CLOSE
Authors Posts by TBR Staff

TBR Staff

4802 POSTS 0 COMMENTS
TBR News Media covers everything happening on the North Shore of Suffolk County from Cold Spring Harbor to Wading River.

by -
0 204
The Ward Melville JV girls golf team. Photo courtesy the Three Village School District

By George Caratzas

After the closure of the Heatherwood Golf Club in 2020, the Ward Melville Patriots JV girl’s golf team played their matches at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Coram. Now, the Patriots have found their newest home.

In May of 2024, the Spy Ring Golf Club opened on the same plot of land that Heatherwood once occupied in Centereach. With Ward Melville in the market for a new place to play, the match was an easy decision.

“I feel like this is a perfect fit,” head varsity coach Nicole Connelly said. “I think with Spy Ring, this is going to be a much smoother season for a variety of reasons.”

One of the reasons that Connelly mentioned was the course itself, as Spy Ring is the latest course to open on Long Island. Designed by Tyler Rae — a well-known golf course architect — Spy Ring is half the size of what Heatherwood was, only having 9 holes as opposed to the full 18. Nonetheless, Connelly was impressed by her team’s introduction to its new home turf.

“It’s a really great course,” Connelly said. “We got to play it on Thanksgiving Eve this past year and it was awesome. It’s such a great track, the layout is really fun to play and it’s really well maintained. I think the girls are going to have a really great experience.”

A key benefit of Spy Ring is its proximity to the high school. At Ward Melville, JV golf does not get access to a bus for practice or games, meaning that players are responsible for their own transportation to and from team events. While Pine Ridge was about a 15-minute drive from the school, Spy Ring cuts that travel time by two-thirds with the drive clocking in at just about five minutes.

Photo courtesy the Ward Melville junior varsity golf team.

“Not to bash Pine Ridge, but for us it just was not convenient at all,” Connelly said. “I had expressed interest to Spy Ring’s general manager Jimmi Conway and we started to lay the groundwork for the move. The convenience of having it in our own community was huge.”

As indicated by the name, Spy Ring pays homage to the Setauket Spy Ring — a spy network during the Revolutionary War which was based in the Three Village area. While Connelly is a native of Chicago, she has become immersed in the area’s history as she enters her fourth season at the helm of the golf program. She hopes the change will bring educational value to her over 20 student athletes that will have access to the course.

“Spy Ring is all about the community and its history,” Connelly said. “They get to learn about American history in seventh and eleventh grade so I definitely think this will expand their educational experience beyond that curriculum. It’s important to me that they learn about the history of their community and make that connection to their new golf course. Being a team from the Three Villages and being called the ‘Patriots,’ I think this change gives them a little bit of empowerment.”

In a statement provided to Connelly, Conway echoed a similar excitement for the new partnership.

“We are so proud to have our Three Village School Districts girl’s golf team represent our golf course,” Conway said. “We feel this team will be proud to host a match with visiting schools. We are very thankful for the support the local communities have had in regards to having a great impact on our success. We are looking forward to the ’25 season starting and my staff and I will be available to helping and grooming the growth of the game,” he said.

Aside from the Patriots, Connelly is pleased with what Spy Ring has done to the surrounding neighborhoods. 

“I think it’s going to have a really positive effect on the community,” Connelly said. “The course seems to be really working on establishing itself as a place where people can come together and even from the earliest conversations [Conway] told me that he wants to make it a gathering place for locals.”

With the JV team on the move, both the boys and girl’s varsity teams will continue to play at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in East Setauket.

George Caratzas is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.

by -
0 761

By Luciana Hayes

Recently, a trunk belonging to Captain Joseph Tyler was returned to Smithtown after being stored in Minnesota for the past three decades.

In an interview with TBR News Media, Cemetery Committee Chair for the Three Village Historical Society Robert von Bernewitz spoke about the significance of the artifact and its return. 

Captain Joseph Tyler’s trunk.

Bernewitz grew up in Smithtown along with his friend Scott Peirce, who lived on a farm known as the Peirce Farm, which is where his family acquired the trunk that belonged to Tyler, who was captain of the Mary A. Tyler ship, which was built by Nehemiah Hand in the Setauket shipyards and named after his wife, Mary A. Tyler. Throughout its career, the ship went up and down the eastern seaboard before meeting its fate around 1890 off the coast of Cape Cod. It is believed the ship sank on a sandbar and according to legend can be seen at certain times of the day where it sank.

Around 35 years ago, Peirce moved to Minnesota, bringing the captain’s trunk with him. In the trunk, there lies the captain’s log, which contains abundant information about the ship’s travel history. When Peirce explained to Bernewitz that he wanted him to have the trunk he said, “Rob, I want you to have this trunk because it doesn’t belong in Minnesota. Find a good home for it, wherever it — the history of it — belongs.” Shortly after that conversation, Peirce drove the artifact from Minnesota to Smithtown where he met Bernewitz and some other friends to find a new home for the trunk. Bernewitz explains how one of his friends mentioned the Tyler family house, a historical farmhouse built in 1790 in Smithtown. 

The Tyler House has been home to many generations. For more than 100 years, this was a farmhouse on an active farm with many out-buildings. In the Tyler House, there is a desk from Benjamin Tyler, Joseph Tyler’s brother. Bernewitz speaks about the reunion of the relics saying, “These two pieces of furniture were repatriated together after 175 years.”

The graves of Captain Joseph and Mary Tyler.

Joseph and Mary Tyler are buried in the Smithtown Cemetery, while Captain Tyler’s trunk sits on the balcony of the Smithtown Landing Methodist Church. The church is also a historic landmark built in 1834 and is right in the neighborhood where the Tylers lived. Bernewitz closes by saying, “I’m just very happy that it came back from Minnesota and it’s where it belongs in the same neighborhood that it came from.”

Bernewitz dedicates his time to restoring gravestones and cemetery grounds. He has actively worked to address conditions of 20 cemeteries in the area. This includes correcting leaning or fallen gravestones and using professional methods to clean gravestones. In addition to his role as committee chair for the TVHS, Bernewitz is also vice president of the Davis Town Meeting House in Coram, a circa 1750 house which was a town hall in the 1800s where citizens voted.

For more information visit the TVHS website: www.tvhs.org.

by -
0 400
1 of 8
Scene from the 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest. Photo by Joshua Kim
Scene from the 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest. Photo by Joshua Kim
Scene from the 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest. Photo by Joshua Kim
Scene from the 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest. Photo by Joshua Kim
Scene from the 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest. Photo by Joshua Kim
Scene from the 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest. Photo by Joshua Kim
Scene from the 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest. Photo by Joshua Kim

By Joshua Kim

The 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest was held Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Meadow Club, on Rte. 112 just off the 347. The event was organized by the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and supported by 12 sponsoring institutions, including the three major hospitals in the area: Stony Brook Medicine, John T. Mather Hospital and St. Charles Hospital.

The many attendees who parked in the adjacent Port Plaza’s parking lot were directed across the street and into the venue by Suffolk County Crossing Guards in bright neon yellow raincoats. Inside the Meadow Club, the glistening crystal chandeliers, marble floors, and bright, lively atmosphere struck a sharp contrast with the cold, gloomy weather outside.

The Fest was supported by over 50 local health providers, businesses and organizations that filled over 90 tables where they could distribute brochures, merchandise and, in some cases, massages. The standard rate for a table was $250, while Chamber of Commerce partners paid $200 and nonprofits $100 – some organizations, like Hope for Cleo Animal Rescue, which brought along puppies, attended for free; “animals are a draw,” said Barbara Ransome, the director of operations at the Chamber.

Stony Brook Medicine commanded the largest presence with 11 different tables dedicated to several health topics, including obstetrics-gynecology, urology and chronic kidney disease. Dr. Soo-Jin Lim of the Stony Brook Medicine Heart Institute spoke of the opportunity that the event provided to screen people who might typically ignore their health, saying that they had referred at least one person with high blood pressure to treatment.

Mather Hospital had the next largest presence with eight tables arranged along the side of the room, also dedicated to similar health topics.

St. Charles Hospital had fewer tables, but, as in years past, they provided the refreshments for the fest. The head chef at St. Charles Hospital Mohamad Saleh, or “Chef Mo,” who typically makes sure that “the patients in the hospital are getting food they like and eating healthy food,” made healthy muffins and Açaí bowls.  “[We’ve] had a great experience with everybody–some of them are actually patients in the hospital,” said Chef Mo.

The event also was not limited to only organizations or businesses traditionally associated with health and wellness: everyone from the Port Jeff Free Library to Port Jeff Bowl to, Moloney Family Funeral Homes had a table set up, seeing the event as an opportunity to “put their name and face out there.” However, many of these groups used the event to highlight health-related services they offered that were less well-publicized, such as the Port Jeff Free Library’s “huge range of programs, from nutrition facts to stroke awareness, to a workshop on knee and shoulder pain.”

People from all over Suffolk, and even Nassau County, attended the fest. Some had seen the promotions in the paper or on Facebook; some had “just been passing by” on the road and decided to pop in and still others had attended the fest other years and were coming back.

Two friends, Kim and Marianna, had heard about the event on Instagram and came from Nassau County and Babylon to “understand and better [their] own health” as they neared retirement age. “It’s great to see that they have so many supporters, people who are willing to come out on a Saturday to help other people understand the importance of taking care of yourself,” said Kim. “It’s much bigger than I had expected.”

“We really feel that the Village of Port Jefferson has become a mecca for health and wellness services,” said Ransome. “And we do this event – that’s how we support it.”

She concluded, “The turnout has been exceptional. The weather wasn’t so great, but I think we did really, really well.”

by -
0 287
METRO photo

By Clyanna Lightbourn

In New York State, thousands of eligible citizens are routinely denied access to the ballot—not because of a law, but because of logistical failure and oversight. These are New Yorkers held in local jails—people who have not lost their right to vote under state law but are effectively unable to exercise it. Voter suppression isn’t always loud or explicit; sometimes it happens quietly, buried in bureaucracy, process, and inaction.

Most people in jail are detained pretrial or serving time for a misdemeanor—circumstances that do not result in the loss of voting rights. As of January 2025, over 12,700 people held in New York’s jails were legally unsentenced and likely eligible to vote, yet very few are able to cast a ballot.

Barriers to voting include a lack of internet access, no access to stamps, minimal information about how to register or request an absentee ballot, and limited or no coordination between jails and Boards of Elections. A 2023 League of Women Voters report found that one-third of counties in New York State either have no jail voter access program or couldn’t describe how it worked. These gaps result in ballots not being cast—not because of disinterest, but because of institutional neglect.

In other institutional settings—like nursing homes and veterans’ hospitals—Boards of Elections conduct in-person visits to help residents register and vote. But even those programs vary widely. When it comes to jails, the disparity is sharper. 

Despite similar absentee voting eligibility, New York State has no consistent jail-based voter access program, unlike what is required in nursing homes under Election Law § 8-407. There are no regular ombudsmen, no uniform voter education, and no state-enforced protocols for voter registration or ballot return. Examples of jail staff coordinating with election officials to deliver and return absentee ballots are rare and highlight the need for uniformity, not ad-hoc goodwill. That’s not how democracy should work.

The Democracy During Detention Act (S440/A2121) provides a bipartisan, commonsense solution. Sponsored by New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie and New York State Assemblymember Latrice Walker, and backed by dozens of legislative co-sponsors, the bill would ensure that every eligible voter held in a local jail has a fair and equal path to the ballot.

The legislation requires county Boards of Elections to provide at least one method of jail-based voting access—either through in-person absentee ballot collection visits, or by establishing on-site polling places for early voting. These programs would be governed by formal coordination between local election and corrections officials, much like those already in place for nursing homes and hospitals. The bill also guarantees privacy, ensures language access, and affirms voting rights under the New York Voting Rights Act.

This isn’t about changing who can vote. It’s about making sure everyone who is already eligible can actually cast a ballot—because voting rights mean nothing without real-world access.

Civic participation also has broader benefits. Research shows that individuals who vote after incarceration are less likely to be rearrested, and more likely to successfully reintegrate. Engagement builds public safety. Exclusion undermines it.

New York has made progress—restoring voting rights to people on parole, expanding early voting—but we’ve left a glaring gap in our jail system. And that gap has a racial and economic edge: in 2021, 78% of New York’s pretrial jail population was Black or Latinx.

The Democracy During Detention Act is more than a policy update—it’s a test of our values. It draws a clear line in the sand: Do we believe in equal access to democracy, or do we allow systemic neglect to continue disenfranchising thousands of our fellow New Yorkers? This is a moment for lawmakers—and for all of us—to decide what kind of democracy we’re building.

If we believe in a democracy that includes everyone—not just the well-connected or the free—then we must ensure that the right to vote is more than a promise on paper. The Democracy During Detention Act draws a clear line: either we uphold access to the ballot for every eligible New Yorker, or we allow silence and neglect to continue disenfranchising thousands. 

This is our moment to choose. Call your lawmakers. Speak out in your community. Join the growing coalition demanding action. Because in a true democracy, no one should lose their voice just because they lost their freedom.

Clyanna Lightbourn is Campaign Director, Democracy During Detention Act for LWVNY.  For more information or sources contact [email protected]

by -
0 1371
The back of the property that was once the Gap clothing store. Photo by Sabrina Artusa

By Caroline O’Callaghan

During the April 10 Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson planning board meeting, town officials conceptualized potential expansions to various properties, as they grappled with hypothetical stipulations and amendment alternatives from zoning standard compliance to parking accessibility. 

Those properties included a long-overlooked site, 100 Arden Place, formerly known as the Gap clothing store location. 

Senior Planner Daniel Gross summarized the applicant’s plan of developing the site into a boutique hotel. The project, in preliminary stages, is a four-story proposal with “mixed-use developments on the ground floor, a hotel lobby, [and] two stories of a 40-unit hotel space on the second and third-story.” The fourth story would house a rooftop bar and outdoor dining space, potentially, something Gross said would be “a unique feature within the C1 district.” The impacts on parking accessibility were a concern. 

“Valet parking for hotel guests at St. Charles is the ideal solution,” said planning board member Laura Zimmerman. Zimmerman was referring to a lesser used parking lot located on the grounds of St. Charles Hospital. By giving the hotel guests free valet parking to the lot, this would avoid any further parking congestion issues in uptown Port Jefferson village. Parking is a big consideration for the project, since the rights to the parking adjacent to the Gap site have changed numerous times since it was initially bought in 1985. The Port Jefferson Gap was operational from 1992 to 2019. 

Board members addressed prospective zoning conflicts. The scope of the project may change over time and require rezoning, based on the State Environmental Quality Review Act classifications. The project is considered a Type 1 action pursuant to SEQRA, requiring a full environmental assessment based on the tall height of the building. Gross explained, “a short environmental assessment form has been submitted, but hasn’t been reviewed by SEQRA staff yet.” Gross mentioned potentially seeking rezoning from C1 to C2 district in order to maintain compliance, since C2 has a higher floor area ratio than that of the C1 district. 

The fourth-story bar and restaurant would require its own assessment in order to review how noise and lighting impact the community upon its completion.

The applicant of the proposal would prefer to have a larger restaurant space and smaller or less hotel units, citing it as being more convenient for the mobility of Port Jefferson village residents and visitors. Advertising would be seen from the ferry, all the way into Connecticut. 

The planning board discussed more than the hotel boutique. The meeting started with a review of draft minutes from last month’s meeting on village code: Chapter 129. The code aligns with issues pertaining to steep slopes and subsequent flood damage. They segued into other matters, which included another proposal for a four-story mixed-use property. 

“When it comes to impacts, SEQRA gives the board all the latitude beyond our code to look at things and issues and request supplemental information, so in this discussion I was saying that SEQRA and Chapter 129, which is the VEQRA — Village SEQRA — allows the staff to go

ahead and go contact [property owners] to work on these issues without having to have a code section that says steep slopes,” said Lee Rosner (planning board trustee), who led the meeting. Rosner continued, “Village SEQRA gives the board’s ability to review all the latitudes to pull up any steep slope of a property to see a slope analysis.” This renders 129 unnecessary. It was determined that the village should have some of its own guidelines while complying to SEQRA standards when it comes to steep slopes. 

The board motioned to approve the minutes as amended, citing that the code should state “allows staff to work with property owners to address environmental issues” rather than “allows staff to contact property owners.” 

Board members also heard a presubmission application of a four-story apartment building project at 1506-1512 Main Street. The current building would be demolished and replaced with a 35,000-square-foot apartment complex that would house 40 apartments — seven studios and 33 one-bedrooms. The building meets all zoning requirements and FAR standards.

by -
0 716
Rabbi Joshua Gray at Temple Isaiah’s Second Night Community Seder that took place on Sunday evening, April 13. Photo courtesy Rabbi Joshua Gray

By Rabbi Joshua Gray

Rabbi Joshua Gray. Photo by Toni-Elena Gallo

Nothing brings me back to my childhood, gathered around the kids’ table with my brothers and cousins, like the Hillel sandwich. This singular Passover concoction is a mixture of maror (horseradish) and charoset (a sweet apple and nut mixture), packed between two pieces of matzah, or unleavened bread. If your mouth is not immediately watering at the sound of this combination, I don’t think anyone would blame you. It is only after you try this Passover staple that you fully understand the strangely amazing symphony that is the bitter herb dueting with the sweet pieces of apple and wine. All of this occurs between the satisfying crunch of the matzah. I assure you this combination is one that you, and your tastebuds, will never forget. 

Over 70 percent of Jewish people in the United States will attend a Passover, or Pesach, seder this year. The seder (meaning “order”) is a ritual meal, complete with storytelling, song and general togetherness. We use a special book  called a Haggadah to tell the story of the Israelite Exodus from slavery in Egypt, our subsequent opportunity to live as a free people, and the constant desire to reach our promised land, either literally or proverbially. We are told to continue the tradition; to pass down this important story l’dor vador, from generation to generation. Children are an integral part of the ritual, and we all kvell (burst with pride) as our littlest seder-goers muddle through their designated songs and readings. 

The aforementioned combination of bitter and sweet is no accident. The story of Passover and its rituals are a beautiful part of being Jewish. The message is also a universal one: with freedom comes the responsibility to work toward justice for all people. I always get a bit emotional during our seder when we recite the ten plagues of Egypt; the method by which the hard-hearted Pharaoh finally let the people of Israel go. It is tradition to remove a drop of wine from our cups as we recite aloud each plague. Why do we do this? On a macro level, we recognize that our cups of celebration are never completely full so long as others in the world suffer. The sweetness of freedom from bondage is fused with the bitterness that comes with the knowledge that there is still pain and unrest in our human community. We recognize that while we might be free, there are so many in our world who do not enjoy such self-determination. Individually, we might ask ourselves what could be holding us back from feeling entirely free. What might we be able to let go of that will allow us to live a more meaningful life? 

One of the most important moments in our seder comes as we recite the line: “In every generation each individual is bound to regard themselves as if they had personally gone forth from Egypt.”  Not only do we balance both bitterness and sweetness through the lens of Jewish memory, but we are specifically challenged to put ourselves in the place of those who have gone before us. We grow our empathy for the human family as we build this skill of compassionate curiosity. 

While the goals of Passover are lofty and the rituals might feel a bit baroque, just remember the Hillel sandwich. We are nourished by the tastes from our past as we strive toward a future of justice for all people. On a baser level, Passover evokes memories via taste, smell, song and story. I wish all of you a “Chag Pesach Sameach,” a Happy Passover, and remember, you are always welcome at my table. Try the Hillel sandwich. Trust me.

The author is the Rabbi at Temple Isaiah in Stony Brook.

 

by -
0 372
File photo by Raymond Janis

Common-sense decision

At the Three Village CSD Board of Education meeting on April 9, a common-sense decision was finally made to remove the start time change from the 2025-26 budget.  After months of under stimulating banter and a constant “will they, won’t they” cliffhanger hovering over every meeting, four of the seven board members voted to hold off on this nonsensical and very costly change. Reality came into play as metaphoric light bulbs slowly began to flicker representing all that would be lost educationally for the majority of our students to satisfy a 30-minute time adjustment. 

Over a million dollars of transportation costs alone would have partially negated our IG Program, increased elementary class sizes exponentially, erased some secondary extra-curriculars and electives and slashed SEVERAL positions both in and out of the classroom.  And yet three members of the board continued to advocate for this change despite all that would be lost. 

How can these individuals truly believe the supposed benefits of going to school 30 minutes later could possibly outweigh the costs of what would be taken away?  The persistent rambling about the 30 minutes of “extra sleep” continues to stick in my craw, particularly at the secondary level.  If you want your child to sleep more, be a parent and tell them to go to bed.  We don’t need a million dollars in transportation to send them to their rooms.  Healthy sleep gains will be just as beneficial if they go to sleep 30 minutes earlier and still wake up for school, it’s a simple fact.  

We now wait on eggshells to see how our million dollars will be re-allocated.  The board has a lot of decisions to make before the May 20th vote and they need to carefully consider the fragile standing of this year’s budget. Three Village is in deep, and we need to save ourselves from drowning.  Cooler heads must prevail and a more realistic vision for our district needs to be added to the playbook to ensure success for the ones we are all fighting for, the kids!  I speak for many in the community when I express my satisfaction knowing that our tax dollars will be going to academics rather than bus rides.

Stefanie Werner

East Setauket

The EPA should be protected

A letter by Jim Soviero appeared in this newspaper on April 3 [EPA and media need accountability]  filled with innuendos and deceptive claims about the Environmental Protection Agency.  He calls for “accountability” for money already legally disbursed by the EPA as per the Biden legislation passed by Congress and signed into law, to fund beneficial projects to improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution.

He’s echoing Lee Zeldin, our former Long Island congressman and now head of the Donald )Trump (R) EPA.  While in Congress Zeldin had a long record of opposing measures to safeguard air and water quality, instead serving the interests of the oil and gas industry, in spite of the fact that Long Island has no oil and gas industry.  If Zeldin really wanted “accountability,” why didn’t he protest when Trump fired the EPA Inspector General, whose one and only job is to hold the EPA accountable for its expenditures?  This IG, Sean O’Donnell, was appointed by none other than Trump himself back in 2020.  Could it be that Zeldin really wants not “accountability” but a more pliable IG to rubber-stamp the Zeldin-Trump agenda of climate denialism and environmental havoc?

Zeldin describes the mission of the EPA as “lower[ing] the cost of buying a car, heating a home, and running a business.”  No – the EPA is not the Commerce Department. The EPA’s mission, embedded in its name, is to protect the environment. I remember when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was so polluted with oil slicks it caught on fire –  many times.  When Los Angeles was covered by a thick poisonous smog on a daily basis.  All before the EPA.  The EPA’s mission is to protect us from sickness and premature death from damaged lungs, heart disease, asthma and other consequences of the unchecked release of toxins into our air and water.  And it’s also about energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions that threaten us, our children and grandchildren.

In spite of the letter writer’s innuendos, the rightful recipients of the funding Zeldin is trying to snatch back are reputable and longstanding organizations run by qualified professionals with years of experience in engineering, finance and energy efficiency.  The funds are being used for such things as increasing the affordability of modern, efficient heat pumps to replace inefficient gas or oil heating.  And the organization Power Forward Communities, so sneered at by the letter writer, is a coalition of some of the most trusted nonprofits in the nation, including Habitat for Humanity International and United Way Worldwide.

David Friedman

St. James

Ward Melville track

 I’d like to thank Sabrina Artusa for her excellent article highlighting the success of the Ward Melville boys 4 x mile relay team and of my son Jon winning the state indoor 1600-meter championship. 

Jon began running cross-country when he entered seventh grade at Gelinas. He did not show a lot of promise over the course of his first two races, finishing nearly last, but his junior high coach, Claudia Rippe, encouraged him and made running fun and enjoyable.

Jon joined the varsity cross-country team at Ward Melville as a freshman and head cross-country, winter track and spring track coaches Ryan DeLuca and assistant coach Brian Liebowitz took Jon’s running to a whole new level. These two coaches provide training and instruction on every aspect of being a successful runner, including diet, stretching, warming up, cooling down, training, preventing injuries, getting proper rest and most importantly being a good teammate and leader. 

As a freshman Jon won the Suffolk County 800-meter run championship and the next year was the Suffolk County sophomore  2-mile champion. That same year during winter track he ran the fastest 1000 meters in the United States for a sophomore. Over the last five years,coaches DeLuca and Liebowitz runners have been named to multiple all-conference, all-county, all-Long Island and all-state teams in all three running sports. Their knowledge of their sport and dedication to their runners are exceptional.

I don’t know if Jon was either the strongest or fastest runner in his state 1600-meter victory, but I’m fairly certain he was the most experienced runner in the field. Of the 12 runners, Jon ran the best race strategically — by far.   Over the last four years, the Ward Melville coaches have provided Jon and his teammates the opportunity to run over 50 races in major invitationals at some of the fastest indoor tracks on the East Coast located throughout New York and New England.  By comparison, Jon has friends on other teams who’ve told him they rarely leave the Island to race. 

I am so impressed by the Ward Melville cross-country and track programs and the quality of athletes that coaches DeLuca and Liebowitz have consistently produced  — especially given how physically challenging the sport is. A few years ago one of Jon’s teammate’s sisters remarked, “You know what you do for a sport, other sports do as a punishment.” Funny and true.

David Seyfert

Stony Brook

WRITE TO US … AND KEEP IT LOCAL 

We welcome your letters, especially those responding to our local coverage, replying to other letter writers’ comments and speaking mainly to local themes. Letters should be no longer than 400 words and may be edited for length, libel, style, good taste and uncivil language. They will also be published on our website. We do not publish anonymous letters. Please include an address and phone number for confirmation. Email letters to: [email protected] or mail them to TBR News Media, P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733

 

by -
0 276
Eleanor Selinda Minnock

Eleanor Selinda Minnock, 98, of Randleman, NC and previously of East Northport died peacefully on April 7 with her youngest daughter by her side.  Born November 13, 1926 to Meta Stelljes Bottjer and Herman Bottjer, she was raised in Astoria, Queens, with her beloved sister, Joan.  Shaped by hardworking parents, her early life gave her the strength and determination that were the foundation of her character.

 Minnock lived a long, active life.  Her greatest loves were her family and her church.  She was always at the center of family gatherings and celebrations and she was an active member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for over 70 years.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 70 years Lt. Cmdr Francis J. Minnock, cherished daughter Kathleen J. Wirth, and dear sister Joan Janes.  She is survived by her loving children: son Francis B. Minnock, daughters Eileen M. Dohrman and Eleanor Minnock-Pugh, and son Christopher J. Minnock.  She was the dear grandmother of Kate, Christian, Whitney, Jonathan, Christoper, David, Elizabeth and Robyn; great grandmother of 11; and beloved aunt of many nieces and nephews.

Funeral service will be at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia(date pending) where Minnock will be buried beside her beloved husband.  Pugh Funeral Home, Randleman, NC is assisting with arrangements.  A memorial service will also be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Minnock’s name can be made to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (stpaulseastnorthport.org) or your local library.

by -
0 734
Coming up on the Pressroom Afterhour, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine lays out a bold vision in his State of the County address, pointing to rising bond ratings, bipartisan cooperation, and a billion-dollar push to modernize sewers and safeguard water quality. We’ll unpack what his priorities mean for residents.

Then, we shift to Shoreham, where the Tesla Science Center rises from the ashes of a devastating fire. With over $14 million dollars raised and new leadership on board, we’ll explore how the center plans to honor Tesla’s legacy and position itself as a global hub for science and innovation.

As we approach the deadline to file our taxes, Brookhaven Receiver of Taxes Louis Marcoccia tells us what we need to know about this year’s tax season.

Afterwards, we shift our focus to Stony Brook University, where 300 students gathered for the first-ever Long Island Youth Climate Summit.

Turn the page with us as we delve into the week’s top stories, with another episode of the Pressroom Afterhour: Keeping it Local with TBR.

 

 

by -
0 1490
Pixabay photo

By Frank Artusa

For as long as there have been nation states, spies have been hard at work trying to gather intelligence for strategic advantage. Historically, the direct victims of such efforts have been government agencies, the military and corporate intellectual property, but recent events have put us all in the crosshairs when it comes to our digital communications.

Though sophisticated methods like collecting radio frequency emanations, tapping above ground and undersea communications cables, and other signals intelligence techniques, have been historically employed by adversary nations, few could have predicted the massive data breach recently perpetrated by an elite hacker group attributed to the People’s Republic of China called Salt Typhoon.

Salt Typhoon, a codename assigned by Microsoft’s cyber threat intelligence team, was first discovered in Fall 2024 to have compromised telecommunications systems and networks belonging to Verizon, T-Mobile, Spectrum and several others. The widespread compromise involved the exposure of data associated with phone calls, voicemails, and text messages impacting millions of Americans. The true extent of this massive breach has yet to be revealed, and it’s unknown whether the affected systems have been fixed.

The idea that any hacker group could obtain access to such critical infrastructure and persist, undetected, for apparently up to a year or more, is difficult to comprehend. The Federal Government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) indicated that Salt Typhoon was able to obtain access due to unpatched network hardware and leveraging entry points designed for use  by law enforcement, or “backdoors”.

Some experts blame the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), a 1994 digital wiretapping law that compels telecommunications companies to assist law enforcement in conducting electronic surveillance with a court order. This tool by the very nature of its existence presents a potential backdoor into the telecom’s network. However, federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities utilize this technique to investigate criminal activity, with probable cause, to uncover evidence of crimes ranging from gang activity, organized crime, public corruption and everything in between. This makes CALEA a double edged sword: supporters laud its criticality to criminal investigations and detractors argue for its potential misuse by hackers or a corrupt government. 

Despite the obstacle described above, in December 2024 the FBI and CISA took the bold step of recommending that individuals utilize communication apps that offer end to end encryption (E2EE). E2EE is an encryption methodology that is used by apps like Whatsapp, Signal, and iMessage (when communicating between apple devices). 

E2EE makes it impossible for an interloper to read data due the advanced encryption utilized to encode data. As an example, it would require thousands, if not millions of years for a supercomputer to break encryption implemented by these applications. Quantum computing, a radical new computer processing technology poses a threat, but this innovation is still years away and governments are aggressively working to develop quantum proof encryption as well.

A clear use of the government’s own utilization of this E2EE technology was recently demonstrated when U.S. national security and defense officials used Signal to communicate tactical war plans in Yemen, albeit with unintended recipients.

Threats posed by advanced nation states capable of funding top tier cyber espionage operations is growing, with dozens of capable groups originating from Russia, Iran and North Korea as well as China. Additionally, this doesn’t include independent cyber criminal groups looking to steal and sell personal data. Considering the wide array of potential threats to digital data, E2EE appears to be one of the few tools guaranteed to stop hackers from eavesdropping on digital communications.

Internet Crime Complaint Center — www.ic3.gov

Frank Artusa, a resident of Smithtown, is a current cybersecurity professional and retired FBI Special Agent.

123...481Next Page 1 of 481
TBR News Media is your local news and entertainment website.
We provide you with the latest breaking news and information for your community.
Contact us: [email protected]

Most Viewed

©