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Jon Craig

Reporter

jon.craig@dailyvoice.com

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Pleasantville native Jon Craig is special editor for the Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess Daily Voice sites. He is also the primary reporter for Daily Voice Plus Politics in Westchester and Fairfield.

Jon graduated from Cornell University and received his master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. Across a 35-year career, he's worked as a reporter for daily newspapers in Chicago, New York, Ohio & Washington, D.C and as managing editor for weekly newspapers in Rye, White Plains and Harrison.

Jon also writes periodically for the Cornell Chronicle.

Career Highlights:

  • Covered Metro-North train wreck that killed a motorist and five commuters, 2015
  • Researched state investigative project for PublicIntegrity.org, 2011-12
  • National MADD award for database analysis of repeat drunk drivers in Ohio, 2008.
  • Henry F. Guggenheim Fellow, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2010.
  • Sentenced to jail for protecting confidential sources (won on appeal), 1999.
  • Broke 30th anniversary story about Kent State shootings — using FBI records, resurrecting theory a student informant triggered fatal National Guard volley, May 2000.
  • Covered Ground Zero after Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks.
  • Uncovered voting problems before & during presidential recount in Ohio, 2004.
  • Witnessed botched Death Row execution of Romell Broom in 2009, one of more than a dozen I covered; Wrote about three inmates whose death sentences were commuted to life without parole.
  • Won IRE, SDX and multiple national & state awards for series led by Erik Kriss investigating New York General Assembly. 1994.
  • Guest lecturer at universities in NY & Ohio. Taught Syracuse high school journalism class.
  • Co-authored IRE-award winning series on illegal restraints/beatings at juvenile detention centers. Gov. Mario Cuomo had NY inspector general confirm what Hart Seely and I found at Division for Youth & fired top directors, 1993.
  • Survived Air Force Kool School training at North Pole, 1996.
  • Covered Persian Gulf wars, including 2002 bomb missions from Turkey and stateside Army/Air Guard training. 1991.
  • Supervised overnight coverage of Pan Am Flight 103 after Libyan bomb killed 35 Syracuse University students over Lockerbie, Scotland, 1988.
  • Covered aftermath of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s fatal plane crash from Cape Cod, 1999.
  • Greeted Kurt Vonnegut Jr. as Cornell Sun sports editor during daily's 100th anniversary dinner in May 1980. 

Jon Craig's Contributions

Neighbors
Firefighters' Firing Prompts Protest In Port Chester Firefighters' Firing Prompts Protest In Port Chester
Firefighters' Firing Prompts Protest In Port Chester This story has been updated. PORT CHESTER, N.Y. -- Monday's surprise firing of eight paid firefighters in Port Chester prompted a rally and protest by about 200 firefighters, union members and the public. By a 5-1 vote, as reported earlier here by Daily Voice,  Port Chester's village board eliminated the paid fire department and 11 jobs. Three of the career jobs were vacant, leaving eight more firefighters on unpaid administrative leave.  During a rally outside Village Hall on Tuesday afternoon, William Romaka, first district vice president of the International Association of Fire Fighters…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Village Board Axes Paid Fire Department In Port Chester Village Board Axes Paid Fire Department In Port Chester
Village Board Axes Paid Fire Department In Port Chester PORT CHESTER, N.Y. -- Port Chester's village board voted 5-1 to on Monday night to cut eight paid firefighters. The abrupt budget change would save an estimated $600,000 in salaries and benefits in the 2016-17 budget, according to village officials. A rally to support the firefighters was planned for 1 p.m. Tuesday outside Village Hall at 222 Grace Church St. Organizers encouraged people to wear red to protest the village board vote. Village trustee Luis Marino, who is a volunteer firefighter, abstained from Monday's vote. Greg Adams was the only trustee to vote against eliminating the vil…

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by Jon Craig
News
Playland Amusement Park Gets New Private Manager With County Vote Playland Amusement Park Gets New Private Manager With County Vote
Playland Amusement Park Gets New Private Manager With County Vote WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - -Westchester's Board of Legislators voted 13-4 on Monday night to turn over management of county-owned Playland Park to Standard Amusements led by Harrison native Nicholas Singer.  The vote concludes a lengthy search for a new manager to take over day-to-day operations of the popular amusement park. The approval means Standard Amusements will make a $30 million private investment for the right to operate the historic park in Rye for 30 years. “We started with a blank piece of paper for how to save Playland six years ago,” Astorino said. “Now we are taking a historic ste…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Dead Bear Disrupts Commute On Taconic Parkway Dead Bear Disrupts Commute On Taconic Parkway
Dead Bear Disrupts Commute On Taconic Parkway HOPEWELL JUNCTION, N.Y. -- State police and road crews were responding to the Taconic Parkway near Interstate 84 on Monday morning after a dead bear was reported on the center median. The incident occurred on the southbound side just before 8 a.m. Return to Daily Voice for details.

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Ex-Police Officer From Westchester Convicted Of Dealing 'Date Rape' Drug Ex-Police Officer From Westchester Convicted Of Dealing 'Date Rape' Drug
Ex-Police Officer From Westchester Convicted Of Dealing 'Date Rape' Drug SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. -- A former police officer from Sleepy Hollow was convicted on Thursday of illegally selling a '"date rape" drug via the Internet, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Robert Smutek, 52, was convicted of four counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Smutek's maximum sentence will be determined by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas. During his five-day federal trial, Smutek testified that he sold more than 200,000 one-ounce bottles of Potion 9 in a five-year period, re…

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by Jon Craig
Neighbors
Judge Backs French American School, Blasts White Plains 'War Of Attrition' Judge Backs French American School, Blasts White Plains 'War Of Attrition'
Judge Backs French American School, Blasts White Plains 'War Of Attrition' WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- A state Supreme Court judge has rejected a motion to White Plains Common Council to a dismiss a lawsuit by a private school over its development proposal. State Supreme Court Judge Joan Lefkowitz wrote in a decision (attached below): "Having repeatedly wrung from FASNY concessions and accommodations on FASNY’s original proposal, then extending the SEQRA process further by compelling FASNY to explore the North Street option and essentially enticing FASNY to submit a new application incorporating that very option, the Common Council illegally placed the 2014 Applicat…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Local High School Temporarily Evacuated Local High School Temporarily Evacuated
Local High School Temporarily Evacuated PORT CHESTER, N.Y. -- The annual senior "skip day" turned into the real thing on Friday at Port Chester High School.  Firefighters were called to the high school shortly before 8 a.m. after a report of a suspected carbon monoxide gas leak.  Classes resumed by 8:40 a.m. after officials determined the building was safe. Caryn Furst, a spokeswoman for the Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District said a CO detector apparently went off in the kitchen and as a result Con Edison was called to check everything out. "Meanwhile, following protocol (same one we would use if this ha…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Suspicious Package Shuts Down Thornwood Shopping Center Suspicious Package Shuts Down Thornwood Shopping Center
Suspicious Package Shuts Down Thornwood Shopping Center THORNWOOD, N.Y. -- Columbus Avenue was closed to motorists on Thursday morning after a report of a suspicious package at Rose Hill Shopping Center. Thornwood Volunteer firefighters detoured traffic as the Westchester County Bomb Squad and Mount Pleasant police repsonded shortly before 11 a.m.  Even pedestrians on foot were being turned away a half-mile form the shopping center's Columbus Avenue entrance.

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
White Plains Man Charged In Fatal Hit-Run Accident White Plains Man Charged In Fatal Hit-Run Accident
White Plains Man Charged In Fatal Hit-Run Accident GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Greenburgh police have made an arrest in a nearly year-old hit-and-run accident that killed a pedestrian. On Wednesday, Greenburgh detectives interviewed and subsequently charged Theodore Aubrey Gumbs, 51, of 1 Wyndover Woods Lane in White Plains with leaving the scene of an accident, resulting in a death, a class D felony, according to Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner. The arrest stems from investigative leads developed by town detectives in locating the 2015 Honda Pilot that Gumbs is accused of driving the night he struck 23-year-old Darryl Chung.  "Credit to ou…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Dutchess County Man Charged With Sexual Assaulting Underage Girl Dutchess County Man Charged With Sexual Assaulting Underage Girl
Dutchess County Man Charged With Sexual Assaulting Underage Girl POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- A 29-year-old man has been charged with sexually assaulting a child, Dutchess County Sheriff’s said on Thursday. The county Sheriff's Office arrested Jose Diaz of Poughkeepsie for the sexual assault of a child in connection with a string of incidents that occurred in 2014. Diaz was arrested on Tuesday as the result of an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the Dutchess County Child Advocacy Center. Diaz is accused of sexually assaulting a female victim under the age of 13 over the course of several months in 2014.  No further details about the c…

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by Jon Craig
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