The Long Island Daily

High school students in New York will still continue to take Regents exams through 2030 to meet federal accountability requirements, even if the tests are phased out as a requirement for graduation next year, state officials said yesterday. Federal law mandates students are tested at least once in English, math and science during their high school years. New York also requires high schoolers to be...

Short-term vacation rentals in the Town of Southold could be drastically scaled back under a new proposal that would cap permits at 1% of homes in each hamlet as officials try to balance resident concerns with demand for tourist accommodations. Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that as the short-term rental industry has grown in popularity, complaints from neighbors about loud parties, trash, parking...

The parents of a Sag Harbor sixth-grader who drowned during a whitewater rafting trip in the Poconos have filed a lawsuit against the school district and other organizers. Nicholas Grasso reports in NEWSDAY that Cesar Hernan Albarracin Guncay and Delia Leonor Guncay Morales filed the suit Monday in Suffolk County Supreme Court more than five months after the death of their son Cesar Albarracin Gun...

A day after the Democratic "bluenami" came the Republican reckoning as party leaders on Long Island and beyond spoke openly yesterday about how to rebuild after stunning losses in Tuesday’s elections. Laura Figueroa Hernandez reports in NEWSDAY that Republicans, saddled by President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings and voter angst over his economic policies, lost control of both chambers of Con...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s overwhelmingly victorious reelection yesterday accented a stunning series of Democratic election victories across the nation, a political shift that saw the party capture control of both the U.S. House and Senate. Billy House reports in NEWSDAY that what was essentially a voter referendum on President Donald Trump personally and his administration’s policies, led to wi...

Polls are now open across New York State for Election Day, following a stretch of nine days of early voting. To find your poll site, click here . Polls will be open throughout Long Island until 9 p.m., though you can still vote past 9 p.m. if you checked in before closing time and remain standing at a line. Those who feel they’re being stopped from voting can call a hotline by the New York Attorne...

Educators and nonprofit leaders on Long Island are working hard to ensure students are fed, amid an increased demand due to soaring grocery prices and tightened eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Darwin Yanes reports in NEWSDAY that approximately 53,000 children on Long Island are currently facing food insecurity — a 20% increase from last year, according to Isla...

Teachers’ union leaders, parents and state lawmakers urged New York education officials to reject Riverhead Charter School’s five-year renewal Wednesday night, filling a Riverhead school board hearing with objections to charter-school funding, governance and the impact on public school district students. The room overflowed with attendees, many wearing bright yellow shirts imprinted with a “Long I...

AI chatbots will be banned from feigning human emotions in conversations with kids, under a new law signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Wednesday. Vaughn Golden and Kevin Sheehan report in THE NY POST that Governor Hochul approved a series of measures regulating how artificial intelligence chatbots interact with minors and implementing safety requirements on baby monitors that are connected to th...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has asked the Trump administration to approve financial aid for Long Island municipalities slammed by last month's nor’easter, which caused widespread flooding and disrupted travel and utility services in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. Nicholas Grasso reports in NEWSDAY that Governor Hochul requested for President Donald Trump to declare the Sept. 26 and 27 storm a ma...

Typical natural gas customers on Long Island can expect only a marginal increase in their winter heating bills this year, but hundreds of thousands of fuel oil users are in for sticker shock, experts said yesterday. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that last month, National Grid, the region’s primary natural gas supplier, released a projection that its Long Island customers could see a seasonal...

The state of New York is planning to phase out Regents exams as a requirement for high school graduation starting next school year. Dandan Zou reports in NEWSDAY that under the proposed vision of a yearslong initiative known as New York Inspires, seniors in the Class of 2028 would instead be asked to demonstrate proficiency in ways beyond standardized tests — including, possibly, capstone projects...

Two Long Islanders are among those who must forfeit millions in profits reaped from an international cryptocurrency scam that targeted Haitian communities and defrauded hundreds of thousands of victims, including more than 11,000 New Yorkers, Attorney General Letitia James announced in a Thursday news release. Nicholas Spangler reports in NEWSDAY that Frantz Ciceron, of Farmingdale, James Corbett,...

At a news conference yesterday bolstering safe driving around school buses in Suffolk, officials disclosed that about 75,000 summonses were issued to drivers illegally passing a school bus in 2025, a 13% drop from the year before. Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that the data, which is the most recent, was mentioned at a news conference by Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine announcing a...

Southampton Town officials will work with the state to upgrade parking at four Long Island Rail Road stations, hoping to bolster participation in the South Fork Commuter Connection program. New York State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni and Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore announced the proposal yesterday. Schiavoni pledged a $100,000 grant, and Moore’s proposed 2027 town budget will inclu...

A super PAC backed by mobile sports gambling giants DraftKings and FanDuel has upped its New York campaign war chest to $8 million for digital ads, mailers, polling and consultants in state legislative races, including four contests on Long Island. Steve Hughes reports in NEWSDAY that the influx of cash supporting Democrats — who control the State Senate and Assembly — comes as mobile sports betti...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law Saturday a bill that quadruples tax credits for volunteer first responders. The bill, passed unanimously by the State Senate and Assembly earlier this year, raises the annual tax credit for volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers from $200 to $800. The benefit for married joint filers rose from $400 to $1,600. Joseph Ostapiuk reports in NEW...

The FBI and New York State Attorney General’s Office conducted interviews with Suffolk County Democratic Committee members and a former board of elections employee as they probe potential misconduct related to Chairman Rich Schaffer, three Democratic officials confirmed to Newsday. The full extent of the probe and whether either agency has launched an official investigation remains unclear. Attorn...

New York's Class of 2026 had a higher mean SAT score than the national average and the state's highest participation rate since 2020, according to a Newsday analysis. Michael R. Ebert reports in NEWSDAY that data recently released by the College Board details how the more than 127,000 students who took the standardized exam in New York during the 2025-26 school year performed. Long Island-specific...

Say this for last night’s debate between Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican rival, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman: It didn’t descend into name-calling, bullying or accusations of corruption that seemed to have marked many past New York gubernatorial debates. That’s according to Yancey Roy in NEWSDAY who characterizes last night’s debate as aggressive for sure but at moments po...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security yesterday accused New York officials of failing since last year to hand over 16,000 people living in the country illegally whom the agency said face charges of murder, rape and other crimes. DHS said in a statement that from Jan. 20, 2025, to Thursday, "16,070 detainers were not honored by the state of New York." Bart Jones reports in NEWSDAY that a detaine...

Four years ago, the Suffolk County Water Authority contacted several homeowners associations and condominium complexes to help them identify ways they could conserve water. Tracy Tullis reports in NEWSDAY that homeowners associations are classified as commercial customers, since the individual residences are not metered separately. And last year, HOAs and other residential complexes accounted for...

The home healthcare sector last year withheld more wages from employees than any other industry on Long Island, a Newsday analysis of state and federal labor investigations found. Nearly 40% of $3.9 million in wages deemed stolen by Nassau- and Suffolk-based employers came from home healthcare companies, ahead of the amounts attributed to restaurants and construction firms, records show. An increa...

As the Trump administration continues its deportation crackdown, there have been more arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Riverhead than anywhere else on Long Island’s East End. It has become the epicenter of uncertainty for a population that helps make the region work and now lives in ICE's shadow. Alek Lewis reports in NEWSDAY that interviews with immigrants, advocates, educators a...

New York joined 15 other states yesterday in a lawsuit seeking restoration of the childhood vaccine schedule rolled back by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. John Asbury reports in NEWSDAY that the lawsuit — which names Kennedy and Dr. Erica Schwartz, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as defendants — is asking a federal judge to order the...