News: Surf Competition Begins on LI

(Long Island, N.Y.) The world-class surf competition Quiksilver Pro New York began Monday in Long Beach. The event that many Long Island beachgoers have been talking about has been in and out of headlines since tropical storm Irene devastated the competition grounds. Many residents have been impressed over how quickly Long Beach was able to restore the area and secure the competition.

One of the concerns of Long Beach staff and contest officials was the erosion that occurred in the wake of the storm. Nonetheless, surfers representing France, Brazil, South America, and Australia have come to Long Beach to compete along east coast waves. A highlight of the event comes from the performance of a Lido Beach native, who became sponsored by Quiksilver when he turned fourteen.

The now twenty-year-old surfer is one of the competition’s wildcards and is set to surf against longtime world-class pros like Kelly Slater. The young surfer is being dubbed the Surf Prince of Long Beach, and is clearly the hometown favorite. Many are attributing him as the most talented surfer to come from New York.

He allegedly spent time in Hawaii perfecting the art of surfing and was later interviewed by ESPN. He’s been a member of the Quiksilver Pro Team and enjoys snowboarding when he isn’t in the water. He credits Long Beach’s Unsound Surf Shop with helping him make it in the surfing business, saying that those affiliated with the shop often talked him up to major surf companies.

A good break came to the young competitor when he won a contest in Montauk and began to gain the attention of sponsors. What has grabbed the focus of the surfing community also has to do with his stomping grounds, being that little esteem is given to surfers north of the Carolina and Jersey coast. Monday’s start to the competition is a great way to bring credit to Long Island waves and beaches.

Kelly Slater, who is still considered the most accomplished American surfer in the last two decades, is one of thirty-four surfers to compete in the event. The rest are also world elite competitors who will surf for four days over the nine-day event that is packed with activities.

Reports stated that surf conditions will be assessed at seven each morning to provide surfers and spectators with an updated schedule. Winds from hurricane Katia are expected to improve surfing conditions in the middle of the week.

News: Man Sentenced for Beating Nurse

(Long Island, N.Y.) A thirty-two-year-old man from Norwood, Pennsylvania has been charged with beating a twenty-nine-year-old pediatric nurse in a ladies bathroom. The incident occurred in March of 2010, and the man has recently been sentenced to sixteen years behind bars. The man was a Moroccan citizen and was held without bail for having been considered a flight risk at the time of his arrest.

The man had been staying in a budget Best Western Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen while working on a midtown construction site at 34th Street. He was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court for assault charges that were later upgraded to attempted murder charges. He has also been charged with attempted rape and a second assault charge.

The attack occurred inside a women’s restroom at a pub called Social on Eight Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets. Initially, he claimed to have been acting in self defense and said that the victim had been yelling and trying to push him. He responded by pushing her back into the bathroom stall and punching her, and claimed that she fell on her head.

Reports stated that the women’s friend discovered her unconscious with blood pooling by her head and her pants leg pulled off while the other was around her ankle. The woman was treated for a broken eye socket, shattered nose, fractured skull, and busted jaw at New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell. She also needed fifty-stitches for a gash across her forehead.

Sources claimed that the attacker tried to dance with the victim prior to the incident and was rejected. He was later seen on camera shaking his hand in pain and was captured on video footage taking a beer from a bodega without paying. Coworkers were able to point him out to police and authorities on the case.

In the wake of the attack and beating the man has shown remorse, claiming that he would never want the same thing done to his sisters. He admitted to being extremely intoxicated during the night of the incident and said he drank on an empty stomach after getting off of work. He had no prior criminal charges.

Reports also stated that he had tried to withdraw his guilty plea to assault and attempted sexual abuse. He was unable to do so, after having been instructed that there is no turning back from pleading guilty to the charges against him.

News: Teen Released from Rikers

(Long Island, N.Y.) A seventeen-year-old girl and local prize-winning poet who grew up on 138th street in Harlem was released from Rikers for conspiracy and gun charges. The former valedictorian of her eighth grade class at KIPP STAR College Prep Charter School, located in Harlem, was involved with a fourteen-member Harlem street gang. The teen was a member of her church’s choir group and once attended an elite $44k/year tuition school on full scholarship.

The institution is called Deerfield Academy, located in Massachusetts, and is known for only accepting a mere fourteen percent of its applicants. The Harlem teen, once a member of the school’s student council, was placed on probation after getting caught cheating. She got into further trouble with the institution’s officials after skipping class without a valid and honest excuse.

The teen withdrew from the academy and enrolled in the prestigious Millennium High School, located in Manhattan’s Financial District, where she was a member of the school’s basketball team. She worked at McDonalad’s part-time and had dreams of studying law at highly competitive institutions like New York University, Colombia, Harvard, Yale, Barnard, and University of Pennsylvania.

Her dreams were put on hold when she got caught up with the Lenox Avenue and 137th Street crew, which is comprised of mostly teenagers and has been terrorizing the area for years. The gang allegedly prefers to recruit young girls to hide and carry their guns and weapons. According to law enforcement, the gang is one of the most violent groups in the entire 32nd Precinct.

Her bail was set at twenty-five-thousand dollars cash for second-degree conspiracy and weapons possession. She allegedly studied for her SATs during her stay at Rikers and was later bailed out by leaders of her church. She pleaded guilty at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan and accepted a deal which has made her a youthful offender; she will not have an official criminal record.

As part of her deal, she will not have to testify against anyone and will attend her senior year of high school under the conditions that she adheres to a nine thirty curfew. If convicted, she could have faced up to twenty-five years and had a fate similar to that of her twenty-year-old boyfriend and gang leader. He was in Rikers for armed robbery where he allegedly gave her orders to carry out via a series of phone calls.

News: Power Outages on Long Island

(Long Island, N.Y.) As of Wednesday morning an estimated 330,000 customers of Long Island Power Authority had their power restored since last week’s tropical storm Irene. The storm hit Long Island power lines with the vengeance of a hurricane and nearly 200,000 customers are still without power. An estimated 523,000 customers lost power since the storm, making it the biggest since 1985’s Hurricane Gloria.

Reports have stated that about ninety-thousand customers have gotten their power restored within the past day, but many are still without power since the storm. Some customers without power are residents of four different nursing homes throughout the island. They are some of many critical care customers that have not received power as of noon on Wednesday.

Other areas still in need of power are in North Haven where municipal buildings have not had their power restored. According to reports, representatives from the Long Island Power Authority have claimed that brief, temporary outages are to be expected over the next few days. This is done to enable workers to repair the power lines, which need to be turned off before they can begin.

Sources have claimed that Long Island Power Authority officials have estimated that ninety percent of customers without power will have it restored by the end of the day on Friday. The National Grid is teaming with Long Island Power Authority workers in order to make speedier repairs. They have boasted that large blocks in need of power are being restored on an hourly basis.

To help in the effort the National Grid has taken over seven-hundred poles and 760,000 feet of cable out of stock in order to perform repairs. They have also reserved over six-hundred transformers and employed many workers. An estimated 6,500 workers are being employed in the restoration process.

Long Island Power Authority officials have also done their part to help with restoration. According to sources, the power company has suspended their billing and collections to put greater attention on restoring power to their customers. This includes transporting their workers to areas where they will answer customers’ phone calls and reports.

News: LI Copes With Being Powerless

(Long Island, N.Y.) Long Islanders everywhere are doing their best to cope with the power outages left over from the damage that occurred during last week’s tropical storm. Many customers of the Long Island Power Authority have been complaining that they don’t know when their power will be restored. The Long Island Power Authority has announced that customers may not always know where or when their workers will begin repairs.

Reports stated that the Long Island Power Authority officials have claimed that they understand that their customers want to know more information about the power restoration process. They claimed to have made over ninety-thousand outgoing calls since Monday in order to inform customers of status updates. They hope to reach every customer by the end of the process.

Long Island Power Authority officials have also claimed that there are an estimated five-thousand damage locations across Long Island. They claim that most of the damages have resulted from falling trees or other types of tree-related incidents. They say that they have received an estimated 686,000 calls since the onset of the storm.

As of Wednesday, an estimated thirty-seven-thousand customers in Brookhaven were still without power. Roughly twenty-six-thousand were powerless in Oyster Bay and twenty-five-thousand in Hempstead. Twenty-thousand were without power in Huntington, eighteen-thousand in Islip, and seventeen-thousand in North Hempstead.

Long Island radio stations have been announcing power updates and broadcasting information to their powerless listeners who have been waiting desperately for repairs. As of Tuesday, many roads were still closed due to down power lines and several police officers were employed to block entrances to damaged areas.

Long Island Power Authority officials have also suspended their walk-in customer services to help focus resources on restoring power, but have urged the public to remember that they remain open for business via the internet. Some of the lines and circuits had to be rebuilt from the source.

In the meantime, many Long Islanders have flocked to Starbucks and other coffee shops to take advantage of the power and Internet access. Many are desperate to charge cell phones, connect to the web, check emails, and pay bills, demonstrating Long Island’s great dependency on power and the net. Some have brought their surge protectors to local coffee shops, which have experienced an enormous increase in customers since last week’s tropical storm.

News: Surfing Competition in Long Beach

(Long Island, N.Y.) Residents of the City of Long Beach are buzzing over the scheduled world class surfing competition to be hosted on their humble shores. The competition is the first of its kind along the East Coast and has captured the attention of all of Long Island’s surfers and surf enthusiasts. The event, the Quiksilver Professional New York Surf Competition, is booked for September 1st to the 15th.

The surfing competition is the world’s first million-dollar professional surfing event, offering the hefty prize to its winning competitors. It will showcase over thirty of the world’s best surfers as they tour various beaches and cities highlighted by the event. Prior to arriving off the coast of Long Island, the Quiksilver Professional Surfing Competitors will have competed in Tahiti.

Long Beach is scheduled as the sixth stop on the tour, and at least five more stops are in store for the competitors. Reports stated that some of the competitors got an early start on the event and were able to practice riding the waves during Saturday’s tropical storm. The storm, which rocked and flooded some of the narrow streets of Long Beach, was all according to plan for these surfing pros.

Sources claimed that Quiksilver announced that its decision to schedule the event during hurricane season was all according to plan. Hurricane season would almost guarantee waves off the shores of Long Beach. Nonetheless, reports stated that the city suffered significant erosion as a result of the storm.

Thankfully, there was no structural damage to the building constructed to host the competition. It had been dissembled prior to the storm, and is scheduled to be reconstructed in accordance with the surfing company’s original intention. Thousands of spectators are expected to attend the event, though no one can determine with any certainty how many will show up for this original competition.

Bad news came to City of Long Beach residents when the city manager announced that the event’s festival sideshows had been cancelled in response to the damage caused by Hurricane Irene. In response to the devastating news supporters of the competition scheduled a silent, peaceful protest outside City Hall. The protest was scheduled to occur on Tuesday morning to coincide with the meeting between Quiksilver and City Hall officials.

Many followers of the story have viewed the competition as a way to prove that there are waves at New York beaches, and to pay homage to the dedicated surfers that populate the City of Long Beach and other areas on Long Island. In the wake of the hurricane, Long Beach lifeguard mounds were lost and the chairs were blown away by the winds of the storm. Thankfully, all of the chairs were recovered and will be restored to the beaches as soon as possible.

The Allegria hotel, scheduled to accommodate the world class surfers, suffered damage from the storm. Two feet of water flooded the ground floors, and workers have been employed to speedily restore conditions by Thursday’s start to the competition.

News: Nassau Police Shoot LI Man

(Long Island, N.Y.) A twenty-three-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday morning while attempting to evade officers at his Point Lookout home. The shooting occurred about fifteen minutes to three that morning after Nassau County Police officers surrounded his home. He was a senior and psychology major at Queens College where he played baseball as an outfielder and catcher.

Officers from the Nassau County Police Department have told the press that he was the subject of a 911 call they received at roughly ten-thirty Monday night. They said that he had been kicked out of the Buoy Bar in Point Lookout, located just a quarter-mile away from his home.

The officers also said that he could have been the subject of another 911 call that occurred at five minutes to midnight. The complaint was from a neighbor who said that someone entered her home but left through the front door after she yelled. Police said that she recalled the person could have been carrying a weapon or tool or even a screwdriver. Nonetheless, no reports have mentioned the possibility that he could have mistaken her home for his and entered the wrong home.

After the alleged incident, he fled to his family’s home a short distance away and refused to speak to police. His father said that he had been sleeping when police surrounded the home, and that he tried to persuade his son to speak with them. He evaded officers by exiting the home through the backyard.

Police officers said that they asked him to drop his alleged weapon, claiming that he had been carrying a twelve-inch knife when they shot and killed him. His parents said that he was unarmed, and was running away when he was shot twice in the back. Some reports stated that officers fired at least three shots, killing him with a single bullet to the head.

A neighbor claimed that his body was visible but that no weapon could be seen in the area. According to sources, his twenty-nine-year-old brother said that over twenty cops responded to the scene and surrounded the house while he was running away. Some stories on the case said that the cops were dressed for heavy-duty combat and depicted a SWAT team. Reports claimed that his parents believe he was shot because he was scared and wouldn’t speak to police.

Sources stated that many believe the police officers used excessive force against the five-foot-eight and one-hundred-and-forty-pound man. Police officers wouldn’t identify him and his mother revealed that her son had been shot. The officer who shot and killed him was a member of the Fourth Precinct and had been on the force since November of 2007.

This is the second police shooting involving the Nassau County Police Department that occurred in two days. Reports claimed that three officers shot and wounded a twenty-one-year-old Hofstra University student on Monday after a car chase in Oyster Bay. Earlier this year, Nassau County Police Officers shot and killed a twenty-one-year-old who was allegedly carrying a knife in Massapequa Park; the incident resulted in a loss of a police officer by friendly fire.

The twenty-three-year-old man was a 2006 graduate of Long Beach High School where he made all-conference, all-county, and all-division for baseball in three consecutive years. He was the team’s captain for two years and hit twice over .400, raking top-ten in the school’s history. He ranked in the top five in the school’s history for stolen bases and later worked as a baseball coach and ski instructor.

Classmates remember him as a gifted individual who could always be counted on to make a funny joke. Those who knew him are shocked at the tragic outcome, being that he was nonaggressive and never posed a threat of violence. He was a good student with a warm disposition and will be missed by the entire community.

News: Cops Shoot Man in Roadway Flee

(Long Island, N.Y.) A twenty-one-year-old man from Hempstead was shot by officers after getting into a wreck in Jericho. Police officers claimed that they tried to stop the young man after the collision. The accident involved his 2010 Chevy Equinox and a 2001 Acura.

Reports stated that police officers at the scene claimed that the man had been driving northbound in southbound lanes of Route 106/107. The crash occurred at roughly one in the morning and the twenty-one-year-old evaded Nassau County police officers after the accident.

Sources claimed, without much detail, that the twenty-one-year-old was somehow able to get control of the marked police vehicle. After doing so, the young man kept driving and led police through a chase to Oyster Bay. Two police officers from the Second Precinct in Muttontown were able to locate the stolen vehicle and pursued it to the place the young man was accosted.

The police chase finally came to a close at Teddy Roosevelt Park on Bay Avenue in Oyster Bay. Reports stated that when officers exited their vehicles and approached the young man he attempted to reverse the stolen car at a high speed and changed direction. Nassau County police officers claimed that he had the intention of running them over when they fired shots.

Sources claimed that he was shot multiple times and attempted to drive away after the police officers began firing. He was eventually stopped and apprehended and taken to North Shore University Medical Center for arm wounds from the gunshots. His injuries are believed to be non-life threatening.

The young man was under guard during his stay at the hospital, which reports stated will end as soon as practical. Some reports stated that the twenty-one-year-old was six-foot-three and over two-hundred pounds. He was allegedly finishing up college at Hofstra University.

Three police officers were treated and released at a local hospital along with the two people who were injured in the collision. Reports stated that the charges against him are two counts of first-degree attempted murder. Other charges include second-degree robbery, driving while intoxicated, two counts of second-degree assault, second-degree criminal mischief, and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury.

News: Father of Boy Sues his Killer

(Long Island, N.Y.) The grieving father of the eight-year-old boy from Borough Park, Brooklyn who was killed by a thirty-five-year-old man is seeking compensation in a $100M dollar lawsuit. The lawsuit was dated August 17th and is a civil lawsuit that allegedly seeks the loss of income the eight-year-old could have accumulated throughout his lifetime. The suit is being filed for punitive damages.

The lawsuit complaint was filed at the Supreme Court of the State of New York in the County of Kings. It seeks compensation for the wrongful death and extreme physical and mental anguish the eight-year-old suffered beforehand. It goes after the thirty-five-year-old killer for the abduction, kidnaping, torture, murder, and dismemberment of the young boy seeking directions on his way home from day camp.

Sources everywhere have labeled the boy’s killer as the “butcher of Borough Park.” Reports stated that the mourning dad is also suing the father of his son’s killer in a separate $100M suit. The father is being sued because he lived downstairs from his murderous son and may have known about the potential for the boy’s death.

The father is also being sued because he should have known of the deadly and dangerous condition existing in the house and for his failure in protecting the defenseless eight-year-old. The killer’s family lived in an apartment in Kensington, Brooklyn, and the father is also being sued for allowing his son to have knives.

In addition to these reasons, the suit also accuses the killer’s father of not monitoring his son and not discovering that the boy had been kidnapped and was held in the apartment. The lawyer of the grieving father claimed that no amount of monetary compensation will do anything for the pain the family has endured.

The killer’s team of defense lawyers had been allegedly reprimanded for a lack of experience in the field after they posted on Facebook about the case. The next pretrial hearing is scheduled for October 14th and the defense is still considering using the insanity plea.

Reports also stated that a possible bill for legislation called Leiby’s law could be pursued in order to make local businesses a safe-haven for lost children. By terms of the potential law, businesses participating would place a green sticker in their windows to notify children of their cooperation. Employees of such businesses will have to undergo background checks to coincide with child safety.

News: Leftover from the Storm

(Long Island, N.Y.) An estimated sixty-five million people have been affected by the storm. Hurricane Irene evacuated many from their homes, and presented many with the “should I stay or should I go?” dilemma. Reports are already calculating that the tropical storm has cost over seven billion dollars in damages.

The George Washington Bridge was reopened yesterday and about half of the lines on the Long Island Rail Road have been put back in service. Utility poles and trees were blown onto tracks during the storm, and service has been suspended on several branches. Far Rockaway, Long Beach, Oyster Bay, and Port Jefferson are among these lines in addition to everything east of the Montauk and Ronkonkoma branches.

Long Island bus services are back to normal in both Nassau County and Suffolk County. Both John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia airport were closed as of noon on Saturday. Jury duty has been cancelled for today, and grand jurors are expected to report for service tomorrow.

Police and authorities are asking residents who have spotted down trees to report them to their county officials. Those who have experienced power shortages or have witnessed down power lines should contact utility providers. As of Monday, the New York Stock Exchange remains open.

Many Long Islanders have compared this week’s hurricane to one that occurred over twenty-five years ago in 1985. Hurricane Gloria began on September 16th and lasted until the 28th. It reached a Category Four in the tropical waters of the Bahamas, where Irene was a Category Three. Like Irene, Hurricane Gloria weakened after reaching the coast of North Carolina.

The 1985 Hurricane resulted in eight deaths, making Hurricane Irene a deadlier storm. Some reports have estimated that as many as twenty-seven people have been killed in correlation with the hurricane. Estimated costs for Gloria were $900 million in damages, converting to about $1.84 billion dollars today.

Long Island had not been directly affected by a hurricane since 1960’s Hurricane Donna, which occurred about twenty-five years prior to Gloria. Unlike Irene, Hurricane Gloria was speedier and reached Long Island shores just ten hours after hitting the Carolina Outer Banks. Both Hurricanes, however, made great impact upon the beaches of Long Beach.

Perhaps one reason many Long Island residents decided to tough it out for this week’s hurricane is because they had survived the 100mph winds of Gloria. Also, sources claimed that Hurricane Gloria occurred during a time of low tide, making Irene a storm that involved more rains and flooding. Reports stated that Gloria, also a Category One Hurricane prior to reaching Long Island, had winds of a Category Three.

In both cases, the press had labeled the hurricanes as “storms of the century.” Hurricane Gloria left two million residents without power and destroyed almost fifty homes along Long Island.