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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...