White Plains and Valhalla region

Competing cauldrons of chili from two firehouse chefs, 10 restaurants with signature dishes and paired wines from Zachy’s — such are the draws at the Westchester Culinary Experience, a fundraiser being held from 6 to 9 p.m. March 28 at the Crowne Plaza in White Plains to benefit the YMCA. Tickets cost $75 and entitle you to taste dishes from:

Moderne Barn
X20
Milonga Wine & Tapas
Mulino’s of Westchester
Graziella’s
The Melting Pot
Fire Station # 6 Chili
Meritage
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
Royal Palace Fine Indian
Crabtree’s Kittle House
The Cookery
GEM Cuisines of China
Casaletto
Turkish Meze
808 Bistro
Sofrito
Johnny Gelato
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Harvest on Hudson

and more. For informaiton, visit www.ymca-cnw.org or call 914-287-2021, Ext. 202.

UPDATE: TODAY’S EDITORIAL SPOTLIGHT with ASSEMBLYWOMAN AMY PAULIN, etc., HAS BEEN CANCELED; Assemblywoman Paulin requested a postponement to attend to business in Albany . We will UPDATE when it is RESCHEDULED..

The Editorial Board has plans a couple interviews this week, and you can join the discussions via CoverItLive. Just look for the live chat to the right of your screen when you watch the Editorial Spotlight interviews at lohud.com/editorialspotlight. Here’s what’s coming up:

TUESDAY:  State Assemblywoman Paulin, D-Scarsdale, discusses New York’s need to update its regulations for animal shelters and the care and handling of stray, lost and homeless animals in a LIVE Editorial Spotlight interview at 1:30 p.m. on LoHud.com. Paulin has suffered recent criticism for proposed legislation (A. 5449A) that she says aims to protect lost, stray or homeless animals by partnering with animal rescue organizations, but some animal activists say gives shelters license to kill. Also joining the discussion: Nancy Perry of the ASPCA and Jane Hoffman of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.

WEDNESDAY: Representatives of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York share their views on proposed new regulations for high-volume hydraulic fracturing — a controversial method for extracting natural gas from deep within the earth — in a LIVE Editorial Spotlight interview at 11 a.m. on LoHud.com. Participating are: Nancy Schmitt, president and co-founder of Taum Sauk Capital Management, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the energy business; and John A Conrad, president and senior hydrogeologist, Conrad Geoscience, which provides environmental services for the public and private sectors, including the energy industry.

To watch the interviews, go to www.lohud.com/editorialspotlight; to comment or ask a question during the interviews, engage the “CoverItLive” feature on the computer screen.

AND A REMINDER! The first of two public hearings on the Tappan Zee Bridge Hudson River Crossing Project takes place from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Palisades Center mall in West Nyack, in the fourth-floor Adler Room. A second hearing is scheduled for 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Westchester Marriott Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 670 White Plains Road, Greenburgh. The project, scaled back from a decade-long plan to overhaul the entire Interstate 287 corridor, now just focuses on a four-mile stretch that includes the 56-year-old overtaxed Tappan Zee Bridge. This week’s hearings address the environmental impacts of the project. Still to be solved: the funding puzzle for a project expected to cost $5.2 billion, and when and how mass transit will come to the corridor. Visit thenewtzb.com to find out more.

The administration at Northern Westchester Hospital is backing the two nurses involved in the mess with Douglas Kennedy and his newborn son.

The hospital, in a statement issued today,  says patient safety is their priority and they are backing the two nurses—Anna Margaret Lane and Cari Maleman Luciano – who say that Kennedy kicked and grabbed them as they tried to prevent him from leaving the hospital with his two-day old child for some fresh air.

“We completely support the actions of our nursing staff in this case as they were clearly acting out of concern for the safety of the newborn baby,” Mark Vincent, a spokesman for the hospital, said in a statement.

The hospital’s support comes after Fox News chief, Roger Ailes, backed Kennedy and characterized him as an honest man and a great father.

“In my view, the real moral of this story should be don’t try to grab a baby from the arms of a loving father,” Ailes said.

The president of Fox News is defending Douglas Kennedy in the aftermath of the baby scandal at a Westchester hospital.

Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, said Kennedy, a reporter for Fox, is a “great father” who tells the truth. Ailes said he’s known Douglas and his wife Molly for 15 years.

“He tells the truth and his calm and gentle demeanor always impressed me,” Ailes said in a statement. ”He is the definition of a great father and it is a role he cherishes over all others. I support Douglas as do the independent  eyewitness accounts of the event. It is unfortunate that what appears to be a father’s defensive maneuver to protect his newborn baby has been twisted because of his famous name. In my view, the real moral of this story should be don’t try to grab a baby from the arms of a loving father.”

Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, is accused of kicking a maternity ward nurse and grabbing another one at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco while trying to take his 2-day-old son, Bo, out for “fresh air.”

The 44-year-old Chappaqua resident is facing a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of physical harassment, violations, after he was told that he couldn’t take his newborn out of the hospital’s maternity unit, but tried to anyway.

Kennedy and his wife called the allegations “sickening” and hoped Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore would understand that she made “a grave error in making a crime out of a father protecting his baby.”

Read the full story here.

The Thomas H. Slater Center will kick off its Biggest Loser Community Challenge on Monday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m. at 2 Fisher Court.

Potential competitors are invited to come early at 6:00 p.m. to participate in a dance and fitness program.  Challengers pay a one time fee of $20, from which the Biggest Loser and runner up will get 50% and 25% of the pot, respectively .  The additional 25% will cover program costs. 

Through our collaborators: ShopRite, YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester, New York Presbyterian Hospital, White Plains Hospital, Blythedale Hospital and Passages to Excellence at Bethel Baptist Church, challengers will be offered weekly weigh-ins, healthy living workshops, healthy cooking, and fitness classes.

 The YWCA will give the first 20 registrants passes to use their Fitness Center.  The first weigh-in will take place on March 1st, 6:00 p.m. at ShopRite of White Plains, with the final weigh-in and annoucement of the Biggest Loser on May 31st at the Slater Center.  All are invited to participate.

For more information, contact Heather Miller at 914-948-6211.

 

As a celebration of Italian culture, the “Carnevale di Venezia per Bambini (Carnival of Venice for Children)” will be held Saturday (2/25) from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Antonio Meucci Lodge, Sons of Italy, 279 Maple Ave. in White Plains. The event is open to children preschool age and up, and all children are encouraged to come in costume.

Admission for ages 5 and up is $5 per person at the door; children 4 and under are free. Families are asked to bring a dessert item to share. RSVP required; call Vito Tassone at 914-424-8374, Santina Tassone at 914-424-8659 or Joe Amato at 917-589-7443.

There will be a re-creation of the final night before Lent on Venice’s Piazza San Marco, complete with an opening flyover by “La Colomba (the dove),” exhibits of photos, videos, artwork, traditional masks and figurines, music, dancing, games, a mask-making workshop, a masquerade procession and Carnevale stories told in Italian and English by hosts Re’ Carnevale (Carnevale King) and Arlecchino (Harlequin). There will also be pizza and other refreshments.

Looking to celebrate Mardi Gras tonight? Here are three places to go!

Mardi Gras at Bourbon Street in 2007. File/TJN

• CJ Chenier will be in Mount Vernon on Feb. 21. The Grammy-nominated entertainer will perform, and there will be lots of revelry, including some beads, masks and who knows what else. King and Queen of Mardi Gras will be crowned at the end of the evening. 6, 8 and 10 p.m. $20 cover charge if not eating. The 411 on The Bayou.

• Bourbon Street comes to Hartsdale for Harrys FAT TUESDAY celebration! Beads and masks are the costume de rigueur and our mixologist will offer a complimentary cocktail for those ladies in Mardi Gras masks! We’ll turn up the heat with live music by Hit Squad from 9pm-midnight and offer Cajun specials along with our regular menu. Dinner will be served until 11 p.m.  The 411 on Harry’s.

• Live music and dinner specials at Bourbon Street in Nyack: The 411 on Bourbon Street.

Rep. Nita Lowey received an A+ for her support of foreign policy issues from a group that educates people about global issues.

In its 2012 Congressional Report Card, Citizens for Global Solutions gave Lowey and two other members of New York’s delegation—Rep. Gary Ackerman and Rep. Charles Rangel – the top grade.  

“We are pleased that Rep. Lowey not only ‘made the grade’ for her voting record, but that she also got extra credit for going ‘above and beyond’ in championing the issues that are important to our members,” Don Kraus, CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions said in a statement today announcing the report. “Rep. Lowey understands that international cooperation is essential, to build a safer, more secure world.”

Lowey, a Democrat from Harrison, received extra credit for introducing legislation for the U.S. to work with other nations, non-governmental organizations, and civil society groups to achieve basic education standards, according to the membership organization that is based in Washington.

Members of Congress were graded on their support for issues including climate change, nuclear non- proliferation, U.N. funding, human rights, and support for key treaties, the group reported.

Lowey, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years, faces a challenge from Republican Mark Rosen this year.

 

Mark Rosen, a Republican running against Rep. Nita Lowey, a Democrat from Harrison, today came out in support of term limits.

He blamed career politicians that are beholden to “narrow special interests” for contributing to a dysfunctional Congress. In a statement, he said he would put his reputation on the line to get it passed.

“Term limits is a concept whose time has come,” Rosen said in a statement. “It is only fitting to underscore this message during this President’s Day weekend, when our greatest Presidents exemplified the concept of serving the public good over narrow, special interests.

“Over the years, we have seen an erosion of the concept of the citizen legislator, with career politicians now ensconced in Congress. The incentive structure has gotten all twisted with self-created incumbency advantage mixed with an obscene set of perks, including exorbitant pension and health care benefits not available to the average citizen, causing a condition where few are willing to take on the real and hard problems. A dysfunctional Congress is the end result.”

Limiting the time an official can serve in Congress will help “drive real, creative and effective solutions for the issues that matter—such as growth and prosperity for American,” Rosen said.

Lowey was first elected in 1988 and is one of the more senior members of Congress. She serves on the  House Committee on Appropriations. Lowey also serves on the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; the Subcommittee on Homeland Security; and served on the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel.

Rosen said 24 years in Congress is too long. He backs four or five terms, which translates into eight or 10 years. Read more on his pledge here.

An evening of fun, dancing and food is on tap for young ladies dressed in their party clothes and their fathers, grandfathers, uncles or other men in their lives. Tickets are $25 per couple, and $5 for each additional child, and can be purchased at the White Plains Youth Bureau, 11 Amherst Place, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. weekdays and from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays.