During his daily commute to Ronkonkoma over the years, Melville resident Jeff Redelman has seen a steady rise of drivers speeding, following too closely and weaving between lanes. But he said he hasn't seen enough drivers pulled over. "There's never any enforcement," he said, adding he notices far more police whenever he travels upstate to visit his daughter in Binghamton. Peter Gill reports in NEWSDAY that experts generally agree police enforcement is an essential part of ensuring traffic safety, along with better infrastructure, road design and education. A Newsday analysis found for years, police in Suffolk County have issued significantly fewer dangerous-driving tickets than other parts of New York when adjusted for traffic, though their numbers have been rising. Commissioner Kevin Catalina of the Suffolk County police — the largest police department in the county, whose roughly 2,500 officers patrol the five western towns — said he has made traffic enforcement a priority since taking the lead of the department earlier this year. He's expanded the highway patrol 30% and told all officers that traffic enforcement is important for career advancement, he said. Suffolk regularly leads the state in total traffic fatalities, and although deaths have been falling after surging during the pandemic, total crashes have remained roughly steady and serious injuries have increased, both in Suffolk and statewide. Catalina said he doesn’t believe Newsday’s comparison of ticketing in Suffolk to other areas is appropriate because every place has a unique roadway system and a different balance between traffic safety and broader public safety needs. “I think what we need to do is compare Suffolk County to Suffolk County,” he said, adding that his department's year-to-date ticketing numbers in 2025 are up more than one-third above the same period in 2024 for speeding and aggressive driving. "I think we're certainly going in the right direction."

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The Suffolk County Water Authority has deemed itself exempt from local review of its proposed North Fork Pipeline, as Southold Town officials announced Tuesday that the town plans to hold its own “Monroe Balancing Test” on whether the easternmost portion of the project should be subject to local review. A Monroe Balancing Test is a nine-point test to determine whether a large project should be exempt from review by local land use boards. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the Town of Riverhead has already conducted its own Monroe Balancing Test on Phase 1 of the project, an 8.5-mile stretch of pipeline under roads that are primarily in Riverhead Town, and found in October that the project was not exempt from local review, setting the town in direct conflict with the Water Authority’s position. The Suffolk County Water Authority found in favor of itself in its own Monroe Balancing Test on Nov. 20, issuing a resolution that “SCWA is immune from zoning and land use regulations, including, but not limited to the towns of Southampton, Riverhead and Southold in connection with the project,” according to a resolution posted on its North Fork Pipeline webpage. “The Suffolk County Water Authority has adopted a Monroe determination confirming that the North Fork Water Main Project is not subject to local zoning,” according to a statement provided to The Beacon by the Water Authority yesterday. “Public authorities are specifically designed to carry out critical infrastructure work efficiently and without municipal obstruction and imposing local zoning requirements can delay a project that directly affects public health and water reliability. SCWA, in performing its essential governmental function, has clear statutory authority to construct and operate water supply facilities, and longstanding case law supports this position. We are moving forward to ensure the delivery of reliable, high quality drinking water to our customers on the North Fork.” The project has proved highly controversial throughout the North Fork. A Water Authority spokesperson said yesterday that the DEIS is now expected to be complete by “mid to late January, 2026,” after which the Water Authority will hold public hearings and then make a final determination on the project’s environmental impact. The agency has not provided a public comment period on the final scoping document.

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First Baptist Church of Riverhead is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and on Tuesday, the Riverhead Town Board recognized this milestone with a proclamation presented to church leaders at the start of the board’s regular meeting…calling the congregation “a community pillar where faith and community come together and all are welcome with open hearts and doors.” Supervisor Tim Hubbard praised the church’s decades of outreach, saying its work has been “phenomenal” and thanking Senior Pastor Charles Coverdale for his 44 years of service. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the proclamation stated, “The church has been devoted to supporting and improving the Riverhead community through outreach programs for the youth and families of our community. The First Baptist Church has also been active in the missions field, in support of projects locally, domestically and abroad, all in their endeavor to spread hope through the Christian principles of faith.” Today the church worships at its Northville Turnpike campus, where, under Coverdale’s more than four decades of leadership, First Baptist has expanded both its footprint and its mission. The church has hosted the long-running Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast, provides prison ministry and counseling for inmates at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility, operates the Open Arms Care Center food pantry and continues to advance its vision for the Family Community Life Center and Northville Commons, a community hub with housing, recreation and services for families. The church family and supporters celebrated its centennial in June with a gala banquet at Majestic Gardens in Rocky Point.

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The Town of Southampton plans to create a new zoning overlay district specifically for affordable housing projects that it plans to subsidize with Community Housing Fund grants. The hope is that it will expedite the process for mobilizing such projects and add to the town’s supply of housing for middle-income workers and seniors. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Four housing projects that the Southampton Town Board has already pledged to fund with six- and seven-figure CHF grants are still stuck in planning and zoning limbo, and facing months or years of review and red tape to navigate zoning variances or rezoning applications before construction could begin. Housing advocates and town officials say that after the exhaustive review and community discussions that the projects have already been through to win the grant support, putting those projects — and the many more like them that will be needed in the coming years — through a second bureaucratic wringer is redundant and foolish amid an ever-deepening affordable housing crisis in the region. Southampton Town Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara said the bill means to create a “community housing overlay district” specifically for projects that are seeking town housing grants. “This is for projects that the town is already invested in financially,” McNamara said. “We don’t fund these projects unless they are supported by the community.” The Southampton Town Board held a public hearing on the proposal last week and will hold a second hearing session on December 9.

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A winning second-prize ticket was sold in Mattituck for the Nov. 11 drawing of Mega Millions, the New York Lottery announced yesterday. John Valenti reports in NEWSDAY that no grand prize-winning tickets were sold in the $900 million drawing, whose winning numbers were 10, 13, 40, 42, 46 and the Mega ball 1.

The second-place consolation prize in Mega Millions is $1 million — and is affected by a built-in multiplier that makes the ticket worth $2 million, $3 million, $4 million, $5 million or $10 million. The ticket sold at NoFo Beer and Smoke at 55 Middle Rd. in Mattituck carried a 3x multiplier, making it worth $3 million.

Second-place winning tickets match all five field numbers drawn from the field of 70 white draw balls, but fail to match the yellow Mega ball drawn from a separate field of 24. Odds of matching the five numbers — but, not the Mega ball — are 1 in 12,629,232, according to the New York Lottery.

To date no one has come forward to claim the prize tied to the ticket sold in Mattituck.

NoFo manager Nil Patel told Newsday the store, which is family-owned and operated, learned of the $3 million winner the morning after the drawing — but when asked if any of his customers had come in to share news they'd won, he said: "Not yet."

"There's still someone out there with 3 million in their pocket," he said. Then, laughing, added: "Or, 1 million-something after taxes."

Patel said the store had previously sold winning tickets in various lottery drawings, but said the largest Mega winning prize ticket they'd sold was a third-prize ticket — matching four field numbers and the Mega number — worth $10,000.

"We had winners before with Mega," he said. "But never like this."

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The East Hampton Library in partnership with The Hamptons Festival of Music presents a screening of “Robert Shaw - Man of Many Voices” – followed by Q/A w/ Maestro Michael Palmer moderated by David Brandenburg.

“Narrated by David Hyde Pierce, Robert Shaw – Man of Many Voices traces the journey of one of America’s greatest choral music conductors of the 20th century.

Maestro Michael Palmer offers unique insight into Robert Shaw, who inspired generations of musicians with the power of music but was also a brilliant and complicated man.

That’s next Thursday afternoon, December 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the East Hampton Library Baldwin Room.

The event is free, donations to the Springs food pantry are greatly appreciated.

For further info and reservations visit easthamptonlibrary.org.

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The Town of Southampton plans to purchase two waterfront properties in North Sea — on West Shore Drive and on Shore Road — that could be used for public water and beach access. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Southampton Town has agreed to purchase the lots at 11 West Shore Drive and 87 Shore Road; both have small homes on them that would be razed, and the land allowed to revert to a mostly natural state — though town officials said last week that they are considering accommodating public access to the shoreline via both parcels. The agreement with the owner of 11 West Shore Drive is for the town to pay $2.2 million from the Community Preservation Fund for the half-acre parcel. The property is owned by a limited liability corporation that does not indicate who the owner of the land actually is. The property has 100 feet of shoreline on Little Peconic Bay. West Shore Drive is a private road, but town Community Preservation Fund Director Jacqueline Fenlon told the Town Board last week that once the town purchases the property, all town residents would have the right to access the lot. The Town of Southampton will also pay $1,325,000 for the shy half-acre at 87 Shore Road, which is currently owned by James Loesch. The property sits on the shore of the creek at the head of North Sea Harbor. Fenlon said the purchase is being tagged on the CPF rolls as intended for parks and open space preservation so that public access across the property will be allowed. “This is not just for preservation — we’re going to, hopefully, use it at some point,” Councilman Rick Martel said. The town heard no objections to any of the proposed purchases at its November 25 meeting and could approve the deals as soon as the Southampton Town Board meeting on December 9.