Editor's Notebook: Week in Review

This week, Rye's favorite golden retriever stared down a coyote while taking a what was supposed to be a leisurely walk in Scarsdale. In this week's Happy Mondays, Peter wrote about how he and Happy came to standstill while strolling on Garth Road in the middle of the afternoon: "I had no idea this was the infamous coyote. I thought it was something much more benign. A dog nursing a grudge, say. Or a wolverine. As we got closer, I realized this was one of the representatives of the New World Order." Luckily, Peter and Happy escaped the confrontation unscathed. Read his column to discover the bizarre tactics Peter considered using to make sure Happy walked away from Scarsdale with all his fur intact.

A story that has remained at the top of our most popular list this week is Susan Konig's column about breastfeeding. It appears that supermodel Giselle Bundchen is now a parenting expert after giving birth to a baby boy with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Bundchen recently said that there should be a law that requires women to breastfeed their newborns for at least six months. Well, Susan, a mother of four, didn't take too kindly to hearing that advice from a woman who models thongs and bikinis for a living. Breastfeeding is one of the hardest parts of new motherhood, Susan writes, and women shouldn't be judged for neither having the ability to nor not wanting to breastfeed. I'm not a mother myself, but I say Amen to that!

We also had a coyote update this week. Rye Police Commissioner William Connors and Mayor Doug French both said the city will continue its aggressive approach after capturing and killing a 40 lb male coyote, the first it has captured since attacks on a 6-year-old girl and 3-year-old girl in Rye two months ago. The city is currently working on a long-term strategy for dealing with the coyote issue and in September City Manager Scott Pickup will present a proposal to the Council for how to proceed with its coyote program. 

Our other major story this week dealt with Westchester County submitting the third revision to its affordable housing plan. The latest proposal lays out more incentives and sets clear goals for zoning guidelines that the county is aiming to persuade municipalities to adopt. One of the biggest changes is the county's adoption of tying affordable standards to the release of Community Development Block Grants and County Open Space funds, which will affect nearby communities such as Port Chester. The federal monitor--who twice rejected the county's plan after saying it lacked details for how the county would get 31 municipalities, including Rye and Rye Brook, to comply with the affordable housing mandate-- has yet to respond to the county's revision. Check Rye Patch is the coming weeks for more updates.

Our other stories this week included a profile of Deirdre Curran, who owns a dog walking service in Rye with more than 100 clients; a story on scam attempts targeting Rye seniors and another story about Rye City Hall possibly assuming more debt to pay for various capital improvement projects.

We've covered lots more this weekend, so feel free to search the site for other engaging stories from the past week. Rye Patch will be your source for everything that is happening in the Rye area, from local government and school board meetings to sports and arts and entertainment.

We'll be doing a "Week in Review" every Sunday, so if you missed anything during the week, we've got you covered.