News

A state bond sale exceeding $144M will help ratepayers in Riverhead and North Hempstead share in $19M in savings on already completed clean water projects by allowing municipalities to more quickly repay money borrowed with taxpayer dollars.

Encountering people who are homeless or panhandling at stations, especially in Manhattan and Babylon, is the top concern among dissatisfied Long Island Rail Road customers, a new survey reveals.

FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, showed 76 flights canceled at Kennedy Airport Sunday and 33 at LaGuardia Airport, as a rise in COVID-19 cases continues to cause staffing shortages for airlines nationwide.

The portal will allow New Yorkers to make appointments at 13 new sites across the state, including two on LI, that will be open Wednesday. Meanwhile, there's been a fourfold increase in kids hospitalized with coronavirus in NYC, the state says.

A 29-year-old Brooklyn man was in custody in connection with the Christmas Day shooting of his parents in their house, Nassau police said. Both victims were found conscious and alert and taken to a hospital for treatment, police said.

The COVID-19 year ahead is uncertain, but medical experts predict New York eventually will get to the "new normal" of relatively few new cases and of less need for masking and other precautions. 

Temperatures will dip below freezing overnight, with partly sunny skies Monday morning and a chance of rain in the afternoon, continuing off and on through Thursday, forecasters say. New Year's Eve is looking dry with a high in the mid-40s and lows in the mid-30s.

Work will begin within the next two months to replace the floor, ceiling and doors, renovate bathrooms and install updated fixtures, repair the roof and put in emergency exit lighting, new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and new gutters.

It was a tumultuous 12 months, dominated by COVID-19 and political change. Take a look back on some of the local and national stories that shaped the year on Long Island.

Hart Lobsters in West Sayville is banking on a foundation's program to help reverse its fortunes and improve the health of the Great South Bay since being forced to turn to harvesting oysters and aquaculture to preserve its revenue stream.

Southampton Town police who responded to a burglary call at a North Sea home found the man who been fatally shot, Suffolk police said.

A Bay Shore man, 18, is charged with driving while intoxicated after he fatally struck Luis Trujillo, 67, of Islip and seriously injured Veronica Deleon, 47, of Brentwood on Union Boulevard in Islip on Saturday, Suffolk police said.

Masks again covered churchgoers' faces, greetings of peace tended to avoid the personal touch, and some people decided to forgo in-person worship altogether in favor of a livestream.

The additions take effect on Jan. 3 and include eight westbound morning rush-hour trains and seven eastbound, evening peak-hour trains. The trains had been eliminated as part of COVID-19 reductions.

Long Islanders have been standing in long testing lines for days as the number of COVID-19 cases surges amid the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant.

"Temperatures are going to be a little bit too warm for freezing rain," said Tiffany Fortier, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Early studies indicate the omicron variant is less severe than delta. But, "We are still at risk of having our hospitals overrun" because of how contagious it is, said Sean Clouston, of Stony Brook University.

'Tis the season to be jolly, Long Island officials said Thursday - so don't ruin the holiday cheer  by making it easy for thieves to steal your vehicle. 

An 85-year-old mother was stabbed to death in her Deer Park home by her son's ex-girlfriend — who then stabbed him — on Thursday, Suffolk police said.

Rain is likely Christmas Day, Saturday, mainly before 4 p.m., while the high temperature is expected to be near 50 degrees, the National Weather Service said.