NYS Dept. of Agriculture and Markets tracking spotted lantern fly on LI

Long Island Morning Edition

Although thoughtless passengers long have been a staple of the Long Island Railroad, many LIRR regulars believe commuter courtesy is at an all-time low — worsened by advancements in technology and pandemic-related societal changes. Alfonso A. Castillo reports on Newsday.com that with fare evasion and assaults on conductors on the rise in recent years, some riders say the lack of consideration contributes to an increasingly unpleasant commute. It's one in which passengers lug oversized electric bikes onto trains, run charging cables across aisle floors, blast music from Bluetooth speakers and even clip their toenails — all with little regard for their fellow passengers, and often without reprimand from train crew members.

Gerard Bringmann, chairman of the LIRR Commuter Council, the railroad’s state-regulated rider watchdog group, also believes boorishness on the railroad “has gotten a little worse” as of late, with the most despicable behavior coming, not from regular commuters, but from “day trippers,” like some of those who pack the trains bound for the Hamptons on the weekends, hogging up precious seats with their belongings and engaging in the kind of boisterous revelry that some weary 9-to-5 commuters abhor.

Bringmann said, while there's always been "that 3 to 5% that don’t give a damn about anybody else," that segment of riders seems to be growing, due in part to more riders being immersed in their cellphones and oblivious to their surroundings.

"I think the pandemic kind of accelerated that a little bit, too," Bringmann said. "You’ve got people back and they just don't know how to interact with other people. They're just so used to doing everything that suits themselves that the civility has gone way down." What's worse, Bringmann said: "I don't know what you can possibly do about it.”

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In Sag Harbor Village Justice Court on Friday morning, Justin R. Timberlake, 43, of Franklin, Tennessee, was arraigned for the second time on the same misdemeanor DWI charge from June 18. As reported on 27east.com, Timberlake was arraigned virtually, appearing on a pair of video screens, live from Antwerp, Belgium, where the pop music star was scheduled to perform a sold-out show on Saturday.

The reason for the second arraignment was because the police had improperly filled out the complaining document against Timberlake back on June 18. Instead of a superior officer signing off on the complaint, which had been filled out by the arresting officer who had been on the force for three months, an officer with even less experience on the force signed off on the document.

On July 2, the arresting officer filled out an amended criminal complaint against Timberlake, following proper procedure. That new complaint was filed by the district attorney’s office with the court on July 2, well within the 90-day period such errors are allowed to be corrected in.

Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace once again suspended Timberlake’s New York State driving privileges for refusing to take a breath test after his arrest at police headquarters. The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Ashley Cangro, agreed to share all video with the defense.

The next court date, on Friday, August 9, is procedural.

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The North Fork Environmental Council presents a forum on the pros and cons of the emergent technology of Battery Energy Storage Systems tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug 6 at 7 p.m. in the Peconic Landing Auditorium at 1500 Brecknock Road in Greenport.

Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that tomorrow evening’s presentation will address the good, the bad, and the ugly of BESS featuring NFEC experts on the topic.

The event is FREE.

North Fork Environmental Council

631.298.4649

[e-mail]

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It's called the Spotted lanternfly. Keep an eye out for this bug. And if you see it, take pictures, kill it, collect it and report it. This invasive species poses a serious threat to North Fork vineyards and the local economy. That’s the word from the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, which is tracking populations of the spotted lanternfly across the state and in particular on the North Fork of Long Island, because the insect poses a serious threat to vineyards. It’s important to raise public awareness about the threat of this insect and what people who see them should do, Kareem Massoud, winemaker at Paumanok Vineyards in Aquebogue told Denise Civiletti of Riverheadlocal.com this past Friday. Grapevines are among the insects’ favorite plants to feed on and a spotted lanternfly infestation in a vineyard can do serious damage to the vines, including defoliation, dieback, loss of crop yield and even plant death. An infestation is what vineyard owners are most worried about. When there’s an infestation, the vine is just crawling with them, Massoud said. While there have been documented sightings on the North Fork this season, the good news is that there have been no known infestations at local vineyards, he said. Vineyard managers have been setting out traps for the insects and so far, Massoud said, the traps in his vineyards have not captured any and he has not heard of other local vineyards finding or trapping them. The Massoud family owns Paumanok Vineyards and Palmer Vineyards, both based in Aquebogue. “We’re bracing ourselves,” Massoud said. The spotted lanternfly is an invasive species native to China, thought to have arrived in the U.S. in 2012 as egg masses on a shipment of stone, according to Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. It has been in the U.S. for a little more than a decade. The first known infestation was in central Pennsylvania in 2014. The insects have been moving east and have established populations in western Suffolk. They were first detected on the East End in small numbers during the past two years.

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As the developer of Empire Wind sets the stage for construction of a project 12 miles off Long Beach, in Nassau County, Long Island, officials and residents are keeping an eye on the aftermath of an offshore wind turbine blade break off the Massachusetts coast. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the blade mishap, in waters 12 miles from Nantucket Island, has left a debris field on popular beaches and led to a halt of turbine construction work for Vineyard Wind, the nation’s second project in federal waters, which already had begun producing energy.

Turbine manufacturer GE Vernova blamed the problem on a "material deviation" at a Canadian factory that made blade components. The company said it would reinspect all blades in use.

Vineyard Wind, in a series of dispatches, said its workers were "on the beach monitoring for debris to assist in maintaining safe conditions for beachgoers and swimmers. Vineyard Wind is focused on assisting in the recovery of debris caused by GE Vernova’s damaged wind blade." A federal investigation is underway, and officials from Long Beach to Albany say they’re monitoring the event.

It comes as Equinor, the Norway-based energy conglomerate that is developing Empire Wind, has begun work on its project off Long Beach that will bring power to New York City.

Equinor spokesman David Schoetz said the company is monitoring the Vineyard Wind investigation "for any lessons," but is not changing "any elements of our offshore construction" as a result.

New York State, meanwhile, is also monitoring the investigation of the blade break, but has not changed course with new rules or procedures for state-contracted projects. New York has among the most aggressive offshore wind programs in the country, with about 9,000 megawatts expected over the next decade.

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A "failure of leadership" to fortify computer networks and plan for the Sept. 8, 2022, ransomware attack magnified the impact of one of the nation’s longest and most costly cyber intrusions, according to a long-awaited report by a special committee of the Suffolk County Legislature.

Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the bipartisan report, nearly two years in the making, catalogs a long list of technological deficiencies, ignored warnings and missed opportunities to detect and correct myriad problems, including an FBI alert directed to the county while the attack was underway.

The attack shut down Suffolk County's main website for more than five months, shut down county email and phone systems and affected 911, payment and traffic-agency systems.

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The Town of East Hampton is in the process of adopting a Renewable Energy Roadmap to continue its work toward reaching its goal for the past decade of freeing the town from the use of fossil fuels.

In 2014, East Hampton set a goal to power the entire community’s electric consumption with renewable energy by 2020, and to have all of its other energy needs like heating and transportation met with renewable energy by 2030. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the town “didn’t quite make the goals,” East Hampton Energy Sustainability Committee member Lena Tabori told the town board at a July 18 hearing on the Renewable Energy Roadmap, but “it drove us to realize we needed a roadmap from outside the community that took a look at what the needs of the community were. The goal was to make the 2030 goals more realistic and more possible.”

The town declared a Climate Emergency in 2021, a resolution declaring that it would make all its decisions through the lens of the impact on the climate, update its Climate Action Plan, first drafted in 2015, and educate and engage the community in the effort.

The Renewable Energy Roadmap, commissioned by the Town of East Hampton in 2022, was completed by GDS Associates, Inc. Engineers & Consultants in 2023.

It included an assessment of the town’s current greenhouse gas emissions and the best ways forward for reducing those energy needs and transitioning them to renewable sources.

“I have a terrible fear that, with the growing consequences of climate change, we’re going to spend more of our capital adapting and overcoming the consequences rather than mitigating to prevent future consequences,” said Ms. Tabori. “This particular roadmap addresses that very specifically. Change is not convenient, but we are a coastal community and are extremely susceptible to the changes climate change is going to bring us.”

A second public hearing on East Hampton Town's Renewable Energy Roadmap is expected shortly.