News

Susan Berland to run for Suffolk County Legislature

Feb
5
2017

Democratic Huntington Town board member Susan Berland will run this fall for the 16th district seat now held by term-limited Legis. Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills).

Democrats Tom Donnelly, a Babylon Town Board member, and legislative aide Josh Slaughter also are seeking to replace two other term-limited lawmakers, Louis D’Amaro (D-Deer Park) and Kate Browning (WF-Shirley.

Berland, who has $24,966 in her coffers, will not have to give up her seat to make the run because she has another year on her term. If she wins, the town board could appoint a successor or wait for the November election.

Toni Tepe, Huntington GOP chair, said she will begin screening candidates Feb. 16. “Susan will do nicely as a candidate in the...| read more ››

Listen up, Lee

Feb
2
2017

As the Rotary Club of Shirley and the Mastics honored Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) as Man of the Year Saturday night, a protest was brewing.

Nearly 150 local residents gathered outside of Sunset Harbour in East Patchogue to make their voices heard, holding signs promoting peace, truth and humanity. Their main cause of coming out was to call for Zeldin to address their concerns in the form of a public town hall meeting.

The Listen Up event was coordinated by a Stony Brook organization, Project Free Knowledge, with help from Patchogue Indivisible, a grassroots community organization formed to keep Zeldin aware that he has many constituents who reject President Donald Trump’s agenda. According to their Facebook page,...| read more ››

Letter to the Editor: Immigration order opposes American values

Feb
2
2017

Jonathan “Jack” Harrington is a former adjunct professor at SBU’s MBA program and is currently an attorney. He is also a fellow at the Truman National Security Project and the former editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal of International Law.

On Friday, Jan. 27, President Trump signed an executive order barring Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocking entry into the United States for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This ill-conceived and rashly executed directive stands in stark opposition to the values of pluralism, equality and opportunity etched in the American experience. The devastating consequences reverberated immediately within the United States and around the globe.

Within hours, protests erupted at airports nationwide — JFK, Dulles, LAX and O’Hare...| read more ››

Democrats will fight Trump’s ‘unconstitutional’ refugee ban, Chuck Schumer says

Jan
29
2017

Democrats will fight President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional” refugee ban, pledged a teary-eyed Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday.

Surround by refugees from Iraq and Syria, the Senate minority leader said he and his colleagues would draft legislation to overturn the president’s executive order, signed on Friday. He demanded the president reverse course.

“I, as your senator from New York, will claw, scrap and fight with every fiber of my being until these orders are overturned,” said Schumer, who almost broke down as he quoted the poet Emma Lazarus: “ Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Trump’s executive order suspended the entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days while barring Syrian...| read more ››

Islip awards contract to refill parts of Roberto Clemente Park

Jan
26
2017

The Islip Town Board has awarded a contract to a Bay Shore firm to complete backfill work at Roberto Clemente Park, marking a “milestone” in efforts to reopen the Brentwood facility shuttered in 2014 due to illegal dumping.

Nine companies submitted bids that were opened on Dec. 22 for the work, ranging from Watral Brothers Inc., at $523,244, to Giaquinto Masonry Inc., at nearly $1.2 million, according to documents provided by the town.

At the Islip Town Board meeting on Tuesday, town council members unanimously voted to approve a resolution awarding the contract to Bay Shore-based Watral Brothers. The company will provide about 20,000 to 30,000 tons of “clean, certified fill,” which will be required to have state Department of...| read more ››

Officials push Suffolk park survey for illegal dumping

Jan
24
2017

Suffolk authorities are pushing to survey county parkland in search of illegal dumping while they establish a network of residents to watch for suspicious activity in their parks.

The announcement came in Hauppauge Tuesday after the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Brookhaven Town confirmed Monday an investigation into who dumped vinyl siding, crushed concrete, pulverized glass, a monster truck tire, household furniture and other items in several spots at Tanglewood Park in Coram, which is owned by Brookhaven Town.

The site was discovered after a resident called Legis. Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), prompting her to go to the park late last year and notify the town, state and Suffolk County district attorney about the debris she found. The DA investigated...| read more ››

Hundreds flock to Port Jeff Station for Women’s March

Jan
23
2017

While millions across the globe took part in the Women’s March on Washington and other sister marches Jan. 21, hundreds met on the corner of Route 347 and Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station to make their voices heard.

“The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized and threatened many of us — immigrants of all statuses, Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual assault — and our communities are hurting and scared,” a website established to organize the marches states in its mission.

Community members who attended the event from across the North Shore reiterated many of those concerns during...| read more ››

Proud North Fork residents join Women’s March on Washington

Jan
22
2017

About 100 North Fork residents boarded a pair of buses out of Southold before sunrise Saturday to attend the Women’s March on Washington.

The group, made up mostly of women, departed at 4:30 a.m. to join an estimated 500,000 protestors in the nation’s capital on the morning after Donald Trump’s inauguration as president. The buses returned to Southold shortly before midnight.

“It was an absolutely amazing experience,” said Debbie O’Kane of Orient, co-president of the Southold Town Democratic Club, which organized the bus trip. “There were wonderful signs. Lots of different issues people were bringing to the forefront. I was very proud.”

Among the issues raised by the group of Southold and Riverhead town residents on the bus trip...| read more ››

Open Mike: The real legacy of Barack Obama

Jan
20
2017

This piece is not an evaluation of the president’s legislative accomplishments or failures. or even his politics — but rather a reflection of the very personal impact the 44th president had on one 15-year-old boy from Port Jefferson.

It was 2008 and I was just coming of age. Then I saw him on television, delivering his iconic “Yes We Can” speech. In that moment Barack Obama instilled in me a genuine sense of hope, a firm belief that in the course of human history it is possible to make a lasting difference. His words transformed my perception of our Constitution. No longer was it a thing of antiquity, but rather something tangible, something alive, and worthy of any sacrifice to...| read more ››

Gov. Cuomo announces series of voting reform proposals

Jan
8
2017

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is once again urging state lawmakers to allow early voting access in New York as part of a series of voting reform measures his office unveiled on Sunday.

Cuomo, who last year proposed early voting and automatic voter registration at state licensing offices, is also calling for same-day voter registration, saying in a news release the measures would “remove unnecessary barriers that prevent participation in elections and increase accuracy within the voting process.”

“Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. This past election shined a bright light on the deficiencies of New York’s antiquated election laws and the artificial barriers they create that prevent and discourage voters from exercising this sacred right,” Cuomo said. “These proposals...| read more ››