Local journalism and community newspapers are the heartbeat of a place, especially places like Shelter Island. Jake Williams has a deeply personal connection to both Shelter Island and its struggling hometown newspaper The Shelter Island Reporter as someone with many family ties and a former writer for the outlet. Tune in to this weekend's edition of Behind The Headlines to hear his perspective and story.

During his daily commute to Ronkonkoma over the years, Melville resident Jeff Redelman has seen a steady rise of drivers speeding, following too closely and weaving between lanes. But he said he hasn't seen enough drivers pulled over. "There's never any enforcement," he said, adding he notices far more police whenever he travels upstate to visit his daughter in Binghamton. Peter Gill reports in NEWSDAY that experts generally agree police enforcement is an essential part of ensuring traffic safety, along with better infrastructure, road design and education. A Newsday analysis found for years, police in Suffolk County have issued significantly fewer dangerous-driving tickets than other parts of New York when adjusted for traffic, though their numbers have been rising. Commissioner Kevin Catalina of the Suffolk County police — the largest police department in the county, whose roughly 2,500 officers patrol the five western towns — said he has made traffic enforcement a priority since taking the lead of the department earlier this year. He's expanded the highway patrol 30% and told all officers that traffic enforcement is important for career advancement, he said. Suffolk regularly leads the state in total traffic fatalities, and although deaths have been falling after surging during the pandemic, total crashes have remained roughly steady and serious injuries have increased, both in Suffolk and statewide. Catalina said he doesn’t believe Newsday’s comparison of ticketing in Suffolk to other areas is appropriate because every place has a unique roadway system and a different balance between traffic safety and broader public safety needs. “I think what we need to do is compare Suffolk County to Suffolk County,” he said, adding that his department's year-to-date ticketing numbers in 2025 are up more than one-third above the same period in 2024 for speeding and aggressive driving. "I think we're certainly going in the right direction."

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The Suffolk County Water Authority has deemed itself exempt from local review of its proposed North Fork Pipeline, as Southold Town officials announced Tuesday that the town plans to hold its own “Monroe Balancing Test” on whether the easternmost portion of the project should be subject to local review. A Monroe Balancing Test is a nine-point test to determine whether a large project should be exempt from review by local land use boards. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the Town of Riverhead has already conducted its own Monroe Balancing Test on Phase 1 of the project, an 8.5-mile stretch of pipeline under roads that are primarily in Riverhead Town, and found in October that the project was not exempt from local review, setting the town in direct conflict with the Water Authority’s position. The Suffolk County Water Authority found in favor of itself in its own Monroe Balancing Test on Nov. 20, issuing a resolution that “SCWA is immune from zoning and land use regulations, including, but not limited to the towns of Southampton, Riverhead and Southold in connection with the project,” according to a resolution posted on its North Fork Pipeline webpage. “The Suffolk County Water Authority has adopted a Monroe determination confirming that the North Fork Water Main Project is not subject to local zoning,” according to a statement provided to The Beacon by the Water Authority yesterday. “Public authorities are specifically designed to carry out critical infrastructure work efficiently and without municipal obstruction and imposing local zoning requirements can delay a project that directly affects public health and water reliability. SCWA, in performing its essential governmental function, has clear statutory authority to construct and operate water supply facilities, and longstanding case law supports this position. We are moving forward to ensure the delivery of reliable, high quality drinking water to our customers on the North Fork.”...

Over 15,000 cubic yards of sand later, the Ditch Plains dune restoration in Montauk approaches completion this week. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that a highly anticipated project, the dune restoration is the second of a two-phase undertaking that began last year intended to rebuild the area’s dune after chronic erosion and storms dwindled the beach and the dune to the point of near-nonexistence.

“The beach itself was reduced down to what everybody calls the hard pan, the clay lens that is part of the geologic formations out there,” said Assistant Town Planning Director Brian Frank. “So, you had a thin veneer of sand left, and if that area were left to recover naturally, I’m not really sure how long it would take, if ever.”

The first phase, completed last year, saw the placement of 5,800 cubic yards of Department of Environmental Conservation-approved white sand intended to provide a safe recreational beach for the summer.

Started last month, the second phase addresses the dunes, which protect the surrounding neighborhood from breaches, flooding and damages to infrastructure, and entailed the placement of up to 20,000 cubic yards of sand along approximately 2,200 feet of shoreline. Having come in with a bid of $1.21 million in October, Bistrian Materials is conducting the work. A substantial portion of the total cost was covered by state grants.

“It is supposed to protect the structures behind there,” said East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys. “It is a barricade. It is not the cure-all.”

For the past few weeks, trucks lined the beach, as one shuttled sand on the beach, which others then formed into the mold of the engineered dune, and as of Monday, Bistrian Materials had laid down 15,000 cubic yards of sand.

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Tonight at 7 p.m. is the holiday lighting of The Big Duck in Flanders. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that you should get there early if you want to find a parking spot for this event that brings out the whole community, with caroling, warm refreshments and the ever-anticipated arrival of Santa Claus via a Flanders Fire Truck.

The Big Duck is a ferro-cement style building in the shape of a duck, located in Flanders. It was originally built in 1931 by duck farmer Martin Maurer and used as a shop to sell ducks, dairy, and duck eggs. It was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1997. It is a principal building on the Big Duck Ranch, listed on the NRHP and NYSRHP in 2008.

Once again tonight at 7 p.m. the annual ceremony to light the Holiday Big Duck happens in Flanders featuring carolers, refreshments, and the Flanders Fire Truck delivery of Santa Claus!

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The Village of Westhampton Beach will host its annual Christmas Tree and Menorah Lighting Celebration on the Village Green this coming Saturday evening, December 6, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. As posted on 27east.com, at 6 p.m. Saturday, the Westhampton Beach Fire Department will escort Santa to the Green, joining decorated fire trucks from neighboring departments in a festive parade of lights down Main Street. The trucks will leave the Westhampton Beach firehouse at 5:45 p.m., travel south on Sunset Avenue to Hansen Place and then left onto Potunk Lane before proceeding to Main Street toward the Village Green, where Santa will greet children of all ages from Westhampton Beach and beyond.

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Some East End residents rallying behind a woman arrested after trying to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from detaining a man in Westhampton say they have a message for her: We’ve got your back. Bart Jones reports in NEWSDAY that the residents started an online fundraising campaign that has raised thousands of dollars. They also are sending messages of solidarity to Tamara Mayorga-Wong, 57, who faces charges of obstructing a federal...

President Donald Trump’s order to pause all asylum applications will hit Long Island especially hard because the region has among the largest number of applicants nationwide, immigration attorneys told Newsday yesterday, calling the move an attack on a fundamental American tradition of welcoming the persecuted. Bart Jones reports in NEWSDAY that Trump ordered the pause after the shooting of two National Guard troops — including one who died — on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., allegedly by an Afghan national who received asylum in April. The president also said he would permanently pause immigration from certain countries.

"I’m tremendously disturbed by what’s going on," Patrick Young, an immigration law professor at Hofstra Law School, said of President Trump’s asylum order.

While acknowledging the shooting of the National Guard troops was "horrible," Young said there are "hundreds of thousands of people in the New York area who have asylum who've not engaged in this type of abuse, have not engaged in murder or assassination. To simply tie all of them together and to prevent them from pursuing their rights under both U.S. law and also international law is very, very concerning."

Trump made the asylum announcement on Thursday, a day after the shootings.

All immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications from Afghanistan also were put on hold by the administration.

Lauris Wren, head of the Asylum Clinic at Hofstra Law School, said Trump’s pause is "heart-wrenching" for her clients, who were already facing delays in their cases of as many as eight years.

"The vast majority of asylum seekers are law-abiding people desperately trying to find safety," Wren said. "It’s not right for the actions of one man to stop the entire asylum process."

Long Island is among the top 10 areas in the country for asylum applicants, Young and Wren said. The highest numbers come from El Salvador and Honduras, but there are others from Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela in Latin America alone, Wren said. Her clinic also has clients from Angola, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Mali and other countries.

While there are no hard numbers, there are probably tens of thousands of current asylum applicants on Long Island, according to Wren and Ala Amoachi, an immigration attorney based in East Islip. Many migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization apply for asylum, Amoachi said.

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The December 2024 indictment of Southampton contractor Robert Terry and his Riverhead-based company, Terry Contracting & Materials on prevailing wage law violations and related charges has been dismissed in its entirety by Suffolk County Supervising Judge Richard Ambro. Denise Civiletti reports on RIVERHEADLOCAL.com that Terry and his company were indicted for Willful Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage Rate, and other related charges, for allegedly misclassifying his employees’ work categories on certified payrolls, shorting workers more than $83,000, on a public works contract for the Davis Park Marina Improvement project in the Town of Brookhaven. Ambro ruled in a decision signed Oct. 16.

Terry’s attorney. Michael Cornacchia, said it is significant that Judge Ambro found there was a lack of evidence to prove that Bob Terry, or his company committed any crimes or had any intent to do so. “My family and I always believed in our system of justice, and our belief was borne out by Judge Ambro’s decision,” Terry said in a statement released last week. “We are thankful that the truth has finally come out that my company and I did not commit any crimes and are innocent of the now dismissed charges. We are grateful to our many clients, employees and friends who stood by us during this challenging period. We look forward to continuing to serve our community as a reliable and principled employer,” he said.

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The East Hampton...

As New Yorkers scroll, surf and search their way to digital deals on Cyber Monday they have certain unique protections.

Last month, New York became the first state to enact a law targeting a practice, typically called personalized pricing or surveillance pricing, in which retailers use artificial intelligence and customers’ personal data to set prices online.

Tim Balk reports in THE NY TIMES that the law aims to prevent retailers from ripping off unwitting customers by abusing their data: jacking up the price of jeans for a shopper with a history of buying expensive pants, say, or lifting hotel prices for a traveler who already splurged on airline tickets.

Enacted through the NYS budget, the law requires retailers that use personalized pricing to post the following disclosure: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.”

The law attracted criticism and litigation from the start. Some business interests say it is far too broad and will cause confusion. And some consumers’ rights groups, who sought an outright ban of the practice, which is also called algorithmic pricing, worry the law is too narrow to meaningfully protect all shoppers from price-gouging.

But just about everyone seems to agree that the law…which in October survived a challenge in federal court…is a significant step in the nationwide push to regulate how businesses use their customers’ data.

There are bills pending in at least 10 states that would either ban personalized pricing outright or require disclosures, like New York. State lawmakers in California, a hotbed of A.I. development and regulation, and federal lawmakers in Washington are considering broad bans on the practice.

The push comes as technological advancements have drastically changed the internet and digital marketplace.

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A Riverhead man is facing a DWI charge following a crash on County Road 104 Saturday night, Southampton Town Police said yesterday. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Southampton Town Police and New York State Police responded to a motor vehicle collision with injuries Saturday at about 7:45 p.m., according to a Southampton Town Police press release. Responding officers found three vehicles involved in the crash, resulting in multiple people being injured.

Four people were transported by ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center and a fifth person was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash. Police did not provide information about the nature of the injuries. Ambulances from Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance, Westhampton Beach Ambulance and East Quogue Fire Rescue responded, along with the Flanders Fire Department to assist the injured and safeguard the collision scene. Southampton Police detectives and the New York State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit and Forensic Identification Unit responded to investigate the crash, police said. The road remained closed in both directions until shortly after midnight.

Police said that Erik A. Yatvelasquez, 22, of Riverhead, had been arrested and is being charged with Driving While Intoxicated.

The investigation remains ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact the Southampton Town Police Department Detective Division at 631-702-2230, police said.

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Get ready for a magical holiday moment like no other! The Village of East Hampton has confirmed with the North Pole that Santa Claus is making his grand entrance at Herrick Park—by helicopter!

You are invited to be there this coming Saturday on December 6th at 11:00 AM as Santa touches down in style to spread Christmas cheer. Bring your family and friends to watch this exciting arrival and kick off the holiday season with fun and festivities! This is a FREE event, and all are welcome!

Holiday Treats for Kids

Festive Music...

A Suffolk County judge has cleared the Shinnecock Nation Board of Trustees of contempt of court over the operation of two electronic billboards on Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays, in defiance of a 2019 restraining order — but instead held two commercial advertising companies that built and operate the billboards in contempt. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the judge also ordered that the billboards be shut down, in accordance with a 2024 ruling from a higher court.

The “defendants shall immediately cease operation of the billboards and advertising displays located within the State of New York’s right-of-way on New York State Route 27,” Supreme Court Justice Maureen Licccione wrote in a ruling handed down on Monday afternoon.

Shinnecock Nation Tribal Trustee Chairwoman Lisa Goree said the tribe has no intention of ordering the billboards turned off. “We’re definitely not turning those signs off,” she said yesterday after reading the ruling.

Justice Liccione ruled that the two commercial defendants, IDON Media and Iconic Digital Display, had violated a restraining order that was in place starting May 2019 barring the construction and operation of the billboards. She ordered the two companies, which are owned by the same person, to pay fines of just $250 each, plus unspecified attorneys’ fees to the State Department of Transportation for the costs of arguing the contempt charge. Chairwoman Goree said that she did not expect the “slap on the wrist” of the $250 fines imposed against Iconic and IDON Media and their principal, Larry Clark, to spur the company to break its contract with the tribe and shut down the billboards.

She reiterated the tribe’s belief that the state claims of authority over the Route 27 right-of-way in Hampton Bays are flawed because the easement was not created through a legal process in dealing with Indigenous nations.

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It’s official. Challenger Jerry Halpin has ousted Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard. Halpin narrowly defeated Hubbard by a margin of 37 votes, according to official results released by the Suffolk County Board of Elections Tuesday afternoon. The final tally came after the completion of a manual recount of all votes cast, which began Monday morning and concluded yesterday. The final tally was 3,958 votes for Halpin to 3,921 votes for Hubbard. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Hubbard, a Republican who served on the Riverhead Town Board for eight years before being elected supervisor in 2023, was seeking re-election to a second term as supervisor. Halpin, a newcomer to electoral politics, is pastor at the North Shore Christian Church in Riverhead. “I look forward to getting to work and putting the taxpayers first,” the supervisor-elect told Riverheadlocal.com. “I’m excited. I want to get to work. I plan on leading well and leading by example— servant leadership with humility,” Halpin said. “We will lead our town together,” he said, referring to the rest of the Town Board. Halpin, who is not registered to any political party, will take his seat as the only member of the Riverhead Town Board who is not a Republican.

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The 49th annual Turkey Trots start at 10 a.m. tomorrow...that's Thanksgiving morning at The Circle in downtown Montauk. Jack Graves reports on 27east.com that there were 1,012 who finished these 3- and 6-mile races around Fort Pond two years ago. And last year, while the weather was said to be the snottiest in the races’ history, 600 or so celebrants of all ages flocked together. Proceeds from this event which began in 1976, go to food pantries in the Town of East Hampton.

Medals are awarded to racers male and female of all ages.

For more information and to sign up, go to events.elitefeats.com/25mtktt.

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Electoral

Long Island’s native nations gathered at a Kew Gardens cemetery Saturday morning to honor the lives and mark the premature deaths of two boys sent to a Pennsylvania boarding school for Indian "assimilation" more than 125 years ago. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that leaders of the Unkechaug and Matinecock nations, and members of the Shinnecock, Setauket and Montaukett tribes, led ceremonies and songs of remembrance and healing over two newly installed headstones for the boys and their four young sisters on ground that lay unmarked for more than a century.

Charles Edward Jones and Harry Jefferson Jones both died in 1900 at the ages of 15 and 11, respectively, after returning home with tuberculosis contracted at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, tribal leaders said. They were the children of Jane Davis Waters, of the Unkechaug nation, and Charles Waters, of the Shinnecock and Montaukett nations, the leaders said.

Harry Wallace, chief of the Unkechaug Indian Nation reservation near Mastic, said the boys’ deaths were "the result of practices of abuse at most of these schools, of horrific conditions, and military-style execution of policy." Their stated goal to "kill the Indian but save the man," he said "not only killed the Indian, they killed the man as well. [Killed] the boy."

Wallace said abuse suffered by indigenous children at the boarding schools has had a lasting impact on native communities across North America.

"The legacy of abuse and genocidal practices has affected every native community in North American," he said. "You have that generational trauma that is ongoing and continuing."

Shane Weeks, who led drum playing and song at the grave site. called the ceremony "a moment of remembering and healing."

Chenae Bullock, a Shinnecock member with shared Montaukett ancestry, said while remembrance for the Jones children was "a long time coming," she also expressed gratitude at "all the humans that are gathered around [today], not just native people but all people" to honor them.

"I think it’s just so beautiful," she said. "It just shows there’s so much more we can do together."

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Cellphones and tablets in FedEx boxes were stolen from home porches in 31 Suffolk County communities by 14 individuals working in concert, according to indictments announced yesterday. James T. Madore reports in NEWSDAY that Ray Tierney, the county’s district attorney, estimated that "hundreds of phones were taken in acts of porch piracy" between October 2023 and February of this year.

The defendants face 50 felony charges; if convicted, they could spend years in prison.

"These indictments demonstrate that we will track down and hold accountable those who commit crimes against Suffolk County residents, regardless of how extensive their operation," Tierney said.

Most of the defendants are Bronx residents; one lives in Valley Stream, according to the indictments.

The defendants allegedly hacked computer systems to find out when phones and other electronic devices would be delivered to the homes of Verizon and AT&T customers. The defendants had the customer’s name, address, device types and FedEx shipment tracking numbers, the indictments state.

He added that some of the thefts involved acts of violence such as throwing a FedEx driver to the ground in Hauppauge and forcibly taking a package from a Suffolk resident.

Suffolk prosecutors discovered the ring more than two years ago when they were looking into why there had been a spike in package thefts from front porches throughout the county.

D.A. Tierney said Monday "the investigation is ongoing" with help from federal and New York City law enforcement. More than 200 stolen phones and other electronic devices, and about $120,000 in cash, have been recovered so far.

Asked how residents can protect themselves from porch...

Pope Leo XIV, the first ever U.S. Pope, addressed a group of 16,000 teens at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis this past Friday. Students from Our Lady of the Hamptons tuned in for the livestream. Pope Leo in Rome, using technology to address the students in Indiana, listed many good things technology does. For example, "it lets us stay connected with people who are far away," he said, and there are "amazing tools for prayer, for reading the Bible, for learning more about what we believe, and it allows us to share the Gospel with people we may never meet in person." "But even with all that, technology can never replace real, in-person relationships; simple things (like) a hug, a handshake, a smile -- all those things are essential to being human and to have those things in a real way, not through a screen," is important.

Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that OLH Seventh-grader Sofia Sisalima said that she found significance in the pope’s insistence that young people can and should play a big role in the Catholic Church’s present moment. Seeing the thousands of young people gathered in the arena to hear the pope speak was moving as well. “It’s amazing how a bunch of kids went to see the pope, and how their faith is very strong,” she said.

Our Lady of the Hamptons Principal Sister Kathryn Schlueter said that she thinks of Pope Leo as a priest, missionary and teacher. “This is a very important time in our church and our world,” she said. “Having an American pope for the first time is a special invitation to listen, to observe and to realize that the church is headquartered in Rome, but is truly a universal family. This generation of young Americans will be needed to step in and step up to make a difference in the world.”

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Unofficial but “certified results” in this year's Riverhead Town supervisor’s race now show Halpin the winner by 37 votes according to Riverhead Town Democratic Committee Chairperson Laura Jens-Smith. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that those numbers show Democratic challenger Jerry Halpin with 3,956 votes to incumbent Supervisor Tim Hubbard’s 3,919 votes, according to a summary provided by Jens-Smith.

Suffolk County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Garcia confirmed Friday that the numbers provided by Jens-Smith are accurate.

However, because the margin of victory is less than 0.5%, state law requires a manual recount. The Suffolk County Board of Elections posted a notice on its website stating that the mandatory manual recount will take place today at 10 a.m.

On election night, November 4, 2025, unofficial results showed Halpin ahead 3,891 to 3,870 (50.23% to 49.77%.) Those results did not count absentee ballots and military ballots that arrived after Election Day or any affidavit (provisional) ballots cast at the polls on Election Day. A total of 113 votes have been added to the Election Day tally, with 65 of them going to Halpin, expanding his lead from 21 to 37 votes.

“I am truly honored that the voters of Riverhead have entrusted me to serve our community. It is with deep humility and gratitude that I step into the role of Riverhead Town Supervisor-Elect,” Halpin said in a written statement.

Hubbard declined comment until today’s recount is completed.

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The annual “Light the Lighthouse” event is set for this coming Saturday, November 29, beginning at dusk, at Montauk Point State Lighthouse, with the switch flipped at dark by former New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. who will be honored for his many years of government service.

“The lighting became an instant tradition the first time we did it, 15 years ago,” said Joe Gaviola, president of the Montauk Historical Society and honorary lighthouse keeper. “Thousands of people join us for the event every year, and tens of thousands more drive out to the Point just to see the...