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)

Bradley Introduces Assembly’s Tax Cut Plans for Mr. & Mrs. & Ms. New York.

Posted on March 11, 2006 by John Bailey

WPCNR DAILY CAPITOL. From Assemblyman Adam Bradley’s Office. March 11, 2006: Assemblyman Adam Bradley announced Friday a $2.4 billion tax-cut package that will be contained in the Assembly budget plan. At the heart of the package are proposals that will provide real and direct tax relief to more hard working families throughout New York State.

“Under the Assembly’s tax plan, 90 percent of the benefits will go to 90 percent of the taxpayers,” said Bradley, “The governor’s budget on the other hand would benefit the wealthiest 13 percent of New Yorkers.”

Cutting more Taxes for more New Yorkers

The Assembly proposal would provide a personal income tax credit equal to the amount of property taxes paid that exceeds 7.5 percent of income. The credit, ranging from $200 to $400, when fully phased in, would be available to taxpayers earning less than $150,000. The credit is also available for renters, as long as their property tax equivalent (25 percent of rent) exceeds 7.5 percent of their income.

The Assembly plan provides nearly $900 million in tax relief. In total, 2.6 million homeowners and renters throughout the state would benefit from a program designed to directly assist those who pay a disproportionate amount of property tax or rent in relation to their household income.

Child Tax Credits for Every Child Under 17

Another key component of the Assembly’s budget is $620 million in tax relief to families with children by providing a refundable child tax credit for every child from newborn to 17. Under the Assembly’s plan a typical family earning between $24,000 and $110,000 would receive a $300 per child tax credit when fully phased in. The plan, modeled after the federal child tax credit, would gradually phase-out the benefit for those with incomes above $110,000.

Sales Tax Deductible on Clothing.

In addition, the Assembly plan calls for the elimination of state sales tax on clothing and footwear under $110 as scheduled on April 1. Rejecting the governor’s attempt to extend the state clothing sales tax will save shoppers approximately $600 million a year.

Increases Standard Deduction.

The Assembly is also seeking to eliminate the marriage penalty tax and increase the standard deduction for head-of-household to equal that of a married jointly filing – raising the head-of-household deduction from $10,500 to $15,000. These two proposals would save New Yorkers $230 million annually with the benefit to the typical head-of-household taxpayer amounting to $300.

“Westchester families will certainly benefit from the Assembly’s tax cut plan,” said Bradley. “I will continue working in a bipartisan fashion to ensure key elements of the Assembly’s tax cut plan are included in the final state budget.”

The Tiger Run Continues With a Gritty Come From Behind Clawback.

Posted on March 11, 2006 by John Bailey

WPCNR COURTSIDE. Special to WPCNR By Tim Sheehan. March 11, 2006: The White Plains Girls Basketball team survived an abominable 3rd quarter to pull away from Section 9 champion Minisink Valley 42 -32, Friday night in Pleasantville. The final score does not reveal how close the Tigers came to missing the next playoff round.

White Plains built up a 23 -14 halftime lead doing what they have done well all season: tough man to man defense (usually starting with a full court press), crisp passing and cutting on offense leading to short jumpers or lay-ups. I didn’t keep track of who led the scoring, but with White Plains it usually doesn’t matter, as the scoring is spread around.

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The Press Stakes Tigers to Big Early Lead.

The White Plains press wrecked havoc on the Minisink Warriors, who had a capable (but not stellar) point guard. Moreover, White Plains denied the inbounds pass, which led to a few steals and some easy buckets. Minisink’s counter – bomb passes launched down court from out of bounds to streaking Minisink players – worked once or twice, but White Plains readjusted and stole or tipped more of these passes as the game wore on. Even if Minisink broke the press, the half court man to man pressure, led from up top by Kim Adams or Nina Johnson, made it difficult to for Minisink to get the ball inside to their inside players, sophomore Jukie Tomesheski and 6’3” 8th grade (yes, 8th grade) center Stephanie Dolson.

The Warriors Rally

Heading back from the halftime break, there was no reason to suspect that White Plains would not do what they did to North Rockland and New Rochelle: slowly and steadily pad their lead. But Minisink had other ideas and went on a 14-0 run to erase the 8 point halftime deficit and build a 5 point lead. White Plains went into a funk in all aspects of its game. On offense, the team engaged in terrible passing, missed lay-ups or put backs and had inside shots blocked by Dolson. Minisink dogged Tiger point guard Angelei Aguirre and kept a defender near enough to outside shooters Adams and Flooks to prevent easy launches. Meanwhile, Minisink seemed ready for the double picks set up by the Tiger post players Bronzo and Covington in the paint, and even busted up one play by drawing an offensive foul on Danica Covington.

Meanwhile, on offense, Minisink seemed to get an extra half step whenever they needed it, picking up transition buckets off of steals, two three pointers from their guards and charity line points from unnecessary White Plains fouls to open a 5 point lead, 28-23. Though Danica Covington broke the WP scoring drought with a free throw, she was soon headed for the bench for her third foul on a Tomesheski lay-up attempt. Elise Bronzo, who for a good stretch of the game had lost her usually golden touch around the hoop, hop stepped into the lane to convert a three point play and lead the charge as White Plains crawled back into the game. Further assisted by a rejuvenated full court press, White Plains headed into the fourth quarter with a three point lead.

The Clawback

Having survived Minisink’s run and their own terrible playing, White Plains got back to business in the final period, altered their offensive scheme and unleashed their scoring depth. Nina Johnson began to drive along the baseline to create open looks or shots for others. Angelei Aguirre, more often than not content to feed others, took her overplaying defender to the hoop for a short jumper, and Danica Covington came back to hit two more key lay-ups.

Meanwhile, the Minisink offense began to wilt under the renewed Tiger effort on defense, and simply could not get any open looks. In fact, after their masterful 3rd quarter run, they managed to score only 4 points thereafter. Down by 6 with less than two minutes to play, Minisink had no choice but to foul. Unfortunately for the Orange County champs, they chose to foul Angelei Aguirre, who calmly hit four consecutive free throws to seal the game for the Tigers.

A Boo for White Plains “Sportsmanship”

The final relief of dodging a bullet and moving on to the next round was somewhat marred by the unsportsmanlike serenade offered up to Minisink fans by a far too large section of our visiting band of White Plains students. Though the “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, good bye” song may be usual fare for the “dog pound” section of some professional sports arenas, it has no place in a high school playoff game. Hopefully, for the next round, school administrators (and perhaps some of their parents) can encourage our student fans to cheer loudly for our team but not to taunt the opposing players or their fans.

The Roadblocks to Glory

So far in the playoffs, White Plains has not faced a team with a stellar point guard, like they did in the last two rounds of last year’s tournament. Additionally, they have not faced a quality press in the last four games (Minisink never pressed at all). Significantly, the Tiger 3 point shooting has been erratic. They will need to hit the three pointer to keep other teams from packing the post against Bronzo and Covington. And they will have to find a way to maintain stamina in the later rounds, keeping in mind that even Nottingham’s (with the short finals schedule) vaunted man to man defense broke down in the fourth quarter game against White Plains in last year’s finals.

Ultimately, the silver lining of Friday’s game is that White Plains advances despite playing a sub par game. If White Plains players can stay healthy, keep their talented post players out of foul trouble and get their 3 point shooting untracked, they have a great shot of returning to the finals.

Adam Bradley on the Environment

Posted on March 11, 2006 by John Bailey

WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley, 89th A.D. March 12, 2006: One of my highest priorities in the Assembly is fighting for a cleaner, healthier environment. As a father, I understand that protecting our environment and preserving open spaces are among the greatest gifts we can give to our children. Since my election to the Assembly in 2002, I have been fighting to clean up our environment and protect New York’s open spaces.

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In addition to serving on the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee, last year I was honored by being appointed chairman of the subcommittee responsible for Oversight of the Department of Environmental Conservation. Through this challenging position, I am fighting to preserve and improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers. As a tireless advocate for a cleaner New York and governmental reform, I have utilized this opportunity to ensure that DEC keeps its vital promise to our communities—to preserve and protect the indispensable resources we have for generations to come.

A record of protecting the environment

I have authored The Environmental Access to Justice Act (A.114) that passed the Assembly to make it easier for private citizens to file a legal claim and hold companies and developers that pollute accountable for violating State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) determinations. Currently, the law bars individuals from access to courts in cases in which the public at large is harmed. Individuals who may suffer harm from such violations should not be denied the right to have their cases heard. My legislation would provide impacted individuals the right to protect the environment.

To make sure Indian Point and other nuclear power plants properly notify the public of their emissions, I sponsored legislation that passed the Assembly creating standards for plants to follow (A.6110). The bill would require nuclear power plants to make scheduled emissions public at least 24 hours beforehand via a toll-free telephone number and to tell the public about unscheduled releases, breakdowns or malfunctions no more than 24 hours later.

I have also fought for over $5 million for the protection of open spaces and I sponsor additional legislation to protect and preserve Westchester’s water and air quality, including:

· The Community Preservation Act which allows municipalities to raise money through a Community Preservation Fund to be used for land conservation and historic preservation (A.6450)

· The Clean Water Protection and Flood Prevention Act which increases protections of New York’s freshwater Wetlands – further protecting water resources and wildlife habitat (A.2048)

· Expanding the bottle bill to include non-carbonated beverage bottles (A.2517)

· Reducing emissions from electric generating facilities (A.4459)

· Prohibiting the open burning of solid waste (A.3073)

· Increasing funds available for environmental and conservation purposes through the Environmental Protection Fund (A.9283)

In the Environmental Advocate’s 2003 Voters’ Guide, I was described with three other Assemblymembers as those who “made a difference in their first year in Albany.” And in the Environmental Advocates 2005 Voters’ Guide, I earned a perfect score of 100 for supporting environmental savvy legislation. I remain committed to protecting our environment and preserving our open space. It is vital that we keep our communities strong and ensure New York continues to be a great place to live and raise a family.

White Plains Tigers Finish off Minisink Valley, 42-32, move on UP in the States.

Posted on March 10, 2006 by John Bailey

WPCNR PRESS BOX. Special to WPCNR. March 10, 2006: The White Plains Basketball Girls Basketball team continue to take care of unfinished business, winning a berth in the final four for the New York State Class AA Basetball Championship this evening by pulling away late to defeat Minisink Valley, 42-32 at Pace University in Pleasantville. The team moves on to play two more big ones in the attempt to secure the title that eluded them last year in the last second.