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.
New York-Nov. 3…A picture may be worth a thousand words, but not the one above. That image — showing the rates of juvenile asthma hospitalizations throughout New York City — leaves one both speechless and breathless, says the group Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free.
The image shows that the area below 60th Street in Manhattan, where congestion pricing tax toll readers are expected to be installed, has among the lowest rates of juvenile asthma hospitalization in the city, while areas in the Bronx and northern Manhattan, where traffic is expected to be funneled after congestion pricing is implemented, asthma rates are already the highest in the city.
In effect, children in poor communities will be hit with a double dose of harmful particulate matter in their lungs in order to reduce particulate matter in a wealthier area of the city.
“There’s nothing progressive about poisoning our kids with vehicle exhaust,” said Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free spokesman Joshua Bienstock, “but that’s exactly what the Congestion Pricing Tax plan will do. Children of color will be hit particularly hard, and it’s pretty amazing that so many progressive politicians are simply ignoring that fact. It is, as former Vice President Al Gore might say, an inconvenient truth.”
Video from the event announcing the findings on Tuesday, which can be embedded is here: https://fb.watch/gx0i3fZD01/.
The Comptroller was at THRIVE in Westbury, a community and outreach center for people in recovery on Long Island. There is very good sound from the fourth speaker- a young woman named Samantha Morales, who survived a drug overdose after receiving Narcan 3 times. Her title is Program Manager, THRIVE East End.
Drug overdose fatalities surged during the pandemic.
Opioid-related deaths increased by 68% between 2019 – 2021, claiming the lives of nearly 5,000 New Yorkers in 2021 alone.
The surge was largely due to a significant increase in deaths from opioids with illicit fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids.
Overdose deaths statewide from opioids and all drugs in 2021 surpassed the previous 2017 high by more than 1,700 fatalities and are nearly 3,900 greater than in 2010.
85% of drug overdose deaths involved opioids in 2021. The rise in fentanyl-related deaths has been shocking, growing from 11% of all drug overdose deaths in 2010 to 78% in 2021.
Fatalities grew across all racial and ethnic groups. Death rates for all drug overdoses increased five-fold for Black New Yorkers, quadrupled for Hispanic or Latino New Yorkers, and nearly tripled for White New Yorkers.
In 2020, ten counties or boroughs exceeded the statewide average of 25.4 deaths per 100,000 people.
(Figure 5) They include all five boroughs — The Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
Recommendations
Improve efforts to track funding, as current financial reporting doesn’t clearly identify total state, federal and local resources dedicated to addressing opioid crisis.
Establish clear performance targets and regular reporting on program outcomes.
Ensure direct funding and support for communities facing the greatest challenges.
WHO’S DYING OF OVER DOSES?KEY EXCERPTS FROM COMPTROLLER’S REPORT
WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From BusPatrol.com. November 1, 2022:
Editor’s Note: BusPatrol is a safety technology company with the mission of making the journey to and from school safer for children. BusPatrol’s safety programs change driver behavior and create a culture of awareness and responsibility around school buses. In addition, they provide accessibility for school districts and municipalities to modernize their entire school bus fleets by outfitting them with the latest stop-arm, route planning, and route execution technology.
BusPatrol and the Hendrick Hudson School District today released the results of a pilot program aimed at deterring school bus stop-arm violations. Data shows that over the course of two months, nearly 400 motorists illegally passed a stopped school bus.
The pilot program also captured video footage of close encounters, providing the public a firsthand look into the dangerous driving behavior that routinely endangers students when getting on and off a school bus. The footage was captured using cameras that were installed on stop-arms affixed to 49 school buses.
The Hendrick Hudson School District obtained the data through a pilot program with BusPatrol, the leading stop-arm enforcement technology provider in North America.
From September through October, school buses equipped with AI-powered stop-arm cameras recorded a total of 367 illegal passings.
The school district serves approximately 2,300 students in five schools in Buchanan, Verplanck, Crugers, Montrose, and portions of Cortlandt Manor, Croton-on-Hudson, and Peekskill.
In addition to providing transportation to the five Hendrick Hudson schools, the district also provides transportation services to 15 out-of-district private, parochial and special needs schools.
Liz Gilleo, the Transportation Supervisor at the Hendrick Hudson School District and President of the Lower Hudson New York Association for Pupil Transportation, said:
“The stop-arm camera program is incredibly important to the safety of our children. Each day school buses are passed, and our children are at risk of being hit and injured or killed by a passing motorist. I have been working on getting this program in our county since 2021 and I feel that saving our children is extremely important.”
“When drivers illegally pass stopped school buses, they put the lives of students in danger. The information released today demonstrates the need for sensible photo enforcement of these violations on our roads. One close-call is too many, and the video evidence of nearly 400 close-calls is compelling.
The Hendrick Hudson School District has taken leadership in generating the data to support Westchester County as it considers implementing a school bus safety program that gives schools and law enforcement the tools they need to keep our kids safe,” said Jean Souliere, CEO and Founder of BusPatrol.
Westchester is the only county in the New York City region that has not yet authorized a school bus safety program.
As a result, school districts and police departments across the county are denied the opportunity to utilize advanced photo enforcement technology to catch lawbreakers and issue citations to motorists who illegally pass a stopped school bus.
Neighboring suburban counties including Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, as well as Suffolk County and several municipalities in Nassau County on Long Island, have all approved bus safety programs.
According to the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, stopped school buses are passed illegally an estimated 50,000 times per school day.
In New York State, it is illegal to pass a stopped school bus when the large red visual sign is in operation. Flashing lights mean the bus is picking up or discharging students. All motorists are required to stop whether approaching a stopped school bus from the front or overtaking it from the rear. This applies whenever their visual signal is in operation on any public highway, street, or private road.
As of August 19, 2019, a school bus camera law in New York authorizes school districts and municipalities to use stop-arm cameras on school buses to hold vehicle owners responsible for their cars passing a stopped school bus.
How it Works: This program allows a school district to equip school buses with stop-arm cameras designed to capture images of vehicles illegally passing stopped buses. The images are then transmitted to the municipality and used to identify the owners of vehicles and to send notices of liability to the owners. Tickets given by these cameras can result in fines of $250 for a first violation up to $300 for each violation in an 18-month period. The owners may then pay a fine or contest their liability.
WPCNR SCARY STUFF. From The History Channel. October 31, 2022:
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.
This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes.
When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
Did you know? One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.
By A.D. 43, the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the 400 years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of bobbing for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
On May 13, A.D. 609, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.
By the 9th century, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. In A.D. 1000, the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It’s widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, church-sanctioned holiday.
All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
The celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies.
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” which were public events held to celebrate the harvest. Neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing.
Did you know? More people are buying costumes for their pets. Americans spent nearly $500 million on costumes for their pets in 2021—more than double what they spent in 2010.
Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the 19th century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the 19th century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing the Irish Potato Famine, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally.
Borrowing from European traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
WATCH: Trick-or-Treating’s Tricky History
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes.
Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.
Halloween Parties
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide Halloween parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague some celebrations in many communities during this time.
By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated.
Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats.
Thus, a new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday after Christmas.
New York, NY–On Monday, October 31 at 11:30AM the New York Immigration Coalition, Comptroller Brad Lander, City Council Committee on Education Chair Rita Joseph, allies and immigrant New Yorkers will hold a press conference at the Tweed Courthouse steps to call for transparency, full funding for, and proper placement of newcomer asylum seeker students in New York City schools.
Currently, October 31 is the day that schools submit their final headcounts for budgeting to the NYC Department of Education (DOE). But new asylum seeker children may continue to arrive beyond this date. In order for schools to meet the needs of all of their students, schools must be adequately resourced and receive funding for students who arrive after October 31.
The DOE must also place newcomers, many of whom are English Language Learners (ELLs), in the right schools with the right academic and social-emotional supports to meet their unique needs and unlock their potential.
This includes older newcomer youth, who now have access to six new programs opened by the DOE in Transfer High Schools outside of Manhattan – a model that should be deepened and fully funded to serve newcomer immigrant youth where they live and work.
Approach 1,500 Cases a week. 184 new cases a day 13th Consecutive Week of 1,000 cases a week.
WPCNR CORONAVIRUS SURVEILLANCE.Statistics from NY Covid Tracker. Observations and Analysis by John F. Bailey. October 30, 2022:
October 2021, Westchester showed 2,682 infections. For October 2022 through 29 days total new covid 19 infections are at 5,216, 50% more than last October infections that created 25,000 infections in the middle of January and shut us down for 5 months.
Through Saturday, Westchester reported 1,287 lab-confirmed cases of covid last week October 23-29. Last week is the 13th consecutive week back through August 1 that Westchester has sustained 1,000 new cases a week.
Covid is sustaining itself and now creeping up to the 1,500 level of infections the county experienced through August. The number of 5,216 cases the last 29 days (168 a day) is double the 80 per day rate of last October that saw December cases of covid skyrocket.
Let’s look at what has happened the last three months!
After 2,062 cases the first week in August, the county new covid cases dropped to 1,300 new cases a week the third, fourth and fifth week of August . Schools opened the next week, and in September the County averaged 1,158 new cases a week over 5 weeks, with highs of 1,468 and 1,465 the third and fourth weeks of September with two weeks of opened schools..
In October the infections grew in the Monday Tues Wednesday parts of the week as the diseases infected persons with the bivalient strain that makes you sick within 48 hours. October saw 5,216 infections, 1,304 average each week. This means more cases more often in November with essentially no socialization, masking or capacity restrictions in place throughout the county.
The 1,287 infections last week was the highest week in October, 90 more than last week, 1,197.
Westchester is infecting covid at 184 persons a day. This creates about 1,500 infections next week with Armistice Day and Thanksgiving travel and holidays coming up.
The pattern of spread this fall is eerily parallel to last October, but actually more infections this October. Lots more.
October 2021, Westchester showed 2,682 infections. For October 2022 through 29 days total new covid 19 infections are at 5,216 that is 50% more than last October infections that brought over 25,000 infections in the middle of January and shut us down for 5 months.
November 8, 2022, is a very important Election Day. As president of the League of Women Voters ofWestchester County, I would like to reassure voters that New York State elections are secure and reliable. New York’s election process is administered by a bipartisan team of election workers. Workers representing both major parties oversee ballot counting, a common practice nationwide to provide checks and balances in the election process. Election administrators, board employees, and election inspectors/poll workers are required to be residents of your county. The people who run our elections are not strangers. They are members of our communities – neighbors, friends, and family.
Every step of our election process is monitored and secured from the voter registration process to the post-election audit. The voter registration process in New York State ensures that only those meeting state eligibility requirements are able to vote, and it helps keep track of who has cast a ballot. Registered voters can vote early in person, or on Election Day in person, or by absentee ballot. All absentee ballots must be returned by mail, or in person during early voting or on Election Day at any poll location in our county, or at the Westchester Board of Elections in White Plains. Secured drop boxes are posted at every poll location, and are monitored by trained election inspectors.
Ballots are submitted to election machines that have been pre-approved by the NYS Board of Elections. Each piece of election equipment is tested before being used on election day and all voting machines are barred from connecting to the internet. Finally, all county boards of elections must conduct post-election audits to further verify results.
Whichever way you choose to vote this year, know that by doing so you are making democracy work.
JOHN BAILEY INTERVIEWS DAN SEIDEL ON THE APPELLATE COURT DECISION (ENDING?) OF 11 YEARS OF LEGAL WRANGLINGMITESH PATEL ON VACCINATIONS NEXT YEAR — THE ISSUESHEALTH COMMISSIONER DR. SHERLITA AMLER WARNS OF COVID SURGE AS BAD AS LAST YEAR NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER CALLS FOR MORE VACCINATIONS THE BATTLE OF WHITE PLAINS CEMMEMORATIONTHE ART OF STEPHEN MORTON EXHIBITION OF THE UNIQUE BODY PAINTING ART OF WESTCHESTER’S MAN WITH A CAMERA, STEVE MORTON.JOHN BAILEY AND THE NEWS THIS WEEK EVERY WEEK ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK FOR 21 YEARS.
WPCNR CORONA VIRUS Surveillance. From the Westchester County Department of Communications.October 27, 2022:
The Westchester County Department of Health is offering Pfizer COVID-19 boosters for children ages 5-11 starting tomorrow Friday, October 28.
Health Commissioner Sherlita Amler, MD, said: “I encourage parents to schedule their children’s boosters as soon as possible. We anticipate an uptick in COVID-19 cases after Halloween and through the upcoming holidays, just as we experienced the past few years. These boosters will extend your family’s protection against serious COVID-19 symptoms, and help you avoid exposing more vulnerable family and friends.”
Flu season is here, and families can also schedule flu vaccines at the same time at the Health Department Clinic in White Plains.
The Westchester County Health Department will offer both the flu vaccine and pediatric COVID-19 bivalent boosters by appointment, as follows:
· Fridays, Nov. 3 and 18, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., at 134 Court Street, White Plains
· Monday, Nov. 14, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 134 Court Street, White Plains
· December Friday appointments will be added later, so please check back.
Amler added: “Combining vaccines is safe and it is more convenient to schedule both at the same time. Children often receive multiple shots at once, and you are much less likely to skip a vaccine if both are given together. Vaccines for flu and COVID-19 offer the best protection we have to fight these diseases, so the sooner you get vaccinated, the better.”
In the U.S., flu activity is usually highest between December and February, but can last into May. One flu vaccine now provides protection all season long and can prevent illness or reduce the severity of flu symptoms. The vaccine becomes fully effective after about two weeks.
MITESH PATEL, VACCINATOR TO THOUSANDS OF WHITE PLAINS STUDENTS, PARENTS TALKS THE VACCINATION OUTLOOK AHEAD WITH JOHN BAILEY TONIGHT AT 8 AND ANYTIME ON WWW.WPCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG
