Westchester’s Most Successful, Charitable and Noteworthy Residents

Winners

• Bronxville students. A $35,000 grant from the Bronxville School Foundation has funded the purchase of 90 Kindle e-readers for in-class studies.
   
• Nancy Gold and Marjorie Finer. The Katonah and Cortlandt Manor residents, respectively, were awarded the 2012 Lillian Vernon Award by the Women’s Enterprise Development Center for their outstanding service to their communities as women business owners. Gold is president of The Gold Standard, a public relations and marketing company in Katonah, and Finer is the COO of The Inner Group advertising agency in Peekskill.
   
• Let’s Play It Forward volunteers. Youth volunteers from the Westchester County organization chartered a bus to bring donated items to Superstorm Sandy victims in Staten Island. The group of 75 volunteers is primarily composed of Somers students, along with one boy from Yorktown.
   
• Carly Rose Sonenclar. The 13-year-old Mamaroneck resident reached the final round of The X Factor on Fox, placing second and just missing out on a $5 million recording contract. A Broadway actress, she has also sung the national anthem at several professional sports events, including the US Open.

LOSERS

• Westchester subway riders. The MTA’s fare hike proposals for 2013 could result in monthly passes costing as much as $125, up from $104.
   
• Rodney Alcala. Also known as John Berger, the “Dating Game Killer,” Alcala admitted to two  murders in New York City in the 1970s. The body of Alcala’s 1977 victim, Ellen Hover, was found on the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills. Alcala received a 25-years-to-life sentence for his recent admissions plus five additional murders and a rape.
   
• Westchester County legislature. A conflict over the newest $1.7 billion budget proposal (a variation on County Executive Rob Astorino’s original proposal) resulted in eight Democratic legislators storming out of the board chambers, leaving the remaining seven Republicans and two Democrats to pass the budget on their own. Absent legislators claim that this budget is not official.
   
• Luo Jing. An employee at Beijing Spa in New Castle, Jing was arrested and charged with misdemeanor prostitution but felony unauthorized practice, as she does not have a license to practice massage. Jing was giving a massage to an undercover police officer when she allegedly offered further services for an additional fee.