News Roundup

Jun
28
2017

Suffolk County police will crack down on adults who serve alcohol to minors over the summer, when rates of underage drinking spike, officials said Wednesday.

Last year, Suffolk County strengthened its social host law — which holds adults liable for knowingly permitting underage drinking in their homes — to allow greater enforcement, police Commissioner Timothy Sini said at a news conference at police headquarters in Yaphank. The change...read more ››

Jun
26
2017

Suffolk Democrats have picked Dominador Pascual, an attorney from Farmingville, to challenge four-term GOP Legis. Tom Muratore in the Fourth District this fall.

Pascual’s selection came after county Democrats at their party convention last month left nominations for six legislative seats vacant.

The party also named Kevin l. Hyms of Lake Ronkonkoma to run against Legis. Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset).

Pascual, 36, is making...read more ››

Jun
8
2017

During a Three Village Civic Association meeting June 5, Brookhaven Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) provided a look into the future of Port Jefferson Station.

In 2014 the Brookhaven town board approved a study for a potential hub project for Port Jefferson Station, specifically in the area of Route 112 north of Route 347 and south of the Long Island Rail Road train tracks near Hallock Avenue. The goal of the...read more ››

Jun
6
2017

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday they would target Republican members of Congress from New York in an effort to help Democrats retake the U.S. House in 2018.

“New York will be on the front lines of our fight to restore sanity to Washington,” Pelosi said at a rally before hundreds of union members at the Javits Center in Manhattan, where she and Cuomo unveiled the New York Fights Back...read more ››

Jun
1
2017

Suffolk Democrats Thursday named county police Commissioner Tim Sini to run for Suffolk District Attorney, as party chairman Richard Schaffer called him the candidate with “the best chance” to secure minor party cross-endorsements in the race.

Democrats also named retired New York City police officer Dan Caroleo, of North Babylon, as their candidate for county sheriff. However, Schaffer held open the possibility that the party down the...read more ››

May
26
2017

Brookhaven Democrats have nominated Jack Harrington, a Stony Brook lawyer and Navy reservist with no political experience, to run against Republican town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine this fall.

Harrington, 34, making his first run for public office, heads a slate of town candidates named Wednesday at a party nominating convention at the Selden firehouse.

In an interview, Harrington said he would focus on job creation, affordable...read more ››

May
24
2017

Federal authorities should create a national database of MS-13 members and boost funding for more prosecutors, police enforcement, and community outreach to combat the rise on Long Island of the vicious street gang, Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini told a congressional panel Wednesday.

Sini, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said MS-13 was responsible for 27 killings in Suffolk...read more ››

Apr
27
2017

Since being sworn in for a second term in January, Congressman Lee Zeldin has faced mounting pressure to hold a town hall meeting for constituents in New York’s First District. Winter temperatures did not stop protesters, sometimes a dozen or so and sometimes nearing 200, from calling on their congressman to hold a town hall.

These rallies, organized by the creators of the Let’s Visit Lee Zeldin Facebook page, were meant to bring...read more ››

Apr
10
2017

New York will be the only state in the country to cover four-year college tuition for residents after the program was included in the budget package approved Sunday night.

The state's Excelsior Scholarship program will be rolled out in tiers over the next three years, starting with full coverage of four-year college tuition this fall for students whose families make less than $100,000.

The income cap will increase to $110,000 in...read more ››

Mar
30
2017

Huntington Town Supervisor Frank Petrone will not seek a seventh term in November, he said Thursday.

Petrone, 72, a Democrat who lives in Melville, said in an interview with Newsday that it’s time to move on after taking the town from near bankruptcy when he took over as supervisor in 1994 to its current AAA credit rating from major financial ratings agencies.

“It’s time for me to step aside, time for someone else to come in and...read more ››