The Monroe Gazette Podcast

The full transcript for this week’s podcast is below. It’s a follow-up to last week’s episode involving West Point professor, Tim Bakken, and his recent first amendment victory against Pete Hegseth and the Trump Administration. In doing research for that story, I came across an odd appearance by Anduril Industries’s Palmer Lucky at West Point. This was super weird because Lucky is essentially an a...

Photo via the official West Point account on Flickr. I did promise that the podcast would be back after I finished How to Protect Yourself From Fascists & Weirdos , and I am a man of my word. In this week’s episode: West Point’s longest serving law professor, Tim Bakken, reveals how he fought back against President Trump and Pete Hegseth’s efforts to censor the civilian professors at West Point, a...

Here’s part two in our series exploring the use of LLMs to generate successful FOIA requests. This time, I am joined by Adam Marshall, director of national litigation at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Adam takes a different position from our previous guest, Lauren Harper, Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy with Freedom of the Press Foundation. You can listen to Part 1 h...

We’re teaching everyone how to use FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act.) If you missed our first attempt to FOIA ICE and the General Services Administration for information concerning 800 Corporate Boulevard in the Town of Newburgh, start here. This conversation picks up from that post. The current deadline for GSA to get back to us, according to them, is 20 business days from July 13th, 2026. So...

Early voting starts this weekend and continues through Election Day on June 23. If you live in Orange County and you're a registered Democrat, we encourage you to support Raj Goyle instead of the incumbent, Thomas DiNapoli, because of what appears to be an attempt by DiNapoli to bury the audit of South Blooming Grove. Something his office began in March of 2024 and is still going. Why? According t...

Below is a transcript of this week’s podcast. It has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. BJ Mendelson, Host of The Monroe Gazette podcast: Hello everyone, it’s BJ Mendelson. Welcome to another edition of the The Monroe Gazette podcast. We’re still on break, technically, until I finish my book, How to Protect Yourself from Fascists and Weirdos. I should be done next week, I hope, which we...

Pictured Above: A flyer for an event put on by a new local community group, Hudson Valley Caracoles. We’d like to encourage you to attend. Below, Little Dick Energy State Senator Skoufis tries to weasel out of supporting a bill he told numerous Orange County constituents that he supported. He’s not the only Democrat to do so, as you’ll see in today’s post. This man has no reproductive organs to sp...

New articles on The Monroe Gazett e are on hiatus until BJ finishes his book, “How to Protect Yourself From Fascists & Weirdos.” It will be released in late May or early June of this year. If you would like a free .pdf or .mp3 copy of the book when they become available, subscribe to the Stupid Sexy Privacy newsletter here . Articles will resume on The Monroe Gazette in early May. Until then we’ll...

Below is a transcript from today’s episode of the podcast. It has been edited for brevity and clarity. Above is a flyer for tomorrow’s event. We hope you can be there. The Monroe Gazette is brought to you commercial free; and with no pay-wall to access over two years of our coverage of issues in Southern Orange County and beyond. If you would like to help keep the lights on, we’re looking to recru...

Below is the transcript from today’s podcast episode. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. *** BJ Mendelson: Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Monroe Gazette podcast with your host, BJ Mendelson. We interviewed State Senator Andrew Gounardes today about the New York for All Act. There’s a lot of discussion going on about this bill, particularly in the...

The Monroe Gazette is presented free without any advertisements or paywalls. If you’d like to be able to comment on posts, get subscriber only content like our podcast, and join our behind the scenes Facebook group , you can sign-up below. The cost is $120 a year or less than what you’re probably paying for Netflix right now. Your support allows us to keep this thing going. If you are interested i...

Full Transcript Is Below BJ Mendelson: Hello there. No, the book isn’t done, but I thought tomorrow was really important. So I thought I could burn some time that should be used to finish this book, to talk about No Kings instead, so hang with me. You might be wondering what’s going on in my area. There are events everywhere in Orange County. We will have a list of the ones that we’re aware of in...

Full Transcript From Today’s Video Is Below Please pardon the typos. BJ Mendelson: Why doesn’t Congressman Pat Ryan support a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United? Damn good question to ask, right? Well, here’s the thing. Tomorrow, March 24, from 5:30 to 6:30 is going to be one of those call-in town halls that Congressman Pat Ryan does. The phone number to call at 5:30 is 833-980-3...

Well hey, it’s Friday. I usually try to do these in the morning and was not successful today. But I wanted to at least close out the week with something fun or at least something that you may laugh at that is more annoying for a reporter to deal with than anything else, but I find it entertaining. So about a decade ago, in fact, on December 20th, 2015 , Jay Westerveld we’ll get to him in a second,...

Village of Monroe Final Election Results We can confirm as of 9:46pm the final tallies for the Village of Monroe vote are: 676 for Alex Melchiorre. 548 votes for Neil Dwyer. 730 votes for Joe Mancuso. 733 for Nancy Peifer, 487 for Andy Ferraro and 483 for Martin O’Connor. (Editor note: I have revised the numbers above on 3/19 at 3:42pm to reflect final tallies. Last night when this article publish...

Tomorrow, January 14, at 6:45 p.m., is the Chester Town Board meeting. You will have two opportunities for public comment: at the beginning of the meeting and toward the end. Just an FYI that it’s a pretty packed agenda. So here’s my recommendation: If you are a Town of Chester resident specifically, I encourage you to speak during the first public comment period. If you are not from the Town of C...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.monroegazette.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.monroegazette.com/subscribe

Note: This article is a sequel to The Torah, The Talmud, and Rhonda Fabbro. 10/29: If you thought this story was crazy, you’re wrong. It’s crazier. We made some updates throughout this post to further highlight the situaiton. At the very bottom of this article, you will also now find an up to date timeline of confirmed information involving the South Blooming Grove illegal election. Pictured above...

Howdy. This is a very busy week at The Monroe Gazette . We just interviewed Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, and we have another interview coming with state Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, and State Senator Andrew Gounardes. All of these interviews — and more — will be transcribed here and will air on The Finley. ( The Finley is available, for free , where all good podcasts can be found .) I was a...

Pictured Above: Photos taken by Woodbury residents and sent to The Monroe Gazette reveal that Woodbury Democratic Committee member Rhonda Fabbro—who shares a home with Village Trustee Matthew Fabbro—is supporting Make America White Again (MAGA) candidate Brandon Calore in his race for mayor of Woodbury. Note to Free Subscribers: If you want today’s podcast, you have to be a paid subscriber to list...

We’re back with a new podcast. Just a quick note that if you want to be able to listen to the podcast in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you need to be a paid subscriber to The Monroe Gazette ; however, you can still listen to the episode here for free by clicking on the play button above. Paid Subscribers also get access to our Private Facebook Group here. Quick note about the Democracy Rocks August 1...

Summary The conversation delves into the implications of the MAGA Murder Bill on New York's healthcare system, particularly focusing on the potential loss of coverage for millions, the impact on retirees, and the need for advocacy for the New York Health Act. The discussion emphasizes the importance of community mobilization and legislative action to ensure comprehensive healthcare coverage for al...

Summary The conversation centers around the Plastic Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, discussing the challenges faced in legislative advocacy, the influence of lobbying, and the financial implications of related projects. The speakers emphasize the importance of community engagement and the need for constituents to actively participate in the legislative process to support environmental...

As promised in our Sunday post , here is our podcast interview with Chester Town Supervisor, Brandon Holdridge, Chester Town Clerk, Linda Zappala, and Chester Town Board member Bob Courtenay. The reason there’s a Republican Primary has less to do with State Senator Skoufis’s Protect Monroe-Woodbury, and more to do with former Town Supervisor, Bob Valentine, looking for revenge. In the Fall of 2023...