Neighborhood Know-It-All: GOP and Dems Set Slate; Home Visitor Position; Collins Becomes Stepinac President

Let’s face it—everyone likes being a know-it-all. Arm yourself with knowledge and find out what’s happening this week in White Plains

1.) Candidates Slates for Republicans and Democrats Set

The White Plains Republican City Committee has chosen four to fill seats up for grabs in November’s election.

Richard Cirulli, Terence Guerriere and Michael Donnelly will compete for three council seats whose terms expire this year. Running for the same spots, which carry four-year terms, on the Democratic side are Council President Benjamin Boykin, Councilwoman Milagros Lecuona and lawyer Dennis Krolian.

Republicans chose Jim Arndt to run for Mayor Tom Roach’s unexpired two-year term, which Councilman John Martin is temporarily appointed to. Martin was chosen by the White Plains Democratic City Committee to run to keep his current position on the White Plains Common Council.  

2.) Stipend Positions Available for Parent-Child Home Visitors

Westchester Jewish Community Services' Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) is looking for part-time visitors, who will receive a stipend, for the coming October to May year. The program serves low-income families in White Plains, Port Chester, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Greenburgh and Mount Vernon.

Visitors meet parents and children in their homes twice a week, since the child is 2-year-old, and brings games and toys to model verbal interaction, reading, conversation, play and literacy skills to parents and children.

Though visitor hours are flexible, a minimum of nine hours per week is required, and visitors must attend weekly staff/training meetings on Wednesdays at WJCS, 141 N. Central Ave. in Hartsdale. Training starts in September. For more information call Patrice Cuddy, at 914-949-7699 ext. 324.

3.) Father Thomas Collins Becomes President of Alma Mater Stepinac

Father Thomas Collins has been named the new president of Archbishop Stepinac High School, succeeding Monsignor Anthony Marchitelli.

Collins grew up in White Plains and graduated from the school in 1979. Collins also graduated from Iona College in New and St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1992, and returned to Stepinac as a faculty member in 1995. In 2001 he was named Associate Dean of Students and a year later became Dean of Students, a position he held until 2007 when he joined the school’s Office of Development. 

Collins celebrates Mass on Sundays at three Westchester parishes:  Resurrection Church in Rye, Holy Rosary Church in Hawthorne and Our Lady of Sorrows Church in White Plains.

4.) Federally Subsidized College Loan Interest Rates Drop

US Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) announced that interest rates on federally subsidized college loans will be reduced to 3.4 percent.

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act was passed in 2007 to lower interest rates on subsidized student loans, and went into effect on July 1. Interest rates on these particular loans are half of what they were three years ago. The act also created a resource where people can shop around for the best loan deal at www.collegecost.ed.gov. 

5.)

See Westchester's hottest “real” hunks and get them to sign your calendar on Sat., July 9 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Jackie Blue Lounge in White Plains. Click to read the full story.

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