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

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Screenshot from HACK@CEWIT

By Harry To

The Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology at Stony Brook University hosted its 5th annual Hack@CEWIT “hackathon” featuring student-made inventions, Feb. 26-28.

Usually this showcase takes place in person, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year’s event was hosted online. In place of the usual format, the over-200 competitors communicated through Zoom or Discord.

Satya Sharma, executive director of CEWIT, emphasized the abnormal circumstances weren’t a problem.

“This year’s 5th annual Hack@CEWIT had over 200 registered undergrad and graduate hackers from across the U.S.,” he said. “And though it was held virtually due to the pandemic, it did not diminish the quality of projects submitted by these bright and motivated students. It’s opportunities like this hackathon that builds confidence in their creativity and grows their entrepreneurial spirit.”

According to Sharma, this year’s theme, Innovating Through the Pandemic, reminds people that though there are sudden and unknown challenges, they can seize the opportunities those challenges create and harvest ideas never before imagined.

Students Mohammad Elbadry, 23 (left) and Aaron Gregory, 23 (right). Photo from event

A standout project was R-AGI: Radiology Artificial General Intelligence, created by Stony Brook University graduate students Mohammed Elbadry, Joshua Leeman and Aaron Gregory.

“According to a survey, radiologists only have about 3-4 seconds to look over an X-ray and determine if there are any anomalies,” said Elbadry, a Ph.D. student with over 20-plus hackathons under his belt. “They don’t have much time, so if they had an AI that could help them that would be very useful.”

The limited time for scanning X-rays may result in a higher frequency of errors or discrepancies, with some studies citing an average 3% to 5% error rate, he said. That’s about 40 million radiologist errors every year, mistakes that could potentially cost hundreds of lives.

With the problem in mind, the team of three went to work to create AI that would offer a solution — a program that automatically scans X-rays and detects anomalies. This is something that could save not only time, but human lives.

By using an existing dataset of labelled X-rays, the team trained its AI to detect the presence of pneumonia as well as its specific manifestation. The AI then labels and informs the user of any further anomalies.

The SBU team ended up with an impressive showing, including Top-Tier Graduate Best in Show and Best Healthcare Innovation.

Another award winning project was DarkWebSherlock, created by Andrew Zeoli, Colin Hamill, Donald Finlayson and Ian Costa from Johnson & Wales University,  Providence, R.I.

The sale of personal information on the dark web, a hidden part of the internet accessible through the TOR Browser, is a problem that has persisted for years, and DarkWebSherlock aims to create a solution.

The program allows users to scan through online marketplaces on the dark web to see if their data is up for sale anywhere.

This enables victims to be proactive by updating their passwords or changing their credit card numbers to better secure their information.

Costa said the program will be an invaluable asset. “Searching for usernames on the dark web is something our team does on a daily basis,” he said. “Our project will save valuable time for investigators and with some extra work will become a staple tool for dark web investigations.”

DarkWebSherlock won Top-Tier: Undergrad Best in Show.

Another award-winning project, Vaccine-Finder, aims to help speed up COVID-19 vaccine distribution for 65-year-old-plus vaccine seekers.

The interface allows the elderly, also people with disabilities, to plug in their zip codes and view the appointment availability of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Joshua Muckey started this project only recently, and it won Best Pandemic Innovation.

In all, the event hosted 15 projects, many of which showcased student ingenuity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This year is a reminder of why innovation is key to our success and our survival as a region, as a state and as a society,” said Marc Alessi, a judge for the event, CEO of SynchroPET and executive director of Tesla Science Center. “This weekend’s hackathon at Stony Brook University’s CEWIT center is an example of bringing together emerging innovators from very diverse backgrounds for the purpose of celebrating and practicing innovation in its most raw form. This is essential to foster an environment of innovation.”

All of the participants’ projects can be found online here.

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Last week, Leg. Caracappa spoke at Stagecoach Elementary School in Selden proposing the removal of polling stations at elementary schools. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

By Iryna Shkurhan

Suffolk County Legislator Nick Caracappa (R-Selden) announced the first step in an ambitious effort to remove polling sites from all schools in the county. 

At a press conference March 5, Caracappa announced that Stagecoach Elementary School in Selden would be the first school in his district to be eliminated as a voting site starting in April. 

“Today marks the day that we strike a better balance between the safety of our school children and logistical needs of our voters,” said Nick LaLota, commissioner of the Suffolk County Board of Elections. 

Suffolk has more than one million voters, with over 333 polling sites. Two thirds of sites are currently schools. Logistically, schools are highly accessible sites for voting given their sizable parking lots, handicap access and large open spaces for voting machines.

As local alternatives, nonschool buildings will be used as polling sites to accommodate voters. Up for consideration are the Selden Fire Department’s main station and substation, as well as the New Village Recreation Center in Centereach. Utilizing high and middle schools have also been proposed as alternatives to elementary schools. 

“Eliminating schools as polling sites has been a high priority in this community since I sat on the Middle Country school board over 10 years ago, which makes today such a special day,” Caracappa said. 

The proposed overhaul comes after reports that school leaders and parents are worried about voters interacting with young students on voting days, potentially putting them in harm’s way. That’s in addition to the costly increased security required for schools on voting days, which comes out of the school district budget. 

Shaun Rothberg, principal of Stagecoach Elementary School, said, “This was a collaborative effort over many years of hard work and dedication to bring awareness to the safety concerns of using schools as voting sites, and I hope is the beginning of removing school voting out of all three buildings.”

Voters will at minimum receive a postcard in the mail alerting them of a polling place change along with the effective date. 

“We want to ensure that when we make this change, we’re not only doing it on the focus of the safety of the kids, but we also want to ensure that votersw are fully aware and how they can participate in our great democracy,” LaLota said. 

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Photo from Pixabay

Last week marked milestones that most Long Islanders would prefer to forget.

It was March 5, 2020, when the first confirmed case of the coronavirus was reported on the Island in Nassau County, and then a few days after, there was one in Suffolk. 

A year later, while we can somewhat see the light at the end of the tunnel, we’re not quite there yet.

Many people would say we lost a year of normalcy with a good majority of employees working from home, restaurants and other businesses operating at reduced capacity — some even shuttering their doors for good. The biggest loss to COVID-19 was more than 3,000 people in Suffolk County in the last year dying from the virus. This means 3,000 families have lost their loved ones.

We’ve come a long way since the novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China. Scientists and researchers had to scramble to find ways to protect people from a virus that was unfamiliar to the human body, so much so that it not only could make them incredibly ill but also take their lives.

There were shutdowns, social distancing guidelines, the requirement of facial coverings and frequent handwashing to keep us healthy, while pharmaceutical companies were on the fast track creating vaccines that would teach our bodies how to clobber the silent and invisible enemy.

But was this year really lost to any extent? We have come out of adversity stronger and wiser.

Those of us who are reasonably healthy have learned so much. More than ever, we know not to take our health and loved ones for granted. We have discovered just how resilient we can be, finding alternatives to celebrating special events, having meetings with coworkers, buying groceries and more. Many business owners have come up with innovative ideas so they can keep their doors open.

We have also seen disparities during the pandemic, especially when it comes to public health, as Black and brown communities have had more cases than others. These disparities are unacceptable and remind us that we can and must do better by our neighbors.

So many of us know someone who has been affected by the coronavirus, whether they had mild or severe symptoms, were hospitalized or died. And as we find ourselves at the one-year mark, even with the vaccines being rolled out, we still must curtail our activities, social distance, wear masks and frequently wash our hands.

But as more and more people get vaccinated, the light at the end of the tunnel will continue to get brighter. Our residents will carry on — maybe with masks in hand and keeping their distance, but at the same time applying the lessons they have learned and honoring those who can no longer do so.

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Stock image

By Iryna Shkurhan

In the Village of Head of the Harbor, two trustee incumbents, Daniel White and Jeffrey Fischer, are running for another two-year term March 16.

Daniel White

Both candidates are currently serving in their eighth year as trustees for the village. As a result of the pandemic, this past year brought new budget challenges due to a shortfall of court and sales tax revenues. But both candidates credit working effectively and diligently with their team to prevail through unforeseen circumstances.

“The village faces significant problems this year because we have a very tight budget as a result of a pandemic, and I think that I can contribute to the overall effective functioning and improvement of life in the village,” White said.

During his service so far, White worked with his fellow trustees to initiate modern radio communications for the highway trucks. Most recently he also helped secure funding for reflective stainless steel clips on the fire hydrants so the firemen can find them easily, even when covered with snow.

“It seems very small, barely worth mentioning, but it can make a significant difference in a situation where if it’s not there, it could be a problem,” White said.

White, 66, has worked as a fidelity lawyer for Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC firm for the past three years, specializing in fidelity and surety law. His past law experience includes serving as assistant district attorney in Kings County.

He has lived in St. James at intervals since 1965. Currently White and his wife reside in the home he grew up with their two labradors, Daisy and Holly.

White also served as president of Preservation Long Island, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Long Island’s diverse cultural and architectural heritage, and completed his extended term in June. He also served on the organization’s board for 13 years.

White and Fischer align with the village statement on the proposed Gyrodyne development project in St. James, which raised concerns about negative traffic and environmental impacts on the village. They are concerned about the possible consequences of a proposed treatment plan on the property so close to Stony Brook Harbor and drastic changes to historic Route 25.

“I think that the historic corridor along Route 25A in that section is a resource that we must conserve and that we must preserve,” said White, who views the proposed location of the site as the “wrong place.”

Jeffrey Fischer

Gyrodyne has proposed to subdivide its 75-acre-property to build a 150-room hotel with a restaurant, two assisted living centers, two medical office parks in addition to a 7-acre sewage treatment plant.

Fischer believes that a moratorium needs to be placed on this project until further studies are conducted on the environmental impact, as well as from a traffic standpoint.

“Our biggest concern right now is the potential Smithtown master plan Gyrodone property,”  Fischer said. “It can have such a negative impact on our village.”

Fischer, 64, has lived in St. James for the past 27 years with his wife and two children.  He is the president and CEO of Atlantic Business Systems, an IT company in Hauppauge that he started 33 years ago. During the past four terms as trustee, he served on the finance board and is responsible for maintaining and balancing the budget.

“With the financial shortfalls that were unforeseen, due to COVID, it’s been challenging,but you know, we’ve prevailed,” Fischer said.

He has also served on the zoning board of appeals for 17 years, for ten of those years he was chairman of the board.

Fischer spearheaded the joining of the St. James fire district for the village, rather than being a customer of the fire district. The initiative was approved this year, giving residents the opportunity to vote in the fire district elections and join as volunteers or commissioners.

“I love doing it,” Fischer said. “I work with a great team of people. Our mayor and my fellow trustees are outstanding people to work with, and we’re getting a lot accomplished.And, I really enjoy it.”

Voting will take place March 16 at Head of the Harbor Village Hall located at 500 North Country Road, St. James. The polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m.

“We live in a wonderful community and people are willing to help in all kinds of ways, and I want to work to focus on getting participation even greater, so that we can make things better,” White said.

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Photographer John Dielman captured the Ward Melville field hockey team in action March 8.
Photographer John Dielman captured the Ward Melville field hockey team in action March 8.
Photographer John Dielman captured the Ward Melville field hockey team in action March 8.
Photographer John Dielman captured the Ward Melville field hockey team in action March 8.
Photographer John Dielman captured the Ward Melville field hockey team in action March 8.
Photographer John Dielman captured the Ward Melville field hockey team in action March 8.
Photographer John Dielman captured the Ward Melville field hockey team in action March 8.

Ward Melville’s field hockey team hosted the Eastport-South Manor Sharks March 9. The Patriots ended the first game of the COVID-19 shortened season with a win, 4-2.

March 10 the team traveled to Smithtown West. Results were not available at press time. On  March 12, the team will travel to Bay Shore.

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Beginning March 26, indoor family entertainment centers will be allowed to reopen at 25% capacity. Photo from Urban Air

By Kimberly Brown 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced beginning March 26, indoor family entertainment centers will be able to reopen at 25% capacity. 

Other facilities such as bowling alleys and escape rooms have been open since last August, but indoor family entertainment centers are among the industries that have been left behind during the reopening plan. As a result, they have taken a big hit since the start of the pandemic last March.  

A few Long Island entertainment centers such as Urban Air Adventure Park in Lake Grove and Sky Zone Trampoline Park in Mount Sinai are “excited, eager, thrilled, delighted” to make a comeback this year.

“We tried as a business to get engagement from New York State about the reopen plan for family entertainment,” said David Wolmetz, co-owner of Urban Air. “Meanwhile these other businesses like bowling alleys, gymnastics, casinos, gyms and other indoor recreation centers were able to reopen and we were questioning why the data was not allowing for our business to open.”

Unable to receive the data from the state to support the lack of focus on indoor family entertainment centers, he was able to obtain his own data from other Urban Air parks that were allowed to reopen around the country. 

Observing approximately 140 different Urban Air parks, Wolmetz found that out of the 4 million guests who have been served, no cases of COVID-19 were traced back to their parks. 

“It was very tough for us to understand why we couldn’t reopen, but we remained patient,” he said. “We are doing everything possible to remain safe, and are pleased we will be able to open March 26 and serve the community again.” 

Despite how tough the year has been for such companies and keeping in mind that only 25% capacity will be permitted on reopening shortly, Dominick Crafa, Sky Zone general manager, said he is still looking forward to welcoming back families into the park again. 

“We want to allow people to have fun again, and try to get back to somewhat of a normal,” he said, “We’ll probably be running in the red for a little bit and losing some money, but just the fact that we’re able to get back to some sort of normal life and provide a place of happiness is something we’re excited for.” 

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From left, Mary Joy Pipe, Stu Vincent, Maryanne Douglas, Marites Son and Nancy Bradley are sworn in by Leg. Hahn (in foreground). Not pictured, Michael Sceiford. Photo from Barbara Ransome

The Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce held its swearing-in ceremony last week for new members and celebrated existing ones. 

On Feb. 24, members joined at The Space at 234 Traders Cove, where Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), chamber installing officer, helped swear in its executive board including President Mary Joy Pipe, of The East End Shirt Co.; 1st Vice President Stu Vincent, of Mather Hospital; 2nd Vice President Michael Sceiford, of Edward Jones; Treasurer Maryanne Douglas, of Davis Town Meeting House Society; 3rd Vice President Marites (Tess) Son; and Secretary Nancy Bradley of People’s United Bank. 

The chamber also welcomed its new directors: Loretta Criscuoli of The Spice & Tea Exchange; Raquel Fernandez of Icon Properties; Rose and Robert Rodriguez, of Hook & Ladder Party Company; and Kristine Murillo, of Fedora Lounge Boutique Hair Salon. 

Flowers for the event were donated by the chamber’s new partner, Diane Mutell of Slate Floral & Event Studio, and antipasto boxes were provided by chamber partner Pasta Pasta.

Only the board of directors were invited to attend the event physically, while remaining attendees were on Zoom. 

Other members were celebrated for their reelections, including TBR News Media publisher Leah Dunaief, Steve Muñoz of Amazing Olive, and Suzanne Velázquez of Stony Brook University. 

Barbara Ransome, director of operations, said the chamber’s small business award was given to John Urbinati of The Fifth Season restaurant. The $500 award will be used to upgrade and enhance their e-commerce and online shopping cart. 

— Courtesy of Port Jeff Chamber

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TBR News Media Editor Julianne Mosher

It’s pretty funny. Journalism was always known as a male-dominated field. 

Back in the day, women were mostly secretaries in the field — a select few would end up publishing their own works like the famous Nellie Bly.

But even so, thanks to the brave and loud people who fought for women’s rights all those years ago, we’re allowed to do what we do.

In celebration of Women’s History Month this March, we thank them, from the bottom of our hearts. 

Now it’s 2021 and a lot has changed since Bly took a trip around the world in 72 days and uncovered the horrors of mental institutions in the late 1880s. 

TBR News Media currently staffs primarily women — its three editors are all female. We’ve had men work here before, but it just happened to work out that the majority of employees are now female.

Although the world has given our gender more rights than before, it’s still tough out there for women in journalism — between community to national levels, broadcast, radio, print and the web.

Our colleagues have been harassed on the street, cat called, grabbed. Some of us have been victim blamed or spoken to in a condescending way. Some of us in journalism don’t earn as much as our male counterparts — even on Long Island (yes, equal pay still does not exist).

But yet, women are still out there talking to you, telling your stories, being as empathetic as we can be when interviewing, photographing, taking videos and writing an article. 

We have a lot to be thankful for, but there still needs to be change.

We need to be paid properly for what we do. We need to be thanked for the work we do. We need respect — and not to be grabbed or harassed while we do our jobs. This applies not only to us but all the women out there who are doing their best to feed their families, achieve their goals and to make their mark on the world.

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Indian Hills Country Club. File photo by Sara-Megan Walsh

By Chris Cumella

The Town of Huntington Planning Board will soon be releasing results from their research on the geographical region in their Final Environmental Impact Statement for The Preserve at Indian Hills project.

“In all of my communities, I reach out to area residents to gain their input to achieve the best results.”

— Jim Tsunis

Northwind Group CEO Jim Tsunis said he is determined to start construction on what he said would be one of the most extraordinary projects on the East Coast. The Preserve is a planned senior residential community through the construction of new units along the Indian Hills golf course and country club, giving residents views from what Tsunis describes as “one of the most beautiful country clubs on Long Island.”

The goal of Hauppauge-based developers Northwind and Nelson Pope Voorhis, land surveyors of Melville, is to respect the country club’s land while blending in a new community. They hope to see home values in the area soar over time. Tsunis’ development team said it has mitigated the environmental impacts from constructing these units through public input. 

“In all of my communities, I reach out to area residents to gain their input to achieve the best results,” Tsunis said.

NPV submitted a response detailing specific comments that were addressed to them through the gathering of town input, such as the requests for marked pedestrian crosswalks and maintaining steady traffic of vehicles, pedestrians and golf carts, all of which have been claimed to be resolved.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement was designed in 2019 to gather public feedback and utilize it to adjust the project to bridge compromises between the developers and residents. The Town Board presented a notice of completion for the FEIS in August 2020. However, some in the community thought the inquiries were anything but complete.

“The Town of Huntington now has to do what they call a findings statement,” said John Hayes, president of the Fort Salonga Property Owners Association. “They write down their recommendations for the developers and the proposed development.”

Hayes and the association have opposed much of the development’s progress since the draft became viewable in 2019. He expressed his surprise once he found out the FEIS was proposed to be completed from what he calls “an understatement” that he and several local community members highly contest.

Of the total 86 units expected to be built around the Indian Hills Country Club’s perimeter, 36 of them reside a few hundred feet from a labeled coastal erosion hazard area. This 2,500-foot bluff of land is nestled between the Long Island Sound and the country club, chiseled by the rising water levels every spring and summer, washed away and cleared by the passing of every fall and winter.

“The problem is not only that you have this 2,500-foot fault line, but if you are going to build 86 houses, the nitrogen level is governed by wastewater. That makes it even more unstable.”

— John Hayes

Hayes detailed how the nitrogen levels in the Sound could increase with the new units’ construction.

“The problem is not only that you have this 2,500-foot fault line, but if you are going to build 86 houses, the nitrogen level is governed by wastewater,” Hayes said. “That makes it even more unstable.”

Tsunis and his team will require a preliminary subdivision approval from the Town of Huntington in order to start work soon.

The rate of shore recession proves worrisome for environmental professionals concerned that winter storms will continue to remove sediment on the beach and tear away at the base of the bluffs.

“It’s dangerous,” said state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), chair of the state’s Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation. “There’s a very large body of clay that runs along the base of the bluff. The weight of water in the soil is enough to squeeze toothpaste-like clay onto the beach every winter.”

Englebright and his state Assembly committee colleagues were able to measure the rate of erosion in the Baiting Hollow area of Riverhead, where they found dune forms that ran north and south, more than a mile in length from top to bottom. Today, he says that what is left is no more than a few hundred yards of dunes, the rest of which has been eroded since sea levels increased in the Sound.

While reviews for the Indian Hills project are still currently underway to maintain and improve the development shortly, there is still a distance between the property owners association and Northwind.

“We have never turned down talking with the developers,” Hayes said. “We met with them more than three times, and yet we have never been anywhere near an agreement.”

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