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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

Politics
Blue State Is Registering More Blue Voters Every New York Minute Blue State Is Registering More Blue Voters Every New York Minute
Blue State Is Registering More Blue Voters Every New York Minute What does it mean? We may not know the full impact, if any, until the presidential primary or general elections in 2020. But one thing is certain: There have been more active voters registering as Democrats in New York state since the November election than active voters registering as  Republicans. A Daily Voice examination of statewide active voter registration numbers between November and February found that Democrats have been out-registering Republicans in New York state by an almost 10-1 margin since the last general election.   New York registered Democratic voters al…

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by Jon Craig
Politics
Town Selectmen: Don't Balance State Budget On Local Taxpayers' Backs Town Selectmen: Don't Balance State Budget On Local Taxpayers' Backs
Town Selectmen: Don't Balance State Budget On Local Taxpayers' Backs Don't tread on us, Ned. That's what town and city officials are telling Gov. Ned Lamont and state lawmakers in Hartford. As if the federal mortgage tax deduction cap wasn't damaging enough to Connecticut taxpayers. Now, state lawmakers are considering shifting the rapidly rising, multi-million-dollar cost of teachers' pensions to the annual property tax bill.  While a state Education Committee recently scrubbed the proposal in a bipartisan vote, state lawmakers aren't ruling out bringing the proposal back if needed to help balance the two-year state budget.  Until the state …

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by Jon Craig
Schools
How Did Lunch Money 'Disappear' In New Canaan For 15 Years? Defense Lawyers Hire Forensic Team How Did Lunch Money 'Disappear' In New Canaan For 15 Years? Defense Lawyers Hire Forensic Team
How Did Lunch Money 'Disappear' In New Canaan For 15 Years? Defense Lawyers Hire Forensic Team Lawyers for two lunch ladies from Fairfield County insisted the numbers never added up and that there was more to the story about the theft of nearly half a million in cafeteria receipts. A new forensic team began looking over the books in the New Canaan School District, leading to the arrest of a third suspect who now lives in Vermont. Joanne Pascarelli, 61, of Stratford and her sister, Marie Wilson, 67, of Wilton were charged with stealing $478,588 between 2012 and 2017, according to police.  Although there were discrepancies in the books dating back 15 years, the cafeteria workers …

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by Jon Craig
Politics
Odds Are 50-50 That Legal Sports Betting Is Coming Soon Odds Are 50-50 That Legal Sports Betting Is Coming Soon
Odds Are 50-50 That Legal Sports Betting Is Coming Soon Sports betting is no longer unique to Las Vegas. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban that prohibited states from regulating sports wagering, eight states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island legalized it. Now, 23 other states including Connecticut and New York have legislation pending that would legalize sports betting -- which has become a $400 billion-a-year industry.  Some legislators see legalization as a way to circumvent the gambling black market while reducing state budget deficits.  Sports betting was not included as a proposed s…

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by Jon Craig
Politics
Law Students Question UConn President's Stance On Free Speech Law Students Question UConn President's Stance On Free Speech
Law Students Question UConn President's Stance On Free Speech Some University of Connecticut Law students have requested a public apology from UConn President Susan Herbst, who they claim raised questions about a Hartford speech on Islamophobia by Palestinian-American feminist activist Linda Sarsour. Herbst, who plans to retire this summer, let the April event go ahead as planned after organizers added a panelist on anti-Semitism, according to a university spokeswoman.  The law students insist Herbst’s office was wrong to intervene after the event was reviewed and pre-approved by UConn police officers and the university’s communications office. …

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by Jon Craig
Politics
With A Resurgence In Hate Crimes, This Speech On History Speaks For Itself With A Resurgence In Hate Crimes, This Speech On History Speaks For Itself
With A Resurgence In Hate Crimes, This Speech On History Speaks For Itself Westchester County Executive George Latimer's full remarks from Thursday, May 2, when he spoke during the annual Yom Hashoah Commemoration at the Garden of Remembrance in White Plains: “This is an event where we both remember and we commit to never forget, those are two different realities. We remember that six million people, innocent people, were herded into boxcars like animals. Brought into gas chambers and mass murdered. They were put in pits and shot with automatic weapons. For the singular crime that they were Jewish. “The accomplishments, the life, the offspring that never happ…

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by Jon Craig
Politics
Metro-North Secures Silence Of Rail Engineer In Deadly Westchester Crash With Secret Settlement Metro-North Secures Silence Of Rail Engineer In Deadly Westchester Crash With Secret Settlement
Metro-North Secures Silence Of Rail Engineer In Deadly Westchester Crash With Secret Settlement This is the first in a series of stories on the deadliest crash in Metro-North history. Metro-North quietly settled a legal claim made by the now-retired locomotive engineer who operated the train that collided into a Mercedes SUV at the Commerce street railroad crossing in Valhalla four years ago. The deadliest crash in Metro-North history killed the driver and five commuters from Westchester and Fairfield counties. Fifteen train passengers were injured. As another anniversary passed marking the deadliest commuter railroad crash in Metro-North history, sadly there are few new safety improv…

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by Jon Craig
Politics
AOC Reduces Social Media Screen Time After Pelosi Touts Keeping House Caucus In Order AOC Reduces Social Media Screen Time After Pelosi Touts Keeping House Caucus In Order
AOC Reduces Social Media Screen Time After Pelosi Touts Keeping House Caucus In Order The so-called political Princess of social media says she's taking a temporary break from Facebook, and reducing her Tweet time, while calling it a "public health risk to everybody." At last count, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who graduated from high school in Westchester, ranked No. 2 among politicians with nearly 4 million Twitter followers  after the so-called King of social media @realDonaldTrump who boasts nearly 60 million followers of his daily tweets.  The youngest-ever woman elected to Congress, at age 29, the 2007 Yorktown High School graduate ran under a differen…

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by Jon Craig
Politics
Sales Tax On Groceries, Prescriptions, Soft Drinks, Even Cats: Just 'Ideas,' Or Coming To CT? Sales Tax On Groceries, Prescriptions, Soft Drinks, Even Cats: Just 'Ideas,' Or Coming To CT?
Sales Tax On Groceries, Prescriptions, Soft Drinks, Even Cats: Just 'Ideas,' Or Coming To CT? Bob Stefanowski predicted it, numerous times, during televised debates last fall: Democrat Ned Lamont of Greenwich is a "clone of Dannel Malloy" and there may be few taxes, fees or tolls, that the newly-elected governor doesn't like, the Republican gubernatorial candidate alleged. Now-Gov. Lamont recently expanded his two-year budget proposal to include taxes on sugary drinks, plastic bags, wine and liquor bottles, tobacco and vaping products. Connecticut would be the first state since 1992 to pass a soda tax if it happens this year. Five other states also are considering a soft drink…

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by Jon Craig
Politics
A Trump Republican In The Clintons' Chappaqua Court: Meet Self-Proclaimed Gadfly John Nadler A Trump Republican In The Clintons' Chappaqua Court: Meet Self-Proclaimed Gadfly John Nadler
A Trump Republican In The Clintons' Chappaqua Court: Meet Self-Proclaimed Gadfly John Nadler John Nadler is very aware that he lives "behind enemy lines," so-to-speak, in Chappaqua. Nadler knows only one other property owner in the village who may have voted for Donald J. Trump for president. "There's a guy around the corner near the firehouse who has a 'Hillary for Prison' sign on his lawn," Nadler told Daily Voice. "I took the Trump stickers off of my car, but I'll put Trump 2020 ones on once I find them." The 66-year-old's love for politics is rooted in the Watergate and Vietnam eras: He came within two weeks of military service before the draft was halted by President Richard …

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by Jon Craig
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