More than 50 patient transportation companies across New York, including five on Long Island, used fake billing schemes to steal from Medicaid and exploit vulnerable patients, the state attorney general said yesterday.

"We have uncovered a major source of fraud amongst the transportation companies," Attorney General Letitia James said at a news conference at her lower Manhattan office. "Companies are billing Medicaid for fake rides and tolls, costing New York taxpayers tens of millions of dollars every year, money that should be used to fund health care for the most vulnerable New Yorkers."

Nicholas Spangler reports in NEWSDAY that James said her office had sent cease-and-desist notices to 54 companies warning of financial penalties and prison time if they continue their alleged overcharging of Medicaid for fraudulent services. Her press office declined to name the companies or to say publicly why they were not releasing the company names.

Medicaid, which provides free health insurance for about 7.5 million New York children and adults from low-income families with $37 billion in state funding, also reimburses businesses for transporting patients to and from covered medical services.

Auditors and prosecutors focus on transportation because it is one of the fastest growing Medicaid service categories, New York's Medicaid Inspector General wrote in a 2022 report.

Not all cases of suspected fraud result in criminal prosecution, and James said her office had cut transportation fraud simply by investigating it. Between 2019 and 2023, according to a chart prepared by her office that was displayed at the news conference, payment by Medicaid for tolls in New York dropped abruptly from more than $20 million to just over $10 million.

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A pedestrian was struck by two vehicles while crossing the street at the intersection of Main Street and Nugent Street in Southampton Village late Tuesday afternoon and is in critical condition but expected to survive, according to Southampton Village Police. As reported on 27east.com, the woman was crossing the street between CVS and the Golden Pear when a driver turning right didn’t see her because of the glare of the descending sun, police said. The driver’s vehicle hit her and knocked her down in the road, and then another car that was coming off Hampton Road headed west, also blinded by the glare, ran her over, police said.

The woman was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital by a Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance crew and then transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital. Both cars were impounded for safety checks, but no charges have been filed against either driver.

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This coming Saturday, Jan. 11, the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association begins 2025 with two events at the Riverhead Free Library. At 10:30 a.m., they’ll hold their first civic meeting of the year, talking about what deserves the civic’s attention through the next 12 months. From 1 to 2:30 p.m., they’ll host their third Annual Volunteer Expo in advance of the Martin Luther King, Jr Day of Service, with info on volunteer programs involving gardening, helping at the animal shelter, at art and music events, or lending a needed hand in neighbors’ lives. All are welcome to both events this coming Saturday at Riverhead Free Library, 330 Court Street in Riverhead, New York.

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Suffolk County taxpayers could be on the hook for $60 million in a migrant class-action lawsuit for holding on to illegal immigrants until the feds could show up and ship them out of the country, officials said yesterday. Carl Campanile and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon report in THE NY POST that a federal judge ruled that the county sheriff’s office in Suffolk acted on its own when it held undocumented immigrants for deportation proceedings — because New York State law doesn’t allow local cops to do so. Moreover,...

As LIPA continues to review prospective contenders to take over management of the electric grid, it has awarded a key separate contract for fuel and power-supply management services — one currently held by PSEG — to an outside company. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that services under the power supply management and fuel management contract for LIPA have been operated by a division of PSEG for the past decade. The service makes sure all LIPA-contracted power plants get timely shipments of fuel, including natural gas and fuel oil, and the program includes a hedging program that helps offset volatility of power supply charges, said Gary Stephenson, senior vice president of power supply for LIPA.

The new 5-year contract, estimated at $20 million, was awarded to The Energy Authority, a nonprofit organization owned by six public power entities. The contract begins in 2026.

The decision appears to have been unexpected by PSEG. A message sent to all PSEG employees from PSEG executives Rodney Dickens and Dan Cregg noted that LIPA’s board decided to "go forward with one of our competitors." Dickens is an executive adviser to PSEG who oversees the Long Island operations and Cregg is executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The two men wrote that "as much as the outcome of this particular [request for proposals] is not what we had hoped for, it’s important to note that today’s decision has no influence on the RFP for the continuing operations of the electric grid of Long Island and the Rockaways. We continue to participate in LIPA’s RFP process and will inform you as soon as a decision has been made by LIPA."

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The 2025 local election season is getting an early kickoff this year thanks to the special election for a single Southampton Town Council seat, which the winner will hold for just eight months.

Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the Southampton Town Board on Monday approved setting March 18 as the date for the townwide special election to complete the last year of former councilman and now-NYS Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni’s term on the board. That has spurred Southampton Town’s two political parties to begin screening potential candidates and preparing to announce nominees — perhaps as early as this week — and has also jump-started the party’s preparations for the November general election, in which most of the town’s elected offices will be on the ballot.

The timing of the special election, and the demands of state election law deadlines, seems likely to force the two parties to run the same candidates for the board seat in both the special election and the November general election — meaning that one of them would be left running in November from the position of having just lost an election, while the other will be a newly minted incumbent.

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A Women’s Rally will be held in the North Fork’s “public square” in Greenport’s Mitchell Park this coming Saturday at 1pm. Saturday’s rally is a warm-up to the Women’s March, which will join with and expand the People’s March on January 18 in Washington, D.C., Port Jefferson and Foley Square in NYC. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that speakers will give short talks on the many issues of concern that need government action: education, health care, immigration and its benefit to the economy, bodily autonomy, housing and participatory democracy. As organizer Carolyn Peabody said, “We invite you to stand up for what we believe in and for each other. Join us to sing, to share inspiration and concerns. Make your voice be heard and grounded in community strength against the tide of misinformation, disrespect for women and undemocratic chaos that wells up to defeat us.” Organizer Randy Wade added, “Remember that we are many, we are determined, we show up and we won’t give up.”

A Women’s Rally is this coming Saturday at 1pm in Mitchell Park,...

The Shinnecock Indian Nation has asked a state appellate court to suspend and reconsider a ruling that could shut down the tribe’s Sunrise Highway billboards in Hampton Bays, citing recent federal confirmation that the Shinnecock property known as Westwoods is restricted aboriginal territory. The 80-foot billboards remain in operation on the 80-acre Westwoods parcel, where the nation has also begun construction of a travel plaza-gas station on adjacent land and envisions a resort-conference center on a parcel overlooking Peconic Bay near the Shinnecock Canal. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that in their filing Friday, lawyers for the nation requested the Appellate Division to suspend its December order that found a lower court should have granted a preliminary injunction to the NYS Department of Transportation to stop construction and operation of the billboards. Since 2019 the state has fought for the injunction on safety grounds, asserting the property is subject to state and local zoning laws. The tribe has long contested that assertion, and noted the signs have resulted in no safety concerns.

In its order to show cause filed Jan. 3, the Shinnecock pointed to a letter issued last week by the U.S. Department of the Interior that affirmed the 80-acre Westwoods parcel in Hampton Bays is "within the [Shinnecock] Nation’s aboriginal territory."

The letter noted that the Shinnecock Nation has "resided within its aboriginal territory since time immemorial and has never removed therefrom, and that Westwoods is within the purview of the Nonintercourse Act and is therefore restricted against alienation absent consent of the United States."

The nation is asking the court to allow it to "renew and reargue" its case in light of that determination, or to allow it to appeal to the state Court of Appeals.

Glenn Blain, a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation, told Newsday, "We are reviewing the recent determination from the U.S. Department of the Interior and will have no further comment as this matter remains the subject of ongoing litigation."

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul yesterday proposed increasing the state’s child tax credit, giving families up to $1,000 per child under the age of 4 and $500 per child from ages 4 to 16. The expansion, which is part of Hochul’s 2025 budget proposal, would be phased in over two years and cover more than 2.75 million children, including an estimated 215,000 households on Long Island. Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that the proposed expansion aims to decrease stress on families and lift more children out of poverty, according to the governor. "More money back in people’s pockets, that’s what we’re going to do in a lot of different ways," Hochul said announcing the proposal in Manhattan on Monday.

"From groceries to strollers to kids’ clothes, the cost of living and raising a family is still too damn high — and that’s why we’re proposing a massive increase in New York’s child tax credit to put up to $1,000 per kid back in the pockets of hardworking families," Hochul said.

The effort comes as Hochul and state lawmakers look to make New York more affordable, an issue that was key in the congressional and presidential elections last November.

The current tax credit, known as the Empire State Child Credit, is based on income level and provides up to $330 per child.

The credit is refundable, meaning it can either offset taxes or be paid out directly to taxpayers as a refund.

Additional details on the expanded credit are expected to be included in the governor’s budget proposal coming later this month.

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The body of a Riverside man reported missing in November last year was found in a wooded area off Route 114 in East Hampton yesterday. According to Southampton Town Police, a hunter in the woods located the body, and East Hampton Town Police and...