On April 20, 1979, a 13-year-old Smithtown boy named John Pius was found dead in a patch of woods behind an elementary school. His death had been remarkably cruel: He had been beaten, and stones the size of marbles had been shoved down his throat. He choked to death.
Among the Suffolk County Homicide Squad detectives whose work resulted in the arrests and convictions of four teenaged neighbors of the dead boy was Anthony Palumbo. (more…)
The leading political contest in Suffolk in 2019 will be the race for county executive, the top post in Suffolk County government. READ
At our house, Santa leaves fruit and nuts in the Christmas stockings.
We understand it’s because he has traveled all over the world, to places where oranges and coconuts and pecans and pomegranates grow, far away from our snowy world. (more…)
As I scrolled through my Twitter feed on a recent Tuesday night, my gambler instincts shot up. The New York Knicks, riding a five-game losing streak, were switching their starting lineup to what I assumed would be an even worse defensive team. I checked the point spread and saw the Knicks as seven-point underdogs.
Easy money, I thought. READ
“I am the child of refugees. Had my father and his parents not been allowed here, I would not exist.” — Billy Joel
The passenger ship St. Louis left the port of Hamburg, Germany, May 13, 1939, with 937 Jewish passengers aboard, including hundreds of children. Its destination was Havana, Cuba, which had given the passengers transit visas and landing certificates to disembark once they arrived. READ
We got a new long-term parking service at JFK — our old one went out of business — and hired a robot to give us directions for a 10 p.m. flight. In her stern, almost-pleasant voice, she gave us sensible directions until she slipped her moorings and went to Route #2, called “All the Way ’Round the Mulberry Bush.” READ
This is in response to the Guest Spot that appeared in the Oct. 11 edition (“Silence in Congress is not leadership we need,” Oct. 11). If you’re expecting a rebuttal of the “facts” go to the sports section now: there is no way anyone could have a discussion of any substance after reading the first two paragraphs of that childish screed. READ
As we approach Thanksgiving and the winter holidays, it seems like an opportune time to revisit FDR’s “Four Freedoms.” For those who have forgotten, or are unfamiliar with the term, it comes from a State of the Union address President Roosevelt made in 1941, 11 months before Pearl Harbor. It dealt with changing our non-intervention policy and addressed the threat to democracies around the world. It is as applicable today as it was then. READ