Peekskill Herald editor and publisher Regina Clarkin is handing the editor responsibility for the digital news site to veteran journalist Bruce Apar, effective February 1. Clarkin, who will remain as publisher, is on a two-month sabbatical assignment to Peekskill’s sister city, Cuenca Ecuador. 

Apar is the editorial director and associate publisher of River Journal North, a lifestyle publication that put out its last print edition in November 2024. River Journal North, owned by Alain Begun of Rivertowns Media LLC, will launch a digital format this spring to resume its hyperlocal coverage of Peekskill, Cortlandt and Croton-on-Hudson. 

Apar is familiar to the Peekskill business scene through his involvement as a past board member of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce, where he currently sits on its marketing committee and was named the Chamber’s 2024 Volunteer of the Year. He began his community journalism career in 2006 as editor-in-chief and publisher of Northern Westchester newsweekly North County News, which was owned by PennySaver publisher Chase Media Group. Along with wife Elyse and daughter Elissa, the family runs a local charity in memory of his son, the Harrison Apar Field of Dreams Foundation. He also is an actor who appears in local theater productions. 

Clarkin is the founding editor and publisher of the nonprofit Peekskill Herald, which is beginning its fourth year of covering the city of Peekskill. “Having Bruce Apar at the helm of the Herald signals our commitment to continuing the credible reporting on the people, politics and events of Peekskill. We look forward to a long relationship.”