New York Gov. Kathy Hochul today plans to propose expanding free school meal programs to cover the cost of breakfast and lunch for all of the state’s 2.7 million students. The Democratic governor is expected to announce the proposal, known as Universal Free School Meals, at Westbury Middle School in Nassau County, Long Island. Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that current federal and state funding for school meals is only provided to school buildings and districts with students who meet certain poverty requirements. The new state program would expand eligibility to nearly 300,000 additional students who don't currently qualify under the federal program. On Long Island, a universal meals program would help an estimated 260 schools and 135,000 students, according to Hunger Solutions New York, a statewide nonprofit focused on alleviating hunger. "The research is clear: good food in the lunchroom creates good grades in the classroom," Hochul said in the release. "I'm proposing free school meals for every student in New York — giving kids the sustenance they need and putting more money back in parents' pockets."

Free school meals are estimated to save families $165 per child in grocery spending each month, and have been shown to support learning, boost test scores and improve attendance and classroom behavior, according to the governor’s office.

Today’s proposal is one of several released by the governor in the last few weeks ahead of her State of the State address, set for next Tuesday. Many of Hochul’s proposals are aimed at affordability, an issue that was key in the congressional and presidential elections last November.

The Universal Free School Meals program is estimated to cost $340 million and would take effect for the 2025-26 school year, according to the governor's office.

Additional details are expected to be released either in Hochul's State of the State address next week or when her budget proposal is issued on Jan. 21.

Health, education and food insecurity advocates applauded the proposal including Melinda Person, president of New York State United Teachers, the state’s largest teachers union, representing nearly 700,000 members.

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The Long Island Rail Road met its 94% on-time performance goal on all its branches for the first time in recorded history last year, as its ridership continued to rebound to near pre-pandemic levels, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said yesterday.

The 75.5 million passengers carried by the LIRR in 2024 was about 16% more than in 2023, and about 82% of the railroad’s ridership in 2019, when it carried 91.1 million passengers, a modern record. Alfonso A. Castillo reports in NEWSDAY that despite having most of its pre-COVID riders back and adding many trains to its schedule with the launch of Grand Central Madison, 95.65% of LIRR trains operated on-time in 2024, the highest ever for a non-pandemic year. Carrying far fewer passengers and operating on a reduced schedule, the LIRR reported higher on-time performance numbers in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

But even in those years, the LIRR did not reach its goal for all 11 of its branches, according to the MTA. The railroad accomplished that in 2024 for the first time since it adopted its modern on-time performance standards in 1979.

The LIRR considers a train on-time if it arrives at its final destination within five minutes and 59 seconds of its scheduled time.

But Peter Haynes, founder of the LIRR Commuters Campaign advocacy group and a former LIRR systems project specialist, said he believes the on-time numbers may have been boosted by the fact that since the opening of Grand Central Madison, trains no longer wait on connections.

"They don’t measure passenger experience. They measure equipment," Haynes said. "If a commuter misses their connection and they’re 20 or 30 minutes late, but all three trains end up on-time, is...

More than 50 patient transportation companies across New York, including five on Long Island, used fake billing schemes to steal from Medicaid and exploit vulnerable patients, the state attorney general said yesterday.

"We have uncovered a major source of fraud amongst the transportation companies," Attorney General Letitia James said at a news conference at her lower Manhattan office. "Companies are billing Medicaid for fake rides and tolls, costing New York taxpayers tens of millions of dollars every year, money that should be used to fund health care for the most vulnerable New Yorkers."

Nicholas Spangler reports in NEWSDAY that James said her office had sent cease-and-desist notices to 54 companies warning of financial penalties and prison time if they continue their alleged overcharging of Medicaid for fraudulent services. Her press office declined to name the companies or to say publicly why they were not releasing the company names.

Medicaid, which provides free health insurance for about 7.5 million New York children and adults from low-income families with $37 billion in state funding, also reimburses businesses for transporting patients to and from covered medical services.

Auditors and prosecutors focus on transportation because it is one of the fastest growing Medicaid service categories, New York's Medicaid Inspector General wrote in a 2022 report.

Not all cases of suspected fraud result in criminal prosecution, and James said her office had cut transportation fraud simply by investigating it. Between 2019 and 2023, according to a chart prepared by her office that was displayed at the news conference, payment by Medicaid for tolls in New York dropped abruptly from more than $20 million to just over $10 million.

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A pedestrian was struck by two vehicles while crossing the street at the intersection of Main Street and Nugent Street in Southampton Village late Tuesday afternoon and is in critical condition but expected to survive, according to Southampton Village Police. As reported on 27east.com, the woman was crossing the street between CVS and the Golden Pear when a driver turning right didn’t see her because of the glare of the descending sun, police said. The driver’s vehicle hit her and knocked her down in the road, and then another car that was coming off Hampton Road headed west, also blinded by the glare, ran her over, police said.

The woman was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital by a Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance crew and then transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital. Both cars were impounded for safety checks, but no charges have been filed against either driver.

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This coming Saturday, Jan. 11, the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association begins 2025 with two events at the Riverhead Free Library. At 10:30 a.m., they’ll hold their first civic meeting of the year, talking about what deserves the civic’s attention through the next 12 months. From 1 to 2:30 p.m., they’ll host their third Annual Volunteer Expo in advance of the Martin Luther King, Jr Day of Service, with info on volunteer programs involving gardening, helping at the animal shelter, at art and music events, or lending a needed hand in neighbors’ lives. All are welcome to both events this coming Saturday at Riverhead Free Library, 330 Court Street in Riverhead, New York.

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Suffolk County taxpayers could be on the hook for $60 million in a migrant class-action lawsuit for holding on to illegal immigrants until the feds could show up and ship them out of the country, officials said yesterday. Carl Campanile and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon report in THE NY POST that a federal judge ruled that the county sheriff’s office in Suffolk acted on its own when it held undocumented immigrants for deportation proceedings — because New York State law doesn’t allow local cops to do so. Moreover,...

As LIPA continues to review prospective contenders to take over management of the electric grid, it has awarded a key separate contract for fuel and power-supply management services — one currently held by PSEG — to an outside company. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that services under the power supply management and fuel management contract for LIPA have been operated by a division of PSEG for the past decade. The service makes sure all LIPA-contracted power plants get timely shipments of fuel, including natural gas and fuel oil, and the program includes a hedging program that helps offset volatility of power supply charges, said Gary Stephenson, senior vice president of power supply for LIPA.

The new 5-year contract, estimated at $20 million, was awarded to The Energy Authority, a nonprofit organization owned by six public power entities. The contract begins in 2026.

The decision appears to have been unexpected by PSEG. A message sent to all PSEG employees from PSEG executives Rodney Dickens and Dan Cregg noted that LIPA’s board decided to "go forward with one of our competitors." Dickens is an executive adviser to PSEG who oversees the Long Island operations and Cregg is executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The two men wrote that "as much as the outcome of this particular [request for proposals] is not what we had hoped for, it’s important to note that today’s decision has no influence on the RFP for the continuing operations of the electric grid of Long Island and the Rockaways. We continue to participate in LIPA’s RFP process and will inform you as soon as a decision has been made by LIPA."

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The 2025 local election season is getting an early kickoff this year thanks to the special election for a single Southampton Town Council seat, which the winner will hold for just eight months.

Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the Southampton Town Board on Monday approved setting March 18 as the date for the townwide special election to complete the last year of former councilman and now-NYS Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni’s term on the board. That has spurred Southampton Town’s two political parties to begin screening potential candidates and preparing to announce nominees — perhaps as early as this week — and has also jump-started the party’s preparations for the November general election, in which most of the town’s elected offices will be on the ballot.

The timing of the special election, and the demands of state election law deadlines, seems likely to force the two parties to run the same candidates for the board seat in both the special election and the November general election — meaning that one of them would be left running in November from the position of having just lost an election, while the other will be a newly minted incumbent.

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A Women’s Rally will be held in the North Fork’s “public square” in Greenport’s Mitchell Park this coming Saturday at 1pm. Saturday’s rally is a warm-up to the Women’s March, which will join with and expand the People’s March on January 18 in Washington, D.C., Port Jefferson and Foley Square in NYC. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that speakers will give short talks on the many issues of concern that need government action: education, health care, immigration and its benefit to the economy, bodily autonomy, housing and participatory democracy. As organizer Carolyn Peabody said, “We invite you to stand up for what we believe in and for each other. Join us to sing, to share inspiration and concerns. Make your voice be heard and grounded in community strength against the tide of misinformation, disrespect for women and undemocratic chaos that wells up to defeat us.” Organizer Randy Wade added, “Remember that we are many, we are determined, we show up and we won’t give up.”

A Women’s Rally is this coming Saturday at 1pm in Mitchell Park,...