A small business owner from Freeport is set to enter prison on May 4 for her role in a scheme to steal $4.6 million in federal pandemic-relief loans — part of a widening web of COVID-aid fraud cases targeting Long Island residents. James T. Madore reports in NEWSDAY that the business owner, Sherril Baez will serve six months in prison for her crime. Her attorney said Baez, 52, tried unsuccessfully to obtain a COVID relief loan on her own before becoming involved in the scheme, which was allegedly led by the host of a business radio show, Glenroy Walker. He is in custody awaiting trial.

Baez is one of at least 31 Long Islanders charged with defrauding pandemic-era programs that include the Paycheck Protection Program, COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans, the Employee Retention Credit and several other tax credits, a Newsday analysis found. Together, the defendants are accused of illegally obtaining more than $98 million, according to federal court filings in Central Islip, New York City and White Plains.

The relief programs were created to help businesses and nonprofits survive the economic shutdown of 2020 and 2021 that was imposed to slow the coronavirus’ spread. The stolen money could have sustained hundreds of local businesses and preserved thousands of jobs.

Instead, prosecutors said, the defendants spent the money on vacation homes, luxury watches and cars, cryptocurrency and nights out in Manhattan.

And the damage is still being uncovered.

Since Newsday last cataloged 20 cases against Long Islanders in a database published in February 2024, federal authorities have arrested 11 more local residents. The authorities said they’re committed to pursuing all leads, even if it takes years to hold the fraudsters accountable.

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The Town of Southampton will expand its “cops and cones” traffic management efforts with a novel experiment starting April 21 that, for two weeks, will halt the traditional cycling of red and green lights at traffic signals in Southampton during the afternoon commute. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the Southampton Town Highway Department has been given permission by Suffolk County to switch five traffic signals from the regular red/green cycle to either steady green or flashing yellow between 4 and 7 p.m., Monday to Friday, so that cars do not have to stop during the notoriously congested afternoon rush.

The experimental program will start on April 21 and run on weekdays until May 2.

The plan will focus on three signals at intersections with County Road 39 — Sandy Hollow Road, Magee Street and Tuckahoe Road — and two on Montauk Highway, at the intersections with St. Andrews Road and Tuckahoe Road.

The program will not be easy. It will require 10 Southampton Town Police officers and three Southampton Village Police officers to be stationed at intersections each day, as well as a fleet of town Highway Department vehicles and crew to lay down the cones blocking traffic lanes and to direct traffic at side streets.

The Southampton Town Board has proposed spending about $67,000 to cover the costs of staffing the two-week experiment — $42,000 for the Highway Department, and $25,000 for police officers. The proposal will be the subject of a public hearing at the Town Board’s meeting on April 8.

This past Monday, March 31, the Town of Southampton resumed using highway and police staff to bypass the traffic signal at the intersection of Canoe Place Road and Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays during the morning rush hour, and McArdle has been pressing the NYS Department of Transportation to let the town do the same with the traffic signal on Montauk Highway in Water Mill.

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The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island & North Fork invites the community to a public information forum on “The Role of the Southampton, East Hampton and Riverhead Town...