Steve Israel

It's all enough to make you fit to be tie-dyed.Why in the name of Wavy Gravy does the state schedule construction on the main road to the site of the original Woodstock festival during the 50th anniversary summer?How can we wait decades for a casino a...

Imagine that you're just a child, maybe 11, 12, 13 years old. You're sexually abused by the man your family reveres so much — a priest — that they want you to be a priest like him. They've invited him for dinner, let him take you t...

Last week I wrote about how my grandfather learned the meaning of religion as a little boy more than a century ago in Russia. Who could possibly have imagined that one of you had a Christian grandfather who not only was there, but saved the lives of perse...

On this weekend when many of us gather with our families and friends to celebrate holidays of liberation and resurrection, I'd like to repeat a story about the meaning of religion that my late grandfather Max Botwinick told me. The story, which happen...

By the time they get back to Woodstock, they'll be at least tens of thousands strong. And you know what those 50th anniversary of Woodstock pilgrims could see this summer here in Sullivan County?Dirty glass and plastic bottles, shiny crumpled cans, ba...

By the time they get back to Woodstock, they'll be at least tens of thousands strong. And you know what those 50th anniversary of Woodstock pilgrims could see this summer here in Sullivan County?Dirty glass and plastic bottles, shiny crumpled cans, ba...

If it weren't such a destructive and downright dumb idea, it would be a joke.A bit more than a year after Sullivan County's half-century casino dream came true and Resorts World Catskills opened just outside Monticello, gambling giants want to ope...

When I reminded the winner of last year's March Madness pool that Villanova took it all in 2018, the defending champ asked — tongue in cheek — whether Yeshiva University was in it this year.The champ, who wishes to remain nameless to prote...

President Trump continues to attack dead war hero and six-term senator, John McCain. Former Congressmen Carlos Curbelo and Steve Israel join Katy to discuss why there hasn't been a stronger backlash from Republicans in Washington....

I asked Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa to play "Black Magic Woman" and "Evil Ways" by Santana for my 94-year-old father-in-law Joe and 92-year-old mother-in-law Peg.This was last week at their New Jersey home, when I was telling them...

I step outside the other morning and my heart soars. I see a sight I haven't seen for months: two gray mourning doves flying into the brightening dawn sky. Those are the same sort of birds whose "coo coo coo" call has been echoing over our sno...

A cashier at a local supermarket says that when she walks past someone on the street or in a parking lot she always says hello."Maybe it will brighten the rest of their day," she tells me.A man running a local Agway spends precious minutes during ...

What's it like to be retired?Don't just listen to the advice of so-called experts who may have decades to go before they can make one of life's most momentous moves.Ask someone who's retired.I got plenty of input from fellow retirees last ...

Three years ago this week, I was riding an emotional roller coaster.One minute, my stomach was twisted in knots. The next, my heart was soaring to the sky.I was about to do what I'd planned for years, delayed for months and never really thought possib...

President Trump has lied so often in the more than two years he's been in office — more than 8,100 false or misleading claims, according to the Washington Post — the truth often vanishes in his repetition of lies about everything from buil...

Is it wrong that Bob Dylan is using one of the greatest musical pleas for peace, justice and civil rights to sell beer?That's what he's doing with "Blowin' in the Wind" on a new Budweiser commercial set to air during the Super Bowl. Th...

Steve Israel, who served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, is to...

Before he glimpsed the light of life, Goshen's Mark Bischof was gripped by darkness.His wife of 38 years, Sharlene, was lying in a bed in Orange Regional Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit after she had begun bleeding at work. Even though Bischo...

Before he glimpsed the light of life, Goshen's Mark Bischof was gripped by darkness.His wife of 38 years, Sharlene, was lying in a bed in Orange Regional Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit after she had begun bleeding at work. Even though Bischo...

MSNBC's Garrett Haake and former Rep. Steve Israel join Andrea Mitchell to discuss Speaker Nancy Pelosi's allegations that President Trump "outed" her trip to Afghanistan....

Ever wonder how you got to be so grown-up?Happened to me the other day when I was in the college town where time seems to stand still New Paltz, home of shops like Groovy Blueberry and Karma Road. I was browsing in another sort of shop that's a blast ...

There can never be another Woodstock not at the 50th anniversary celebration at the site of the 1969 festival, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, or on the same Aug. 16-18 weekend at original Woodstock promoter Michael Lang's anniversary bash 150 miles...

Imprisoned in a concentration camp when she was just a few years out of her teens. Standing in front of the vile men, including Adolph Eichmann, whose evil minds devised the plans to murder six million of her fellow Jews.What does Marianka Zadikow May do?...