Jon Craig

Reporter

jon.craig@dailyvoice.com

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

Former Mount Pleasant Police Chief Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge Former Mount Pleasant Police Chief Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge
Former Mount Pleasant Police Chief Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Former Mount Pleasant Police Chief Brian Fanelli, of Mahopac, entered a guilty plea on Monday to possession of child pornography. Fanelli, 56, was arrested in January 2014, just two months after becoming police chief, when federal agents raided his home. Federal authorities accused him of downloading and sharing more than 120 files containing pornographic images and video of children. Fanelli entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas at the federal courthouse in White Plains. The one count of possessing child pornography carries a maximum …
Rye Brook Landlord Negotiates Settlement With D'Agostino Supermarket Rye Brook Landlord Negotiates Settlement With D'Agostino Supermarket
Rye Brook Landlord Negotiates Settlement With D'Agostino Supermarket RYE BROOK, N.Y. -- The leasing manager for the Rye Brook Shopping Center says it is working on a settlement with D'Agostino Supermarket, which closed without notice last month. Erin Hinchey, leasing agent for Win Properties Inc., said, "We are currently working on a settlement with them to relieve them of their obligations here so that we can move on with a new tenant." Nicholas D’Agostino III, president and chief executive officer of the food store chain, reached Monday at his Larchmont company headquarters, said, "We gave that store back to the landlord." Asked if he has any plans …
Kaplowitz, Chair Of Legislators, Sides With Astorino On Affordable Housing Kaplowitz, Chair Of Legislators, Sides With Astorino On Affordable Housing
Kaplowitz, Chair Of Legislators, Sides With Astorino On Affordable Housing CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. -- "On this one, I think the federal government is wrong,'' County Legislator Michael Kaplowitz said, in reaction to Thursday's news that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office recommends monthly fines and other court action against Westchester County for failing to meet a 2014 benchmark for financing new affordable housing. Kaplowitz, a Democrat from Somers, is chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. When it comes to the county's 2009 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Kaplowitz has often disagreed with County Exe…
County Claims 'Harassment,' Politics In New Fed Housing Penalty County Claims 'Harassment,' Politics In New Fed Housing Penalty
County Claims 'Harassment,' Politics In New Fed Housing Penalty WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Federal officials continue to send mixed messages -- praising Westchester County for its progress on building affordable housing -- and then coming up with surprise punishments, a spokesman for County Executive Rob Astorino said Thursday. Ned McCormack, communications director for County Executive Rob Astorino, said, "Westchester County believes it's in compliance. There's no basis for this action other than harassment. The Justice Department is complaining that Chappaqua, N.Y., the home of Hillary Clinton, is guilty of housing discrimination." Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a…
Valhalla Student Catches Bobcat On Camera Valhalla Student Catches Bobcat On Camera
Valhalla Student Catches Bobcat On Camera This story has been updated. WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y.  -- This week's sighting of a bobcat in Hawthorne triggered new reports of bobcats captured on cameras or phones near North White Plains and Carmel. Liesa Alvarez, who lives in the Quarry Heights section of North Castle, said her 11-year-old daughter, Sofia, took a photo of a bobcat from the road near North White Plains on Feb. 28. (See attached image of it atop a snowy slope.) "It's blurry, but she captured the bobcat that had been by our house a few days earlier,'' Alvarez said. "Bobcats are indeed in our area. Lots of wildlife …
Carmel Family Sees Bobcat Chasing Deer Through Backyard Carmel Family Sees Bobcat Chasing Deer Through Backyard
Carmel Family Sees Bobcat Chasing Deer Through Backyard CARMEL, N.Y.  -- This week's sighting of a bobcat in Westchester County triggered new reports of bobcats captured on phones or cameras in Putnam County as well as North White Plains. Jen Colamonico Beltrami of Carmel said her husband and their 8-year-old son saw a bobcat cross their yard off Ann Road on July 10.  Beltrami told Daily Voice it's the second time in eight years that a bobcat was spotted running through their yard. "Seven years ago, my son was a baby and I didn't have time to grab a camera,'' she said. During this month's sighting, Beltrami said her son saw it chasing …
Threat Of Closing Shelter Attracts Animal Lovers To Greenburgh Town Meeting Threat Of Closing Shelter Attracts Animal Lovers To Greenburgh Town Meeting
Threat Of Closing Shelter Attracts Animal Lovers To Greenburgh Town Meeting This story has been updated. GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Greenburgh Town Hall was packed on Wednesday night for an emergency meeting to save Pets Alive Westchester -- commonly known as the Elmsford animal shelter. The former Elmsford Animal Shelter was donated to Pets Alive for $10. On Saturday, Pets Alive officials announced plans to close the "no-kill" facility in 60 to 90 days due to building disrepair and declining revenue. .Fourteen people are employed by the shelter, which cares for 80 cats or kittens and about 80 dogs. Greenburgh Town Attorney Tim Lewis and Councilman Francis Sheehan,…
County Police Charge Four More Inmates With 'Promoting Prison Contraband' County Police Charge Four More Inmates With 'Promoting Prison Contraband'
County Police Charge Four More Inmates With 'Promoting Prison Contraband' VALHALLA, N.Y. -- Westchester County Police released the names of four more inmates charged Tuesday with promoting prison contraband in connection with recent drug overdoses at the County Jail. A total of 13 inmates had to be treated after ingesting synthetic marijuana known as 2chee, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said at a Tuesday morning news conference. That brings the total charged to six, including two other inmates who were charged on Monday before an overnight lockdown in which all 240 cells at the County Jail were searched by K9 units for drugs and related contraband…
County Jail Locked Down For Drug Search County Jail Locked Down For Drug Search
County Jail Locked Down For Drug Search VALHALLA, N.Y. -- Westchester County Jail was locked down overnight Monday for "a top to bottom search" for drugs and other evidence of smuggling, County Executive Rob Astorino said at a Tuesday news conference at the jail. At least four more inmates "will be charged by the end of the day with promoting prison contraband,'' in addition to two inmates who were charged with the misdemeanor on Monday, according to Westchester County Commissioner of Public Safety George Longworth. A total of 13 inmates had to be treated for overdoses of a synthetic marijuana known as "2chee" The synthetic d…
Bobcat Caught On Camera, This Time By A Mount Pleasant Councilman Bobcat Caught On Camera, This Time By A Mount Pleasant Councilman
Bobcat Caught On Camera, This Time By A Mount Pleasant Councilman HAWTHORNE, N.Y. --  The first bobcat sighting in Westchester County since last fall was reported on Sunday along Warren Avenue in Hawthorne. Town of Mount Pleasant Councilman Nicholas DiPaolo said he spotted the bobcat about 3 p.m. on Sunday in his backyard at 140 Warren Ave. "I saw it stroll through very casually, stopping every few feet to look around,'' DiPaolo told Daily Voice. "It wandered into the woods east of Warren Avenue and a short while later several deer came running out of the woods." DiPaolo happens to live about two miles from County Executive Rob Astorino. DiPaolo sn…
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