2016: Local Year in Review

January

• Hundreds in Peekskill and Yorktown ring in 2016 with downtown ball drops.
• 4^th Annual Polar Plunge in Peekskill raises nearly $15,000 for This Is Me Foundation.
• Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina starts second term with optimistic message. Also sworn in were returning councilwomen Vivian McKenzie and Kathy Talbot and freshman Councilman Andre “Noodle” Rainey.
• Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace is sworn in for a third term. Councilmen Tom Diana and Ed Lachterman, new Town Clerk Diana Quast and Town Justice Gary Raniolo were also sworn in.
• Newly elected Supervisor Dana Levenberg and councilwoman Karen D’Attore and Elizabeth Feldman take oaths of office in Town of Ossining.
• Former Governor and Peekskill Mayor George Pataki suspends his presidential campaign.
• Twenty buses are vandalized in the Somers School District’s bus garage.
• Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi is sworn in for a 13^th Councilman Frank Farrell is sworn in for a sixth term, Councilman Dr. Richard Becker for a third term and Town Justice Daniel McCarthy for a third term.
• Former Mount Pleasant Police Chief and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton CCD teacher Brian Fanelli is sentenced to 18 months in prison for possession of child pornography.
• Homeowners group Cortlandt WATCH disbands after 30 years of fighting to control development, preserve open space and protect the environment.
• State Assemblyman Steve Katz announces he won’t seek a fourth term in the 94^th
• Somers Judge Michael McDermott is appointed new town attorney in Yorktown.
• Yorktown High School graduate Amanda Saccomanno appears on popular pro wrestling reality show.
• Somers Town Board rejects a proposal for a cell tower in Reis Park.
• Croton mother Kathleen Dymes pleads guilty in 2015 Easter Sunday death of her six-year-old daughter in a home on Hastings Avenue.
• State grant given to Councilwoman Drew Claxton and her son in 2007 for a residence they co-own on Fremont Street raises eyebrows.
• Courtesy of the floor change in Yorktown sparks backlash.
• Clearwater cancels Great Hudson River Revival in Croton, a music and environmental awareness festival held annually in June.
• Northern Westchester Hospital celebrates a century of serving community.
• Protestors call for closure of Mohegan pet store whose owner is facing animal cruelty charges.
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejects reopening hearing on gas pipeline expansion.
• Former Ossining Public Library Children’s Room head Sally Dow dies at 80.
• Janet DiFiore is confirmed as new chief judge of the state’s Court of Appeals.

February

• Alex Smith, a music teacher at Soundview Preparatory School in Yorktown, appears with Lady Gaga during National Anthem of Super Bowl.
• An electrical fire destroys a home on Maple Court in Cortlandt.
• Governor Andrew Cuomo initiates probe following radioactive water that leaked into the groundwater at the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
• AFC Urgent Care celebrates opening at BJ’s Wholesale Club shopping plaza in Yorktown.
• Cortlandt Councilwoman Debbie Carter Costello launches bid for State Senate.
• Times Square Hero and Buchanan Trustee Duane Jackson recounts preventing terrorist attack during a presentation at The Little Red Schoolhouse sponsored by the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society.
• Cortlandt family alleges bullying forced them to remove their son from Van Cortlandtville Elementary School.
• Boy Scout Troop 173 Celebrates 50^th Anniversary in Yorktown.
• Pipeline protestors arrested for blocking Spectra Energy from staging area in Verplanck.

March

* Beloved longtime John F. Kennedy High School faculty member Sister Barbara Heil, 80, is killed in a head-on collision on Route 6 in Yorktown. Sister Marie Murphy, who was traveling in the same car, was severely injured.

* State Senator Terrence Murphy defends himself from a published report that his family-owned restaurant in Yorktown owes more than $100,000 in back taxes.

* Non-profit group says Councilwoman Drew Claxton and her son will be reimbursing the organization more than $34,000 for state grants wrongly received in 2007.

* The largest residential construction project in more than 55 years featuring 150 rental apartments is slated to be built in downtown Peekskill.

* A tax preparer from Yorktown is charged with fraud and failing to file taxes.

* Town of Cortlandt officially closes on 352 acres of open space that was once proposed to be developed for more than 300 homes.

* Peekskill celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with annual parade.

* Yorktown resident Robert Santoli wins $76,000 in cash and prizes on Wheel of Fortune.

* Cortlandt Town Board adopts the fourth Master Plan in the town’s history.

* Somers Councilman William Faulkner announces bid for State Assembly.

* Efforts intensify to remove developer Donald Trump’s name from a state park in Yorktown.

* Ossining resident Doris Walker celebrates 107^th birthday.

* Former longtime Ossining High School coach Donald Winter dies at 81.

April

• Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina touts financial turnaround and growth in city during annual State of the City address.
• Lakeland High School graduates score luxury New York Yankees tickets in costume contest dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Support Connection Executive Director Katherine Quinn is honored in recognition of her 20 years of leadership and dedication helping thousands of women affected by breast and ovarian cancer.
• Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi gains national exposure as audience member on Dancing With the Stars. (photo)
• Southern Waterfront Park and Trailway unveiled in Peekskill.
• New York Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital marks 10 years of “No-Wait” Emergency Room.
• Somers Town Board ends residency requirement for town police officers.
• Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino highlights achievements in State of the County address.

May

• Scenes for new movie called “Wonderstruck” are filmed near the Paramount in Peekskill.
• S. Department of Education New York Office of Civil Rights confirms it will investigate complaints made by Cortlandt family against Van Cortlandtville Elementary School and the Lakeland School District.
• Funding secured to forever preserve Stuart’s Farm in Somers. Stuart’s is the oldest working farm in Westchester.
• State Assembly candidate Kevin Byrne is injured in a car accident.
• Hunterbrook Bridge on Route 129 crossing the Croton Reservoir is renamed the Army Specialist David R. Fahey Jr. Memorial Bridge on Armed Forces Day for Yorktown resident killed in Afghanistan in 2011.
• Garrison resident Brittany DiDonato, 2007 Walter Panas High graduate, dies at 27 following a three-year battle with Stage 4 liver cancer.
• A local private violin teacher from Somers is charged with transporting, receiving and possessing child pornography.
• School budgets are approved in seven local districts.
• Yorktown School District is designated a National School of Character by a nonprofit organization, the first district in Westchester to receive the designation.
• IBM notifies employees it will be leaving its Somers headquarters in 2017.

June

• Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission determines Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan is running satisfactorily despite several high-profile malfunctions.
• Annual Relay for Life event is held in Yorktown, raising approximately $162,000.
• Former treasurer of the Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department is arrested and charged with stealing more than $5.7 million from the department.
• Rumors circulate about Costco Wholesale Club pulling out of Yorktown project and Lowe’s coming in.
• Hundreds gather a vigil at Riverfront Green in Peekskill to remember victims of a nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.
• S. Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney and Hudson Riverkeeper call for immediate shutdown of Unit 2 at Indian Point to analyze cause of 227 bolts recently having been replaced at the core of the reactor.
• The Somers, Yorktown and Valhalla-based First Lego League robotics team the Hotshot Hotwires place third in mechanical design at tournament in Arkansas.
• Sixteen women in the 40^th Senate District are honored by State Senator Terrence Murphy.
• The Town of Cortlandt purchases a 100-acre parcel in Verplanck from Con Edison for $2.75 million, blocking a proposed high electric converter station with a buzzing sound.
• Yorktown Town Board approves a amendment in the Town Code that would make dumping from a vehicle a civil violation if offender is caught in the act.

July

• Peekskill sends police officers to Dallas following killing of five officers and wounding of seven others during a rally.
• Protestors gather outside Governor Cuomo’s home in New Castle urging the closure of three projects and facilities they contend accelerate climate change.
• Longest running Italian Feast takes over Verplanck.
• Governor Cuomo signs bill to spread out reassessment hit in the Town of Ossining.
• Panio Wines and Liquors is forced to relocate to make room for new Central Fire Station in Peekskill.
• Owner of a Peekskill home health care agency pleads guilty to defrauding 67 employees out of $135,000 in wages.
• Cortlandt Town Justice Daniel McCarthy reserves decision in the case of the “Montrose 9” protestors who were arrested in November 2015 for disorderly conduct for blocking access to Spectra Energy’s construction yard on Route 9A.
• Two suspects are caught on video robbing Italian Feast in Verplanck.
• 73-year-old Buchanan man is sentenced to 12 years in state prison for sexually assaulting three Westchester children younger than 13.
• New York State Police save a suicidal man from jumping off the Bear Mountain Bridge.
• Yorktown marks Purple Heart designation with new signs.
• New York Mets second baseman Neil Walker visits Summer Trails Day Camp in Granite Springs.

August

• Hudson Valley Exposition is held at Peekskill Riverfront Green.
• Regional officials opposed Coast Guard plan to anchor barges in the Hudson River.
• Chappaqua group celebrates Hillary Clinton’s historic achievement as the first woman to be a major party’s nominee for president.
• A birthday celebration is held to mark Support Connection’s 20 years of service.
• Lakeland High School graduate Melissa Gonzalez competes on United States field hockey team at the Rio Olympic Games.
• Longtime Peekskill resident Michael Griest, who portrayed Abe Lincoln at Peekskill Lincoln Society events, dies at 77.
• Two drug traffickers are busted in Croton with $2.3 million worth of heroin.
• Yorktown Police Chief Daniel McMahon retires after 35 years serving community.
• $3.6 million worth of upgrades at Croton-Harmon train station are completed.

September

• 92^nd Annual Yorktown Grange Fair is held.
• Grand opening ceremony is held for all-purpose field on Sprout Brook Road in Cortlandt.
• Ossining High School is recognized as one of only 20 schools nationwide as a “School of Opportunity.”
• Pipeline opponents decry destruction of Blue Mountain Reservation in Montrose.
• Bobby Williams, who worked 42 years in the Hendrick Hudson School District, dies at 70.
• Mudslinging seeps into search for court judge in Peekskill.
• Yorktown Town Board repeals tree ordinance.
• Historic Peekskill/Cortlandt Civil War Monument is rededicated.
• Robert Noble takes over as new Yorktown police chief.

October

• Peekskill, Ossining communities rally for fair funding from state lawmakers.
• Thousands attend annual Support-A-Walk at FDR State Park to benefit Support Connection.
• Yorktown receives $375,000 from State Senator Terrence Murphy to relocate the town’s highway garage and construct a mixed use commercial and residential building in its place.
• New Jack O’Lantern postage stamps are unveiled at Historic Hudson Valley Blaze in Croton.
• Voters in Croton-Harmon School District approve $20.8 million capital projects bond.
• City of Peekskill is one of 76 communities statewide awarded a grant to help combat vacant and abandoned homes.
• Peekskill man pleads guilty in 2015 Park Street killing.
• Ground breaking ceremony for Cortlandt Crossing shopping center across from Cortlandt Town Center takes place. Larger ShopRite announced to anchor center.
• Cortlandt man is killed on motorcycle in crash on Route 202 in Yorktown.
• Mother of 12-year-old Autistic boy twins at odds with Lakeland School District over busing.
• Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace proposes no tax increase in 2017 Yorktown budget.
• Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi releases 2017 budget with two percent tax hike.

November

• Donald Trump stuns the world by being elected the 45^th president of the United States, defeating Chappaqua resident Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote by three million votes.
• Residents debate proposed changes to Shrub Oak service station.
• State Senator Terrence Murphy is elected to a second two-year term in the 40^th
• State Assemblywoman Sandra Galef is elected to a 13^th two-year term in the 95^th Assembly District.
• State Senator David Carlucci is elected to a fourth term in the 38^th
• Kevin Byrne defeats Yorktown resident Brian Higbie to replace exiting Assemblyman Steve Katz.
• Incumbent Croton Village Board of Trustees members Ann Gallelli and Brian Pugh are reelected.
• Mahopac teenager Cullen Malzo saves the lives of two teen girls whose vehicle plunged into Lake Mahopac.
• Annual Veterans Day Parade is held in Shrub Oak.
• Melissa Loehr makes history by being appointed the first female city court judge by the Democratic majority of the Peekskill Common Council.
• Seventeen veterans are inducted into Senator Murphy’s Hall of Fame.
• A high school teacher who resides in Somers was charged last week with allegedly possessing and receiving child pornography.
• Ossining Village Board last week voted 3-2 in favor of instructing the village engineer to move forward with the design of a roundabout project in the downtown business district.

December

• Groundbreaking ceremony is held for new Central Fire Station in Peekskill.
• Cortlandt officials, veterans and friends, family and classmates of U.S. Army Pvt. Henry Bethea gather at Steamboat Riverfront Park in Verplanck to dedicate a bench in the soldier’s memory.
• Cortlandt Town Justice Daniel McCarthy issues a ruling finding the so-called “Montrose 9” protestors who were arrested last November for blocking access to Spectra Energy’s construction yard on Route 9A guilty of disorderly conduct.
• Former Yorktown Supervisor Susan Siegel files a lawsuit challenging the new tree ordinance adopted by the Yorktown Town Board in September.
• Yorktown officials boasted last week of capturing on camera the driver of a vehicle on Wood Street throwing a bag of garbage out the window, the first person caught under town’s historic anti-littering law.
• Mary’s Episcopal Church in Mohegan Lake seeks funding to complete a new building that houses the only food pantry in the area and other community needs.