Inside Rockland » Amy Padnani

Rockland Week In Review, May 16, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:55:52 +0000

Hey everyone, I’m heading off but our new MoJo, Ben Rubin, will be hosting the week in review podcast from now on. Check out his very first one below and feel free to leave a comment!

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Rockland Week In Review May 9, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:08:30 +0000

I’m back again with the latest Week In Review podcast. Remember, you can view this podcast on your iPod or mobile phone through iTunes.

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Rockland Week In Review, May 2, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:32:23 +0000

Hi there, I’m back again with the latest week in review podcast. Take a look below and feel free to leave a comment.

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Links to related articles:

London stakeout pays off in arrest of New Square fugitive
Airmont woman denies she put son in oven
64 years later, Ed Peterson gets his purple heart
Rockland looking to contact, offer discounts to its veterans
Bedbugs strike Haverstraw family

Clarkstown girl scouts awarded for recycling efforts

Amy Padnani — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:45:20 +0000

Last week Tuesday was a fun day for the Heart of the Hudson Girl Scout Troop 40603. Seven girls were awarded with certificates for their efforts to improve recycling throughout Clarkstown.

The girls noticed that many public spaces in Clarkstown don’t have recycling bins. So they pitched an idea for officials to place bins at all parks, community centers and ball fields. They were honored by Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack, Councilwoman Shirley Lasker and Jo Anne Pedersen, the superintendent of the parks and recreation department. The recycling bins will appear at public spaces in the coming months.

The girls who were recognized were:

Ariela Nazar-Rosen
Gabriella Napoli
Brittany Kiernan
Maria Battaglia
Corrine Quirk
Joanna Perez
Sarah Werbeck

Rockland Week In Review, April 25, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:23:14 +0000

Check out the podcast below for this week’s top stories:

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Clarkstown Councilman to meet the pope today

Amy Padnani — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:05:28 +0000

John Maloney is in the middle of a busy weekend. The Clarkstown Councilman was selected to receive communion from Pope Benedict XVI today and to help give communion at Yankee Stadium tomorrow.

“It’s, I think, very special,” Maloney said. “I’m very happy about this great opportunity.”

Maloney said he was ordained by the Archdiocese of New York in 1973, the first class of deacons. It just so happens he became a Clarkstown councilman that same year. He’s also been a deacon at St. Anthony’s Church for many years and serves as a chaplain for the Rockland County Jail and local fire departments.

Today, he looked forward to sitting “in the first pew, center aisle,” at St. Patrick’s Cathedral to receive communion from the pope and bring up the gifts for the Mass.

Tomorrow, he expects to board a bus from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers at 7 a.m. and head to Yankee Stadium, where he will help give communion to about 60,000 people during Mass.

Rockland Week In Review April 11, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:05:59 +0000

Thanks for stopping by for the Rockland Week in Review, where we look back at the biggest Rockland stories of the past seven days.

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Clarkstown supervisor reaches out to state officials regarding tree removal policy

Amy Padnani — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:24:57 +0000

Some of you might remember how several residents on a Congers street were fuming when they found out that Orange and Rockland Utilities planned to remove 50 to 70 trees in their neighborhood. I wrote about it last summer and staff writer Hannan Adely recently wrote about similar issues in Orangetown and Clarkstown:

Trees come down; homeowners not happy
Residents have two more weeks to fight tree clearing

You can also check out a video of a recent protest in Blauvelt here.

Now that the issue has resurfaced, Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack said he plans to reach out to the state Public Service Commission again to ask them to reconsider the tree removal policy. He also said he wrote a letter today to Gov. David Paterson seeking his support.

Gromack said in a statement: “While we work to preserve open space, the PSC mandates the destruction of trees. That doesnâ€™t make any sense.”

Last summer, Gromack wrote to the PSC when he found out that hundreds of trees were slated for removal. He asked the state to revert back to the tree trimming policy they instituted prior to the blackout in 2003, which was caused when a tree fell on transmission wires in Ohio. The state never responded. We’ll have to see what happens this time.

“Operation Home Front” to kick off Saturday in West Nyack

Amy Padnani — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:06:45 +0000

The West Nyack Free Library is planning a program on Saturday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. to support soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The program is called “Operation Home Front” and it encourages people to get involved in two programs sponsored by the United Service Organization. There’s Operation Phone Home, which distributes free phone cards to members of the armed forces, and United Through Reading, in which soldiers read a children’s book, record it on a DVD and send it to a child.

Veterans and current members of the armed forces will speak at the event about how the public can get involved. For more information, call the library at 845-358-6081.

To read more about veterans affairs, visit the At Ease! blog.

Rockland Week In Review, April 3, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:15:57 +0000

Podcast file:

Palisades Center mall stories
Palisades Center reshapes Rockland
Megamall replaces county’s downtowns
Mall a magnet for white-collar crime, but violence is low Palisades Center mall timeline
Mysteries, myths lurk beneath mall’s surface
Palisades Center’s options: Adopt or fade
Retail jobs drive mall’s economy
Palisades Center didn’t cause windfall on locals’ tax bills

Clarkstown Town Clerk to hold mobile office hours at Youthfest

Amy Padnani — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:08:50 +0000

The Clarkstown Town Clerkâ€™s Office will be holding mobile office hours on Sunday, April 6, for people who can’t make it to Town Hall during regular business hours. If you need a dog license, handicapped parking tag or other services, you can find Town Clerk David Carlucci at the Rockland County Youthfest at the Rockland Community College Fieldhouse in Suffern from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.clarkstownclerk.com or call 845-639-2010.

Nanuet Civic Association to meet on Thursday

Amy Padnani — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:01:12 +0000

Don’t forget that the monthly Nanuet Civic Association meeting will be held this Thursday, April 3, same time, same place – at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Nanuet Public Library. At the meeting, Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack will talk about new projects in the hamlet, including an update on the plans to revitalize the Nanuet Mall. Erika Moschetti, who works in Gromack’s office, told me they’re waiting for the mall’s owner to submit specific plans to the town for approval and that they should have more details within a month.

Rockland Week In Review March 21, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:26:17 +0000

Podcast file

Flash video

Paterson calls for cooperation, confidence in state government
Lower Hudson vigils mark 5 years of war
Feds fault patient care at RPC
Former Clarkstown soccer coach gets prison for raping girl
Costcoâ€™s â€˜secretâ€™ riles rival gas stations
Nanuet Costco welcomes wave of visitors to bargain gas station
Animal experts warn against Easter pets

Rockland Week In Review March 14, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:27:15 +0000

Podcast file

Flash video

Spitzer’s resignation:
Spitzer joins a list of govs to quit early
Residents say Spitzer right to resign
Spitzer resigns; Paterson to take over Monday
Call girl at center of gov’s sex scandal
Paterson looks to steady state government
Paterson says he’s ready to govern
Spitzer legal woes mount
Spitzer resigns, felled by prostitution scandal
LoHud women divided over whether Spitzer should resign

Rockland Week In Review, March 7, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:00:28 +0000

Podcast file

Flash video

For Palisades native, war trauma ends in suicide
An evening rush to forget, after building collapse
Some bridge tolls, train tickets increased over weekend
Boy, 15, indicted on attempted murder
Karben to fight DWI charge
Pump malfunction, clog blamed for sewage spill in Ramapo

Events raise about $15,000 for Emma Monahan

Amy Padnani — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:12:29 +0000

The water was freezing cold but Barbara Noyes and about 150 others at yesterday’s Penguin Plunge were warmed by the energy of the crowd. “Some of the people were just so excited and lit up, lit up that they were helping,” she said. “It was really great.”

Noyes, a Blavelt resident and an officer with the South Nyack-Grandview Police Department, was among 20 or 30 people who jumped into the Hudson River yesterday afternoon as part of a fundraising event for Emma Monahan, a 6-year-old girl from Orangeburg who is severely debilitated. Emma was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis when she was seven weeks old. Hannan wrote a story about her last week, which can read here.

The Penguin Plunge, which was organized by Noyes and Pearl River resident Mike Lynch, raised about $10,000 to help the family with expenses that aren’t covered by insurance, such as building a handicapped-accessible area for Emma on the first floor of their house.

In Tappan, a Cut-A-Thon held yesterday at the Changing Heads hair salon raised about $5,000, said the salon’s owner, Bob Press. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than a dozen volunteers invited customers to get a $30-hair cut. The day’s profits were donated to the family. You can read my story on the event here.

I bumped into Emma’s mother, Anne Marie Monahan, at the salon, who said she was really touched by everyone’s participation. “It was just a very heartwarming feeling when someone doesn’t even know you and they want to help,” she said.

Rockland Week In Review Feb. 29, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:20:11 +0000

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Celebrating Black History Month

Amy Padnani — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:45:12 +0000

On Sunday, I covered a Black History Month celebration at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Nyack, where about 100 people listened to prayers, speeches and songs about their ancestry. Check out this audio podcast for a sampling of the event. Also, I posted a link to the story I wrote below.

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Black History Month celebrated in Nyack

Jodi Ann Ballard, 48, wife of Clarkstown’s superintendent of highways

Amy Padnani — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:31:39 +0000

Jodi Ann Ballard, the wife of Clarkstown Superintendent of Highways Wayne Ballard, died early Monday morning after a long battle with breast cancer, officials said. She was 48. A memorial service was held this afternoon at the Nanuet Hebrew Center.

Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack, who attended the service, said the synagogue was packed with about 700 or 800 people in attendance, reaffirming what a remarkable person she was.

“She was a free spirit, compassionate and a fighter and always kind of did it her way,” he said. “I think what struck everybody there was her courageous battle with her illness and that she never let it seem to impact her family and her friends.”

According to a paid obit published in The Journal News today, Ms. Ballard is survived by her three children, Sean, Kimberly and Justin; her mother, Dorothy Bogart; her step-father, Jack Bogart; her brother and sister-in-law, Paul Ginsberg and Nicole Felton; her step-brother and step-sister, Gary Bogart and Jane Bogart; her sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Gloria and Bob McCahill, Tommy and Tracy Ballard, Craig and Laureen Groth, Christine and Tom Soden, Mark and Cindy Ballard and Marianne Flowers; and several nephews and nieces.

Donations in Ms. Ballard’s memory may be sent to:
Memorial Sloan Kettering
Attn: Jane Weyl
633 Third Ave., 28th Floor
New York, NY 10017

Kitchen Nightmares visits West Nyack

Amy Padnani — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:03:01 +0000

Some of you may have noticed camera crews and trailers on Route 303 in West Nyack about a week or so ago. It turns out Fiesta Sunrise, a Mexican restaurant, is going to be featured on Kitchen Nightmares, a reality television show on FOX, where a chef and his team help failing restaurants get back on their feet. It’s not just any chef though Ã¢â‚¬â€ it’s Gordon Ramsay, the guy who gained notoriety on Hell’s Kitchen (another reality television show) for making people cry.

The crew was at Fiesta Sunrise for six days and helped restaurant owner Patricia Zaldivar redo the decor, the menu and the way food was prepared. Zaldivar said she put her life’s savings “and more” into the restaurant and that she was elated when she was chosen to be on the show, even if it meant displaying her life’s problems for all to see. “I just felt like that was my last resort,” she said. “I think it needed a big change.”

A spokeswoman at FOX said she doesn’t know yet when the show will air but we will definitely do a story on it beforehand to let you know.

Another state of the town address?

Amy Padnani — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:46:50 +0000

Yes, it’s true. Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack will give a state of the town address at the New City Chamber of Commerce meeting this Wednesday. In fact, Erika Moschetti, who works in the supervisor’s office, said the supervisor delivers his speech to civic associations and other neighborhood groups every year.

So, if you missed it the first time, this would be a good opportunity hear what he has to say about recent and future developments within the town. (If you can’t make it this week, however, you can always check out my podcast on Gromack’s official state of the town speech, which he gave Jan. 3 at Clarkstown Town Hall.)

The speech will include issues specific to the hamlet, such as the revitalization of the old Bradlees shopping center, improving the downtown area and other future projects in the area. The meeting will be held at the New City Library at 7 p.m.

Rockland Week In Review Feb. 22, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:17:37 +0000

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Fallen soldier’s son ‘100 percent’ like his father

Amy Padnani — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:38:18 +0000

On Saturday, I spent a few hours with the family of fallen soldier Justin Garcia as they celebrated his son’s first birthday. Relatives said Vincent Justin Garcia, or, little Vinny, as the family calls him, has many of his father’s mannerisms. I shot some photos and video at the party so you can check it out for yourself.

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Fallen soldier’s son has his first birthday party

Rockland Week In Review Feb. 15, 2008

Amy Padnani — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:29:26 +0000

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In memory of Beatrice Agnew

Amy Padnani — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:39:44 +0000

Last Sunday, I covered a ceremony honoring Beatrice Agnew, a well-known figure in Palisades. Agnew, 84, served as the director of the Palisades Free Library for 40 years but recently passed away. The ceremony featured touching speeches from close friends and family members who gave details on Agnew’s life. Fortunately, I brought my digital recorder along so I can share some of the highlights of the ceremony with you.

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