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Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that WAYNE HICKS, a/k/a “Weez,” was sentenced to 17 years in prison for drug trafficking and violent crimes, including a brutal beating and robbery of a victim in New City, New York, on February 28, 2021.

HICKS pled guilty on August 25, 2023, in White Plains federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Robbery, one count of Hobbs Act Robbery, one count of Travel Act Assault, one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel, who imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Wayne Hicks was a drug dealer who directed multiple violent attacks as retribution for drug robberies.  After one such attack, he bragged and circulated gruesome videos of it to bolster his brutal reputation.  The substantial sentence imposed by the court makes clear that the law has no tolerance for this kind of brazen violence.  Thanks to the tenacious work of our law enforcement partners and the career prosecutors of this Office, all the participants in this attack have now been convicted and brought to justice.”

According to the allegations in the Superseding Indictment and other court filings and based on statements made in public court proceedings:

HICKS, a marijuana dealer, directed two separate acts of violence to support his drug business.  First, in November 2020, after a marijuana dealer who worked for HICKS was robbed, HICKS arranged for a co-conspirator to shoot one of the robbers.  Second, in February 2021, after JORDAN WOODBINE, another marijuana dealer who worked for HICKS, was robbed, HICKS contacted his brother, co-defendant DWAYNE HICKS, to arrange retribution.  Thereafter, DWAYNE HICKS lured a victim, who the conspirators believed had participated in the robbery of WOODBINE, to a residence in New City, New York, where DWAYNE HICKS and multiple other assailants, including TNAIYA WILLIAMS, BRIAN THOMAS, and WOODBINE, physically attacked the victim.  At times, WAYNE HICKS monitored the attack over video chat.  The assailants forced the victim to strip naked, stole his belongings, including a quantity of marijuana the assailants believed the victim had stolen, then beat the victim with a baseball bat, belts, and their hands and feet, and repeatedly slashed and stabbed the victim with a large knife.  The victim ultimately fled after being left, naked and covered in blood, in a pile of snow.

The other individuals who carried out the February 28, 2021, attack at HICKS’s direction were convicted along with HICKS.  At a previous sentencing hearing for one of HICKS’s codefendants, Judge Seibel remarked that the February 28, 2021, attack was “sickening,” “vicious,” “stomach turning, and the sort of thing that you really can’t imagine how any human being could partake in.”

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In addition to the prison term, HICKS, 32, of Hawthorne, New York, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), the Clarkstown Police Department, the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, and the Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, which is comprised of special agents and task force officers from the FBI, U.S. Probation, New York State Police, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, and the New York City, Westchester County, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Greenburgh, White Plains, Peekskill, Ramapo, and Clarkstown Police Departments.

The case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Ly, Josiah Pertz, and Derek Wikstrom are in charge of the prosecution.

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THE LIGHTNING NEWS! 

THE TROPICAL STORM VIDEO — 3 DAYS THAT WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS BECAUSE NO WEATHER GUY  NAMED THE STORM  3 INCHES OF RAIN FLOODS, FLAYS, FLUSTERS ,BLUSTERS, BUFFETS, BELTS WHITE PLAINS, WESTCHESTER WITH 30 TO 50 MPH WINDS: SEE THE ACTION LIVE HEAR THE WIND. FEEL THE LASH OF THE RAINS.  BACK TO THE RADAR, GUYS!

EARTHQUAKE MAKES LIVE APPEARANCE ON THE REPORT, SHAKES UP THE STUDIO  SEE IT FEEL IT

“I FELT LIKE EDWARD R. MURROW REPORTING DURING THE BLITZ FOR 10 SECONDS,” THE WPW ANCHOR SAYS, “I JUST  KEPT ON TALKING.”

REAL ECONOMICS SALES TAX DOLLARS  1% AHEAD OF LAST YEAR! COUNTY DEFICIT BALLOONS

 THE RUMBLE WITH HOCHUL: GEORGE LATIMER ON THE STATE SENATE, ASSEMBLY EFFORT TO RESTORE EDUCATION FUNDING AND MEDICAID WITH MONEY THEY DO NOT HAVE

THE STATE SALES TAX RECEIPTS UP LESS THAN 1%! WHERE’S THE RECOVERY?

TRUMP WANTS YOU TO NAME HIS VICE PRESIDENT. LARA TRUMP SHAKES UP THE CAMPAIGN WITH HER TRUMP SURVEY # 2! 240 DAYS TO THE ELECTION AND DEMOCRATS DEAD IN THE WATER

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VIDEO OF RETURN OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE.

JOHN BAILEY AND THE NEWS

THIS WEEK EVERY WEEK 

ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK SINCE 2001 A.D.

WITH THE NEWS YOU NEED NO ONE TELLS YOU

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New poll finds Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s Democratic opponent, George Latimer, with a double-digit lead in NY-16 Congressional Primary Westchester County Executive George Latimer holds a 17-point lead over Bowman in the race Washington, D.C. (April 4, 2024) — Today, DMFI PAC released the findings of a comprehensive new poll showing Westchester County Executive George Latimer in a strong position to defeat incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman in the June 2024 Democratic primary race. Conducted by The Mellman Group, this survey offers important insights into the perspectives of voters in New York’s 16th Congressional District. “To put it plainly, Congressman Bowman’s constituents are very unhappy with him but very impressed with County Executive Latimer. The combination of Latimer’s sterling image and voters’ distinctly negative assessments of Bowman may cost the incumbent congressman his seat. Bowman’s constituents are even divided on whether he even cares about them, but the vast majority believe Latimer meets that central test,” said DMFI PAC Chairman Mark Mellman. “It’s simple: George Latimer is highly regarded, while Jamaal Bowman is widely unpopular. “On Israel issues, the data are clear – Congressman Bowman is out of touch with his constituents. A majority of primary voters in his district approve of the job President Biden is doing handling the war between Israel and Hamas and want the U.S. to support Israel. “With a robust campaign, George Latimer is in strong position to unseat the now unpopular Congressman Bowman.” This analysis represents the findings of a survey of 400 voters in New York’s 16th Congressional District representing the likely June 2024 Democratic primary electorate. The survey uses a registration-based sample, with interviews conducted via landline, cell, and text-to-online from March 26-30, 2024. The margin of error for the sample as a whole is +/- 4.9% at the 95% level of confidence (higher for subgroups). Key Highlights from the Poll: Latimer has a 17-point lead in the horse race, with 52% of the Democratic primary vote, compared to 35% for Bowman, 0% for Farber, and 13% undecided. Among those who vote most often in primaries (3 or 4 of the last 4), Latimer is even stronger, leading Bowman by 56% to 35%. Latimer’s double-digit lead results from his substantial image advantage. For example, while voters are quite positive about Latimer’s performance in office (68% positive, 18% negative) they judge Bowman’s performance quite negatively (36% positive, 55% negative) Bowman is out of touch with his constituents on Israel issues. By 59% to 28%, Democratic primary voters approve of the job Joe Biden is doing handling the war between Israel and Hamas. In addition, 62% of Democratic primary voters want the U.S. to support Israel in the current conflict while a mere 5% want the U.S. to back Hamas. For more detailed poll results and analysis, please click here.

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WHITE PLAINS SALES DOLLARS EVEN WITH LAST YEAR: RECORD $56 MILLION IN SALES TAX REVENUE POSSIBLE.

WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. Statistics from New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Observation & Analysis by John F. Bailey. April 3, 2024:

Westchester County sales tax receipts continued soft  on revenue of  $132,039,180 the first two months of 2024, down  10% $14,649,682 from the first 2 months of 2023, when the county received $146.7 million.

The trend added to the Westchester County sales tax decline (it ended 2023 with), at a $23.7 million shortfall in projected sales tax receipts. The continued decline unless spending increases robustly raises the  sales tax gap growing monthly to $38 Million.

If this trend continues, the county deficit they ended 2023 with — $23.7 Million dollars below projected sales tax revenue in 2023, could significantly increase.

The county collected $70,697,235 in January 2024 according the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance. In January a year ago, the County collected $79,248,711 (when inflation was running 8 to 9%).

The 2024  February number is $67,440,451 compared to January 2024 handle of $70.697,235. That’s still down 4.6% in a month.

If Westchester sales do not increase sharply the next 10 months it will be hard to make up $38 Million in 10 months. The county needs to increase sales revenues $10 million a month to get back to even in the current sales tax.

The current softness, running about $70 Million monthly if revenues do not increase  will end up at $840 MILLION, around $100 million short.

The county to ask for a sales tax increase from the state of 15% and use fund balance for the rest, leaving the county in fiscal balance in 2025. This is the lowest start to the fiscal year I have seen since I have been following the sales tax barometer.

Can the county use their fund balance to make up deficit?  Can more Governor Hochul help bail out the county? Can the county place a 35% surcharge beginning next month to cover the ballooning deficit. Can spending be slashed 35%.

Right now $840 million is the projected sales tax revenues if sales taxes continue flat and the carry over deficit has to be met. Or perhaps a budgeting finesse can balance the budget. Or we can cross our fingers and hope Westchester residents open their wallets.

Meanwhile on the other side of town

White Plains sales tax revenues have caught up and are on the way to a $56.7 Million sales tax revenue bonanza– all time high.

After 8 months of the White Plains 2023-24 fiscal year, White Plains is at $38,051,172 in sales tax revenues, virtually even with the first 8 months of the previous year, 2022-23 when the city collected $38,185,211…only 1/3 of a percent lower.

If White Plains continues to hit the numbers from last spring in March April, May and June, the city will receive $18,572,365 in tax receipts which will top previous highs in sales tax revenues bringing in $56.7 million

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Avian flu: Birds, cows, and now a human

What do we know? What do we not know?

KATELYN JETELINA AND CAITLIN RIVERS APR 2 (REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION)

READ IN APP

There has been much in the news about dairy cows in Texas getting sick with avian influenza, and now a human is sick. Here is what we know, what we don’t know, and what this may (or may not) mean.

The avian flu timeline is accelerating 

The version of bird flu, or avian flu, that is making the news has existed for over 20 years. We even have a name for it—highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A(H5N1), or HPAI for short. In birds, it’s highly contagious and deadly.

While it can infect humans (usually when a human has direct contact with a bird through, for example, hunting), the virus has never been able to spread efficiently among humans. 

But the more this virus jumps from animal to animal or human, the more chance it has to mutate to infect humans. And things have been heating up lately:

• Birds experienced an infection lull from 2016 to 2022.
• Beginning in 2022, the U.S. experienced the largest and longest outbreak in U.S. history among birds, first among wild birds and then domesticated birds, like commercial chickens. These outbreaks caused eggs to be expensive and harder to find.
• Then, we started detecting avian flu in mammals worldwide—seals, bears, mountain lions, and foxes, just to name a few.

Source: USDA

This brings us to today 

Last week, officials announced that HPAI infections had been detected in cows on several dairy farms across five states. We then learned that cows in other states got sick once transported from the original farm, suggesting cow-to-cow transmission. This marks the first HPAI infection in cows in the United States.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Yesterday, news was released that a person in Texas was infected with HPAI after working closely with the cows.

What we know

• Lab scientists analyzed the virus that infected the cows and found:
  • It’s the same exact virus that is infecting birds, which suggests it jumped from bird to cow.
  • We are very familiar with this virus. So much so that we know where it would need to mutate to spread better from human to human. Based on preliminary analysis, the virus has not mutated in a key spot, which is great news. 
• The person infected had very mild symptoms—eye inflammation—and is on antiviral medication. This is good news, as the few cases of human HPAI on record have tended to be severe.
• A cow isn’t a pig, which is great news. Pigs are dangerous hosts for HPAI because they have avian and human receptors. They are known as “mixing vessels” for influenza viruses. As far as we know, this is not the case for cows.
• We have well-established flu vaccine pipelines and some stockpiled materials to make a matching human vaccine quickly, if necessary. We also have antivirals that can help prevent infection and severe illness. 

What we do not know

Three main questions scientists are trying to answer:

1. Did the virus mutate to become better adapted to cows? This will require more studies, which are already underway.
2. Where else is it? Only a few farms are affected right now. However, viruses spread. The impact on milk supply and prices in the future is unclear. 
3. Is the virus able to transmit onward from here? It would not be surprising if there were more human cases in people who had direct contact with cows. What we don’t know is if the virus will be able to transmit onward to other humans. For example, in the latest case, we don’t know if any of the person’s contacts became infected. Epidemiologists will closely track this. 

Is there any risk to me today? 

At this point, the risk to the average person is close to nil unless you’re working with wild animals, birds, or cows.

While this virus impacts the milk supply of individual cows, milk in our grocery stores is still safe to drink. Milk from sick cows is not allowed to enter the commercial supply, and milk is pasteurized—a major safety step in which milk is heated to kill pathogens, including influenza viruses.

Raw milk is unlikely to be safe, and it’s definitely not recommended anyway due to other health risks.

Bottom line 

Public health eyes have been on this HPAI sucker for decades, and avian flu is finding more mammals around us. This is unsettling, but scientists continue to pay close attention. In the meantime, it may be smart to implement lessons learned from the Covid-19 emergency quickly. The time to prepare is now.

Love, YLEs (Katelyn and Caitlin)