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Setalcott Nation now stewards of wetlands in Setauket
Just before 10:30 a.m. this past Thursday, a hawk circled in a cloudless spring sky over the Conscience Bay-Little Bay Tidal Wetland Area in Setauket. "That means good luck," Helen Hart of Morning Star Sells, chairperson and elder of the Setalcott Nation, said. "It's a blessing for us to see the hawks. We, as Indigenous people, believe that." Maureen Mullarkey reports in NEWSDAY that the hawk was a fitting symbol for the occasion as members of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and elected officials gathered to announce that the Setalcott Nation — which inhabited Setauket long before European settlers — would be stewards of the newly improved and open wetlands site at 40 Dyke Rd.
Acting DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said that the site opening was about a decade in the making.
The DEC first attempted to acquire North Shore lands in 2008, she said. Since 2015, it has acquired six properties on Dyke Road.
"Now here we are, today, in 2025, with this really incredible accomplishment that's bringing these ecologically significant lands into public access, help ensuring greater resilience for the communities here, and really preserving this incredibly beautiful space," Lefton said.
The 15.2-acre site in Setauket joins the DEC’s existing 52 acres in the area. The sites are part of the 30x30 state and national initiative to conserve 30% of lands and waters.
"This area is a perfect example of a peaceful, tranquil, rare ecosystem that needed to be preserved," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "We could have had a condo complex or a couple of very large mega-mansions. But instead, there was a collaboration that worked together, from the State of New York to the County of Suffolk, Town of Brookhaven, and a multitude of ... [nongovernmental organizations] and stakeholders."
The body of water in Setauket was named Conscience Bay by Quakers who settled the area in the 1600s after fleeing religious persecution, said Suffolk County Legis. Steven Englebright.
***
Volunteers from National Gird beautified the Long Island Rail Road station in Riverhead on Friday, planting new shrubs and flowers and cleaning up litter in a neglected area. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that roughly 55 National Grid employees participated in the effort, National Grid Communications Manager Wendy Frigeria said. The employees also planted new flowers, created a small herb garden and built new benches at the Salvation Army site near the railroad station.
The initiative is part of Project C program, the energy company’s community service program. National Grid partnered with the MTA, the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, Riverhead Rotary Club, Riverhead Town, Gabrielsen Farms and DeLea Sod Farms for the cleanup event, officials said.
“We live here; we work here; we are so blessed to be able to give back,” said Brain Sapp, the director of external affairs for National Grid.
The area near the Long Island Rail Road station is considered one of Riverhead’s most blighted and is the primary bus stop for county buses in Riverhead. Town officials have created an urban renewal area and special overlay zoning district there to spur revitalization of the area with the development of multi-story mixed-use buildings.
***
The Home Sweet Home Museum in East Hampton will open for the season this coming Thursday, May 1, with hours Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m. The museum is at 14 James Lane in East Hampton.
Home Sweet Home is a distinguished salt-box home in East Hampton that dates from the first quarter of the 18th century. As noted on its website, “For all its simplicity, the old house seems to realize the dignity of its association with romance and its place in the hearts of people everywhere. The house has come to embody the spirit of all that is tender and sweet about home.”
Some say the house inspired John Howard Payne who visited East Hampton as a child to compose the song, “Home Sweet Home" in 1822.
“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like…East Hampton, N.Y.
***
Upstate New York U.S. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik would be the clear front-runner in a Republican primary for governor next year and be the strongest candidate to take on Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in a general election should she run, a new poll released Monday claims. Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that Stefanik — who has been rumored to be eyeing a gubernatorial run — got support of 44% of New York Republicans compared to 7% for lower Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler and 5% for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, according to the poll of likely voters.
Another 44% of respondents said they were undecided, the survey conducted by Republican pollster Landon Wall with GrayHouse found. Stefanik is better known and liked among Republican voters, with 56% having a favorable view of her and 9% unfavorable, or plus 47 percentage points. Meanwhile, 33% of Republicans had a favorable view of Lawler and just 3% had an unfavorable view, while nearly two-thirds didn’t know who he was or were undecided in their opinion of the congressman.
Even fewer Republicans statewide know Blakeman, who is running for re-election for Nassau executive this fall.
Stefanik, 40, was first elected in 2014 to the seat representing the sprawling 21st Congressional House District that stretches to the Canadian border.
President Trump announced Stefanik — who’s a member of the House GOP leadership — as his choice to become US Ambassador to the United Nations. He later pulled back the nomination, expressing concern about Republicans losing her seat and threatening the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But she’s still a Trump favorite. The president recently posted on Truth Social that “Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is GREAT!!!”
***
PSEG Long Island has announced upcoming storm hardening work in Aquebogue, Jamesport and Riverhead intended to improve the reliability of the energy grid in the area. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the work will begin this week and is expected to last approximately two months.
PSEG-LI said the storm-hardening improvements include:
Stronger poles: PSEG-LI will replace some existing utility poles with stronger, more durable poles that are capable of withstanding winds up to 135 mph.
Narrow profiles: To help wires deflect falling limbs instead of catching them, PSEG-LI will install shorter cross arms atop some poles.
Stronger wire: Current wire will be replaced with more resilient and durable wire.
Upgrading: PSEG-LI will upgrade or replace worn equipment as necessary.
The work is part of PSEG Long Island’s Power On program, started in the spring of 2020, to prepare the grid for extreme weather in order to maintain reliable service for approximately 1.2 million customers, the utility said.
Power On focuses on mainline circuits, the backbone of the distribution system. The main lines feed the many branch lines that power the homes and businesses in individual communities.
***
The High Impact Community Outreach {HICO} program at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork {UUCSF} is seeking grant proposals through May 15 from local nonprofit groups, grassroots organizations, and national organizations with East End offices for programs that help communities and agencies under duress and address income inequality.
Awards are expected to be announced in August 2025.
Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork, under the leadership of Reverend Kimberly Quinn Johnson states that, “Today’s challenges are both immediate and in a state of flux. We are intensely aware of the threats to our neighbors and targeted groups that face risks and prejudices in multiple ways…Further, the intensified pressure on funding basic social services and traditional programs may create additional hardships. HICO will continue to work to ensure that individuals and groups are not cast aside or left behind. HICO and the UUCSF remain resources to assist our neighbors in living life to its fullest.”
To apply for a 2025 High Impact Community Outreach grant, visit uucsf.org/impact
***
A transgender girl on a Suffolk County high school track team has ignited fierce debate over fairness in sports — and whether the district could lose all of it’s federal funding under a recent White House order.
The controversy centers around a 6-foot, 14-year-old freshman on the girl’s varsity track team at William Floyd High School in Shirley. Brandon Cruz reports in THE NY POST that the unidentified student has “socially transitioned” to female, meaning she is not on hormone treatment and retains biologically male characteristics but identifies as a girl, according to the South Shore Press. Her presence since joining the team in March for the spring season has split the community and sparked multiple rallies both in support of and against her participation on the girls team.
Some in the Mastic-Shirley community are saying that they have no hate toward their LGBTQ neighbors, but argue the female track participant has an unfair competitive advantage as a biological male.
“It’s wrong. It’s not about hate, it’s about fairness,” said a parent in the district who asked not to be identified. A member of the school’s girls varsity track team claimed that in practice, when students are supposed to be running at the same pace in warm-ups, the trans student “bolts” past everyone to the front, according to the South Shore Press. A group of student-athletes who asked not to be identified said they don’t necessarily care if a trans athlete competed with or against them but would feel uncomfortable if they had to share a locker room.
A parent told the outlet that the trans student had been allowed to use the girls locker room, although a plastic sheet was used to separate the athlete from their female teammates.
The controversy over the trans athlete could cost the school district more than $13 million in federal funding.
In February, President Trump signed an executive order saying the government would “rescind all funds” from schools that allow trans athletes to play on teams based on their gender identity as opposed to biological sex.
The potential loss in federal funding would be a massive hit to William Floyd, as the district receives more than $1,500 per student for nearly 10,000 students, according to the district budget.
View all episodes
By WLIW-FMJust before 10:30 a.m. this past Thursday, a hawk circled in a cloudless spring sky over the Conscience Bay-Little Bay Tidal Wetland Area in Setauket. "That means good luck," Helen Hart of Morning Star Sells, chairperson and elder of the Setalcott Nation, said. "It's a blessing for us to see the hawks. We, as Indigenous people, believe that." Maureen Mullarkey reports in NEWSDAY that the hawk was a fitting symbol for the occasion as members of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and elected officials gathered to announce that the Setalcott Nation — which inhabited Setauket long before European settlers — would be stewards of the newly improved and open wetlands site at 40 Dyke Rd.
Acting DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said that the site opening was about a decade in the making.
The DEC first attempted to acquire North Shore lands in 2008, she said. Since 2015, it has acquired six properties on Dyke Road.
"Now here we are, today, in 2025, with this really incredible accomplishment that's bringing these ecologically significant lands into public access, help ensuring greater resilience for the communities here, and really preserving this incredibly beautiful space," Lefton said.
The 15.2-acre site in Setauket joins the DEC’s existing 52 acres in the area. The sites are part of the 30x30 state and national initiative to conserve 30% of lands and waters.
"This area is a perfect example of a peaceful, tranquil, rare ecosystem that needed to be preserved," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "We could have had a condo complex or a couple of very large mega-mansions. But instead, there was a collaboration that worked together, from the State of New York to the County of Suffolk, Town of Brookhaven, and a multitude of ... [nongovernmental organizations] and stakeholders."
The body of water in Setauket was named Conscience Bay by Quakers who settled the area in the 1600s after fleeing religious persecution, said Suffolk County Legis. Steven Englebright.
***
Volunteers from National Gird beautified the Long Island Rail Road station in Riverhead on Friday, planting new shrubs and flowers and cleaning up litter in a neglected area. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that roughly 55 National Grid employees participated in the effort, National Grid Communications Manager Wendy Frigeria said. The employees also planted new flowers, created a small herb garden and built new benches at the Salvation Army site near the railroad station.
The initiative is part of Project C program, the energy company’s community service program. National Grid partnered with the MTA, the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, Riverhead Rotary Club, Riverhead Town, Gabrielsen Farms and DeLea Sod Farms for the cleanup event, officials said.
“We live here; we work here; we are so blessed to be able to give back,” said Brain Sapp, the director of external affairs for National Grid.
The area near the Long Island Rail Road station is considered one of Riverhead’s most blighted and is the primary bus stop for county buses in Riverhead. Town officials have created an urban renewal area and special overlay zoning district there to spur revitalization of the area with the development of multi-story mixed-use buildings.
***
The Home Sweet Home Museum in East Hampton will open for the season this coming Thursday, May 1, with hours Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m. The museum is at 14 James Lane in East Hampton.
Home Sweet Home is a distinguished salt-box home in East Hampton that dates from the first quarter of the 18th century. As noted on its website, “For all its simplicity, the old house seems to realize the dignity of its association with romance and its place in the hearts of people everywhere. The house has come to embody the spirit of all that is tender and sweet about home.”
Some say the house inspired John Howard Payne who visited East Hampton as a child to compose the song, “Home Sweet Home" in 1822.
“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like…East Hampton, N.Y.
***
Upstate New York U.S. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik would be the clear front-runner in a Republican primary for governor next year and be the strongest candidate to take on Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in a general election should she run, a new poll released Monday claims. Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that Stefanik — who has been rumored to be eyeing a gubernatorial run — got support of 44% of New York Republicans compared to 7% for lower Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler and 5% for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, according to the poll of likely voters.
Another 44% of respondents said they were undecided, the survey conducted by Republican pollster Landon Wall with GrayHouse found. Stefanik is better known and liked among Republican voters, with 56% having a favorable view of her and 9% unfavorable, or plus 47 percentage points. Meanwhile, 33% of Republicans had a favorable view of Lawler and just 3% had an unfavorable view, while nearly two-thirds didn’t know who he was or were undecided in their opinion of the congressman.
Even fewer Republicans statewide know Blakeman, who is running for re-election for Nassau executive this fall.
Stefanik, 40, was first elected in 2014 to the seat representing the sprawling 21st Congressional House District that stretches to the Canadian border.
President Trump announced Stefanik — who’s a member of the House GOP leadership — as his choice to become US Ambassador to the United Nations. He later pulled back the nomination, expressing concern about Republicans losing her seat and threatening the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But she’s still a Trump favorite. The president recently posted on Truth Social that “Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is GREAT!!!”
***
PSEG Long Island has announced upcoming storm hardening work in Aquebogue, Jamesport and Riverhead intended to improve the reliability of the energy grid in the area. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the work will begin this week and is expected to last approximately two months.
PSEG-LI said the storm-hardening improvements include:
Stronger poles: PSEG-LI will replace some existing utility poles with stronger, more durable poles that are capable of withstanding winds up to 135 mph.
Narrow profiles: To help wires deflect falling limbs instead of catching them, PSEG-LI will install shorter cross arms atop some poles.
Stronger wire: Current wire will be replaced with more resilient and durable wire.
Upgrading: PSEG-LI will upgrade or replace worn equipment as necessary.
The work is part of PSEG Long Island’s Power On program, started in the spring of 2020, to prepare the grid for extreme weather in order to maintain reliable service for approximately 1.2 million customers, the utility said.
Power On focuses on mainline circuits, the backbone of the distribution system. The main lines feed the many branch lines that power the homes and businesses in individual communities.
***
The High Impact Community Outreach {HICO} program at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork {UUCSF} is seeking grant proposals through May 15 from local nonprofit groups, grassroots organizations, and national organizations with East End offices for programs that help communities and agencies under duress and address income inequality.
Awards are expected to be announced in August 2025.
Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork, under the leadership of Reverend Kimberly Quinn Johnson states that, “Today’s challenges are both immediate and in a state of flux. We are intensely aware of the threats to our neighbors and targeted groups that face risks and prejudices in multiple ways…Further, the intensified pressure on funding basic social services and traditional programs may create additional hardships. HICO will continue to work to ensure that individuals and groups are not cast aside or left behind. HICO and the UUCSF remain resources to assist our neighbors in living life to its fullest.”
To apply for a 2025 High Impact Community Outreach grant, visit uucsf.org/impact
***
A transgender girl on a Suffolk County high school track team has ignited fierce debate over fairness in sports — and whether the district could lose all of it’s federal funding under a recent White House order.
The controversy centers around a 6-foot, 14-year-old freshman on the girl’s varsity track team at William Floyd High School in Shirley. Brandon Cruz reports in THE NY POST that the unidentified student has “socially transitioned” to female, meaning she is not on hormone treatment and retains biologically male characteristics but identifies as a girl, according to the South Shore Press. Her presence since joining the team in March for the spring season has split the community and sparked multiple rallies both in support of and against her participation on the girls team.
Some in the Mastic-Shirley community are saying that they have no hate toward their LGBTQ neighbors, but argue the female track participant has an unfair competitive advantage as a biological male.
“It’s wrong. It’s not about hate, it’s about fairness,” said a parent in the district who asked not to be identified. A member of the school’s girls varsity track team claimed that in practice, when students are supposed to be running at the same pace in warm-ups, the trans student “bolts” past everyone to the front, according to the South Shore Press. A group of student-athletes who asked not to be identified said they don’t necessarily care if a trans athlete competed with or against them but would feel uncomfortable if they had to share a locker room.
A parent told the outlet that the trans student had been allowed to use the girls locker room, although a plastic sheet was used to separate the athlete from their female teammates.
The controversy over the trans athlete could cost the school district more than $13 million in federal funding.
In February, President Trump signed an executive order saying the government would “rescind all funds” from schools that allow trans athletes to play on teams based on their gender identity as opposed to biological sex.
The potential loss in federal funding would be a massive hit to William Floyd, as the district receives more than $1,500 per student for nearly 10,000 students, according to the district budget.