Westchester Now

Do you recognize this bank robber?

Cops say he walked into the Berkshire Bank in Harriman Wednesday afternoon, waved a handgun at the teller and demanded cash.

After the clerk handed over the cash -- police didn't say how much -- the robber bolted from the bank, turned west on foot and disappeared. Harriman police and state troopers combed the area of Route 17 near the bank and even...

A quick search on Twitter for "Mt. Vernon party" turns up a number of tweets that any social media-savvy youngster can find.

One user scribed multiple tweets about a house party going on Friday night in Mount Vernon.

"Party Friday 9:30 - ... Pass Word, Who's Coming, Bring Something To Drink ;) An Some Green Will Be On Sale :* HMU <3," one tweet said.

The...

It's that time of year. The flu season's around the corner and there's a way you can avoid coming down with it -- by getting a shot in advance.

The Rockland County health department will hold its first flu vaccine clinics from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7, Friday, Sept. 14, and Friday, Sept. 28 in the Robert L. Yeager Health Center, Building A Exhibition Hall, at 50 Sanatorium Rd. in Pomona....

Mosquito bites are not fun: itching, swelling and those unattractive red bumps. But these days mosquito bites are more cause for concern. With reports that West Nile virus rose 40 percent over one week -- including Westchester County’s first case of human infection reported in New Rochelle -- residents may need to be more careful in protecting themselves from these pesky insects.

West Nile...

The taps are flowing again for an estimated 50,000 Yonkers residents affected by a water main break on Monday. Though the pipes are back in business, a boil-water advisory remains in effect until Friday.

We sought to find out just why it is so important to boil water after a main break.  

The simple answer? To kill off contaminants and prevent people from getting sick.

Any...

With the first day of school on the horizon, New York school board members are enthusiastic about new curriculum standards rolling out this year. But they're already fretting about school budgets to pay for state initiatives. 

One of the education initiatves that gets few headlines -- the Common Core curriculum -- was school board members' choice as likely to have the greatest positive...

Westchester County Republican lawmakers are taking Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins to task for sending a letter last week to the federal judge presiding over the county's housing discrimination case, in which he claimed lawmakers were in support of legislation requiring private landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers for rent payments.

In an Aug. 21 letter to Manhattan District Court...

Kerry Kennedy and her daughter, Mariah Kennedy Cuomo, are with a delegation of human rights activists organized by the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation to look into human rights abuses in the Western Sahara, where there is conflict between the Sahrawi people and the government of Morocco. They arrived Sunday and will be in the Sahara for a week. Kerry Kennedy is the president of the foundation....

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has had to cut short his role as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., because of a death in the family.

Ron Levine, Vanderhoef's spokesman, said the Republican leader's father died Sunday. He said Vanderhoef, who was in Tampa when he heard about his father's passing, was "hit hard" by the news.

His father,...

Two groups are collecting donations to help Gayle and Matthew Unhjem, whose mother, Jane, died Aug. 19 in a fiery plane crash on Long Island. Their father, Erik, was seriously injured and faces "weeks if not months" in the hospital, the man's brother said last week.

Jane Unhjem was a beloved assistant superitendent at Goshen Central School District and was an active member of the...