News: Boats Banned from Dumping in LI Sound

(Long Island, N.Y.) The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced a ban on dumping in the Long Island Sound. This ban came after a review and had already been implemented in Connecticut waters four years earlier. An estimated twelve-thousand vessels will now dispose of human waste, treated or untreated, at pump-out stations along the coast.

Federal Law already prohibits the discharge of untreated sewage from vessels within all navigable waters of the United States and the recent ban will prohibit the discharge of treated and untreated boat sewage. Federal bans include all United States territorial seas within three miles of the shore. An official from the Environmental Protection Agency stated that much of the sewage was being discharged where people swim.

According to reports, over seven-hundred square miles will now be categorized as a “no-discharge zone,” and also referred to as a NDZ. The no-discharge area will include the Long Island Sound’s open waters, bays, harbors, tributaries, and an area of the East River. This portion will extend from the Hell Gate Bridge to northern bounds of the waters of the Block Island Sound.

Sources claimed that many sections of the Long Island Sound, including Connecticut’s portion of the waters, already had the ban on dumping. Connecticut bans were ineffective, being that boaters often crossed into Long Island waters to dump their wastes. The recent ban has effectively put an end to this harmful practice.

Reports stated that the plan to ban dumping will eliminate the negative effects of numerous bi-products from the sewage. These substances include chemicals such as phenols, chlorine and formaldehyde. Sources also claimed that the sewage is having a negative impact on people’s health and is impairing marine life in the affected areas.

Legislators from New York and Connecticut met in August to discuss environmentally-beneficial goals to better preserve the shared waters of the Long Island Sound. Officials claimed that, while the waters have been in danger in the past due to storm water runoff pollution and an increase in nitrogen loading, there have been improvements. Both sides noted that a rise in fish numbers has occurred in recent years.

This plan is similar to many other plans to preserve the waters of Connecticut and New York. These plans focused on the reduction of nitrogen pollution from sewage treatment plants and runoff, which promote the growth of bacteria and algae and deplete oxygen. Since a conservation and management plan was developed in 1994 dolphins began reappearing in the Sound. The New York Marine Trades Association stated that violators of the new ban on dumping will face over two-hundred-dollar fines for dumping in the no-discharge zones.

News: Judge Rejects NY Gun Law Challenge

(Long Island, N.Y.) A federal judge upheld a New York State law that requires applicants to show a special need for self-protection before winning a license to carry a handgun. Reports stated that a higher court may have the final say and that the case has been taken to the Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals. Should the case be pursued, it may be brought to the Supreme Court, making many Long Islanders feel that the current laws regarding gun carrying permits may be too rigid.

The plaintiffs are five residents of Westchester County, who believe that they were wrongly denied gun licenses. Sources claimed that the plaintiffs also feel that licenses are often granted based on the personal agendas of members of the law enforcement/legal departments and judges.

According to reports, the plaintiffs sued the county and its judges who denied their applications. To support their argument, and to give evidence of the judge’s unconstitutional rejections of permits, the plaintiffs cited information on recent rulings in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Currently, state law grants licenses for storekeepers, judges, bank messengers, and those in other professions who may be considered vulnerable and in need of protection.

Sources also stated that the plaintiffs cited many reasons for wanting the permits. Some of the reasons include the desire to get involved in competitive shooting, the threat of violence, and the possibility of being a subject of hate crimes. Though many believe that it is unconstitutional to limit gun ownership in any way, the issue seems to be whether it is lawful to limit ownership in the home.

Long Island’s Second Amendment Rights Group, Long Island Firearms, holds events throughout the year regarding the right to bear arms. Earlier this year they organized an event in Ronkonkoma, and reports stated that the Long Island club has around three thousand members.

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is an agency that promotes a better understanding about the rights to privately own and possess firearms. They also host educational and legal action programs to inform the public about the gun control debate and ongoing issues.

News: Bill to Boost Controls on Vicodin

(Long Island, N.Y.) A New York State senator is pushing fellow lawmakers to enforce stricter laws controlling hydrocodone, the main component used to manufacture drugs like Vicodin, an addicting and potent narcotic. A bill was filed yesterday that will position hydrocodone in a more limiting category on the classification from the New York State Controlled Substances Act.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, hydrocodone abuse has increased in recent years. Hydrocodone is the second most frequently encountered opioid pharmaceutical. The danger is in the relative ease of obtaining hydrocodone, which many drug users use to their advantage.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that there were over thirty deaths associated with hydrocodone in 2009. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that over twenty-three-million people in the United States used hydrocodone for nonmedical purposes and recreation. It was also reported that 86,258 emergency department visits were connected with the nonmedical use of hydrocodone.

The bill is expected to intensify the punishments for anyone in possession of hydrocodone without a prescription. This would also mean that patients will no longer be able to obtain refills for their prescription until making a clinical visit to their healthcare provider. Consequently, many followers of the story believe that the bill comes as a response to a series of Long Island pharmacy thefts, in which these types of drugs were demanded by criminals.

Undoubtedly the most notorious pharmacy raid was that of the husband and wife duo responsible for the Medford Massacre. Four victims were executed point blank without resisting the killer’s demands to obtain the drug behind the pharmacy counter. The husband was charged with five counts of first-degree murder while the wife is charged with robbery and having driven the getaway car.

Reports stated that federal laws tend to coincide with state laws in regards to drugs, but each state still has its own legislation when it comes to illegal substances. The current hydrocodone laws are outdated because the drug has been considered to be more potent than what was previously determined.

Originally, it was thought that the drug was a narcotic associated with opium. Sources have stated that hydrocodone, when mixed with non-narcotic painkillers, falls into different legal categories. This makes the drug dangerous, being that there are still less restrictions on these types of hybrid drugs, and legislators are aiming to close the loophole.

News: Power Restoration on Long Island

(Long Island, N.Y.) A week after the storm residents are left with the largest and most expensive attempts at power restoration in Long Island’s history. Homeowners everywhere are either grateful for the return to power or outraged over the lengthy restoration process that has lasted longer than ever before. In the wake of tropical storm Irene the biggest complaints seem to be concerning customer satisfaction.

As of six on Sunday evening the Long Island Power Authority, which has teamed up with National Grid, reported that 99% of Long Islanders have gotten their power back. Nonetheless, the companies are faced with a long list of detailed performance reviews and the possible loss of hefty future contracts. Reports stated that the fate of a $2.3 billion contract is up in the air since mixed feelings have been inspired from the handling of the storm’s aftermath.

Stories about the ongoing loss of power highlighted frustrated residents who claimed to have done everything in order to restore it. One source featured homeowners who hung banners on their front yards that listed the number of days they had gone without power. Reports claimed that local congressmen across Long Island have been outraged by LIPA’s response to the storm.

Sources claimed that the Long Island Power Authority and National Grid have intentions of conducting public hearings to provide a closer look into the matter. Followers of the story have gathered that investigations will be held, similar to those that occurred after the city’s response to the 2010 Post-Christmas Blizzard. New York City’s emergency response to the blizzard was up for review in the way that many are looking at LIPA’s answer to tropical storm Irene.

One of the questions from aggravated residents seems to be whether LIPA was short-staffed or simply didn’t work hard enough to bring the situation to a close. Reports stated that LIPA’s contract with National Grid may expire in the next couple of years. The company was supposed to improve since the response to last year’s March nor’easter pushed for progress.

The nor’easter allegedly cost the Long Island Power Authority $68 million, three-quarters of which was covered by federal disaster relief funds. The damage caused by tropical storm Irene could be over $100 million and LIPA is hoping for similar payments from a federal source. Some feel, however, that the power company did all that they could to restore power and that things could have been worse if the weather continued to be rough after the storm.

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.