Op-Ed: Zeldin, Tycoon Lead Trump Support

Suffolk County has not only been the base of one of Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress, Lee Zeldin, but it’s also been the base of an intensely pro-Trump father and daughter combination of billionaire Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer. Further, in 2019 Donald Read More …

Op-Ed: Riot at Capitol Hits Many Hard

“A Single Day Shakes…One Nation to the Core,” said one front-page headline. As the attack by rioters on the Capitol shook the nation, it also shook this area and this state—hard. As Rob Calarco, the presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature, declared: “I watched Read More …

Op-Ed: LIPA Can Become a True Public Utility

The Long Island Power Authority will decide in March whether to continue having an outside private company provide electric service—so far it has used KeySpan, National Grid and now PSEG—or become a true public power utility and supply the electricity itself. Eyed as a model Read More …

Suffolk Close-Up: Final Count Gives GOP the Nod

Finally, the results are in. It turned out to be an Election Month, not the normal Election Day with a night on which results are available. But the COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc in all human activities. In Suffolk like all over the United States, Read More …

Op Ed: Suffolk Ballot Will Look Different

  There will likely be a new ballot line landscape in Suffolk County and the rest of New York State as a result of last month’s election: the elimination of several minor parties that have for many years all but automatically gained ballot presence. There Read More …

Op-Ed: Republicans Lead on Election Returns Despite Democratic Enrollment Edge

Despite Democratic Party enrollment gains in Suffolk County—and Democrats now having an edge in enrollment here—many Republican candidates did well in the Nov. 3  election in Suffolk. According to the figures of the New York State Board of Elections, out of 1,124,295 registered voters in Read More …

Op-Ed: County Bill Addresses Reckless Biking

“Local Law to Prevent Reckless Biking in Suffolk County.” That’s the title of a proposed law now before the Suffolk County Legislature. Suffolk is not alone in this area in enacting such a law. The county legislature in neighboring Nassau County voted unanimously last year Read More …

Op-Ed: Epidemic Deepens Suffolk’s Financial Stress

Suffolk County government is in terrible shape financially. As it has for governments widely, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on Suffolk, more so because almost 50 percent of the county government’s budget is based on the collection of sale tax monies—and people Read More …

Op-Ed: Legislator Pushing to Raise Smoking Age

The Suffolk County Legislature since it was established 50 years ago has been a governmental trailblazer enacting first-in-the nation laws—then replicated through the U.S. These have including a ban on handheld use of cellphones while driving and sale of the drug ephedra, creation of a Read More …

Op-Ed: National Grid Expanding Its Fracked Gas Supplies

Despite New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act passed last year that sets a goal of 70 percent renewable energy in the state by 2030, and the state ban in 2014 on the environmentally polluting process of fracking in New York, National Grid Read More …

Op-Ed: We Can End the Scourge of Robocalls

     “We’ve had a recent urgent update on your Medicare coverage,” said the robocall. A second followed announcing: “We’ve been trying to reach you concerning your car’s extended warranty.”  Caller ID won’t help you these days to know it’s a robocall: the phone number and Read More …

Op-Ed: Back to Teaching But at a Distance

My new semester as a professor at SUNY/College at Old Westbury began this week and I’m teaching online. Most classes at the college are online other than those dependent on campus facilities such as courses utilizing science labs, art studios and media production. It’s quite Read More …