Tom Walogorsky, editor of North Salem News and The Somers Record, Brian Marschhauser, editor of Yorktown News and The Katonah Lewisboro Times, and Bob Dumas, editor of Mahopac News, join host Brett Freeman for today’s weekly editorial roundup. 

The episode starts with some sad news about a fire in Heritage Hills which resulted in the death of a woman and her dog and a discussion about keeping safe and helping out in the wake of disasters. Marschhauser then reports on the long-running problems Lakeland School Board has been having, which culminated in a very rowdy and hostile meeting this week over, amongst other things, the possibility of introducing the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Curriculum. Dumas joins in with a rundown of Mahopac’s issues with its school board over vaccine mandates, and the guys discuss the possibility of virtue signaling in pandemic-related decisions.

Moving on, Dumas reports on the infighting caused by Kevin Byrne running for and subsequently receiving the Conservative nomination for the Putnam County Executive, a messy situation involving the GOP chairman and accusations of dishonesty and disloyalty. Then Walogorsky briefly discusses the debate in Somers over the Board of Education’s decision on mask mandates before Marschhauser brings up the rise in electric bills, leading to a discussion about the impact of inflation on all industries, including newspapers with the cost of paper going through the roof. And finally, the group discusses the redistricting in Yorktown and the potential opening it gives for more moderate Democrats to throw their hat in the ring.

Episode Highlights:

• Three editors from the Halston Media team join today’s roundup—Tom Walogorsky, editor of North Salem News and The Somers Record, Brian Marschhauser, editor of Yorktown News and The Katonah Lewisboro Times, and Bob Dumas, editor of Mahopac News.
• Walogorsky reports on the February 16 fire in Heritage Hills that resulted in the death of a woman and her dog and caused heavy fire and smoke damage.
• The guys discuss Brett’s big tree (which is actually outside Bob’s house).
• The Lakeland School Board held a very rowdy meeting this week, the latest in a line of similar meet-ups over the last year. The Board is exploring the controversial DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) curriculum and has met with hostility from some attendees, culminating in some alleged aggressive behavior at this meeting and accusations of harassment following it.
• Marschhauser discusses the difficulty of reporting on incidents when all the information is secondhand.
• Mahopac is also having some issues with its School Board—its meeting on February 17 was scheduled to include a presentation by the Ad Hoc Committee, made up of board and community members, on their advocacy plan for local control. They’re calling for transparency in the...