Saying he will be the "Worst nightmare that the status quo of Albany has ever seen," Assemblyman  Greg Ball tonight claimed victory in the 40th District  State Senate race, defeating Somers Town Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy for the Republican nod.

Speaking in Croton Falls, Ball said "I take tonight's victory as an endorsement of my platform, to really reform Albany from top to bottom, cap property taxes, freeze school taxes for seniors. But really it's more than that, it's an indictment of the Albany insiders; their negative campaigning and really their fixation on the politics of personal destruction."

Murphy was nominated by the Republican Party as the candidate in the race. Ball made it to the primary after garnering enough signatures to get him on the ballot.

Ball will face Democratic Westchester County Legislator Michael Kaplowitz for the Senate Seat in the November election.

The seat was vacated by Vincent Leibell who was elected Tuesday night as Putnam County Executive, defeating challenger, Putnam County Legislator Mary Ellen Odell.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Somers Town Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy today announced a new cooperative effort that will allow 12 Westchester Municipalities to join forces to protect the Croton and Kensico watersheds.

Currently, Westchester County manages a 50 million dollar fund set aside by New York City for watershed protection. Astorino says the new agreement will allow the County and 12 municipalities to streamline the process of watershed projects needed to adequately protect the watersheds and to keep watersheds free of storm water, drainage runoff and contaminants.

The municipalites include Lewisboro, Cortlandt,Mount Kisco, New Castle,North Salem, Somers, Bedford, Harrison, Mount Pleasant, North Castle, Pound Ridge and Yorktown.

Murphy says the agreement will "Provide funds for mapping stormwater conveyance systems and to create a shared database to be hosted by the County." The information, according to Murphy, can then be used by the municipalities to meet their permit requirements to implement a septic inspection program.

Westchester County Legislator, Peter Harckham (D-Katonah) who founded the County's Subcommittee on Septics says the "Process is a model collaboration between the County, municipalities and the state, and is an example of how regional, intermunicipal cooperation with shared services can save taxpayers and municipalities money when we all work together."

Accusations are flying in a hotly contested State Senate race.

A former girlfriend of Assemblyman Greg Ball spoke out Thursday against a recent mailing that depicts Ball as physically abusive towards women. Specifically, the flyer references an alleged incident in which a waitress in Albany accused Ball of groping her. No criminal charges were ever filed in the matter. The story was reported  in the Albany Times Union and the New York Daily News.  Ball has denied the allegations.

A power outage has resulted in 9 people being sickened at a CVS store in the Town of Somers.

Former Southeast Town Justice Jim Borkowski announced Wednesday that he is abandoning his bid for the 99th District State Senate Seat that's being vacated by Vincent Leibell and now plans to run for the 40th District State Assembly Seat that's currently held by Greg Ball. Ball is running for the Senate Seat in the 99th District.

Borkowski cited "Party unity" as the reason for switching the race.

Said Borkowski, "Everything is on the line this year. We(Republicans) must take back the New York State Senate." He added, "My participation in a three-way primary will only forestall a strong General Election Campaign to defeat the Democrats, hurting our changes of re-taking the New York State Senate." Republicans Greg Ball and Somers Town Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy remain in the race. Westchester County Legislator Michael Kaplowitz is the declared candidate on the Democratic side.

Somers Town Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy (R-Somers) Thursday announced her candidacy in the 40th District State Senate Race.

Murphy has served as Somers Supervisor since 1998. Said Murphy, "Hudson Valley Families want comonsense, straightforward solutions to New York's problems. Household budgets are stretched to the limit. We must reduce property taxes, eliminate wasteful State spending and grow our economy."

Murphy says her strong work ethic, coupled with the ability to work across party and county lines, makes her uniquely qualified for the job.