Millions of Americans, including Long Islanders, are contending with higher health premiums taking effect in the new year as prices rise across coverage types. Brianne Ledda reports in NEWSDAY that the surge adds another pressure point to increasingly strained household budgets. Some policy holders might even drop coverage altogether, especially younger people with fewer pressing health needs, experts said.

Higher premiums "will result in cutbacks in overall spending,” especially among middle- and low-income families relying on tax credits to cover plans through the Affordable Care Act, said Martin Melkonian, an economist at Hofstra University in Hempstead. “I think there are many folks living on the edge at this moment," Melkonian said. Without action from the federal government, enhanced premium tax credits under the ACA are set to expire at the end of 2025, further increasing out-of-pocket costs for many consumers…with some paying hundreds more per month.

Most Long Islanders have some form of health insurance — 95.3% in Suffolk County, according to census data. The 28,000 Long Islanders who use federal tax credits to help cover costs for ACA plans stand to take the largest hit, with an average 32% price increase in 2026, in addition to the loss of income-based enhanced tax subsidies.

Premiums are also rising for other plans, including Medicare and employer-sponsored insurance, fueled by hospital consolidation, an aging population and increased expenses for medical services, among other things.

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Long Island's first snowstorm of the season dumped at least 8 inches of snow in several towns across Nassau and Suffolk, spurred lengthy flight delays at area airports and warnings to stay home and off the roads. But by late Sunday afternoon, the bulk of the storm had moved east, with just a few isolated snow showers lingering and a sunny, cold start to our Monday forecast.

Most schools across the east end have announced a two hour delayed start to classes this morning.

As reported in NEWSDAY, a hazardous weather outlook posted late yesterday warned motorists to use caution and be on the lookout through this morning for black ice when driving and walking.

The snow began across Long Island at about 10 p.m. Saturday and was the result of a quick-moving low-pressure system crossing the region from west to east, forecasters said.

In Suffolk County, Commack reported 8.5 inches by Sunday afternoon, with Dix Hills next at 8.3 inches and reports of 8.2 inches in Center Moriches and East Northport. The highest East End total reported was 8 inches in Remsenburg-Speonk, followed by 5.8 inches in Sag Harbor, 5.1 inches in East Quogue, 4.8 inches in Riverhead and Jamesport, 4 inches in Orient and 3.3 inches in Mattituck.

Roads across Long Island were wet and slippery, and authorities warned that travel could be hazardous.

Snow and freezing fog was reported at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale and Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip.

Meanwhile, the Long Island Rail Road reported most its service was on or close to schedule Sunday. The Nassau and Suffolk police departments had no reports of weather-related crashes on roadways by Sunday afternoon.

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Peconic Bay Medical Center’s radiologic technology school has again turned out a class of graduates with a perfect record on their board exams – and on landing jobs. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that all 27 members of the Class of 2025 passed the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists certification exam in radiography, and all have already secured full-time, part-time or per-diem jobs, most of them within the Northwell Health system, according to PBMC and Northwell’s Center for Learning and Innovation.

The program, based at the Riverhead hospital and sponsored by Peconic Bay Medical Center, is Suffolk County’s only JRCERT-accredited, hospital-based radiologic technology program. It has maintained a 100-percent pass rate on the national certification exam since 2017 and a 100-percent job placement rate for six consecutive years, even through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The continued success of our graduates is a testament to the excellence and dedication of our faculty, clinical partners and the entire PBMC community,” hospital president Amy Loeb said in a prepared statement. “These results demonstrate how PBMC is helping shape the next generation of healthcare professionals who will deliver exceptional care throughout Eastern Suffolk County and beyond.”

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English language arts and math scores for Long Island students in grades three to eight rose in the 2024-25 school year — and those improvements were evident even in more academically challenged districts. Lorena Mongelli and Michael R. Ebert report in NEWSDAY that the most significant increase was in English language arts, or ELA, with 55.5% of students meeting or exceeding proficiency standards, a 7.4 percentage point jump from the prior year. In math, 60.1% of students earned proficiency or better compared with 57.7% for the 2023-24 year.

The region overall continued to outperform the state, which also had better outcomes this year. Results in New York varied by county. On Long Island, for example — Nassau reported 64.2% of students exceeded or met proficiency standards in English, while Suffolk reported 46.3%. About 70% of Nassau students scored proficient or above in math; less than half — 49.3% — of Suffolk students did.

The reasons for the improvements varied among districts, with some crediting their reading and math curricula and the use of data to identify how students could be best supported during small group-based teaching.

Others noted the implementation of the “Science of Reading” program that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in early 2024 to boost literacy due to concerns, she said, that children were not meeting "basic reading proficiency levels."

For kindergarten through grade three, this plan includes linking letters to sounds, reading out loud and writing lessons. Some districts also credited a return to phonics instruction as a factor in elevating ELA scores.

Jaclyn O’Hagan, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and accountability for the South Country Central School District of East Patchogue, told NEWSDAY that the district launched a phonics program this school year. She noted that more still needs to be done, however.

"While phonics instruction contributed to the increase in ELA scores, we recognize the need for a more comprehensive approach," O'Hagan said.

***

More than half — 55.5% — of Long Island students in grades three to eight met or exceeded proficiency standards on the 2024-25 English language arts test, a 7.4 percentage point jump from the prior year. In math, 60.1% of students earned proficiency or better compared with 57.7% the year before…although the improvements in Nassau significantly exceeded those in Suffolk County. Lorena Mongelli and Michael R. Ebert report in NEWSDAY that Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said the region is seeing improvements after learning loss experienced during the pandemic, when schools were closed and instruction was remote.

He singled out increased instruction in ELA as one measure that has helped bring up scores.

“I do know the intervention strategies and the engagement strategies that both the school districts have taken on and what the new state Education Department put out for curriculum supports, professional development, for teachers over the last couple of years is starting to see some results in a very positive manner," Vecchio said.

Many of the districts that reported lower proficiency rates tended to be socioeconomically challenged.

Vecchio said these schools serve more diverse populations with more complex needs, including lower-income students, English language learners and special education students, and their populations face higher rates of transiency and homelessness.

“Unfortunately, we often see that districts that have a high proportion of students from multiple backgrounds have lower scores. But it doesn't have to be that way," said Jeff Smink, deputy director at The Education Trust-New York, an education policy and advocacy group based in Manhattan. "The research is clear that most students can do well when they get the right support. … I think in Long Island, it's really doubling down and figuring out how to support multi-language learners, Latinx students."

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The final building demolition in Riverhead’s town square project got underway Friday to the soundtrack of the Andy Williams Christmas classic, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that a Caterpillar demolition excavator began shredding the rear facade of the two-story brick building at 127 East Main Street at 12:39 p.m., drawing cheers and applause from the crowd of assembled officials and stakeholders.

The building will be fully razed within a couple of weeks, developer and builder Joe Petrocelli said following Friday’s noon ceremony he attended as an onlooker.

“We have to do some soil testing. The piles will be 70 feet deep,” Petrocelli said, pointing to a giant drill rig parked on the site. “In three or four months we’ll be ready to start construction, which will take about a year,” he said.

“We’re so excited we got the Hilton,” Petrocelli said of the five-story boutique hotel and condominium project planned for the east side of the town square. The Peconic River Hotel will join Hilton’s Tapestry Collection and is expected to open in spring/summer 2027, Petrocelli’s organization said in a press release issued prior to this past Friday’s ceremony.

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Across America including snowy New York, rabbis awoke on Sunday morning and reached for their phones, only to learn of an attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, that left at least 15 people dead. And with the first evening of the holiday still approaching in the United States, they were left to determine how to respond, both spiritually and practically, to violence that several said was shocking — but not particularly surprising. By noon yesterday, many of the rabbis contacted by The New York Times had communicated with congregants, sending messages of sadness and hope, and drawing connections between the attack and Hanukkah, a holiday that celebrates the Jewish people’s resilience in the face of adversity.

Rabbi Rafi Spitzer, 35, of Schenectady, New York was up late on Saturday when he learned the news. “It’s hard to ignore the feeling of being under siege,” Rabbi Spizter said. His Conservative synagogue, Congregation Agudat Achim, is already in touch with local law enforcement officials and the F.B.I. about its scheduled holiday events. “We already had a security plan that was more extensive than anything we’d done before,” he said, “because it already was the case that that felt necessary.”

Jonah E. Bromwich reports in THE NY TIMES that N.Y.P.D. commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said at a news conference yesterday that there would be increased security for Hanukkah-related gatherings in the city.

“This is not an isolated incident,” she said of the Australia attack. “It is part of a wider assault on Jewish life. Jewish communities are being forced to confront a threat that is persistent, adaptive and, as evidenced yet again today, global in scope.”