Sound Shore

Good Thursday morning. Here’s a digest of opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Mandate relief: Editorial
We comment on news that Moody’s, the credit-rating agency, reported this week that Rockland County could suffer significantly because of the state’s new 2-percent property-tax cap. The time for mandate relief is now, we argue. We write:

… County executives, especially, have blasted Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to push through a tax cap while doing little to undo unfunded state mandates, which are responsible for about 75 percent of counties’ costs. Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has said the county’s Medicaid costs alone exceed the total amount his county collects in property taxes.

While Cuomo formed a Mandate Relief Task Force, its spring report — and lack of action — has been a disappointment.

(more…)

As the world remembered screen legend, humanitarian and uber-celebrity Elizabeth Taylor (a.k.a. Ms. Taylor-Hilton-Wilding-Todd-Fisher-Burton-Burton-Warner-Fortensky ), who died Thursday at age 79, we were reminded of her ties to the Lower Hudson Valley.

Taylor had purchased a mansion in the Harrison area (when she was married to Eddie Fisher) but they never lived there — she and Fisher spilt up, and she got out of the house deal, retired Journal News senior editor Milt Hoffman reminds us.

Milt and James Walsh, retired Journal News reporter, also point out that the region’s roadways also star in “Butterfield 8,” which earned Taylor her first Oscar. She’s seen speeding along the Cross-Westchester Expressway, which hadn’t yet opened. She also crosses a rather clean and sparsly traveled Tappan Zee Bridge. The clip of  “Butterfield 8” above shows her LoHud cruise, and one of the greatest cinematic crashes of all time. Wait for it … Wait for it …