Young people under 25 are at increased risk of developing gambling problems compared with older adults, whose brains are fully mature. Mental health professionals and industry experts say this factor, combined with the 24/7 accessibility of mobile sports wagering apps, has made gambling addiction among Long Island's younger generations including teenagers a harmful and growing trend.

In response, at least one school district on Long Island has started educating graduating seniors about the dangers of gambling. Area universities are also taking proactive steps to provide outreach to students and some local education advocates are pushing gaming platforms to strengthen their safety checks, particularly for minors.

Lorena Mongelli reports in NEWSDAY that on the state level, Gov. Kathy Hochul recently unveiled a proposal to expand age verification requirements for gaming platforms and to strengthen privacy settings. The legal age to bet online is 18 for fantasy sports and 21 for sports wagering. Online casinos are not legal in New York.

While many gamblers are over 18, experts say they are also seeing underage players developing problematic betting habits.

In 2018, federal restrictions on sports betting were lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court. New York State in 2022 legalized online betting, which includes mobile sportsbooks and fantasy sports. Since then, online wagering has surged in popularity. Online bettors in New York wagered a record-breaking $26 billion in 2025, more than any other state.

But the increased appeal has come at a cost.

Local mental health professionals said their treatment offices are seeing more Gen Z patients struggling with gambling. Gambling recovery organizations on Long Island said they are also fielding more calls from people seeking help.

A spokesman for Gamblers Anonymous Long Island said the increase began around the time online betting was legalized. Last month, the local branch received double the number of calls compared with November, with people as young as 18 seeking help.

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A federal judge yesterday granted Empire Wind a preliminary injunction to allow the project off Long Island's South Shore to restart construction following a stop-work order by the Trump administration last month over unspecified national security concerns.

Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols granted the order Thursday morning, calling for an expedited summary judgment briefing schedule for the ongoing case by Jan. 20, according to court filings. The order from the Washington, D.C.-based federal court means the project, which is more than 60% complete, can go forward and avoid critical work deadlines that could have canceled it, developer Equinor of Norway said.

"Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period," the company said in a statement yesterday. "In addition, the project will continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations."

White House spokesman Taylor Rogers responded, “President [Donald] Trump has been clear: wind energy is the scam of the century," with Americans "forced to pay billions more for the least reliable source of energy." He said the administration "looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

Equinor has already spent $4 billion on the 810-megawatt project, which is 14 miles off the coast of Jones Beach and will bring all its energy to the New York City power grid late this year and next. The company plans to spend another $2 billion to complete the project this year.

Earlier this week, a Washington, D.C., district judge granted a similar injunction for a second offshore wind array impacted by the order, Revolution Wind off New England. Orders remain in place for three others, including Sunrise Wind in Shirley, which is scheduled to bring its 924 megawatts of power to the Long Island grid by 2028. Sunrise has filed for an injunction to restart work.

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Southold Before the Revolutionary War at Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library is this coming Sunday January 18 from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm.

Join Amy Folk for a look at the local and national levels of how we went to war. Starting in 1765 and ending in August 1776, what happened that drove us to what some historians call the first civil war of our nation? Sponsored by the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council & Museums.

That’s this Sunday at 2 pm in the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library. And while there get your Suffolk County 250th passbook stamped by The Cutchogue New Suffolk Historical Society & Museums.

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A growing number of parents are refusing vitamin K shots for their newborn babies, federal data shows, which Long Island doctors said is leaving more infants vulnerable to a rare but life-threatening bleeding disorder.

An analysis of 5 million newborns revealed that the number of babies who did not receive the shot increased 77% from about 2.9% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2024, according to a National Institutes of Health study released last month. Lisa L. Colangelo reports in NEWSDAY that doctors on Long Island said they are seeing the ramifications in their hospitals, sometimes with serious consequences.

Over the last two years, Stony Brook Children's Hospital has had to hospitalize at least five children who had not received the vitamin K dose, said Dr. Candice Foy, a pediatrician and medical director of the newborn nursery at the hospital. "This year, there were more refusers than I had ever seen," she said. "We are seeing the repercussions."

Dr. Heather Levin, an obstetrician/gynecologist who specializes in maternal fetal medicine at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, said she has also seen "the rates of refusal" increase over the last few years. She said parents are getting information from social media and questioning standard practices.

"We want to have those conversations with them and for people to make informed choices, but there is also a lot of misinformation out there," Levin said.

Though giving a shot of vitamin K — which is not a vaccine — has been a routine procedure at birth for decades, both doctors and vaccine skeptics attributed the drop to growing distrust with established medical practices and health policies.

Experts said newborns need a dose of vitamin K after they are born to help their blood clot and prevent a rare but potentially life-threatening bleeding disorder.

Medical associations and prominent physician groups have been alarmed by guidance coming out of the federal government and Trump administration regarding vaccine use, despite decades of evidence about their safety and efficacy.

Babies are born deficient of vitamin K, which helps blood clot. This means a small bruise or cut can lead to abnormal bleeding, according to the NIH. Doctors are most concerned about a rare but deadly condition known as vitamin K deficiency bleeding, or VKDB.

"They use up whatever clotting factors they were born with pretty quickly to heal after birth," Dr. Foy said. "Then they need something else."

Infants who develop VKDB can experience the bleeding internally and on the brain, which can lead to permanent damage.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to save drivers a bundle of money on car insurance by switching state laws on personal injury lawsuits – but high-powered attorneys want to ensure that never happens. Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that Governor Hochul said she will push reforms that would put the brakes on soaring auto insurance premiums as New Yorkers pay an average of $4,000 per year — a whopping $1,500 more than the national average.

But her pitch to change the state’s nebulous “serious injury” threshold to weed out minor lawsuits has already riled the NYS Trial Lawyers Association, a high-octane lobby whose members donate big bucks to Democratic legislators.

“Weakening victim protections lets Big Insurance off the hook while working families pay more,” the association said in a statement…The idea that auto insurance companies will suddenly ‘do the right thing’ and lower rates is laughable,” the group added. Governor Hochul said in her annual State of the State address on Tuesday that she’d target high premiums with a crackdown on staged accidents, saying insurance companies are “jacking up prices” due to fraud and “runaway litigation costs.”

Hochul defended her proposal when asked about the trial lawyers’ criticism, and her office even mentioned similar reforms already enacted in Florida had lowered auto insurance rates there.

“Governor Hochul’s top priority is lowering the cost of living and improving the health and safety of all New Yorkers. This is about providing relief to real working families, ensuring that we are helping victims, closing loopholes and rooting out fraud and abuse. It’s time to improve the system because New Yorkers are tired of being taken for a ride,” a Hochul spokesperson said last night.

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Visitors to the Sound Avenue Nature Preserve on Sound Avenue in Baiting Hollow will have an easier time finding their way around the trails, thanks to a new information kiosk installed as an Eagle Scout service project by 17-year-old Anthony Mango of Wading River. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Anthony, a Scout with Troop 94 in Wading River and a Shoreham-Wading River High School senior took on the kiosk project after Riverhead Town officials reached out to his troop to suggest the kiosk project for an aspiring Eagle Scout. The kiosk is built of 6” by 6” posts and a wood frame display with a locking plexiglass door. It is topped by a wood frame, shingled roof. Its two components — the posts with signboard and the roof — together weigh about 500 pounds, Anthony’s father Ken Mango estimated. The project required more than 50 hours of planning, design and construction. The 15-acre preserve, located just east of Dorothy P. Flint 4-H Camp, has about a mile of mulched walking trails and native shrub plantings. Riverhead Town acquired the site in 2006 using Community Preservation Funds and opened it to the public on Oct. 6, 2010. It was the town’s first officially designated nature preserve, according to the Open Space Committee.

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For thousands of people experiencing homelessness on Long Island, the place where they ultimately lay their heads on a given night might be a sidewalk, a shelter bed, a car, or a motel.

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith reports in NEWSDAY that to count and better assist them, the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless is now looking for volunteers to disperse across the region for roughly three to four hours on Jan. 27, asking people a central question: "Where [do] they intend to sleep that night?”

Last year’s count identified 4,540 homeless adults and children on Long Island, up from 4,002 in the 2024 tally, or a 13.4% increase, the organization said. In 2025 and the year before that, children made up the largest share of the count at roughly 1,500, though most of them resided in shelters.

According to a report from the New York State Comptroller’s Office, the homeless population on Long Island went up by 32% from 2022 to 2024.

Paul LaMarr, a policy and community planning manager at the coalition, said volunteering for the count is a means to bring more understanding of people who are experiencing homelessness within a region where securing housing is often arduous.

"Our hope is that…people ... recognize that homelessness is a growing problem on Long Island, want to come participate and that they're able to learn a little bit about people who are experiencing homelessness, and…have meaningful engagement with them,” LaMarr told NEWSDAY.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires that communities across the country conduct a Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, a tally of people who are dealing with homelessness on one day in January, LaMarr said. On Long Island, the coalition is tasked with organizing, planning and conducting the count.

The count is an important part of how federal funding to address homelessness is dispersed on Long Island and across the country, LaMarr said.

Volunteering registration closes today. Sign-up is here.