Women's Rally to be held this Saturday in Greenport

Long Island Morning Edition

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, 115 Front Street, Greenport, NY 11944

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Stop signs and crosswalks should be added to four problematic intersections in Wainscott by Memorial Day weekend, that hamlet’s citizens advisory committee decided in a vote that followed a presentation by members of its traffic safety subcommittee, during its meeting this past Saturday. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the presentation by David and Stacey Brodsky, who had consulted with Superintendent of Highways Stephen Lynch and East Hampton Town Board members, was in furtherance of a map generated last summer. The concerns voiced on Saturday were speeding and poor sightlines, with summer crowds and their attendant traffic making for hazardous conditions, including for those going to and from Wainscott Beach, at the terminus of Beach Lane. The subcommittee proposed the addition of two stop signs and four crosswalks at the intersection of Wainscott Main Street, Wainscott Hollow Road and Five Rod Highway, where only two stop signs presently exist. A second proposal would add stop signs on Wainscott Main Street at its intersection with Beach Lane, where the intersection presently has one on Beach Lane only. A crosswalk across Wainscott Main Street west of Beach Lane is also proposed. At a third intersection, that of Sayre’s Path and Wainscott Stone Road, stop signs on the north and southbound lanes of Sayre’s Path are proposed to supplement the existing one at the terminus of Wainscott Stone Road. The fourth proposal is to add stop signs in each direction on Wainscott Stone Road at its intersection with Wainscott Northwest Road, and three crosswalks on the two roads. Councilwoman Cate Rogers, the East Hampton Town Board’s liaison to the committee, said that a presentation at a work session is the next step and should happen soon “if you want to see things happen before May.” A public hearing, or possibly hearings for each proposal, would be required, likely followed by an after-hearing discussion and a resolution to be adopted. “You’d want to have that public hearing in March, no later,” she said.

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State officials are warning consumers to use gift cards collected in the past five years before they expire. John Asbury reports in NEWSDAY that NYS Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said the state accumulated $21 million in unused gift card funds last year, turned over from retailers to the comptroller’s Office of Unused Funds.

"Tis the season of giving, not losing, so please spend those gift cards and check to see if you have unclaimed funds," DiNapoli said in a statement. "Many New Yorkers don’t realize gift cards may have their balances transferred to the Office of Unclaimed Funds after five years of inactivity."

Long Island has accumulated nearly $11.5 million in unclaimed gift cards funds, amassed since 1985, according to the comptroller’s office. Long Island was the second-highest region in the state for unclaimed gift cards, behind New York City, which totaled nearly $48.5 million in unclaimed gift card funds.

Comptroller officials said the amount of unclaimed gift card funds has more than tripled since 2014 when $5.8 million in gift cards went unclaimed.

Officials said funds from unused gift cards purchased before 2022 are turned over by retailers to the comptroller’s office. Gift cards bought on or after Dec. 10, 2022, don't expire for nine years from the date of purchase, according to the state’s Division of Consumer Protection. A recent law that extended the expiration to nine years also prevents the gift card from diminishing in value.

A gift card can be used until the balance is depleted and each use restarts the five-year dormancy, but the expiration is fixed, according to a DiNapoli spokeswoman.

DiNapoli urged residents to register their gift cards, saying: "The retailer has to not only turn over the unclaimed funds, but they have to turn over the information with the account number so that we could then track the claim back."

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Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced his bid for reelection yesterday before dozens of supporters inside a Riverhead concert hall, kicking off a campaign that will likely see him run unopposed. Grant Parpan reports in NEWSDAY that Tierney, flanked by his wife and children, emphasized a commitment to public safety initiatives if elected to a second four-year term in November. He highlighted the task force approach used to make an arrest in the Gilgo Beach homicide investigation as the type of effort his office aims to apply to prosecutions across all bureaus. Tierney, a lifelong resident of Suffolk County, also touted his office’s work fighting the fentanyl crisis— but said there’s more work to be done. “If you look at our homicide numbers compared to our overdose numbers in Suffolk County — that cannot be ignored,” the D.A. said, noting there were 25 homicides and 464 overdoses in 2023.

Tierney, a career prosecutor, was elected as Suffolk County’s top prosecutor in 2021.

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A variety of programs are available to parents taking maternity or paternity leaves, typically a combination of disability insurance, federal Family Medical Leave, New York State Paid Family Leave, earned paid time off and any additional pay or time off under a specific company’s policies.

As soon as they are ready to disclose their pregnancy to the employer, expectant parents should talk to their human resources department, so they understand what they are entitled to and can plan ahead, advises Jami Schultz, senior director of human resources for Canon U.S.A., based in Melville. Beth Whitehouse reports in NEWSDAY that Liz Uzzo, chief human resource officer for H2M architects + engineers based in Melville, says she has seen more men taking family leave since the New York Paid Family Leave Act launched in 2018. "I think in the beginning people were probably embarrassed and felt intimidated for a guy to do this," Uzzo says. "Now the guys are wanting the same flexibility." Uzzo says often parents are trying to keep the baby out of day care for the first year and are coordinating their leaves to stretch the time with a parent at home as long as possible.

A variety of programs are available to parents taking maternity or paternity leaves, typically a combination of disability insurance, federal Family Medical Leave, New York State Paid Family Leave, earned paid time off and any additional pay or time off under a specific company’s policies. Read more: newsday.com/parentalleave.