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.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET DEBUTING AT CHAPPAQUA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER THIS WEEK AT THE NEW WESTCHESTER THEATREVideo Courtesy, The Westchester Theatre
WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By John F. Bailey. May 5, 2022:
Bill Stutler’s Westchester Theatre is opening Million Dollar Quartet this week at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center on the Reader’s Digest former headquarters campus.
The ovations for the Gershwin Entertainment production preparing to take Tony Award winning and nominated Quartet have filled the classic CPAC. Following Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins of Quartet through May 22 is is the musical comedy, Menopause The Musical behind the footlights June 16 through 25.
They are the first two productions in the debut effort Mr. Stutler, former empressario for 46 years of the Westchester Broadway Theatre is undertaking to bring back Equity productions of outstanding Broadway classics, new Broadway hits and one-night superstands back to the discerning Westchester County theatre crowd
WPCNR caught up with Mr. Stutler by the virtual “Stage Door” of Zoom today to discuss this effort its promise of the future to be. Here is my interview with Bill,from this afternoon.
BILL STUTLER DISCUSSES THE WESTCHESTER THEATRE OPENING WITH THE CITIZENETREPORTER, JOHN BAILEY.Click on the White arrow to roll the video.For more information, go to www.TheWestchesterTheatre.com
WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER.From the Westchester County Department of Communications. May 5, 2022:
Westchester County Executive George Latimer is reintroducing a community engagement program, On the Horizon, to hear from the public on the future of Westchester County Airport.
In February 2020, Latimer first launched the Program to support the Master Plan Supplement for Westchester County Airport.
After the COVID-19 pandemic put the project on hold for more than two years, Latimer is once again opening up a County-wide discussion to listen to the concerns of residents, community organizations, the business community, environmental activists and more. Together, Latimer is hoping to create a new vision for Westchester County Airport.
Latimer said: “Westchester County Airport is just one project that unfortunately came to a screeching halt with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but my administration is committed to completing a thorough evaluation of airport operations and its impacts, and a robust community engagement program.
“Whether you use the Airport to fly with your family to Florida, to pick up your parents who are visiting for the winter, or you use the Airport for business travel, we need to hear from you. Our goal is to engage everyone the Airport touches – our homeowners, business community, environmental groups, community organizations and more – a balance I am confident we can achieve. We look forward to having the public be an integral part of this process moving forward, and together, we will ensure the Airport evolves as a valuable, transportation resource.”
The Master Plan Supplement Community Engagement Program, called On the Horizon, includes a series of public events such as town halls. The Master Plan Supplement will focus on analysis of the Airport with respect to the physical condition of the Airport property, buildings and infrastructure, additional analysis of noise and environmental impacts and the local and regional economic impact of the airport. This analysis will be used to develop a vision for the Airport in the future.
The On the HorizonTown Halls on Westchester County Airport are as follows:
Tuesday, May 24 at 6 p.m.
Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
78 N. Broadway, White Plains, NY 10603
Thursday, June 2 at 6 p.m.
Manhattanville College
2900 Purchase St, Purchase, NY 10577
Thursday, June 9 at 6 p.m.
Mercy College
555 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
Director of Economic Development Bridget Gibbons said: “The Airport plays a significant role in the economic development of the County. This Master Plan Supplement and the feedback from the business community will be vital in shaping a vibrant economic landscape in Westchester County in the years to come.”
Director of Energy Conservation and Sustainability Peter McCartt said: “Westchester County understands the importance of protecting the environmental resources surrounding the Airport. We look forward to developing a deeper understanding on how to continue balancing Airport operations and environmental concerns in the future through the Master Plan Supplement and Community Engagement Program.”
BULLETIN: NEW PERSONS TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID INCREASED 40% TO 471 IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY YESTERDAY MAY 3 WITH 471 TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID OF 5,476 TESTING. INFECTION RATE 8.5% ON LIMITED TESTING. THIS WEEK SO FAR MAY 1, 2, 3: 1,003 CASES.
WPCNR COVID DAILY.Statistics from the NY Covid Tracker. Observations & Analysis by John F. Bailey. May 4, 2022:
Sunday and Monday produced 251 and 281 new covid cases of 6,218 tests conducted in Westchester County (266 NEW CASES A day) indicating a pattern of increasingly growing infections now at the beginning of weeks.
The infections then as the pattern of the WPCNR COVID LOG BOOK FOR APRIL shows over the last three weeks grow swiftly Wednesday Thursday and Friday as more persons test and discover they have covid.
Why the public choosees to self-test, or come in for a test is unclear.
Do they have symptoms? Are they going to travel? Go to a party? Why test? Are they unvaccinated? Are they vaccinated with one dose? Or if you are fully vaccinated plus a booster, why test at all? When I felt I was exposed to persons who got covid, I got tested and crossed our fingers.
The assumption I make, and it is strictly my opinion is those who have symptoms from activity on weekends with persons , perhaps this means a fast fast fast ability of covid variants to spread and infect.
But let us not kid ourselves. I am not a doctor and I do not have the statistics that should be being kept on every positive-reported person daily. The question is does the medical leaders in counties across NY really want to know what can shed light on this spread. Privacy laws applying to health matters cannot take precedence, here. Information must be gathered to see if the incubation period of the posse of covid variants is the same (10 to 14 days) or is faster.
Where are the answers to the obvious questions we need to know about persons testing positive.
Those questions are, in my opinion, and I am not a doctor, just a reporter trying to help.
The only way to fight the obviously growing spread is to know how people are getting infected, why people think they might be positive, what their activities were, their ages, especially school children 5 to 18, and we know the infections in the schools are growing rapidly the last two weeks, and how sick did all persons get. In the matter of growing hospitalizations, obviously the covid infections for those hospitalized were serious. I would say the public needs to know who is getting really sick from this disease now being touted by officials as “people are not getting as sick from it.”
Questions we need to know about the new positives, I believe should be:
What were your activities the last few days?
When did you first experience symptoms, if you did ?
Why did you think you needed to be tested?
How many people did you encounter and where did you encounter them? (So contact tracing can be resumed, if no longer being done, in fact we do not know if contract tracing of the new positives the last 5 weeks of which there have been 9,632 in Westchester County alone.
Were you vaccinated? How many doses? Fully vaccinated? Fully vaccinated with one booster? No vaccinations? If child were they fully vaccinated, one shot, or no vaccinations at all.
Hospitalized, how serious and why?
Is this the second time you have caught covid?
That way you can establish a pattern of what is causing this spread. We the public need to told the truth about what is happening to cause 2,000 new infections a week in this county.
Since most persons testing are doing it at home with a more reliable test, or at a pharmacy or pop-up spot should be being closely monitored to answer questions like the ones that come to my mind as a rational reporter, if these questions are asked and info being collected we should be told the patterns.
If this information is known and is being collected and analyzed the intelligence and patterns that can be determined from these infections should not be suppressed. Medical experts information to public officials on the state of the disease effects on various segments and demographics of the now 5th Wave rolling in for a month should not be held back.
Let us assume that it is not being held back.
That would mean these questions I as a complete amateur are not being asked.
If this pandemic is now being judged over and we are opening up everything: restaurants, concerts, parades, beaches, and promoting and this is the effort of political leaders to promote that it is safe out there, let us hope 10,000 in a month in this county alone is just due persons refusing to vaccinate.
But if the leaders and health officials are wrong.
So far the laissez faire approach to socializing, masking mingling and staging giant events is not working. 10,000 cases in 5 weeks tells you that.
Through yesterday 19 Westchester Towns and Cities has over 100 cases the last two weeks and averaged 398 new cases daily, roughly paralleling the 4,615 new cases in Westchester the last two weeks. The spread of the infections are in the North, South East and West sections of the county. The highest infections are in the cities, but Peekskill and Port Chester each have less than 100 cases, 80 each while White Plains has 312 cases, Mount Vernon, 287, New Rochelle 399 and Yonkers, 692.
AROUND THE COUNTY, TOWN BY TOWN, CITY BY CITY TWO WEEKS OF OVER 100 ACTIVE CASES RANKED MAY 2, 2022
YONKERS 692 ACTIVE CASES 43 DAILY CASES
NEW ROCHELLE 399
GREENBURGH 318 ACTIVE CASES 26 DAILY CASES
WHITE PLAINS 312 ACTIVE CASES 24 NEW A DAY
MOUNT VERNON 287 ACTIVE CASES 12 NEW A DAY
NORTH CASTLE & NEW CASTLE 249 ACTIVE CASES 24 NEW CASES DAILY
YORKTOWN 241 ACTIVE CASES 12 NEW CASES A DAY
MOUNT PLEASANT 211 ACTIVE CASES, 23 NEW CASES DAILY
CORTLANDT 203 ACTIVE CASES, 27 NEW DAILY CASES
MAMARONECK TOWN, VILLAGE, LARCHMONT 197 ACTIVE CASES 11 NEW DAILY
HARRISON 149 ACTIVE CASES, 6 DAILY
SCARSDALE 134 ACTIVE CASES 15 DAILY NEW CASES
SLEEPY HOLLOW AND TARRYTOWN 138 ACTIVE CASES 10 DAILY
SOMERS 120 ACTIVE CASES, 10 A DAY
BEDFORD 129 ACTIVE CASES 11 NEW CASES DAILY
Through Monday, the 9 counties surrounding New York City reported 1,575 new cases of covid, which is 65% of the separate totals of all of New York Cty (2,437). Infections in the Mid-Hudson region show Westchester the leading county in the Mid-Hudson while Orange, Rockland, Dutchess and Ulster Counties increased each day. Nassau and Suffolk counties are growing. The total infection rate for the Mid-Hudson region is 10.5% of 6,219 tests administered in the 7 Mid-Hud counties. Theoretically to show you how significant low test numbers are, if 12,000 had been tested throughout the Mid-Hudson region instead of 6,000 you may very well would have found 3,250 positives which would be more positives than all five boroughs of New York City Monday
The infection rate of the small testing quantities is as important as the actual infection rate percentage, but it does give you a picture of how many more persons may be out there, walking around positive, but not testing themselves or coming in for a test.
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that she is appointing Representative Antonio Delgado to serve as Lieutenant Governor of New York.
Representative Delgado currently represents New York’s 19th Congressional District, which includes the Hudson Valley and Catskills. Delgado is Afro-Latino, the first person of color to represent Upstate New York in Congress and a member of both the Black and Hispanic Congressional Caucuses.
EDITOR’S NOTE: THE WAY TO THE NEW NOMINATION WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE VOTING 34-29 AND THE NY ASSEMBLY FOLLOWING SUIT VOTING 82-57 TO PASS GOVERNOR HOCHUL-REQUESTED NEW LEGISLATION TO ALLOW REMOVAL OF A CANDIDATE FROM THE BALLOT. BRIAN BENJAMIN, THE ERSTWHILE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CANDIDATE RUNNING WITH GOVERNOR HOCHUL FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR RESIGNED WHEN ARRESTED ON BRIBERY CHARGES. ON TWITTER LAST NIGHT BENJAMIN SAID HE WOULD SIGN FORMS REMOVING HIS NAME FROM THE BALLOT. THE QUOTE FROM TWITTER: “I WOULD BE UNABLE TO SERVE UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES.”
“I am proud to appoint Antonio Delgado, an outstanding leader and public servant, as Lieutenant Governor of New York, and I look forward to working with him to usher in a new era of fairness, equity, and prosperity for communities across the State,” Governor Hochul said. “We share a belief in working together to get things done for New Yorkers, and Representative Delgado has an incredible record of doing just that in Congress. With Antonio Delgado by my side serving as Lieutenant Governor, we will both make history – and make a difference.”
“New Yorkers deserve a Lieutenant Governor who’s working day and night to make lives better for working people and their families,” Representative Delgado said. “Upstate, downstate, doesn’t matter. We all want the same things, security, family, and opportunity. The key is to listen to New Yorkers from all walks of life and then be their voice to get the job done.”
A native of Upstate New York, Representative Delgado grew up in Schenectady and lives in Rhinebeck with his wife, Lacey, and their twin eight-year-old sons, Maxwell and Coltrane. He attended Colgate University and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. Then, he received a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he met Lacey. He lived in New York City for several years as a young lawyer.
In Congress he has led the fight to deliver for his constituents – providing relief for family farms, helping small businesses rebuild and thrive, creating clean energy jobs, increasing access to broadband, and supporting our veterans.
In Congress, he’s worked with both parties to get things done for New Yorkers. He’s had 18 bills signed into law by Presidents of both parties. He passed critical reforms including the Strengthening Financial Aid for Students Act, and the Improving Benefits for Underserved Veterans Act, Direct Support for Communities Act and the Small Business Relief Accessibility Act.
Representative Delgado has held more than 65 town halls over his two terms in office across all 11 counties in the 19th District. Representative Delgado is also committed to ensuring transparency and accessibility, and he created four bipartisan, locally-based advisory committees on the priorities important to NY-19, including Small Business, Agriculture, Health Care and Veterans.
He was first elected to Congress in 2018. Representative Delgado is the Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit, and he serves on the House Small Business and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.
LONG ISLAND SURGES FROM 500 CASES A DAY SUNDAY, MONDAY TUES LAST WEEK TO OVER 1,200 NEW POSTIVES A DAY AND NEW YORK CITY JUST SHY OF 3,000 A DAY FOR EACH DAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.
A SUSTAINABLE TREND OR LAST SURGE?
SCHOOL BREAK AFTERMATH INCREASES COVID CASES IN COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
WPCNR COVID DAILY. From the New York State Covid Tracker. Observations & Analysis by John F. Bailey. May 1, 2022 UPDATED 10:32 P.M E.D.T.:
The Friday positive new covid persons number was the highest number recorded in the 4 weeks of April: 481, only April 21 even close (428). Prior to Friday, the last time Westchester had so many cases was on January 25, 13 weeks ago when 570 persons were found positive.
In the last two weeks of April, with Saturday results just in, we are seeing a pattern.
As the WPCNR Covid Logbook shows: testing quantities are down, yet infection rates are up especially in the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday period. (People start going for tests when they get symptoms over weekends.)
Saturday results this evening reported 340 new positives among 4,760 testing Saturday bringing the April 24 to 30 week infections to 2,459 the highest total of the last 5 weeks.
Yet? And Yet?
We do not have demographics to determine what age groups are contracting the disease. Failure to break down the demographics prevents people from knowing who with shots or who without shots, or who do not have enough shots are getting infected and the seriousness of the disease when they get it.
In the six days of last week April 24 through 29, 29,991 tests were taken for covid and 2,117 tested positive, a 7% infection rate. If Westchester reports 200 positives on Saturday it will mark the 5th consecutive week of increased positives from the last week of March.
Three factors driving this may be the euphoria of relief from masking, socializing of persons of all ages and the feeling that covid is over. This a de’ja’ vu scenario of last spring when the NY legislature took away the former Governor’s emergency powers to make covid policy themselves and the oversight committee of both houses relaxed socializing, entertainment restaurant and venue rules.
By Mid-July after the July 4 weekend, cases started to rise resulting in increased cases in September and culminating in the largest wave of covid just 4 months ago in January when Thanksgiving and the holidays really spread the covid scourge–not so long ago. Remember?
The cases of covid hospitalizations are running 60 to 65% as of last week. How serious are those cases? Are they discharged, no ill aftereffects? Any ventilated? We need to know. Specifics, please? If the cases were light in the hospitalizing decision, how light were they?
Are many who are infected of the new cases not fully vaccinated, (only have one shot, perhaps)? We do not have that break down of the vaccine status of persons who are not fully vaccinated . And there are a lot of them.
As a selling point on the vaccines we got a breakdown last summer from Governor Cuomo that 90% of new cases were of those who did not have the vaccine.
I did the math on the Westchester vaccinated universe in the chart below: There is a substantial gap of people who have one shot and how many are fully vaccinated. It would indicate to me and perhaps only me, that maybe, just maybe the undervaccinated are a portion of the new cases we are seeing. Maybe? Or maybe not? We need those numbers. And where is the contact tracing to bring shots to the people who still need them? You could make a public health ruling from Albany that everyone who needs a shot or not have a shot must get one. But Albany does not have the backbone to do that, I do not think.
However if infections keep going up each week you will see significantly more if you test more.
This could mean many people may be refusing to test themselves for fear of having to quarantine which they have to do if they test positive. This supposition is just that but, as I pointed out if you tested 12,000 persons in Westchester and 6000 of them tested at 6% positive as they did last Thursday, you would have 720 new positives in one day. Let’s call the non-tested universe out there the Phantom Positives. The statistics are remarkably exponentially reliable. They have proved that. You just have to see what the statistics are saying, if indeed we are not seeing what the infection rates on low quantities of tests are saying.
If you average 700 new positive covids a day, you would have 5,000 new infections a week. Those 5,000 spreading it even if only one person got it from them to 5,000 more, making 10,000 new infections in two weeks.
Is the 6-day infection rate of this last week which was an average of 7% positives a day a bell weather of a earlier beginning of a swelling of covid cases? I don’t know. If you want to make covid a regular part of life in Westchester, we have to find out more concrete information on how sick are the people getting “mild” infections and how sick are the persons who are being hospitalized and who they are. HIPPA privacy laws should not restrict the flow of information to make wise decisions not “hunch” decisions.
The infections town by town in Westchester are growing across the county. Here are the Westchester County worst infected regions as of Friday.
WESTCHESTER TOWNS AND CITIES MOST ACTIVE CASES/DAILY CASES PER DAY APRIL 29
1-YONKERS 647–56 DAILY CASES
2- NEW ROCHELLE 392–41 CASES DAILY (UP 171 IN 2 WEEKS)
3- WHIITE PLAINS 287, 32 CASES DAILY
4-GREENBURGH 273, 27 DAILY CASES
4-MOUNT VERNON 265, 22 DAILY CASES
5-YORKTOWN 243, 17 DAILY CASES
6-NORTH CASTLE, NEW CASTLE 233– 14 DAILY CASES
7-MAMARONECK TOWN, VILLAGE, LARCHMONT—202 — 19 DAILY CASES
8-MT. PLEASANT 174– 12 DAILY CASES
9-OSSINING TOWN & VILLAGE—164– 12 DAILY CASES
9-CORTLANDT—164—15 DAILY CASES
10- HARRISON, 153, 15 DAILY CASES
11- RYE CITY & RYE BROOK—147 CASES–14 DAILY CASES
12-TARRYTOWN & SLEEPY HOLLOW—143 19 DAILY CASES
13 BEDFORD—108- 12 DAILY CASES
14- SOMERS—102—15 DAILY CASES
This breakout above shows how the disease is infecting northern suburbs, the 3 largest cities at the top of the chart, but notably Port Chester and Peekskill do not make 100 cases.
BAILEY AND WESTCHESTER TALK RADIO’S JOHN MORINO GUEST ANCHOR ON THE BLOCKBUSTER COURT OF APPEALS DECISION AND POLITICAL AFTERMATHTHE COVID SPREAD IN SCHOOLS AFTER VACATIONTHE OMINOUS VACCINE GAPTHE GAS SALES TAX CUT AND TAKE THE BUS AND LEAVE THE FARE TO US!
WPCNR COUNTY CLARION LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. april 29, 2022:
Following his introduction of this legislation, Westchester County Executive George Latimer has signed into law a cap on the County’s collection of sales tax on gas purchases to $.12 per gallon, equal to the cost of the tax with gas at $3.00 per gallon.
In addition to this, Latimer has taken executive action to suspend the collection of Bee-Line Bus fees through the summer.
The gas tax cap will run from June 1, 2022 to August 31, 2022. Latimer’s directive on the County’s Bee-Line Bus fares did not require legislation. This suspension of fares will run during the Summer until a later date.
Latimer said: “These two actions, both the capping of our gas tax and suspension of Bee-Line Bus fees, are simple measures that can really add up for Westchester residents. No matter how you commute, saving money on your trips each day can make a big difference. I thank the Board of Legislators for their partnership on this important, and timely, legislation.”
(Editor’s Note: City of White Plains has not responded on whether they anticipate enacting the cap at Monday’s Common Council meeting or later in May.)
