Here are some of today’s top stories across the North Fork. To stay on top of local news, follow the Riverhead News-Review on Facebook.
Featured Story
LI Cares started offering free breakfast for kids under age 18 through the end of August. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)
A 2010 study by food bank L.I. Cares showed that 39 percent of the 283,700 Long Islanders who receive emergency food each year are children under 18 years of age.
So when school goes out for the summer — leaving many kids who receive free and reduced lunches at school without a source of nutrition — hunger assistance organizations such as L.I. Cares and Long Island Harvest find themselves trying to fill in the gaps for families.
With that in mind, L.I. Cares launched a new site for anyone under age 18 in need of a morning meal, opening an open site location in Stotzky Park from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. every weekday.
“I chose it because I live in Riverhead, and to my knowledge it’s a popular park,” Child Nutrition Program Specialist Kerry Tooker explained.
An “open site” food location means that any child 18 and under can receive food there, no prior enrollment necessary.
The Summer Food Service Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and works with food banks to provide free and nutritious meals for children in low-income areas.
In Riverhead School District, 2,145 students out of the total student population of 5,100 qualify for free lunch and 300 qualify for reduced lunch, according to the District’s Chief Information Officer Chris Amato.
Though the meal changes daily, it always includes some type of fruit, a grain like a bagel, muffin or cereal bar, and a choice of milk or chocolate milk. The program started on July 7, and is offered through Aug. 29
Turnout was a little sporadic to start, Ms. Tooker said, varying anywhere from 19 kids to only one, one day.
Though the attendance numbers have picked up in the last week, staying well in the teens every day, Ms. Tooker said that public transportation to the park would be helpful. Currently, no buses run directly to Stotzky.
On Friday afternoons only, free lunch is given out from 12 to 1 p.m. at Ammann Riverfront Park in Riverhead. It is an open feeding site as well, coordinated by L.I. Cares in partnership with Lighthouse Mission of Patchogue.
For the last two years Riverhead Public Library was an open site for the Summer Food Service Program, working with hunger-relief organization Island Harvest, but this year they will not be. During the first year of the program they served 1,068 meals over 39 days.
“When I found out that Stotzky Park was going to be a location for L.I. Cares and that Island Harvest was going to have a site at Flanders Community Center, I thought it would just be duplicating services to have it at the library too,” said head of children’s services Laurie Harrison, who worked with Island Harvest the past two years.
“With resources so scarce, I thought, why drain each others’ resources? But we’ve offered to be a site again next year, so that’s in the works.”
A six-mile stretch of Main Road could be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The corridor includes Aquebogue’s Old Steeple Church, built in 1862 and designed by a farmer with no architectural experience, as well as Aquebogue Cemetery, which dates back to 1755 and contains the graves of numerous Revolutionary War soldiers. (Credit: Andrew Lepre)
It’s a stretch of road where Benjamin Franklin placed mile markers and early 20th-century car racers ran the road ragged, hitting speeds up to 70 miles per hour at a time when horses were the dominant mode of travel.
Goldberg’s Bagels is expected to open next week on E. Main Street. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)
About three months after it was first expected to open on E. Main Street, Goldberg’s Famous Bagels should open its doors next week, the franchise’s owner said.
Regina Calcaterra of New Suffolk opening her State Senate campaign in the summer of 2009. (Credit: Tim Kelly, file)
In mid-September, the three co-chairs of a high-powered commission aimed at rooting out corruption in state politics arranged for a meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who set up the commission last summer. In the governor’s mid-town office, William Fitzpatrick, a district attorney from Syracuse, raised concerns he felt were hampering the commission’s effort, the New York Times reported today .
At the center of those concerns were alleged roadblocks planted by Regina Calcaterra, a New Suffolk attorney who had been appointed the commission’s executive director. The commissioners threatened to quit, alleging that Ms. Calcaterra was running interference on investigations that pointed back to the governor’s office.
Lawrence Schwartz, the secretary to the governor, responded by saying of Ms. Calcaterra: “She is not going anywhere.”
These bombshell revelations were detailed by a three-month New York Times investigation published today. (more…)
Shoreham-Wading River sophomore Alex Kuhnle recently met soccer star Alex Morgan. (Credit: Bill Landon)
In her travels across the country playing soccer, Alex Kuhnle had met big-time stars before. Mostly, though, the encounters were brief and in a group.
As a freshman at Shoreham-Wading River last year, Kuhnle made a big impact on varsity as a striker. A quick, skilled player, Kuhnle has already generated interest from Division I schools like UCLA and the University of Miami, Shoreham coach Adrian Gilmore said. (more…)
Employee Barbara Zimnoski in the new Long Island Cauliflower showroom, which has a large selection of Dramm professional watering tools, sprinklers and hoses. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)
When it was founded in 1901, the Long Island Cauliflower Association existed solely to market and sell cauliflower throughout the region.
But as times changed, so did LICA, which eventually expanded its agriculture business to serve different types of farmers. (more…)
Kimogener Point on the Bay off New Suffolk Avenue. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
The only Long Islander running statewide on a major party ticket this year, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a Democrat, was on the East End last week.
It was an unusual political happening since he was introduced by the top Republican officeholder in Suffolk County government, Joseph Sawicki, and because of the different constituencies involved in the event. (more…)
