Mark your calendars! The St James Model Railroad Club will host an Open House on Sunday, March 23 at the Mills Pond House, 176 Mills Pond Road, St. James from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This 38’ X 48” Lionel train layout, the result of 42 years of continuing improvements, represents Railroading from the Age of Steam to Present Day with many freight and passenger trains running simultaneously in a scenic, imaginative setting.
Featured are many new additions to the Layout including a New City scene with operating roadway, a Freight yard upgrade and a new power plant & Fire scene. An improved layout guarantees that you will see many trains presented in a detailed, realistic setting.
Children of all ages will enjoy the sights and sounds of this truly impressive event. Suggested donations are $2 for adults, 50 cents for children.
Please note: The St. James Model Railroad club is not handicap accessible. Parking is in the rear of the building.
For further information, call 516-263-9607 or 631-543-8732.
IThe Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) has announced the launch of its inaugural Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame Music Documentary Film Festival from Aug. 8 to Aug. 10 at LIMEHOF’s museum location at 97 Main Street in Stony Brook Village. Entries are now open to music documentary films from around the world and will be accepted through May 1st on FilmFreeway.
“This music documentary film festival is the perfect way to extend the mission of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame—to preserve the past, celebrate the present, and ignite a love for music in future generations,” said LIMEHOF Vice Chairman Tom Needham who is organizing the film festival as Executive Director with film festival Artistic Director Wendy Feinberg.
While many know LIMEHOF as the exclusive home of the My Life: A Piano Man’s Journey Billy Joel exhibit, over the last 20 years, LIMEHOF has inducted over 130 Long Island artists, from a wide range of artists in all music genres including Billy Joel, Stephen Schwartz, Mariah Carey, Lou Reed, Clive Davis, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Ramones, Public Enemy, Carter Burwell, John Coltrane, Run DMC, Cyndi Lauper, Louis Armstrong and Simon & Garfunkel. This is the first time the museum is holding a music themed film festival of this kind.
“As a music lover, I am extremely excited to be involved in the creation of a film festival totally devoted to music docs to be held at a fantastic venue, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame!” said Wendy Feinberg, Artistic Director of the film festival.
The film festival has just accepted the new documentary “Cat’s in the Cradle: The Song That Changed Our Lives” which celebrates LIMEHOF inductee Harry Chapin who founded Long Island Cares. The film features several LIMEHOF inductees including Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Dee Snider.
“As Executive Director of the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame Music Documentary Film Festival, I am honored to announce the screening of Cats in the Cradle: The Song that Changed Our Lives,” said Needham. “Harry Chapin, a proud Long Islander and LIMEHOF inductee, used his music not only to tell stories but to change lives. This documentary beautifully captures the enduring power of Cats in the Cradle, a song that has resonated across generations and continues to inspire reflection on family, time, and the choices we make.”
This brand-new initiative amplifies LIMEHOF’s mission to celebrate music in all its forms. This festival will exclusively showcase music documentary films from around the world that examine music topics like music scenes, music history, tours, biographies, festivals, music education, concerts, culture and music technology.
The festival accepts music documentaries in features and shorts categories. The entry fee is $40, and entries are accepted through May 1. At the conclusion of the festival, awards will be issued in a variety of categories to recognize the best participating films. For more information, full rules and details please visit FilmFreeway(https://filmfreeway.com/LongIslandMusicandEntertainmentHallofFameMusicDocumentaryFilmFestival)
About LIMEHOF
Founded in 2004, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the idea that Long Island’s musical and entertainment heritage is an important resource to be celebrated and preserved for future generations. The organization, which encompasses New York State’s Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and Kings (Brooklyn) Counties, was created as a place of community that inspires and explores Long Island music and entertainment in all its forms. In 2022, LIMEHOF opened its first Hall of Fame building location in Stony Brook, New York. To date, the organization has inducted more than 130 musicians and music industry executives, and offers education programs, scholarships, and awards to Long Island students and educators.
Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad and Arson Section detectives are investigating after a person was killed in a house fire on March 18 in Manorville.
Police and firefighters responded to 434 Village Circle North at approximately 6:35 a.m. after a 911 caller reported a fire at the location. After the fire was extinguished, a person was found deceased in the home. The identity of the victim will be determined by an autopsy performed by personnel from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The victim was alone inside the residence at the time of the fire and no one else was injured.
At this time, detectives believe the cause of the fire to be non-criminal in nature.
SUNY Distinguished Professor Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Photo by Sue Kw0n
Stony Brook University Distinguished Professor Rowan Ricardo Phillips, from the College of Arts and Sciences Department of English, was recently recognized by the American Academy of Arts as a 2025 Arts and Letters Award winner.
“Art is its own reward,” said Professor Phillips. “But, even with that said, I feel honored to be in such fine company.”
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is an honor society of artists, architects, composers, and writers who foster and sustain interest in the arts. The Arts and Letters Award, established in 1941, was established to encourage creative work in the arts. The award is $10,000, granted annually to four architects, five artists, eight writers, and four composers.
“My sincere congratulations to Rowan Ricardo Phillips for yet another highly prestigious honor,” said David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “This has been an exciting year of recognition for Rowan’s creative work. His book, Silver, recently made the longlist for both the National Book Award and for the Laurel Prize. Now, Rowan has been selected as one of eight writers across all genres to receive the Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. We are so proud that Rowan is part of our intellectual and creative community. He is a brilliant ambassador for the Humanities at Stony Brook.”
“This is a significant honor from a very prestigious arts organization,” said Benedict Robinson, professor and chair of the Department of English. “The membership of the American Academy of Arts and Letters reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of all the arts in the contemporary U.S., and the list of honorees being recognized this year includes some of the most significant contributors to contemporary art and culture. It’s a tremendous honor for the Department of English and for Stony Brook University as a whole. We’re extremely lucky to have Professor Phillips as a colleague and teacher.”
Phillips was recently longlisted for the National Book Award and the Laurel Prize for his book, Silver. Phillips’ poem “The First and Final Poem Is the Sun” also was included in Best American Poetry 2024.
Phillips earned his doctorate in English Literature from Brown University in 2003. He is recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Nicolás Guillén Outstanding Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports writing, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, a Whiting Award, and the GLCA New Writers Award. He has also been a finalist for the National Book Award for his poetry collection, Heaven, the Griffin International Poetry Prize, the NAACP Award for Outstanding Work in Poetry, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police Sixth Precinct Crime Section officers are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate a man who allegedly stole from a Medford store in March.
A man allegedly stole assorted clothing and blankets from Target, located at 2975 Horseblock Road, at approximately 9:50 p.m. on March 10. The merchandise was valued at $568.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips, or online at www.P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.
Brookhaven Town Clerk Kevin LaValle in the Town Hall parking lot. Photo from TOB
In another sign that spring is right around the corner, Brookhaven Town Clerk Kevin LaValle has announced that the Town of Brookhaven will be distributing double-grind woodchips and mulch for Brookhaven residents at the following locations starting March 15:
Please note that the free compost and mulch is for residential use only.
On Long Island we have a sandy soil structure that allows water and fertilizers to drain down into the water table and run-off into our surrounding waterways. Using compost and mulch in your garden or landscape is a great way to improve soil structure and continuously provide nutrients to growing plants. Compost and mulch also retain moisture, allowing plants to better endure hot and dry weather.
Heather Zinkin, MD, next to the Varian Ethos HyperSight for radiation cancer therapy machine at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute at Greenlawn. Photo credit: Northwell Health
Northwell Cancer Institute’s radiation therapy centers in Greenlawn and Lake Success are the first on Long Island to offer state-of-the-art Varian Ethos™ radiation therapy with HyperSight™ imaging technology. This cutting-edge technology delivers advanced external beam radiation therapy treatments, which boosts precision and effectiveness for patients undergoing radiation therapy for numerous cancers.
HyperSight provides high-quality, daily pre-treatment imaging in a single six-second breath hold, improving the ability for radiation oncologists to see and target a tumor. Ethos offers a new treatment called adaptive radiation therapy, which allows for real-time adjustments based on tumor response and daily changes in normal anatomy, optimizing accuracy, reducing exposure to healthy tissue, and minimizing side effects. The technology minimizes side effects by leveraging artificial intelligence and the fastest on-table imaging in the field to enhance accuracy and patient comfort.
“With the introduction of the new technology, we’re offering patients access to the most modern and fastest imaging and treatment technology available anywhere in the world,” said Heather Zinkin, MD, chief of radiation oncology at Huntington Hospital. “Patients benefit from the convenience of consulting with their radiation oncologist, undergoing planning, and receiving treatment all in one location close to home, ensuring a seamless, personal and efficient care experience.”
As part of a $4 million investment, the Greenlawn center has also undergone significant renovations and expansion. Enhancements include a second treatment vault, modern waiting area, updated restrooms, expanded changing rooms, and additional exam rooms and office space. The improvements provide a more comfortable and accommodating environment for patients undergoing cancer treatment.
Additionally, the Greenlawn center has introduced a new CT simulator, offering patients the latest and fastest imaging technology available. This simulator enhances the treatment planning process by providing highly detailed images that guide radiation oncologists and medical physicists in developing customized treatment protocols. It also has 4- dimension (4D) capability to track tumor motion. At the R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center in Lake Success, the Ethos and HyperSight technology enhances one of the largest radiation therapy centers in the region offering an extensive array of internal and external radiation therapy treatments and technology. The total investment there cost $5.1 million.
“Northwell’s Radiation Medicine Department has a long history of investing in the latest radiation therapy technology. We were the first in New York State to offer HyperSight at Lenox Hill Hospital and are thrilled to now offer extraordinary imaging and treatment technology on Long Island,” said Louis Potters, MD, SVP and deputy physician-in-chief, Northwell Health Cancer Institute. “In addition to being extremely precise, this new technology enhances patient comfort by getting patients in and out quickly, with an average on-table time of just 10 minutes or less.”
We hear continuously about the importance of exercise. Why is it so important, though? Exercise has benefits for preventing and improving a wide range of medical conditions, from cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes to depression, insomnia, fatigue, balance, cognitive decline, and osteoporosis. Will it help you lose weight, though? While gym equipment ads emphasize this, exercise without dietary changes may not help many people lose weight, no matter what the intensity or the duration (1). It may only reduce fat mass and weight modestly for most people. It might, however, be helpful with weight maintenance.
Ultimately, it may be more important to examine what you are eating than to succumb to the rationalization that you can eat without care and work out to compensate for that extra cookie.
Does exercise help with weight loss?
The well-known weight-loss paradigm is that when you burn more calories than you consume, you will promote weight loss. However, study results say otherwise. They show that in premenopausal women there was neither weight nor fat loss from exercise (2). This involved 81 women over a short duration, 12 weeks. All of the women were overweight to obese.
However, more than two-thirds of the women gained a mean of 1 kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of fat mass by the end of the study. There were a few who gained 10 pounds of predominantly fat. A fair amount of variability was seen among the participants, ranging from significant weight loss to substantial weight gain. These women were told to exercise at the American College of Sports Medicine’s optimal level of intensity (3). This is to walk 30 minutes on a treadmill three times a week at 70 percent VO2max — maximum oxygen consumption during exercise, which is characterized as a moderately intense pace.
On the positive side, the women were in better aerobic shape by the study’s end. Also, women who had lost weight at four-weeks were more likely to continue to do so by the end of the study.
Other studies have shown modest weight loss. For instance, in a meta-analysis involving 14 randomized controlled trials, results showed that exercise alone led to a disappointing amount of weight loss (4). In six months, patients lost a mean of 3.5 pounds, and at 12 months, they lost about 3.75 pounds.
A recent meta-analysis of aerobic exercise studies found that, in order to break through to meaningful reductions in waist circumference and body fat, participants had to exercise more than 150 minutes per week, up to 300 minutes weekly, at moderate to vigorous aerobic intensity (5).
However, exercise may help with weight maintenance, according to observational studies. Premenopausal women who exercised at least 30 minutes a day were significantly less likely to regain lost weight (6). In another study, when exercise was added to dietary changes, women were able to maintain 30 percent more weight loss than with diet alone after a year (7).
How does exercise help with disease?
Let’s look at chronic kidney disease (CKD), which affects about 14 percent of U.S. adults, as one example of exercise’s impact on disease (8).
Trial results showed that walking regularly could reduce the risk of kidney replacement therapy and death in patients who have moderate to severe CKD (9). When walkers were compared to non-walkers, walkers experienced a 21 percent reduction in the risk of kidney replacement therapy and a 33 percent reduction in the risk of death.
The more frequently patients walked during the week, the better the probability of preventing complications. Those who walked between one and two times per week had 17 and 19 percent reductions in death and kidney replacement therapy, respectively, while those who walked at least seven times a week saw a 44 percent reduction in death and a 59 percent reduction in kidney replacement. This is significant. The authors concluded that the effectiveness of walking on CKD was independent of kidney function, age or other diseases.
There are many benefits to exercise; however, food choices will have a greater impact on weight and body composition. The good news: exercise can help maintain weight loss and is extremely beneficial for preventing progression of chronic diseases, such as CKD.
Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com or consult your personal physician.
Photo courtesy of Stony Brook University Athletics
The Stony Brook women’s track and field team opened its outdoor season with an impressive showing at the Stony Brook Snowflake Classic on March 15. The Seawolves totaled 11 top-three finishes, with seven coming via event wins.
HIGHLIGHTS
Enyero Omokeni took first place in the 400m (1:00.12).
Shaylen Goslar finished first in the 800m (2:13.39), setting a new PR in the event.
Grace Sisson won the mile run (5:00.42).
Jasmine Mason-Rudolph won the 100m hurdles (17.46) and 400m hurdles (1:07.66).
Omokeni, Samantha St. Juste, Nicola Pesnell, and Camille Grable finished first in the 4×200 relay (1:48.50).
Brienna Ahmetaj won the high jump in a jump-off (1.50m, 4’11”).
Paulina Gasparis, Olivia Simonetti, Julia Samuelson, and Isabel Leonardo teamed up in the 4×200 relay and finished second (1:53.36).
Danielle Cirrito placed second in the mile run (5:00.67).
Simonetti finished second in the 400m (1:00.14), setting a new PR in the event.
Amelie Guzman finished third in the mile run (5:16.66).
“It was nice to have a home meet to start the outdoor season. Both men’s and women’s teams enjoyed the opportunity to compete on home turf,” head coach Andy Ronan said. “For the start of the season, we produced some solid performances that we can build on as the season progresses.”
Ryan Scarry raced to victory in the 400m hurdles. Photo from Stony Brook University Athletics
The Stony Brook men’s track and field team opened its outdoor season with an impressive showing at the Stony Brook Snowflake Classic on March 15. The Seawolves totaled 13 top-three finishes, and four event wins coming from Ryan Scarry, Collin Gilstrap, Michael Hawkes, and Mario Xerri on the day.
HIGHLIGHTS
Scarry raced to victory in the 400m hurdles (1:01.60).
Gilstrap took first with a strong run in the 3000m event (8:15.13).
Hawkes won the mile run with an impressive clocking of 4:24.20.
Xerri crossed the finish line first in the 800m race (1:55.83).
Ryan Hesler finished second in the 800m (1:55.88), setting a new PR in the event.
David Onovo placed second in the 400m (51.55).
Thomas Burfeind took home a second-place finish in the mile (4:24.34).
Steven Struk finished second in the 3000m (8:19.47), setting a new PR in the event.
Scarry placed second in the 110m hurdles (17.10).
The team of Michael Ye, Luke Clackett, Onovo, and Walesky Nowak finished second in the 4×200 relay (1:31.64).
Luca Maneri placed third in the mile run (4:28.34.).
Walesky Nowak finished third in the 800m (1:58.00), setting a new PR in the event.
Clackett took third in the 400m (51.93), setting a new PR in the event.
“It was nice to have a home meet to start the outdoor season. Both men’s and women’s teams enjoyed the opportunity to compete on home turf,” head coach Andy Ronan said. “For the start of the season, we produced some solid performances that we can build on as the season progresses.”
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