About Us

Locally owned and operated since 1964, Westmore News covers everything in zip code 10573, which includes the Village of Port Chester, the Village of Rye Brook, the Port Chester School District, which includes a portion of Rye Brook, and the Blind Brook School District. Additionally, the Town of Rye, under which both villages fall, is the fifth municipality the paper covers.

With a circulation of about 3,250 households, including some as far away as Florida and California, the Westmore News, which is also sold at various newsstands in Port Chester and Rye Brook, as well as at 10 news boxes located throughout the two villages, reaches about 10,000 people every week.

The first edition of the newspaper came out on Dec. 10, 1964, started by real estate broker Bernard Abel. While not a newspaper man by trade, Bernie, as he was called, began the strictly local independent weekly publication because he was unhappy with the daily Port Chester newspaper, which he felt distorted the facts, and wanted to tell the news as it was. Bernie began with a typewriter, Polaroid camera and great determination at a tiny office at 16 King St. in downtown Port Chester. The office changed location three times more before settling at its present address - 327 Irving Avenue, Port Chester.

In 1981, Abel turned the paper over to his son Richard, who had been with the paper officially for about five years. Richard, like his father, was not a trained newsman, graduating from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. as a math major, but had been helping out at the paper since he was 12.

After being married for several years, Jananne, Richard’s wife, joined the paper full-time in 1983, having contributed theater and restaurant reviews for several years before that. In January 1984 she became editor, a position she holds today.

There are two editions of the Westmore News. While there is common news in each, including almost a total overlapping of Port Chester school district news since the district encompasses all of Port Chester and a large portion of Rye Brook, front page news generally focuses on the village for which it is intended. In January 2001, the names of the papers were changed to the Port Chester Westmore News and the Rye Brook Westmore News to reflect the names of the villages they cover.

Despite changes over the years in personnel, the economy and even how information is shared, Westmore News remains the go-to place for news about your village, your town, your schools.