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Bedford Hills Real Estate | Michaelis Leads in GOP Primary for District 2 – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch
As early as last week, Michaelis was planning a primary election victory party at Peppino’s Restaurant in Katonah.
Tonight, he’s tentatively celebrating victory over Noth Salem challenger Lisa Douglas.
“We’re thrilled with the results,” Michaelis, a Bedford resident, said. He feels that the numbers show that people in District 2 want change, and he talked about his support for County Executive Rob Astorino’s fiscal policies.
While the Michaelis camp did not definitively declare victory, they feel confident that the results will hold.
“We feel pretty strong about the numbers,” said Britta Vander Linden, who is helping to run his campaign.
Results
By shortly after midnight, unofficial results posted on the Westchester County Board of Elections website were pointing toward a Michaelis victory.
Michaelis leads 823 votes to Douglas’ 389 votes, with 69 percent of the election districts counted.
District 2 encompasses Bedford, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, North Salem, Pound Ridge and Somers.
When reached at approximately 10:30 p.m., a representative from Douglas’ campaign said she was not ready to concede the race.
The winner of tonight’s primary faces the incumbent, Peter Harckham of Katonah, in November.
Check back with Patch for updates to this story.
Bedford Hills Homes | State, Federal Officials Clamoring for Dollars to Clean Up Irene Aftermath – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch
Irene’s wrath spared few throughout the state, from the eastern end of Long Island to the upper reaches of the Adirondacks.
While the lower Hudson Valley saw its share of flooding, power outages and downed trees, the area was fortunately saved from the complete devastation seen in the Catskill Mountains of Greene County, the Mohawk Valley west of Albany and the tiny, tight-knit towns south of the Canadian border.
But communities in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam still have plenty of work ahead of them as dozens of homes, businesses and roads were wrecked, some beyond repair. Compounding the problem is the already dire fiscal straits entangling local governments throughout the region. With state and federal agencies also feeling the crunch of the recession, paying for the cleanup is shaping up to be a tall order.
The damage spurred President Barack Obama to declare Westchester and Rockland federal disaster areas, which will allow them to receive expedited relief. In addition to counties and towns receiving money, individual homeowners will also be eligible to receive grants if their insurance doesn’t cover all of the damage. An additional program provides funding for future flood-mitigation projects.
“Having toured the entire district, it is painfully obvious that our families and businesses need access to all of these assistance programs,” said Sen. David Carlucci (D-Clarkstown), whose district includes all of Rockland and parts of Orange County.
Carlucci was one of a number of local politicians, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appealed to the White House last week for relief. Director of State Operations Howard Glaser said federal agencies would pay for up to 75 percent of the state’s relief efforts.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has only about $800 million in its coffers—not even enough to cover the $1 billion in damages Cuomo said were incurred in New York, let alone efforts in states from Virginia to Vermont.
At the same time, Republican leadership in Washington, led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), has said that any money used for hurricane relief must be offset by budget cuts. If the recent showdowns over the federal budget and the debt limit are any indication, the fight to provide relief for communities afflicted by Irene could be a long, dramatic one.
“I simply won’t let politics get in the way of doing the right thing for our families and communities that have been affected by the disaster,” Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-19) said in a statement.
Meanwhile, many officials are looking to address infrastructure issues that leave the region vulnerable to future flooding. Assemblyman George Latimer (D-Rye), whose district includes heavily-flooded Rye and Mamaroneck, said an Irene-like storm will inevitably happen again, and the region should be better prepared.
“We’re not going to be able to eliminate the impacts of flooding completely, but the scope of the flood doesn’t have to be as wide,” Latimer said.
He said he plans to re-introduce a bill that would create a dedicated flood-mitigation fund to finance the cleanup of future floods. Such a fund, he said, would help ease future battles over government spending for relief efforts.
Individual home and business owners should call FEMA directly at (800) 621-3362 in order to apply for federal disaster relief grants.
On a personal note, this will be my last Capitol DisPatch, as I move on to cover state government for Thomson Reuters. It’s been a pleasure delving into some of the most pressing issues facing New Yorkers and lower Hudson Valley residents over the last 30-odd installments of this column. Your feedback helped shape the direction of my reporting, just as it should (and often does) influence the decisions made by our local, state and federal representatives. Thanks for reading! — Dan Wiessner
Bedford Hills NY Real Estate | That Bing You Do
Bedford Hills Homes | The mortgage interest tax deduction: What’s at stake in budget talks? | Inman News
The mortgage interest tax deduction: What’s at stake in budget talks?
Real Estate Tax Talk
The federal tax law encourages homeownership in a big way by allowing homeowners to deduct from their income taxes the interest they pay on home mortgages.
The deduction may be used for mortgage debt totaling $1 million, and up to $100,000 in home-equity loans or lines of credit, for a principal and second home.
One study estimates that the mortgage interest deduction lowers the cost of capital for owner-occupied housing by 7 percent. Also, by allowing taxpayers to deduct mortgage interest from their taxable income, but not rental payments, the tax code creates a strong financial incentive to buy rather than rent a home.
In 2009, about 35 million households claimed the deduction, and more than 75 percent of homeowners have used the deduction at least once.
As you might expect, the mortgage interest deduction is expensive. Indeed, it’s one of the largest tax breaks in the tax code, costing about $80 billion per year. That’s why the so-called “Gang of Six,” a bipartisan group of six senators that has been drafting a deficit reduction plan, has called for changes in the deduction.
via inman.com
Bedford Hills NY Real Estate | Stakeout Brings Arrest in Doughnut Caper – Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch
It happened with such regularity, ruling out mishandling or a miscount of some kind. Each morning the big tub of fresh doughnuts was waiting on the sidewalk as the lights went on in the Bedford Hills Deli at 7 Babbitt Road. And each morning the doughnuts were missing—not all of them, just a box, but enough to prompt a call to the Bedford police.
So, they staked out the deli and the doughnut tub that always slipped into town in the overnight darkness. And, as they tell it, Eduardo Archinti, who lives a half-mile away at 148 Babbitt Road, drove up on July 14. It was 2:40 in the morning.
Archinti, 29, got out of as his car, helped himself to a box of the fresh-baked goods, authorities said, and was already back behind the wheel when police pounced. He was charged with five counts of petty larceny after admitting, police said, to pinching pastries four earlier times, starting June 10.
Archinti was scheduled to appear in the Bedford Justice Court July 21.
Technology snares Harris Road driver
A Putnam Valley woman was charged with driving without a license and registration July 14 after a police car’s mobile technology sounded an alert that both had been suspended.
Anne Spoonhour, 64, was driving east on Harris Road shortly before 8 a.m. when a specially equipped Bedford patrol car automatically read her license plate, compared it in milliseconds with a state list of motor-vehicle suspensions and squawked an audible tone to the police officer. The automatic license-plate readers, or LPRs, also respond in real-time to criminal complaints like amber alerts and stolen-car alarms.
Spoonhour is scheduled to appear July 28 in town court to answer misdemeanor charges of third-degree unlicensed operation and driving with a suspended license. Both had been suspended, police said, for lack of auto liability insurance. Learn more here about this case hearing.
Tinted windows take down driver
Luis Dossantos of Bedford Hills was charged with driving on a suspended license July 15 after police deemed his tinted windows too dark.
Dossantos , 42, was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation after police pulled him over on the window beef at about 9:30 p.m. on Bedford Road near Harris Road. By law, a tinted window must allow at least 70 percent of the light from the outside to pass through, making a driver visible.
Released in his own custody, Dossantos has an Aug. 4 date in town court.
DWI charged on Cherry Street
A Katonah man was arrested as an unlicensed drunk driver July 16 after bouncing off a curb at dawn and dragging his tailgate for almost a mile.
Trending: When to hire a lawyer for your DUI case.
Police gave this account: Herling Sanchez, 25, of 6 Primrose St. was seen driving north on the shoulder of Bedford Road in Bedford Hills. With police in pursuit, he turned left into Cherry Street and hit a curb, loosening his tailgate, police said, then continued north, nearing Huntville Road, before he was stopped.
In response to a question, police said, Sanchez told them he had been “drinking a lot.” He flunked a field sobriety test, police said, and later blew a .22 percent—almost three times the .08 drunk-driving threshold—on a Breathalyzer test administered at police headquarters.
Facing charges of driving while intoxicated and first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, an E felony, Sanchez posted bail of $400 for a town hall appearance July 21.
My Three Favorite Mobile Discovery Tools | Search Engine Journal for the Bedford Hills real estate market
Jun 13 2011
My Three Favorite Mobile Discovery Tools
Mobile discovery is becoming something that I am beginning to rely on more and more in order to find good link opportunities. While I do try not to work on and off all the time, I have found that a leisurely stroll through the following iPad apps and other mobile-friendly tools is amazing for uncovering some awesome potentials, especially when I am not multitasking and dealing with employees/clients.
There’s such an overload of information out there on the web right now that keeping up without a bit of help is impossible, so I’ve started really relying on ways to quickly get through all of the information that I can. Here are my three current favorites.
Ipad Tools
I’ve become fairly obsessed with the iPad and have been finding it quite useful in uncovering some serious gems. One of the best things about using iPad apps for discovery is that everything is so well presented.
Zite is my go-to iPad app, period. I use it for reading about all the things that interest me (usually things I wouldn’t honestly take the time to search for) and especially for industry-related new content. After using Zite for just a few weeks, I’ve found tons of sources for great information that had never before come to my attention.
You can choose which categories you want to see results from, thumb them up or down so that the app learns more about what to show you, and socialize/email from the pieces themselves. Zite has alerted me to some amazing industry blogs that I’ve never read before, and I’ve uncovered some awesome pieces written by people with whom I’ve been unfamiliar so far.
Flipboard is really useful for going through your social media feeds. It hooks up to Facebook and Twitter and presents the information in a way that makes you want to spend even more time on social media, creating what amounts to a personalized social media magazine for you. I’m addicted to digital magazines so this has been a really great way for me to keep up on what everyone’s talking about. Again, it’s a great way to find new content that is relevant for your purposes, whatever they may be.
Web and Email Tools
I just found out about Summify (which is not strictly mobile-use, but it’s how I use it) recently thanks to Twitter, and already I love it. You can connect it to your Google Reader, Twitter, and/or Facebook accounts and receive a summary email pulling the best stories for you that have come from those networks. The frequency of delivery varies from once every 6 hours to weekly, so it’s a great way to get the most interesting items and not have to stay on top of things nonstop.
While this is definitely not limited to mobile discovery, I enjoy reading summaries on my iPhone and iPad and am more likely to read something like this when I have a bit of downtime. You can choose to have your summaries visible to others, and you can read others’ summaries, which can lead you to some really cool stuff that you might not see otherwise depending upon your social networks. It’s very helpful for taking a weekend off from the computer and catching up on Monday. The emailed summary gives you the info on how many tweets and Facebook shares have occurred and shows you the original tweet/share plus who retweeted/shared it. I particularly like the way it gives you the piece’s title. However, the one thing I don’t like is that clicking a link here will take you to a Summify frame.
This list is certainly not exhaustive, but it is only about mobile (and 100% free) methods of doing discovery. If you have other good ways of doing this, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Since all of these deal with social media, they’re also a great way to find new connections who share your interests, thus leading to even more potential link opportunities.
Written By:
Julie Joyce | Link Fish Media | @JulieJoyce
Julie Joyce owns the link development agency Link Fish Media, is one of SEO Chicks, and contributes to Search Engine Land and Search Marketing Gurus.
More Posts By Julie Joyce
Bedford Hills NY real estate asks why Google Adds Two New Features on YouTube Videos | Search Engine Journal for Bedford Hills NY homes for sale
Google Adds Two New Features on YouTube Videos
YouTube is no small matter to the success of Google. Beyond the ability to integrate video with numerous other Google services (e.g., the recent adaptation of embedded YouTube videos for Google Instant Preview), Google has access to the largest video platform in the world. But YouTube isn’t the safe leader, nor is it perfect. Google is constantly fighting against litigation and for licensing, and they must simultaneously add enough features to keep hold of the video-watching population. Their two most recent feature additions are the HD video preview images and the logoless embedded player.
Here’s a brief rundown of each:
The HD video preview image will pull the HD version of a snapshot as the image to display for your video preview. This feature is available on new videos of 480p or higher resolution. Those who already have HD videos for which they want an HD image preview will just have to wait a bit; Google is rolling out HD previews to existing videos in the next few weeks.
The logoless embedded player will give users the option to embed videos in their page without the YouTube logo that usually sits comfortably in the lower-right corner. To make any video player logoless, simply add the code “? modestbranding=1″ at the end of the embed code. This doesn’t remove the logo that appears in the top-right when videos are paused, however.
The first adaptation (HD preview images) just makes sense in appealing to users and video uploaders alike. However, the logoless player is a generous move on Google’s part. Few companies are willing to part with their branding so readily.
[via the YouTube Blog]
