn-around team at BlackBerry in senior executive roles focused on helping the company move from a device manufacturer to a security software and services provider. Prior to that, Davidson worked at MasterCard Worldwide at its global headquarters in Purchase, New York for 11 years, serving in various leadership capacities.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Public Relations from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, an MBA in Marketing and a Doctorate degree (ABD) in Business from Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York. In 2015, Heidi was named to the PR News list of Top Women in PR and won the Canada’s Top Women in Technology – Leadership Excellence Award.
Also elected to the board to three-year terms were six new board members: Seamus Carey, President, Iona College; Robert Cioffi, COO & Co-Founder, Progressive Computing; Susan W. Fox, Ph.D, President and CEO, Westchester Institute for Human Development (WIHD); Jerry Klein, President & CEO, Tompkins Mahopac Bank;Marvin Krislov, President, Pace University; Jill Singer, President, Jill Singer Graphics.
“We are truly honored to have such a distinguished group of business leaders joining our board of directors. They bring many years of experience in their respective fields and we are fortunate to have these proven leaders join our board,” said Gordon.
