THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.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 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 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 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

Westchester’s Empire Casino in County Generates More Tax $$ Than Las Vegas and A

Posted on August 11, 2012 by John Bailey

WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From Westchester County’s Empire City Casino. (Edited) August 8, 2012

Legalizing “anything goes” gambling houses across the state could ease New York revenue woes considerably, according figures released by the Empire City Casino this week.

The New York Gaming Association is a bigger winner with a bigger handle than Las Vegas and Atlantic City combined without the big time games Nevada and New Jersey have.

NYGA members generated $620 million in tax revenue for New York during the first six months of 2012. By comparison, the Las Vegas Strip and Atlantic City, despite having full-fledged casinos and more combined gaming activity than New York, only generated $329 million for Nevada and New Jersey. That’s approximately $291 million fewer dollars than New York Gaming Association members.

Westchester County’s Casino is doing very well, too. The Yonkers-based casino at Yonkers Raceway generates one third of all education dollars raised through New York State gaming in July.

Empire City Casino had another winning month in July according to recently released data available on the Division of Lottery’s website. Of the nine racetrack casinos statewide, Empire City Casino was responsible for generating $23 Million, nearly one-third of the $71 Million raised for education this month through gaming, in partnership with the New York State Lottery.

In addition to directly funding New York’s public schools, the monthly revenues continue to help keep property taxes down for all New Yorkers by offsetting the cost of education.

“One of every three dollars generated for education this month in gaming was done so right here at Empire City Casino,” said Tim Rooney, Jr. of Empire City. “We have produced well over $1.5 billion dollars for education since opening and we look forward to increasing that support for schools in Yonkers and across this state.”

With seven million visitors a year, Empire City Casino has become a favorite entertainment destination in the tri-state area.

In addition to more than 5,300 slot machines and electronic table games offering roulette, craps, baccarat and sic bo, Empire City has year-round live harness racing, two restaurants, and live entertainment six days a week which includes everything from karaoke, comedy nights, jazz & blues, salsa and great party bands. Their first ever summer concert series, which continues through August, has brought in top tier talent such as Spin Doctors, The Marshall Tucker Band, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, and the Village People.

Currently undergoing a $50 Million expansion slated to open this fall, Empire City will be adding 30,000 square feet of additional gaming space, two new restaurants featuring nearly one hundred beers brewed right here in New York, dueling piano entertainment, antique bowling lanes, and much more.

“Empire City Casino continues to prove its worth and contribution to Yonkers and New York State,” said Mike Spano, Mayor, City of Yonkers. “These dollars generated by Empire City provide one of the greatest sources of educational funding for our students and their future, and we support the Casino’s ongoing development which will serve our schools and our City.”

To put these July revenues for education into perspective: Empire City Casino supported the equivalent of 1,977 teaching jobs in the month of July alone. New York State Department of Labor data indicates that the average monthly salary for elementary and secondary school teachers in New York is approximately $5, 800.

In addition, over $4.5 million was generated to support businesses connected to the racing industry, including family farms, the preservation of open space and over 35,000 jobs in the racing and breeding industry such as veterinarians, breeders, barn managers, trainers etc.

Statewide, the nine racetrack casinos that comprise the New York Gaming Association (NYGA) generated significant funding for education, contributing over $71 million in education aid and supporting over 12,000 teachers’ jobs in July alone.

Last month, NYGA announced that its members have generated nearly double the amount of tax revenue for their home state than Las Vegas Strip and Atlantic City casinos combined, according to statistics covering the first six months of 2012.

Titan Air Selected to Sell Advertising at Westchester County Airport

Posted on August 11, 2012 by John Bailey

WPCNR AIR NEWS. From Titan Air. August 9, 2012:

Titan Air has won exclusive rights to represent Westchester County Airport.

The new contract, won competitively, began August 1, 2012. The advertising agreement covers all advertising within the airport, including state-of-the-art digital displays, which will provide news, weather and travel information as well as advertising. Titan will also be marketing new media in the airport, including a Digital Visitor Information Center that will allow passengers to reserve hotels, rent cars and make dinner reservations.

Other new initiatives that Titan will bring to the airport include work spaces designed to provide comfortable seating for passengers and charging stations for multiple electronic devices. These stations will feature high impact advertising and will be distributed throughout the airport.

This partnership marks the return of industry leaders, Michael Riley and Sam Hart, into the Airport advertising business. Messrs. Riley and Hart spent over a decade at the helm of Clear Channel’s Airport division, where they created and managed Airport and advertiser relationships with great results for all involved.

Titan will utilize its full sales team to sell local and national advertising into the airport. Local sales and marketing will be run from Titan’s New York headquarters, as well as from a new office in Westchester County.

“We look forward to working with Titan as it brings its technology savvy and innovative approaches to serving the traveling public at Westchester County Airport,” said County Executive Robert P. Astorino.

“We are delighted to begin our first Airport partnership,” said Don Allman, Titan’s President and CEO. “Titan’s proposition is centered around the ‘People in Transit’ philosophy, and Airports are a logical fit within our core competency. We have the best team in place to make a great success of this partnership.”

“Westchester County Airport delivers high-end consumers and the opportunity for high-end, high-impact media,” said Mike Riley, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Titan Air. “We’re looking forward to growing revenue for the Airport and delivering new ways of reaching consumers for our advertising partners.”

Westchester County Airport is served by seven airlines to 15 destinations in the United States. The airport has approximately 1.5 million passenger arrival and departures per year.

Man Convicted of Assaults on Westchester Community College Grounds Sentenced

Posted on August 9, 2012 by John Bailey

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. August 8, 2012:

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced Wednesday that Lawrence J. Bottone aka “Dr. Hunter” (DOB 05/21/58) of 64 Howard Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut was sentenced today to 10 years in state prison on his May 2012 guilty plea to:

· six counts of Assault in the Second Degree, class “D” Violent Felonies,

relating to his actions involving six victims.

The assaults occurred on the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla.

The defendant lured his young victims posing as a professor and claiming to be “Dr. Hunter,” who falsely pretended to work at Westchester Community College (“WCC”) and the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

He offered his victims the opportunity to join a training program to prepare for employment with international security firms. If successfully completed the defendant promised that they would obtain high paying jobs.

Once they agreed to sign up and joined the program —which required them to sign a multiple-page contract and to give their oath of silence as to what would take place in the program—each of the victims were subjected to physical abuse. Some of the defendant’s methods included whippings and beatings while the victims were naked and covered with vegetable oil, and the painful insertion of pins and in one case a scalpel under fingernails.

In May of 2010 one of the defendant’s victims reported the defendant’s criminal conduct to police and an investigation was commenced by the Westchester County Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

During the investigation Westchester County Police recovered documents related to the crimes and a duffel bag that contained a scalpel, needles, rope, strapping tape, vegetable oil, and dental instruments among other items.

The defendant admitted to whipping 2 victims with ropes, to placing pins underneath another victim’s fingernails, removing another victim’s fingernail with a cuticle cutter and inserting a scalpel underneath a fingernail of another victim.

The defendant was previously convicted of assault in the State of Connecticut in 1997 and as a result was sentenced as a second felony offender.

Second Deputy District Attorney Audrey Stone, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Division, and Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Borden of the Special Prosecutions Division prosecuted the case.

County: Avoid Contact with Hudson River from Croton to NYC

Posted on August 8, 2012 by John Bailey

FLASH!

The Westchester County Department of Health is advising people who use the Hudson River waters for recreational purposes, namely swimmers, boaters, kayakers and windsurfers to avoid direct contact with the water from Croton Point Park and points south until further notice.

Due to a break in a sewer line in Tarrytown, there is expected to be a controlled discharge of several million gallons of chlorinated raw sewage into the Hudson River at Sleepy Hollow overnight. The treated sewage bypass is needed so that repairs can be made to the sewer line. The sewer line break is also expected to result in chlorinated raw sewage being discharged into the Hudson River at Yonkers.

As a precautionary measure the Health Department is alerting people who use the waters of the Hudson River of the potential that there may be sewage effluent in the river from Croton Point Park and points south during the discharge period. Be advised to curtail your activities, including swimming, boating, kayaking, windsurfing and bathing in these waters until further notice. Notifications are being made to marinas located on the Hudson River as well as to affected municipalities.