Times of Huntington-Northport

Michael H. Burner. Photo courtesy Burner Family

Prepared by The Burner Family

Michael Burner, 80, of Westhampton Beach, passed away on March 6.

Michael was born on Sept. 15, 1943, to Kurt and Anna Burner in the Bronx. At 16 years old, his first job was in a button factory also in the Bronx. He was a rising star in the retail world and as only Michael could do, he went into an entirely new field: construction. Later in life he became a builder/developer, as the founder and president of Elderco Inc., a creator of fine homes in the Hamptons.

In 1980 with three kids in tow, Brian, Robin and Gabriele, he married Nancy J. Marchesini who already had daughter Tara. Soon Britt, Kyra and Taylor made it an uneven seven.

To say Michael was a family man is an understatement. From starting the Safe Homes Program and Friday Night Recreation to coaching sports teams and serving as president of the Port Jefferson School Board of Education, Michael was an impactful part of the local community. Ever dedicated to community service, Michael was a leader and active member of the Port Jefferson Lions Club and, later, the Moriches Bay Project, Kiwanis of Greater Westhampton and was a charter member of the Westhampton Yacht Squadron.

Michael will be missed by his friends, family, clients, business associates, the Elderco team and all of the other various lives he touched with his sarcasm and quick wit.

Michael is survived by his wife Nancy; son Brian; daughters Robin, Gabriele, Tara, Britt, Kyra and Taylor; 18 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Michael H. Burner Community Service Trust at everloved.com/life-of/michael-burner. All donations will be used to support various community groups and projects in which Michael was involved.

Do you recognize this man? Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the man who allegedly stole credit cards from an East Northport gym in February.

A man allegedly stole credit cards from two lockers at 24 Hour Fitness, located at 4000 Jericho Turnpike on February 24 at approximately 11:50 a.m. The same man later attempted to use the credit cards at Target, located at 98 Veterans Memorial Highway in Commack.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips, or online at www.P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.

Arthur Grollman. Photo courtesy Grollman Family

Prepared by the Grollman Family

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Dr. Arthur Grollman, a man whose life was a testament to the pursuit of knowledge and the betterment of humanity. A Renaissance man in every sense, Dr. Grollman’s dedication to justice, science, medical care, and his family was evident in every facet of his remarkable journey.

Dr. Grollman’s academic odyssey commenced with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1955, followed by a Doctor of Medicine degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1959. His postgraduate years were marked by an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Hopkins and significant research contributions at the National Institutes of Health.

His illustrious career saw him join the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, and Molecular Biology, where he also served as Associate Dean for Scientific Affairs. In 1974, he became the Founding Chair of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook University’s School of Medicine, leading the department to new heights and shaping the future of medical research and education.

Dr. Grollman’s scholarly output was prolific, with over 200 papers that advanced our understanding of molecular biology and cancer research. His work on the biological consequences of DNA damage and the antitumor agent bleomycin was groundbreaking, as were his studies on the three-dimensional structures of DNA enzymes.

A recognized authority on the clinical pharmacology of herbal medicines, Dr. Grollman’s expertise was sought by the White House Commission on Alternative and Complementary Health Policy and Governor George Pataki’s Task Force on Life and Law. His academic influence extended globally, with visiting professorships at prestigious institutions around the world.

In 2003, his contributions were honored with the title of Distinguished Professor of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook. His pioneering work earned him numerous accolades, including an American Cancer Society Scholarship Award and a MERIT award from the National Cancer Institute. The Environmental Mutagen Society recognized his vital research on environmental mutagenesis and his insights into DNA repair mechanisms.

As the world grappled with COVID-19, Dr. Grollman rose to the challenge, dedicating himself to the fight against the pandemic with unwavering commitment.

In 2011, the Environmental Mutagen Society bestowed upon him a prestigious recognition award for his research in environmental mutagenesis, which brought to light the public health crisis of aristolochic acid-induced kidney failure and urothelial cancer. This award also honored his seminal work in elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which DNA repair proteins process oxidative DNA damage.

During the tumultuous times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Grollman’s indefatigable spirit shone brightly as he led a consortium of top medical and scientific minds from an off-university chemistry lab. Together, they revisited a drug he had worked on in the 1960s—emetine—and studied its effectiveness and toxicity. His dedication persisted until his final days, culminating in the shipment of newly manufactured pills for the first clinical trial against Covid. His team’s research also demonstrated emetine’s efficacy as an antiviral agent against Zika, Ebola, and herpesviruses.

Dr. Grollman’s investigative prowess was pivotal in discovering the cause of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy, a previously fatal kidney disease. His relentless research and collaboration across nations revealed that the herb Aristolochia, intermingled with wheat crops in the Balkans, was the culprit. His findings led to changes in farming and milling methods that halted the disease’s spread. Moreover, he identified the use of this herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine as the cause of Taiwan’s high rate of urothelial cancer, leading to a cessation in its use and a subsequent decline in kidney failure and cancer cases in the region.

An adventurer at heart, Dr. Grollman’s curiosity extended beyond the realms of science and medicine. He traversed all continents except Antarctica, scaling peaks such as Mt. Whitney and  Mt. Kilimanjaro, as well as the Alps, the Andes, and Mt. Kellas. His journeys took him to Base Camp 3 on Everest and through the Karakoram Mountains, where he and his guide charted a new route. His profound connection with the Himalayas led to a friendship with the Dalai Lama, whom he invited to Stony Brook to receive an honorary degree. Dr. Grollman also established a program at Stony Brook University to support a Tibetan student annually, typically in pursuit of a degree in Public Health.

A champion of justice, Dr. Grollman’s actions consistently reflected his commitment to protecting and supporting those treated unfairly. His leadership and mentorship touched countless lives, leaving an indelible mark on those who had the privilege of knowing him and benefiting from his work. Dr. Grollman’s passing leaves a void in the hearts of many, but his enduring impact on science, medicine, and humanity will forever be cherished and remembered.

John Avlon

By Aidan Johnson

As the primary elections move closer, New York’s 1st Congressional District has experienced some shakeups within the Democratic race. Three candidates, Craig Herskowitz, Kyle Hill and James Gaughran, have exited. 

Herskowitz left the race to instead pursue the New York State Senate 2nd District, saying, “In the meantime, I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work electing Nancy Goroff as our next representative in Congress for District 1.”

In a press release, Hill announced that he was suspending his campaign, stating that he encourages “Suffolk Democrats to maintain their focus on flipping NY-1 because this election is entirely up for grabs.”

Gaughran is no longer running due to the redistricting of the congressional districts. Despite still living inside the new district, and therefore being qualified to run, he feels that his Democratic base has been gutted, saying in an interview that “the redistricting took away all of the large Democratic communities in the Town of Huntington that I represented in the state Senate and gave them to [U.S. Rep.] Tom Suozzi [D-NY3].” Since leaving the race, Gaughran has endorsed the newest candidate, John Avlon.

Owning homes in Sag Harbor and Manhattan, Avlon announced his bid for the congressional seat on Feb. 21, saying in a video posted to social media platform X: “This election is not a drill. It’s up to all of us to step up and get off the sidelines.” He is currently facing off against fellow Democrat Goroff.

Avlon has previously served as a CNN contributor and editor of The Daily Beast. Additionally, he helped found No Labels, a centrist political organization. However, Avlon has since condemned the organization’s attempt to run a third-party presidential candidate in the upcoming election, saying he “hasn’t had anything to do with the organization in more than a decade.” 

Avlon is married to Margaret Hoover, host of the PBS public affairs program “Firing Line.” She is a great-granddaughter of Herbert Hoover, the 31st U.S. president. They have two children.

In a phone interview, Avlon detailed how he first became involved in politics, explaining that his grandparents were immigrants “and like a lot of immigrant families, we grew up really patriotic.”

“My grandfather would talk about Abe Lincoln (R) or Harry Truman (D) like they were present in our lives, and that really inspired me and just got me interested,” he said.

Avlon went on to volunteer for both of Bill Clinton’s (D) campaigns, saying his “third-way approach to politics made a lot of sense to me.”

The new candidate decided to run for Congress after feeling frustrated that the seat wasn’t considered a national priority. 

“I’ve voted here for years, it’s my home,” he said. “It’s a community I love and it’s a district that I have watched with some frustration knowing that it’s a swing seat, knowing the Democrats can compete here.”

Avlon believes that Democrats need to “play offense, not defense,” saying that it was necessary to not just reach out to the Democratic Party, but to independent voters and Republicans who are against Donald Trump (R).

“I deeply believe that hyperpartisanship and polarization is a danger to American democracy and that we need to come up with new solutions, commonsense solutions that can help us reunite as a nation,” he said.

Avlon described one of his fundamental issues as strengthening the middle class in the United States as a whole and Long Island in particular.

He believes that a way to combat the affordability crisis is to “restore state and local tax deductions as they were. If they’re restored, which they will be if Democrats control Congress, that’s real money in people’s pockets.”

Avlon also said that the child tax credit should be expanded again, citing the near 50% decline in childhood poverty rates that the expansion led to during the pandemic. 

While he feels that things are moving in the right direction to address affordability concerns, he said that they are not going fast enough, citing statutes such as the CHIPS and Science Act as “huge opportunities that could be transformative for the middle class, but they’re going to take time to be fully felt.”

“[We have] less inflation than most industrialized nations and a faster recovery from the pandemic, but it can’t come fast enough,” he said.

Avlon stressed working with the communities to build affordable housing that is being built should be “consistent with the character of the communities.”

Additionally, Avlon noted the impact that climate change has had on Long Island’s coastal communities, saying that the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of Transportation & Infrastructure, which former CD1 Congressman Tim Bishop (D) served on, would be “a perfect place to deal with some of these issues.” 

In a phone interview Goroff, who is now the only other Democratic candidate for the congressional seat, said, “I believe that the voters should decide who will represent them, and that includes primary voters deciding who the candidate should be, and so I welcome anyone who wants to join this fight.”

The Democratic primary is on June 25.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory neuroscientist Arkarup Banerjee is using singing mice, like the one shown here, to understand how our brains control timing and communication. Photo by Christopher Auger-Dominguez

By Daniel Dunaief

Animals don’t have clocks, telling them when and for how long to run on a treadmill, to eat whatever they catch or to call to each other from the tops of trees or the bottom of a forest.

Arkarup Banerjee

The Alston’s singing mouse, which lives in Costa Rica, has a distinctive call that people can hear and that, more importantly, conveys meaning to other members of the species.

Using equipment to monitor neurons when a mouse offers songs of different length, Cold Spring Harbor Assistant Professor Arkarup Banerjee showed that these unusual rodents exhibit a form a temporal scaling that is akin to stretching or relaxing a rubber band. This scaling suggests that their brains are bending their processing of time to produce songs of different lengths.

“People have shown this kind of time stretching phenomenon in monkeys,” said Banerjee. It was unexpected and surprising that the same algorithm was used in the rodent motor cortex to control the flexibility of a motor pattern and action during vocalization.

Using recordings of neuronal activity over many weeks, Banerjee focused on a part of the mouse brain called the orofacial motor cortex (or OMC). He searched for differences in songs with particular durations and tempo.

Banerjee had set up a system in which he played back the recordings of Alston’s singing mice to his test subjects, who then responded to those songs. Mice generally respond with songs that are variable durations compared to when they sing alone.

These mice can adjust duration and tempo of these 10-second long songs while engaged in social communication.

People “do that all the time,” said Banerjee. “We change the volume of how loud we are speaking and we can change the tempo.”

The mice showed some vocal flexibility similar to other animals, including people.

These mice are singing the same song, with varying rhythms over shorter or longer periods of time. It is as if the same person were to sing “Happy Birthday” in 10 seconds or in 15 seconds.

Banerjee would like to know what is it in the mouse’s brain that allows for such flexibility. He had previously shown that the motor cortex is involved in vocal behavior, which meant he knew of at least one region where he could look for clues about how these rodents were controlling the flexibility of their songs.

By tracking the firing pattern of neurons in the OMC, he was able to relate neural activity to what the mice were doing in real time.

Neural activity expands or contracts in time, almost as if time is running faster or slower. These animals are experiencing relative time when it comes to producing their songs as they change their songs through a wide range of durations.

Pre-song activity

Even before an animal sings, Banerjee speculates its brain could be preparing for the sounds it’s going to make, much as we think of the words we want to say in a conversation or our response to a question before we move our mouths to reply or type on a keyboard to respond.

Songs also track with intruder status. An animal in a home cage sings a shorter song than an animal brought into a new cage.

Vocalizations may scale with social rank, which might help attract mates or serve other social purposes.

Females in the lab, which presumably reflect similar trends in the wild, tend to prefer the male that produces a longer song with a higher tempo, which could reflect their physical fitness and their position in the social hierarchy, according to research from Steve Phelps, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Integrative Biology.

Applications

While it’s a long way from the research he’s conducting to any potential human application, Banerjee could envision ways for these studies to shed light on communication processes and disorders.

The motor cortex in humans and primate is a larger region. Problems in these areas, from strokes or injuries, can result in aphasia, or the inability to articulate words properly. Banerjee plans to look at stroke models to see if the Alston’s singing mouse might provide clues about potential diagnostic or therapeutic clues.

“There are ways we can use this particular system to study cognitive deficits that show up” during articulation deficits such as those caused by strokes, said Banerjee.  While he said scientists know the parts list of the brain regions involved in speaking, they don’t yet know how they all interact.

“If we did, we’d have a much better chance of knowing where it fails,” Banerjee  explained. A challenge along this long process is learning how to generalize any finding in mice to humans. While difficult, this is not an impossible extrapolation, he suggested.

An effective model

Banerjee built a model prior to these experiments to connect neural activity with behavior.

“We had an extremely clear hypothesis about what should happen in the neural domain,” he said. “It was pretty gratifying to see that neurons change the way we predicted given the modeling.”

When the paper first came out about eight months ago in the scientific preprint bioRxiv, it received considerable attention from Banerjee’s colleagues working in similar fields. He went to India to give three talks and gave a recent talk at Emory University.

Outside of the lab, Banerjee and his wife Sanchari Ghosh, who live in Mineola, are enjoying watching the growth and development of their son Ahir, who was born a year and a half ago.

“It’s fascinating as a neuroscientist to watch his development and to see how a tiny human being learns about the world,” Banerjee said.

As for his work with this compelling mouse, Banerjee credited Phelps and his post doctoral advisor at New York University, Michael Long for doing important work on this mouse and for encouraging him to pursue research with this species. Long is a co-corresponding author on the paper. “It’s very gratifying to see that the expectation of what we can do with this species is starting to get fulfilled,” said Banerjee. “We can do these interesting and complex experiments and learn something about vocal interactions. I’m excited about the future.”

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SCIENCE ON SCREEN

The Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington continues its Science on Screen series with a mind-expanding exploration of the mysteries of language and communication, featuring a lecture and Q&A with neuroscientist Arkarup Banerjee, of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and a rare big-screen showing of Denis Villeneuve’s profound 2016 drama ARRIVAL on Tuesday, March 26 at 7 p.m..

Dr. Banerjee’s work explores the theme of decoding messages and touches on the fundamental assumptions of reality which are unpacked in the film. Discover how every species and culture’s unique symbols and codes shape our understanding of the world around us, and uncover the intriguing ways in which our brains navigate the limits and possibilities of language.

Tickets are $16, $10 members. To purchase in advance, visit www.cinemaartscentre.org. 

File photo

By Rokah Sejour

The Town of Huntington Planning Board unanimously voted Feb. 21 on the preliminary approval of the Vineyard Bay Estates proposed subdivision at 78 Bay Ave. and 211 Vineyard Road, Halesite.

This project has been planned for years and all of the proper analysis has been done. Improvements have been made to the plans as a result of some of the grievances brought by members of the community, the board said. 

A map detailing the proposed plans for the development showed plans for one flag lot, a widening of Bay Avenue, a proposed 1.84-acre open-space dedication to the Town of Huntington, and a 4-plus acre of hillside to be preserved within the subject lots. 

“You don’t have the right to make a determination tonight,” said Lawrence Kelly, a Bayport attorney present at the meeting. “You have a lot of procedural infirmities and you should just take the time to look at those.” He implored the board to take time to review the SEQRA determination.

This comes after a coalition was formed, The Nathan Hale Nature Preserve Committee, consisting of neighbors and residents surrounding the proposed Vineyard Bay Estates development.

The committee’s concerns focused on the preservation of the plot’s environment and ecosystem, especially with regards to the town’s steep slope law which sought to protect and safeguard scenic landscapes and the vegetative features of steeply sloped lands throughout the town. The committee worries that the statuesque specimen trees, rare and lush flora and fauna that the property preserved and protected will be at risk. 

It was brought up by NHNPC that the town should purchase the area to ensure that it would remain a preserved and protected mark for Huntington. However, Vineyard Estates said that the property was not for sale.

A lawyer was formally retained by the committee for expert counsel in respect of the concerns of the committee ahead of the Feb. 21 meeting.

In a letter dated Feb. 20, the committee wrote to the town Planning Board detailing their interest in the property as well as their mission purpose.

The committee hoped that any further approvals would be suspended for the Vineyard Bay Estates development until reports from independent experts on the environmental impact of this proposed project are completed through the SEQRA process. 

It was also requested by the committee’s lawyers in a Feb. 20 email to the Planning Board that “the public hearing be reopened so that the public may comment on the plans, as revised, and in response to any SEQRA determination this board, as lead agency, may be issuing.”

It was explained that this particular meeting was not a public hearing and that the other party was not present to counter any claims made against them.

Haley Loscalzo drives to the basket against Grace Davis of Whitman. Photo by Steven Zaitz

By Steven Zaitz

Author Walt Whitman was the quintessential influencer of the mid-19th century. His pioneering style of poetry opened a new genre of American literature and 200 years later, his body of work is still beloved worldwide.

After the Suffolk County girls basketball class AAA title game last Sunday, rumors again are swirling that Whitman himself coined the time-tested sports phrase ‘defense wins championships’. Whether he penned this pearl of wisdom or not, his namesake high school in West Hills authored another example of why it always rings true.

In defeating the previously unbeaten Commack Lady Cougars, the Walt Whitman Lady Wildcats (19-3) won their second consecutive Suffolk County championship by a score of 45-36 at the Brookhaven Gymnasium in Selden on March 3.

“Winning consecutive championships is awesome,” said Whitman’s perennial all-Suffolk point guard Iris Hoffman. “We knew we had a target on our back coming into the season and we were able to deal with the pressure. To be able to come out on top is a great feeling.”

At the start of this one, both sides were noticably feeling the pressure. Turnovers, air balls and tie-ups were much more prevalent than balls in baskets and the score after one quarter was just 6-3 in favor of Whitman. 

In fact, in the entire first half Commack (22-1), who came into the game averaging 53 points a night in their unblemished 22-win season, had four total field goals. Three of these were early 3-pointers from fellow all-county player Sofia Vasselman. The Cougars did not have a two-point field goal until Mia McBrien hit a layup with 45 seconds to go in the first half.

Despite the unfamiliar offensive anemia for Commack, they trailed by only five at 19-14 after the first half. 

Freshman Wildcat forward Jazmynn Julien was a huge part of keeping Commack from executing their offensive game plan. Despite only registering two points, Julien ‘s impact on the outcome was enormous. She was buzzing all around the court on the defensive end, chasing down loose balls, altering shots, and keeping Vasselman and her teammates away from their comfortable spots on the floor.

“Jazmynn is an elite defender,” said Whitman head coach Daniel Trebour. “She can contain, pressure, and disrupt without much help from the others. It’s crazy to think that as a freshman she has that kind of blend of defensive skill and intensity. She definitely forced Commack into some tough situations.” 

“I knew I had to deny [Vasselman] a little more and stay close so she wouldn’t shoot it,” said Julien, who had four steals, four rebounds and one blocked shot. “I’m used to guarding really good players so it wasn’t much of a task for me.”

The task for Commack was made more daunting as Cougar point guard Sienna Olivares picked up her fourth foul in the first minute of the third quarter. Olivares, Commack’s floor general and offensive facilitator, would take a seat on the bench and watch her teammates go scoreless for a six-minute stretch in that quarter.

When Hoffman picked the pocket of Commack sophomore Gianna Solch and took it upcourt for a layup, the Wildcats would go up by 10 with 1:30 to go in the third. They would increase it to 13 by the start of the fourth.

A long-range bomb from Vasselman, who finished with a game-high 20, and two free throws from Olivares cut the lead to eight with 4:32 remaining in the game. But Whitman senior guard Kallie Eichner, who had been scoreless, slashed through the lane and hit a running, left-handed layup to put the Wildcat lead back at double digits. The lead would bounce between eight and ten for the rest of the game as Vasselman’s well of 3-pointers would finally run dry. 

Kathleen O’Mara, who led Whitman with 16 points, scored her team’s final field goal of the game. It came with 92 seconds remaining and was the final, fatal blow to the Cougars’ championship dream. 

After a slew of time-outs and free throws, the clock finally read 0:00, and a bouncing, burgundy and white celebration ensued at center court for the second year in a row. In each of these championship games, Whitman was not favored to win.

“Being an underdog is definitely a motivator,” said Hoffman, who had 11 points and seven assists. Regardless of our seed, we can never be ruled out because the playoffs are a whole different stage. We work harder to prove that we deserve to be here and to win.” 

One more of those wins – against Syosset on March 10 – and the Lady Wildcats will earn a trip to the New York State Championship. And who knows how much celebrating and singing of themselves they’ll do when that tournament comes to a conclusion.

Daylight Saving Time. METRO photo

Get ready to lose an hour of sleep, but gain an extra hour of daylight! Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10. That’s when you’ll move your clocks forward by one hour and “spring forward.” The annual event is also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Daylight Saving Time ends on Nov. 3 this year.

A scene from the 2023 Huntington St. Patrick's Day Parade. Photo by Media Origin

By Heidi Sutton

Whether or not your ancestors hail from the Emerald Isle, everyone is guaranteed to enjoy a family-friendly (and dog-friendly) St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Here are the ones on the North Shore this year over the next few weeks. And don’t forget to wear green!

Center Moriches

Moriches Chamber of Commerce’s 20th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place on Sunday, March 10 at 2 p.m. The parade begins on Lake Avenue and ends at Railroad Avenue. This year’s Grand Marshal is George Keller. For more information, visit www.moricheschamber.org. 

Farmingdale

Farmingdale presents its 10th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 10 at 2 p.m. The parade steps off at Northside School and proceeds down Main Street to the Village Green. This year’s Grand Marshal is Patrick J. Ryder. Call 516-286-7800 for more information.

Huntington

The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) invites the community to its 90th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Huntington on Sunday, March 10 from 2 to 3 p.m. Grand Marshal Monsignor Steven Camp will lead the procession down New York Avenue to Main Street. Long Island’s oldest and largest, the parade will feature dozens of pipe bands. For more information, visit www.huntingtonhibernian.com.

Miller Place-Rocky Point

The Friends of St. Patrick will host the  72nd annual  Miller Place-Rocky Point St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 10 at 1 p.m. sharp. The 2.8-mile parade starts at Harrison Avenue and Route 25A in Miller Place and then finishes at Broadway in Rocky Point. This year’s Grand Marshal is Vincent Worthington. For further information, visit www.friendsofstpatrick.com or call 631-473-5100.

Ronkonkoma

The 35th annual Ronkonkoma St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held on Sunday, March 24 at 2 p.m.Grand Marshal Greg Plante will lead the parade from Hawkins Avenue at School Street, south down Hawkins Ave ending at Thorne Street. Call 631-304-6303 or visit www.ronkonkomaparade.org.

St. James

St. James Chamber of Commerce presents the 40th annual St. James St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 9 from 1 to 2 p.m. The parade will step off along Lake Avenue from Woodlawn Avenue to the viewing stand in front of the gazebo ending just before St James Elementary School, rain or shine. Featuring scouts, dance troupes, pipe bands, school bands, floats, fire trucks and more. The grand marshal will be Peter Scully. 631-584-8510.

 

A view of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. File photo

Upon the recent receipt of a letter from a Virginia-native third-grade student (see Letters to the Editor), TBR has begun to think retrospectively about what it is that makes our coverage area so unique.

As residents and representatives of Long Island’s North Shore, we often forget to share the natural beauty and cultural heritage that defines where we live. The allure of the picturesque beaches, lush woodlands and historic villages capture our hearts, making it an ideal place to call home.

In terms of making a living, our areas offer a diverse range of opportunities. From bustling commercial centers like those off Nesconset Highway to locally owned shops, residents here engage in various professions spanning industries such as health care, education, finance, hospitality and more. Here at TBR News Media, we work to keep the community informed and up to date on all local news and events.

Our area is also home to excellent academic influence provided enormous contributions made by our research institutions, like Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Lab, and Stony Brook University and Medical Center, the flagship campus of the State University System. 

To paint a picture, our coverage area displays picture-perfect beaches stretching along the coastline, framed by towering bluffs and pebble-riddled sands. You can find quaint village scenery all throughout our coverage area from Shoreham/Wading River to Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor, exhibiting charming Colonial architecture and a pleasant way to tour the towns. 

For fun, residents and visitors alike indulge in a plethora of activities. From relaxing beach days and scenic walks through Avalon or Frank Melville parks to cultural events and culinary delights, there’s something for everyone. Whether it’s exploring historic landmarks on Washington’s Spy Trail, visiting the Long Island Museum, attending art festivals or catching a show at a local theater like Northport’s John W. Engeman Theater, the Smithtown Performing Arts Center or Port Jefferson’s Theatre Three, our coverage area offers endless opportunities for leisure and recreation.

As for wildlife, our coverage area is home to a diverse array of creatures. Along the coast, you may spot ospreys soaring overhead or even the endangered piping plover. Our rocky shoreline creates a unique habitat for horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs and fish galore. While inland, deer, fox and various bird species inhabit the woodlands and marshes, adding to our area’s natural charm.

When it comes to food, there is no shortage of options for whatever culinary palette you crave. Famous for our bacon-egg-and-cheese bagel sandwiches, gourmet delis, New-York-style pizza or fresh seafood caught off the shores to hearty Italian and Irish fare, there’s no shortage of delicious dishes to savor. 

For your ears, you’ll find a vibrant music scene with a diverse range of genres. From iconic rock bands like Billy Joel and Blue Öyster Cult to emerging indie artists and classical ensembles, the music of our area reflects the eclectic tastes and talents of its residents. Local tributes to music and entertainment are at the ready with the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame and The Jazz Loft, both located in Stony Brook, hosting various events catered to music enthusiasts.

For the athletes and sports fans, our local high schools represent some of the most competitive athletes across the state in all disciplines. Rocky Point High School Cheerleading earned another national title this year, while the Lady Patriots of Ward Melville High School were crowned soccer state champions. If that isn’t enough, our very own Stony Brook University is yet another destination for local sports viewing, representing some of the finest student-athletes in the NCAA.

Tourism is a driver of our local economy as well as we are fortunate to have the greatest city in the world, New York City, within reach. Our area is a treasure trove of natural beauty, cultural heritage and community spirit. A place where small-town charm meets cosmopolitan sophistication, where history whispers secrets from its streets and where a vibrant community thrives, hand in hand with the beauty of the natural world. This unique confluence is what continues to make our area a coveted haven in the heart of New York state.