A FLYING LEAP
Tom Caruso captured this fleeting moment on a recent trip to Caleb Smith State Park Preserve in his hometown of Smithtown. He writes, ‘It was a beautiful day. I wandered around the park and saw several deer grazing in an open field. I circled around the field to get a better look when a herd of deer came crashing out of the woods to my right and bounded across the field. I caught this deer in full flight and it was quite a sight.’
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By Nancy Burner, Esq.
As we enter a new year, it’s important that there is an understanding of the updated estate and gift taxes on both the federal and state level.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) increased the federal estate tax exclusion amount for decedents dying in years 2018 to 2025. The exclusion amount is for 2022 is $12.06 million. This means that an individual can leave $12.06 million, and a married couple can leave $24.12 million dollars to their heirs or beneficiaries without paying any federal estate tax. This also means that an individual or married couple can gift this same amount during their lifetime and not incur a federal gift tax. The rate for the federal estate and gift tax remains at 40 percent.
There are no 2022 changes to the rules regarding step-up basis at death. That means that when you die, your heirs’ cost basis in the assets you leave them are reset to the value at your date of death.
The Portability Election, which allows a surviving spouse to use his or her deceased spouse’s unused federal estate and gift tax exemption, is unchanged for 2022. This means a married couple can use the full $24.12 million exemption before any federal estate tax would be owed. To make a portability election, a federal estate tax return must be timely filed by the executor of the deceased spouse’s estate.
For 2022 the annual gift tax exclusion has increased to $16,000. This means that an individual can give away $16,000 to any person in a calendar year ($32,000 for a married couple) without having to file a federal gift tax return.
Despite the large Federal Estate Tax exclusion amount, New York State’s estate tax exemption for 2021 is $5.93 million. As of the date of this article, the exact exclusion amount for 2022 has not been released. It is anticipated to be a little over $6 million in 2022. New York State still does not recognize portability.
New York has a three-year lookback on gifts as of January 16, 2019. However, a gift is not includable if it was made by a resident or nonresident and the gift consists of real or tangible property located outside of New York State; while the decedent was a nonresident; before April 1, 2014; between January 1, 2019, and January 15, 2019.
Most taxpayers will never pay a federal or New York State estate tax. However, there are many reasons to engage in estate planning. Those reasons include long term care planning, tax basis planning and planning to protect your beneficiaries once they inherit the wealth.
In addition, since New York State has a separate estate tax regime with a significantly lower exclusion than that of the Federal regime it is still critical to do estate tax planning if you and/or your spouse have an estate that is potentially taxable under the New York State law.
Nancy Burner, Esq. practices elder law and estate planning from her East Setauket office. Visit www.burnerlaw.com
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LIVE WEBINAR: Burner Law Group, P.C. presents a free webinar titled 2022: The Year of Trusts on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 2:30 p.m. Attorney Britt Burner will discuss the anatomy of trusts, the types of trusts used in Estate and Medicaid planning and how they can benefit you and your loved ones. To RSVP, call 631-941-3434 or email [email protected].
MEET APU AND MANJULA!
This week’s shelter pets are Apu and Manjula, 8-month- old domestic short hair cats up for adoption at the Smithtown Animal Shelter. Apu is a black male and Manjula is a brown tabby female.
These two beauties are low key affectionate sweethearts. They love to get petted and to play with each other. They are not bonded, but do enjoy each other’s company. The shelter’s preference would be a happy home together, but they may be separated.
If you would like to meet these sweethearts, please call ahead to schedule an hour to properly interact with them in a domestic setting.
The Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. Visitor hours are currently Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Sundays and Wednesday evenings by appointment only). For more information, call 631-360-7575 or visit www.smithtownanimalshelter.com.
By David Dunaief, M.D.
It’s that time of year again, when exercise product commercials flood the airways. If you have “lose weight” on your list of 2022 resolutions, it’s helpful to consider what the research tells us about the relationship between exercise and weight loss.
Unfortunately, exercise without dietary changes may not actually help many people lose weight, no matter what the intensity or the duration (1). If it does help, it may only modestly reduce fat mass and weight for the majority of people. However, it may be helpful with weight maintenance.
Ultimately, it may be more important to reconsider what you are eating than to succumb to the rationalization that you can eat with abandon and work it off later.
Don’t give up on exercise just yet, though. There is good news: Exercise does have benefits for a wide range of conditions, including chronic kidney disease, cognitive decline, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, fatigue, insomnia and depression.
Exercise may not result in weight loss
The well-known weight-loss paradigm is that when more calories are burned than consumed, we will tip the scale in favor of weight loss. The greater the negative balance with exercise, the greater the 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, although there was great variability in weight.
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 — or, in other words, a moderately intense pace.
The good news is that the women were in better aerobic shape by the end of the study. Also, women who had lost weight at the four-week mark 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 there was a disappointing amount of weight loss with exercise alone (4). In six months, patients lost a mean of 1.6 kilograms, or 3.5 pounds, and at 12 months, participants lost 1.7 kilograms, or about 3.75 pounds.
Exercise and weight maintenance
However, exercise may be valuable in weight maintenance, according to observational studies. Premenopausal women who exercised at least 30 minutes a day were significantly less likely to regain lost weight (5). When exercise was added to diet, women were able to maintain 30 percent more weight loss than with diet alone after a year in a prospective study (6).
Exercise and disease
As just one example of exercise’s impact on disease, let’s look at chronic kidney disease (CKD), which affects 15 percent of adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (7).
Trial results showed that walking regularly could reduce the risk of kidney replacement therapy and death in patients who have moderate to severe CKD, stages 3 to 5 (8). Yes, this includes stage 3, which most likely is asymptomatic. There was a 21 percent reduction in the risk of kidney replacement therapy and a 33 percent reduction in the risk of death when walkers were compared to non-walkers.
Walking had an impressive impact, and results were based on a dose-response curve. In other words, 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 per week saw 44 and 59 percent reductions in death and kidney replacement. These are substantial results. The authors concluded that the effectiveness of walking on CKD was independent of kidney function, age or other diseases.
Therefore, while there are many benefits to exercise, food choices will have a greater impact on our weight and body composition.
However, exercise can help maintain weight loss and is extremely beneficial for preventing progression of chronic diseases, such as CKD.
So, by all means, exercise, but also focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods instead of calorically dense foods that you may not be able to exercise away.
References:
(1) uptodate.com. (2) J Strength Cond Res. 2015 Feb;29(2):297-304. (3) ACSM.org. (4) Am J Med. 2011;124(8):747. (5) Obesity (Silver Spring). 2010;18(1):167. (6) Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1997;21(10):941. (7) cdc.gov. (8) Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2014 Jul;9(7):1183-1189.
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.
By Fr. Francis Pizzarelli
It’s hard to believe another new year has begun. There is so much tension and turmoil across our American landscape that is infected with a new COVID variant that is highly contagious. Our essential workers continue to be our heroes, as they quietly take on longer hours and additional shifts to keep people safe and healthy. We are blessed to have three extraordinary hospitals in our larger community: St. Charles, Mather, and Stony Brook University Hospital.
Our political landscape continues to be overwhelmed with hateful and divisive rhetoric that seems to be paralyzing us from moving forward. It is this hateful speech on both sides of the aisle that continues to infect and rip at the heart and soul of America. We need to elect leaders who will represent us and our issues in Washington, no matter what their political affiliation might be.
Our schools are failing at every level to motivate this generation to consider genuine government service and help them to believe that their voice does matter; that their active participation in the political life of our country can and will make a difference.
Active engagement on the part of every citizen will defeat the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance lobbyists and the gun lobbyists. Compromise and fairness once again will take center stage. We are a democracy, not an autocracy. Everyone’s vote and voice matters. Race, religion, sexual orientation or social status should not color how we see and support the issues.
Our public discourse has lost its moral compass. The often vulgar and disrespectful ad hominem attacks too often have nothing to do with the issue at hand. Social media should be a positive tool to bring us together not a destructive weapon to demonize and destroy.
Despite this troubling landscape as we begin a new year there are powerful lights piercing the darkness.
Two young men from two different worlds on the verge of human destruction reclaimed their lives; one was a high school dropout, the other a college dropout. Both spent a significant amount of time living in the streets. Each man graduated in May with Masters degrees in social work from two different universities. Both decided to give back and take jobs as school social workers in different school districts. I asked them why? Both said: “I want to give back and possibly prevent someone else from walking down the wrong road.”
Probably the most touching experience I had this holiday season is when I met an eight-year-old girl named Celia. She came to her mom at the height of the pandemic and said, “I want to do something for the homeless.” This gave birth to “Celia Sews for Socks.” She made scrunchies and hair ties and sold them at a few local community events. She made $1000 to buy socks for the most needy among us. She donated $700 worth of socks to Hope Academy in Mount Sinai and $300 worth of socks to Little Flower Children’s Services.
What a refreshing little girl who has not been infected by all the craziness around us. She brought 10 bags of beautiful socks for some of the most vulnerable among us living at Hope Academy. The men gave her a standing ovation!
“Celia Sews for Socks” is a refreshing reminder that we can do better and this new year can be better. Celia, thank you for reminding me that hope lives in our midst!
Father Francis Pizzarelli, SMM, LCSW-R, ACSW, DCSW, is the director of Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson.
During a march on Washington, D.C., back in August 1963, civil rights activist and minister the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech that was heard around the world.
“I have a dream,” he recited, “that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
Now, nearly 54 years after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, that speech still has clout, and its message is still being spread, but unfortunately King’s children and granddaughter still do not see what he had envisioned so long ago.
The murders of Black men and women including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and David McAtee — just to name a few — still continue some five decades after King’s plea for our country to stop its racism, bigotry and hate.
How can we as a society still continue to judge, harass and kill people based solely on the color of their skin? Have we not learned?
This week would have been MLK’s 93rd birthday, and he would be ashamed of what is going on in our country.
When he died in 1968, Black people in America were fighting for their basic human rights. Now it’s 2022 and people of color are still fighting. Fortunately, they’re being joined by many others in the fight.
While the summer of 2020 was one of civil unrest, protests, anger and tears, it was a summer which again started the conversation that enough is enough.
In 2022, we as a society need to continue moving forward — not backward.
MLK’s dream was for children, Black or white, to play happily and peacefully together.
Let us start this new year with his dream in mind. Let us show respect for our neighbors and support causes of conscience. Let us remember the injustices and work to make sure they are not repeated.
We have the ability to succeed better as a society but what it will take is an awareness of injustice and the resolve to root it out.
Let us continue to keep Dr. King’s dream alive.
By Daniel Dunaief
Isaiah Nengo recalled a day years ago when he was working in a field station in Kenya, searching for fossils.
A man who had a tremendous influence on his life was on the way to alter his horizons yet again, although this time the visit would have nothing to do with science.
Richard Leakey, the late founder of the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) and a famed paleoanthropologist and conservationist, was bringing food from his home on the coast of Kenya in Lamu to the field station.
Leakey “prepared this lobster meal,” said Nengo, who is native of Nairobi, Kenya, and is currently associate director of TBI. “It was my first seafood meal. It was fantastic. I was like, ‘I’m sitting almost 600 miles from the ocean, it’s hot as hell and I’m eating lobster.’ That always stuck in my mind.”
Leakey, who died on Jan. 2 (see a tribute to the Stony Brook legend in this week’s Arts & Lifestyles page B12), left behind a lasting scientific legacy that filled science textbooks of people around the world, while he left an enduring food legacy that filled the stomachs of family, friends, coworkers and colleagues.
People fortunate enough to dine with him shared tales of Leakey’s culinary prowess and refined tastes.
Sonia Harmand, associate professor in the Anthropology Department at Stony Brook, took a long flight with Leakey to Kenya. Leakey had a salmon meal on the plane that didn’t meet his standards.
“He called the staff, and even the pilot came by to say hi because everybody knows about him,” Harmand said. Amid the introductions, he expressed his displeasure with the salmon.
When he returned to Kenya, he wrote to the airline and complained about the food.
As a host, Leakey went out of his way to make sure all of his guests enjoyed the food he purchased, prepared and served.
Harmand said her daughter Scarlett, who will turn nine in February, enjoyed eating at Leakey’s house because he prepared mussels and oysters he knew appealed to her.
“Every time you had a meal with him, he kept on asking if you liked it,” Harmand said.
Harmand also appreciated the unexpected gifts of incongruous foods at TBI. One day, Leakey arrived with ice cream and fresh strawberries.
“We had to eat it quickly,” she recalled with a laugh.
Another long time friend and colleague, Lawrence Martin, the director of TBI, said Leakey had a fondness for some Long Island foods. He particularly enjoyed ducks, as well as oysters and mussels from Long Island’s waterways.
“He said mussels were never as good in the warm water as they were in Stony Brook,” Martin said.
When he first got to know Leakey, Martin said Leakey cooked all the meals they shared, whether they were in Stony Brook or Kenya.
Martin called Leakey a “great chef” and said his late colleague “loved good food and loved going food shopping.”
While Leakey shared important information with former Stony Brook President Shirley Kenny, he also dined on memorable meals.
When they were on their own on Long Island without their spouses, Kenny invited Leakey over to her home for a meal.
After the dinner, he thanked her and promised he would return, providing she allowed him to do the cooking.
Sharing food with Leakey often meant benefiting from his storytelling prowess and his sense of humor.
Kenny and her family went on a safari with Jim and Marilyn Simons, co-founders of the Simons Foundation and supporters of science throughout Long Island.
“At the end of the day, we would sit in a circle and have drinks and [Leakey] would regale us with stories that were absolutely wonderful,” Kenny said. “You can’t even imagine how they made these [incredible] meals when there’s nothing out there to do it with.”
With hyenas howling at night and hot showers created with water heated by the sun during the day, the entire experience was “so exotic and so elegant at the same time,” Kenny added.
Harmand said Leakey didn’t cook with the goal of winning over people, but, rather, to share a connection.
“I don’t think he needed to impress anyone,” Harmand said. “He wanted to please you through food.”
By Leah S. Dunaief
There has been a lot in the news recently about COVID testing. We can request at-home test kits, and the government promises to send them to us through the mail. Also, we can shortly obtain N95 masks, the most efficient at filtering out microbes from the air, from pharmacies and other health centers. Those should be available to us by the end of next week.
Here is a new angle for consideration. Testing thus far has focused on using swabs inserted up the nose. But there is, perhaps, a more comfortable and more accurate possibility: spitting into a tube. “The virus shows up first in your mouth and throat,” according to Dr. Donald Milton, an expert on respiratory viruses at the University of Maryland who was quoted by The New York Times last Saturday. This means that testing saliva or swabbing the inside of the mouth could help identify people who are infected days earlier, some research suggests.
Here are some findings from Dr. Milton and his associates. Three days before symptoms appear and for two days after, “saliva samples contained about three times as much virus nasal samples and were 12 times as likely to produce a positive P.C.R. (gold standard) result. After that, however, more virus began accumulating in the nose …” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now authorized numerous saliva-based PCR tests which work well for screening students at schools.
“Saliva really has turned out to be a valuable specimen type and one that has increasingly been advocated as a primary testing sample,” said Dr. Glen Hansen, of the clinical microbiology and molecular diagnostics laboratory at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minnesota.
Since Omicron “appears to replicate more quickly in the upper respiratory tract and have a shorter incubation period than earlier variants,” if attention to the mouth and throat would be able to detect the virus earlier it would be particularly valuable, according to Emily Anthes, the NYT reporter.
Further, researchers in South Africa, where Omicron was first identified, have determined that saliva swabs of that variant were better indicators of infection than nasal swabs in the P.C.R. tests, although the opposite was true for the Delta variant. But other research studies have had mixed results. As is usual, more research is needed.
There are also other aspects to saliva tests. It is possible that while highly sensitive tests like PCR might identify infection in saliva days earlier, less sensitive tests like the antigen test in the at-home kit, might not. And there are other considerations. What else has passed through the mouth before the test is given? And how will that affect the pH and the result? Also, saliva can be “viscous and difficult to work with,” especially when patients are sick and dehydrated, according to Dr. Marie-Louise Landry, director of the clinical virology laboratory at Yale New Haven Hospital, who is also quoted in the NYT.
In Britain, some at-home tests require swabbing both the throat and the nose. Multiple site testing would seem to offer an advantage. But test manufacturers would have to reconfigure their tests accordingly. Throat swabs need to be bigger. And most importantly, the at-home rapid antigen tests would have to be authorized for mouths or throats, which they currently are NOT. The biochemistry of the mouth is different from that of the nose and may yield a false positive.
Ultimately a variety of test options to meet a variety of situations would seem the best result. For those who have symptoms for several days, a nasal swab might be the choice. Saliva tests might work better for large-scale surveillance of asymptomatic people.
Meanwhile making at-home antigen tests available for everyone is a positive step.
By Bob Lipinski
As a professional taster, I evaluate hundreds of alcoholic beverages (mostly wines) each month for articles I write. Most of these wines are good, some very good, and others outstanding. Unfortunately, a few wines rate “not very good,” and they are not included in my articles.
I have been writing for over 40 years and prefer to talk about the beverage rather than assign it an arbitrary number rating, so here are my picks!
2020 M.A.N. Family Wines, Chenin Blanc “Coastal Region,” South Africa. No, it’s not a sexist name! The wine is named after the first initials of the three owners’ wives—Marie, Anette, and Nicky! I love the smell and taste of red apples and that’s what you get in each mouthful of this delicious wine along with tropical fruit and melon. Bold citrus flavors balance the high fruit and keep you wanting another glass. I enjoyed this wine with curried chicken in a sweet and sour sauce.
2019 Kato Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand. An aroma and flavor of melon, passion fruit, herbs, and citrus with hints of green pea, dill, and tangerine. Serve with a salad of Romaine lettuce topped with plenty of goat cheese.
2018 Garofoli Farnio, “Rosso Piceno,” Marches, Italy. (Blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese grapes). Ruby-red with a bouquet and flavor of black cherry, licorice, plums, spices, and jam. The wine begs for a dish of pasta in a spicy tomato sauce.
2018 Tyrrell’s “Hunter Valley” Shiraz, New South Wales, Australia. Plenty of dark fruit… blackberries and black currants; dried plums, black pepper, and spice. I love a good Shiraz paired with veal chops rubbed with rosemary.
2016 Don Manuel Villafañe Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina. Bright ruby color with a bouquet and flavor of spicy cherry, brown baking spices, and leather. A dry-rubbed ribeye steak cooked medium rare says it all!
2004 Florio “Terre Arse” Marsala Vergine Riserva “Secco,” Sicily, Italy. Made from Grillo grapes, this beauty was aged for over ten years in ancient oak barrels. Amber-colored with an intense bouquet and flavor of dried figs, apricot jam, caramel, toasted coconut, and raisins. There are hints of smoked wood and hazelnuts in the finish and aftertaste. I enjoyed the wine with a wedge of Pecorino Siciliano and ricotta salata cheese, with slices of cantaloupe melon.
2021 Georges Duboeuf “Beaujolais Nouveau,” France. (Made from Gamay grapes). Candy-apple red; intensely fruity aroma and flavor of raspberries, bubblegum, red candy, cherries, and watermelon. A grilled cheeseburger with onions and fries were my choices.
Bob Lipinski is the author of 10 books, including “101: Everything You Need To Know About Whiskey” and “Italian Wine & Cheese Made Simple” (available on Amazon.com). He consults and conducts training seminars on Wine, Spirits, and Food and is available for speaking engagements. He can be reached at www.boblipinski.com OR [email protected].
MEET QUEEN TABITHA!
This week’s shelter pet is Queen Tabitha, a 10-month-old domestic shorthair cat who came to the Smithtown Animal Shelter as part of their TNR program.
Tabitha was always a little shy, but gentle. She prefers quiet and solitude, but when she trusts you, she enjoys getting pets and being around other cats. She would do best in a quiet home with calm animals.
If you would like to meet this royal sweetheart, please call ahead to schedule an hour to properly interact with her in a domestic setting.
The Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. Shelter operating hours are currently Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Sundays and Wednesday evenings by appointment only). Call 631-360-7575 or visit www.smithtownanimalshelter.com.
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