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

Tailgating Stop Gets BMW Impounded In Harrison Tailgating Stop Gets BMW Impounded In Harrison
Tailgating Stop Gets BMW Impounded In Harrison HARRISON, N.Y. -- A tailgating arrest on Wednesday, Oct. 1, led police to discover another violation that resulted in an Armonk man losing his red BMW to an impound lot. Harrison police said that Nick G. DeClemente, 37, of 68 N. Greenwich Road, Armonk, was spotted tailgating while traveling east in the 2100 block of Westchester Avenue near Kenilworth Road about 2:15 p.m. A routine computer check found that DeClemente's driving privileges were suspended in New York state. He was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, police said. A tow truck was called to impound the …
Hundreds Mourn Loss, Celebrate Life Of Armonk's Miles Applebaum, 21 Hundreds Mourn Loss, Celebrate Life Of Armonk's Miles Applebaum, 21
Hundreds Mourn Loss, Celebrate Life Of Armonk's Miles Applebaum, 21 ARMONK, N.Y. -- Hundreds of friends and relatives of Miles Applebaum celebrated his brief but wondrous life Sunday during funeral services at Congregation B'Nai Yisrael. The 21-year-old Byram Hills High School graduate, state track star and Temple University junior was a deeply poetic person who loved jazz but who suffered bouts of severe depression. His body was found Thursday, Oct. 2, by a park ranger at Glazier Preserve in New Castle after he went missing on Monday.  "Miles' love has united us in life,'' said Rabbi Douglas Krantz. "The song that was Miles is playing now quietly in…
Harrison Tries To Set HUD Straight On 'Exclusionary' Zoning Harrison Tries To Set HUD Straight On 'Exclusionary' Zoning
Harrison Tries To Set HUD Straight On 'Exclusionary' Zoning HARRISON, N.Y. -- In a letter to a federal housing monitor, Mayor/Supervisor Ron Belmont says the village and town of Harrison are anything but exclusionary to anyone wanting to reside there. Belmont notes his town has a reputation for being affluent, but is near the middle of Westchester's 43 municipalities -- 19th -- with a median household income of $105,111, according to the 2010 census. "The town is more ethnically diverse than is generally perceived,'' Belmont wrote, citing statistics to prove it in a Sept. 26 letter to James E. Johnson, who is monitoring a 2009 fair housing settl…
Crews Get Green Light To Replace Main Street Traffic Signal In White Plains Crews Get Green Light To Replace Main Street Traffic Signal In White Plains
Crews Get Green Light To Replace Main Street Traffic Signal In White Plains WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- For about two years, motorists have been guided at the corner of Court and Main streets in the heart of White Plains by a temporary traffic light. Pedestrians had grown accustomed to the portable structure until barriers and a bulldozer arrived last week. That's all going to change soon at White Plains' busy corner outside of Macy's and Starbucks when a new traffic light is installed. Engineers design the newest models to sway -- but not snap or fall -- in high winds.The former traffic light reportedly fell down during a windstorm. White Plains Mayor Tom Roac…
West Harrison Welcomes New Cancer Treatment Facility West Harrison Welcomes New Cancer Treatment Facility
West Harrison Welcomes New Cancer Treatment Facility HARRISON, N.Y. -- For decades, Westchester Avenue was dubbed the "Platinum Mile." In recent years, with more health care providers resurrecting vacant offices near interstates 684 and 287, it's been renamed the "Medical Mile." Wednesday's announcement that Memorial Sloan Ketttering Cancer Center has partnered with the Mount Kisco Medical Group and will open a new patient care facility Monday, Oct. 6, at 500 Westchester Ave., was welcomed by hundreds of health care providers, patients and public officials during morning and evening events Wednesday. "It's dizzying,'' said Dr. Thomas Lest…
Mamaroneck High School Welcomes Exchange Students From Shanghai, China Mamaroneck High School Welcomes Exchange Students From Shanghai, China
Mamaroneck High School Welcomes Exchange Students From Shanghai, China MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- About 20 exchange students from the Shanghai Experimental School were welcomed at Mamaroneck High School Wednesday as part of a weeklong trip to the United States from China. Their school's second trip to MHS is part of an ongoing academic and cultural partnership that includes staying with host families from Mamaroneck. In April, MHS students will make the school's third exchange trip to Shanghai.  During a slight drizzle, the Chinese guests were greeted by MHS cheerleaders, the 15-member Force drum band and dozens of cheering Mamaroneck students.  Chinese studen…
Cuomo, Astorino Trade Jabs Over HUD Housing Settlement Cuomo, Astorino Trade Jabs Over HUD Housing Settlement
Cuomo, Astorino Trade Jabs Over HUD Housing Settlement WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD. And he's a Westchester resident, living less than 10 miles from his Republican challenger, County Executive Rob Astorino of Hawthorne. Asked today by Albany reporters about the details of an ongoing, complex 2009 HUD fair housing case against his home county, the governor from New Castle evaded messy details. Instead, Cuomo blamed Astorino for failing to comply with the housing settlement. Cuomo failed to mention that a federal monito…
Rye Bank Robbery Suspect Arrested In Connecticut Rye Bank Robbery Suspect Arrested In Connecticut
Rye Bank Robbery Suspect Arrested In Connecticut RYE, N.Y. -- A 26-year-old Bridgeport, Conn., man was arrested Wednesday in connection with the Sept. 25 bank robbery at 72 Purchase St. Jamar Jermaine Jarrett was arrested by Rye police with help from the Connecticut police departments in Bridgeport, Trumbull and Suffield, where the suspect is connected to three other bank robberies. After the robbery at Rye's Webster Bank, a red dye pack exploded all over the stolen cash in the parking lot behind the bank. A suspect described as wearing dreadlocks fled in a blue Audi, police said. Jarrett reportedly dropped the bag of an undetermin…
Stolen Cell Phone In Harrison Leads To County Jail Stolen Cell Phone In Harrison Leads To County Jail
Stolen Cell Phone In Harrison Leads To County Jail HARRISON, N.Y. -- Harrison police said they arrested an Otisville man for stealing his ex-girlfriend's cell phone and violating an order of protection. Terence F. Williams, 45, reportedly smashed the screen of the Harrison woman's Verizon Motorola 4G phone by throwing it down her apartment building hallway along the 400 block of Halstead Avenue on Sept. 20. Williams then reportedly forcibly took the 39-year-old woman's I-Phone 5C and left for the Harrison train station. When Harrison police arrived at the railroad station, Williams told them he had placed the girlfriend's phone near a t…
White Plains Hospital 'Tops' Six-Story Addition White Plains Hospital 'Tops' Six-Story Addition
White Plains Hospital 'Tops' Six-Story Addition WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- During a hard hat ceremony attended by more than 200 hospital leaders, doctors and nurses, construction workers and public officials Tuesday, the final steel beam was placed atop the six-story addition to White Plains Hospital. "Walking into those new doors a year from now is walking into our future,'' said Susan Fox, hospital president. "Over the past few years, we have been investing heavily in our facility for the benefit of our patients." In addition to a new glass-enclosed lobby facing Davis Avenue, the patient tower will include 24 new private rooms, additional s…
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