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Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to sign legislation today aimed at encouraging law enforcement officers to use peer support groups. Steve Hughes reports in NEWSDAY that the Lieutenant Joseph Banish Mental Health Act establishes confidentiality requirements for communications made by law enforcement during peer-to-peer counseling sessions.

Officers who respond to crises deserve services that are tailored to their unique experiences, Governor Hochul said in a statement.

"By strengthening protections for law enforcement peer support programs, we are ensuring safe settings for honest conversations to improve the mental health and well-being of our first responders," she said.

The legislation is modeled after the 2021 federal COPS Counseling Act, a federal law that established confidentiality protections for peer counseling programs in federal law enforcement agencies.

The confidentiality is limited to those officers trained and designated as peer counselors.

Proponents of the bill have argued police officers often experience trauma and grief as emergency first responders and the bill would make it easier for them to seek help privately from trained peer specialists.

Law enforcement members were 54% more likely to die of suicide than the general public, a 2020 study in the journal Policing found. In 2024, there were 13 law enforcement suicides in the state, including two Suffolk County police officers as reported by NEWSDAY.

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A new would-be cannabis dispensary owner has proposed putting a shop on the north side of County Road 39 in a small Tuckahoe shopping mall where a Suffolk OTB once operated and currently Goldberg’s Bagels, Melrose Pizza, Birdie’s Ale House and a barber shop do business. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the company, MRM Ventures, does not yet have approval from the New York State Office of Cannabis Management for a Southampton location but has begun the application process to the Southampton Town Planning Board.

At a pre-submission hearing last week, members of the Planning Board had few initial concerns about the MRM proposal, which would pose few logistical challenges in moving into a vacant unit in the 14-unit shopping center.

But the dispensary’s biggest hurdle may be that another dispensary has aspirations of opening just across the highway from them – which would preempt MRM from making a bid for a location in their desired site under the state’s retail cannabis sales rules if the other dispensary were to open first.

An attorney for MRM Ventures, Joseph Buzzell, said the owner of MRM Ventures already had a state OCM-issued retail cannabis license that he has asked the OCM to allow him to transfer to the County Road 39 site.

However, the MRM Ventures proposed cannabis dispensary is almost directly across County Road 39 from Club Ultra where the landlord has proposed evicting Ultra and replacing it with a cannabis dispensary named Southampton Deep Blue Sea.

State cannabis regulations prohibit two dispensaries from operating within 1,000 feet of each other.

One of Deep Blue Sea’s principals, Danielle Durant, told the Planning Board that property owners had filed an eviction request with the Suffolk County Sheriff's office earlier this fall and is planning to proceed with...

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***

The Village of Greenport approved new laws allowing short-term rentals with no minimum stays. Residency rules are designed to deter investor-run vacation rentals. Rental properties must be owner-occupied for part of the year. Property owners are only entitled to one short-term rental permit under the new law. Critics say the rules favor part-time residents and don’t address the need for year-round housing.

So Greenport Village is going against the grain when it comes to regulating short-term rentals on the East End.

Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that as other municipalities clamp down, village trustees have approved new rental laws that contain no minimum lengths of stay. The law, which takes effect in January, imposes residency rules designed to discourage investor-driven real estate purchases.

The current law bans rentals for less than 14 days in single-family homes unless they are owner-occupied. The new provisions will allow entire single-family homes to be rented as long as an owner lives there part of the year.

Short-term rentals, popularized by sites like Airbnb and Vrbo, have set off debates in seasonal vacation communities over property rights, housing affordability and availability. In Greenport, tensions have flared: At one end of the debate are some residents who say short-term rentals bring too much noise, traffic and trash to their streets. But others argue that short-term rentals are crucial to the region's economy, including neighbors who say they depend on additional income, as well as businesses eager for tourist spending.

Mayor Kevin Stuessi voted against the legislation, which was approved 4-1 on Dec. 4. He said he supported a two-week rental minimum.

“All of the laws elsewhere on the East End … are much more restrictive than what we just passed,” Stuessi said in an interview.

In August, the Village of Southampton enacted a two-week minimum stay. The Town of Riverhead doesn’t allow rentals of less than a month, while Southold Town has a 14-day minimum requirement. Southampton Town is planning to lift a two-week minimum during the U.S. Open golf championship next year, Newsday reported.

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New York State Attorney General Letitia James yesterday filed a lawsuit against UPS, alleging the company stole millions in wages from thousands of seasonal delivery workers for years. Brianne Ledda reports in NEWSDAY that an investigation opened in 2023 found the logistics company failed to accurately track hours worked, required off-the-clock labor from its workers and manipulated timekeeping systems to reduce paid hours, the attorney general’s office said.

These actions saved UPS millions while robbing seasonal workers trying to support their families, A.G. James stated at a news conference in Manhattan on Monday.

"They earned every dollar of their wages, and UPS had no right to take those dollars away," she said.

The state is seeking restitution for current and former seasonal workers and an injunction that requires UPS to adopt reforms to prevent these issues from happening again, James said.

UPS acknowledged the state's suit in an email, and said while the company takes "all accusations of wrongdoing seriously," it denies "the unfounded allegation of intentionally underpaying UPS...

Millions of Americans, including Long Islanders, are contending with higher health premiums taking effect in the new year as prices rise across coverage types. Brianne Ledda reports in NEWSDAY that the surge adds another pressure point to increasingly strained household budgets. Some policy holders might even drop coverage altogether, especially younger people with fewer pressing health needs, experts said.

Higher premiums "will result in cutbacks in overall spending,” especially among middle- and low-income families relying on tax credits to cover plans through the Affordable Care Act, said Martin Melkonian, an economist at Hofstra University in Hempstead. “I think there are many folks living on the edge at this moment," Melkonian said. Without action from the federal government, enhanced premium tax credits under the ACA are set to expire at the end of 2025, further increasing out-of-pocket costs for many consumers…with some paying hundreds more per month.

Most Long Islanders have some form of health insurance — 95.3% in Suffolk County, according to census data. The 28,000 Long Islanders who use federal tax credits to help cover costs for ACA plans stand to take the largest hit, with an average 32% price increase in 2026, in addition to the loss of income-based enhanced tax subsidies.

Premiums are also rising for other plans, including Medicare and employer-sponsored insurance, fueled by hospital consolidation, an aging population and increased expenses for medical services, among other things.

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Long Island's first snowstorm of the season dumped at least 8 inches of snow in several towns across Nassau and Suffolk, spurred lengthy flight delays at area airports and warnings to stay home and off the roads. But by late Sunday afternoon, the bulk of the storm had moved east, with just a few isolated snow showers lingering and a sunny, cold start to our Monday forecast.

Most schools across the east end have announced a two hour delayed start to classes this morning.

As reported in NEWSDAY, a hazardous weather outlook posted late yesterday warned motorists to use caution and be on the lookout through this morning for black ice when driving and walking.

The snow began across Long Island at about 10 p.m. Saturday and was the result of a quick-moving low-pressure system crossing the region from west to east, forecasters said.

In Suffolk County, Commack reported 8.5 inches by Sunday afternoon, with Dix Hills next at 8.3 inches and reports of 8.2 inches in Center Moriches and East Northport. The highest East End total reported was 8 inches in Remsenburg-Speonk, followed by 5.8 inches in Sag Harbor, 5.1 inches in East Quogue, 4.8 inches in Riverhead and Jamesport, 4 inches in Orient and 3.3 inches in Mattituck.

Roads across Long Island were wet and slippery, and authorities warned that travel could be hazardous.

Snow and freezing fog was reported at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale and Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip.

Meanwhile, the Long Island Rail Road reported most its service was on or close to schedule Sunday. The Nassau and Suffolk police departments had no reports of weather-related crashes on roadways by Sunday afternoon.

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Peconic Bay Medical Center’s radiologic technology school has again turned out a class of graduates with a perfect record on their board exams – and on landing jobs. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that all 27 members of the Class of 2025 passed the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists certification exam in radiography, and all have already secured full-time, part-time or per-diem jobs, most of them within the Northwell Health system, according to PBMC and Northwell’s Center for Learning and Innovation.

The program, based at the Riverhead hospital and sponsored by Peconic Bay Medical Center, is Suffolk County’s only...