Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that killed a man
in Ronkonkoma on July 6.
Milton Garcia was driving a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe on Express Drive North when the vehicle left the roadway at the corner of Breeze Avenue, hit a street sign, continued across the lawn of 4195 Express Drive North, and struck a tree head-on in the yard of 4191 Express Drive North at approximately 12:05 a.m.
Garcia, 45, of Huntington Station, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital where he was
pronounced dead. The Chevrolet was impounded for a safety check. Detectives are asking anyone with information on the crash to contact the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8452.
Mt. Sinai senior Dominic Pennzello shoots in Town of Brookhaven summer league basketball action. Photo by Bill Landon
The Mt. Sinai boys’ basketball team won their summer league season opener with a win over Sachem East. Photo by Bill Landon
The Mt. Sinai boys’ basketball team won their summer league season opener with a win over Sachem East. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai forward Brian Vales lays up for two in Town of Brookhaven summer league basketball action. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai senior Dominic Pennzello scores from the paint in Town of Brookhaven summer league basketball action. Photo by Bill Landon
Mt. Sinai forward Brian Vales battles down low in Town of Brookhaven summer league basketball action. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The Town of Brookhaven launched its summer league boys basketball season when the Mustangs of Mount Sinai played Sachem East Thursday, June 27, at the Sachem East High School gymnasium. This season’s large school competition consists of 14 teams stretching along the North Shore from Half Hollow Hills West to Riverhead in a nine-game season that will conclude Aug. 1.
The Mustangs controlled the tempo of the game from the opening tipoff, managing to keep Sachem at bay to win the game 53-43.
Mount Sinai is back in action Tuesday, July 9, when the team will face John Glenn in a late game at Hauppauge High School. Game time is slated for 9 p.m.
A Column Promoting a More Earth-Friendly Lifestyle
By John L. Turner
John Turner
With the warm weather upon us homeowners are revving up lawn mowers, weed whackers, leaf blowers and the like. If you find yourself in need of purchasing new equipment, now’s the time to go electric! Many types and models are available covering these tool choices (not to mention snow blowers) and more are coming on the market as we move away from a carbon-based economy.
Electric yard tools have numerous advantages over gas powered tools. They require less maintenance, are quieter, and produce no pollution. As for this last benefit, according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA for short) running a commercial gas powered lawn mower for one hour produces the same amount of pollution as driving a new gas powered car 300 miles and, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, lawn mowers collectively create five percent of the total air pollution generated annually in the United States while burning about 800 million gallons of gas.
Another major benefit of going with electric yard tools at your next purchase?The State of New York is offering financial rebates! A homeownercan receive a 50% rebate up to $125 when the old gas mower is turned in or a 50% rebate of up to $75 for new mower owners.
So whether it’s for cleaner community air, a quieter neighbrohood, and more green in your wallet, electric yard equipment makes sense.
A resident of Setauket, author John L. Turner is conservation chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, author of “Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island” and president of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours.
Suffolk County Police arrested a man for alleged possession of weapons and fireworks in Smithtown on July 4.
Fourth Precinct Crime Section officers conducted a search warrant at a residence on Pia Boulevard on July 4, at approximately 2:40 p.m. The investigation revealed that the homeowner, Christopher Giancola, had several weapons and illegal fireworks in his home. Police confiscated two assault rifles, two handguns, several high capacity feeding devices and bullets. They also confiscated 15 boxes of fireworks, containing approximately 100 mortars, and two firework cakes.
Giancola, 52, was charged with five counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon, five counts of Criminal Contempt 2nd Degree, two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 7th Degree, and one count of Possession of Fireworks. He is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on July 6.
From left, Adrian Krainer and Danilo Segovia with the Breakthrough Prize, which Krainer won in 2018. Photo from Danilo Segovia
By Daniel Dunaief
For many young children, the ideal peanut butter and jelly sandwich doesn’t include any crust, as an accommodating parent will trim off the unwanted parts before packing a lunch for that day.
Similarly, the genetic machinery that takes an RNA blueprint and turns it into proteins includes a so-called “spliceosome,” which cuts out the unwanted bits of genetic material, called introns, and pulls together exons.
Adrian Krainer. Photo from CSHL
When the machinery works correctly, cells produce proteins important in routine metabolism and everyday function. When it doesn’t function correctly, people can contract diseases.
Danilo Segovia, a PhD student at Stony Brook University who has been working in the laboratory of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor Adrian Krainer for seven years, recently published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences about an important partner, called DDX23, that works with the key protein SRSF1 in the spliceosome.
“We obtained new insights into the splicing process,” said Krainer, who is the co-leader of the Gene Regulation & Inheritance program in the Cancer Center at CSHL. “The spliceosome is clearly important for every gene that has introns and every cell type that can have mutations.”
Krainer’s lab has worked with the regulator protein SRSF1 since 1990. Building on the extensive work he and members of his lab performed, Krainer was able to develop an effective treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which is a progressive disease that impacts the muscles used for breathing, eating, crawling and walking.
In children with SMA, Krainer created an antisense oligonucleotide, which enables the production of a key protein at a back up gene through more efficient splicing. The treatment, which is one of three on the market, has changed the prognosis for people with SMA.
At this point, the way DDX23 and SRSF1 work together is unclear, but the connection is likely important to prepare the spliceosome to do the important work of reading RNA sequences and assembling proteins.
Needle in a protein haystack
Thanks to the work of Krainer and others, scientists knew that SRSF1 performed an important regulatory role in the spliceosome.
What they didn’t know, however, was how other protein worked together with this regulator to keep the machinery on track.
Danilo Segovia in the lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Photo by Constance Burkin/CSHL
Using a new screening technology developed in other labs that enabled Segovia to see proteins that come in proximity with or interact with SRSF1, he came up with a list of 190 potential candidates.
Through a lengthy and detailed set of experiments, Segovia screened around 30 potential proteins that might play a role in the spliceosome.
One experiment after another enabled him to check proteins off the list, the way prospective college students who visit a school that is too hilly, too close to a city, too far from a city, or too cold in the winter do amid an intense selection process.
Then, on Feb. 15 of last year, about six years after he started his work in Krainer’s lab, Segovia had a eureka moment.
“After doing the PhD for so long, you get that result you were waiting for,” Segovia recalled.
The PhD candidate didn’t tell anyone at first because he wanted to be sure the interaction between the proteins was relevant and real.
“Lucky for us, the story makes sense,” Segovia said.
Krainer appreciated Segovia’s perseverance and patience as well as his willingness to help other members of his lab with structural work.
Krainer described Segovia as the “resident structural expert who would help everybody else who needed to get that insight.”
Krainer suggested that each of these factors had been studied separately in the process, without the realization that they work together.
This is the beginning of the story, as numerous questions remain.
“We reported this interaction and now we have to try to understand its implications,” said Krainer. “How is it driving or contributing to splice assembly.”
Other factors also likely play an important role in this process as well.
Krainer explained that Segovia’s workflow allowed him to prioritize interacting proteins for further study. Krainer expects that many of the others on the list are worth further analysis.
At some point, Krainer’s lab or others will also work to crystallize the combination of these proteins as the structure of such units often reveals details about how these pieces function.
Segovia and Krainer worked together with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor Leemor Joshua-Tor, who does considerably more biochemistry work in her research than the members of Krainer’s lab.
When a cowboy met a witch
A native of Montevideo, Uruguay, Segovia came to Stony Brook in part because he was conducting research on the gene P53, which is often mutated in forms of human cancer.
Segovia had read the research of Ute Moll, Endowed Renaissance Professor of Cancer Biology at Stony Brook University, who had conducted important P53 research.
“I really liked the paper she did,” said Segovia. “When I was applying for college in the United States for my PhD, I decided I’m for sure going to apply to Stony Brook.”
Even though Segovia hasn’t met Moll, he has benefited from his journey to Long Island.
During rotations at CSHL, Segovia realized he wanted to work with RNA. He found a scientific connection as well as a cultural one when he discovered that Krainer is from the same city in Uruguay.
Krainer said his lab has had a wide range of international researchers, with as many as 25 countries represented. “The whole institution is like that. People who go into science are naturally curious about a lot of things, including cultures.”
Segovia not only found a productive setting in which to conduct his PhD research, but also met his wife Polona Šafarič Tepeš, a former researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory who currently works at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Tepeš is originally from Slovenia.
The couple met at a Halloween party, where Segovia came as a cowboy and Tepeš dressed as a witch. They eloped on November 6, 2020 and were the first couple married after the Covid lockdown at the town hall in Portland, Maine.
Outside of the lab, Segovia enjoys playing the clarinet, which he has been doing since he was 11.
As for science, Segovia grew up enjoying superhero movies that involve mutations and had considered careers as a musician, scientist or detective.
“Science is universal,” he said. “You can work wherever you want in the world. I knew I wanted to travel, so it all worked out.”
As for the next steps, after Segovia defends his thesis in July, he is considering doing post doctoral research or joining a biotechnology company.
In an era where environmental degradation and the proliferation of microplastics are rampant, it is crucial for communities to take proactive steps toward sustainability. Introduced by county Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), bill I.R. 1371 is a commendable effort aimed at reducing the environmental impact of single-use plastics in Suffolk County.
This bill, if passed by the Legislature and signed by County Executive Ed Romaine (R), would prohibit restaurants and third-party delivery services from providing single-use utensils and condiment packages unless explicitly requested by customers.
The significance of this bill extends beyond mere policy changes; it embodies a collective commitment to a healthier environment and community — advocacy for the bill is rooted in the undeniable truth that excessive plastic waste poses a severe threat to our natural surroundings.
Plastics often end up on our beaches, clogging our street drains and breaking down into microparticles. These particles can be inhaled or ingested, eventually finding their way into the food chain and even human reproductive organs.
This bill is not about banning plastic but rather encouraging mindfulness. The environmental mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle” emphasizes that reduction is the highest priority. By limiting the distribution of unnecessary plastic, we address the problem at its source, preventing waste before it starts. This approach not only protects our environment but also enhances the quality of life.
The bill emphasizes that the reduction of plastic is beneficial for everyone, including businesses. Beyond cost savings, reducing plastic waste also safeguards our tourism industry, which is vital to Suffolk County’s economy. Tourists are drawn to our pristine beaches and vibrant natural beauty; plastic pollution undermines these attractions and threatens our economic well-being.
Living in a healthy environment is not just a privilege; it is a necessity. We must hold businesses accountable for their environmental impact and encourage the use of environmentally friendly alternatives. By doing so, we protect our natural resources, support our local economy and ensure a healthier future for all residents of Suffolk County.
The future of our takeout restaurants, beaches and public health could be positively influenced by this legislation. While you won’t be forced to forgo single-use utensils, considering environmentally friendly alternatives can make a significant difference.
This is essential, commonsense legislation that the county Legislature must find a way of passing.
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
A scene from 31st annual St. Anthony's Family Feast & Festival. Photo by Michael Scro/Media Origin
Fr. Thomas Judge Knights of Columbus celebrated its 31st annual St. Anthony’s Family Feast and Festival at Trinity Regional School, 1025 Fifth Ave., East Northport from June 26 to 29. The fun event featured carnival rides, games, food, craft beer, live music by Totally Taylor and a circus show by Cirque Cyber with a firework show on June 28.
I had walked for 20 minutes before reaching the intended destination: Hunter’s Garden in Eastport, located in the eastern end of the Manorville Hills, an 8,000-acre section of the LI Pine Barrens.
An opening in the forest, Hunter’s Garden is the spot of a longstanding tradition — where bay- and sportsmen, farmers, and others that live off the land, many bearded and sporting all patterns of flannel shirts, come together to share steaming bowls of chowder and camaraderie. The soup and socialization takes place each May in a secluded pocket in the Hills, reached via a sandy road coming offCounty Route 51. An etched marker stone commemorates the event.
I sat on the ground, leaned against the slanted marker stone, took a deep breath and began to listen. Birdsong soon surrounded me. A few seconds passed and I detected a robin singing in the distance followed by another song that sounded like a robin’s but richer — a Rose-breasted Grosbeak! Lucky for me the grosbeak came closer and I could see it moving around in a lower stretch of the tree canopy.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Pixabay photo
I slowly raised my binoculars to enjoy one of the more beautiful songbirds found in eastern North America — a black and white plumage pattern with a bright red triangle in the middle of its breast which gave rise to its macabre common name of “Cut-throat”. (A bit of an apocryphal story told by Roger Tory Peterson, who more than anyone else popularized birding, is that he once was contacted by a woman in Texas wondering what she could do to help a bird in her yard that had been shot in the chest and was bleeding profusely; not to worry he reported, explaining it was just the bird’s natural plumage).
As the minutes rolled by I heard and saw more birds — a Red-eyed Vireo sang incessantly from somewhere in the overhead canopy and much lower to my right came the “veer-veer-veer” of a Veery, a type of thrush. And then, as if almost on cue, its cousin the Wood Thrush began its ethereal song from deeper in the woodland. Scientists have learned that this species, as with many other birds, is actually capable of singing two songs simultaneously due to the complexity of its syrinx or voice box. Soon, the Veery came into view and I could see its distinctive plumage generally indicative of the thrushes — a spotted throat, white belly, and buckskin brown back.These two thrush species are fairly common breeding birds in the Pine Barrens along with the less common Hermit Thrush.
Other sights unfolded. A large glade of wood ferns with highly lacy fronds spilled away from me on the other side of the trail creating an interesting visual effect. It was if the ferns were always fuzzy and out of focus due to the highly dissected form of the fronds. No matter how I looked at them, even with squinted eyes, they appeared out-of-focus although, in reality, they weren’t. Being in the shade the tree canopy overhead formed another series of interesting textures and patterns and I appreciated the distinctive architecture of each tree species. The same held true for individual leaves.
Tiger Swallowtail
Sitting still I began to more acutely pick up movement and soon came the butterflies. In quick succession I saw a mourning cloak fluttering through the understory and then a darker, more rapidly moving butterfly which I realized was a red-spotted purple. And then a tiger! as in Tiger Swallowtail, the largest butterfly found on Long Island, erratically dashing over shrubs in the understory.
While sight and hearing were the two senses at first most triggered by the immersion in this extensive forest, smell and touch soon came into play. I began to feel the coolness of the earth I was sitting on and the texture of the slightly uneven ground. Scuffing a little of the leaves out of the way caused a pleasant earthy aroma to waft upward, an aroma very much like one experiences while planting vegetables in the spring garden.
It also changed my focus from looking at trees and birds both distant and afar to immediate close-ups of soil creatures including a pill bug (which you may know by its more colorful name: a roly-poly). I was instantly transported back to my youth when I and friends routinely found roly-polys while turning over logs to investigate what creatures might be living beneath.
I was practicing a version of what the Japanese refer to as Shinrin-yoku or “forest bathing,” an activity in which one immerses oneself in a forest and uses the full suite of senses — sight, sound, touch, smell and even taste — to take in the sights, sounds, odors, and textures of the forest, thereby achieving “sensory engagement.”
Shinrin-yoku doesn’t have totake place only in a forest although the practice is quite conducive there; it can be in a meadow or along the shoreline or other natural or mostly natural landscapes. And research, most conducted in Japan where the practice began in the early 1980’s and is widely practiced today, shows demonstrable mental and physical health benefits from regular episodes of forest bathing.
Forest leaves in the canopy. Pixabay photo
These peer-reviewed, scientific papers indicate that practitioners are calmer and more relaxed, have lower stress hormones, and are generally happier from regularly “bathing” in the forest. According to the research “forest bathers” also sleep better and have an enhanced ability to focus.The benefits also accrue to those who experience nature indoors — a study of hospital patients with a wall in their room displaying a forest scene, or who could visually see the outdoors through a window, spend less time in the hospital than patients with no visual connection to nature.
To practice forest bathing you don’t have to sit still as I did. You also can gain benefits from a leisurely to mid-paced stroll through a forest. The key is to open your “sensory self” to the living landscape happening all around you.
After an hour or so I arose from my stationary ground-level seat, stretched some lightly aching muscles and slowly walked the mile back to the car, feeling physically and mentallyrelaxed yet with my senses quite alert to the surrounding forest landscape.I wondered: Is this state what a wild animal like a deer, fox, or box turtle always experiences?
I hope you take a bath soon.
A resident of Setauket, author John L. Turner is conservation chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, author of “Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island” and president of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours.
After community push back over a proposed development in St. James, Mills Pond Group submitted a lawsuit against the Town of Smithtown. File photo.
By Sabrina Artusa
In April 2023, the Smithtown Planning Board amended the Smithtown Town Code Chapter 322 to exclude “convalescent” and “resting” homes from being considered a special exception to zoning restrictions, thereby preventing a proposal submitted by Mills Pond Group LLC from progressing.
Mills Pond Group, owned by Frank Amicizia, filed a proposal to build a 97-bed living residence on the former Bull Run Farm in St. James the month prior to the board’s amendment. The proposal depended on the approval of the special exception application that would allow them to build the facility, Whisper Mills Assisted Living, in an area zoned as residential.
Before a public hearing could be scheduled regarding the special exception application, the code was changed, making the approval of the application impossible.
On March 13, Mills Pond Group filed a lawsuit against the town for condemning the project to a state of “limbo”, where their only option is to apply for a discretionary change of zone.
Smithtown Public Information Officer Nicole Garguilo said that tightening the conditions of a special exception application has long been on the town’s list of objectives. The application has been “used to circumvent the process” of a zone change, which requires more scrupulous environmental review and is more expensive. As a result, Garguilo said the previous town code “incentivizes special application.”
Written by Mills Pond Group’s attorney Lidia Szczepanowski, the lawsuit argues the “hasty” change in the town code was specifically intended to bar their project. By this basis, she claims the amendment is discriminatory toward individuals with disabilities and the Fair Housing Act, and several individuals have come forth as plaintiffs.
When the Town Board held a community meeting, there was what the lawsuit described as “vehement” opposition. Indeed, many residents were concerned with the congestion and influx of traffic such a large development would cause.
The lawsuit claims Town Board members verbally endorsed the project in 2019, when Amicizia proposed the development after buying the property, but changed their stance after hearing public opposition.
“There wasn’t support from the Town Board. There wasn’t support from the community and the applicant decided to file a lawsuit,” Garguilo said.
“Construction of a building of this size, with all the consequences that go with it, in the midst of single-family homes — in the midst of a bucolic, historic rural corridor — would be a huge step, a de facto spot zone change, and a mistake,” attorney and Smithtown resident Joseph Bollhofer wrote in a letter to Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) and the Town Board.
Among their grievances, Mills Pond Group claims that the town violated the 14th Amendment in neither granting nor rejecting their request for a public hearing.
Some community members feel that the Town Board should hold a hearing. Bollhofer is opposed to the proposal, but wants a public hearing nonetheless.
“Although I still believe it is a bad application in that the applicant cannot show that is satisfies the code requirements as they existed at the time of application, basic due process dictates that a hearing is required,” he wrote in a letter to Wehrheim and the Town Board.
Garguilo stated that the lack of support from the board and community prevented the special exception application from moving forward to a public hearing.
The current town code dictates that the board “may, upon application and after a public hearing … authorize a special exception for a hospital, nursing home, adult home or assisted living facility.” Convalescent and rest homes are excluded and the definitions of a nursing home, adult home and assisted living facility are altered.
Mills Pond Group demands monetary reparation, the law nulled and their attorney fees reimbursed. A court date has not yet been set.
La Buena Vida Restaurant, 714 Montauk Highway, Moriches will host the 7th annual Pig Roast fundraiser to benefit Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson on Wednesday, July 10 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. $30 donation per person includes dinner and soft drinks with a special musical performance by Tommy Mulvihill. Reservations suggested by calling 631-909-1985.