Free Republic

The city of Rochester has asked a state judge to order an out-of-town real estate investor to pay more than $131 million for code violations at derelict properties he owns. The request is by far the largest judgment sought since the city began more aggressively pursuing neglectful landlords in court a year ago. Citations for rodent infestations, holes in walls, smashed windows, and dilapidated roofs are among the more than 470 violations that have accumulated at 15 single-family homes and apartment houses owned by Meyer Hirschhorn, of Rockland County. Hirschhorn, who has real estate holdings across New York and New...

Officials in Rockland County, New York took legal action Monday to shut down a so-called “migrant flophouse” where 31 asylum seekers were crammed into a suburban one-family home. The migrants — hailing from Ecuador and Guatemala — were discovered following a surprise inspection at the house located at 295 New Hempstead Road in the tiny hamlet of New City in Clarkstown. “In essence, it was a migrant flophouse,” said Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann. “We knew something was amiss. What we saw was so bad. This was by far the worst flophouse we’ve seen.” Hoehman fumed that the migrant crisis had...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is preparing to send “thousands more” migrants to the Big Apple, Chicago and other sanctuary cities “in the coming days,” as the border is besieged ahead of Title 42 ending this week. Abbott, a Republican, slammed President Joe Biden for failing to act as states bordering Mexico prepare for the end of the federal policy which has allowed for the fast ejection of immigrants from the US since it went into place in 2021. Even before its end, the border has been swarmed with 81,000 people attempting to cross into the US in the last 10...

Officials in Rockland County have declared a state of emergency in an effort to stop New York City’s plan to dump hundreds of migrants there. The declaration by Rockland County Executive Ed Davis, prohibits other municipalities from bringing and housing people in the county, according to the Rockland Report. It also bars hotels and motels from housing migrants without a license and requires municipalities that wish to house migrants or asylum seekers in Rockland County to ensure they will cover their expenses. The town board in Orangetown, NY, about 40 minutes north of Manhattan, was slated to hold a special...

The mastermind behind the murderous 1981 Brinks robbery in which two Nyack police officers and an armored car guard were killed was released for health reasons from federal prison on Friday after nearly 38 years behind bars. Mutulu Shakur, 72, known mostly as the stepfather of slain rapper Tupac Shakur and brother of fellow Black Liberation Army member Joanne Chesimard, had been denied parole since 2016 and earlier in 2022. He is terminally ill. Based on his health, the U.S. Parole Commission granted his early release from a 60-year sentence effective Friday after 442 months behind bars, according to a...

When a young adult in a New York City suburb visited an emergency department in June after experiencing weakness in their lower legs, the shocking diagnosis would lead local officials to declare a health emergency in New York and put authorities across the U.S. and around the world on a state of alert. The individual, a resident of Rockland County, had suffered from a fever, a stiff neck, back and abdominal pain as well as constipation for five days. The patient was hospitalized and tested for enterovirus, a family of pathogens that in rare cases can cause weakness in the...

Jack DePietro was sitting in homeroom at Nyack High School early on the morning of March 24, 1972, when he heard there had been an accident involving one of the school’s buses. “It took a while for everybody to find out the extent of it,” DePietro recalled. “The news came kind of slowly at first, just that a bus had crashed.” The tragedy would later claim two more lives and be remembered as the worst ever involving a New York state school bus. The bus was split in two during the 7:55 a.m. crash, with one section dragged more than...

This week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a new statewide mask mandate that will take effect on Monday, Dec. 13, citing a rise in case numbers. The mandate requires face masks to be worn in all indoor public places that don’t have a vaccine requirement. “A violation of any provision of this measure is subject to a maximum fine of $1,000 for each violation,” Hochul said in a statement. She also added that “local health departments are being asked to enforce these requirements.” But local governments were essentially blindsided by the announcement, and several counties with Republican executives are...

Dr. Martin Cox resigned as superintendent of Clarkstown Central School in Rockland County, New York, following parent concerns over Critical Race Theory being used in curriculum. In a statement, Cox cited “personal reasons” for his resignation, News 12 the Bronx reported Wednesday. ... According to the outlet, the community and board members “lost faith” in him over the past few months and he was also viewed as anti-justice and anti-police for a delayed response pertaining to a controversial presentation by a student regarding Black Lives Matter. The outlet continued: Parents were also critical of his decision to enforce a mask...

Dr. Peter Daszak was spotted outside of his million-dollar home in upstate New York on Friday, just as DailyMail.com learned that he has 'ignored' a request from Congress to answer questions about his charity's funding of the Wuhan Insitute of Virology. Daszak is accused of using 'thuggery and intimidation' to dismiss a theory that Covid-19 came from a Chinese lab his charity, EcoHealth Alliance, worked with and helped support with U.S. government dollars. In April the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent him 34 questions about his involvement with the lab. Despite a deadline of May 17, Daszak has failed...

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Palese has U-turned after claiming virus was natural in origin New York microbiologist signed letter in Lancet denouncing all other theories 'Bullying' letter has been described as ostracizing dissenting voices in science The letter was orchestrated by Dr Peter Daszak, the head of a non-profit that funnelled U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology

New York and New Jersey now have the highest rates of COVID-19 infection in the country.The Empire State has averaged 548 cases for every 100,000 residents over the past 14 days — only surpassed by the Garden State with 647 cases.Despite vaccination efforts, New York has not seen a dramatic reduction in infections. Daily cases have averaged about 50,000 people per week since mid-February.And across the Hudson River in New Jersey, the number of new infections has climbed by 37 percent in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days.In New York, Orange and Rockland counties...

The Democratic congressman who reps both sides of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is calling on the federal government to investigate concerns about the span’s structural integrity. US Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), who represents Westchester and Rockland counties, recently wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking him to probe claims reported by the Albany Times-Union earlier this month that bridge contractors “covered up” faulty bolts in the $3.9 billion structure. Jones called on Buttigieg “to open an investigation into these claims and … to work with the New York state Department of Transportation to ensure proper inspections are...

The gunman suspected of killing the son and wounding the husband of a federal judge in New Jersey before taking his own life in New York’s Catskills has been identified as lawyer and men’s rights activist Roy Den Hollander, federal sources said. Hollander — whose website details “anti-feminist cases” and calls for clients to “help battle the infringement of Men’s Rights by the Feminists” — was found dead in Rockland County, NY on Monday, according to sources. Investigators believe Hollander shot himself hours after an attack on the North Brunswick, NJ, home of federal Judge Esther Salas.

The oil price situation tonight at of 1045 pm Eastern US time sees the WTI price at 20.49 per barrel.... White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says the guidelines from President Trump on "reopening the economy" will come in the next day or two..... ...California Governor Gavin Newsom said today he would follow the lead of the scientists and public health experts and would not give a specific date for reopening California.... And when the results came in Monday for the Wisconsin Supreme Court contest Republican-Conservative Daniel Kelly was defeated by Democrat-Liberal Jill Karofsky in what's being called an "upset"......

Following last month's stabbing during a Hanukkah celebration at a Rabbi's home in Monsey, New York, Jews in the area are taking their safety seriously and have decided to defend themselves. Orthodox and Hasidic Jews in Rockland County are applying for pistol licenses, which would allow them to carry concealed, en masse. According to the New York Post , the Rockland County clerk's office saw a drastic increase in pistol license applications following the attack on Dec. 28th. Over the eight weeks prior to the attack, the clerk's office received an average of six applications per week across the county....

In Rockland County last night, during a Chanukah celebration at a synagogue a man stormed in with a machete and stabbed at least five victims, who were taken to the hospital. This is the latest in a string of antisemitic attacks in the New York City area, coming in the wake of the tragic killing of four people during an attack on a Jewish grocery store in Jersey City.These two acts of violence this month have brought renewed attention to the sharp uptick in anti Jewish violence that has quietly held New York City in its grip over the past...

A Facebook campaign ad from an upstate New York county’s Republican Party has been slammed as anti-Semitic and “deeply disturbing.” Titled “A storm is brewing in Rockland,” the video takes aim at the large and growing hasidic Jewish community in the county, the specter of “overdevelopment” and a proposed yeshiva campus. The video, which appeared to have been removed on Thursday morning, features menacing music, the slogan “If They Win, We Lose” and a warning that “they” will “change our way of life.” “Aron Wieder and his Ramapo bloc are plotting a takeover,” the video intones, referring to a Hasidic...

The member of the state parole board who cast the tie-breaking vote that granted early release to former Weather Underground terrorist Judith Clark is married to a convicted murderer — a revelation that has outraged Clark’s victims and their families. Former Nyack Detective Arthur Keenan, who was shot and wounded during the infamous 1981 Brink’s robbery in Rockland County, was stunned to learn from The Post that parole-board member Tana Agostini had ruled on Clark’s case. “I’m very shocked that Agostini would be allowed to make a decision on someone who is a murderer,” Keenan said Sunday. “It’s a conflict of interest,”...

Effective at the stroke of midnight, Wednesday, anyone who is under 18 years of age and unvaccinated against the measles will be barred from public places until this declaration expires in 30 days or until they receive the MMR vaccination. There have been 161 cases of measles in Rockland County, NY. since October. The Health Commissioner is frustrated because infected individuals are continuing to go about their business in common areas, despite been told not to go out into the public. These include department stores, like Target, as well as food supermarkets using shopping carts.