Taxpayers in the village of Suffern, the Suffern school district and the town of Ramapo could be the big losers if the owner of the former Novartis campus gets its way. The Journal News says Suffern Partners LLC wants its property assessments lowered from around $4.8 million to about $700,000. The properties together are Suffern’s largest taxpayer and Ramapo’s 5th largest.

Police in New Jersey are investigating a fatal accident in Oakland Tuesday morning that killed an unidentified Warwick woman. Published reports say the woman crossed the yellow line on Skyline Drive and struck an oncoming minivan. The occupants of the minivan were hospitalized but their injuries were reportedly not considered life-threatening.

Rockland County held the first in a series of public hearings last night in Suffern on the draft of its shared services proposal. Rockland County Executive Ed Day says the current proposal would save $3.7 million next year and more than $8 million in 2021, if fully implemented by participating municipalities…

Some of the projects included in the proposal include animal control, the Hi-Tor Shelter and Highway Department equipment-sharing. There are two more public hearings scheduled, the next is at 2PM tomorrow at the Blauvelt Library, and the third will be 7PM, Wednesday December 4th at the Haverstraw Library.

Those leaves you’ve been raking out of your yard…you know they’re not supposed to be in the street, right? In some areas you could be fined for putting them in the roadways. Mike Wilson is with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Stony Point and hosts the Storm Water Consortium monthly show here on WRCR, and he says you’re best off leaving the leaves where they are…

Clarkstown supervisor George Hoehmann says his town’s leaf pickup program has completed its first sweep around the town. Hoehmann says if leaves are left in the street in his town, you could face a fine…

For more information from the Cornell Cooperative Extension on the benefits of leaving the leaves, click here for a helpful video.

Do you remember watching old TV shows and movies, and seeing cool gadgets that hadn’t been invented yet, that we now have? Things like TV-Phones, wrist watches that do everything, and flying cars. OK, so we don’t quite have flying cars yet, but Lou Morris of the local AARP chapter says the guest speaker at tomorrow’s special event in West Nyack can probably explain why we don’t have them or when we will…

The event is free and it’s tomorrow at 12:30 at the JCC in West Nyack. In other senior news, the Haverstraw Senior Citizens Club is celebrating its status as a senior citizen, with its 65th anniversary tomorrow…

And that was Haverstraw supervisor Howard Phillips. For more information about the club visit Haverstraw’s website, www.TownOfHaverstraw.org.

An unidentified woman is reportedly in critical condition after she was
hit by a car in Spring Valley last night. According to YeshivaWorld.com,
the accident occurred around 10:00PM at Route 59 and Dutch Lane. The
woman was taken to the Westchester Trauma Center in Valhalla. No word on the extent of her injuries.

The town of Ramapo will be hosting an information session with local
police officials to discuss the controversy that’s been swirling around
the criminal justice reform bill that passed with the state budget in
April set to take effect January first. The bill makes sweeping changes in
bail and other court rules that could end up with significant price tags
for local municipalities. Ramapo supervisor Michael Specht says it’s
important to hold the various meetings with the public and state
lawmakers, even if changes won’t be made before January first…

Rockland Sheriff Lou Falco will be among the participants in tonight’s
event, and he told WRCR last week he’s hopeful local state representatives
can fix the rules that shouldn’t be changed…

Falco and others agree there are some rules that could be changed, but
without the funding many communities will be hard-pressed to afford them. Two upstate lawmakers have introduced legislation to have the laws delayed a year, while western Ramapo and Orange County assemblyman Karl Brabanec has suggested a bill that would cancel the reform package altogether.

The second Pearl River Transit Oriented Development Zone hearing is being held tomorrow to figure out how best to proceed with a potentially major revitalization project for the hamlet’s downtown district. Orangetown
supervisor Chris Day says some changes have already been made to the draft presentation from a few weeks back…

Day says the changes won’t happen overnight. The next meeting is tomorrow night at 8:00PM at Orangetown Town Hall.

The North Rockland Youth Police Academy will graduate its 20th class
tomorrow. The Academy was created by the Town of Haverstraw and Stony
Point Police Departments 12 years ago. Haverstraw supervisor Howard
Phillips says each class takes 30 kids, and the police introduce them to
what life is like on the front lines…

Participants train one night a week for ten weeks. Police officers with
various areas of expertise focus on topics including emergency first aid,
defensive tactics, vehicle and traffic stops, courtroom testimony and
more. If you’d like more information about the North Rockland Youth Police
Academy, call Officer David Kryger at 845-354-1500 or Detective Kevin
O’Connor at 845-786-2242.

The town of Orangetown’s Police Commission held a meeting earlier this week to discuss the controversy that’s been swirling, primarily north of the city, of the criminal justice reform bill that passed with the state budget in April and is set to take effect January first. The bill makes sweeping changes in bail and other court rules that could end up with significant price tags for local municipalities. Orangetown police chief Donald Butterworth said the reform package was born out of fear-mongering, instead of the facts…

Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel, who also heads up the county’s Police Chiefs Association, said new rules regarding evidence-gathering will be difficult to comply with…

Rockland’s incoming District Attorney Tom Walsh said the new rule that would allow a defendant accused of robbing a house to come back to the home with an attorney is unrealistic…

Walsh and others agree there are some rules that could be changed, but without the funding many communities will be hard-pressed to afford them. Two upstate lawmakers have introduced legislation to have the laws delayed a year, while western Ramapo and Orange County assemblyman Karl Brabanec has suggested a bill that would cancel the reform package altogether.