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Sunday, may 4

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

Police & Fire

Trenton Fatal Shooting Victim Identified, 25th Homicide This Year In State Capital Authorities have identified the Camden County man killed by gunfire on Monday in Trenton. Rahkeem Ortiz, 29, of Blackwood died in the shooting at about 1:30 p.m. on the first block of South Broad Street, according to Casey DeBlasio, a spokesperson for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. There have been no arrests, she said. Trenton has had 25 homicides this year, according to DeBlasio: 24 fatal shootings and one fatal stabbing. The city had 15 murders in 2019 and 16 in 2018, according to New Jersey State Police statistics, after recording 21 in 2016 and 23 in 2017. CHECK BACK FOR…

by Jon Craig

08/18/2020

Police & Fire

Trenton Fatal Shooting Victim Identified, 25th Homicide This Year In State Capital UPDATED: Authorities have identified the South Jersey man killed by gunfire on Monday in Trenton. Rahkeem Ortiz, 29, of Blackwood in Camden County died in the shooting at about 1:30 p.m. on the first block of South Broad Street, according to Casey DeBlasio, a spokesperson for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. No other details were released. There have been no arrests, DeBlasio said. Trenton has had 25 homicides this year, according to DeBlasio: 24 fatal shootings and one fatal stabbing. The capital city had 15 murders in 2019 and 16 in 2018, according to New Jersey State Police …

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

Police & Fire

South Jersey Man, 56, Pleads Guilty To Distributing Child Pornography A 56-year-old man from Burlington County had admitted to possessing more than 1,000 images of child pornography and making the illegal images available for others to download, authorities said. Guy Valachovic of Pemberton pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said. Valachovic faces up to eight years in state prison when he is sentenced by Superior Court Judge Terrence R. Cook on Feb. 13, 2021, according to Coffina. Valachovic was charged in August 2019 and taken into custody after investigators sei…

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

Police & Fire

Trenton Woman, 33, Killed In Mercer County Crash The victim of Sunday's fatal crash in Mercer County has been identified, authorities said. Lauren Lewis, 33, of Trenton was killed when her Hyundai sedan went off the eastbound side of Interstate Interstate-195 in Hamilton Township, New Jersey State Police Trooper Charles Marchan said. Lewis' vehicle run into the woods near Exit 5B of I-195 about 5:35 p.m., state police said. The exit ramp was closed during an investigation of the crash. Last week, a 16-year-old Trenton girl was killed in a crash near Exit3B on the westbound side of the same highway.

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

Police & Fire

South Jersey Man, 33, Killed In Montana Rollover Crash Down Rugged Dirt Road A 33-year-old man from South Jersey was killed and his 29-year-old passenger seriously hurt Saturday in Montana when their SUV struck trees and rolled down a rocky embankment, authorities said. Benjamin Clayton of Galloway was traveling on a rugged dirt road when he lost control of his vehicle on a curve, struck several trees and rolled down a 300-foot embankment, a spokesman for the Montana Highway Patrol said. Clayton's female passenger, who was not identified, was able to crawl out of the SUV and call 9-1-1, authorities said. The area near Hungry Horse, Montana, is very scenic, ru…

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

Police & Fire

Motorist Strikes Pole, Killed In Edison Crash A man was killed Monday in a single-car crash in Edison, authorities said. The victim was driving on Route 27 near Frederic Street when his car crossed the road, hit a pole and overturned, Edison police said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene about 9 a.m., police said. His name has not been released by police. Route 27 remained closed in both directions as of 11:30 a.m. An investigation of a possible cause of the crash is continuing, police said.

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

News

Former Central Jersey Altar Boy Says Defrocked Catholic Cardinal Molested Him A former altar boy from Monmouth County has gone public with accusations of sex abuse as a child at the hands of defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Geoffrey Downs, now 53, said in a lawsuit that McCarrick invited him to stay at a Catholic diocese-owned Jersey Shore beach house when he was a teenager. In this interview with NJ.com, Downs said he never told his parents and continued serving as an altar boy until high school, when he was preparing for Mass with McCarrick. He claims that the cleric fondled him. “I was kind of frozen,” Downs said in the newspaper interview. Last …

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

Police & Fire

Drowning Woman Saved By Brick Police Officers A woman who was stranded in an Ocean County river for about an hour Saturday night before being was rescued by Brick police, authorities said. The woman, whose name has not been released, is is stable condition after suffering near-fatal breathing problems, Brick police said. Police were called to Eagle Point on the Metedeconk River about 9 p.m. on Saturday on a report of a woman missing in the water. The woman went missing in rough waters and strong currents, prompting a boat's operator to call 9-1-1, police said. Two police boats out of Trader's Cove Marina responded along with the U.S.…

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

Police & Fire

Arrest Made In Fatal Atlantic City Hotel Shooting A 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with last week's fatal shooting in an Atlantic City hotel, authorities said. Wayne Brown, 25, of Atlantic City was found dead of a gunshot wound on the 11th floor of the 24-floor Madison Hotel on Wednesday, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner said. Keshawn T. Faulkner, of Atlantic City has been charged with Brown's murder as well as robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm, Tyner said on Sunday. Faulkner was taken into custody on Friday afternoon, processed and taken to the Atlantic County Justice Facility, he said. Auth…

by Jon Craig

08/17/2020

Police & Fire

Deadly Bull Sharks Sighted In Jersey Shore River Several bull shark sightings were reported in the Navesink River in Central Jersey, local police said. People reported seeing the shark in the area of the river near Navesink Avenue, Rumson police said Thursday. The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife advised that no sightings have been confirmed but "there is a possibility that sharks could be in our local waterways," police said. There have been sightings of sharks in the Navesink River and elsewhere along the Jersey Shore in past years. Area resident Paul Cameron posted a photo of a pair of Bimini Bahamas sharks resembl…

by Jon Craig

08/14/2020

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