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July 21, 2026
Flooding AdvisoryThe storms will continue today and into the evening. There are reports of flooding throughout the city, as well as manhole covers coming off. Crews are out keeping roadways clear and fixing the manhole covers. Use Caution! You cannot see how deep the water is and there may be additional hazards hidden in the water. Stay Safe and report travel hazards so that crews can respond. For more safety tips visit: https://www.dhses.ny. gov/flood. |
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ICYMI: GOVERNOR HOCHUL’S LETTER TO THE EDITOR IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: HOW NEW YORK WILL GET AI DATA CENTERS RIGHT
Today, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Governor Kathy Hochul regarding her commitments to ensuring New York has a responsible framework for AI Data Centers. Text of the letter to the editor can be viewed online and is available below:
Your editorial criticizing New York’s approach to artificial intelligence data centers gets both our decision and rationale wrong (“New York’s Data Center Self-Sabotage,” July 15).
New York adopted a temporary, targeted pause on new hyperscale AI data centers that use 50 megawatts or more while we establish clear rules for an industry that will reshape our economy for generations.
Existing facilities will continue to operate. Smaller projects can move forward. The pause will be lifted when we have clearer rules in place to protect New Yorkers. What we’re pausing isn’t innovation. It’s the rush to build first and answer questions later.
I reject the false choice that New Yorkers must pick between leading the future of AI and protecting affordability, ratepayers, existing job creators and the communities where these facilities are built.
The notion that thoughtful regulation that protects American ratepayers somehow hands victory to China is absurd. America’s competitive advantage has never been the absence of rules. It has been our ability to attract the world’s best talent, develop breakthrough technologies and earn public confidence in them.
The majority of AI jobs aren’t tied to where servers are built; in fact, these data centers create few long-term jobs. Jobs are created where talent, groundbreaking research and innovative companies come together—all areas where New York is second to none.
Years ago, I launched Empire AI, a $500 million public-private partnership to make New York a global leader in AI research and innovation. I announced our state’s use of AI to modernize our outdated regulations.
I want AI companies to succeed here. But when they succeed because of New York, New Yorkers should succeed too. Success means communities reap economic benefits, ratepayers don’t foot the bill for massive new energy demand and infrastructure keeps pace with unprecedented growth.
I have confidence that New York has the ability to get this right. Within the next year, the world will see our model in action—government and industry building a responsible AI future, together.
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This column originally appeared on WPCNR on February 1, 2003, and celebrates the Dreamers, the Achievers, the High and the Mighty:
The Space Blazers:
The Apollo 11 Crew: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Jr. Mr. Armstrong set foot on the moon 57 years ago on July 20.(NASA Photo)
One of the papers I receive at WPCNR White Plains News Headquarters, White Plains, New York, USA did not tell me this was the 57th anniversary of the day when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
The exact hour was 20:11 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). That was the culmination of the last great American achievement – BEFORE the personal computer and the internet were to come as the next great American achievements– conquering space — when Apollo 11 with Armstrong in command, with astronauts Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. blasted off to the stars for real– becoming the Flash Gordons, Buck Rogerses, Tom Corbetts and Captain Videos for all-time.
Their mission was a success.
But there have been the tragedies associated with striving for the stars and being the best, achieving the best, working for the good.
Those are the persons who keep the dreams alive by their deaths and personal sacrifice.
I wrote the following after the explosion of the Columbia Space Shuttle upon reentry after 19 days in space in January 2003.
Saturday’s fatal Columbia Space Shuttle accident killing all 7 astronauts aboard when the historic spacecraft broke up over East Texas at daybreak Saturday morning begins a period of national mourning.
The expected media speculations have started, guessing at the cause of the reentry that went bizarrely, awfully wrong.
The truth is the civilized world takes absolute scientific miracles for granted. We do not appreciate the courage and skills of the men and women creating the future.
Those of us with cell phones, internet connections, high-speed trains, satellite communications and entertainment (all products made possible by the space program), do not realize the magnitude of daring achievements that you and I have come to accept to be executed like clockwork.
I first learned of Columbia’s fate late Saturday afternoon when my wife mentioned that instead of sports programming being videotaped on our television, there was coverage of a live NASA event on ABC.
(Incredibly, the radio station I had been listening to on the way from a sports clinic had not reported any hint of the accident. That station was Z-100, the most listened-to station in the New York metropolitan area. America Online also on their first up page did not mention the missing craft as of midday. That kind of communications misjudgment is sad.)
As I watched the close of Mr. Jennings’ (Peter) coverage at about 3 PM, he signed off with no recap, no names of astronauts, and some parting words about what he thought was the cause of the disaster.
I’ll say what he should have said.
Columbia’s seven astronauts who died — we know their names: they were
Columbus, Magellan, Cook, Lewis, Clark, the Wrights, Lindbergh, De Laroche, Earhart, Markham, Gruber, Chaffee, Grissom, White, Gargarin, Komarov, the Challenger Crew, the crew of Soyuz 11. They are a handful of the hundreds of brave men and women who went into the unknown without fear with their real intelligence and training and problem-solving skills to guided them
Appollo 11′s Crew turned the dreams of the 1950s visualized in television shows like Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (above, Astro, Roger and Tom) and Captain Video, “The Master of Science” below into reality.
America’s Spacemen and the explorers before them are the people who trust in their ability and their vessel to expand the world’s horizons, to know the unknown, whose legacies build a better world.
Whose deeds inspire and achievements are the catalysts for achievement to come.
From Captain Cook’s fragile vessel which sailed the Pacific, to the marvel that was the Columbia, the captains courageous who sailed the Roaring 40s, blazed the Oregon Trail, discovered how to fly, and flew the oceans, journeyed to the stars, knew the risks they were taking.
The media trivializes their courage, their skills, the difficulty of what they did and wanted to do, to concentrate on the causes of their failure, as if knowing the cause will make their loss acceptable.
The Magnificent Seven
I do not know Columbia’s Magnificent Seven. I just see their smiling faces in their photograph, and I regret the loss of every one.
They had achievement on their faces, pride in their demeanor. Their eyes shown with the glow of being alive and striving to do the great things they set out to do.
Civilization has been created because of people like the crew of the Columbia’s Magnificent Seven, not the incompetence we see demonstrated daily today where technology, business and leadership is concerned.
The Columbia itself had flown 26 missions since launching in 1981. It was guided and outfitted with the best 2003 communications and equipment had to offer.
Not like Captain James Cook’s bark, Endeavour, a 100-foot ship powered by sail that conquered the “space” of his time, the Pacific Ocean.
It was the Columbia’s Magnificent Seven’s Endeavour. They were tracked, they were backed up, but they perhaps more than anyone here on the ground knew the high anxiety and danger of the shuttle mission.
Liftoff, as their predecessors, The Challenger crew fell victim to, is fraught with risk. Reentry, which needs to be negotiated at precisely the right angle of attack, is equally risky. Soyuz 11’s spacecrew of Dobrovolskiy, Volkov, and Patsayev died in 1971 on reentry, when the Russian cosmonauts took too long to descend.
No guarantees in real life. Machines sometimes run out of miracles.
The magnificence of the explorers’ sacrifice and dedication, is that they accept the risk of “the endeavor.”
They accept the challenge, bear it alone, seizing challenge with an indomitable spirit and confidence, facing death when it comes with the satisfaction that they made the effort, and I suspect analyzing, coping, trying to fix it until the end, the very end.
They never give up.
Columbia’s Magnificent Seven, after 16 days in space, are gone now. My sorrow is with their families who will miss these Magnificent Seven, and who know in their hearts that they died trying to reach the pinnacle of their aspirations and were achieving doing what they dreamed of doing/
They are only human.
They tried their best, achieved their best, and experienced what they longed to experience.
They dared to live the great adventure.
Not all of us have the courage to follow our longed-for adventures and make them real. You can watch movies that attempt to give that experience by transference.
That’s why, I believe, you and I take it so personally when we lose heroic personalities of our time. We wonder what they are like. We glorify them, rightly so.
Follow Me! They Say.
I wonder how those Magnificent Seven felt, how satisfying it must have been, to be at your best, doing what you love, coping with the risks. I envy them that.
The Columbia Crew is the Miracle.
In reality it is not machines that conquer, it is the intrepid personalities, each unique, each contributing, who perform the miracles with God’s help. That they fall short is an example to us, not to take ourselves, our fates, or our existences for granted.
This is true of the everyday people we take for granted:
The firefighter, the policeman, the train engineer, the airline pilot, the construction worker. All are highly trained disciplined workers, executing precise tasks for which the non-expert has no feel or understanding .
What makes for the desire to achieve? What is out there or up there that leads them on?
The Feel of the Unknown
I took Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s biographical adventure diary, Listen! The Wind down from the bookshelf.
She was the young bride of the aviator-pioneer, Charles Lindbergh. She navigated for him in his aircraft, and ran his radio communications on his many exploratory flights around the world.
In a passage she describes a night flight over the ocean, in which she was operating the radio for her husband Charles, who was at the controls. Mrs. Lindbergh is describing the feelings she has as she tries to tune in the South American coast at sea in the dark of night in 1933, 93 years ago.
The feeling, the courage of the adventurer, the explorer has not changed. This is great:
“Night was the hardest. It would be all right once it was day. I kept saying…We began to hit clouds. I could tell without looking up, for the plane bumped slightly from time to time, first one wing down and then the other. And the moon blackened out for short periods.
Then for longer periods. I could not see to write my messages. I stiffened, dimly sensing fear – the old fear of bad weather – and looked out. We were flying under clouds. I could still find a kind of horizon, a difference in shading where the water met the clouds. That was all. But it seemed to be getting darker.
Storms? Were those clouds or was it the sky? We had lost the water. We were flying blind. I turned off the light quickly (to give my husband a little more vision), and sat waiting, tense, peering through the night. Now we were out again. There were holes through which one could see the dark sky. It was all right, I felt, as long as there were holes.
More blind flying. This is it, I thought is what people forget. This is what it means to fly across the ocean, blind and at night. But day is coming. It ought to be day before long… Daybreak! What a miracle. I didn’t see any sign of day and yet it must be lighter. The clouds were distinguishing themselves more and more from water and sea.
Daybreak—thank God—as if we had been living in eternal night—as if this were the first sun that ever rose out of the sea.
Note: This column originally appeared February 1, 2003 on WPCNR. The text of Mrs. Lindberg from Listen to the Wind!
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2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR.
HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.
WPCNR AUTHENTIC INTELLIGENCE.. WordPress Statistics Analysis. July 20, 2026:
According to WordPress Analysis reader visits since July 20 2025 White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County.
The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visnsits a day.
Today, January 20, 1,907 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits.
In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits.
In the last month, 152,940 vistors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)
The CitizeNetReporter is humbled by your readers continuing interest in our coverage.
I also have grateful for the confidence shown by readers around the world who continue to visit the site to receive “authentic intelligence” about how America is just one town, White Plains New York USA.
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WPCNR PERSPECTIVE ’26. News & Comment By John F. Bailey. January 20, 2026:
The lead story on White Plains CitizeNetReporter today another announcement by Westchester County :
Beaches are closed due to unsafe, unhealthy conditions due to overflow of sewage from stormwater overflow into beach waters Saturday night.
According to the county we received over 1.8 inches of rain overflowing the sewer systems neat the beaches.
I used to count new cases of covid daily, now I have a new count:
The number of times Westchester has closed a series of public beaches in the county this summer due to (let’s face it!) not just “unsafe waters” but polluted waters from sewers unable to handle the flow load.
I believe this is the fifth time beaches have been closed this summer due to sewer polluted waters.
This is not new.
Since I started this website, 26 years ago these beach closures have been happening every summer.
Nobody cares.
County administrations have paid lip service to fixing the sewer problem.
White Plains which is responsible for most of the sewer and stormwater overflow south is now increasing its sewer level contributions as more apartments in city are leasing up.
The question is can the existing White Plains sewage system handle the effluent on its way?
Can we shove a long ruler into them and find out?
Can we get an official report from White Plains, New Rochelle, Port Chester, Mount Vernon and Yonkers on present sewer capacity to handle 2 inches of rain? That’s where the new buildings are.
The county at one point did a sewer analysis study of where the overflows are at the worst. We never got a recommendation from that report. I don’t need it.
Take a look at those beach closures today.
That tells you where they are and where they have been for many years.
This situation has been been given lip service by all administrations for many years.
Task forces do not get the job done. It is work and money.
The impact of the sewage problem this summer has caused:
1 Loss of revenue to the newly opened Playland. People come to swim in the pool but the beach closure prevents more people from coming and parking at Playland.
2.Admissions to the beaches through July have got to be down.
With the new County Executive Ken Jenkins in charge it appears the politics of task forcing your way through an ungoing crisis by appearing to do so is a thing of the past.
and hopefully the study done several years is done by now and we can target, design and fund sewer upgrades to elimnate this chronic sewer overflow.
I say as a person skeptical about how good the natural tides are at cleansing the beaches everywhere on Long Island Sound within 24 hours and the Hudson River (where Con Edison turned off power to the Yonkers sewage treatment plant to save electric shortages yet polluted the pollution-stressed Hudson
I am very mentally adverse to betting my immune system against contaminated waters. I imagine there are a lot of people who feel that way.
We do not need another task force on the sewers that never actually does the job.
It is time to get the sewers done by next spring, so we can go to the beaches again.
People are miserable because they cannot swim at our beautiful beaches
Ken Jenkins to the rescue, please?
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A Message from the District Attorney… Dear Friends and Neighbors: Last week we were all reminded that violence can strike in any community, regardless of affluency or zip code. 71-year-old Marian Green was found murdered in her Scarsdale home, brutally stabbed and beaten. Her son, Chester Green, 26, was arrested for Murder in the 2nd Degree for this unthinkable crime. This was a stark reminder that violence knows no boundaries. I want to thank our prosecutors and criminal investigators, along with our partners in the Scarsdale Police Department and the Westchester County Department of Public Safety for their professionalism and diligence in this case. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. I also want to commend our Criminal Investigators Squad for their outstanding firearms investigation which resulted in the arrest of a 49-year-old Greenwich man, Michael Larriuz. This proactive investigation resulted in the seizure of 22 ghost guns (including 2 assault-style rifles), 3 serialized firearms, multiple large-capacity magazines and 6 oz. of cocaine. Ghost guns are increasingly turning up at crime scenes across the country. Westchester has not been immune from this. From 2024 to 2025, the number of ghost guns recovered by police agencies in Westchester increased by 33%. Considering the amount of havoc that one firearm in the wrong hands can wreak in our communities, it is fair to say that this investigation has surely saved lives. This operation was led by our Criminal Investigators Squad and conducted in partnership with the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Homeland Security Investigations), the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Greenwich Police Department. A heartfelt thank you to all involved for their courageous and intelligent police work. Westchester remains one of the safest Counties in the nation. So much of this has to do with the tremendous efforts of everyone in our office and our dedicated law enforcement officers. Their commitment to excellence is unparalleled and for that, I am grateful. As we usher in the summer, I am hopeful that you all find time to spend with your family and friends, enjoy the warmer weather and please, stay safe. |
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GILLIBRAND COMMENCES STATEWIDE TOUR ADDRESSING THE RISING COST OF GROCERIES, LAGGING CONSUMER CONFIDENCE
New York, NY – Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is holding press conferences across New York State – including in Latham, Utica, and Riverhead – to address the crushing impact of rising grocery and household goods prices on working families.
The push follows a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index report showing headline inflation surged to 4.2%, the sharpest 12-month increase since April 2023.
“Donald Trump’s policies are making basic necessities unaffordable for hardworking New Yorkers,” said Senator Gillibrand. “He promised to tackle rising costs, but instead he’s made everything worse. Prices on groceries, gas, and essentials have skyrocketed here at home, as he pours taxpayers dollars into a forever war abroad. I will continue to demand accountability and fight for all Americans being crushed by these unsustainable costs.”
The spike in costs is hitting New Yorkers directly at the checkout counter, with the prices of staple items like fruits and vegetables climbing 6.1%, and nonalcoholic beverages up 5.8%. With average wage growth lagging significantly behind, working families are experiencing a severe gap in purchasing power, driving consumer confidence down as basic monthly expenses outpace paychecks.
Gillibrand blamed the rising costs directly on Trump’s ongoing war in Iran. She reiterated her commitment to curbing military actions abroad to shift the focus back to Americans struggling at home.
“The impact of inflation continues to force many of our neighbors to make impossible choices between food, medicine, rent and other basic necessities,” said Tom Nardacci, CEO of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. “Across our 23-county New York service area, our network of more than 1,000 food pantries and meal programs is seeing increased demand and longer lines. Families are turning to us simply to make ends meet, and it’s becoming harder for us to access food. We are proud to stand with Senator Gillibrand and our partners to meet this high community need to our best ability, and to demand action to alleviate strains the charitable food system faces.”
“We were truly honored and grateful to welcome Senator Gillibrand today. Her continued support for our mission means so much to all of us. She shares our heart for ensuring that every family has access to healthy, nutritious food, especially in the food deserts of Utica and Troy. We deeply appreciate her taking the time to visit, listen, and see firsthand the impact that compassionate partnerships can have on our community,” said Pastor Mike Servello, CEO, Compassion Coalition. “Thank you, Senator Gillibrand, for standing with us as we work together to bring hope, dignity, and healthy food to thousands of our neighbors. We are grateful for your friendship and your commitment to the people of New York.”
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THE CANADIAN WILDFIRES HOW MANY? HOW MUCH SMOKE THE HEALTH WARNING
EYEWITNESS REPORT: WHITE PLAINS WEEK TAKES YOU TO
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE CEREMONIES IN WHITE PLAINS LAST SUNDAY
THE BIG HEAT
THE BIG SMOKE
PROWLIN AND A GROWLIN AND A SNIFFIN’ THE AIR–YOU COULD SMELL THE FIRESMOKE ON THURSDAY
IN THE AIR
SENATOR GILLEBRAND’S BILL TO STOP USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ALGORITHEMS TO
SETTLE HEALTH INSURANCE CLAIMS ,DETERMINE TREATMENTS FOR MEDICARE PATIENTS
DEFEATED IN SENATE 50-46
REPRESENTATIVE CORTEZ CRITICIZES NEWS NETWORKS
THEY LACK JUDGEMENT COVERING CAMPAIGN SPEECHES AS NEWS
FORMER FOUR-TERM ASSEMBLYMAN WHITE PLAINS
DAVID BUCHWALD STARTS CIVIC HELPS
FOR THE LITTLE GUY
THIS WEEK EVERY WEEK ITS WHITE PLAINS WEEK
PERSPECTIVE ’26 ON WHAT THE NEWS MEANS FOR YOU
WITH JOHN BAILEY AND THE NEWS
25 YEARS ON THE AIR AROUND THE PLANET
