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Patrick Halpin announces campaign to challenge Rep. Andrew Garbarino
Consumer prices in the New York area, including Long Island, rose at a faster pace in June than in May, driven in part by higher costs for child care, housing and groceries, such as meat and eggs.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday that its Consumer Price Index for the 25-county region covering parts of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania increased 3.5% in June compared with a year earlier. That year-over-year jump was higher than May’s 3.4% but below April’s 3.9%. The index is a key measure of inflation.
James T. Madore reports in NEWSDAY that grocery prices rose 1.8% in June, led by a 4.7% increase in the meat, poultry, fish and eggs category and a 2.9% rise in cereals and baked goods. Those increases, along with rising child care and housing costs, were partially offset by an 11.3% drop in gasoline prices. Nationwide, consumer prices also rose more quickly in June than in May. The national Consumer Price Index increased 2.7% in June from a year earlier, up from May’s 2.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Restaurant meals were up moderately in the New York area — 3.1% in June year over year — and that could boost Long Island's tourism industry, said John A. Rizzo, an economist and Stony Brook University professor.
Restaurants, beaches, museums and entertainment venues generate more than $7.5 billion in annual consumer spending across Nassau and Suffolk counties, according to the research firm Tourism Economics.
Rizzo said the latest metro-area inflation data don’t yet show any major price pressure from federal tariffs.
“There is little evidence of any inflationary effects of the tariffs yet,” he said. “But that could change in the coming months.”
***
Engineers returned to the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays this week to begin an extensive new assessment of the condition of the bridge’s concrete structure as the county tries to devise a game plan for what could be a years-long, multi-million-dollar repair job.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Suffolk County engineers will be working beneath the bridge, utilizing an under-bridge truck that lowers workers from the roadway above, over the next two weeks. Two-way traffic will be maintained at all times, but while the workers are on site just one lane will be open with flaggers directing alternating traffic. Delays are expected and town officials are asking motorists headed to the beach, Shinnecock Inlet and the restaurants on Dune Road to plan accordingly.
A New York State Department of Transportation inspection in October determined that deterioration of the concrete in portions of the girders that support the bridge’s roadway, 55 feet above the waters of Shinnecock Bay, had progressed to the point of threatening the structural integrity of the bridge.
State DOT engineers have noted gradually worsening cracked and crumbling concrete, exposed steel rebar and failed joint seals in the bridge’s roadway since at least 2020, according to state inspection reports.
The Ponquogue Bridge is a 2,812-foot-long bridge over Shinnecock Bay in Hampton Bays, New York. Maintained by the Department of Public Works for Suffolk County, the 29-span bridge carries two lanes of County Route 32 over the bay, connecting Hampton Bays to the eastern end of Westhampton Island.
Local officials have said Ponquogue Bridge repairs will be exceedingly complicated and the county has offered no timeline yet for when or how the issues will be addressed.
***
A rally organized by a group who calls itself “Indivisible” is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon from 4pm to 5pm in the MACY’S HAMPTON BAYS PARKING LOT.
“We will unite in honor of John Lewis and the democracy he fought for. This rally will have a visibility of 360 degrees at the intersection of Route 24 and Route 27A in Hampton Bays. Hope you can join us in fighting for liberty, freedom, and justice. A core principle behind all “Indivisible” events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.”
The GOOD TROUBLE LIVES ON rally is tomorrow from 4pm to 5pm in the parking lot outside Macy’s in Hampton Bays.
***
The tribal seal of the Shinnecock Nation was removed from Southampton Town Hall’s main meeting room this past Friday, after town officials acquiesced to demands by Shinnecock leadership who are angered at the town’s legal opposition to the construction of a gas station and other development plans in Hampton Bays.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the seal, which has hung in the People’s Room at Town Hall since 2010, next to the seals of the seven incorporated villages in Southampton Town, was returned to the tribe’s offices on Monday, tribal officials said. It was replaced on the wall in Town Hall with the seal of the Southampton Town Trustees. Tribal Chairwoman Lisa Goree, who works in Town Hall as the town’s tax assessor, has been demanding that the town take down the seal since December, when the town filed a lawsuit to halt construction of the gas station, which the Shinnecock were constructing on the tribe’s Westwoods land in Hampton Bays. Last month, Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore had responded in a letter to the tribe saying the town planned to leave the seal in place, because it saw its official and cultural relationship with the tribe as separate from the legal dispute over a single development project. But Shinnecock leaders were adamant that the seal be removed — and on Friday a split Town Board agreed to oblige. “We told them that we’d discussed it with the entire nation, and that everyone agreed, in light of everything that has transpired, we wanted our seal out of that building,” Shinnecock Council of Trustees Vice Chairman Lance Gumbs said on Monday. “The chairwoman walked into the tribal office today and said she’d gotten it back.”
***
Former Suffolk County Executive Patrick Halpin announced yesterday he has launched a campaign to challenge Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) in the 2nd Congressional District next year. Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that Halpin, 72, a Democrat who lives in Oak Beach, will attempt to revive a political career that began in his 20s and ended three decades ago before he segued into the private sector.
"I’m not running to make noise," Halpin said in a statement. "I’m running to get things done. Washington’s broken, but I’ve seen what happens when you put your head down and do the work — when you ignore the noise and focus on people."
The general election is November 2026.
Garbarino, 40, was first elected to Congress in 2022. Last November, Garbarino was reelected to a two-year term by defeating Democrat Rob Lubin with 58% of the vote in the district that stretches across Long Island's South Shore from Massapequa to Mastic Beach.
Halpin criticized Garbarino as "asleep at the wheel — literally" in reference to the congressman missing an early morning vote in May on President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill. Garbarino later voted in favor of the revised version.
"He’s been caught snoozing while voting to gut hospitals, slash food assistance, and hand billionaires more tax breaks — all while Long Island families can’t keep up with rent, childcare, or medical bills," Halpin said in a statement.
Since even THE NY POST is now calling Congressman Garbarino - “Sleepy Drew’’ - the 2026 "2nd Congressional District" race promises to be a nasty one.
***
As neighbors of the site that is slated to become “The Enclaves” resort hotel in Southold have complained about the large piles of sand and lack of work being done there over the past several months, the hotel’s developers received an extension of its site plan approval from the Southold Town Planning Board this past Monday. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that in a June 12 letter to the Planning Board, the developers’ attorney, David Altman, said the project had initially had a commitment of $25 million from Dime Bank, which “withdrew its commitment due to regulatory considerations pertaining to the bank. The Enclaves is actively pursuing other sources of project financing,” he wrote, adding that the developers expect to secure new funding in three to four months.
The project includes a 44-room hotel, four guest cottages, renovation of an existing house for use as a 74-seat restaurant that will be open to the public and another restaurant for hotel guests only, a spa, meeting rooms, lounges and 100-person-capacity event space in nearly 73,000 square feet of new buildings, on a 6.75 acre property on the Main Road in Southold, across from the Southold 7-Eleven.
The Southold board granted an initial six-month extension, with several conditions that would need to be met by January of 2026 before it would receive another automatic six-month extension, for a total of 12 months.
***
Long Island K-12 schools and colleges could face disruptions in federal civil rights protections, financial aid and services for students with disabilities as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision this week allowing the Trump administration to proceed with mass layoffs at the Department of Education, according to some local officials. Maura McDermott reports in NEWSDAY that the high court temporarily lifted an injunction that had prevented the administration from firing more than 1,300 employees, including four from Long Island, according to documents sent to the employees' union by the Department of Education in March.
President Donald Trump said on social media Monday that the court “has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country,” saying the agency’s functions would be transferred to the states.
The current U.S. Department of Education was created by Congress in 1979. The layoffs still face a legal challenge in the lower courts, with opponents charging that the effective dismantling of the agency without Congressional approval violates the Constitution.
Schools continue to face federal mandates, including a requirement to provide equal access to education to students with disabilities, said Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
“Long Island schools will continue to make sure that the educational needs of the children are met,” he said. “Most of the laws and the mandates that schools have to follow and the regulations that the federal government puts out, we're still going to have to follow them.”
The agency’s work appears likely to be shifted to other agencies, Vecchio said. But, he said, “I think any major change like this will cause disruption for a period of time.”
Plus, he said, while the ruling does not translate into any decrease in local school districts’ federal funding, “We are concerned and worried that there will be a reduction in federal dollars.”
On Long Island, federal funding makes up 10% or more of the budgets of the highest-need districts and roughly 3% of the budgets of more affluent districts, Vecchio said.
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By WLIW-FMConsumer prices in the New York area, including Long Island, rose at a faster pace in June than in May, driven in part by higher costs for child care, housing and groceries, such as meat and eggs.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday that its Consumer Price Index for the 25-county region covering parts of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania increased 3.5% in June compared with a year earlier. That year-over-year jump was higher than May’s 3.4% but below April’s 3.9%. The index is a key measure of inflation.
James T. Madore reports in NEWSDAY that grocery prices rose 1.8% in June, led by a 4.7% increase in the meat, poultry, fish and eggs category and a 2.9% rise in cereals and baked goods. Those increases, along with rising child care and housing costs, were partially offset by an 11.3% drop in gasoline prices. Nationwide, consumer prices also rose more quickly in June than in May. The national Consumer Price Index increased 2.7% in June from a year earlier, up from May’s 2.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Restaurant meals were up moderately in the New York area — 3.1% in June year over year — and that could boost Long Island's tourism industry, said John A. Rizzo, an economist and Stony Brook University professor.
Restaurants, beaches, museums and entertainment venues generate more than $7.5 billion in annual consumer spending across Nassau and Suffolk counties, according to the research firm Tourism Economics.
Rizzo said the latest metro-area inflation data don’t yet show any major price pressure from federal tariffs.
“There is little evidence of any inflationary effects of the tariffs yet,” he said. “But that could change in the coming months.”
***
Engineers returned to the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays this week to begin an extensive new assessment of the condition of the bridge’s concrete structure as the county tries to devise a game plan for what could be a years-long, multi-million-dollar repair job.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Suffolk County engineers will be working beneath the bridge, utilizing an under-bridge truck that lowers workers from the roadway above, over the next two weeks. Two-way traffic will be maintained at all times, but while the workers are on site just one lane will be open with flaggers directing alternating traffic. Delays are expected and town officials are asking motorists headed to the beach, Shinnecock Inlet and the restaurants on Dune Road to plan accordingly.
A New York State Department of Transportation inspection in October determined that deterioration of the concrete in portions of the girders that support the bridge’s roadway, 55 feet above the waters of Shinnecock Bay, had progressed to the point of threatening the structural integrity of the bridge.
State DOT engineers have noted gradually worsening cracked and crumbling concrete, exposed steel rebar and failed joint seals in the bridge’s roadway since at least 2020, according to state inspection reports.
The Ponquogue Bridge is a 2,812-foot-long bridge over Shinnecock Bay in Hampton Bays, New York. Maintained by the Department of Public Works for Suffolk County, the 29-span bridge carries two lanes of County Route 32 over the bay, connecting Hampton Bays to the eastern end of Westhampton Island.
Local officials have said Ponquogue Bridge repairs will be exceedingly complicated and the county has offered no timeline yet for when or how the issues will be addressed.
***
A rally organized by a group who calls itself “Indivisible” is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon from 4pm to 5pm in the MACY’S HAMPTON BAYS PARKING LOT.
“We will unite in honor of John Lewis and the democracy he fought for. This rally will have a visibility of 360 degrees at the intersection of Route 24 and Route 27A in Hampton Bays. Hope you can join us in fighting for liberty, freedom, and justice. A core principle behind all “Indivisible” events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.”
The GOOD TROUBLE LIVES ON rally is tomorrow from 4pm to 5pm in the parking lot outside Macy’s in Hampton Bays.
***
The tribal seal of the Shinnecock Nation was removed from Southampton Town Hall’s main meeting room this past Friday, after town officials acquiesced to demands by Shinnecock leadership who are angered at the town’s legal opposition to the construction of a gas station and other development plans in Hampton Bays.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the seal, which has hung in the People’s Room at Town Hall since 2010, next to the seals of the seven incorporated villages in Southampton Town, was returned to the tribe’s offices on Monday, tribal officials said. It was replaced on the wall in Town Hall with the seal of the Southampton Town Trustees. Tribal Chairwoman Lisa Goree, who works in Town Hall as the town’s tax assessor, has been demanding that the town take down the seal since December, when the town filed a lawsuit to halt construction of the gas station, which the Shinnecock were constructing on the tribe’s Westwoods land in Hampton Bays. Last month, Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore had responded in a letter to the tribe saying the town planned to leave the seal in place, because it saw its official and cultural relationship with the tribe as separate from the legal dispute over a single development project. But Shinnecock leaders were adamant that the seal be removed — and on Friday a split Town Board agreed to oblige. “We told them that we’d discussed it with the entire nation, and that everyone agreed, in light of everything that has transpired, we wanted our seal out of that building,” Shinnecock Council of Trustees Vice Chairman Lance Gumbs said on Monday. “The chairwoman walked into the tribal office today and said she’d gotten it back.”
***
Former Suffolk County Executive Patrick Halpin announced yesterday he has launched a campaign to challenge Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) in the 2nd Congressional District next year. Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that Halpin, 72, a Democrat who lives in Oak Beach, will attempt to revive a political career that began in his 20s and ended three decades ago before he segued into the private sector.
"I’m not running to make noise," Halpin said in a statement. "I’m running to get things done. Washington’s broken, but I’ve seen what happens when you put your head down and do the work — when you ignore the noise and focus on people."
The general election is November 2026.
Garbarino, 40, was first elected to Congress in 2022. Last November, Garbarino was reelected to a two-year term by defeating Democrat Rob Lubin with 58% of the vote in the district that stretches across Long Island's South Shore from Massapequa to Mastic Beach.
Halpin criticized Garbarino as "asleep at the wheel — literally" in reference to the congressman missing an early morning vote in May on President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill. Garbarino later voted in favor of the revised version.
"He’s been caught snoozing while voting to gut hospitals, slash food assistance, and hand billionaires more tax breaks — all while Long Island families can’t keep up with rent, childcare, or medical bills," Halpin said in a statement.
Since even THE NY POST is now calling Congressman Garbarino - “Sleepy Drew’’ - the 2026 "2nd Congressional District" race promises to be a nasty one.
***
As neighbors of the site that is slated to become “The Enclaves” resort hotel in Southold have complained about the large piles of sand and lack of work being done there over the past several months, the hotel’s developers received an extension of its site plan approval from the Southold Town Planning Board this past Monday. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that in a June 12 letter to the Planning Board, the developers’ attorney, David Altman, said the project had initially had a commitment of $25 million from Dime Bank, which “withdrew its commitment due to regulatory considerations pertaining to the bank. The Enclaves is actively pursuing other sources of project financing,” he wrote, adding that the developers expect to secure new funding in three to four months.
The project includes a 44-room hotel, four guest cottages, renovation of an existing house for use as a 74-seat restaurant that will be open to the public and another restaurant for hotel guests only, a spa, meeting rooms, lounges and 100-person-capacity event space in nearly 73,000 square feet of new buildings, on a 6.75 acre property on the Main Road in Southold, across from the Southold 7-Eleven.
The Southold board granted an initial six-month extension, with several conditions that would need to be met by January of 2026 before it would receive another automatic six-month extension, for a total of 12 months.
***
Long Island K-12 schools and colleges could face disruptions in federal civil rights protections, financial aid and services for students with disabilities as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision this week allowing the Trump administration to proceed with mass layoffs at the Department of Education, according to some local officials. Maura McDermott reports in NEWSDAY that the high court temporarily lifted an injunction that had prevented the administration from firing more than 1,300 employees, including four from Long Island, according to documents sent to the employees' union by the Department of Education in March.
President Donald Trump said on social media Monday that the court “has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country,” saying the agency’s functions would be transferred to the states.
The current U.S. Department of Education was created by Congress in 1979. The layoffs still face a legal challenge in the lower courts, with opponents charging that the effective dismantling of the agency without Congressional approval violates the Constitution.
Schools continue to face federal mandates, including a requirement to provide equal access to education to students with disabilities, said Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
“Long Island schools will continue to make sure that the educational needs of the children are met,” he said. “Most of the laws and the mandates that schools have to follow and the regulations that the federal government puts out, we're still going to have to follow them.”
The agency’s work appears likely to be shifted to other agencies, Vecchio said. But, he said, “I think any major change like this will cause disruption for a period of time.”
Plus, he said, while the ruling does not translate into any decrease in local school districts’ federal funding, “We are concerned and worried that there will be a reduction in federal dollars.”
On Long Island, federal funding makes up 10% or more of the budgets of the highest-need districts and roughly 3% of the budgets of more affluent districts, Vecchio said.