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,...

The Shinnecock Indian Nation has asked a state appellate court to suspend and reconsider a ruling that could shut down the tribe’s Sunrise Highway billboards in Hampton Bays, citing recent federal confirmation that the Shinnecock property known as Westwoods is restricted aboriginal territory. The 80-foot billboards remain in operation on the 80-acre Westwoods parcel, where the nation has also begun construction of a travel plaza-gas station on adjacent land and envisions a resort-conference center on a parcel overlooking Peconic Bay near the Shinnecock Canal. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that in their filing Friday, lawyers for the nation requested the Appellate Division to suspend its December order that found a lower court should have granted a preliminary injunction to the NYS Department of Transportation to stop construction and operation of the billboards. Since 2019 the state has fought for the injunction on safety grounds, asserting the property is subject to state and local zoning laws. The tribe has long contested that assertion, and noted the signs have resulted in no safety concerns.

In its order to show cause filed Jan. 3, the Shinnecock pointed to a letter issued last week by the U.S. Department of the Interior that affirmed the 80-acre Westwoods parcel in Hampton Bays is "within the [Shinnecock] Nation’s aboriginal territory."

The letter noted that the Shinnecock Nation has "resided within its aboriginal territory since time immemorial and has never removed therefrom, and that Westwoods is within the purview of the Nonintercourse Act and is therefore restricted against alienation absent consent of the United States."

The nation is asking the court to allow it to "renew and reargue" its case in light of that determination, or to allow it to appeal to the state Court of Appeals.

Glenn Blain, a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation, told Newsday, "We are reviewing the recent determination from the U.S. Department of the Interior and will have no further comment as this matter remains the subject of ongoing litigation."

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul yesterday proposed increasing the state’s child tax credit, giving families up to $1,000 per child under the age of 4 and $500 per child from ages 4 to 16. The expansion, which is part of Hochul’s 2025 budget proposal, would be phased in over two years and cover more than 2.75 million children, including an estimated 215,000 households on Long Island. Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that the proposed expansion aims to decrease stress on families and lift more children out of poverty, according to the governor. "More money back in people’s pockets, that’s what we’re going to do in a lot of different ways," Hochul said announcing the proposal in Manhattan on Monday.

"From groceries to strollers to kids’ clothes, the cost of living and raising a family is still too damn high — and that’s why we’re proposing a massive increase in New York’s child tax credit to put up to $1,000 per kid back in the pockets of hardworking families," Hochul said.

The effort comes as Hochul and state lawmakers look to make New York more affordable, an issue that was key in the congressional and presidential elections last November.

The current tax credit, known as the Empire State Child Credit, is based on income level and provides up to $330 per child.

The credit is refundable, meaning it can either offset taxes or be paid out directly to taxpayers as a refund.

Additional details on the expanded credit are expected to be included in the governor’s budget proposal coming later this month.

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The body of a Riverside man reported missing in November last year was found in a wooded area off Route 114 in East Hampton yesterday. According to Southampton Town Police, a hunter in the woods located the body, and East Hampton Town Police and...

New York City’s congestion pricing program, charging drivers entering 60th Street and below in Manhattan, started yesterday, with MTA officials optimistic it will loosen traffic-clogged streets. At a news conference Sunday, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Janno Lieber said motorists can expect to see toll charges on their E-ZPass accounts within a few days after fees are calculated based on what time drivers entered the congestion zone, their vehicle type and whether they stayed on an exempt road like the FDR Drive.

"We’re only 12 hours in, so it’s hard to give an accurate measure of the program’s success ... It’s going to take a few days for this all to kick in, but it’s gone smoothly," Lieber told reporters Sunday afternoon. "We don’t expect New Yorkers to change their behavior overnight."

Lieber encouraged drivers to make sure their E-ZPass accounts are connected to their license plates, as the toll for passenger vehicles is $13.50 without E-ZPass rather than $9 during peak hours. As reported in Newsday the congestion pricing program launched at one second after midnight. About seven hours later, hundreds of vehicles, a handful of taxicabs and several food trucks drove across the Queensboro {59th St.} Bridge into Manhattan to avoid the new congestion pricing charge. The bustling business district on the East Side stands right at the perimeter of the congestion pricing zone.

Digital screens inside subway trains Sunday morning advertised the new policy. "Congestion pricing is here," one message read on a Bronx-bound No. 2 train, alongside an address for an MTA informational website. "Less congestion, better future."

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Emphasizing the “promise and potential” of a new year, East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez listed a series of proactive initiatives including affordable housing, environmental conservation, fiscal responsibility and human services — the latter including a defense of the new senior citizens center that has come under criticism for its proposed size and cost — in the annual State of the Town address, when the East Hampton Town Board held its organizational meeting this past Thursday. As she begins the second of a two-year term as supervisor, following 10 years as a councilwoman, Burke-Gonzalez said that housing “remains a cornerstone of our efforts” and that last year “we truly embraced” the All Hands on Housing initiative announced three years ago by her predecessor, Peter Van Scoyoc. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that Burke-Gonzalez closed her State of the Town address with a pitch for citizen involvement. “I invite every member of this community to join us in this journey. Volunteer your time, lend your voice and bring forward your ideas. This is our time to come together and to ensure that East Hampton continues to thrive as a place of possibility and hope,” she said. “Now, let’s get to work.”

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About 170 student volunteers from an array of North Fork schools and service groups removed about 55 tons of trash, debris, equipment and scrap metal from the Greenport woods surrounding the Bay to Sound Trail in 2024, in an effort coordinated by Group for the East End and Southold Town. Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that the Bay to Sound Trail, in the works since 2007, is a network of trails that crosses a variety of ecosystems west of Greenport Village on lands preserved by a variety of entities. It includes trails on Arshamomaque Preserve, Skipper Horton Park and Pipes Cove Preserve, among other state, town and county-preserved properties.

The 2024 work involved the creation of about 1.8 new miles of trails through Pipes Cove Preserve, the former site of Sill’s Dairy Farm, where volunteers spent more than 1,620 hours taking down the remains of a defunct milk house and dairy barn, along with the buildings’ contents. They removed more than 50 wheels and tires, a...

The U.S. Department of the Interior has issued a long-awaited finding that the 79 acres of land in Hampton Bays owned by the Shinnecock Tribe…known as Westwoods…should be considered “aboriginal territory” that the Shinnecock Nation has occupied “since time immemorial” — phrasing with specific importance to the ability of the tribe to develop the property free from local government oversight. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the letter issued yesterday by Bryan Newland, the assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior for Indian affairs, comes in the wake of the lawsuit filed late last month by Southampton Town challenging the Shinnecock’s right to develop the property based on claims that the Westwoods land was not legally sovereign territory. The foundation of the town’s claims are 17th century documents that seem to indicate Native American leaders — one of them not even Shinnecock — had sold or traded away the lands surrounding and including Westwoods to European settlers. Shinnecock Nation leaders have, for decades, dismissed that premise as either an ill-informed or duplicitous misreading of the deeds themselves and legal standards they would have to be held to to be valid. In his January 2 letter, Newland says that he instructed the Bureau of Indian Affairs on December 23 to record the Westwoods property in the BIA’s Trust Asset and Accounting Management System as a parcel of “restricted fee” land. Newland said that the federal assessment came after three years of research into the legal history of the Westwoods land and dealings with the Shinnecock people dating back to the late 1600s. “The Department examined the land title status of the Westwoods parcel and determined…that Westwoods is within the purview of the Non-Intercourse Act and is therefore restricted against alienation absent consent of the United States,” the letter says, referring to the federal statutes that first created “Indian reservations” for displaced Native Americans and prohibited any indigenous nation’s lands to be taken, traded or purchased without consent of the U.S. Congress.

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The Riverhead Board of Education has extended by one month the deadline for applications for the superintendent of schools.

The original Dec.13 deadline was extended to Jan. 17.

Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the school board launched the search in November, with the goal of hiring a new permanent superintendent no later than March and the expectation that a permanent hired would be in place on or before July 1, 2025.

The Riverhead Central School District has had an interim superintendent since October 2023, when the school board hired retired Three Village Central School District Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich for the role, after the Riverhead Superintendent Augustine Tornatore resigned.

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New York's transportation department will use federal funds to study how best to cut down on the thousands of collisions that take place between vehicles and wildlife on the state's roads each year. Nicholas Grasso and John Valenti report in NEWSDAY that the New York State Department of Transportation estimates there are between 60,000 and 70,000 collisions involving vehicles hitting wildlife annually in New York — most of them involving vehicles striking deer and moose, especially in the fall. The issue is an important one for Long Island, in particular for Suffolk County, where the number of animal strikes has risen in recent years.

The Federal Highway Administration said a grant from the Biden administration will allow the NYSDOT to conduct a two-phase study researching measures to limit the interactions that are sometimes deadly for both driver and wildlife.

The $323,850 grant was announced by the FHA earlier in December and goes to 16 states, including New York, as part of the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. The bipartisan infrastructure law,...

Restoration of a park near the Nissequogue River, preservation of 110 forested acres in Riverhead and planning for reclamation of industrial land along the Long Beach bayfront are among the projects receiving grants through a state initiative that has so far poured more than $1 billion into Long Island economic development. Nicholas Spangler reports in NEWSDAY that the latest round of state aid announced this week through the Regional Economic Development Council Initiative will steer $16.7 million to Long Island for nearly 30 projects across the region. More than a dozen are intended to improve water quality, fund the purchase of sensitive land, map and identify problem areas of local storm sewer systems, and pay for improvements like storage facilities to replace outdoor road salt piles. Other projects are aimed at revitalizing local waterfronts by planning for redevelopment or building shoreline protections. Half a dozen projects cover restoration of parks and landmarks including the Dix Hills home of jazz giants Alice and John Coltrane. The state economic development initiative, started in 2011 under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, pools much of the money, formerly doled out by state agencies. Since its inception, the initiative has steered $8 billion to more than 10,000 projects statewide.

Lawrence Levy, executive dean at the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University, said the initiative has primed "the job generating pump" on Long Island, distributing its windfalls evenly across the region. It's also created a model of cooperation for business, nonprofit and educational leaders on Long Island, said Levy, who worked for the regional development council in its first decade.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed legislation that would’ve required industrial development agencies to have representatives from unions and public schools on their boards of directors.

James T. Madore reports in NEWSDAY that IDAs grant breaks on property taxes, sales taxes and other levies to expanding businesses in return for job creation and capital investment. The tax savings impact the budgets of school districts by shifting the tax burden to homeowners and other companies not receiving IDA assistance, while unions want the construction jobs for their members.

Statewide, there are more than 100 IDAs, including eight on Long Island.

Proponents of the vetoed bill said it would've make IDAs more accountable to the communities where projects receiving tax breaks are located. In her Dec. 21 veto message, Hochul said the legislation, which passed overwhelmingly in the state Senate and Assembly in the spring, wasn’t necessary. She said labor leaders and educators are already eligible for IDA board seats, and the agencies must seek input on their tax incentive packages via public hearings and meetings.

“It is most appropriate to ensure specific industrial development agency members are chosen by the municipality to best represent the interests of the community rather than imposing an inflexible statutory requirement,” said Hochul, a Democrat.

The legislation passed by wide margins in both chambers of the state legislature in June. East end supporters included State Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), Assembly Member Jodi Giglio (R-Baiting Hollow) and Assembly Member Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor).

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It’s going to grow like a weed.

Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that the legal cannabis industry will take New Yorkers even higher in 2025, with state regulators projecting the number of new licensed pot stores will more than double — soaring from 275 to more than 625.

In 2024, consumers purchased more than $840 million in legal ganja. When factoring in sales from 2023, the legal market has exceeded the milestone of $1 billion in total sales.

The Office of Cannabis Management said...

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The Town of Southampton will sue to attempt to halt the Shinnecock Nation’s construction of a gas station on tribal owned land in Hampton Bays. Yesterday, with asphalt crews commencing paving of the nearly 1,000-foot entrance road into the gas station from Newtown Road, a divided Southampton Town Board authorized its attorneys to take legal action against the tribe over the use of the land, known as Westwoods, for the commercial development. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the Southampton Town Board voted 3-2 in favor of commencing the legal action, which will challenge the tribe’s right to develop the 79-acre Westwoods property without regulatory oversight under town zoning and building codes. Councilman Michael Iasilli and Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, in his last meeting on the council before he takes his seat in the New York State Assembly, voted against taking the tribe to court over the gas station project. Even before town lawmakers voted, Shinnecock tribal members took a defiant stand, facing down the board and residents of Hampton Bays at Town Hall - steadfastly defending the legal standing of their rights to use the Westwoods property as they see fit, free from oversight by the town. “You want to come against us and attack us with litigation, we’re not going to back down,” tribal Chairwoman Lisa Goree said to the board. “We’ve been here for 10,000 years, and we’re going to be here for thousands more. This is just another battle that we’re ready to fight.” The dispute over the gas station, and like the court case that will now swirl around it, focuses on the legal status of the Westwoods property and the Shinnecock’s right as a sovereign Native American nation, to develop it without regulatory oversight by Southampton Town government. The Westwoods property is part of the tribe’s ancestral lands but Southampton Town has claimed in the past that the land does not have the same sovereign standing as the 800-acre Shinnecock Neck territory, which is a federal Native American reservation and not subject to local government oversight.