Here's our journalism that made a difference for Lower Hudson Valley communities in 2023

The Lower Hudson Valley is a unique region, home to so many distinct towns and neighborhoods and lots of history. If you haven't lived or worked here, it's hard to understand all the connections. Sure, the Lower Hudson includes the suburbs, but it's way more than the suburbs.

As journalists who zig-zag across this region and talk about it incessantly, we get it.

The Journal News and lohud.com strive to cover what's most important to people of the region — from the opening and closing of restaurants to the rise of so many new apartment towers to the best high school sports rivalries. A big part of what we do remains "watchdog journalism," or holding public officials and institutions accountable. We hope that our journalism will have an impact, and it often does.

The journalism world has gone through fundamental changes over the last two decades, especially at the local and regional level. We can't cover nearly as much ground as we once did, but our journalists know the Lower Hudson and strive to make a difference.

Here are some examples of how our work made a difference in 2023.

County legislator resigns after 'Tax Watch' investigation

David McKay Wilson, The Journal News/lohud's veteran "Tax Watch" columnist, had a big 2023, showing his deep journalistic connections across the region.

Wilson revealed that Westchester County legislator Christopher Johnson, a rising star in Democratic politics, had moved out of the Yonkers district he represented, while trying to cover it up. Wilson also reported that Johnson rented his "affordable" condominium within his district, violating Yonkers' regulations. An investigation by the Yonkers Inspector General, spurred by Wilson's reports, backed the findings. Our Diana Dombrowski also reported the lengths to which Johnson went to cover up his move. After the Board of Legislators began formally investigating Johnson's residency problems, Johnson resigned.

Legislative chair faces NYC investigation

Soon after Wilson reported on Chris Johnson, he reported that Vedat Gashi, the Democratic chair of the Westchester Board of Legislators, had purchased an "affordable" co-op in 2015 on Manhattan's Upper West and had used the apartment as an investment property. Residents of the co-op, which comes with a 75% property tax break, are required to maintain their primary residence there, but Gashi's primary residence is in Yorktown. New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development began an investigation.

School district removes teacher from classroom after report

Wilson reported that a teacher had resigned from Walter Panas High School in the Lakeland school district after being accused of sexually abusing a former student — and that the teacher had just started a new job in the Monroe-Woodbury school district in Orange County. But Monroe-Woodbury removed the teacher, Alex Mendoza, from the classroom as soon as Wilson informed them that the former student's lawsuit described years of alleged abuse, including in a teacher's office and the Panas parking lot. Then Mendoza resigned again. State legislators then called on the state to do more to keep teachers accused of sexual abuse out of classrooms. As a result, state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa told Wilson she would support legislation giving her department more power to suspend the teaching licenses of educators accused of sexual misconduct and violence.

Westchester Democratic committee relents, files disclosure report

Wilson reported that the Westchester Democratic Committee had given a game-changing $60,000 gift to a candidate in the Democratic primary for New Rochelle mayor. But the committee didn't plan to file a disclosure report saying who donated the cash until after the primary — a violation of state election law. Sure enough, the party relented, disclosing that it had received $100,000 in donations from one of the region's major developers, Louis Cappelli, and five executives from his companies. The candidate who got the money, eventual mayoral winner Yadira Ramos-Herbert, would have been $1,000 in the red otherwise.

Mamaroneck board acts in public session after breaking Open Meetings Law

Standing up for the state's Open Meetings Law, Wilson reported that the Mamaroneck Village Board voted in private on a four-year contract extension for Village Manager Jerry Barberio, breaking the law. The deal would make Barberio Westchester's highest paid village manager, with his pay rising from $243,700 to $273,000. Soon after, a Mamaroneck resident sued the village to invalidate the contract. The Village Board relented and approved the contract extension in public session.

Yonkers pol pays parking tickets but loses race

Wilson reported that a Yonkers councilwoman seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor had 16 outstanding parking tickets and owed the city $2,170. Corazon Pineda-Isaac, who was campaigning on lowering the city's speed limit, had run up parking fines and violations totaling $6,295 since 2014. She soon paid off her debts, after winning concessions, but lost her race.

Progress finally made toward repairing Lake Isle dam

Back in 2020, Wilson reported that the Lake Island dam on the Eastchester/New Rochelle border had received virtually no maintenance in 40 years and was in terrible shape, presenting a serious threat to hundreds of homes in New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and the Bronx. His coverage jump-started joint efforts by the state and county, along with a $2.6 million federal grant, to study the design needs of the dam. A study released in April 2023 said repairs could cost $11 million.

Yorktown development changes course, dropping event space

In late 2023, Wilson reported that a prominent Yorktown developer, Bill Catucci, had created seven apartments and an event space for weddings and other things in a sprawling, old mansion. But Catucci, a buddy of Yorktown Supervisor Tom Diana, never sought or received a special permit for the event space or certificates of occupancy for the apartments. He also failed to meet the town's requirements for affordable housing. Because of Wilson's reporting, and before his article even appeared, the event space was dropped and tenants of the apartments had to move out so the electrical system could be upgraded. And Catucci will have to offer two apartments at affordable rates.

Court victories in Mount Vernon, Herkimer over police records

In 2020, New York repealed Section 50-a of the state’s Civil Rights Law, which had effectively been used to shield police discipline records from public view. Since then, the USA Today Network-New York has been pushing local police departments to release their records, and, in some cases, suing departments that failed to comply with the law and hand over their documents. Gannett, the Network’s parent organization, sued the Herkimer Police Department, in the Mohawk Valley, in 2021, and the Mount Vernon Police Department in 2022 — and saw victories in both cases in 2023. Reporting on the Herkimer files by the Times Telegram found that officers had discharged a weapon inside police headquarters and used a Taser on a pregnant woman.

Report provides details of racist videos left out by Carmel school district

After the Carmel school district notified the community about racist TikTok videos posted by students — but did not describe the threatening nature of the videos — education reporter Diana Dombrowski obtained the videos and reported what parents wanted to know. The videos depicted a shooting at the Carmel middle school and made direct, violent threats against Black students. Some parents said they would not have sent their kids to school had they known what they videos showed. A far more serious community discussion quickly ensued about the videos and how the school community would respond.

Mount Vernon council rethinks law clouding transparency

Asher Stockler reported that the Mount Vernon City Council unanimously passed an ordinance declaring their council chambers and the rotunda areas within City Hall to be "nonpublic" and restricting the public from recording officials on city-owned property without prior consent. Stockler quoted several open government advocates saying that the ordinance was clearly unconstitutional. Hours after Stockler's article posted, the City Council said it would revisit the local law and make changes.

Report on East Ramapo water leads to promise of action

Nancy Cutler reported that every school building in the the long-troubled East Ramapo school district had failed a mandated safety survey, in part because drinking water had been turned off for seven years due to lead contamination. National media picked up the story, drawn to the comparison to Flint, Michigan's water crisis. Within weeks, the state Education Department confirmed that East Ramapo would finally fix the water problem within a year, as part of a massive building repair project. Cutler will be watching to see if and when the work gets done.

Spring Valley mayor backtracks on removing staff

Nancy Cutler and Steve Lieberman reported that the mayor of Spring Valley had, without explanation, removed the Spring Valley police chief and a School Resource Officer from Spring Valley High School. Shortly after their article posted, the chief was reinstalled and the SRO was returned to campus, to the cheers of students who see the police officer as a role model in a community where police are often not seen as friendly.

Sleepy Hollow officer demoted after investigation

Weeks after Jonathan Bandler reported that a Sleepy Hollow police lieutenant was under investigation for allegedly groping a colleague's wife, the officer was demoted to sergeant. The village did not make its findings public, but Bandler obtained a letter from a lawyer who conducted the investigation that concluded that Stephen Dougherty's conduct was "unprofessional and reflects poorly on the Sleepy Hollow Police Department." The mayor then issued a brief statement confirming the demotion.

Hospitals backpedal on medical debt lawsuits

A USA TODAY Network investigation by reporter David Robinson found a group of 17 hospitals and health systems sued about 1,600 New Yorkers to collect medical debts totaling $9 million since early 2022, despite a push to end the controversial practice. When questioned about the lawsuits listed in court records, some hospital systems denied they filed lawsuits or pointed to the charity care they deliver each year. Others said they were phasing out the practice of suing patients over medical debt. One health system, WMC Health, also appeared to have halted its debt lawsuits following USA TODAY Network reporting in 2019 on its connections to a debt-collection law firm under federal investigation.

'Best Thing I Ate' feature produces big boost to business

Food and Dining reporter Jeanne Muchnick does a weekly "Best Thing I Ate" feature that is super-popular on lohud and @lohud_food on Instagram. But it can be hard to evaluate the impact of her coverage. The good people at Pappous Greek Kitchen in Yorktown Heights, though, helped do it for us. After Muchnick featured their Greek quesadilla with gyro meat as her Best Thing one week, owner Rui Cunha wrote Muchnick that their business was up more than 50%. The number of bottles of Sangria they sold went from about 400 in a week to almost 750 bottles, with lots of holiday pre-orders. "The power of Jeanne Muchnick and the press is real," Cunha wrote.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Journal News/lohud reporting that made a difference in 2023