Amid the Suffolk Board of Elections' plan to no longer provide voting machines for non-county races, school districts and villages are bracing to potentially face thousands of dollars in new expenses, according to school and village officials. Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that leaders of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association recently met with BOE commissioners to discuss ways to ease the impact on districts, while the Suffolk County Village Officials Association is preparing a letter to county leaders pushing back on the decision.
The pushback follows an Oct. 7 memo BOE commissioners wrote to clerks of school districts, fire districts, library districts and villages that they would no longer provide voting machines starting Jan. 1 as it transitions to new touch screen voting machines.
Longwood school district Superintendent Lance Lohman, co-chair of the legislative committee for the superintendents association, said he and other leaders met with the BOE commissioners and deputy commissioners Oct. 21 in a "productive" meeting. He said the commissioners were "very receptive" to concerns raised by the superintendents and offered to assist districts through the transition.
He said he understood the reasoning the commissioners explained, saying the BOE is facing "some real challenges," from the time it will take to train staff on the new Suffolk County machines to the burden of the even-year election schedule, which merges local elections with gubernatorial and presidential contests.
The BOE offered districts and villages on a "first come first serve basis" the chance to request some of its 425 used Dominion ImageCast Evolution voting machines. The board set a Nov. 15 deadline before any unclaimed machines would be offered to other counties for sale, according to the memo.
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A kayaker who went missing Saturday in the waters near Shinnecock Bay with his friend was found dead last night by New York State Police divers, authorities said. Janon Fisher and Alek Lewis report in NEWSDAY that the body of Shane Garcia, 27, who went out on the water with Aaron Montemarano, 25, was recovered by police after a two-day search using drones, ATVs and helicopters, according to Town of Southampton police spokeswoman Det. Sgt. Gina Laferrera.
NYS police and the Southampton Town marine patrol found the two men's kayaks and paddles washed up on shore around Shinnecock East County Park at 12:30 p.m. yesterday, police said.
Montemarano had not been found as of Sunday evening.
"The water search continued until it became too dark," Laferrera said in an email statement last night. "The search efforts for the second missing kayaker will continue early tomorrow morning."
Garcia sent a photo of himself and Montemarano to his girlfriend on Saturday, but when he didn't return that evening, she became alarmed and called police to report him missing, authorities said.
Officers found Garcia’s car in Hampton Bays, at the end of Shinnecock Road and began to search the water.
The two men were paddling near the Ponquogue Bridge when the photo was taken, police said.
Earlier, police said that the men were in a lime green, two-person ocean kayak, but later said two kayaks had been found.
Southampton police marine and patrol units, assisted by a Suffolk police helicopter, searched for the men in and around Shinnecock Bay on Saturday night, Southampton police Sgt. Michael Walsh said. At 6 a.m. Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard also joined the search, police said.
Anyone with information about the incident has been asked to call the Southampton Town police detective division at 631-728-3400 or the town police TIPS hotline at 631-728-3454. Information can also be sent to police by email, to [email protected] .Southampton police asked anyone who may have information about the remaining missing kayaker to contact them.
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After erosion last week surrounding the supports holding up Sunrise Highway’s bridge over the Shinnecock Canal in Hampton Bays undermined and partially collapsed abutments, state officials announced this weekend that repairs began Saturday morning “and are expected to last approximately one week. In the meantime, westbound traffic on NYS Route 27(Sunrise Highway) will be reduced to one lane in the vicinity of the bridge and shifted to the left shoulder. Motorists should also expect intermittent shoulder closures on Canal Road (County Route 39B), in the vicinity of the bridge.”
Heavy rainfall on Thursday night overwhelmed drainage systems along the side of the highway where it passes over the Shinnecock Canal. The resulting torrent of water eroded the soil behind the concrete and stone abutment where the highway bridge meets the roadway, causing portions of the abutment to collapse.
Remedying the situation will require restoring the integrity of the ground behind the abutment, reconstructing the collapsed segments of the supports and solving the runoff issues that led to the erosion.
So, the New York State Department of Transportation says that the westbound Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays will continue to be restricted to one lane of traffic using the roadway shoulder through this week as crews make repairs to the abutment where the roadway crosses the Shinnecock Canal.
During this past Friday afternoon and evening westbound traffic on both 27 and 27A between Southampton Village and Hampton Bays barely crawled.
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As the federal government was set to freeze the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) relied on by 42 million Americans as of Nov. 1, local governments began taking emergency actions last week to shore up support for food pantries on the East End.
Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that a federal judge on Friday ordered the administration to continue paying for the program, which provides the services once known as ‘food stamps,’ and President Donald Trump said on Truth Social Friday evening that “I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.” According to a report from the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, 42,729 people rely on SNAP in the 1st Congressional District which includes the entire east end, the northern portion of Brookhaven, as well as the towns of Huntington and Smithtown.
Locally, governments and nonprofits that provide a social safety net are shoring up the network of care in eastern Suffolk communities.
The East Hampton Town Board unanimously approved $10,000 in assistance for each of three food pantries — in Montauk, Springs and East Hampton.
They are the Montauk Food Pantry, Springs Food Pantry, and East Hampton Food Pantry
CAST, which provides a social safety net to North Fork and Shelter Island residents, reported on social media on Thursday that its “food-security programs currently provide more than 470,000 meals each year, serving 15 percent of the town’s population, including 35 percent of its children. We are preparing for the likelihood that SNAP funds will not be released in the immediate future and people who rely on these benefits to feed their families will face mounting food insecurity.”
“CAST is ready to meet that challenge as we expand food distributions, continue to coordinate with local grocers, farmers and concerned community members, working to ensure that all our neighbors continue to have access to fresh, healthy food,” they added “To get involved, please contact us at [email protected] or call 631.477.1717.”
CAST is also accepting donations.
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Here’s a reminder from Denise Civiletti of Riverheadlocal.com.
It’s time to replace the batteries in your smoke detectors! Now that watches, clocks and other devices that keep time — including many modern home appliances — are wirelessly connected to the internet and magically switch to standard time and back again to daylight saving time at the appropriate moments, without human intervention, it’s easier to forget about putting fresh batteries in the smoke detectors around your home.
But now’s the time. Standard time arrived at 2 a.m. yesterday.
To mark the occasion, the American Red Cross urges everyone to test their smoke detectors asap and replace the batteries if needed. The National Fire Protection Association says home smoke detector batteries should be changed once a year. NFPA also recommends testing smoke detectors weekly and changing batteries immediately if the detector starts chirping. Smoke alarms with non-replaceable 10-year batteries are designed to remain effective for up to 10 years. If the alarm chirps, warning that the battery is low, replace the entire smoke alarm right away, NFPA says.
“Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire in half as you only have about two minutes to safely get out,” American Red Cross, Long Island Chapter CEO Jose Dominguez said in a press release. “Every second counts when there’s a home fire and the sooner an alarm alerts you to a fire, the sooner you can get to a safer place. “When daylight saving time ends, test your smoke alarms to help prevent a tragedy in your home.”
Over the past year, local Red Cross volunteers responded to help more than 1,400 people on Long Island affected by more than 250 home fires.
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Early voting concluded yesterday.
There is no voting today.
On Election Day 2025…that’s tomorrow…you can only vote at your assigned polling place, which you can find online at the NYS BOE website: voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/. Polls in New York State are open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. On the east end registered voters will cast their ballots for town and Suffolk County candidates.
Voting during the early period means you cannot vote again tomorrow.
If you have an Early Mail ballot, you cannot vote in person on a machine; you must use an affidavit ballot.
Check your voter registration status and find your polling site on the New York State voter lookup website.
For questions, contact the Suffolk County Board of Elections at (631) 852-4500.
Regarding Early Mail Ballot:
Put it in the mail ensuring it receives a postmark no later than November 4th. Must be received by the County Board of Elections no later than November 12th.
Bringing it to your County Board of Elections Office no later than November 4th by 9pm.
Bringing it to a poll site in your county on November 4th by 9pm.
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The recent round of federal indictments in a nationwide gambling ring involving NBA figures and reputed mob members is a fresh sign that Italian organized crime in New York City and on Long Island — despite years of prosecutions and deaths of key leaders — has made a comeback, law enforcement and crime experts said.
"It is a wake-up call, that the mob is still alive and well in New York City," said Bruce Mouw, retired supervisory special agent of the FBI who was known for getting the conviction in 1992 of the late Gambino crime boss John Gotti. "What people don’t realize is they have just as many members as John Gotti had in his heyday."
Anthony M. DeStefano reports in NEWSDAY that Mouw, who helps monitor labor unions in cooperation with the federal government to keep mobsters away, has been watching crime trends for years and believes the five organized crime families in the metropolitan area — Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo — have reinvented themselves and are going back to their old ways.
"They are out there, you see them in social clubs," said Mouw, noting that illegal gambling operations, particularly late at night, are key ways for the mob to make money. Two weeks ago, the FBI, NYPD and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, along with other agencies, announced the indictment of 31 people, including big-name NBA figures and reputed mobsters and associates from Long Island and New York City, and others on charges they took part in card cheating games that bilked unwary players out of an estimated $7 million. The defendants relied on modern electronic card shuffling machines and special X-ray tables to find out what cards the players held and ensure that they lost, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Joseph Nocella Jr said. The games took place at two locations in Manhattan — one at 147 Lexington Ave. and the other at 80 Washington Place — as well as an undisclosed address in East Hampton, where they allegedly carried out the swindle and enriched mob coffers, officials said.
The alleged scammers recruited well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, known as "face cards," to attract unsuspecting card game players and cheat them out of millions of dollars, Nocella said.
Among those charged for attracting victims was former championship player Chauncey Billups, 49, now head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Billups was placed on administrative leave by the team and has yet to be arraigned on the indictment. A number of defendants were arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn last week, and other defendants are scheduled to appear in court on the indictment in the comings days and weeks.
