Local environmental educator and raconteur Chuck Stead remembers the days when he was just a boy in the mid-1960s and would wander the wonderland that was Torne Valley, setting small game traps. Stead, who grew up in Hillburn, NY, roamed the valley like it was his own back yard. Continue Reading

The meeting room in Hillburn Thursday evening was less full than the last few budget workshops, both of people and hope. The Ramapo Central School Board met in another special Budget Workshop to discuss how to bridge a prospective revenue shortfall in total of 10 million dollars. Continue Reading

Take the way back machine to the beginning of March. The Suffern Mounties hockey team were reigning state hockey champions and in the thick of another playoff run. Against rival Mamaroneck, Suffern mounted an epic comeback in the last seconds of the game to cap the team’s fourth consecutive Section 1 championship.

But then the Mountie magic tank went dry. The defending state champs got dethroned 3-2 in a bang-the-boards game against the Saratoga Blue Streak in a Division 1 state quarterfinal at Monsey’s Sport-O-Rama. It was the first time since 2009 that Suffern didn’t make the trip to Utica for the state tournament. Continue Reading

The auditorium at Suffern High School was packed with parents and students and even contingents from a competing North Rockland High School cast. This spring’s musical was West Side Story, and it showcased Suffern’s musical talent in a multi-colored display to nearly sold out perfomances. Continue Reading

The long winding tale of former Sloatsburg Building Inspector John Layne ended quietly at Sloatsburg’s Justice Court Wednesday evening when Layne pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct. The plea deal brings Layne a one-year conditional discharge, but will also involve a misdemeanor on his permanent record as it amounts to the admission of official corruption. Continue Reading

A small contingent of Waldron Terrace residents met up at the Sloatsburg Village Hall Thursday night to listen and learn about the legend of incoming Sloatsburg sewers.

Both Rockland County Sewer District 1 Executive Director Dianne Phillipps and Assistant Director Mike Saber discussed the next phase of the Sloatsburg sewer project, which involves the Waldron Terrace neighborhood and additional streets surrounding Sloatsburg Elementary School. Continue Reading

News travels fast these days. Sometimes it mainlines onto Facebook for friends and family to see, share and discuss. And more often than not, it bubbles up on Twitter, where news often becomes news before it becomes news.

The Jets and the Sharks are rumbling Friday and Saturday night. Are you going to be there?

Suffern High School presents West Side Story, the iconic romance adapted from the Bard’s own Romeo and Juliet. The action is enough to make you shake Maria or tell all the hot heads to just chill: Bernardo the bad, Tony the lovelorn and Chino the blind. As with Shakespeare’s play itself, the young players in West Side Story allow emotions to reign supreme. Isn’t that youth’s way? Continue Reading

All eyes were on Ramapo Central Assistant Superintendent for Business Kelly Seibert as he ran through school district budget facts and figures, projecting them on a big screen for the crowded room to see. It was not a pretty picture for a school district that has experienced personnel and program growth and stability over the last few years.

There’s nothing quite like an open political race to define candidates. With no incumbent to spar, the various personalities and characters of the candidates usually rise to the surface and take center stage. The race for Rockland County Executive got down to business this past Monday night when all three Democratic candidates met to present themselves to a hometown crowd at the Orangetown Democratic Committee meeting. Continue Reading