The U.S. Department of the Interior has issued a long-awaited finding that the 79 acres of land in Hampton Bays owned by the Shinnecock Tribe…known as Westwoods…should be considered “aboriginal territory” that the Shinnecock Nation has occupied “since time immemorial” — phrasing with specific importance to the ability of the tribe to develop the property free from local government oversight. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the letter issued yesterday by Bryan Newland, the assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior for Indian affairs, comes in the wake of the lawsuit filed late last month by Southampton Town challenging the Shinnecock’s right to develop the property based on claims that the Westwoods land was not legally sovereign territory. The foundation of the town’s claims are 17th century documents that seem to indicate Native American leaders — one of them not even Shinnecock — had sold or traded away the lands surrounding and including Westwoods to European settlers. Shinnecock Nation leaders have, for decades, dismissed that premise as either an ill-informed or duplicitous misreading of the deeds themselves and legal standards they would have to be held to to be valid. In his January 2 letter, Newland says that he instructed the Bureau of Indian Affairs on December 23 to record the Westwoods property in the BIA’s Trust Asset and Accounting Management System as a parcel of “restricted fee” land. Newland said that the federal assessment came after three years of research into the legal history of the Westwoods land and dealings with the Shinnecock people dating back to the late 1600s. “The Department examined the land title status of the Westwoods parcel and determined…that Westwoods is within the purview of the Non-Intercourse Act and is therefore restricted against alienation absent consent of the United States,” the letter says, referring to the federal statutes that first created “Indian reservations” for displaced Native Americans and prohibited any indigenous nation’s lands to be taken, traded or purchased without consent of the U.S. Congress.

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The Riverhead Board of Education has extended by one month the deadline for applications for the superintendent of schools.

The original Dec.13 deadline was extended to Jan. 17.

Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the school board launched the search in November, with the goal of hiring a new permanent superintendent no later than March and the expectation that a permanent hired would be in place on or before July 1, 2025.

The Riverhead Central School District has had an interim superintendent since October 2023, when the school board hired retired Three Village Central School District Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich for the role, after the Riverhead Superintendent Augustine Tornatore resigned.

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New York's transportation department will use federal funds to study how best to cut down on the thousands of collisions that take place between vehicles and wildlife on the state's roads each year. Nicholas Grasso and John Valenti report in NEWSDAY that the New York State Department of Transportation estimates there are between 60,000 and 70,000 collisions involving vehicles hitting wildlife annually in New York — most of them involving vehicles striking deer and moose, especially in the fall. The issue is an important one for Long Island, in particular for Suffolk County, where the number of animal strikes has risen in recent years.

The Federal Highway Administration said a grant from the Biden administration will allow the NYSDOT to conduct a two-phase study researching measures to limit the interactions that are sometimes deadly for both driver and wildlife.

The $323,850 grant was announced by the FHA earlier in December and goes to 16 states, including New York, as part of the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. The bipartisan infrastructure law, signed by President Joe Biden in 2021, offers competitive grants aimed at doing research, planning and construction to improve roadway safety for drivers while protecting animals trying to connect with their habitat. The DOT study will look at signage, vegetation removal options, speed and traffic restrictions and other measures that could help cut down on animal strikes at "hot spots" in the state during the riskiest vehicle collision seasons. It will look at how barriers, crossings and a host of other mitigation and detection systems — including in-vehicle warning systems — might ultimately make roadways safer for drivers and for animals.

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Members of the public will be banned from bringing posters, placards, banners or other signs into Suffolk County Legislature meetings under a rule change that took effect yesterday. Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that the prohibition, added under the "decorum" section of the legislature’s 2025 rules, aims to curb what legislators say has become an obstructive habit of audience members. The change applies to both the Hauppauge and Riverhead auditoriums.

Sign wielding demonstrators typically position themselves behind the podium to be visible on camera as other people speak.

Suffolk sheriff's deputies who already screen attendees entering the meetings will inform anyone trying to bring a sign in that they’re not allowed according to Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst),

"Check your signs at the door," he said.

It's unclear what other actions the legislature would take if someone was found to have sneaked in a sign inside the chambers.