US Navy to test private water wells near former Grumman site

Long Island Morning Edition

Long Island immigration advocates say they are concerned about a flurry of executive orders President Donald Trump was signing last night, including one that seeks to end birthright citizenship — a tenet enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. They say the orders will send desperate families into hiding or force others who have made a law-abiding life for themselves in the U.S. to return to home countries wracked by poverty or violence. Robert Brodsky and Bart Jones report in NEWSDAY that hours after taking the Oath of Office as the nation's 47th president, Trump was in the White House signing 10 executive orders remaking the country's immigration policy. More than 210,000 migrants arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022.

Minerva Perez, executive director of (Organización Latino Americana) OLA of Eastern Long Island, a Latino-focused advocacy organization working in the five East End towns, said Trump's orders unfairly punish Hispanic families that represent the best of their communities.

"Our Latino children are valedictorians, leaders within school communities, entrepreneurs, and allies for other students," Perez said. "We are a safe and prosperous community because of the very work ethic passed on to first generation child citizens by their immigrant parents.

This practice has been the very backbone of our country. If this administration is allowed to rip the literal backbone from our country, the inevitable will be the full collapse of the body itself," she said.

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Two Long Island communities are embracing their schools’ Native American-themed team names and history despite a NYS mandate – and residents say it’s ridiculous that holding onto tradition may mean losing state aid. Alex Mitchell reports in THE NY POST that the Massapequa Chiefs and Wantagh Warriors have no plans to change their names or imagery by a government-mandated June deadline as locals in the Nassau County hamlets are defiantly wearing team gear and refusing to bow to what they call a tone-deaf attempt at “cancel culture.”

“It’s just about erasing history… that’s the problem with cancel culture,” Matt Susco, president of the Wantagh Museum and Wantagh Preservation Society, told The NY Post. “I can’t believe that it’s actually coming into our hometown and going into the classrooms. How do you explain this to an 8- or 9-year-old?”

The two Native American-named high schools, which are fighting the forthcoming ban in court, are among 13 school districts being forced to change their traditional names after funding threats from the New York State Board of Regents in April 2023.

Newsday has reported that in Suffolk County, the Wyandanch and Connetquot school districts — also named in honor of their Native American roots — have lawsuits of their own to keep their respective titles of the Warriors and Thunderbirds, abbreviated to “T-Birds.

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The Town of Southampton Youth Bureau will be holding open auditions for the 2025 Hamptons Got Talent Competition this coming Friday January 24th at the Southampton Cultural Center, 25 Pond Lane, in Southampton Village AND on Friday, January 31, in the Hampton Bays Community Center, 25 Ponquogue Avenue in Hampton Bays. Auditions are scheduled for 4:30pm to 6:30 p.m. on both Fridays.

Students in grades five through 12, who reside and/or attend school in Southampton Town, are eligible to enter. Finalists will have the opportunity to work with performance coaches and mentors at a series of rehearsals before they perform in the Hamptons Got Talent Competition, which will be held on Saturday, March 29, in the auditorium at Hampton Bays High School, 88 East Argonne Road.

Singers, dancers, bands, poets, magicians, comedians, and other artistic acts are encouraged to audition. If a contestant chooses to sing at an audition, the contestant must be prepared to bring music without vocals.

For further info click here.

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Facing renewed calls for clean water, the U.S. Navy has agreed to a new round of testing private drinking wells in the shadow of a former Grumman plant in Calverton. The Navy is seeking permission from property owners in its sampling area to test drinking wells for poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a class of manmade “forever chemicals” that have been linked to cancers, developmental disorders and other health impacts. Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that the Navy is holding an open house at the Residence Inn Long Island East End in Riverhead on Wednesday evening…that’s tomorrow from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for residents to get more information and schedule water testing appointments. The Navy will also hold a Restoration Advisory Board meeting this Thursday, Jan. 23 from 6:15 p.m. to 8 p.m., also at the Residence Inn in Riverhead. The new tests expand previous efforts to remediate contamination stemming from the 6,000-acre former Grumman site. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new regulations for PFAS in drinking water supplies, setting maximum levels at 4 parts per trillion.

But in October, Navy officials announced it would adhere to a Department of Defense standard of 12 parts per trillion in order to prioritize cleanup in the most contaminated areas, prompting outcry from the community and calls for funding public water connections.

A Navy map shows expanded testing boundaries south and east of the former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant where Grumman tested fighter jets from the 1950s until it closed in 1996. Officials believe the contamination stems from firefighting foams used at the site.

The sampling area is “one mile in the direction that groundwater flows away” from PFAS detection sites, according to the Navy.

Property owners are eligible if they live within the boundary and draw water from a private well.

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Clearing for East Hampton Town’s new senior center, to be called the Center for Modern Aging and Human Services, began last week at the future site of the 22,000-square-foot building, a 7-acre site at 403 Abraham’s Path in Amagansett. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the East Hampton Town Board accepted a $215,000 bid for tree clearing from Green Velvet Landscaping of Bay Shore last month. The landscaper, along with a surveyor, was onsite on January 13, Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said and a silt fence, construction fence and tree protection fencing were being installed. The new center is to replace the existing senior citizens center on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, a building that is more than 100 years old. Last month, the East Hampton Town Board, over one “no” vote and one recusal, determined that the center was exempt from zoning and land-use regulations. “It is estimated that the over-65 population in East Hampton will be double the size of the school age population within 15 years,” according to the resolution to exempt the center from zoning and land-use regulations. “This population will need … a wide range of social programs and services. Adequate and appropriate space is needed.”

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul today will release her state budget proposal to the State Legislature that will explain how she intends to pay for her proposed middle-class tax breaks as part of her pledge to make New York "more affordable." Yancey Roy and Michael Gormley report in NEWSDAY that one week ago Hochul unveiled her legislative proposals for the 2025 session. They include a $1 billion middle-class tax cut and $3 billion in tax rebate checks worth up to $500 per family, free community-college tuition for high-demand jobs such as nursing and technology, a larger child tax credit, and free meals for all public-school students. Hochul said her proposals would save a typical family nearly $5,000 this year. The state budget Hochul will present is expected to total more than $235 billion. The presentation is scheduled for 1 o’clock this afternoon.

The governor also called for measures to combat climate change, including taking steps that could lead to its first expansion of nuclear power in New York state in decades. She further called for more uniformed police on subway platforms, including officers on night trains, after some high-profile, violent attacks in December.

Moreover, Hochul is considering updating the nearly two-decade-old method of allocating school aid, which may set up a major political battle with legislators regularly seeking to maximize aid to schools in their legislative districts.

The complex state funding formula, known as Foundation Aid, was enacted in the 2007-08 school year. It is the single largest source of financial support for public schools in the state, sending billions of dollars to Nassau and Suffolk counties alone.