Carmel
Legislature Approves Eight Farms for District
The Putnam County Legislature on July 1 unanimously added eight farms to the county’s Agricultural District.
The farms, recommended by the Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board, were Artemis and Lobster Hill (Brewster) Barn Dog and White Oak Apiary (Southeast), Big Red Barn, Cucumber Hill and Rush Family (Putnam Valley) and Bowen (Kent).
Under a 1971 state law, members of an agricultural district are protected from “unreasonable” local restrictions.
Earlier this year, the Legislature rejected the Ag Board’s recommendation to add five farms. A farm in Patterson sued, and a judge ruled that the Legislature had violated state law by denying its application.
Kingston
Child-Porn Charge Dropped After Arrest
Authorities dropped charges on July 1 against Alonzo Jordan, 23, who had been charged with possession of child pornography, after a district attorney conceded in court that there was no evidence to support the accusation.
Jordan was the only Black tenant in a four-unit apartment house at the time of his arrest, his attorney said, according to The Daily Freeman. The landlord required tenants to use his internet connection, he said.
The D.A.’s office, represented by Sajaa Ahmed, said it withdrew the charge because state police could not find any evidence of a crime. Joseph O’Connor told the court that his client’s arrest was a “horrible atrocity.” Following the dismissal, Ahmed told O’Connor that the DA’s office would work with him to remove Google search results that implicate Jordan.
State police earlier said they received a tip about Jordan from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Jordan said that he lost his job at Rough Draft Bar & Books and several longtime friends.
Peekskill
Officials Track Down Suspect in Mexico
Federal officials tracked a murder suspect to Mexico through his Facebook account.
Walter Bustos-Solis, 45, was arraigned June 20 in the stabbing death of Carlos Rodriguez, 33, on Main Street. He was brought to New York from Houston, where he had been sent after being arrested in Mexico.
Authorities located Bustos-Solis in Puebla City, Mexico, through the IP address of a computer that accessed his Facebook account, according to The Journal News.
Spring Valley
High School Student Released by ICE
Alan Junior Pierre, a Spring Valley High School student who is Haitian, was released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 9 after a month in custody in Newark, New Jersey.
His attorney, Vince Sykes, said Rep. Mike Lawler had called him the day before to say he was working to expedite Pierre’s release, according to The Journal News. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office was also involved.
“The situation in Haiti remains dire, and I will continue to advocate for Haitian immigrants to be granted asylum and parole within the confines of the law,” Lawler said in a statement.
Pierre, 20, was detained during an appointment with citizenship services in the Bronx. He had come into the U.S. from Mexico in January and asked for an asylum appointment via a government app. His father, Dutan Pierre, who lives in Nanuet, is a U.S. citizen.
Southeast
Deputy Arrests Man With Pistol
A Putnam County sheriff’s deputy on June 25 spotted a man entering a Shell station on Route 6 with a gun holstered at his waist.
The sheriff said that the officer waited for the man to drive away and pulled him over. He said Kevin Piava, 55, of Carbondale, Pennsylvania, was carrying a Walther pistol without a permit.
Piava was charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon and remanded to the county jail. His vehicle was towed. In Pennsylvania, open carry without a license is legal except in Philadelphia.
Wallkill
State Auditor Charged with Theft
A state auditor assigned to review the town’s books was arrested on July 10 for allegedly stealing $405,000 over more than two years.
Tobias Otieno, 41, of Hyde Park, was charged with grand larceny as a public corruption crime. The Orange County district attorney stated that Otieno utilized passwords he had obtained during the audit to transfer funds from town bank accounts to his businesses, Toncye Consulting and Tozaq Accounting Services.
According to the D.A., his duties included analyzing financial operations, payroll, procurements and non-payroll disbursements. Otieno was fired from the comptroller’s office. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison. The investigation did not find evidence of misconduct by town officials or employees.
Washington, D.C.
Lawler Says He Will Meet with Trump
Rep. Mike Lawler, whose district includes Philipstown, said he plans to meet with President Donald Trump about whether Lawler should run for governor in 2026.
“I’m going to be meeting with the president at some point soon and have a conversation about the path forward,” he said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” according to Mid-Hudson News. He said Republicans needed to avoid a primary. “Whether it’s me, whether it’s [Rep.] Elise Stefanik — we need to be focused on defeating Kathy Hochul.”
New Windsor
Metro-North Studying Stewart Spur
Metro-North is studying whether to construct a rail line between the Salisbury Mills Cornwall station on the Port Jervis line and New York Stewart International Airport, the newly appointed president of the railroad, Justin Vonashek, told Mid-Hudson News.
Jim O’Donnell, who represents Orange County on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, said in response: “That would be a great help to the airport, so it’s good to hear that the president of Metro-North has been studying it. But they have been studying it for 15 or 20 years.”
Poughkeepsie
Comptroller Issues Report on Community Center
Dutchess County Comptroller Dan Aymar-Blair released a report on June 25 on the multi-purpose community space known as the Youth Opportunity Union (YOU) that was to have been constructed on the site of the now-demolished YMCA of Dutchess County, which closed in 2009.
Dutchess County and the City of Poughkeepsie in 2020 announced a partnership in which the county pledged $25 million to construct a community center with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, rock climbing, a kitchen and other amenities. According to Aymar-Blair’s report, only $8.5 million was appropriated by the Legislature. Of that, $4.49 million was spent, all of which came from federal pandemic relief funds, to cover demolition costs, construction management, schematic designs and other expenses.
Despite the expenditures, the comptroller wrote, there is no funded, practicable plan to construct the Youth Opportunity Union. In April 2024, the YOU project was declared “on hold” by the administration of newly elected County Executive Sue Serino. In reality, the project was going to cost more than $160 million.
“After five years and almost $5 million of our COVID-relief funds, all the taxpayers have to show for it are some impressive design schematics and an empty lot,” Aymar-Blair said.
