Hospitals on Long Island and in the region are gearing up for the potential arrival of immigration officers now that these sites are no longer largely off-limits to enforcement actions. Lisa L. Colangelo reports in NEWSDAY that the Greater New York Hospital Association recently sent its members, which total close to 280 facilities, guidance to help them prepare for the change. It includes questions and answers about warrants and subpoenas, a suggested memo for the public and advice on dealing with assertive officers. "Like all law enforcement officers, ICE agents take their work seriously and are trained to obtain information," one section reads. "They may use persuasion and even intimidation at times. When dealing with any law enforcement agent, it is important to be professional and calm."

The Greater New York Hospital Association suggests its members designate a hospital liaison, preferably in-house counsel, to take the lead when immigration officers show up at the facility. It notes that, in general, only a warrant signed by a judge requires hospitals to allow ICE agents to enter nonpublic areas. If an ICE agent says a patient needs to be arrested to avoid imminent harm or risk, "the hospital may decide to cooperate with ICE. But remember, without a judicial warrant, cooperation is not required."

Last week, President Donald Trump discontinued a policy enacted under President Barack Obama that labeled hospitals, schools, houses of worship and other sites as sensitive locations. Immigration enforcement agents were discouraged from making raids at those sites except in certain circumstances.

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The Riverhead Police Department will not get involved in immigration enforcement and related issues, which are “purely federal functions and are administered by federal agencies.” Riverhead Town Supervisor and Police Commissioner Tim Hubbard said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. “It is and has been the policy of the Riverhead Police Department that police personnel will not stop, question and/or interrogate or investigate, or arrest persons based solely on suspected immigration or citizenship status and will not detain any individual for suspected civil violations, federal immigration laws or a related civil warrant,” Hubbard said in the statement. “Such investigations or actions are federal functions and will be pursued by relevant federal agencies. The Riverhead Police Department may field requests for local agency assistance in connection with federal immigration operations within the town, the statement said. The police department enforces state and local laws and is tasked with maintaining public safety, said Hubbard. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Hubbard is a retired Riverhead Police detective who had a 32-year career with the town police force. He was elected to a Riverhead Town council position in 2015 and in 2023 was elected town supervisor. As town supervisor he also serves as police commissioner.

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The East Hampton Library’s Digital Long Island Collection has received and scanned more than 500 documents from Preservation Long Island’s manuscript collection, which covers three centuries of Long Island history. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that with more than 3,000 objects and 185 cubic feet of archival materials, Preservation Long Island, founded in 1948, has curated one of New York State’s most significant regional collections of historical artifacts. Its collaboration with the East Hampton Library provides public access to a selection of documents from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, offering insight into Long Island’s social, cultural, political and economic histories. Digital Long Island is an online resource for exploration of Long Island’s history. It includes searchable scans of deeds, maps, letters, oral histories, legal documents, photographs and other materials such as whaling ship logs, poems, recipes and song lyrics. The documents are available online through the DigitalLongIsland.org portal.

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Three school districts on Long Island were identified in a report issued Friday by NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli for the 2023-24 school year as facing varying degrees of fiscal stress. John Hildebrand reports in NEWSDAY that a total of 22 districts statewide were singled out. One of two systems in the state facing "significant" stress — the highest level of fiscal trouble — is tiny New Suffolk on the east end's North Fork. Residents there voted in March to shut down instruction at their local school and send students to a neighboring district. The stress level designations were for the school year ending June 30, 2024. The 22 districts in New York State identified were an increase from 16 systems the prior year. New Suffolk's superintendent, Joseph Vasile-Cozzo, did not dispute the comptroller's rating of his district. But he told Newsday that the district was satisfied with its new arrangement, in which all resident children of school age are sent to classes in the nearby Southold system. New Suffolk had previously operated its own school for prekindergarten through sixth grade, with higher grades attending classes in Southold. The district decided to stop offering its own classes on the grounds that it did not have enough students to maintain a full program. The district retained its own administration to allow it to negotiate tuition rates. In addition, New Suffolk continues to set its own tax rate, which is low compared to rates in districts further west. "We're doing great," Vasile-Cozzo told Newsday. "Southold has been terrific."

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The Hampton Bays Civic Association’s Monthly Meeting is scheduled for this evening in the Hampton Bays Senior Center, 25 Ponquogue Avenue.

Doors open at 6:30pm for refreshments and the meeting starts at 7 o’clock tonight. Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore will provide an update and take residents’ questions on various issues impacting Hampton Bays.

These issues include:

1) Westwood litigation and Southampton Town’s goal in taking the Shinnecock Nation to court.

2) The next steps with downtown development.

3) The town’s housing authority’s purchase of the Easterner Motel.

4) The towns plans for the various properties in the Hampton Bays hamlet.

5) The status of the proposed sewage treatment plant for the Hampton Bays community.

6) The proposed BESS zoning guidelines.

7) Park development on the former Bel-Aire Cove property.

8) What are the Supervisor’s plans for infrastructure improvements within our Hampton Bays hamlet in the coming year?

Those issues will be addressed during Hampton Bays Civic Association's meeting with Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore this evening at the Hampton Bays Senior Center, 25 Ponquogue Avenue. Doors open and refreshments are served at 6:30 p.m., followed by the meeting at 7 p.m

631.728.2289

View Organizer Website

info@hbcivic.org

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After a flurry of federal directives last week targeting un-documented immigrants living in the United States, Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard issued a statement Friday affirming Town Police’s commitment to “provide professional services to the community and maintain equal treatment and equal enforcement of the law to the community.” Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that Supervisor Hubbard is a retired Riverhead Police Department Detective. He said those town police polices “are consistent with federal and state laws and it is not the Town’s intention to alter such policies in response to recent Federal executive actions.” Hubbard’s statement came as he extended a town emergency executive order, enacted by his predecessor, Supervisor Yvette Aguiar in May of 2023, prohibiting hotels, inns and other transient lodging in the town from accepting “persons for long-term, non-transient housing inconsistent with approved and/or permitted uses.” In Mr. Hubbard’s extension of the State of Emergency, signed this past Friday, he said the “circumstances and dangers upon which my predecessor’s declaration was predicated… have not abated and I find that such conditions do, or threaten to, imperil the health, safety and general welfare of the residents and visitors to the Town of Riverhead.”

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Better compensation for volunteer firefighters injured in the line of duty and the phasing out of equipment made with forever chemicals known as PFAS were among the legislative priorities laid out by the Firefighters Association of the State of New York Saturday at its 2025 outreach meeting. Joseph Ostapiuk reports in NEWSDAY that the organization, which represents volunteer firefighters statewide, held the session at the Albertson Fire Department headquarters to bring its agenda before legislators preparing to engage in negotiations with Gov. Kathy Hochul ahead of the April 1 budget deadline. The association’s focus, officials said, is centered on bringing in new volunteer firefighters and keeping them in the service.

“The biggest thing is recruitment. We got to get them in the department, and then the retention will follow,” said Jerry Presta, an East Norwich firefighter and chairman of the Nassau County Junior Firefighters Association. “All of these initiatives — if you put them all together, it helps.”

A bill that calls for volunteer firefighters to be paid the same amount of workers' compensation as paid employees injured on the job is one of the association’s highest priorities.

Some of the association's 2025 legislative goals mirror last year’s, including raising the income tax credit for volunteer firefighters from $200 to $800, creating a sales tax exemption for products such as smoke detectors and allowing members to receive both an income tax credit and a local...