U.S. Navy Restoration Advisory Board for EPCAL in Calverton To Meet Tomorrow at 6pm

Long Island Morning Edition

The NYS Legislature plans to spend its 18 remaining legislative days debating hundreds of proposals, including bills to protect kids from addiction to social media and to limit the cost of measures to combat climate change. Michael Gormley reports on Newsday.com that other bills jammed into the session beginning today and scheduled to end June 6 include better protection for children in custody battles, under a bill named for a Manhasset girl who was murdered, and the SIT (Standing is Tiring) Act, which would require many employers to provide seats to employees who stand while working.

Regarding students in New York, the proposed Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act, or SAFE for Kids Act, aims to make online social media safer for kids. The bill has strong support in the New York State Senate, Assembly and from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James. Supporters argue the addictive power of social media and the growth of dangerous “viral challenges” can harm some youths’ mental health and lead to anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harm.

The measures would prohibit social media and online platforms such as Meta (formerly Facebook), Google (which owns YouTube) and Yahoo! from collecting and sharing personal data of users without consent. The provisions also would prohibit some practices that can be addictive by luring users from one link to another. Local bills expected to be debated include a bipartisan proposal that could lead to a Long Island glass recycling facility.

***

New federal nutrition standards will limit added sugars for the first time in school meals and cut back on sodium for millions of students nationwide. Schools will not be required to make any changes to their menus for 2024-25, according to the USDA. Changes in the rule will phase in between fall 2025 and fall 2027. The first phase limits the amount of added sugars allowed for specific foods that tend to be higher in added sugars: breakfast cereals, yogurt and flavored milk. Joie Tyrrell reports on Newsday.com that educators said school food often is the most nutritious meal accessible to students and a healthy diet can contribute to greater academic success. More local school districts have been able to offer free meals to students because of changes in federal guidelines in recent years.

The American Heart Association, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and national School Nutrition Association said the standards represent a healthy upgrade for school meals.

“Particularly at breakfast, where cereals, flavored milks and even yogurts can have too much added sugar to fit into a healthy diet, USDA’s final rule will bring added sugars down to safer levels in alignment with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” said Meghan Maroney, CSPI's Federal Child Nutrition campaign manager.

But there are questions about funding and training staff when these changes come into play.

***

This evening at 6pm, the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association will commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day at Riverhead Free Library to honor the memory of the lives taken and of all who risked or sacrificed their own lives to save others.

This year, explore and reflect on Hearts and Minds; hearing the thoughts and emotions shared on diary pages written in hiding or in deathcamps; the memories of survivors whose life’s work became keeping their stories alive; and the reminders, written in essays and poems, that the future is in our hands.

This free program - Holocaust Remembrance Day – is this evening at 6pm in the Riverhead Free Library.

The event is presented as a community service by the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association. Advance registration requested, but not required. Call Riverhead Free Library at [phone] to register.

***

New York State lawmakers, in an election year, made adjustments to sweeten retirement benefits for public workers hired after 2011 — changes that could help Democrats with their campaigns, but also increase costs for local governments and schools, experts say.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Democratic colleagues, who hold a majority in the State Legislature, in April approved a $237 billion state budget for 2024-25 that included tweaks to Tier 6 of the state retirement system. Keshia Clukey reports on Newsday.com that the adjustments, aimed at attracting workers and retaining those hired on or after April 1, 2012, essentially increase the level of benefits public workers receive when they retire and keep employee contribution rates low for those who earn overtime pay.

Statewide, there are approximately 703,000 members of Tier 6, including government workers, teachers, firefighters, police and health care workers at public hospitals such as Stony Brook University Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center, according to 2023 data from the state Comptroller's Office, state Teachers' Retirement System and the New York City Office of the Actuary.

Public employee unions across the state applauded the changes as long overdue.

But fiscal government watchdog groups warn the changes will increase contribution costs for state and local governments, some health facilities and school districts by millions of dollars, and continue to rise annually.

The salary calculation shift will cost public employers an estimated $377 million this year, according to the budget legislation.

Union leaders and some state lawmakers say the increase to employers is relatively minor.

“What we’ve heard from most is that it’s worth it and that it’s an essential investment,” said Melinda Person, president of New York State United Teachers, the state’s largest teachers union with nearly 700,000 members.

***

One of the newest members of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office has already proved he’s doggone good at his job. Michael R. Ebert reports on Newsday.com that Hondo, a 1-year-old German shepherd, had just completed his eight-month training earlier this year when his skills were put to the test. A teenage girl had fled on foot from the county court complex in Riverhead, according to police.

“We got a call for a missing teen who ran away from her guardian,” said Deputy Sheriff Jason Figari, Hondo’s handler. “We got information from our Criminal Investigations Bureau after doing a camera canvass that they saw the area where she ran into, so I sent the dog in there for an area search and he kind of pulled me right to her.”

Thanks to Hondo, the girl was found hiding behind electrical components in a wooded area, Figari said.

The dog was recognized by Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr., who presented Hondo with his official police shield in March.

The K9, which will primarily be on traffic patrol with the DWI Unit of the Sheriff’s Office, has also helped with other tasks in recent months, including locating narcotics inside of a vehicle on the East End.

Hondo came from a kennel in western Pennsylvania last summer.

Hondo joins a force of five police dogs in Suffolk: two other deputy sheriff K9s and three Corrections Office K9s.

“Having this type of support from our K9s is integral to keeping our officers safe and keeping the public safe,” said Chief Deputy Sheriff Christopher Brockmeyer. “It’s important to have the tools necessary to get the job done.”

***

The U.S. Navy’s Restoration Advisory Board for the EPCAL site in Calverton will meet tomorrow night, that’s Tuesday May 7 at 6 p.m. in the Riverhead Senior Center on Shade Tree Lane in Aquebogue. An Open House is scheduled before the meeting, at 5:30 p.m., which will include informational displays along with representatives from the Navy and partnering agencies. Per the U.S. Navy, NAVAL WEAPONS INDUSTRIAL RESERVE PLANT CALVERTON, New York was a Government-Owned Contractor-Operated facility located in Suffolk County on Long Island, approximately 70 miles east of New York City. Established in 1954 for the development, assembly, testing, refitting, and retrofitting of Naval combat aircraft; Northrop Grumman Corporation was the sole operator of the facility from its construction in the early 1950s until it closed in February 1996

In 1996, the land was returned to Navy control. In September 1998, the majority of the land within the developed section of the facility was conveyed to the Town of Riverhead for economic redevelopment.

There are currently no operational activities being conducted on the Navy’s 209 acres. Current Navy actions are limited to environmental investigations and cleanup.

***

New York City’s congestion pricing program is scheduled to begin charging tolls to drive into the busiest parts of Manhattan next month, with the aim of generating a $15 billion windfall for the mass transit system.

That money would not translate into lower fares or a huge subway expansion. Instead, with a few notable exceptions, it would largely support the unglamorous but critical work of maintaining the century-old infrastructure that millions of New Yorkers rely on — repairing and upgrading aging equipment, modernizing signals and technology and making subway stations more accessible. Winnie Hu reports in THE N.Y. TIMES that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees congestion pricing, has already earmarked the entire $15 billion for long-planned projects…including $1.5 billion for the L.I.R.R. But now the money is in jeopardy as legal challenges to the plan threaten to blow a significant hole in the M.T.A.’s budget.

Congestion pricing, which is due to begin on June 30, is the single largest source of funding of the transit agency’s $51.5 billion capital program, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total. Since congestion pricing has yet to get off the ground, the M.T.A. used other funding first for its capital program. And now that $15 billion accounts for half the money the authority is expecting to finance its remaining projects.

Seven lawsuits have been brought in federal courts in New York and New Jersey by opponents — including New Jersey’s governor, Philip D. Murphy — over the cost of the new tolls as well as concerns that, as drivers skirt around them, traffic and pollution could shift to other areas. The courts could rule before the tolls begin and possibly delay or upend the program at the last minute.

M.T.A. officials said they would have to delay or scale back projects if the congestion pricing money does not come through.