Prepping Westchester for climate change; surprise (and surprisingly good!) vegan dishes at local restaurants; paddleboarding and yoga combined; kitchen design must-haves; understanding Drake; and more

Good morning! Today is Saturday, October 9, 2021. You’re reading The Examiner+ Weekend Edition — the complete digital issue for this week.

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🎵 PRELUDE: George Winston

The warm weather and long, sunny days may be in our rearview mirror, but you can still ease your way into this autumn weekend with this upbeat but chill piano solo from the veteran pianist’s album, Summer.

📰 ICYMI: This Week’s Features

The Perfect Storm

Hurricane Ida further exposes Westchester’s vulnerabilities to climate change.

Kitchen Design Must-Haves

Four essential details from recent Westchester kitchen design projects you should add to your remodel right now.

Eating Vegan in Westchester

Surprising options abound (IF you know where to look).

Understanding Drake

Hip hop’s certified other boy

Paddleboarding and Yoga, Combined(!)

Paddling and stretching your way into fall in the Hudson Valley

📡 THE FEED: Curated News in Brief

• NJ Man Charged with Killing Ex-Girlfriend’s Pets in Lake Peekskill: A New Jersey man was charged Wednesday with killing his ex-girlfriend’s four pets in Lake Peekskill between December 2019 and November 2020. (Examiner)

• ​Westchester DA to Pursue Charges Against Robert Durst in Disappearance of First Wife: Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah intends to pursue charges against convicted killer and real estate heir Robert Durst in the long-unsolved 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathie. (NY Daily News)

• Pleasantville Cannabis Sales, Cafes Receive Mostly Cool Reception: The first public forum to determine if marijuana dispensaries should be allowed in Pleasantville was held last Monday evening with a general consensus that the village should opt-out from retail sales. (Examiner)

• Westchester Residential Real Estate Market Still Booming in Q3: The Westchester residential real estate market continued to be hot during the third quarter of the year, according to a new report from real estate brokerage Houlihan Lawrence. (Westchester Biz Journal)

• The Great Jack-O’-Lantern Blaze Returns This Month: “Blaze: Hudson Valley” returns to its location at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson for the 17th year. On the grounds of Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown, visitors can enjoy two special celebrations of the author’s most famous work, “Home of the Legend,” during the day and dramatic evening performances of Irving’s “Legend.” (Examiner)

• Adorable, Furry Refugees Land At Westchester County Airport: Rescue animals on their way to eventual adoptive, forever homes through the Westchester SPACA arrived by plane from overcrowded shelters in other states. (Patch)

• A Lost 17th Century Baroque Masterpiece Uncovered in Westchester: An Iona college professor identified an Italian Dandini that had been missing for more than 50 years — hanging in a Westchester County church. (Westchester Magazine)

📅 FLASHBACK: 1930s

Football season is underway — behind bars at Sing Sing in Ossining. The infamous prison’s team was called — wait for it — the Black Sheep. Their team was part of a program called the Mutual Welfare League that tried to help prisoners become “better people.” The team played all sorts of other teams, including police leagues, and was sponsored by New York Giants owner Tim Mara. (Photo courtesy Sing Sing Prison Museum; research by Maddie Stone)

🤣 LOL

🔢 BY THE NUMBERS: Food for Thought

—Westchester residents who are food insecure (including 1 in 3 children), defined as being uncertain about where their next meal is coming from.

Source: Feeding Westchester

👍🏻 OUR THANKS: The New York Times

Our sincere appreciation to @Marc Tracy at the New York Times for doing a story on this week’s launch of Examiner+ and supporting our efforts to reinvent and sustain professional, independent local journalism to serve our communities.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s issue of Examiner+. We love honest feedback. Tell us what you think: examinerplus@theexaminernews.com.

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Robert Schork

Robert Schork is Examiner Media’s Digital Editorial Director.

Visit Robert’s full author bio here.