News

Thursday’s fatal shooting at Florida State University touched some nerves here in Rockland, including those of the county executive. Ed Day told “The Morning Show” Friday his daughter is a student at the school and for about an hour he and his wife, Donna, didn’t know whether she was ok or not…

Two were killed and six others injured in the shooting. University Police shot the suspect and took him into custody. He’s been identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, the son of a local sheriff’s deputy and a student at FSU, though CNN reported there did not appear to be any connection between him or the victims. Ikner was seriously injured and will remain hospitalized until he can be taken to a local jail. He’s expected to face several charges “up to and including first degree murder.”

A Rockland man was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty in a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme involving nursing homes he owned across the country. U.S. Attorney Alina Habba says 65 year-old Joseph Schwartz of Suffern failed to file an annual financial report with the Department of Labor for his company’s employee 401K Benefit Plan. Schwartz operated Skyline Management Group LLC, headquartered in New Jersey, and ran numerous health care and rehabilitation facilities in 11 states.

Tomorrow is Earth Day and the “Keep Rockland Beautiful” spring cleanup event is in full swing, with several scheduled this weekend including Sloatsburg, Blauvelt and Suffern. Nyack had theirs on Saturday. It’s all part of the Great American Cleanup. Marisa Marrone, Executive Director of “Keep Rockland Beautiful,” says they can be a fun team-building activity for businesses, groups or organizations…

Julie Litz-Collier is Environmental Education Manager for Keep Rockland Beautiful, and she encourages students to get involved…

Rockland State Senator Bill Weber of the 38th District is running his cleanup on Route 304 in New City this Saturday morning from 9 to 11 near Davies Farm…

For more information on how you can do a cleanup in your neighborhood, and a complete schedule of upcoming cleanup events around the county, visit KeepRocklandBeautiful.org, or call them at 845-708-9164.

Nanuet’s Roxanne Watson, a heart transplant recipient, crusader for organ donation and host of “Michael’s Gifts” heard here on WRCR, is recuperating following her second stint at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. She was admitted last Tuesday and took to social media to update that she’s recovering from a quote “medical disaster” but did not elaborate. Her show is heard here on Wednesday mornings after the 9 o-clock news. She’s helped add tens of thousands of people to New York’s organ donor rolls. We’ll have more updates as they become available.