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.

***

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.

***

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...

With the summer season approaching, East Hampton Town government has been hit with a string of departures from various departments. In the past six or so months, five department heads have resigned: Code Enforcement Director Kevin Cooper, Town Attorney Rob Connelly, Housing Director Eric Schantz, Chief Building Inspector Joe Palermo and Planning Director Jeremy Samuelson. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that since then, the town has filled two of the positions: it promoted Tina LaGarenne to occupy Samuelson’s former spot and Cooper’s replacement, a former Southampton Town investigator, starts work on Monday. However, the posts held by Connelly, Schantz and Palermo are still in flux. Other resignations hit more recently, with several employees still finishing their final days as town employees. Patrick Derenze, an East Hampton Town spokesman said the town — “like many businesses” on the East End — is navigating “ongoing challenges related to employee recruitment and retention, which reflect broader regional trends in housing, transportation and the cost of living.” To address the issue, the Town of East Hampton has taken “meaningful, forward-thinking steps” intended to retain current employees and attract “new talent.” These include a new temporary paid parental leave policy and a flex time policy, the latter of which offers “eligible employees increased flexibility in their work schedules.”

***

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other Democrats said yesterday they have sued President Donald Trump over his executive order to require states to further prove citizenship in registering voters and to make other changes to elections. Michael Gormley reports in NEWSDAY that the top New York congressional leaders and other Democrats called Trump’s executive order an "unconstitutional power grab."

At issue in the conflict over Trump’s March 25 executive order and a related Republican bill introduced in Congress last week is a states’ rights clause in the U.S. Constitution. That provision states: "The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature." The provision, however, also states Congress "may at any time by law make or alter such regulations."

Trump’s executive order argues that states "largely" rely on inadequate "self-attestation for citizenship." He also seeks to curb the increasingly popular practice of "mass voting by mail."

Trump’s order also threatens to "cease providing federal funds to states that do not comply."

In New York State, however, noncitizens already are prohibited from voting. The state relies on the registrant declaring their U.S. citizenship under penalty of perjury. Applicants also must provide a Social Security number and standard driver’s license, permit or nondriver identification.

"The president doesn’t get to make his own laws," said Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice's Voting Rights and Elections Program at New York University School of Law. The center is part of another lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order.

"States get to make those decisions; Congress may make those decisions," he said. "But the president doesn’t get to do those things."

***

This evening on the Southampton Campus of Stony Brook University, Dr. Christopher Gobler of School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University will present his annual “State of the Bays” lecture, this year themed “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that tonight’s lecture will be in Duke Lecture Hall, which is located inside Chancellor’s Hall on the SBU Southampton campus. Members of the Gobler lab will present posters explaining their work in the lobby from 7 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the lecture at 7:30 p.m.

According to Dr....

Suffolk County is moving closer to a government-backed seafood processing facility, officials said, as it explores potential sites and the type of work to be done before putting a proposal out to public bid.

At the New York Seafood Summit in Riverhead on Friday, County Executive Edward P. Romaine spoke in support of the idea and a separate panel led by the Cornell Cooperative Extension discussed the services it could offer from a list of potential locations, from Babylon to Montauk.

Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that a processing facility able to fillet fish, shuck and can shellfish, and process kelp could help create new markets for fish that are not economically viable to sell now, experts said. Mechanical fillet machines could help process and market more porgies, a highly abundant species. The market for bait would also get a boost. And processing could help a burgeoning market for sugar kelp, while creating new markets for shucked shellfish, including canned and frozen foods.

"We’re working on that," Romaine said at the summit, which presented findings from a survey of fishing interests across the county. A request for proposals is being drawn up by the county’s economic development team. Romaine also said Suffolk County is moving ahead with a planned Seafood Festival at Smith Point County Park in August.

It is unclear how much a processing facility would cost and who would own and operate it.

"The feasibility study will present options for construction as well as future management configurations for the county’s consideration," Romaine spokesman Michael Martino said.

"What we found is that because there are so many things that are needed, such as filleting and ice, that you can’t just do it all in one building and say Yaphank," said Amanda Dauman, fisheries specialist at Cornell, who led a presentation that surveyed fishing interests about the plan. "You need to have it where the people who need it are."

In addition to processing, most survey respondents emphasized the need for basic services at fishing ports, including more reliable electricity and fresh water, ice machines and proper lighting. Most commercial fishing docks are in need of repairs.

Amanda Jones, director of operations at Montauk Inlet Seafood, said there’s a need for more ice houses and dockside fish processing. Right now the only icehouse is in Montauk, the state’s biggest fishing port, but could vanish after a recent sale of Gosman’s, which owns the ice facility. In addition, she said, the lack of dockside processing for squid, among other species, drives fishing boats to Connecticut and Rhode Island to land fish and fuel up.

"Without dockside processing we lose that business during squid season," she said. Inlet has requested permits for an icehouse in Montauk.

***

Felicia Thomas-Williams, a retired Brentwood educator, is Long Island's first new NYS Board of Regents representative in 20 years. Thomas-Williams, 56, of Wheatley Heights, starts in her new role today, replacing Roger Tilles, who will serve out the remaining year of a vacant, at-large position on the board. Darwin Yanes reports in NEWSDAY that those who have worked with Thomas-Williams say they have been impressed by her commitment to her students and her ability to advocate, on the state and federal levels, for funding and initiatives that will benefit them.

Tilles, 78, said his move to an at-large position allows him to serve a shorter term, while giving Long Islanders a second voice who can commit to a five-year term. He called Thomas-Williams a "dedicated educator" and said “our mission as Regents is both excellence and equity, and as long as we keep that in mind — that both need to be fulfilled — that's going to be important." Thomas-Williams, who grew up in Suffolk County, is joining the board at a time when President Donald Trump's administration has vowed to shut...

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Long Island health care providers say they are bracing for the financial impact of anticipated cuts to Medicaid as the Republican majority in Congress works on sweeping legislation to make 2017 tax cuts permanent. A cut to the federal share of Medicaid funding to New York would have a ripple effect across Long Island, where some 680,000 Nassau and Suffolk County residents with limited income rely on it to help cover medical costs. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives last month passed a budget resolution to extend the tax cuts…and to offset the cost cuts…they instructed a House committee with jurisdiction over Medicaid to cut spending by $880 billion over the next decade.

Tom Brune reports in NEWSDAY that Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that helps people with limited income and resources pay for medical costs, including medical and nursing home care, and personal care services. Recipients usually don't pay for their care, except for small co-payments.

New York State has one of the most generous programs — each state sets eligibility requirements and benefits — which is mostly paid for by the federal government.

The federal government paid $57.1 billion for Medicaid in New York State in fiscal year 2024, with the state putting up $35.9 billion and localities such as New York City paying $8.5 billion, according to the New York's Office of State Comptroller.

***

By the time the danger had passed the Sunday morning after fire ripped through 600 acres of the Central Pine Barrens in Westhampton three weeks ago, those who protect the health of these woodlands already knew the long-term environmental impact of the fire would be a healthy one.

“The pine barrens is a fire dependent ecosystem. We will actually see a rebound in the ecosystem long-term,” said New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Acting Director Amanda Lefton at the March 9 press conference with first responders at Gabreski Airport. She added that forest rangers expect to see new trees growing in these woodlands in the weeks and months ahead. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the 2025 Westhampton Pines Fire burned through an especially rare section of the pine barrens, the Dwarf Pine Plains, so-called because of the stunted pitch pines that grow in this area of nutrient-poor soils and high winds.

In the days after the fire, staff of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, an environmental non-profit, reported seeing “hundreds of seeds fluttering in the air as the closed or serotinous cones of the dwarf pines opened up, due to the fire melting the resin that helps to keep the cones closed, and shed their seeds.”

While wildfires may be a natural part of the ecosystem, their impact on human communities can be devastating, and the Central Pine Barrens Commission has been working for the past several years on a comprehensive plan to guide the health of these woodlands for the long-term, using controlled burning to protect both human communities and ecosystems, mostly in the Rocky Point, Ridge and Manorville areas, but also in the David Sarnoff Preserve, just north of the site of the Westhampton Pines Fire, which backs up to several densely populated communities in Riverside.

The Central Pine Barrens Commission is embarking this year on a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for nearly 30,000 acres of publicly owned lands just north of the dwarf pine area that burned in March. This area includes parts of Hampton Bays, Westhampton, Flanders, East Quogue and Quogue.

This plan has been in the works since well before the fire, which...

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A humble bungalow bulldozed for a dream beach house. Quaint cottages cleared away for luxury living. It’s a familiar scene that plays out in the Town of East Hampton, but officials are hoping to discourage the trend of oversized houses with a new regulation set to take effect in July. Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that the code change sets a new formula for calculating a home's maximum square footage, reducing what can be built by a range of 13% to 27%, according to estimates provided by the town.

Deputy Supervisor Cate Rogers said she spearheaded the policy change in response to building trends across East Hampton Town.

“We had people buying quite a few properties up in town and knocking down the older houses, the traditional houses on the smaller lots,” said Rogers.

Larger, multimillion dollar homes were rebuilt on those lots, causing year-round residents who grew up in East Hampton to be priced out of the neighborhood, she said. “For me, that’s the loss of the heart and soul of our community and a big change in our community character,” Rogers said.

The new formula is the latest in a series of zoning changes intended to deter overdevelopment in East Hampton Town. Proponents of the bill say the measure still allows for spacious — though not supersized — homes to be built that retain a rural charm. Smaller homes use less energy and are better for the environment, backers of the bill point out. But opponents say the legislation isn't targeted enough. The restrictions could limit owners of modest-sized homes, including less affluent town residents, from expanding.

So, to summarize, the Town of East Hampton’s new house size law reads as follows:

Effective July 1, the formula for maximum house sizes in East Hampton will change. The home can be 7% of the lot area, plus 1,500 square feet.

That's down from the prior formula of 10% of the lot size plus 1,600 square feet.

East Hampton Town will exempt property owners if their permits for work were approved before July 1.

***

Beginning this coming Monday, March 31, the Southampton Town Police Department, in conjunction with the Southampton Town Highway Department, will again launch the Canoe Place Traffic Reduction Program in Hampton Bays, aimed at addressing the ongoing seasonal traffic congestion.

The program will be implemented on weekdays between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that the traffic light at the intersection of Montauk Highway and Canoe Place Road will be set to flash, and no left turns will be permitted at that intersection. Other traffic lane modifications will also be deployed to facilitate traffic flow through that intersection in Hampton Bays.

The program schedule will be put on hold during the spring school break week of April 14 – 18. Weather considerations that impact traffic volume may also affect the schedule.

The Police Department will communicate this information through its website (www.southamptontownny.gov/1805/police), and by the use of roadside message boards.

Southampton Town Police officers will be posted to assure motorists’ safety, and Highway Department staff will be posted as well to deploy traffic cones, signage, and electronic message boards to alert and inform motorists traveling through the intersection.

The town is encouraging motorists to support these efforts by adhering to traffic laws, practicing defensive driving, and being mindful of pedestrians and other road users.

Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore emphasized that the Town Board is committed to maintaining this program as...

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County health departments in Nassau, Suffolk and across the state will be affected by a $300 million funding cut from the federal government, putting mental health and addiction programs at risk, as well as those that help battle infectious disease, Gov. Kathy Hochul said last night. Hochul vowed to "fight them tooth and nail" to hold onto the funding. Lisa L. Colangelo and Nicholas Grasso report in NEWSDAY that in a statement, the governor said the Department of Health and Human Services informed her office on Tuesday that it will cut more than $300 million from the state Health Department, Office of Addiction Supports and Services and the Office of Mental Health. "These include funds that county health departments across New York are planning to use to fight disease and keep people safe," Hochul said. "At a time when New York is facing an ongoing opioid epidemic, multiple confirmed cases of measles and an ongoing mental health crisis, these cuts will be devastating." The funding being cut — $11.4 billion overall nationally — was first allocated by Congress to help state and local health departments battle the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic slowed, the funds were used for other health-related programming. "The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," the agency said in a statement.

Hochul said no state will be able to restore the "massive federal funding cuts" proposed by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency and the Republican-controlled Congress.

"They are trying to rip apart the social safety net that lifts families out of poverty and gives everyone a shot at a middle-class life," Hochul said. "These cuts aren't just numbers on a page — they're going to hurt real people in every corner of New York."

***

Attorneys for the Shinnecock Nation have asked the judge who ordered a halt to construction of a gas station in Hampton Bays to modify her injunction to allow contractors to complete some steps of the work already begun to secure the site in anticipation of an extended pause to the work.

Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that employees of the contractors who were constructing the 10 acre gas station and travel plaza told the judge in affidavits submitted to the court on Monday that without completing some steps of the construction — including pouring concrete over fuel sumps, completing the canopy over the gas pumps and installing the outer shell of the travel plaza building — a long work pause at the property could result in environmental issues, damage to the structures erected already and public safety concerns should people trespass on the property. “The abrupt work stoppage prevented contractors from taking customary precautions to secure the site, primarily for protecting public safety, but also to protect the assets of the incomplete project,” Harold Wingert, the owner of Eastern Woodlands Petroleum, one of the Shinnecock’s contractors on the project, wrote to Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Maureen Liccione. “The fuel sump pumps are currently exposed at the Project site. In order to adequately protect the exposed fuel pump pits as well as the metal fasteners and fixtures within those sump pits from exposure to moisture, the full canopy must/should be installed.” The injunction ordered all work at the site halted on March 18, after Liccione ruled that the Shinnecock cannot treat the land they own in Hampton Bays as sovereign tribal territory exempt from town zoning rules — which would prohibit the

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This past Sunday the Nature Conservancy’s stewardship team at Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island performed the first prescribed burn there in more than a decade. A prescribed burn crew applied fire to 100 acres of oak forest, a fire-adapted ecosystem that benefits from periodic fire to promote its health. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the plumes of smoke could be seen from Sag Harbor and other areas surrounding the Peconic Bay, causing a stir amongst the public in the wake of a massive wildfire in Westhampton two weeks ago. Mashomack reported Monday that “the burn was executed safely and successfully with the assistance of partners from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.”

“It’s a lot of hard work returning fire to a landscape, but seeing partners come together, work cooperatively, and execute the plan perfectly is a beautiful thing,” said Mashomack Conservation and Stewardship Manager Cody-Marie Miller. “The fire behaved exactly how we planned and resulted in a great mosaic of fire effects.”   

Forest managers say prescribed fire, properly implemented, is important for the health of oak forests, suppressing invasive species, prompting biodiversity, and promoting oak regeneration. Controlled burning also reduces tick populations and habitat, a major public health concern due to the numerous diseases they carry. Prescribed burning also abates wildfire risk by reducing a buildup of fuels — dead material that can easily ignite. Prescribed fire was first used at Mashomack in 1980, until the program was stopped in 2011.

Land managers are required to prepare a detailed prescribed burn plan well in advance of having a prescribed fire. The plan defines suitable weather and fuel conditions, safety measures, desired fire behavior and the impact on the landscape that they hope to create by the burn.  

***

While federal officials are clashing with New York over congestion pricing, the tolling program that President Trump has vowed to kill, there is another transit fight underway between Albany and Washington. Stefanos Chen and Benjamin Oreskes report in THE NY TIMES that the $68 billion capital plan, a five-year budget proposal that includes a slew of critical upgrades for the subway, buses and commuter railroads…including the LIRR…is the biggest such request the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has ever made. The plan, which would run from 2025 to 2029, comes as the Trump administration is not only trying to kill the toll but is also threatening to defund an untold number of other transit priorities. So far, the M.T.A. has identified funding for only about half of the plan and is expecting the federal government to contribute $14 billion, a sum that was optimistic even before its tolling dispute with Washington, budget analysts said.

The State of New York is relying on congestion pricing to fund transit upgrades that were part of the last five-year capital plan, and its termination could throw the new budget into disarray, as overdue projects pile up. The capital plan is separate from the M.T.A.’s annual operating budget, which largely pays for expenses like worker salaries, energy expenses and some financing costs and is partly funded by fare revenue.

The transit authority’s scramble for funding is emblematic of the many possible shortfalls facing state officials as they attempt to negotiate a budget by April 1. It’s not uncommon for the state budget to arrive several weeks late.

Congestion pricing began in January and charges most drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak traffic hours. The...

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Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore announced this past Friday that New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas F. Whelan had dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Sand Land Corporation, the owner of a sand mine on Middle Highway and Millstone Road in Noyac that has been involved in a legal battle with the town for more than a decade. Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that Moore said Whelan had granted the town’s motion to dismiss Sand Land’s petition, affirming the town’s position that the company, owned by John Tintle, must adhere to the rulings of the New York State Court of Appeals. The supervisor noted that Sand Land had been seeking $50 million in damages from the Town of Southampton. The lawsuit stemmed from the town’s efforts to ensure that the mining company followed the procedures outlined by the Court of Appeals, which requires the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to ascertain from the town whether Sand Land’s proposed mining activities fall within the scope of any prior nonconforming use. The court determined that Sand Land filed suit in an effort to bypass this crucial step by petitioning the court to declare the scope of their nonconforming use rights instead of engaging with the town’s zoning authorities, Moore said. The court, in its decision, explicitly stated that Sand Land's failure to apply to Southampton Town's zoning authorities regarding the scope of the prior nonconforming use of the property required the dismissal of the action, she added.

***

A 140-year-old state law is playing a role in spiking the cost of new construction statewide, according to some local contractors and builders, who cited the soaring cost of commercial insurance. The so-called Scaffold Law holds commercial property owners and contractors completely responsible for falls at construction sites, even in cases when the worker was negligent. Critics argue the law is being exploited by those who stage fake accidents for hefty payouts, while supporters contend it holds contractors accountable for unsafe work conditions. The law gives contractors and commercial property owners virtually no legal defense in the event of an accident, even in cases of worker negligence, so each fall can quickly blossom into expensive legal fees, medical bills and cash payouts to the alleged victim. "It impacts whether you're building a school, a hospital, a commercial building," Michael Florio, chief executive of Long Island Builders Institute, a nonprofit trade association, said of the “Scaffold Law.”

While many of the expenses are incurred by private construction firms and their clients, New York taxpayers also are paying an estimated $785 million annually in costs that trickle down from publicly funded projects, including school construction, bridge and rail projects, according to the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, an Albany think tank.

Robert Brodsky reports in NEWSDAY that the precise numbers of allegedly staged accidents are hard to pinpoint, but critics point to a significant increase in lawsuits in recent years involving people accused of staging accidents as part of what they say are vast criminal rings. A key problem, critics say, is that anyone allegedly caught staging an accident is faced with an A misdemeanor, an offense that at most leads to a year in jail.

Now legislators in Albany are pushing multiple proposals that would allow prosecutors to charge people who allegedly stage an accident with a felony.

But there is significant resistance to the changes from influential groups who say this is a ploy by contractors to leave...