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Brianna Kim

We are proud to present our first Times Beacon Record News Media Artist Coloring Book Contest winners. Our intentions for the coloring book and contest was to offer our local art community grand exposure by fostering appreciation for the arts, as well as providing an enriching cultural experience for our audience.

We are grateful to Bank of America as our Coloring Book partner, to all the artists that contributed a beautiful gallery of sketches and to our coloring contest participants who submitted beautifully colored drawings as well as our voters.  Look for the winner’s colored masterpieces in select Bank of America branches. To see the rest of the contestant’s entries, visit our TBR Facebook page: facebook.com/tbrnewsmedia and check out the photo galleries.

Congratulations to all our winners!

Category 1: Ages 5-12
Winner:

COLORIST

Brianna Kim

Brianna Kim, 9, Stony Brook
‘Feathered Friend’ by Cayla Rosenhagen

When asked what she thought of our coloring book, Brianna said, “I think it was cool and I liked the pictures. I picked the bird drawing because I love birds and animals.” This is the first coloring contest Brianna has entered, and she submitted this picture because she likes to draw and color. Besides drawing and coloring, she said she also likes to read, and that her favorite book is “Warriors: The Broken Code #3: Veil of Shadows by Erin Hunter.”

ARTIST

Cayla Rosenhagen, Selden

‘A Feathered Friend’

Cayla Rosenhagen

Cayla, whose drawing was used for the winning submission by 9-year-old Brianna Kim, said, “I’m honored that Brianna selected my drawing to color, and I look forward to seeing her achievement.” What was her inspiration for the drawing? “I’ve had a love of nature for as long as I can remember, my family and I are avid birders,” Cayla said. “With so many people staying close to home these days, many have also taken up the hobby of birding in their own backyards. I was inspired to draw this picture of the familiar American Crow to continue encouraging a love of birds and nature.”

Cayla thought the coloring book was such an amazing way to showcase the work of local artists. “I enjoyed the variety of artwork and getting to read about the creators. During these trying times, it was a great opportunity for artists to participate in such a heartwarming community project.”

In addition to birding and art, Cayla’s hobbies include martial arts, history, reading, hiking, and environmental concerns. She also serves on the Four Harbors Audubon Society board of directors and runs a community outreach program called Beach Bucket Brigade.

Runner Up:

COLORIST

Bobbi, 7, Suffolk County

‘Squidtar’ by Jim Swierupski

(Information not available at press time)

ARTIST

Jim Swierupski, Port Jefferson Station

‘Squidtar’

“That’s great!” Jim said, when hearing he had been recognized. “I have always enjoyed drawing squids, and my son was playing guitar while I was drawing so I put that in.” He added that he would “love to be part of the coloring book again.”

Category 2: Adult 20+
Winner:

COLORIST

Maria Montenegro, 84, Stony Brook

‘A Song of Spring’ by Kimberly Sanchez

Maria said she colored all the drawings in the coloring book, but “A Song of Spring” was her favorite to submit for the contest. “This is the first coloring contest I have entered, and I did it because my daughter convinced me.” Besides coloring, Maria also likes to read and enjoys word search books.

ARTIST

Kimberly Sanchez, Melville

‘A Song of Spring’

Kimberly said she thought the winning colorist, Maria Montenegro, “did a great job. I liked the use of all the yellow in the bird and flowers. It has a very warm feeling that I love.”  She said her inspiration and passion is taking photographs of wildlife on Long Island. “The drawing was of one of my favorite little birds, a yellow-throated warbler that I had taken pictures of this past spring. It has such a pretty little song hence the title, ‘A Song of Spring.’”

Kimberly was so happy to be a part of the coloring book and thought it was a fun creative way to share local Long Island talent with the community. Her hobbies besides photography and drawing are gardening, crafting, and painting rocks.

“Maybe you will find one of my rocks if you are out and about in nature — they are all signed KS,” she said.

Runner Up:

COLORIST

Janis Night, Stony Brook

‘Wild and Crazy Sunflowers’ by Marlene Weinstein

“I was so happy to be a part of this contest. As soon as I saw the drawing, I immediately knew the colors I wanted to use and what I wanted it to look like.”

ARTIST

Marlene Weinstein, Old Field

‘Wild and Crazy Sunflowers’

“I love sunflowers,” said Marlene. “They’re bright, bold and joyful! For this image I chose a vase and background with equally bold patterns and circular designs that reflected the shape of the sunflowers and added movement. I thought it would be a lot of fun to color.”

And there’s more!  Four Long Island nonprofits, chosen by the winners & artists, will share $10,000 in community funding from Bank of America.

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Owners of Huner’s Fitness Advantage in Port Jefferson said they believe they should be considered essential for the work they do helping people remain active and healthy. Photo from Huner’s Fitness Advantage website

After doing heavy lifting to ensure customer and employee safety, gyms can begin to reopen soon.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) announced a gradual gym reopening starting this Monday, Aug. 24. This comes after earlier this week Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said gyms can start to reopen once they receive guidance from local government.

Commercial gyms, such as Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, Retro Fitness and those that require a membership fee, along with indoor classes can restart next week.

Each fitness center will have to pass a county health inspection to make sure the gyms have sufficient procedures to protect staff and customers while following state guidelines established by Cuomo.

Hotel, office, higher education and residential gyms can reopen starting the following week, on Aug. 31.

On Thursday, Aug. 20, the county will host a virtual meeting with facility owners to review guidance, answer questions and provide any clarifications.

“With our infection rate holding steady at or below 1 percent and a robust testing system in place, we are confident we can reopen gyms in a way that is both safe and responsible,” Bellone said in a statement. “I want to remind our residents and gym owners that we are still in the midst of a pandemic.”

Bellone encouraged those attending gyms to wear a mask and follow all safety procedures.

Communal showers, whirlpools, saunas and steam rooms and water fountains and self-serve bars and samples must remain closed. According to the governor’s web site, individual showers and stalls can remain open as long as they are cleaned between use.

Classes are restricted to the most restrictive guidelines, which could either be six feet of distance in all directions from a participant, a limit of 33 percent capacity and no more than 50 people.

Gym owners also must provide sanitizing stations, acceptable face coverings, which exclude bandanas, buffs and gaiters and the limitation of physical contact activities including boxing and martial arts.

During each inspection, businesses will receive a gallon of NYS Clean hand sanitizer.

According to Cuomo, local health departments are required to inspect gyms prior to reopening or within two weeks of reopening, to ensure strict adherence to the state Department of Health guidance.

Indeed, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services will begin inspections on Monday, Aug. 24 for commercial and traditional gyms.

“New Yorkers must closely adhere to the guidelines and local health departments are required to strictly enforce them to help ensure gyms and fitness center reopen safely and protect the public health,” Cuomo said in a statement.

The Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning will work with the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs and the Suffolk County Department of Health Services to create an online database of gyms and fitness centers within the county.

Before an inspection, gym owners will need to complete the affirmation for each location, which owners can find at the New York Forward website forward.ny.gov, that they reviewed and understood the state guidelines and will implement these protocols.

After owners attest to their safety plans, the county will schedule inspections. Suffolk will send out an email with the date and approximate time for an inspection.

Gym owners need to post a written safety plan describing the ways they are protecting employees and gym members from COVID-19.

Cuomo also requires that gyms use a MERV-13 or greater air-handling system. If the gym can’t operate at that level, the owners need to have a heating, ventilation and air conditioning professional document their inability to use such a system and adopt additional ventilation and mitigation protocols from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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A car crushed by a tree in Miller place after strong winds by Tropical Storm Isaias. Photo by Kyle Barr

PSEG Long Island announced Monday, Aug. 17 they will be allowing people to make claims in order to be reimbursed for spoiled food or medicines during outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias.

PSEG is allowing people whose power was out for 72 hours or more between Aug. 4 and Aug. 12 to file claims with the utility company’s claims department. Residents can be reimbursed up to $250 while commercial entities can be reimbursed up to $5,000 if the outage was caused by Isaias.

For residential customers, food spoilage claims of $150 or less must include an itemized list. Food spoilage claims over $150 must include an itemized list and proof of loss, including a cash register tapes, store or credit card receipts, canceled checks or photographs of spoiled items.

Separately, customers will be reimbursed for losses, up to a maximum of $300, for prescription medications that spoiled due to lack of refrigeration. Customers must provide an itemized list of the medications and proof of loss with, for example, a pharmacy prescription label or pharmacy receipt identifying the medicine.

Commercial customers applying for reimbursement must supply an itemized list of spoiled food and proof of loss with invoices, inventory lists or bank statements.

Customers can apply for reimbursement at www.psegliny.com/claims. PSEG said claims cannot be processed over the phone.

Customers will have until Sept. 16 to file claims. Reimbursement is expected to take up to 60 business days from when a form is completed and submitted to PSEG Long Island.

The storm knocked out power to over 420,000 customers on Long Island and the Rockaways, according to a release from PSEG. The company claimed it had been the “the most destructive storm since Superstorm Sandy.” Almost 400,000 people lost power because of the storm, though more experienced outages in subsequent days due to further storms.

For weeks, both residents and elected officials have called on the utility company to offer reimbursement for lost food or medicines while power was out. Some customers didn’t reportedly have power restored until more than a week after the storm hit Aug. 4.

Officials from both parties have been hammering the utility company for the past two weeks over its storm response. New York State Sen. Jim Gaughran (D-Northport) has not only called for reimbursement for PSEG customers, but for the heads of both PSEG and the Long Island Power Authority to step down.

“PSEG’s change in policy for food and medicine reimbursement is a direct result of our efforts to hold PSEG’s feet to the fire” Gaughran said after the reimbursement policy was announced. “The public is owed many more answers by PSEG leadership as to their failed storm response, but this change in policy is welcome news by the half a million families who were left in the dark for days on end.”

PSEG Long Island President Daniel Eichhorn has said the decision came because of understanding the financial straits people are in because of the coronavirus.

“We recognize that losing power in August, together with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, was a hardship for many of our customers,” Eichhorn said in a release. “Given the unique combination of circumstances, we believe the right thing to do is to expand our claims process to ease the burden on the customers most impacted by Tropical Storm Isaias.”

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A mountainous pile of plant and tree debris at one of Brookhaven's highway yards where the material is being cut up and mulched. Photo from Town of Brookhaven

Officials from the Town of Brookhaven highways department said they were still in the process of picking up all debris from Tropical Storm Isaias that residents put out to the curb Sunday, Aug. 9. It may be another two weeks for the town to fully pick up every tree limb and leaf.

A mountainous pile of plant and tree debris at one of Brookhaven’s highway yards where the material is being cut up and mulched. Photo from Town of Brookhaven

The town originally asked residents to bring organic debris strewn about by Tropical Storm Isaias to the curb by Sunday, Aug. 9 for pickup the following day. In a statement, town Highways Superintendent Dan Losquadro said the amount of debris has meant it has taken time to get to every single street in the thousands of miles of town roads. All debris is being taken to 18 highway department yards and temporary staging areas across the town.

“We appreciate residents getting their debris to the curb in a timely fashion,” Losquadro said in a statement. “I anticipate it will take at least another two weeks before we are able to get to all 3,700 lane miles of road in Brookhaven town. If we have not made our way to your neighborhood yet, please leave all brush and debris at the curb for this one-time bulk collection.”

A spokesperson for the highways department said the town is broken up into four quadrants, and the head of each quadrant is effectively going through it street by street to make sure all the debris is cleaned up. This, combined with the excess amount of debris kicked up by Isaias is why it has taken long for some streets to see pickup. Otherwise roads that are being milled or paved have been given priority.

Officials asked that residents keep the debris in front of their house in the time being until the pickup process has concluded.

In a town board meeting Aug. 13, Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) thanked the town highway workers who he said have been working 12 to 14 hour shifts working on the cleanup effort. The town saw over 1,600 trees come down, and more than 400 were involved with power lines.

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Kids enjoy a treat at McNulty's Ice Cream Parlor in Miller Place. With seating outside, social distancing is a breeze, yet inside some people still give shops problems about wearing masks. Photo by Kyle Barr

By Odeya Rosenband

As they work to optimize their indoor and outdoor dining rooms, local restaurants are forced to become constables for new policies: masks. 

Beginning in July, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) laid out new regulations for food vendors as Long Island entered Phase 4. With the reopening of indoor dining rooms to half capacity, the Governor imposed subsequent restrictions on bar services, now requiring each restaurant patron to order a food item with a beverage. 

McNulty’s Ice Cream Parlor in Miller Place is a hometown favorite. Photo by Kyle Barr

But even as regulations are ever-changing, the requirement to wear masks stays the same. 

The challenge with masks is that unlike other guidelines, it is harder for restaurants to control. Gail McNulty, the owner of McNulty’s Ice Cream Parlor in Miller Place described how “it is very routine for our workers to put on a mask as soon as we come in the door, and so we are modeling this good behavior. And if a customer doesn’t have a mask, we can provide them with a disposable one.” 

These provisions have proven successful for McNulty, who describes her clients as highly conscientious and respectful when it comes to masks. 

“This is my community and these are my friends,” she said. “I want to make sure I’m doing the right thing… that’s the only way, and it’s our way.”

According to the state guidelines, customers are required to wear a mask when they are moving around the premises of a restaurant’s property, but can take their mask’s off when seated. A restaurant can lawfully deny anyone who declines to wear a mask — which, even McNulty said she had to do at one point. 

So, why do so many people refuse to wear a mask?

Stanley Feldman, a political professor at Stony Brook University, said wearing masks has become a part of political identity. Photo from SBU

“A major factor is partisanship,” said Stanley Feldman, a professor of Political Science at Stony Brook University. “It is clear that one of the things that has happened is that largely, Democratic Governors and Mayors come out strongly in favor of masks. And so, wearing a mask or not has gotten tied up with this identification of being a Democrat or Republican… and partisanship is a very strong identity.”

Feldman, who specializes in political psychology, also noted that if President Trump had enforced masks in March or April, there “is a good likelihood that there would be less of a partisan division on masks.” President Donald Trump (R) has largely been opposed to making masks a federal requirement, and he himself has gone back and forth on the need for himself to wear a mask when in public.

Recent surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center demonstrate that when it comes to wearing a mask, the gap between Republicans and Democrats is only growing. According to the study, this increase can be attributed to a shift in attitudes toward the virus. 

“A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (61%) now say that when thinking about the problems facing the country from the coronavirus, ‘the worst is behind us,’” the study says. 

By contrast, just 23 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning people say that the worst is behind us when it comes to problems from the coronavirus. For Republicans, this is a sizable change since April, when 56 percent said the worst of the virus was yet to come.

 “How on earth would these differences be so massive if it wasn’t a political issue?” said Leonie Huddy, the department chair and professor of Political Science at SBU.

Huddy pointed out another indicator of different mask tendencies: gender. 

“Trump sent out the message that wearing a mask isn’t masculine — and there do appear to be some gender differences in who is wearing a mask,” he said.

Although Long Island has done a good job with enforcing masks,  Feldman said he never expected that compliance would be 100 percent. 

“The US has this political culture of government not telling you what to do,” he said. “And so I think, to some extent, there’s some reaction against wearing a mask because it appears to be mandated by the government and some people think it’s infringing on their liberty.”

Feldman added, “I think the most important thing is that there is a strong uniform message. It has got to come from politicians in both parties and people who are influential. They need to try to send the message that wearing a mask is the right thing to do.”

While the return to restaurant eating is a return to normalcy for many, the masks are a reminder of how far New York has come and how far it has yet to go in terms of grappling with the pandemic. As local restaurants inch back to their pre-COVID statuses, it remains that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) mask guidelines are here to stay. 

“I think New York is a good example of people who are very well behaved,” Huddy said. “I think worrying about getting the disease, gives you a different perspective.”

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A child supported by the Hope Children’s Fund gives a shoutout to his mentor. Photo from HCF
A child supported by the Hope Children’s Fund gives a shoutout to his mentor. Photo from HCF

The Setauket-based Hope Children’s Fund is asking residents to financially support young orphan children in Meru, Kenya through school in the fund’s mentorship program.

According to Aida Mann, a board member of the fund, the program participates with 97 orphans, though they currently have only around 45 mentors. These mentors donate $1 a day for a total of $365 a year. The money truly goes to support all the kids in the program, whether it’s to pay for their school tuition, books, shoes or uniforms. 

“If we had 96 mentors, and if they pay $365, a child, another child will write to them through email and they’ll send postcards,” Mann said. “We’re trying to set it up so that they know each other, they introduce each other.”

The orphanage itself is a unique one, established in an old church that includes a dining area and separate dormitories for boys and girls. 

The group has also started a program June 15 whereby people can donate $210, enough to help feed the entire orphanage for a week. The group has sponsors only up until Aug. 20, and every week the nonprofit shows pictures on its Facebook of the children thanking their supporters. 

Mann and her husband Kevin, of Middle Island, who is also a member of the Rocky Point Rotary Club, regularly take trips to Meru to visit the orphanage. Mann said they have sponsored a child since she was 9 years old. That child just celebrated her 25th birthday.

“Hopefully what we try to do is get people to maintain that child,” she said. “To have a mentor is so important to a child. These are orphans who don’t have anyone. We have a house mother and a house father, but you can’t give personal attention or affection, let’s say, to each child when you have that many.”

A mentor’s responsibility, she said, is to get in contact and then share that communication with them. Being orphans, many have no regular access to things like clothes. Schools in that part of Kenya also require a tuition to attend.

“It’s about sustaining them in everything — what we try to do is make sure first and foremost is education. Sometimes they just want someone to talk to, someone who cares whether they wake up in the morning or not.”

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SBU Uses Up Half of Rainy Day Fund to Balance Budget

Stony Brook University is facing a huge financial hole in 2020. File photo from Stony Brook University

The COVID-19 crisis has exacted a heavy toll on Stony Brook University’s finances, creating a $109.6 million deficit on the academic and research side.

Maurie McInnis was named SBU’s sixth president. In a stunning letter made public on her president’s web page, she details the huge financial hole the school will have to navigate in the near future. Photo from SBU

The pandemic cost the hospital and clinic an estimated $58 million, while it also cost the academic and research campus over $74.6 million in the past financial year, which includes $35 million in refunded fees, $12 million in lost revenue from cultural programs and facilities rentals, and $8.5 million in extra expenses, including cleaning and supplies, student quarantine costs and technology costs, according to message from new Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis published on her SBU president web page Aug. 12.

Through a number of steps, including hiring freezes, the university has attempted to offset these costs, but that won’t be enough. The school is tapping into its central reserve fund, essentially the university’s rainy day pool, reducing it by over 50% in one year. McInnis, in an open letter on her web page, said this “is completely unsustainable.”

Starting today, McInnis will hold a series of virtual campus conversations to provide more details and address questions, while she and university leaders search for long-term solutions to address a host of challenges that have presented a serious headwind to the school’s future budget.

In disclosing detailed information, McInnis wrote that she believes such disclosures will help the campus work together towards solutions.

“I believe that it is only by being open and candid and providing clear information that we can come together as a community to tackle our shared challenges,” she wrote in her letter.

In her letter to the campus, McInnis detailed specific costs, while she also outlined the steps Stony Brook has taken to offset some of these financial challenges.

For starters, she wrote that the university has been “told to expect a 20-30% cut in state funding this year, or $25 million.” The school also had its allocation for last year retroactively cut by $19 million.

“It is unclear when, if ever, our funding will return to current levels, let alone the levels of support we ideally receive as a top research institution in the region,” she wrote in her letter.

Federal government restrictions on travel and visas, along with COVID impacts, have created a 17.5 percent drop in out-of-state and international students, which not only reduces diversity but also creates a $20 million drop in revenue.

The number of campus residents will also decline by 40% for next semester, from 10,000 to 6,000, creating an estimated $38.9 million revenue loss.

The bottom line, she explained, is that the $109.6 million deficit on the academic and research side. This she predicts, could become significantly worse.

The measures the university has taken offset some of that decline, saving the school an estimated $55 million, but the measures still do not close the budget gap and are not sustainable.

A hiring freeze for new positions and for those that become open from staff and faculty attrition will save $20 million.

Student housing refinancing will save $31.1 million in fiscal year 2021.

An ongoing freeze on expenses covering costs for service contracts, supplies and equipment and travel will save about $2.3 million

A cut to the athletic budget will save $2 million.

Senior campus leadership, meanwhile, has voluntarily taken a 10% pay cut along with a permanent hold back of any 2% raise for all Management Confidential employees.

At the same time, the university faces longer-term financial challenges.

State support has declined since 2008, from $190.4 million to $147.7 million last year. That will be even lower this year. On a per-student basis, state support in 2020 was $6,995, compared with $9,570.

This year’s expected increase in tuition and the Academic Excellence fee have not been approved by the SUNY Board.

The multi-year contracts that govern faculty and staff pay have not been fully funded, McInnis wrote in her president’s message. That has created an additional cost of $10 million for the 2020 fiscal year. Over the next five years, that compounds to $54 million.

The rainy day fund is picking up $9.7 million of that scheduled contractual salary increase raise.

The Tuition Assistance Program has been set at 2010 tuition levels, which creates a $9 million financial gap in fiscal year 2020. That is expected to rise in 2021. Stony Brook also recently learned, according to McInnis’s letter, that TAP will be funded at 80 percent of what the school awards to New York State students who rely on the program to access higher education.

At the same time, the Excelsior Program, which began in the fall of 2017 and allows students from families making up to $125,000 to attend school tuition free, may not accept new students this year.

McInnis concluded with her hope that the university will come together in the same way it did during the worst of the pandemic in New York to address these financial challenges.

“I fully recognize that you are operating in one of the most difficult environments any of us has experienced,” she wrote. “And, we are going to have to bring the same level of collaboration and innovation that you brought at the height of the COVID-19 response to our systemic budget challenges.”

McInnis urged the staff to “work together, share the best ideas, challenge assumptions, and build on the excellence of Stony Brook University in order to continue to move this great institution forward.”

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Debra Bowling of Pasta Pasta talks to County Executive Steve Bellone. Photo by Kyle Barr

This past weekend, President Donald Trump (R) was in Suffolk County, raising money for this reelection. During his time on Long Island, he called requests for financial aid amid the pandemic a bailout, repeating some of the language he used two years in response to Puerto Rico’s request for financial aid after Hurricane Maria.

“I couldn’t disagree with this more,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said today on a conference call with reporters. “We need federal disaster assistance to respond to, and recover from, COVID-19.”

Bellone said the county abided by guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and that it shut down its economy to protect the health of its population, lowering the death toll at the cost of the economy.

Approaching an argument the president has made against the reaction to the murder by police of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, Bellone suggested that the lack of financial support from the federal government would be a form of defunding the police, taking away salaries from public health workers and removing the financial support necessary for the safe return of students to in-person learning this fall.

“This should have nothing to do with politics,” he argued. “We are still in the middle of fighting a pandemic.”

The county executive urged the federal government to provide vital financial resources to fund these recovery efforts.

“When President Trump talks about federal disaster assistance as a bailout, this is flat out wrong,” Bellone said. The money he has requested, including during a recent trip to Washington, DC, he argued will pay for police officers. Bellone also pointed out that Long Island has provided ample financial resources to the federal government during more prosperous years through tax dollars.

By taking away state and local property tax deductions, the federal government has added billions to what Long Island sends to Washington as a region every year, Bellone said.

“The notion of a bailout suggests we did something wrong in Suffolk County,” the county executive continued. “The fact of the matter is, we all did our jobs here.”

Viral Numbers

Separately, Bellone said Suffolk County has managed to keep illnesses and deaths down in the public health battle against COVID-19.

In the last day, the number of people who have tested positive for the virus was 55 out of a total of 5,030 people who received a test. The rate of just over 1 percent is tracking with the positive tests for the last few weeks and is well below the 5 percent threshold schools have for reopening.

The number of residents who tested positive for the antibody to COVID-19 stands at 24,392.

Hospitalizations, meanwhile, continued to be well below the worst of the pandemic, when the health care system strained under the weight of sick residents.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 stands at 33, which is an increase of 2. The number of people in the Intensive Care Unit was three.

Hospital bed occupancy stood at 72 percent overall and at 67 percent in the ICU.

The number of people who have died from complications related to the virus stands at 1,998. Four people were discharged the hospital in the last day.

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PSEG trucks remove a downed tree in Mount Sinai Aug. 7. For several days, cars had to swerve around the tree that split the intersection of North Country Road and Crystal Brook Hollow Road. Photo by Kyle Barr

PSEG Long Island plans to restore power to the remaining 400 Long Island customers by midnight who haven’t had electricity since last Tuesday, when Tropical Storm Isaias hit.

“We remain committed to getting all customers related to last Tuesday’s storm restored by midnight tonight,” PSEG President and Chief Operating Office Daniel Eichhorn said on a media call Wednesday.

PSEG has 6,500 line workers and tree trimmers who are working to restore power from a host of states and continues to accept any other workers who are available.

This morning, PSEG moved workers from New Jersey, where it is headquartered.

Eichhorn assured residents that their bills would reflect the energy they used, which means that they won’t have to pay for electricity during the time their power was out.

The total number of outages in Long Island, including those who have been without power since the storm hit, stands at 10,500, which is a number that might increase this evening amid the predicted thunderstorms. Of those who are out, approximately 7,500 have lost power related to the storm, although Eichhorn said they are unlikely to have been without power for over a week.

Amid concerns about the pace of restoring power, the number of homes and businesses who were out and a communications problem on the day of the storm that made it difficult for residents to connect with their power company, Eichhorn said PSEG plans to use this experience to improve on the company’s storm-related processes.

Once the company restores power, PSEG will do a self assessment, which will include a “deep dive” into “lessons learned,” at which point the company will make immediate and long term changes to makes sure they are ready for the next storm.

Indeed, County Executive Steve Bellone (D) joined a growing chorus of politicians who expressed their concerns about the company’s readiness for the remainder of the hurricane season, which extends through the end of November.

“As we move towards the fall, we could be struck with a much more significant storm than this tropical storm,” Bellone said on a separate media call. “If that is the case, these issues need to be fixed. They need to be resolved before then.”

Eichhorn said PSEG hasn’t given much thought at this point to making the company’s assessment about its performance during the storm public.

Meanwhile, New York State Senator James Gaughran (D-Northport) called for the resignation of Eichhorn and Long Island Power Authority President Thomas Falcone.

Asked about the call for his resignation, Eichhorn said he was “aware of that” and the response of the company to the storm will be “part of our lessons learned and review. I’m pretty proud of the restoration efforts from our team. People have worked extremely hard and are very dedicated.”

Eichhorn added that PSEG would look into the IT issues that caused the frustration from customers and would “get better” and “make sure, for the next storm” they are “fully prepared.”

Eichhorn said he recognized the frustration people have been feeling, especially during a pandemic. Amid a discussion of residents in Cold Spring Harbor who blocked in a utility crew, preventing them from leaving until they restored electricity, Eichhorn said he understood that it’s a tough time to lose power, especially when so many people are working from home.

Still, he urged residents not to limit the ability of crews to react to the order of jobs. When crews are blocked in, they might help one or two homes or families at the expense of 100 or 200, he said.

PSEG wasn’t prepared today to discuss the possibility of reimbursing families for lost food during the outages, even as several politicians, including Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) requested that the company provide $500 to each household that lost power for more than two days.

“Our plan is to really focus on making sure we get customers’ [power] back today,” Eichhorn said. “Tomorrow, we’ll start looking at those other decisions.”

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A tree lies across Old Post Road East in Mount Sinai after Tropical Storm Isais. Photo by Kyle Barr

While crews from several states continued to restore power this week after the outage caused by Tropical Storm Isaias, frustrated residents and politicians expressed their dismay at PSEG for the pace at which they were restoring power and for the communications problems from a storm that passed more than a week earlier.

Indeed, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) characterized PSEG’s response to the storm as “underwhelming” and “disappointing.” He expressed further frustration at the moving target PSEG had for restoring power.

Romaine called on PSEG to give families and businesses that lost power for more than 48 hours $500 to cover the cost of lost food. He also said he plans to send Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) a letter calling for the appointment of an independent arbitrator who could hear the claims of businesses in a “swift” and proper manner.

President and Chief Operating Officer of PSEG Long Island Dan Eichhorn said the company is still discussing any possible reimbursement to customers and hasn’t made a final assessment.

Meanwhile, State Attorney General Letitia James (D) launched an investigation of PSEG in connection with their response to a storm that knocked out power to 420,000 customers.

As of mid-day Tuesday, a week after the storm hit, 3,800 homes were without power directly from the storm. At the same time, PSEG Long Island reported 25,142 total customers without power, which includes new outages after the storm.

Eichhorn acknowledged the call for accountability from local and state leaders.

“We know there’s been a couple of agencies that want to come in and do an investigation and audits,” Eichhorn said in a press conference Sunday night. “The way I would characterize this storm [is that we] did a very good job of preparing for it. Our communications were not up to our expectations. We know that created a lot of angst.”

PSEG, which has operated under the direction of LIPA since 2014, planned to conduct its own internal analysis.

“We do recognize that our communications channels did not meet our customers’ expectations. We’re going to look at that immediately, make fixes” and will improve those processes, Eichhorn said.

PSEG has maintained during the aftermath of Isaias that the communications problems did not impede the company’s ability to restore power and that it brought in numerous additional crews and continued to request additional staff even on Tuesday.

Over the weekend and into the beginning of the week, PSEG Long Island brought in close to 2,000 more lineworkers, tree trimmers and other personnel, bringing the total to over 6,000,

That compares with the Long Island crews and contractors the company operates on a daily basis of about 600 people, bringing the response teams to about 10 times the usual operating staff levels.

Eichhorn said the crews were practicing safe social distancing protocols and were also polled prior to the start of work about how they were feeling. The PSEG executive recognized the frustration residents have felt during the outage.

“We know customers have waited a long time,” Eichhorn said.

Several politicians have threatened consequences for PSEG’s storm response, including Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) who floated the idea of revoking the franchise. Eichhorn suggested the company’s legal team would consider Cuomo’s comments.

Romaine said PSEG sent in four crews to Brookhaven, the largest town by area in the state, the first day and 10 the second. Given the number of downed trees, Romaine said he believes that should have been closer to 30.

Councilman Kevin LaValle (R-Selden) said the area was fortunate this wasn’t a bigger storm because a larger hurricane, with more rain and more intense winds, could have caused more of the population to lose power for a longer period of time.

Residents were upset that they couldn’t talk to somebody at PSEG to get answers.

Starting in 2015, PSEG received $729 million secured by Cuomo over a three-year period to strengthen the resiliency of the electric grid.

Eichhorn said that investment protected many of the customers who would otherwise have lost their power during this storm.

Local leaders, however, didn’t feel so fortunate.

“This is something that was not supposed to happen again,” Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Seatuket) said.

Englebright further said his office has heard of numerous problematic situations in restoring power, including in the S section of Stony Brook, where one side of a street had power and the other didn’t. When residents saw a repair truck and expressed their appreciation and excitement about power returning, the crew told them they were “here for the other side of the street” and drove off, Englebright said.

Englebright recognized the context for solutions to the ongoing problem of restoring power after major storms, including hurricanes that could come during this active season later this year.

He urged a short term plan, in which the area could return to the way things stood the week before last, and a long term plan, which could include more than cutting overhanging branches before storms wreak havoc.

Englebright and Romaine urged the area to consider burying some vulnerable lines. Romaine suggested burying one to two percent of the lines for the next several decades, increasing the resilience of the grid.

This storm serves as a wake-up call for the area, said Englebright, who lost power for four days and whose mother in Stony Brook lost power for five days.

To prepare for the storms that may come later this year, Long Island should have fuel depots with generators that are fitted for gas stations to prevent a shortage of gas, which occurred in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, Englebright said. He also urged greater preparation for people who are home bound and who need special medicine.

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