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link for youtube for wpw 8/16
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WHITE PLAINS WEEK THE AUGUST 16 EDITION on YOUTUBE AND WHITEPLAINSWEEK.COM AND WWW.WPCOMMUNITY MEDIA.ORG NOW
County Police Break Up Extensive Retail Identity Theft Operation–CHARGE 5
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Investigation into identity theft and credit card fraud is continuing
WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From The Westchester County Police. August 15, 2019 UPDATED 1:15 PM EDT:
Westchester County Police arrested five persons Wednesday and charged them with stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise from TJ Maxx and other retail stores in recent months. Investigators estimate the loss of goods to be valued at more than $500,000.
Kieran O’Leary, Westchester County Police Public Information Officer told WPCNR the operation was first noticed by the TJ Maax management when they noticed large purchases being made on newly opened accounts that used up the credit line within a very short time of purchase.
TJ Maxx notified the Westchester County Police.
O’Leary said the fraudulent purchases were made at different locations in Westchester, Long Island and New York City. The County Identify Theft unit started the investigation five months ago, and is looking into where the merchandise was purchased from to effect returns. O’Leary said the current spate of thefts seems to be limited to the five suspects.
The five suspects are accused of engaging in identity theft and credit card fraud to commit multiple larcenies over the past five months. The suspects obtained numerous credit cards through fraudulent means and used the cards to purchase merchandise before the fraudulent cards were discovered and shut down.
The ring would purchase several thousand dollars in merchandise a day, including high-end pocketbooks and clothing, televisions and furniture, the investigation revealed.
The suspects are preliminarily charged with multiple counts of Grand Larceny and other offenses. The investigation into the scheme is continuing and additional charges are anticipated.
Westchester County Police detectives, assisted by members of the County Police Special Response Team and investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, executed search warrants Wednesday at one residence in Mount Vernon, three in the Bronx and one in Queens. The suspects were taken into custody at those locations and numerous items of stolen property, valued at more than $100,000, were seized.
Several vans and a U-Haul truck were needed to haul away the seized stolen goods, and a complete inventory of the recovered items is still under way. In addition, devices used to make fraudulent credit cards and fraudulent identification were also seized.
“I would like to commend the General Investigations Unit for the painstaking investigation it conducted in recent months to identify these thieves and bring them to justice,” Commissioner Thomas A. Gleason said. “I am grateful to the prosecutors and investigators at the Westchester District Attorney’s Office for their invaluable assistance throughout this lengthy and complex investigation.”
Gleason also thanked TJX Companies, the parent company of TJ Maxx, for its assistance and cooperation during the investigation.
“This was a lucrative criminal enterprise that victimized numerous retail establishments in Westchester and beyond,” Gleason said. “We have evidence that this scheme was also utilized outside of Westchester and we will be sharing information and evidence with other jurisdictions.”
“This was an important collaborative effort to stop the kind of theft that begins by stealing identities of innocent victims and then becomes theft of property. We commend Westchester County Police investigators in conjunction with the team from TJX Companies for pursuing these criminals,” said Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. “Our specialized Identity Theft Unit will see that they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Arrested in Mount Vernon were Hassan Miller, 46, of Chester Street, Mount Vernon, and Dawn Anderson, 48, of East 143rd Street, Bronx. They were each charged with Criminal Possession of Stolen Property 2nd Degree, three counts of Criminal Possession of a Forgery Device and 76 counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, felonies.
Miller and Anderson were arraigned Wednesday in Mount Vernon City Court and were remanded to the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla. The remaining three suspects were held overnight at county police headquarters in Hawthorne and will be arraigned today in Yonkers City Court. They are:
- Stanley Awala, 45, of 200th Street, St. Albans, Queens, charged with Grand Larceny 4th Degree and Identity Theft 2nd Degree;
- Asanimo Riesa, 37, of East 146th Street, Bronx, charged with Grand Larceny 3rd Degree and 4th Degree and Identity Theft 2nd Degree;
- Peter Onogwu, 63, of North Oak Drive, Bronx, charged with Grand Larceny 4th Degree and Identity Theft 2nd Degree.
The case is being prosecuted by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Investigations Division Identity Theft Unit.
SATURDAY NIGHT PIZZA AT 7! PIZZA MAESTRO ANGELO MAGNOTTA AND HIS SON TALK THEIR 47 YEARS OF PROVIDING PIZZAS TO WHITE PLAINS NY USA– ON “PEOPLE TO BE HEARD” CABLEVISION 76 AND FIOS CH. 45 AND ON THE INTERNET AT www.wpcommunitymedia.org
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TONIGHT JOHN BAILEY INTERVIEWS ANGELO AND HIS SON THEIR 47 YEARS, 7 DAYS A WEEK CAREERS IN PIZZA AND MAGNOTTA’S RESTAURANT — A PIZZA LANDMARK THAT IS CLOSING THIS SUNDAY AUGUST 18.
2019 Assessment Test Results for School Districts May be Released Last Week in August Before Labor Day Weekend.
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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the New York State Education Department Communications. August 15, 2019:
The long anticipated 2019 Grades 3-8 assessment scores of (the second year of the newly implemented state assessments will be released tentatively the last week in August.
The Department issued this statement to WPCNR:
“The 2019 Grades 3-8 assessment scores will be released later this summer, on a timeline more similar to 2017.
“In 2018, because of the switch from three days of testing to two, and the resulting need to conduct a new performance standard review, the statewide scores were released about a month later than usual (Editor’s note: 2018 Results were released September 26.2018)
Because the 2019 tests are the same design as 2018, there was no need for a standards review and are being released on a timeline more similar to 2017. (Editor’s Note: Release date in 2017 was August 22, 2017)
Cut scores will be released with the scores, as they have been in years past.”
According to WPCNR’s news releases from the NYSED released the last three years, the last test results that were released in a timely manner so curriculum coordinators could react to them and address weaknesses in grades performances was in 2016, when test results on the former Pearson-created tests were released July 29.
In 2017, the Pearson tests were released August 22, which would mean by the statement that they could be released anywhere from Thursday August 22, Friday, August 23, or over the weekend , or sometime in the 4 days August 26 to 29, the week going into Labor Day Weekend.
WPCNR observes that the 2019 results will arrive too late for school district planners to adjust their academic plans beginning the school year.
Editor’s reminder: White Plains Schools start for students September 3, the day after Labor Day
County Creates Outreach Initiative to Veterans to Help Them Claim Benefits
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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From The Westchester County Department of Communications. August 15, 2019:
County Executive George Latimer and Ron Tocci (right) join veterans at Community Outreach Program kickoff event. (Photo, Westchester Department of Communications)
On Wednesday, Legislator Kitley Covill (D – Bedford, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, North Salem, Pound Ridge, Somers), County Executive George Latimer and the County Veterans Service Agency welcomed veterans and family members to Westchester’s first Community Outreach Day, held at the Mount Kisco American Legion.
In the coming months, the County will hold additional such days as it continues its efforts to provide opportunities to veterans, in addition to the ongoing services available at the Veterans Service Agency’s main office in White Plains.
These events not only celebrate our veterans, but also offer meaningful assistance. Veterans, or a spouse or caretaker for a veteran, can learn what services and resources are available, and take advantage of County and VA personnel who are on site to facilitate applying for and getting the benefits that have been earned.
For veterans unable to attend these events due to a disability, Legislator Covill has worked with the Bedford Veterans Advisory Committee to reach veterans in need of assistance with their benefit applications.
In a new initiative, annual letters are being sent to veterans who are long-term Medicaid recipients, letting them know that if they are having difficulty accessing their VA benefits, accredited representatives will fight for them — helping them understand their options, expediting applications and filing appeals. This new initiative will help the County in supporting our veterans.
Examples of benefits veterans may be eligible for include: healthcare counseling, including mental health; employment assistance; disability compensation for veterans disabled by injury or disease incurred by or aggravated during military service; and additional pension support for permanently disabled or low-income veterans.
Legislator Covill said, “The veterans in Westchester County served on our behalf, and it is important for us to have resources available in District 2 to help them obtain the benefits they earned. The staff present on Wednesday know how the systems at the VA work and can navigate the application process, helping our veterans efficiently and on the spot. In addition, this letter campaign will help us to better assist those of our veterans who are unable to attend events such as this. I look forward to meeting our veterans at the event.”
David Zapsky, Chair of the Bedford Veterans Advisory Committe, said, “As Chair of the Bedford Veterans Advisory Committee, I want to thank Westchester County for its outreach efforts. Veterans who served our country have earned benefits, but sometimes, either through process frustrations or unawareness, do not receive those benefits. One of our members, Mark Sindeband, worked tirelessly with other veterans and County Legislator Covill to renew efforts and give all veterans an opportunity to obtain VA benefits in an efficient manner with the professional help available at the Westchester County Veterans Service Agency.”
County Executive George Latimer said, “In Westchester County, many veterans are eligible for services they may not even know exist. While veterans are always welcome to the main office in White Plains, we know that logistically this may not always be possible. That is why our Veterans Service Agency is committed to going out into the community to meet vets where they are.”
County Publishes Housing Guide
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| Dear Friends and Neighbors, For the first time since 2010, the Westchester County Department of Planning has issued a new version of A Roof Over Your Head, a question and answer guide filled with practical information on housing resources in Westchester County. Whether you are a tenant, landlord, homeowner, an elderly person or a person with a disability, the publication serves as a compilation of answers to many of the most commonly asked questions about housing. The 50 page Guide has been updated to provide additional resources in the Appendix, including contact information and hyperlinks to websites where available. The Guide is available in both English and Spanish, and can be found at homes.westchestergov.com/resources/. Hard copies are also available.For more information please call Jane Lindau, Director of Housing, Westchester County Department of Planning, at (914) 995-1920. |
THE LAST COMBO — Magnotta’s–Official Pizza Provider of The CitizeNetReporter Closing after 47 Years.
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WPCNR MILESTONES August 13, 2019:
Last night, the call went out. The call for the last combo.
Angelo Magnotta picked it up with his trademark “Magnotta”s and I said, “This is Bailey here.”
“Hi John what can I do for you.”
” I’d like a large pizza, two slices plain, 2 slices mushrooms, two slices pepperoni and two slices, sausage, onions and peppers.”
Though in the old days (when Brenda Starr was not a vegannette), I’d order the CitizeNetReporter special “Sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers and onions,” the “New York Philharmonic of pizza” where every piece was elegantly cooked, not overdone, the onions succulent, the pepperoni not blasted or burned, and just right and played their parts perfectly to the mouth’s audience.
And Angelo answers as always, “You got it, John 10 Minutes.” Magnotta’s is that place everyone knows your flavor, and your name.
So I vaulted to the CitizeNetReporter Red Rider I went to pick up the last combo I’ll get from the Maestro Angelo Magnotta, conductor of the ultimate pizza concerto.
The combo in a hurry.
Hot and piping, perfectly separated by Angelos signature clean cut with an authority Roll-o-Chop, and not one unspecified ingredient out of place on a piece where it is not supposed to be! You could get it delivered or pick it up.
The cardboard carrier is secure, the pizza beneath just the right fit, with no curl-up edges or melt on the inside top of the carton. On the way back in the dispatch car, the aroma of the sizzling ingredients simmering for you to anticipate taste buds’ delight.
It became a tradition in our family on Friday nights. A tradition that waned in the days after the children left home. But Monday evening we made it a must to have the children back for one last combo. I opened it to the glory within:
Good God almight which way do I steer? Brenda Starr lifted out the pieces one by one, impressed by the master conductor’s touch! Each piece lifted out clean and structurally secure. The combo pieces high piled with just the right even layers not top heavy and descending luxuriously into the mozarella, mushrooms thinly sliced vying for your attention (“Eat me! Eat me!). Peppers mingling with the peppers like a party you’re late to and you’re in a hurry to mingle and score. My God.
Angelo is retiring this week after 47 years of service to the pizza aficianados of White Plains and he and the whole Magnotta’s atmosphere will be missed. Fred the Postman, who always was there on Friday’s when I picked. Angelo’s wife and then his own son. And Angelo would greet you and say “Hi John, How are you? What’s happening?”
You should stop on by tonight and pick up you own last combo.
HERB SNITZER: PHOTOGRAPHS OF A ONCE AND DISTANT TIME IN LAST WEEK AT HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM–TUESDAY THRU SUNDAY
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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY. AUGUST 12, 2019:
Brenda Starr suggested we go to this Hudson River Museum exhibition Sunday, and we walked in the past of 1950s,60s and 70s New York. It was all there: friendly neighborhoods, the unique jazz clubs of Greenwich Village, the street life, the protests, the activism. It is a unique experience to view our New York City in candid, action photographs that even in black and white reflect the enthusiasm and hope of New Yorkers, the way we got along back then.
Also on view in the museum is a photo exhibition of Yonkers through the years when Yonkers was far different than it is today.
Ms. Starr and I recommend it. Mr. Snitzer’s photographs are on view through Tuesday through Sunday, 12 noon to 5 PM.
WHITE PLAINS WEEK AUGUST 9 PROGRAM WRAPS UP ANOTHER WEEK–ON YOU TUBE AND WWW.WHITEPLAINSWEEK.COM NOW AND WWW.WPCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG—-SEE IT AT 7 TONIGHT ON CABLEVISION 76 AND VERIZON FIOS CH. 45
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YouTube link for wpw 8-9-19 — https://youtu.be/C_q510gwAYswhiteplainsweek.com
wpw link... http://www.whiteplainsweek.com/
LITTLE LEAGUE STATE CHAMPS HONORED
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NOW IN OUR 19TH YEAR
FRENCH AMERICAN SCHOOL OF NEW YORK ALLOWED EXTENSION TO PERFECT DEMAND THAT GEDNEY ASSOCIATION FURNISH ALL DOCUMENTS IN APPEAL SUIT. EFFECT: AT LEAST 2 YEARS MORE DELAY BEFORE APPELLATE COURT TAKES UP CASE.
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WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL Special to The CitizeNetReporter. August 11, 2019:
WPCNR bas learned the French American School of New York has been granted an extension by the Appellate Court, 2nd Circuit, to perfect the FASNY brief contesting the Gedney Association appeal of the Judge Lefowitz decision dismissing the Gedney Article 78 action against the French American School of New York plan to build a school campus on the former Ridgeway Country Club pictured above) .
The French American School of New York argues that the Gedney attorneys should reproduce all the DEISs and FEIS documents) – (Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements), which Gedney attorneys feel is unnecessary exhorbitant expense and a repetition of documents already in the court records of the case. .
The Gedney legal team predicts “looks like motion practice will ensue. this will be at least 2 years before the appeal is heard. “
The dispute is in its 8th year.