By Holly Crocco With more than 42,000 ballots cast in the race for Putnam County executive, as of Friday, there was only a 458 vote difference between incumbent Republican Kevin Byrne, with 20,239 votes, and Democratic challenger Brett Yarris, with 19,781 votes. That’s 47.82 to 46.74 percent. Conservative candidate Tatiana Brahimi had 2,289 votes, or 5 percent. There were also 10 write-ins. According to the Putnam County Board of Elections, there were more than 750 outstandin

By Holly Crocco It’s looking like another Democrat will join the Putnam County Legislature in January, meaning there will be two on the governing body, among the seven Republicans. After three days of tallying absentee ballots in the race for Putnam County Legislature District 3, which represents the Town of Kent, Democrat Kathy Kahng claimed victory in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election against Republican Joseph Cunningham, with a reported vote tally of 2,496 to 2,463, or 50.33 to

By Holly Crocco Although the race for Kent town supervisor is still close, with the most recent tallying of absentee ballots showing her leading by 47 votes – 2,898 to 2,853 ballots, or 50.36 to 49.57 percent - Democrat Alex Sewell conceded to Republican incumbent Jaime McGlasson. According to the Board of Elections, as of Friday, there are still 97 outstanding absentee ballots from Kent to be counted, in addition to affidavits. “As the final votes trickle in over the next fe

By Holly Crocco During the Nov. 3 mid-term elections, in New York State Senate District 39 which represents Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange counties, Democrat Lisa Kaul defeated incumbent Republican Robert Rolison, securing more than 55 percent of the vote in all three counties. In Putnam, as of Friday, Kaul received 6,132 ballots, compared to Rolison’s 4,296. “This victory belongs to the people of the Hudson Valley and to everyone who believed in our vision and helped make it p

By Holly Crocco New York’s 17th Congressional District is considered one of the state’s few “swing” districts, and the success of Democrat Cait Conley taking down incumbent Republican Mike Lawler likely helped tip the balance of power in Washington during the midterm elections Nov. 3. Lawler, who spent two terms in the seat, bowed out at about 11 p.m., after results from Putnam, Dutchess, and Rockland counties were not in his favor. Due to malfunctioning voting machines in We

By Holly Crocco The Putnam County Legislature last week voted to override a veto by County Executive Kevin Byrne that is – confusingly – in relation to the vote required to override certain budget vetoes. Each year, the county executive and his administrative team draft a proposed budget that he presents to the Legislature in October. That governing body then takes the month to dissect the spending plan, making additions and deletions, modifications, and other changes. Once i

By Holly Crocco Both of Putnam County’s assemblymembers retained their seats in last week’s election. In the 94th district, Matt Slater, R-Yorktown, claimed victory against Democratic challenger Daniel Guzman. In Putnam, Slater received 57 percent of the vote (20,898 ballots) to Guzman’s 43 percent (15,733 ballots). While Westchester was still counting many of its ballots well into the week after a countywide machine malfunction, as of Friday, Slater was leading Guzman 55 to

By Holly Crocco The Patterson Town Board on Nov. 4 unanimously approved a local law that sets a weight limit on Fields Corners Road, with the goal of reducing the amount of large vehicles on that roadway that are traveling to and from the Lincoln Logistics warehouses recently constructed on Pugsley Road in Southeast. “So what we are doing tonight is establishing a weight limit of 10,000 pounds on Fields Corners Road to try to limit commercial vehicles on the road,” said Super

By Holly Crocco The Putnam County Legislature last week voted unanimously to move forward with providing $10 million to the towns and villages over the next two years, as opposed to $6.5 million by the end of 2026. The proposal was brought forth by Legislator Toni Adonizzio, R-Kent, earlier this year, and was discussed and debated during prior committee meetings. It was proposed as an alternative to County Executive Kevin Byrne’s request to provide $6.5 million to the towns b

A $10 million infrastructure project that will bring Putnam County’s first roundabout to the intersection of Stoneleigh Avenue and Drewville Road in Carmel was recently announced. The state will contribute $1.5 million, representing 15 percent of the project’s total funding. The Stoneleigh Avenue and Drewville Road intersection has long presented significant safety concerns, particularly given its importance as an access route to Putnam Hospital. The planned roundabout is int

The Town of Carmel has been awarded $5 million in state funding for critical upgrades to its Water District Number 2 treatment plant, helping – in part – to reduce the entire cost of the project by $20 million. The funding was awarded through the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation’s $500 million Water Infrastructure Improvement grant program as part of a statewide investment in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, supporting 106 projects across the s

The Village of Cold Spring has been awarded a $911,869 grant for land acquisition from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Quality Improvement Project. The village will use the funds to purchase a 16-acre parcel on the shores of the Upper Cold Spring Reservoir and restore a shoreline riparian buffer. This project is a continuation of the village's initiative to protect the reservoir and drinking water source. As part of the larger project to re

The Mahopac High School boys’ soccer team celebrates its Section 1 Class AA title win against Lakeland. Photo by Mahopac Central School District. The Mahopac High School boys’ soccer team beat Lakeland, 1-0, to win the Section 1 Class AA title and move on to the state playoffs. Wait, it gets even better. Two days after winning the sectional crown, Mahopac beat Goshen, 2-1, in the first round of the state regionals. Manny Mejia scored with just over 2 minutes remaining to beat

There are a number of races in Putnam County that may very well come down to the absentee ballots. As of 10 a.m. Nov. 4, Republican Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne was leading with 20,145 votes, versus Democratic challenger Brett Yarris’ 19,550 votes. In case you don’t have a calculator, that’s a 595-vote difference. Conservative candidate Tatiana Brahimi had 2,271 votes. According to the Putnam County Board of Elections, there were 1,164 outstanding absentee ballots left

By Holly Crocco The Putnam Conservative Party last week admitted in court to altering photos on campaign mailers, in violation of state election law, and agreed to pay the legal fees for Republican County Executive Kevin Byrne after he sued the party over the circulation of materials that contained fake images of him posing with Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “There is no photo on the planet like that of me with Kathy Hochul,”