On Long Island, the number of households receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits…known as SNAP…has grown since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Experts say the spike stems from the region's cost-of-living crisis that has made housing unaffordable and can make food an afterthought. More affluent households seeking food assistance might not meet the lower-income federal eligibility requirements for benefits, and recent changes to SNAP work requirements means thousands of Long Islanders could soon lose access to the program.

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith reports in NEWSDAY that SNAP, the nutritional support program formerly known as food stamps, has long served as a financial pulse of sorts that measures economic hard times. Experts say more households are turning to the program. Yet, they are quick to point out that the program is not a panacea for food insecurity in the region.

In 2020, on average each month, 59,020 households in Suffolk County used the benefit. By 2025, Suffolk County had a monthly average of 78,923 households using the program, representing a roughly 34% increase, according to state data.

SNAP benefits often go to the elderly and children on Long Island. In September, roughly 20% were in that age group in Suffolk, according to data from the state. Children represented about 31% of beneficiaries in Suffolk.

For households on SNAP in Suffolk, the median income was $70,330, with a margin of error of about $7,800, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey one-year estimates.

Vanessa Baird-Streeter, president and CEO of the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island, which is tasked with helping people sign up for SNAP, said the hunger assistance program today amounts to a subsidy people increasingly depend on — albeit one that many earn too much to tap.

A few decades ago, she said, a middle-class family looking to move to Long Island to try and live the suburban dream could afford rent and food costs, likely never thinking they would need financial support.

"And so those people who may have never thought about a safety net program or a public benefit program before, they are now being faced with having to take advantage of these programs in order to ensure that their family just has…foundational stability," Baird-Streeter told NEWSDAY.

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Preservation of a 9.6-acre property adjacent to a town-owned marina and beach in South Jamesport was endorsed by the Riverhead Town Board yesterday.

Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the board unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday afternoon supporting Suffolk County’s proposed preservation of the Peconic Farms parcel on Peconic Bay Boulevard. The resolution contained a qualifier held out by board members as essential to their assent: “as Open Space without improvement or development.”

The vote followed days of public debate and mounting pressure from residents over the future of the property at 1161 Peconic Bay Blvd…which Suffolk County is considering acquiring through its Drinking Water Protection Program. Board members emphasized yesterday’s resolution does not finalize any agreement with Suffolk County but signals willingness to continue discussions over potential management terms.

As a condition of the acquisition, the county is asking the Town of Riverhead to partner in the project by assuming management responsibility for the site, including “passive recreation uses” at the property, such as a walking trail and a gravel parking area. That condition triggered opposition from town officials, who said they feared such uses, if allowed, would lead to use of the site by out-of-town residents to gain beach access for fishing, swimming and other activities, with negative impacts on the character of the surrounding residential community.

As he introduced the resolution, Riverhead Town Councilman Ken Rothwell acknowledged the board had received “an overabundance of emails and phone calls” about the proposal.

“We very much want to protect [the property] from development,” Rothwell said.

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ReWild next teams up with Group for the East End for a talk on “The Impact of Lawns” on Thursday, May 7…that’s tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. at Downs Farm Preserve in Cutchogue.

A talk on lawns by gardener Corn Schmid will address why these grasses have become ingrained into our collective consciousness, culture, and even laws. Mr. Schmid will discuss the myths, facts, functions, and impact of one of America’s largest crops, as well as alternatives specific to our region.

Corn Schmid’s expertise in plant ecology comes from years of experience working in the nursery industry and as a gardener in New York City and on the East End.

Registration is required as space is limited.

For more information, contact Group director of outreach Taralynn Reynolds at taralynn@thegroup.org.

That’s “The Impact of Lawns” at Downs Farm Preserve in Cutchogue tomorrow from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm.

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Neighbors of East Hampton High School are opposed to the district’s $64 million bond proposition due to the lights that will be placed on the turf field neighboring their homes. Desirée Keegan reports on 27east.com that Kate Gibbons, who said she was speaking on behalf of herself and her father, Ed Cullum, who could not attend the meeting, expressed disappointment over the district’s decision to include the lights in the bond, saying they will not only disrupt her and her family’s quality of life, but could lower property values and force the family to sell their home.

“Disappointment doesn’t capture my true feelings,” she said during yesterday’s Board of Education meeting. “Your decision to put stadium lights on the existing turf field that runs along our family property is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching.”

Five generations of Cullums, she explained, have lived on her East Hampton property over the last 100 years, and have been neighbors to the high school since it was built in 1970. Gibbons said she began a seven-year process in 2002 to build her house on her family’s land.

“This was the way I could remain in this community that I grew up in and was teaching in,” she said, adding that she’s been an educator at John M. Marshall Elementary School for 32 years.

“To say that the lights will not impact us is just not true,” she said. “The lights will impact us. And it‘s not only the lights on the field that are a concern for us, it’s all the other things that come along with {night-time} events.”

Ms. Gibbons pleaded with the board through tears to reconsider, stating she…is trying to understand the need for stadium lights — questioning why the baseball and softball fields and tennis courts do not also need lights.

According to Gibbons, Superintendent of Schools Adam Fine said during a recent meeting between him and her family that there would not be enough room for bleachers around another centrally-located turf field away from EHHS neighbors.

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The price of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed 31 cents in the past week, spiking to an average of $4.48 per gallon yesterday, according to AAA, hitting the wallets of drivers after rising 50% since the war with Iran began.

As reported by The Associated Press the main reason drivers are paying more at the pump is because of the global energy crisis caused by the Iran war. The price of crude oil, which is the main ingredient in gasoline, has been climbing for most of the past two months because the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil normally passes, has effectively been shut, and oil tankers have been stranded there unable to deliver crude.

Many drivers were hopeful in mid-April, amid signs that the conflict could be winding down, and gasoline prices fell daily for almost two weeks.

“After the announcement of the initial ceasefire, there was kind of optimism that this really could be the beginning of the end of the conflict,” said Rob Smith, director of global fuel retail at S&P Global Energy. “And so crude prices came down correspondingly, gasoline spot prices followed, and so on and ... the retailers lowered prices as well.”

But as the war continued, gasoline prices reversed course and began increasing again.

“There’s a fundamental shortfall that will exist globally or fundamental struggle to meet that demand that will drive up price,” Smith said. “No matter what a government says or what any market person thinks, there is a true kind of upward pressure that’s being exerted on prices every day the Strait of Hormuz is constrained. And it is still severely constrained.”

The longer the flow of oil is constrained through the Strait of Hormuz, the higher prices will go, and the longer it will take to get back to normal, Smith said.

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Twelve Long Island hospitals scored an A grade for patient safety among the 2,800 healthcare centers reviewed nationwide, according to a new report released today.

Celia Young reports in NEWSDAY that the nonprofit watchdog organization, The Leapfrog Group, rated 23 Long Island hospitals based on how well they protected patients from accidents, infections and injuries. Six hospitals scored B. Three hospitals scored C, Nassau University Medical Center received a D, and one was not assigned a grade, according to Leapfrog.

The ratings can help Long Islanders determine where to get care, said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president for health initiatives at the Manhattan-based Community Service Society of New York.

"The No. 1 thing you want when you're looking at a hospital is to make sure that the quality of care, the standard of care [and] t...