DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 21, 2026) — This is Part IV in a multi-part series. There are different ways for a government agency to deny access to public records. It can deny a request outright, claim an exemption, say a request does not reasonably describe the records sought, or keep extending
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (August 19, 2026) — This is not another article about Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert’s failure to deliver a State of the City address. She still has four months left in 2026. Until the year is over, that particular complaint is not ripe for a court to
DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 18, 2026) — This is Part III in a multi-part series. In Part II, I described what happened after I sought records involving Generations Church and the City of New Rochelle. The City said its search had identified more than 10,000 records, later nearly 11,000
DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 17, 2026) — This is Part II in a multi-part series. In Part I, I explained how increasingly targeted FOIL requests, the City's resistance to them, my reporting in The New Rochelle Thimblerig and, ultimately, litigation became intertwined. I also said that the next step
DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 16, 2026) — This is Part I in a multi-part series. Shining the Light "If you get a full copy, your recourse, in my opinion, involves shining the light and pointing out where there might not have been full compliance." — Robert J. Freeman, New York
CityManager@newrochelleny.gov City Manager Wilfredo Melendez Dear City Manager Melendez, I want the court to weigh in on a matter that has become recurring — almost monthly — during your tenure: the City of New Rochelle’s routine violations of the Open Meetings Law. Many of these violations involve simple matters,
DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 11, 2026) — Google has notified Talk of the Sound today that one or more pages associated with the publication have been removed from certain Google search results in Europe following a request made under European data protection law. The notice did not identify the requester. It did
NEW ROCHELLE, NY (August 12, 2026) — Today I filed a request under the New York Freedom of Information Law seeking records concerning how the City of New Rochelle came to authorize the use of taxpayer funds in connection with the defamation lawsuit brought against me by Corporation Counsel Dawn Warren
DUBLIN, IRELAND (August 2, 2026) — This briefing draws from reporting at Talk of the Sound, analysis and commentary published in Words in Edgewise, and selected regional coverage for the month ending August 2, 2026 A Note from the Publisher Over the past few weeks I took sone time off (sort
DUBLIN, IRELAND (July 15, 2026) — New Rochelle has improperly denied my Freedom of Information Law request seeking a draft financial statement that the City's own outside auditor consulted, paged through, and relied upon to answer a direct question from a member of City Council at a meeting of
DUBLIN, IRELAND (July 15, 2026) — I do not understand why I am not getting a response. On June 27 I emailed the district with straightforward questions about the New Rochelle High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. Four people had just been inducted after a five-year hiatus. One of
DUBLIN, IRELAND (July 4, 2026) — My female family members were proud members of the DAR — Daughters of the American Revolution. They put considerable effort into documenting the family genealogy. When my grandfather Robert Nelson Cox died, his wife — my grandmother Dorothy Cox — bequeathed a trove of genealogy records to me