Long Island Community Hospital workers face Friday deadline for new contract

<strong>The MTA’s operating expenses will climb 3% to nearly $20 billion in 2025, and it’s planning for a 4% fare and toll hike next year to help pay for them, officials said this week.</strong></p>On the same day that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a congestion pricing plan that will charge most motorists $9 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan during peak hours, it also unveiled a new financial plan that includes a $19.9 billion operating budget next year, and plans for fare and toll increases in 2025 and 2027. Alfonso A. Castillo reports in NEWSDAY that the updated financial plan and proposed budget, which will be voted on by the MTA Board next month, did include some good news. Higher-than-expected ridership on the Long Island Rail Road, whose ridership reached 88% of pre-COVID levels last month, is contributing to a slightly improved financial picture at the MTA, compared with its last financial update in July. A projected 2027 deficit was reduced by $50 million, and the agency is on track to meet a $400 million annual cost-cutting target.</p>Although the MTA Board would have to vote on a rate increase, the financial plan assumes the agency will raise fares and tolls next year, returning to its schedule of adjusting rates for inflation every-other-year. After sticking to that schedule for more than a decade, the MTA did not raise rates in 2020, 2021 or 2022, citing pandemic-related affordability concerns.</p>Fares and tolls did go up by 4% and 6%, respectively, last year. But MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber points out that, following a 10% reduction in the cost of a monthly LIRR ticket in 2022, many Long Islanders are paying less for their commutes than they did five years ago.</p>A monthly ticket between Hicksville and Penn Station currently costs $287. A one-way peak ticket from Ronkonkoma to Penn costs $20.50. Tolls at MTA crossings including the Queens Midtown Tunnel and Throgs Neck Bridge are $6.94 for E-ZPass holders.</p>***</p><strong>Firefighters tackled a blaze at a Mattituck house yesterday morning that left one person dead, one injured and a family with four small children displaced, their home in ruins.</strong></p>According to Southold Town Police Chief Steve Grattan, Suffolk County arson detectives found a body at the home. The individual has not been positively identified, but is believed to be the missing adult male, he said.</p>The Suffolk County homicide squad is now handling the investigation, Grattan said. Lisa Finn reports on Patch.com that the community has opened its hearts to help those left homeless: A GoFundMe, "Support Erick Morales' Family After Fire," was created by Audrey Dwyer. "Early this morning, one of our local families suffered a terrible loss. A fire swept through the house of Erick Morales. They lost everything.”</p>According to Grattan, a 911 call came in at about 9:45 a.m. about a fire at a residential home near Sound and Westphalia Avenues in Mattituck. The first responding officer arrived at the scene within one minute and observed that a portion of the house was already heavily engulfed in flames and the fire was spreading rapidly, he said.</p>One person was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center for precautionary evaluation, Grattan said.</p>The structure suffered significant damage and collapsed, Grattan said.</p>Residents of the home told police 13 people from two families live in the building, although most had left for work or school before the fire broke out, Grattan said.</p>The home, which the chief described as a "complete and total loss," sits behind Amagansett Building Materials, along Middle Road, also known as County Road 48. The business has a lumberyard adjacent to the home that caught fire. Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the lumber yard, Grattan said. By about noon, firefighters in a bucket raised high above the charred resident were dousing the smoldering remains.</p>***</p><strong>The Guatemalan Chamber of Commerce will officially launch tomorrow evening with a reception at Atlantis Banquets in Riverhead, bolstered by support from the Guatemalan consulate in Riverhead.</strong> Juliana Holguin reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the founders aim to kickstart their plans to support local entrepreneurs and those aspiring to become business owners. According to Linda Vega, president and founder of the chamber, the idea to unite entrepreneurs from her country into one entity was conceived a year and a half ago. Since then, they have quietly worked on identifying local businesses and their needs and are now ready to introduce the community to the benefits of joining the Guatemalan Chamber of Commerce.</p>After the launch on Thursday, the board members of the new Chapina Commerce Chamber will embark on numerous plans they have in mind: seminars, workshops, keynote lectures, and all types of advice for local entrepreneurs. They dream of the chamber becoming a constant resource and information hub for business owners.</p>***</p><strong>Construction of a hotel, playground and amphitheater at the Riverhead town square could start by next summer. </strong>Dawn Thomas, who oversees the town’s planning and economic development, told the Riverhead Town Board last Thursday that development on the multifaceted project, which is receiving tens of millions of dollars in public and private investment, could start in August 2025 with the demolition of the existing building on the east side of the square to make way for a new mixed-use building with a boutique hotel and condominiums. The groundbreaking on the construction of the public space and the playground planned for the square could begin as soon as September 2025. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Thomas said a completed agreement with the town’s designated master developer for the project, J. Petrocelli Development Associates, is expected by the end of this month. The town square project in Riverhead has been years in the making and has six major components: the upper town square abutting East Main Street; the lower town square and playground, which is currently a parking lot; the amphitheater on the East End Arts campus; streetscape improvements to East Main Street, including the narrowing East Main Street; the boutique hotel on the east side of the square; and the multi-level parking garage north of East Main Street. “So much work has been going on for the last six months, and I know it doesn’t look like it outwardly,” Thomas said. “And so we wanted to really just update and make this sort of a regular occurrence so that everyone can see where we’re at and what’s happening.” </p>***</p><strong>The cost of groceries to make Thanksgiving dinner at home will be a little cheaper than it was last year, but still 19% higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.</strong> Tory N. Parrish reports in NEWSDAY that the nationwide average cost of groceries for a classic Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people is $58.08, a 5% decrease from the price last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 39th annual Thanksgiving survey of grocery prices.</p>It’s the second consecutive year of declines, after soaring inflation pushed Thanksgiving dinner costs to a record high of $64.06 in 2022, according to the Washington, D.C.-based group's report, which was released today.</p>“We are seeing modest improvements in the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for a second year, but America’s families, including farm families, are still being hurt by high inflation,” federation President Zippy Duvall said in a statement.</p>Most of the menu items on the federation’s list have declined in price since last year, mostly due to price volatility in crops, but the star of Thanksgiving dinner — the turkey — made the biggest difference to the overall cost of the meal, the federation reported.</p>The average price of a 16-pound turkey is $25.67, or $1.68 a pound, a 6% decline from the cost last year, according to the report.</p>“The turkey is traditionally the main attraction on the Thanksgiving table and is typically the most expensive part of the meal,” federation economist Bernt Nelson said in a statement. “The American turkey flock is the smallest it’s been since 1985 because of avian influenza, but overall demand has also fallen, resulting in lower prices at the grocery store for families planning a holiday meal.”</p>Among the grocery items included in the federation’s classic-dinner menu were a 16-pound turkey, 12 ounces of cubed stuffing mix, two frozen pie crusts, a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, 1 pound of frozen peas and 3 pounds of sweet potatoes.</p>***</p><strong>Wonder why Cutchogue has its own Parks? The Cutchogue Civic Association hosts a presentation by the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Park District Commissioners at its monthly meeting tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library. </strong>They will discuss the park district’s history, operations, tax structure, budget and vision for the future. The meeting is free and open to the public. More details are at cutchoguecivicassociation.org</p>The Cutchogue Civic Association is a not-for-profit, community-based organization whose mission is to inform and educate residents about issues of community interest or concern. The association provides a neutral forum that promotes discussion, collaboration and the expression of diverse ideas.</p>***</p><strong>Union workers at Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue are facing a Friday deadline to reach a new contract that must include updated staffing ratios, the union said</strong>. Victor Ocasio reports in NEWSDAY that workers at the hospital, represented by the Brookhaven Memorial Federation of Nurses and Healthcare Professionals, said although negotiations had been productive, the staff’s current contract expired on Oct. 31. Both management and the union agreed to extend the contract until Nov. 22.</p>The 306-bed hospital was the last fully independent hospital on Long Island before it merged with NYU Langone Health in 2022. The hospital remains a separate corporation from NYU Langone, but is an affiliate of the Manhattan-based health system.</p>"Long Island Community Hospital is at the table in good faith negotiating this contract and remains committed to supporting our nurses as they continue to provide quality and compassionate care for our patients," James Iorio, director of media relations for NYU Langone Health, said in a statement.</p>Among the line items the union is seeking in the contract are increases to wages, expansion of medical coverage, and updates to staffing ratios for patient-facing staff, said Desiree Moore, president of the union and a registered nurse at Long Island Community.</p>"Cost of living [has] gone up exponentially in Suffolk, so we definitely want a fair market wage to reflect that, but we also want to be competitive with our surrounding hospitals and NYU facilities," Moore said.</p>The union is seeking a two-year contract, Moore said, while hospital management is seeking a three-year agreement, the same length as the union’s current expired contract.</p>The Brookhaven Memorial Federation of Nurses and Healthcare Professionals, which represents 700 employees at the hospital, including nurses, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, and lab technicians, is an affiliate of the New York State United Teachers union. </p>

00:10:00

President-elect Trump could end NYS off-shore wind turbine programs

<strong>The Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday approved the newly reduced $9 toll rate for its first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan in Manhattan, despite the objections of many Long Islanders and their representatives, including the MTA Board member from Nassau County who cast the lone vote against the plan. </strong>Alfonso A. Castillo and John Asbury report in NEWSDAY that the race is now on to have federal transportation regulators from President Joe Biden's administration issue final approval for congestion pricing before incoming President Donald Trump has the opportunity to nix the plan, as he has previously vowed to do. If the MTA gets its way, the new tolls will take effect on Jan. 5, after a 30-day public review period.</p>It's the second time this year the MTA voted on a toll structure for its Central Business District Tolling Program. The board approved a $15 base toll in March. But in a stunning reversal from her past support for congestion pricing, Governor Kathy Hochul, citing affordability concerns, ordered a pause on the plan three weeks before the new tolls were to take effect in June. Hochul proposed a new plan to charge most vehicles $9 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan, then gradually increasing the toll rate until raising it to the originally proposed $15 in 2030. Toll rates will be about 50% higher for drivers without E-ZPass. The board voted 12-1 in favor of the new toll rates. The MTA's chairman said the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers will benefit from congestion pricing, including Long Island commuters who will see improvements to the LIRR funded by the tolls.</p>***</p><strong>Environmental advocates have launched a full-court press to get Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill that would ban the harvesting of horseshoe crabs in New York</strong>. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act, passed by the State Legislature in June bans the taking of horseshoe crabs from New York waters for commercial fishing or biomedical purposes. Hochul has until the end of the year to sign the bill into law. The legislation aims to protect an ancient species advocates say plays a vital role in the marine ecosystem, but its decline is so serious they describe the arthropod as “on the brink of local extinction.” Horseshoe crabs, which evolved more than 200 million years ago, are found from Nova Scotia to Mexico and live year-round in Long Island Sound. Its decline, due to harvesting and habitat loss, is documented by the Long Island Sound Study research. Horseshoe crabs are an important bait for commercial fishermen of whelk and eel. Horseshoe crab is the only usable bait for commercial fishermen catching whelk, Rob Carpenter of the Long Island Farm Bureau told Times Beacon Record Newspapers in June. The bill would severely impact Long Island’s commercial fishing industry, he said. The Horseshoe Crab Protection Act, sponsored by Assembly Member Deborah Glick and State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, both Democrats who represent districts in Manhattan, passed the legislature in largely party-line votes in both chambers. The East End legislative delegation, State Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) and Assembly Members Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor) and Jodi Giglio (R-Baiting Hollow), opposed the bill. The Group for the East End, based in Southold, has launched an email campaign to urge Hochul to sign the bill.</p>***</p><strong>The Greater Jamesport Civic Association has put together a committee of people experienced in land preservation “to tackle the critical and timely issue of land preservation in Riverhead and throughout the East End.” </strong>Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that members of the committee, dubbed the “Blue Ribbon Panel for Preservation” by the civic group, are “committed to work together to address land use and preservation concerns, with a particular focus on farmland, shoreline and open spaces in Riverhead Town,” according to a press release. The panel was established, partly, in response to requests by Riverhead Town officials for the public to present new ideas for land preservation. The panel’s mission is to recommend “methods and tools” that Riverhead and potentially other East End towns can use “to further the goal of preservation of farmland, shoreline and open space,” while recognizing Riverhead Town’s fiscal constraints, the Greater Jamesport Civic Association said in the press release.</p>***</p><strong>Democrats kept their majority in the NYS Legislature but fell one Senate seat short of retaining a supermajority, losing the ability to easily override a veto from Gov. Kathy Hochul and giving her more bargaining power in the upcoming legislative session</strong>. Late last week, as final absentee and mail-in ballots were counted, Democrat Chris Ryan claimed a victory over his Republican challenger Nick Paro in the Central New York 50th State Senate District. The race had previously been too close to call. The win gives Democrats 41 of the 63 State Senate seats, maintaining the majority but falling one seat short of a supermajority. Republicans, who in the Senate were able to flip one seat and maintain all their incumbent candidates, see it as a move in the right direction and already are looking to the 2026 elections which includes a race for governor. NYS Senate and Assembly members are elected to two-year terms.</p>Democrats in the Assembly maintained their supermajority and picked up at least one seat, winning 103 of 150 seats. Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that much will be status quo in Albany when the legislative session starts in January, with Democrats holding onto their trifecta: a Democratic governor and majorities in both houses.</p>But losing the supermajority does take some of the bargaining power away from legislative leaders who, without at least some Republican support in the Senate, would no longer be able to override gubernatorial vetoes.</p>Democrats have had control of the Assembly for decades, but the majority in the Senate is relatively new. Democrats gained control after flipping the chamber in 2018.</p>***</p><strong>Residents and visitors to New York City should walk, bike or leave the driving to bus and train operators during the holiday season's 15 "gridlock alert days" that fall between Wednesday and the end of the year, according to the city transportation department</strong>. Nicholas Grasso reports in NEWSDAY that tomorrow through Friday and Nov. 26, all ahead of Thanksgiving, will be the most congested for the remainder of this month, according to the department, which also urged the use of public transportation Dec. 3 through 6, Dec. 10 through 13 and Dec. 17 through 19.</p>"Whether traveling for work, errands or recreation, please consider walking, biking or taking public transportation whenever possible," the NYC transportation department's website says.</p>Those who typically endure city holiday traffic should know that congestion this year could be worse because of "the rise of Uber and Lyft" and an increase in the number of trucks, which "have the impact of two to three cars." said Samuel Schwartz, a former NYC traffic commissioner known as "Gridlock Sam" who has studied traffic speeds since 1971.</p>Schwarts noted that new modes of transportation, such as e-bikes, also play a role in slowing overall traffic down.</p>Despite the call to take public transportation, plunging gas prices could be hard for motorists to resist between now and the new year, according to Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for AAA Northeast.</p>The average price for gas on Long Island has dropped from $3.47 this time last year to $2.97, Sinclair said. New York City's average fell from $3.66 a gallon to $3.08.</p>***</p><strong>A juvenile bald eagle that found itself in a precarious situation recently experienced a happy ending, thanks to the work of the staff at the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center. </strong>Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that on October 30, staff at the center got a call from a woman in North Sea, who had spotted the eagle struggling to extract itself from shrubbery around Scallop Pond. Volunteers from the Hampton Bays-based center drove out to the area and untangled the large bird from the bushes and brought it back to the center for treatment and evaluation. As the bird regained its strength, the center volunteers started flight testing, to assess whether it would be able to return to its native habitat safely. After two weeks at the Center, the bird was returned back to the same area where it was found, at Scallop Pond Preserve in North Sea on November 13.Jessica Chiarello of Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center said it was a happy ending for the bird, which took off when they opened the cage and flew over the pond and in a few circles in the air around them. She estimated that the bird was somewhere between the age of 2 and 5. Bald eagles do not develop their characteristic white head feathering until the age of 5, but Chiarello added that the bird was old enough to have learned to be fully self-sufficient. While they will never know exactly what happened to the bird, the best guess of the volunteers and staff who treated the eagle is that it had perhaps crashed into something or maybe even been hit by a car, leaving it with some head trauma that made flying challenging for some time. “It’s a beautiful property,” Chiarello said of the Scallop Pond Preserve, where they released the bird. “And it’s very likely that the bird lives there.”</p>***</p><em>This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. </em><a href="https://nysfocus.com/newsletter?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=website" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Sign up for their newsletter here</em></a><em>.</em></p><strong>President-elect Donald Trump wants to “terminate” Democrats’ climate agenda — and let America “drill, baby, drill.” Those promises could stymie a key component of New York’s plan to help slow global warming over the next few decades: building wind turbines off the coast of Long Island. </strong> On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to end all offshore wind projects on “day one” of his second term. “I’m going to write it out in an executive order,” he said at a May rally on the Jersey shore. He said that offshore turbines, which New York is hoping will supply a sixth of its electricity within a decade, “destroy everything.” <a href="https://nysfocus.com/2024/11/19/donald-trump-offshore-wind-new-york" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Colin Kinniburgh of New York Focus</a> reports that while other sources of renewable energy are mainly regulated by the state, offshore wind can’t move forward without approval from the federal government, which provides leases, permits, and subsidies. New York’s projects rely on all three. If Trump follows through on his campaign pledge, it could blow a big hole in the state’s efforts to clean up its grid, which are already far behind schedule.</p>However, at least one of Trump’s GOP allies in Congress has a track record of supporting offshore wind. US Representative Nick LaLota, who two years ago took over the east end 1st Congressional District seat of former New York gubernatorial candidate and incoming EPA chief Lee Zeldin, co-chairs a bipartisan Congressional Offshore Wind Caucus that aims to “establish the United States as a leader in the industry.” LaLota has touted the industry’s promise of jobs and climate resiliency for storm-prone Long Island.</p>“There is a level of confidence that we can find common ground and work with a Trump administration,” said Nick Guariglia, outreach manager for the New York Offshore Wind Alliance. The industry is already starting to provide “good-paying blue collar jobs,” he said, which aligns with Trump’s desire to revive US manufacturing and boost energy independence. </p>

00:09:56

Star Confectionary recieves enough donations to cover entire burglary loss

<strong>Gov. Kathy Hochul yesterday relaunched New York’s first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan, modifying it by calling for a lower $9 toll on most vehicles driving into busy parts of Manhattan and aiming to enact the program before President-elect Donald Trump could ax it.</strong></p>The toll would begin Jan. 5, Hochul announced.</p>Yancey Roy and Alfonso A. Castillo report in NEWSDAY that Hochul, a Democrat, had put the plan on pause in June just before the originally proposed toll of $15 was set to take effect. The governor said the fee was too high for average New Yorkers, but many said the hold was more about taking the issue off the table for Democrats in an election year.</p>The $9 rate will stay in place for at least three years before the state seeks to phase in a higher rate, Hochul officials said. The $9 toll is the lowest the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could enact under the environmental study approved by the federal government. A key question is whether Hochul can get President Joe Biden's administration to quickly approve the plan prior to Biden leaving office Jan. 20. Another is whether Trump would have the power to kill the toll later as he has vowed. </p>Backers say congestion pricing would encourage the use of mass transit, ease gridlock and pollution, and provide billions of dollars in funding to help the MTA upgrade subways, commuter rails and buses with 10% going to the Long Island Rail Road. Critics have said New York should not make life more expensive for residents and commuters.</p>The MTA aims to use the toll revenue to finance $15 billion in infrastructure improvements.</p>The toll would be imposed on vehicles driving south of 60th Street in Manhattan and would be in addition to bridge and tunnel tolls. Discounts of up to 75% could apply after 9 p.m. Officials estimated the toll eventually would produce a 13% reduction in traffic congestion, though that is lower than the 17% they had projected under a $15 toll.</p>***</p><strong>Within two days after a burglar stole $10,000 from Star Confectionery, the iconic East Main Street luncheonette in Riverhead, the community fundraised enough to replace the stolen money</strong>. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that more than 130 individual donations to a GoFundMe started by one of the restaurant’s longtime employees totaled $10,850 for Papa Nick’s — as the beloved luncheonette is known locally — a downtown staple serving breakfast, lunch, candy and ice cream to Riverhead for more than a century. </p>“I can’t ask this community for more than what they’ve done for me. I mean, I’m so overwhelmed. It’s amazing. It really, really is,” said Anthony Meras, the third-generation owner of the restaurant. “With all that’s bad that’s going on, there’s still a lot of good in this world.”</p>Star Confectionery was broken into sometime between midday Monday and early Tuesday, according to Riverhead Police. Meras said the burglar forced open a basement door to get inside, then got into his safe, which contained $3,000 he was planning to deposit in his bank and around $7,000 to pay the business’s sales taxes. The burglar also stole a stack of $2 bills Meras had been collecting — a habit he picked up from his mother.</p>The GoFundMe fundraiser launched Wednesday night and was quickly shared on social media. It hit its fundraising goal Thursday morning.</p>The fundraiser is not taking any more donations; Meras asked for it to be shut down soon after it met its $10,000 goal.</p>“I’ve been there 25-plus years and we’ve had a lot of the same customers, same regulars, as long as I’ve worked there,” Papa said. “It’s old-school Riverhead. It’s people that have been in the town and this has just been a staple for them. I think it’s one of the few things in Riverhead that hasn’t changed.”</p>***</p><strong>There is an increased risk of fire spread today and a fire weather watch in effect tomorrow for Long Island, New York City and Lower Hudson Valley regions, the National Weather Service said today.</strong> Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that northwest winds of 10 to 15 mph with gusts to 20 mph today and 30 mph tomorrow and low relative humidity values both days — 20-25 % today and as low as 27% tomorrow — once again sets up fire weather conditions conducive to increased fire spread should ignition occur. New York State has declared a burn ban through Nov. 30. Use extra caution if handling any potential ignition sources, such as machinery or matches, and ensure to properly extinguish or dispose cigarette butts, advises the National Weather Service.</p>***</p><strong>As the days get shorter and temperatures start to drop, Long Islanders are observing another sign of fall: flocks of turkeys traveling together from woodland to lawn to the edges of fallow fields, scratching for morsels to eat, chortling to one another to let the others know where they are.</strong></p>"I have a flock that visits me every day around sunset and we kind of look forward to it," said Sally Newbert, who lives in East Moriches and is on the board of the Eastern Long Island Audubon Society. "They are very wary: The minute you come out the door, they pretty much take off. But they have become part of the neighborhood." Tracy Tullis reports in NEWSDAY that while the Department of Environmental Conservation doesn't have a specific estimate for their numbers, Chip Hamilton, a DEC field biologist, said wild turkeys on Long Island are "stable to increasing in population." And many observers note that they have been seeing many more of them strutting about in recent years. "There has been a robust recovery," said Robert DeLuca, president of the Group for the East End, a conservation organization. "They have proven to be very adaptable to the suburbs." Not everyone on Long Island loves these large birds. Hamilton said the DEC field office gets occasional calls from people who don’t want turkeys scratching (and leaving their droppings) in their yards, or from businesses who report a flock loitering in a road.</p>Millions of wild turkeys once roamed North America, from Maine to Florida and as far west as Colorado, thriving in varied habitats, including pine-oak forests, cypress swamps and grasslands. By the mid-19th century, they were disappearing across much of their range, including on Long Island, nearly wiped out by unregulated hunting and the clearing of woodlands for timber and agriculture, according to the New York Audubon Society.</p>In the 1990s, the DEC relocated about 75 wild turkeys from upstate to Suffolk County, and after a slow start, the birds have prospered.</p>The population has grown sufficiently enough in the past decade or so that the DEC added a spring turkey hunting season in 2023, after a fall hunt was legalized in 2009. This year's fall hunt begins tomorrow. The hunt is not popular with many birders, who are shut out from some nature areas during the hunting season. "It’s just the worst time," Newbert said, "because it’s migration season, when all the warblers are coming through."</p>On long Island, wild turkeys have been spotted as far west as Muttontown, and all the way east to Montauk and Orient Point, according to Hamilton.</p>***</p><strong>Long Island was New York State’s only region to see increases of farms and farmland acres, fueled by growth in Suffolk County, according to a report by the office of the state comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli and based on 2022 data.</strong></p>Even as the state lost slightly more than 8% of its farms, Long Island saw an increase: 607 farms in 2022, a 3% jump from 2017. Long Island also saw an 11% increase in farmland acreage, 34,468 acres, over the same period. Nassau lost three farms, but Suffolk added 18, according to the report. Matthew Chayes reports in NEWSDAY that there are 30,650 farms in New York's 62 counties, making up 21.6% of state land. They range from 800-acre dairy farms in the western part of the state, to "sub-acre outdoor plots" in Manhattan.</p>The report analyzed industry data and economic indicators, including a census from 2022 taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.</p>"Long Island farms had nearly $373 million in total agricultural sales in 2022, an increase of 64% from 2017," according to a news release about the report. "Farms in Suffolk County lead the state in sales of products directly to consumers, local retailers or local food processors, with more than $268 million in such sales. As a result, local dollars spent on agricultural products remain in the Long Island economy." </p>Mentioned in this episode:</p>Long Island Morning Edition is part of Your Election 2024, a special collection of programs, series, and resources from The WNET Group to illuminate election issues on-air, online, and on YouTube leading into the November 5th elections. Find more at wliw.org/yourelection2024.</p>

00:07:47

Sag Harbor Village explores new paid parking system after messy first year

<strong>Gov. Kathy Hochul today is expected to announce a modified congestion pricing plan for Manhattan that will start the toll at $9 in a bid to get the process rolling before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.</strong></p>Hochul earlier this year had put on hold a planned toll hike that would have charged drivers $15 for entering the busiest parts of Manhattan, saying the fee was too high. She’s been promising a new plan by year’s end and has been reaching out to lawmakers to "suss out" support for making it $9 with gradual increases. Yancey Roy reports in NEWSDAY that the plan also might include a bump in certain payroll taxes in some jurisdictions, one source said.</p>Late yesterday afternoon, the Hochul administration confirmed a new plan will be unveiled, but didn't give specifics. "Governor Hochul paused congestion pricing because a daily $15 toll was too much for hardworking New Yorkers in this economic climate. Tomorrow, the Governor will announce the path forward to fund mass transit, unclog our streets and improve public health by reducing air pollution," spokesman Avi Small said in a statement Wednesday. The MTA has been counting on congestion pricing to deliver $1 billion in annual toll revenue to finance $15 billion in planned infrastructure upgrades, including on the Long Island Rail Road.</p>Last week, Hochul confirmed she recently spoke with officials in President Joe Biden’s administration about "the need to take affirmative steps to ensure that nothing compromises the MTA."</p>But even if the feds sign off before Biden leaves the White House on Jan. 20, there is a possibility Trump would kill it — as he vowed to during the campaign.</p>The plan for congestion pricing was supposed to launch in June, and the electronic license plate readers and other infrastructure pieces were in place. Advocates said the toll would encourage the use of mass transit, reduce gridlock and air pollution and earmark money to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority issue bonds to fund capital upgrades for the metro area’s mass transit system.</p>***</p><strong>Acknowledging that the rollout of expanded paid parking earlier this year “was not our finest hour,” Trustee Aidan Corish announced at Tuesday’s Sag Harbor Village Board meeting that the village is exploring a two-tiered parking pass system for residents of the village and the surrounding Sag Harbor fire and school districts.</strong></p>Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that Corish explained that the village introduced paid parking at the gas ball lot and the adjoining small lot on Meadow Street to help recoup the approximately $70,000 it is paying developer Adam Potter annually to lease the gas ball lot. But faced with numerous complaints about the system, the Village of Sag Harbor is considering issuing two free parking passes for each property, residential and commercial alike, in the village. Residents of the fire district and school district, whose taxes help support vital community services, would be able to purchase two parking permits for $15 apiece, he said. That arrangement would likely cover the cost of leasing the lot. “We have to pay for it some way,” Corish said. “It’s a real cost.” Sag Harbor Village Mayor Tom Gardella said he was mindful that many employees need parking and said he wanted to address that issue as well. He said he had been told by some business owners that they pay their employees’ parking tickets as a cost of doing business, spending $1,500 to $2,000 each season.</p>***</p><strong>Members from 10 volunteer fire departments in Suffolk County deployed to Orange County, New York earlier this week to assist with the Jennings Creek Wildfire, including firefighters from Central Islip, Eastport, Amagansett, Dix Hills, Huntington, West Islip, Southampton, East Hampton, East Marion and Orient.</strong> “Our first responders are always prepared to answer the call to help wherever they are needed. I am proud of their commitment, and we thank them for their sacrifice,” said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that Suffolk County Fire, Rescue & Emergency Services says there are still ample volunteer firefighters locally to respond to emergencies close to home, and is urging residents to follow fire safety guidelines as the risk of fire remains high locally, including avoiding recreational fires, always having a fire extinguisher nearby, fully extinguishing any flames, and reporting uncontrolled fires immediately.</p>***</p><strong>More than 70% of school bus camera tickets Suffolk County issued in 2023 were given on streets that students don't cross when getting on or off the bus.</strong> Since tickets carry a minimum fine of $250, the tickets issued on streets students don't cross are worth more than $15 million to Suffolk's program. School bus safety advocates are considering proposing changes to state law that could reduce tickets issued on major roads where students don't cross. Payton Guion reports in NEWSDAY that New York state law requires drivers to stop for school buses, even on divided highways where students don't cross to get on or off the bus. Drivers who get cited are offered a chance to plead their case in court, but many opt to pay the fine. In 2023, more than 75% of ticketed drivers in Suffolk paid their fine without contesting it, according to county data.</p>The New York State Legislature passed a law in 2019 allowing local governments to adopt school bus camera programs, giving extra teeth to the decades-old state law requiring all drivers to stop for school buses. Suffolk County launched its bus camera program in 2021, contracting with Virginia-based BusPatrol America to install the cameras and manage the program.</p>Suffolk remains the largest BusPatrol program in the country. But both Suffolk officials and BusPatrol say they are simply following the law in citing drivers for passing school buses.</p>"The parameters governing New York State’s bus camera laws would necessitate an act of the New York State Legislature to make any changes, and Suffolk’s program must adhere to these guidelines," said county spokesman Michael Martino.</p>​***</p><strong>PSEG Long Island has again missed a deadline for migrating LIPA's computer systems from New Jersey to Long Island, drawing the ire of LIPA trustees at a hearing yesterday</strong>. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that PSEG officials had prepared a presentation to explain the delays, but LIPA chairwoman Tracey Edwards nixed it, ordering the company to come back with more information at the next board meeting in December. PSEG operates the Long Island grid under an $80 million annual contract with the Long Island Power Authority that expires at the end of 2025.</p>The computer migration was initiated in 2022 following PSEG's acknowledged failures in responding to the 2020 Tropical Storm Isaias. The project involves shifting control of dozens of applications critical to running the utility to Long Island.</p>PSEG is scheduled to complete the computer migration just as its contract expires. Last month acting LIPA chief executive John Rhodes told a business group the contract "could well be" awarded to PSEG, which is in the running and lobbied staunchly against an unsuccessful state bill that would have had LIPA instead run the grid itself.</p>The first and largest of four blocks of computer applications set for migration was scheduled to be completed by this month, but PSEG now says it won't be ready until February.</p>Newsday in June reported LIPA ratepayers faced $5.3 million in unexpected costs from the $68 million migration project after a series of missteps, including an inability to do background checks on a large number of outside tech workers needed for the project.</p>***</p><strong>The search for the next superintendent of the Riverhead Central School District is underway. </strong>Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the Riverhead Board of Education will start circulating an advertisement for the job by early next week. The board hopes to have the next superintendent hired by mid-March, which will allow the superintendent to help fill other vacant positions within the district’s central administration.</p>The search for the next superintendent, who acts as the Riverhead Central School District’s chief executive officer, is being conducted by Eastern Suffolk BOCES Chief Operating Officer David Wicks, who is a former Riverhead school administrator.</p>The post will be advertised in many places, according to Wicks, including the New York State Council of School Superintendents, New York State School Board Association and the School Administrators Association of New York State. It will also be forwarded to every BOCES across New York State. </p>“So potentially, all 730+ school districts in New York State are going to see that you have a vacancy for a superintendent," Wicks said. </p>The previous full time Riverhead Schools superintendent - Augustine Tornatore - was paid $250,000 annually.</p>***</p><strong>A recent federal report highlighting the saltwater intrusion into groundwater affecting coastal areas of Nassau County is just the beginning of a comprehensive mapping of the groundwater under all of Long Island, which will include areas with sensitive aquifers on the North and South Forks. </strong>Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that the Long Island Groundwater Sustainability Project is being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. USGS Hydrogeologist Frederick Stumm, who is leading the research, gave an overview of the project to the Orient Association at its Oct. 27 meeting. Orient, at the far tip of the North Fork, relies for its drinking water on a shallow aquifer that is highly susceptible to saltwater intrusion. A portion of the tiny hamlet’s private drinking water wells have also recently been found to be contaminated with the chemical PFAS, and the Orient Association has recently hired a consultant, CDM Smith, to do a study of Orient’s drinking water. Its findings will be released at a public meeting in January.</p>The USGS project, funded by the DEC, is being conducted in three phases, said Dr. Stumm. The report on the first phase, modeling the groundwater under Nassau County, Queens and Brooklyn was released this August, while the second phase, Suffolk County, will be released in 2025.</p>Phase 3 will be continuing to monitor the saltwater interface over time, which can be used to run projections and help make policy decisions in the future.</p>“We’ll be able to tell communities, as an early warning system, that they may need to make some changes before their wells get impacted,” said Dr. Stumm. “Climate change and sea level rise can be modeled into it as a scenario, and it will give us a lot more confidence into how we manage our groundwater in the future.”</p>The water in the ground below Long Island is crucial to Long Island’s ability to sustain its population of 2.8 million people — groundwater aquifers are the only source of drinking water for all of Nassau and Suffolk counties, unlike Brooklyn and Queens, which are geographically on Long Island but get their drinking water from the New York City water supply system, fed by aquifers in upstate New York. </p>Mentioned in this episode:</p>Long Island Morning Edition is part of Your Election 2024, a special collection of programs, series, and resources from The WNET Group to illuminate election issues on-air, online, and on YouTube leading into the November 5th elections. Find more at wliw.org/yourelection2024.</p>

00:10:09

Red flag warning in effect again for Long Island

<strong>Long Island homeowners living in flood-prone areas can apply for funds from $20 million in state money to reduce the risk of flooding or make their homes more energy efficient. </strong>Jonathan LaMantia reports in NEWSDAY that the latest round of the state’s Resilient Retrofits Program will fund projects such as installing flood vents, sump pumps and backflow preventers. The money also could be used to add insulation, electrify heating systems or install energy-efficient appliances, according to an announcement from Gov. Kathy Hochul.</p>Of the $20 million, at least $3 million will be allocated for Long Islanders, with other funds going to regions around the state and some money available without regard to region. </p>"We are committed to building resilient communities and ensuring more New Yorkers are protected from extreme weather before it occurs," Hochul said in a statement.</p>Applications are available online at cdli.org/howwecanhelp/nys-resiliency-retrofits-program.</p>Households with incomes up to 120% of area median income can apply. On Long Island, that cap is $131,200 for single-person households, $149,950 for couples and $187,450 for four-person households, according to standards set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.</p>Rising sea levels are expected to pose a growing threat to Long Island’s coastal communities. Sea levels are expected to climb 13 to 25 inches in the next 25 years, according to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. That will coincide with the average flood insurance premium on Long Island nearly doubling within the next five years compared with rates in 2022, according to an earlier Newsday analysis of FEMA data. </p>Homeowners can apply for up to $50,000. Half the award will be given as a grant with the remainder given as a loan with a 3% annual interest rate.</p>***</p><strong>The mood was bright at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the East Hampton Historical Society’s new Museum Collections Storage Center at the Mulford Farm in East Hampton last week.</strong> Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the Historical Society’s collection includes nearly 20,000 artifacts that are presently stored in several locations, including the Osborn-Jackson House, Clinton Academy and the Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio. Along with serving as a centralized location, the new 5,700-square-foot center will be climate-controlled. The storage center will be built on the site of a 1976 barn that will be demolished. It will resemble that structure, said Steve Long, the Historical Society’s executive director. “Our Campaign for Collections Stewardship was matched by a major capital grant from the New York State Council on the Arts,” Long said. While funding for the new storage center is secured, the East Hampton Historical Society hopes to outfit it with state-of-the-art mobile storage equipment, “which isn’t cheap,” Long said, so the campaign continues. “By getting involved, you will enable us to preserve our cultural heritage for generations to come.”</p>***</p><strong>Father Michael Vetrano, pastor of Southampton’s Basilica Parish of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary delivered the invocation and benediction for this Monday’s Veteran’s Day Ceremony at Agawam Park in Southampton Village.</strong></p>“Abraham Lincoln, at Gettysburg, at a very crucial time in history, spoke about honoring memory,” stated Father Mike. “President Lincoln said that he could not and no one could make the ground holy any more than the lives of those who were given in service and fought bravely and served so honorably.”</p>“The healing of any division would be because of that honorable service, and the energy that came from that love of each other and love of the land that possesses the freedom we cherish,” he added. “Help us, out of the gratitude in our own hearts, to honor the memories of those who’ve served so bravely, and who continue to serve and carry forward the inspiration and vision of this United States of America.”</p>Sacred Hearts Pastor Mike Vetrano speaking of healing through passages from President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address in Southampton on Veterans Day 2024.</p>***</p><strong>Average residential electric utility bills are projected to increase more than $7 a month next year as LIPA anticipates higher debt-service costs and slightly increased usage by customers in 2025. </strong>Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the bill increase reflected in the Long Island Power Authority’s proposed $4.336 billion operating budget for 2025 is below the amount that would trigger a rate review by the state, and considerably below this year’s increase of about $20 a month. LIPA and its contractor, PSEG Long Island, have not been subjected to a rate review by the NYS Department of Public Service since 2016, due chiefly to delivery rate increases kept below 2.5%, even as other portions of the bill have seen increases.</p>LIPA’s 2024 operating budget was $4.19 billion.</p>In a budget to be presented at a LIPA board meeting today, the utility is proposing average bills of just under $194 a month in 2025, compared with monthly bills this year that totaled an average $186.71. Average usage next year is expected to increase slightly to around 723 kilowatt-hours per month, compared with this year’s 715 kilowatt-hours, an increase that reflects an improved economy and an increase in electric cars and electric heat pumps.</p>Customers who hold their usage steady next year will see lower average bill increases of around $5.38, LIPA said.</p>LIPA customers will get the chance to weigh in on the increases during three public hearings scheduled for November, and the LIPA board will vote on the budget at its December meeting. </p>LIPA is in the process of reviewing bids for management of the grid when PSEG's contract expires at the end of 2025.</p>***</p><strong>A red flag warning is in effect again today for Long Island and New York City regions, the National Weather Service said in a statement this morning. </strong>The warning remains in effect until 6 o’clock tonight. There is no rain in the east end weather forecast for the next week. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that north winds of 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph today combined with relative humidity as low as 25 to 30% mean weather conditions are conducive to the rapid spread of wildfire should a fire ignite. The NWS issues a red flag warning when those conditions exist or are forecasted. Residents are urged to use extreme caution with any potential ignition sources, including smoking materials. The governor has announced a statewide temporary ban on all outdoor burning.</p>Today’s red flag warning is the seventh issued for the Long Island region since Oct. 25.</p>Compounding the risk is the long period of unusually dry weather in the region. Since Sept. 1, less than an inch of rain has fallen in Eastern Suffolk, according to data recorded at the National Weather Service in Upton, Long Island. Normal rainfall during that period is close to 10 inches (9.97 in.) according to weather service data.</p>The exceptionally dry period coincides with the arrival of autumn, when dry fallen leaves carpet the ground, creating a bed of what firefighters call “dry fuels” in the woods.</p>Several brush fires have erupted in Riverhead in the past week, beginning with a small fire in a thicket of bamboo off Harrison Avenue a week ago, believed to have started by a campfire there. </p>***</p><strong>The prices of food and drinks in the airports that serve the New York City metro area, already a pet peeve of many travelers, are set to take a sharp upward turn next year.</strong></p>To cover the rising costs of labor at the three big airports it operates — LaGuardia, Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International — the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has proposed rule changes that would allow restaurants and shops to raise their prices and tack on a 3 percent surcharge.</p>Together, the changes could result in a 7.5 percent increase in January to prices that have long been the subject of complaints from travelers. Patrick McGeehan reports in THE NY TIMES that the Port Authority said the increases would help the concessions cover the costs of rising wages and better benefits for their employees. The agency, which sets the rules for the businesses that operate inside the airport terminals, has proposed gradual increases in the minimum wage for workers there.</p>The first wage increase, 75 cents an hour, would come in January, according to the proposal announced yesterday by the agency and the two governors who control it, Kathy Hochul of New York and Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey. Two more raises of 75 cents an hour each would occur in July 2025 and January 2026.</p>Those would be the first increases by the Port Authority since it raised the base wage for airport workers, in several steps, to $19 in September 2023.</p>The proposal requires the approval of the agency’s commissioners, all of whom are appointed by the governors of the two states.</p>***</p><strong>Two members of the Gosman family of Montauk who pleaded guilty in 2021 to a single count each in an illegal fishing conspiracy avoided prison time at their sentencing in federal court yesterday but were ordered to pay more than $247,000 each in restitution. </strong></p>Both also received two years' probation and a $100 special assessment. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that Bryan and Asa Gosman, who manage the Gosman’s wholesale fish business at the company's recently sold Montauk compound, provided "crucial" evidence against their former friend and business partner, commercial fisherman Christopher Winkler, also of Montauk, officials said.</p>Winkler in October was found guilty of five counts, including criminal conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice, after a jury trial, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He’s expected to report for prison today. The family business, Bob Gosman Co. Inc., also pleaded guilty in the case and agreed to four years' probation and a $50,000 fine, prosecutors said. </p>Federal District Judge Joan Azrack at the Central Islip sentencing also ordered Winkler to pay restitution of $725,000, to be paid to the New York State Marine Resources account. </p>Judge Azrack praised both Gosmans for their "critical" cooperation in the Winkler case and for their assistance in "several" other unspecified probes.</p>Asked if the government's decade-long probe of the commercial fishing business was ongoing, Christopher Hale, a federal prosecutor who brought the case for the Department of Justice, said after the proceeding, "We are always investigating fisheries crimes on the East Coast, including New York." </p>Sentencing in the case comes as the Gosman’s Dock family business was sold last month. The transaction was mentioned during the court proceedings given that both Gosmans will financially benefit from the $40 million-plus transaction. </p>Mentioned in this episode:</p>Long Island Morning Edition is part of Your Election 2024, a special collection of programs, series, and resources from The WNET Group to illuminate election issues on-air, online, and on YouTube leading into the November 5th elections. Find more at wliw.org/yourelection2024.</p>

00:10:17

Lee Zeldin to be appointed head of Environmental Protection Agency

<strong>During a few brief remarks to the community members gathered around the crackling indoor fireplace on the main floor of the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton Village on Saturday afternoon, Mayor Bill Manger referenced a quote from Albert Einstein to emphasize the importance of the library’s new $2 million revitalization campaign: “The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” </strong>That advice from the famed physicist, Manger said, still rings true in Southampton Village, where the Rogers Memorial Library has been an important community asset and gathering place since it first opened at its former location on Jobs Lane in 1896, thanks to a bequest made by Harriet Jones Rogers. Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that in 2000, the library moved to its current location in a new building on Coopers Farm Road. The main library and Cooper Hall, adjacent to the library on the same property, encompass a total of 26,500 square feet, and it serves 40,000 people annually. On Saturday afternoon, Manger was on hand, along with NBC news anchor and Southampton Village resident Chuck Scarborough, Library Director Liz Burns, Foundation Board President George Crawford and other library trustees and patrons for a reception to announce and kick off the library’s revitalization campaign. The $2 million project will pay for a large-scale interior renovation and upgrades inside the library, which is celebrating 25 years in its current location. Work on the Rogers Memorial Library revitalization project is expected to start this coming January. Scarborough added that, just like in the news industry, libraries have had to adjust how they do business to try and reach people where they are. “That’s exactly what’s going on here,” he said. “Times change and the library had to adapt. The library has expanded its scope so dramatically to respond to the community, and this is yet another necessary step to continue to evolve.”</p>***</p><strong>Veterans were honored yesterday at a Veterans Day ceremony in Riverhead. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the annual ceremony in Riverhead takes place at the World War Memorial on West Main Street. </strong>The memorial monument was erected after World War I, to honor the Riverhead men who fought in the war, including nine who sacrificed their lives.</p>Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard called on residents to always remember that freedom isn’t free. The freedom and the lifestyle we enjoy today was achieved through “tremendous sacrifice of past generations of service members and their families, by current members of the armed forces and will continue with the future generations of citizens who step up to serve this nation, because freedom isn’t free,” Hubbard said.</p>The supervisor urged residents to speak with veterans who are willing to talk about their service, to learn about their experiences. He spoke of his father-in-law, Albert Woolley, who served in the military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.</p>The annual ceremony is organized by the Riverhead Combined Veterans Committee.</p>***</p><strong>President-elect Donald Trump flipped numerous Democratic strongholds on Long Island on his way to taking a decisive majority of local voters for the first time in his three presidential campaigns, according to a Newsday analysis of unofficial results. </strong>More than 53% of voters in Nassau and Suffolk cast their ballots for Trump. His raw vote total in the two counties has increased each time he has run: from over 642,000 in 2016 to 707,969 in 2020 and now more than 762,000 this year, records show. He won Suffolk for the third consecutive election and captured Nassau for the first time, becoming the first Republican to win there since 1988. Paul LaRocco and Keshia Clukey report in NEWSDAY that in Suffolk County, Trump turned Huntington and Babylon from towns that went for President Joe Biden in 2020. He won comfortably in Islip, Brookhaven and Smithtown, garnering between 57% and 64% of the votes in those typically Republican areas. Harris' only Suffolk victories came on the east end in Southold, Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island towns, mirroring the national trend of Democrats making gains among the educated and affluent. Trump won over 57% of the vote in Riverhead. Blue-collar voters, among all demographics, made their preference clear, said local political leaders in both parties, blaming the Biden/Harris administration for an economy that saw decades-high inflation. Suffolk GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia said there was a "softening" in majority-Hispanic areas such as Central Islip and Brentwood that Harris still carried. Republicans, he said, appealed to those voters’ more conservative and faith-based values. "Suffolk County is the largest county in the country to have gone for Donald Trump in three successive elections," Garcia said.</p>***</p><strong>Bridgestone surprised area Club kids and families this past Friday, when they delivered a new passenger van donated to Boys & Girls Club of Shinnecock Nation. </strong>The new van will provide Club kids with transportation to and from their Clubhouses and other enrichment activities, addressing one of the biggest hurdles families face and giving more kids and teens access to high-impact, out-of-school programming. The donation is part of the Bridgestone Driving Great Futures initiative, which has raised more than $25 million to help kids and teens gain access to Boys & Girls Clubs resources across the U.S. since 2015.</p>Boys & Girls Club of Shinnecock Nation is one of 10 Clubs nationwide this year to receive a new passenger van from Bridgestone</p>***</p><strong>Former U.S. Congressman Lee Zeldin will be appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency, President-elect Donald Trump said in a statement he posted yesterday on his social media platform, Truth Social</strong>. Zeldin has “a very strong legal background” and “has been a true fighter for America First policies,” Trump said in the statement. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the success of Trump’s environmental agenda now rests with Zeldin, a native Long Islander and conservative Republican from Shirley who represented the First Congressional District from 2015 to 2023. Environmental groups like the League of Conservation Voters gave Zeldin poor marks for an “anti-environment” voting record while in Congress. The organization said Zeldin had the worst record on environmental issues in the New York Congressional delegation.</p>However, Adrienne Esposito, executive director of not-for-profit Citizens Campaign Fund for the Environment in Farmingdale, praised Zeldin for the work on the environment he has done on Long Island dating back to when he was a state senator.</p>"The good news is: He lives here. He understands that climate change is real. He understands the value of protecting coastal waters, estuaries, the marine environment and drinking water. I know that because I worked with him on all those issues," Esposito told Newsday on Monday. </p>"The first Trump administration was an environmental nightmare. We're hoping and we need Lee Zeldin to bring perspective and strength to the Trump administration to do the right thing here and protect us," Esposito said. "We're hoping that all the work he's done for his constituents will carry over into the federal policy."</p>Laura Figueroa Hernandez and Tom Brune report in NEWSDAY that Zeldin, a Shirley, Long Island Republican, announced the appointment on social media yesterday, calling it “an honor."</p>In a statement to Newsday, Zeldin said: “As a proud Long Islander I am looking forward to serving in President Trump’s cabinet as EPA Administrator. Together, we will restore American energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, lead the world in Artificial Intelligence advancements, and cut through the red tape holding back our workers from greater economic mobility – all while conserving our environment, ensuring clean air and water access, and protecting the health of the American people.”</p>The appointment was one of several announced by Trump’s presidential transition team on Monday…including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville), the top ranking House Republican in the state of New York. She was named United Nations ambassador.</p>Zeldin’s appointment comes after years as one of Trump’s most visible backers — he served on Trump’s impeachment defense team, delivered prime-time speeches in support of Trump during the 2020 and 2024 Republican National Conventions and frequently appears on Fox News in support of Trump. Zeldin voted against certifying the 2020 election and challenged the constitutionality of electoral votes from several states.</p>Zeldin, who previously represented New York’s 1st Congressional District spanning Long Island’s East End, ran unsuccessfully against Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022, but his loss by 6.4 percentage points was one of the closest New York gubernatorial races in decades. State Republicans often credited him with helping House Republicans in New York to flip six congressional districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020.</p>

00:08:29

Critical fire conditions present through NY metro area, including Long Island

<strong>Long Island teachers, from public schools to the colleges, said the challenges of discussing this divisive and emotionally charged election are nearly as big as the need to discuss it.</strong> They said they planned to critically engage with the issues, foster respectful dialogue and help students make sense of this moment in time. Craig Schneider and Darwin Yanes report in NEWSDAY that teachers say they'll help students separate facts from opinions, analyze evidence and draw conclusions. “You’re supposed to be analyzing what’s being said,” said Gloria Sesso, president of the Long Island Council for the Social Studies, regarding the job of teachers. “You’re supposed to be looking at different points of view, and not indoctrinating or telling people what to think. But how to think is a very important thing.”</p>A good teacher, she said, helps students separate facts from opinions, analyze evidence and draw conclusions. </p>Peter Salins, a Stony Brook University political science professor, said a good number of his students go into politics or public service or a career, such as health care, where they have to deal with government.</p>Salins said he wants students to grapple with the "underlying dynamics" behind this election, such as why so many people feel discontented with the status quo. </p>"My whole approach to public policy is to engage in intelligent discussion," he said. "I'm trying to teach that process. How to accurately diagnose a public problem and use evidence-based information to create successful policies."</p>Andrea Libresco, a Hofstra professor of social studies education, said students in her honors seminar on the 2024 election were evenly split between Harris and Trump. </p>This election, she said, is an opportunity for students to look beyond their own opinions to understand others.</p>"We are all Americans. We need to practice listening with genuine curiosity," she said. "That's vital to civil discourse."</p>***</p><strong>Suffolk's social services department is redacting identifying information from reports used to consider removal of a child from a home, county officials said yesterday. </strong>The process, county officials argue, eliminates the type of "biased decision-making" that kept 8-year-old Thomas Valva in the custody of his police officer father before his death.</p>Grant Parpan reports in NEWSDAY that Suffolk County Social Services Commissioner John Imhof said under the new "blind removal" process implemented in the spring, Child Protective Services decision makers are no longer made aware of a parent’s occupation, the names of family members or their ethnic and religious backgrounds in cases when there is a possibility a child will be removed.</p>"There's absolutely no subjective information," Imhof said at Thursday's news conference announcing changes DSS has made in response to an April report from a special grand jury convened to investigate the department’s handling of the Valva case. "We all have unconscious stereotypes and views in our minds, and they have to be eliminated in the evaluation of child protective service cases."</p>The news conference also brought attention to areas where the county has not yet fulfilled the recommendations of the grand jury, including efforts to reduce the workload of case workers, improve pay to attract additional staff and the amendment of state laws the grand jury found shielded caseworkers from accountability in the Valva case.</p>"It isn’t going to happen overnight," Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said of the progress, adding that "change is incremental."</p>But Imhof said the New York State Office of Children and Family Services has already reported favorably on improvements made within the department, which includes the blind removal process. The commissioner said blind removal was mandated by the state in 2020, but was not in place when he was hired in May.</p>***</p><strong>The Commission on Veterans Patriotic Events will host its annual Veterans Day ceremony this coming Monday, November 11, at 11 a.m. at Agawam Park in Southampton Village. </strong>Prior to the service, there will be a short parade from the First Presbyterian Church, down Jobs Lane, to the park. All veterans are invited to participate and are asked to be at the church parking lot by 10:30 a.m. Cars will be available for those who cannot march. The guest speaker will be Tim Hendricks, an author and former U.S. Army tank platoon leader and military intelligence officer. That’s this coming Monday morning. The public is invited to the Southampton’s Veterans Day ceremony and afterward all are welcome for refreshments at Veterans Memorial Hall, across the street from Agawam Park in Southampton Village.</p>***</p><strong>Four people whose lives have been forever altered by a fatal Noyac fire in 2022 came face to face in Suffolk County Court in Riverside this week.</strong> T.E. McMorrow reports on 27east.com that Pamela and Peter Miller, the owners of a Noyac house where a fire claimed the lives of two young women who were staying there on vacation with their family, were sentenced in connection to the deaths yesterday in a Riverhead courtroom. Peter Miller, who had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of criminally negligent homicide, was sentenced to 3 years of probation and 200 hours of community service. His wife, Pamela Miller, who pled guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment, was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, which she has already completed, according to her attorney, Edward Burke Jr. But before the sentences were pronounced by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Richard Horowitz, the Millers stood in silence as the last two surviving members of the Wiener family, Alisa Wiener, the mother to the deceased, Jillian and Lindsay Wiener, and her son, Zach Wiener, spoke about the horror they experienced on August 3, 2022, and about the pain and suffering they have suffered since the fire. “The depth of the pain has been life altering,” Alisa Wiener told the court. “There are times I don’t recognize myself. My husband Lew was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020,” she said, adding that he passed away last April.</p>The family of five who lived in Maryland were taking a one-week summer vacation in the Hamptons together before the girls returned to college. Jillian Wiener, 21, was a rising senior at University of Michigan, while Lindsay Wiener, 19, attended Tulane University.</p>***</p><strong>A red flag warning is in effect across Long Island, New York City and the lower Hudson Valley today from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. due to expected critical fire weather conditions, the National Weather Service in New York said this morning.</strong> Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that a red flag warning is issued when a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and dry fuels will create a significantly elevated fire growth potential, the weather service said in a statement.</p>Sunny skies with a west wind 8 to 15 mph, gusts as high as 25 mph. and relative humidity as low as 29% are forecast today, according to the forecast. These conditions are considered critical fire conditions and when they occur, rapid fire spread can be expected, the weather service said. Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly. Any potential ignition sources, including smoking materials such as cigarette butts should be properly extinguished, the weather service said. This is the fourth time a red flag warning has been issued in the past two months. The warnings were in effect Oct. 26-27 and Nov. 1. The warning comes as the region continues to experience unusually dry weather with near-record high temperatures this fall.</p>***</p><strong>Local veterans organizations will be holding events recognizing Veterans Day this coming Monday, Nov. 11. </strong>Nicole Wagner reports in THE SUFFOLK TIMES that Southold American Legion Griswold-Terry-Glover Post 803 welcomes community members to its annual Veterans Day ceremony on Monday at 11 a.m. on the legion’s front lawn at 51655 Main Road, Southold.</p>Following the ceremony, the Southold Rotary Club will serve breakfast inside the legion post. At noon, the American Legion Auxiliary and Long Island Cares will distribute free frozen turkey, chicken or ham dinners to veterans who preordered. </p>Members of the Riverhead community will gather Monday at 11 a.m. at the War Memorial at 330 Court St. for the annual Veterans Day remembrance, organized by the Riverhead Combined Veterans Committee. This century-old tradition honors service members on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.</p>Also on Monday, Calverton National Cemetery will host its annual ceremony in the assembly area at 1 p.m. to commemorate the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans, orchestrated by the Support Committee for Calverton National Cemetery.</p>***</p><strong>A growing percentage of Long Island households own their home without a mortgage, which raises questions about how these mortgage-free homeowners will affect the region’s housing market in the coming years, according to a Newsday analysis of census data</strong>. Jonathan LaMantia reports in NEWSDAY that nearly 38% of Long Island homeowning households are mortgage-free, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 1-year estimates for 2023. That compares with 35.4% in 2018.</p>The pattern on Long Island is similar to the national trend, with 39.8% of homeowners who own reporting they have no mortgage, according to an analysis released in late October by the National Association of Home Builders..</p>On Long Island, more than half of these mortgage-free homeowners are 65 or older. Owners who have paid off their mortgage stand to potentially cash in if they were to sell their homes, which have seen substantial increases in value in recent years. But housing experts told Newsday that a lack of attractive housing options, the expensive rental market and seniors’ preferences for staying in their homes all work against these mortgage-free homes hitting the market. Still, Na Zhao, principal economist at NAHB, says she doesn’t see a connection between the growing share of mortgage-free owners and national issues with limited housing inventory. That’s because the percentage of owners without a mortgage has risen steadily over the past decade even when the number of houses on the market has climbed. The biggest factor keeping people from selling their homes is the mortgage lock-in effect, she said, in which owners who have home loans with an interest rate around 3% choose not to move because of how much their housing payment would increase with a rate above 6%.</p>Mentioned in this episode:</p>Long Island Morning Edition is part of Your Election 2024, a special collection of programs, series, and resources from The WNET Group to illuminate election issues on-air, online, and on YouTube leading into the November 5th elections. Find more at wliw.org/yourelection2024.</p>

00:10:14

NYS task force begins strategizing to resist right-wing policy

<strong>Suffolk County might be Trump country, as the lawn signs say, but these days Nassau isn't too far behind. </strong></p>On Long Island, Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election, according to unofficial results. Candice Ferrette and Vera Chinese report in NEWSDAY that Trump yesterday was on track to flipping Nassau — which went for Democrats Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 — and, if his lead holds, he could be the first Republican presidential candidate to win Nassau County since George H.W. Bush in 1988, according to board of election officials. </p>Trump received 402,924 votes in Suffolk compared to 323,473 for Harris, or 55% to 44%, according to unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections. That's a sharp increase compared to 2020, when Trump won by 232 votes, and 2016, when he won by 46,619. This year Trump won Suffolk by nearly 80,000 votes.</p>In Nassau, he won 52% of the vote, or 355,276 votes, compared to Harris' 47% percent, or 322,131 votes, according to unofficial tallies. Write-in candidates received the last 1% of the total vote in both counties. </p>Of the combined 1.4 million ballots cast on Long Island, 112,596 more voters chose Trump over Harris. Data combining the unofficial results of the presidential race with the most recent publicly available voter enrollment data shows Nassau and Suffolk had large turnout, with 68% and 67%, respectively.</p>There are a significant number of mail-in ballots to be counted by the counties' Board of Elections by Nov. 12. They are valid only if postmarked by Election Day.</p>Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the turnout for Trump “demonstrates how Suffolk County recognizes the philosophies that were laid out in the 2023 county executive race…and...the importance of making Suffolk County, in this case America, safer, more affordable and secure through our borders,” according to Republican Chairman Jesse Garcia. “I believe we’ve been able to demonstrate, with Republican governance, to articulate with results and a record of accomplishments, that the policies of Donald Trump are ones that are pro-New York, pro-Suffolk County, and that he will be a partner in the White House that we need to make New York, and Suffolk specifically, safer, more affordable and secure,” Garcia added.</p>“This was a choice of two paths, the path of our founding fathers: of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or that of failed policies of socialism, progressive policies — [or] Democrat policies that have made us less safe, less secure and less affordable here,” Garcia said.</p>***</p><strong>Stony Brook Southampton Hospital is hosting a New York State Education Department-approved Clinical Medical Assisting Career & Technical Education Program for high school juniors and seniors through a partnership with the Southampton Union Free School District and Eastern Suffolk BOCES. </strong>As reported on 27east.com, the one-year program prepares students for employment as a clinical medical assistant and offers the opportunity to pursue additional graduation pathways and diploma endorsements. A trained CMA supports physicians and nurses, from making appointments to patient intake and tracking patient’s vital signs.</p>“The program creates a local pipeline of labor opportunities for our hospital and offsite practices, and provides high school students with an opportunity to enter into a career in the expanding health care arena,” said Daniel Van Arsdale, director of the Medical Education program at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. East End students interested in enrolling in any Career & Technical Education programs for the 2025-26 school year should speak with their school counselors.</p>***</p><strong>For the first time in its history, the Southampton Union Free School District is poised to incorporate lessons on Shinnecock history, culture and language, for students in kindergarten through grade 12, starting next year.</strong></p>Michelle Trauring reports on 27east.com that the Shinnecock Curriculum Infusion Project, is an initiative seeking to create two units per grade level in each English language arts (ELA) and social studies class, while also infusing the arts. It comes on the heels of a new Shinnecock culture and language course now offered in Southampton High School.</p>The 16-person Shinnecock curriculum writing team, which primarily comprises Shinnecock tribal members, Southampton teachers and administrators, will also contribute to the districtwide project.</p>“We are so inspired by the high school language and history course that we want to make sure that all students K-12 receive Shinnecock curriculum, history, language, from kindergarten on,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Fatima Morrell said. “It’s critically important. It’s local history, right? It’s local history. So we have to know about who we are and where we come from.”</p>Come June, teacher training for ELA and social studies will begin, said Dr. Jaime Bottcher, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, “and we’re hoping to have full implementation by September 2025.”</p>The goal of the Shinnecock Curriculum Infusion Project, Dr. Morrell said, is to promote inclusivity and belonging, foster student and community engagement, empower the Shinnecock voice, and enrich the learning environment by making education more equitable, engaging, and socially responsible for all students.</p>***</p><strong>A New York State task force has been strategizing on how to resist President-elect Donald Trump's right-leaning policies on immigration, guns, labor, abortion, the environment and more, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced yesterday.</strong></p>The effort began even before Election Day.</p>Matthew Chayes and Keshia Clukey report in NEWSDAY that both Hochul and James said they’d try to work with the forthcoming Trump administration. But they also said the task force is coordinating — before Trump's inauguration — with state agencies, the state’s congressional delegation and the outgoing Biden administration to find ways to cushion New York State's policies from Trump's reach.</p>The plan is called the Empire State Freedom Initiative.</p>Hochul, at a news conference in her office in Midtown Manhattan, congratulated Trump on his victory but warned, "if you try to harm New Yorkers or try to roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way."</p>The task force includes representatives from various state agencies including the governor's Office of Federal Affairs, the Office of Counsel and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.</p>James, who campaigned for office opposing Trump and has long battled him in court, said she’s also been working with other Democratic state attorneys general across the country to fend off "any attempt to roll back our rights."</p>"We are prepared to fight back once again," she said. "We’re ready to respond to their attacks. We’re ready to respond to any attempts to cut or eliminate any funding to the great state of New York."</p>***</p>T<strong>he Suffolk County Legislature unanimously passed County Executive Edward P. Romaine’s $4 billion 2025 budget yesterday, including a tax increase for most homeowners. </strong>John Asbury reports in NEWSDAY that legislators approved the budget, which they said was driven by a 21% increase in mandated pension costs, a nearly $9 million loss in red light camera revenue and a $46 million deficit in sales tax.</p>The budget, which falls within the state’s 2% tax cap, will increase taxes on average by about $49 per year for residents living in Suffolk’s five western towns that pay into the county’s police fund. Residents on the East End in communities with their own village and town police departments are expected to see a $5.91 increase in general fund taxes.</p>Legislators praised the bipartisan budget submitted in the first year of Romaine’s term as county executive.</p>"I believe this is a fair and responsible budget," said Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffery (R-Lindenhurst). "This is based on reliable revenue sources, and I think people are concerned about public safety and affordability on Long Island."</p>***</p><strong>One small point of consolation for New York Democrats undone by the results of the presidential election was the passage of the state’s Equal Rights Amendment, with a 62 percent majority despite Republican opposition</strong>. Ginia Bellafante reports in THE NY TIMES that the ballot measure, known as Proposition 1, introduced a prospective amendment to the State Constitution that would expand and strengthen existing anti-bias protections, the goal being to ensure that no one could be denied rights based on who they were or what they might do to or with their bodies.</p>Liz Krueger, a longtime Democratic state senator, started talking about the need for this sort of change four years ago. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the issue took on a new urgency.</p>Although the language in the ballot avoids the word “abortion,” the measure was intended to codify the right to terminate a pregnancy beyond what the relevant statute — New York’s Reproductive Health Act of 2019 — already allowed. This seemed essential to Democrats in the event that changes in the State Legislature might someday produce a conservative leadership that would try to make abortion illegal.</p>The amendment’s passage was boosted by the number of voters who came out in favor of it even in places where Donald Trump won handily. Right here in Suffolk County, the former president won by 10 points, and yet a majority voted to enact the measure.</p>Even in some of the reddest parts of the state, as Governor Kathy Hochul put it, “these are rights that women expect to have.”</p>One opposition group, the Coalition to Protect Kids-NY, organized against the suggested amendment on the notion that its opaque language could result in the subjugation of parents to the agendas of radical trans activists. However, the measure does not allow children to transition without parental involvement, according to the New York City Bar Association. </p>Mentioned in this episode:</p>Long Island Morning Edition is part of Your Election 2024, a special collection of programs, series, and resources from The WNET Group to illuminate election issues on-air, online, and on YouTube leading into the November 5th elections. Find more at wliw.org/yourelection2024.</p>

00:10:00

Suffolk County Election Results

Election Results as posted on NEWSDAY.com:</p>For U.S. President Donald J. Trump won with over 51% of popular vote and 277 in the Electoral College. V.P. Kamala Harris did win the popular vote in New York State.</p><strong><u>U.S. Senate</u></strong></p>1 Seat Open</p>WINNER = <strong>Incumbent Kirsten E. Gillibrand</strong></p><ul><li>DWF</li><li>58.07%</li><li>4,246,344 Votes</li></ul><br /><strong><u>U.S. House - CD1</u></strong></p>1 Seat Open</p>WINNER = <strong>Incumbent Nicholas J. LaLota</strong></p><ul><li>RC</li><li>55.74%</li><li>217,461 Votes</li></ul><br /><strong><u>U.S. House - CD2</u></strong></p>1 Seat Open</p>WINNER =<strong> Incumbent Andrew R. Garbarino</strong></p><ul><li>RC</li><li>60.19%</li><li>197,168 Votes</li></ul><br /><strong><u>New York State Senator - 1st District</u></strong></p>1 Seat Open</p>WINNER = Incumbent Anthony H. Palumbo</p><ul><li>RC</li><li>53.41%</li><li>84,776 Votes</li></ul><br /><strong><u>New York State Assembly - 1st District</u></strong></p>1 Seat Open</p>WINNER = <strong>Thomas Schiavoni</strong></p><ul><li>DWF</li><li>56%</li><li>33,192 Votes</li></ul><br /><strong><u>New York State Assembly - 2nd District</u></strong></p>1 Seat Open</p>WINNER = <strong>Incumbent Jodi A. Giglio</strong></p><ul><li>RC</li><li>65%</li><li>45,085 Votes</li></ul><br />***</p><strong>Suffolk County voters have overwhelmingly approved a new water quality improvement program that will create a new one-eighth-percent sales tax to fund upgrades to municipal sewer systems and the replacement of hundreds of thousands of outdated septic systems.</strong></p>Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that more than 71 percent of those who marked a vote for what was Proposition 2 on Suffolk County ballots supported the measure.</p>The new 0.125-percent tax will go into effect in 2025, with the funds becoming available for use in 2026. Sales tax in Suffolk will now be 8.75 percent.</p>The new tax is expected to generate some $47 million in its first year, and likely climb from there throughout its 50-year life.</p>In the one statewide proposal on the ballot, state residents approved the Equal Rights Amendment, which nominally guaranteed equal treatment under the law to all residents regardless of race, gender or nationality, but was specifically intended to protect the right to an abortion in the State of New York by making it harder for rights already guaranteed in the state constitution to be legislatively dismantled in the future.</p>The measure passed with more than 60 percent of the vote statewide, but only about 53 percent among Suffolk County voters who cast votes on the proposition.</p>***</p><strong>The Commission on Veterans Patriotic Events will host its annual Veterans Day ceremony next Monday, November 11, at 11 a.m. at Agawam Park in Southampton Village.</strong> Prior to the service, there will be a short parade from the First Presbyterian Church, down Jobs Lane, to the park. All veterans are invited to participate and are asked to be at the church parking lot by 10:30 a.m. next Monday. Cars will be available for those who cannot march. The guest speaker will be Tim Hendricks, an author and former U.S. Army tank platoon leader and military intelligence officer. So next Monday morning, the public is invited to Southampton’s Veterans Day ceremony. Then afterward all are welcome for refreshments at Veterans Memorial Hall, across the street from Agawam Park in Southampton, U.S.A.</p>***</p><strong>Incumbent Republican Nick LaLota defeated Democratic challenger John Avlon in the hotly contested First Congressional District race yesterday.</strong></p>Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that LaLota took the stage at Suffolk Republicans’ election night headquarters at the Stereo Garden in Patchogue shortly before 11 last night to declare victory.</p>“I’m so thankful for every one of you,” LaLota told a cheering crowd. “You trusted me, you placed your trust in me… I’m fired up to go back to Washington and take another oath to fight for you,” he said.</p>LaLota, 46, of Amityville, won election to his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives with nearly 56% of the votes cast in the eastern Suffolk congressional district, besting Avlon by 44,761 votes, according to unofficial returns reported by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.</p>***</p><strong>Believe the signs you’ve seen everywhere this fall saying “Suffolk is Trump Country.” Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the former president, who officially became the president-elect this morning received 55.01 percent of the vote in Suffolk, while Kamala Harris received 44.16 percent. </strong>Ms. Harris took 55.4 percent of the vote statewide in New York. The Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act was the biggest local winner of Election Day 2024, passing with 71 percent of the vote, while Republican incumbents are projected to be victorious in most east end races. Unofficial tallies show Congressman Nick LaLota retained his seat, as did State Senator Anthony Palumbo and State Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio, while Democrat Tommy John Schiavoni has won the NYS Assembly seat held for the past three decades by Fred W. Thiele, Jr. Meanwhile, Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that East Hampton Town’s voters have apparently approved a ballot referendum authorizing the removal of the triangular patch of land between the southern terminus of Three Mile Harbor Road and Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton from the town’s nature preserve holdings and its conveyance to Suffolk County. Approval of the parkland alienation would clear the way for the county to potentially incorporate a roundabout at the awkward intersection, which also includes North Main Street and Indian Hill Road, into upgrades to County Road 40, as Three Mile Harbor Road and the portion of North Main Street north of Collins Avenue are officially known. That work is scheduled for the spring of 2027. Construction of a roundabout would require use of at least a portion of the parkland. As of 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the Suffolk County Board of Elections’ unofficial count was 7,375 votes in favor of parkland alienation and the land’s conveyance to the county against 5,600 against.</p>Mentioned in this episode:</p>Long Island Morning Edition is part of Your Election 2024, a special collection of programs, series, and resources from The WNET Group to illuminate election issues on-air, online, and on YouTube leading into the November 5th elections. Find more at wliw.org/yourelection2024.</p>

00:07:21

NYS school officials are due to lay out big shift for graduation requirements

<strong>A state plan to regionalize some aspects of public education has ignited a firestorm of opposition among many Long Island educators, who say it's an attempt to strip away local control and diminish the authority of elected school boards</strong>. Craig Schneider reports in NEWSDAY that NYS Department of Education officials say that's not the intent of the regionalization plan, but rather to foster conversations across the state to enhance access for all students to educational opportunities. Local districts can bow out of any initiative that comes up during the process, they said.</p>The state Board of Regents approved the first part of the plan at its September meeting. Under it, school districts would complete a 46-page assessment of their strengths and needs by Dec. 6, as well as participate in subsequent meetings with other districts to discuss potential ways to help each other. </p>The regionalization meetings will be overseen by the superintendents of the local BOCES, who will submit a progress report to the state by April 1. The implementation of approved plans would occur no later than the start of the 2026-27 school year. Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau Suffolk School Boards Association, said he is hearing from districts in favor of the plan, as well as those opposed, and that many districts are waiting to receive more information.</p>Roger Tilles, Long Island's representative on the state Board of Regents, said he will make a recommendation at the board's meeting today to change some of its regulatory language to clarify the plan's intent.</p>Tilles said the plan only mandates that districts participate in the needs assessment and subsequent meetings.</p>"After that, they can opt in or out at any point," he said. "We're not trying to impose anything. ... In no way are we mandating any action on the part of a board that is not in each district's best interest. There's an ability to opt out of any recommendation."</p>But some local education officials have challenged that assertion.</p>***</p><strong>State school officials today are due to lay out their timetable for what could be the biggest shift in high school graduation requirements in more than a century. </strong>Currently, the State of New York requires that a great majority of students pass at least four exams — in English, math, history and the sciences — in order to graduate. That requirement would be dropped under the new plan. John Hildebrand reports in NEWSDAY that on Long Island, the question of timing came up at an Oct. 25 conference of a regional social studies council. Some teachers and administrators wanted to know when effects of change might be felt in their own classrooms. Many also expressed worry that instruction in history and government would get short shrift if the state drops exam requirements in those subjects. </p>Although state school officials say it will likely take years to implement, the proposed revamp has won widespread support, including endorsement by New York State United Teachers, a statewide union umbrella group with more than 600,000 members. Still, many individual educators and others remain skeptical that the state can accurately measure student knowledge and achievement in a uniform way, when responsibility for interpreting measurement standards is left largely to hundreds of individual school districts.</p>***</p><strong>Election Day 2024 is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 5th.</strong></p><strong>Early voting in New York State concluded yesterday.</strong></p>No voting today.</p>Tomorrow, the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can only vote at your designated polling place. You can find your regular polling place at voterlookup.elections.ny.gov</p>Election officials are warning Long Islanders to be patient at the polls as intense interest in this year's election can result in heavy wait times.</p>New York does not require voters to present identification at the polls.</p>Voters in Suffolk can visit their Board of Elections office at 700 Yaphank Ave. in Yaphank or call 631-852-4500.</p>As reported in NEWSDAY, callers have reported difficulty in reaching a live person at the Suffolk BOE. Election officials said they are increasing their capacity to take calls. Those who cannot get through are encouraged to email boeinfo@suffolkcountyny.gov with questions.</p>***</p><strong>Expect to wait a few days before Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump is declared the winner — unless the dozens of polls showing the presidential race close or tied in the seven swing states turn out to be badly wrong</strong>. Tom Brune reports in NEWSDAY that New Yorkers also might have to wait to learn who won in the state’s seven competitive races for U.S. House seats, including the challenges on Long Island to incumbent Reps. Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park), Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) and Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove).</p>Most of the seven swing states that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential race have laws, procedures or traditions that will prolong the process of counting the votes in Tuesday's election.</p>On election night, The Associated Press and major news networks will call the race for many congressional seats and possibly the presidency based on the unofficial vote tallies that show a strong lead for one of the candidates.</p>But the presidential election winner will not be official until each of the 50 states certify their electors’ votes on Dec. 11, those state electors meet on Dec. 17 to cast their votes, and Congress on Jan. 6 meets to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College.</p>In New York, if one of the congressional races becomes too close to call, the final outcome could be delayed as long as two or three weeks after Election Day.</p>***</p><strong>Most of the seven swing states that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential race have laws, procedures or traditions that will prolong the process of counting the votes in tomorrow's election. </strong>The presidential winner will not be official until each of the 50 states certify their electors’ votes on Dec. 11, those state electors meet on Dec. 17 and Congress on Jan. 6 meets to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College. Tom Brune reports in NEWSDAY that in New York State, if one of the congressional races becomes too close to call, the final outcome could be delayed as long as two or three weeks after Election Day.</p>The first unofficial — and incomplete — election results that include in-person early voting and the mail ballots will come out after the polls close tomorrow at 9 p.m., according to the NYS Board of Elections.</p>But the final vote must wait until the county boards of elections count mail and absentee ballots that can arrive until Nov. 12, and military and overseas ballots that can arrive until Nov. 18 — as long they are postmarked by Nov. 5.</p>The election results must be certified by the county boards by Nov. 30 and the state board by Dec. 9.</p>***</p>Election Day 2024 is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 5th.</p>Early voting in New York State concluded yesterday.</p>No voting today.</p>Tomorrow, the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can only vote at your designated polling place. You can find your regular polling place at voterlookup.elections.ny.gov</p>Voters in Suffolk can also visit their Board of Elections office at 700 Yaphank Ave. in Yaphank or call 631-852-4500.</p>Election officials are warning Long Islanders to be patient at the polls as intense interest in this year's election could result in heavy wait times.</p>New York State does not require voters to present identification at the polls.</p>As reported in NEWSDAY, callers have reported difficulty in reaching a live person at the Suffolk BOE. Election officials said they are increasing their capacity to take calls. Those who cannot get through are encouraged to email boeinfo@suffolkcountyny.gov with questions.</p>***</p><strong>Since 2018, Democrats have held supermajorities in both houses of the NYS Legislature, as well as the governor’s mansion.</strong> Grace Ashford reports in THE NY TIMES that in the six years since Democrats seized such power, they have enacted a sweeping progressive agenda, from changes to criminal justice and housing laws to the passage of an amendment that would enshrine abortion in the State Constitution if it’s also approved by voters tomorrow.</p>But backlash against some of those initiatives — from bail laws to congestion pricing — have created an opening for Republicans eager to reclaim control.</p>Here on eastern Long Island, the NYS Senate race has been overshadowed by the 1st Congressional District battle. Senator Anthony H. Palumbo of New Suffolk is appealing to his core Republican backers to send him back to Albany “to bring balance and common-sense solutions,” like lower taxes and more latitude for law enforcement.</p>But Democrats sense opportunity in Senator Palumbo’s NY Senate District 1, which overlaps with the race between the freshman Republican U.S. Congressman Nick LaLota of Amityville and John Avlon, a former CNN commentator and author who has a home in Sag Harbor. Filings show that the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee has poured more than $700,000 into bolstering its candidate - Sarah Anker of Mt. Sinai, a former Suffolk County legislator.</p>Mentioned in this episode:</p>Long Island Morning Edition is part of Your Election 2024, a special collection of programs, series, and resources from The WNET Group to illuminate election issues on-air, online, and on YouTube leading into the November 5th elections. Find more at wliw.org/yourelection2024.</p>

00:10:09