Suffolk County Democrats
In a major victory for ailing first responders, congressional negotiators included an $8.1 billion measure to renew the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending package that was finalized and released Tuesday night, lawmakers said.
The measure would extend the World Trade Center Health Program for 75 years with $3.5 billion in funding to monitor and care for 73,000 responders and survivors. It also...read more ››
Suffolk officials will install a high-tech wastewater treatment system at Meschutt Beach County Park in Hampton Bays to remove nitrogen from waste before it pollutes nearby Peconic Bay, County Executive Steve Bellone said Thursday.
Bellone said the technology, the first of its kind to be installed at a Suffolk facility, is central to a countywide campaign to reverse decades of decline in water quality attributed to nitrogen from...read more ››
It's grand that cleanup is slated to begin this week at a contaminated dump site in Central Islip.
But the fact that most of the tainted material will be trucked off Long Island -- because hydrocarbons, pesticides and metals found in the material represent a danger to groundwater -- makes the dumping all the more outrageous.
Under an agreement between state environmental officials and the site's owner, as much as 35,000 cubic...read more ››
Southampton Town officials say a new shift schedule will free more officers to combat a crime wave that has alarmed residents of the town's middle- and working-class northwestern neighborhoods.
Town and PBA officials have agreed on a new schedule that will assign most officers to 12-hour day or night shifts beginning in mid-January. Officers will consistently work during the day or night, instead of cycling every four days between day...read more ››
Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski has a new target in the ongoing fight to protect the area’s waters: county parks.
The legislator has sponsored legislation that would require the county to consider installing alternative wastewater treatment methods in parks when the existing septic systems fail or when they require upgrades. Mr. Krupski sees such a policy as a small — but necessary — step toward more widespread reductions in...read more ››
Suffolk Legis. Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) turned an unofficial one vote election night lead into a 17-vote victory Thursday when all the votes were finally counted at the board of elections in Yaphank.
"We can now breathe," said Richard Schaffer, Suffolk Democratic chairman. "In every election the Republicans have always underestimated her and in every election Sarah and the voters prove them wrong."
Anker, who first won a...read more ››
After all the absentee votes had been tallied Friday afternoon, Democratic Town Justice candidate Brian Hughes hadn’t just protected his slim lead over Republican opponent William Goggins — he extended it.
Mr. Hughes secured the election, according to an unofficial tally of the roughly 450 absentee ballots at the Suffolk County Board of Elections Friday, earning a 201-vote lead with a final tally of 3,287 votes to Mr. Goggins’ 3,086....read more ››
Suffolk County Board of Elections officials are expected to convene as soon as next week to open 460 absentee ballots that could determine who wins a contested Brookhaven Town council seat.
The undecided race between Democratic incumbent Connie Kepert and Republican challenger Michael A. Loguercio Jr. could shape up as a near-repeat of the 2013 contest in Brookhaven's 4th Council District, when Kepert beat Loguercio by four votes after...read more ››
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo Thursday killed a 3-year-old proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal 19 miles off Jones Beach amid fears that it could cause an environmental catastrophe or become a terrorist target.
The deepwater docking station known as Port Ambrose was to supply the downstate region with cheaper natural gas brought in from the Caribbean by tankers.
But Cuomo, in formally announcing his veto, said al-Qaida has...read more ››
Suffolk County lawmakers passed a $2.9 billion budget Wednesday that relies on more than $117 million in one-time revenue and an "optimistic" sales tax forecast to balance the spending plan.
Lawmakers said they were forced to make difficult choices: more than $10 million in cuts to bus services, reduced payments to nonprofits and increased fees to register vehicles and file mortgages.
"It's a tough budget," said Presiding Officer...read more ››