Free Republic

The story of a Long Island Catholic ousted from his parish jobs for marrying his male partner generated headlines, outrage and an 18,000-signature petition to Bishop William Murphy to have Nicholas Coppola reinstated. But now the tale has an odd coda: Murphy, who heads the Diocese of Rockville Centre, mailed the petitions back to Coppola with a one-line cover letter on the bishop’s stationery that reads: “FROM YOUR FAITHFUL ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP.” No signature, nothing else. What’s more, instead of sending the package to Faithful America, one of the liberal advocacy groups that has taken up Coppola’s cause, Murphy’s office...

A man from Long Island, New York, is facing up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine after a neighbor complained to police he was laughing too loudly. Police issued Robert Schiavelli, 41, two tickets for disturbing the peace for laughing out the window of his home in Rockville Centre on Long Island at about 6 pm on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13, his lawyer said. …

Northrop Grumman Corp. said Monday that it will move 850 jobs off Long Island by next year, leaving just 550 workers out of a workforce that exceeded 25,000 in the 1980s. The jobs are going to Florida and California in the latest cost-saving consolidation of functions by the aerospace company. It's acting in the face of steadily declining Pentagon budgets, including those in the current automatic spending cuts known as the sequestration. An unknown number of the 850 workers will be offered transfers, company spokesman Randy Belote said. The consolidation is expected to be completed sometime next year.

SPECIAL REPORT: Slam-Dunking Animal RightsPosted On July 28, 2003It's no secret that Leslie and Nanci Alexander, co-owners of the NBA's Houston Rockets franchise, are among the global animal-rights movement's biggest financial backers. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals even acknowledged the couple in 1998 for making "one of the most generous gifts we have ever received." Nanci Alexander personally donated over $225,000 toward the passage of a constitutional amendment that gave legal protection to pigs in Florida. But recently released tax records indicate that the Alexanders have also funded the operations of "Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty" (SHAC), one of...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, once considered a rising star Democrat, is facing a storm of criticism over the dismal performance of the state-owned electrical utility, Long Island Power Authority, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Even today, over ten thousand Long Islanders remain without power. The danger signs were obvious well before Sandy hit. The New York Post wrote: ***** A state-authorized independent analysis undertaken after Hurricane Irene last year found LIPA to be an outdated, barely competent organization. The agency had ignored a 2006 recommendation that it update its management system, which runs on an obsolete 25-year-old computer...

New federal demands for healthier school lunches are causing a summer scramble for Long Island school districts to meet the new demands. The real impact will likely be felt during the first weeks of school in September, when many kids begin to notice smaller portions of meat and increased portions of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Across the region, and the nation, districts are struggling with both the need to match new guidelines and to communicate the changes to parents and students. Districts are having to respond to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, championed by President Obama and First Lady...

A yacht full of fireworks watchers capsized off New York's Long Island on the Fourth of July, killing three people and sending 24 others into the Long Island Sound, where many were rescued by fellow boaters, police said Thursday. The three dead were recovered from the water near Oyster Bay after a long overnight search, said Nassau County Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lack. "Tragically three people were killed in this boating accident," he told reporters. He would not release the ages of the victims. Several media outlets reported that children were onboard. Preliminary causes for the accident "could be a combination...

An MTA cop was clinging to life Wednesday after a violent confrontation with a man outside a Long Island Railroad station in Queens, sources said.

The small town of East Hampton has gained a reputation as the playground for New York’s well-heeled elite, a place to spend the idle summer months in their million-dollar homes. But some of its wealthy residents are upset at an influx of less well-heeled workers who they say are lowering the quality of life and diminishing the appearance of the quaint Long Island town. A campaign group is focusing on the Springs area of East Hampton, dubbing itself 'Unoccupy Springs' and calling for an end to multiple families of low-wage workers living under one roof.

When Jihad Came to America by Andrew C. McCarthy On May 2 and 3, 1990, the U.S. embassy in Cairo alerted its counterpart in Khartoum that Egypt’s “leading radical,” Omar Abdel Rahman, was on his way to Sudan. Warning that his ultimate plan might be to seek exile in the United States, the Cairo embassy asked its colleagues to pass along any information they might learn about his activities on Sudanese soil. What did U.S. officials already know about Abdel Rahman in 1990? As the 9/11 Commission would later determine, they knew that he had been arrested repeatedly in Egypt...

A mom in California was arrested after police say she was caught on tape egging her daughter on in a fight against a classmate. According to police, Darlene Hart, 42, took her middle school daughter to Antelope Park to fight another middle school student, Espie Duran, CBS Sacramento reported. In a video of the horrifying incident, she can be heard cheering her on. “That’s right, go get her,” Hart is heard saying as her daughter claws at her classmate. “That’s right. That’s right.” The fight was broken up after about 90 seconds by a family friend, according to the report...

My boss's 2 sons want to create a casting video for the reality show Amazing Race. They are both good boys, very athletic. Key is, they want to shoot on 4/22 and have the video ready and sent for 4/23(they both work). If you are in the NY area, and willing to come to Long Island to shoot the video, edit and have it ready in 1 day for casting, this may be a side job for you. They can pay $400. The youngest asked me if I knew anyone and I told him I would post it on my...

Cops are hunting this brute who beat down and abducted a woman outside the Long Island Rail Road Ronkonkoma station Sunday morning, in a sickening assault that was caught on video. The man slugged the woman just after she got off the train at 7:40 a.m., knocking her down. Later, the suspect confronts the woman in the station’s taxi office, drags her outside and strikes her again.

No running in the halls -- and no Tebowing either. That's what one Long Island administration said Wednesday when it suspended a group of high school athletes for replicating Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow's popular pose in the hallway at school. Jordan Fulcoly, Wayne Drexel and brothers Tyler and Connor Carroll of Riverhead High School were all handed a one-day suspension Wednesday, after three days of taking a knee with their foreheads resting on their fists, the same ...

The assumption? Young adults are moving away from the region in large numbers due to the high cost of living, particularly housing prices. So, the story goes, the suburban pattern must be broken, and small, high density housing units must replace detached, single-family homes as the dominant urban form if young adults are to be retained.

He did it for her. Suspected pill addict David Laffer has been charged with slaughtering four people in a Long Island pharmacy to score a bag full of painkillers for his nagging, drug-addled wife, who was his getaway driver after the Father's Day massacre, police and witnesses said yesterday. "He was doing it because he lost his job and I was sick," his wife, Melinda Laffer, confessed to reporters as she was walked out of Suffolk County police headquarters in Yaphank early today. When asked what she would tell the families of the victims, she said, "I'm sorry that he...

The massacre happened at about 10:20 a.m. inside a family-owned pharmacy in a small cluster of medical offices in Medford, a middle-class hamlet on Long Island about 60 miles east of New York City.Police rushed to the scene after getting a 911 call from someone in the pharmacy's parking lot. When they arrived, they found two employees and two customers dead, said Suffolk County Police Department's Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone. No one inside the shop survived.Suffolk County Police identified the dead employees as Raymond Ferguson, 45, of Centereach, and Jennifer Mejia, 17, of East Patchogue. Bryon Sheffield, 71, of...

A whale that appeared to be dead washed ashore on Atlantic Beach, Long Island Wednesday. [snip] Typically, when dead mammals wash onto beaches, marine experts are brought in to assess the animal.

Two NYPD cops are being eyed in the Long Island serial slayings after investigators learned they got into trouble for hiring prostitutes while working for the department, according to sources familiar with the probe. One cop was forced out of the job in the 1990s when his supervisors learned he spent time pursuing hookers and paying street walkers and down-and-out women for sex while he was supposed to be on patrol. An internal investigation led to his resigning under pressure, one source said. The other officer still works for the NYPD but was stripped of his gun and badge years...

Nine people arrested in total following an undercover investigation into the sale of assault weapons at gun shops throughout Nassau County. The owner of a New Hyde Park business and his son were among nine people arrested following an undercover investigation into the sale of assault weapons at gun shops throughout the county, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Thursday.Bellmore residents Martin Tretola, 55, owner of T&T Gunnery in Seaford and T&T Tactical in New Hyde Park and his son Thomas Tretola, 24, who is also one of his father's employees, were both arrested as a result of the...

One of the latest four sets of remains found on a Long Island beach linked to the Craigslist Ripper belongs to a baby or child - and not a grown woman, it was revealed today. The remains were found last week among four sets of bodies several miles away from where the bodies of four prostitutes were located in December. But the victim may not be related to the other New York murders as a young person’s body ‘would not fit a serial killer’s pattern’, according to law enforcement sources.

Residents of Smithtown were proud patriots during the Revolutionary War. During the Revolutionary War, from 1776 to 1783, Smithtown was under British occupation. Residents suffered poverty, destruction and the loss of property and loved ones at the hands of British soldiers and loyalists. Smithtown historian Bradley Harris said one-third of Long Islanders were loyalists, one-third patriots and one-third neutral. Most loyalists were found in Nassau, and the majority of those who were neutral were Quakers. According to the historian, Suffolk County is where you found the majority of patriots. As for one’s alliance, Harris said, “Where you were on Long...

This case is a frightening example of what can happen when a photographer encounters ignorant bullies with badges. According to the complaint filed in Federal Court, Nancy Genovese, a mother of three, was driving home on County Road 31 past Gabreski Airport in Suffolk County. Gabreski Airport displays a decorative helicopter shell by the roadway to the public, which is visible to all who pass by. Nancy Genovese stopped her car on the side of the road across the street from the airport in an area that is open and accessible to the public, and crossed over the road to...

At the link, there's access to 2 videos, each a little over a 1/2 hour. These are the first videos I've seen covering the whole event, rather than just 2 to 4 minute clips.

It's one of the richest counties in the country with one of the highest tax rates for residents and they still can't find enough money to make one and one add up to two.New York Times: A state oversight board on Wednesday seized control of Nassau County's finances, saying the county, one of the nation's wealthiest and most heavily taxed, had nonetheless failed to balance its $2.7 billion budget. Many hard-hit local governments have flirted with insolvency because of revenue shortfalls caused by the recession, but the financial problems of Nassau, on Long Island, owed more to a failure by...

BABYLON, N.Y.—Four bodies have been discovered at a beach on Long Island during a search for a missing New Jersey woman. Suffolk County police say three bodies were found Monday at Oak Beach, which is on a remote barrier island that divides the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The bodies were near where skeletal remains were discovered over the weekend. Police were continuing to search into Monday evening. A police canine unit searching the area Saturday came upon the first body. The unit was searching the area in response to a missing-person report made in May after Jersey...

<p>The magnitude 3.9 quake was detected about 80 miles south-southeast of Southampton just before 10:45 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 122 miles from New York City. The quake was first reported by the Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network ( LCSN ) at Columbia University.</p>

JERICHO, N.Y. — Fifteen eighth graders at Jericho Middle School were considering a fictional case of stereotyping by hair color the other day, or how a boy came to be prejudiced against people with green hair, or “greenies.” From there, they extrapolated to the stereotypes in their own lives: dumb football players, Asian math whizzes, boring bankers. “We can feel stronger going back to our hallways,” the teacher, Elisa Weidenbaum Waters, said, “going back to our homes, going back to our society, and saying: ‘You know what? What you said is a stereotype, and that’s not cool.’ ” This year,...

A law enforcement scandal is unfolding on Long Island. A Suffolk County District Attorney investigator and a police officer are now charged with tipping off members of organized crime about police investigations.

A New York man was arrested Wednesday on charges that he unwittingly funded a Connecticut man's attempt to bomb Times Square on May 1 by providing unlicensed banking services, an arrest that continues an effort by federal authorities to reduce the illegal flow of money that can finance terrorism. Mohammad Younis, 44, was accused in an indictment in U.S. District Court in Manhattan of engaging in hawala activities, an informal banking system which relies on wire transfers, couriers and overnight mail. He was arrested at his Long Island home and brought to the courthouse, where he was expected to make...

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBS 2) — He was arrested for protecting his property and family. But it’s how the Long Island man did it that police say crossed the line. He got an AK-47 assault rifle, pulled the trigger and he ended up in jail, reports CBS 2’s Pablo Guzman. George Grier said he had to use his rifle on Sunday night to stop what he thought was going to be an invasion of his Uniondale home by a gang he thought might have been the vicious “MS-13.” He said the whole deal happened as he was about to drive his...

A homeowner who grabbed a rifle from his house and fired warning shots in a confrontation with a group of men on his lawn faces criminal charges, but his family said he was defending his home from a threatening mass of strangers. George Grier, 30, fired rounds into the ground and air from an assault-style rifle after arguing with a large group of men gathered outside his Long Island home Sunday evening, Nassau County police said Monday. No one was hurt. His sister, Caprice Rines, said Grier feared for the safety of his wife and two small children when about...

Saturday, July 17th Time: 10 am to 1 pm Location: Deer Park - Knights of Columbus Chief Ray Downey Field. 759 Long Island Avenue DIRECTIONS to the EVENT Congresswoman Michele Bachmann will be here rallying support for John Gomez in his bid to take back New York's 2nd Congressional District. The grass roots event will be FREE to the public and all are welcome. Please spread the word to your friends and neighbors to come down and support John Gomez.

Times Square Is Evacuated in Bomb Scare The scene at Times Square on Saturday night after police found a suspicious package inside a Pathfinder on West 45th Street. RAY RIVERA and KARIN HENRY May 1, 2010 A bomb in Times Square led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the area on a warm and busy Saturday evening, the police said. There was no explosion. “It appears to be a car bomb left in a Pathfinder between Seventh and Eighth,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. The device, he said, contained “explosive...

The top government official in Nassau County says he’s willing to look into the feasibility of Long Island seceding from New York to become an independent state. In a letter last week, County Executive Edward Mangano joined several local officials who support measures in the state Legislature to probe the possibility. The concept is one that has been discussed — and often laughed at — for many years. The other top elected official on Long Island, Suffolk County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Steve Levy, says the statehood idea has no future. It would have to be approved by Congress and...

Note: The following text is a quote: Seventeen Members and Associates of the MS-13 Street Gang Arraigned in Federal Court on Racketeering, Witness Tampering, and Firearms Charges Earlier today, 12 alleged members and associates of La Mara Salvatrucha, or the “MS-13” street gang, were arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle, at the United States Courthouse in Central Islip, New York, on federal criminal charges, including murder, assault with dangerous weapons, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, witness tampering, firearms offenses, and conspiracy. Five additional defendants named in the indictment were arraigned earlier this week, also before United...

A feisty 91-year-old Long Island pharmacy cashier fought with a robber -- then insisted on finishing her work shift. "I want him to get caught because I want to smack him," said Florence Critelli after completing her day's work at the Rite Aid Pharmacy in East Northport. Critelli was behind the register just before 11 a.m. when a man gave her a dollar for a candy bar. When she opened the register to get his change, the thief reached over and helped himself to a handful of cash. Critelli leaped into action.

Americana Manhasset, the luxurious Long Island high-end shopping mall, frequented by everyone from the Hamptons to Manhattan, features glamorous British model Lily Donaldson showcasing their S/S 2010 collection of premium designer clothing. There’s Lily in Escada, Ralph Lauren, Fendi, Dior, Tiffany, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, and much more. All wonderfully summery, breezy, appealing, chic… time to hit the mall.

Dean Murray, a 45-year-old Long Island, N.Y., businessman who organized Tea Party protests, will be sworn in as the new Republican state assemblyman representing Long Island's eastern 3rd Assembly District after being certified the winner of a special election held last Tuesday. The Tea Party followers can boast about their first elected official. Dean Murray, a 45-year-old Long Island, N.Y., businessman who organized Tea Party protests, will be sworn in as the new Republican state assemblyman representing Long Island's eastern 3rd Assembly District on Monday, after being certified the winner of a special election held last Tuesday. Murray defeated his...

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - Republican Michael Montesano has won a special election for a vacant assembly seat on Long Island. Montesano led with 72 percent to 28 percent for Democrat Matthew T. Meng in nearly complete but unofficial results Tuesday night...

Home owner Charles Garnar, of Bethpage, speaks to CBS 2 HD after receiving an unwanted oil delivery on Wednesday morning. Garnar's basement was flooded by the oil. Why? Because his home is heated by natural gas. BETHPAGE, N.Y. (CBS) -- Nassau County is warning homeowners to protect themselves from messy oil deliveries. It seems many people don't even know about a law requiring them to cap or remove abandoned oil pipes. It happened at least twice in the past two weeks in Nassau: oil coating basements with foul-smelling fuel, forcing families out of their homes in Freeport and Bethpage....

Home Owner Charles Garnar Wakes Up To Oil Spill In His Basement, The Thing Is, His Home Is Heated By Natural Gas BETHPAGE, N.Y. (CBS) -- A Long Island homeowner woke up Wednesday to a shocking discovery in his basement. Charles Garnar of Bethpage awoke to the sound of an idling truck, the whoosh of pumping, and an immediate overpowering odor of oil. The only problem is: his home is heated by gas! "The gas meter is right on the side of the house, so yeah, obviously whoever it was just completely blew by it, and didn't realize it, and...

BULLETIN -- NEW YORK POLICE AND FBI RAID HOMES IN QUEENS IN TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

SNIPPET: "TERROR mastermind Rashid Rauf has been linked to a fresh Al Qaida plot to launch attacks on the US. The Birmingham-born extremist has been named by witnesses due to testify against Najibullah Zazi, who was arrested for plotting suicide bombings in New York. MI6 officers have linked the plot to a complex terror network said to be directed from Pakistan by Rauf and fellow jihadists. Zazi, 24, was identified through an intercepted communication, and was further implicated by US national Bryant Neal Vinas, who was captured in Pakistan last November. Vinas, 26, allegedly admits meeting Rauf and receiving training...

After the first day of recounting votes from Election Day, Nassau County Executive GOP candidate Ed Mangano leads incumbent Tom Suozzi by 24 votes. The number is small but could paint a troubling scenario for Suozzi, who is seeking a third term in office. According to sources the votes counted were from the 14th Legislative District, where Democratic Legislator Dave Mejias is also hoping the recount puts him on top of his challenger Republican Joe Belesi, Long Beach and most of Suozzi’s hometown of Glen Cove. More than 1,000 voting machines were taken to the Nassau County Board of Elections...

Bernard Madoff once slept there. Soon, someone else will. The imprisoned swindler's Montauk, New York, home, located on a beach with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, has been sold for more than the $8.75 million asking price, a spokeswoman for broker Corcoran Group said on Thursday. The name of the buyer and the purchase price were not immediately disclosed. Several buyers submitted bids for the four-bedroom, three-bath, 3,000-square-foot home, which was on the market for two weeks. Sale proceeds will go toward reimbursing victims of Madoff's estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme. The government is also selling two other U.S....

EAST MORICHES, N.Y. (CBS) ― An allegedly drunk driver brought down part of a house in Suffolk County when he crashed through the home's second floor. Police say the allegedly drunk driver ran a stop sign and hit a berm, causing the SUV to be catapulted action-movie style. From the second floor, the vehicle dropped down to the first floor vertically, with it's headlights pointing toward the sky. Homeowner John Sarli says he's lucky to be alive. He was the only person at the home, sleeping on a couch in the den when he heard the crash and the sound...

NEW YORK — Police say attackers used health care reform as a ruse to approach their victims and then shot two and pistol-whipped another in a Long Island home. Suffolk County police said Saturday that a 26-year-old woman was arrested on attempted murder and burglary charges in the attack Friday in Huntington. Two men were arrested on the same charges earlier. Information on the suspects' arraignments wasn't immediately available Saturday night. Police say the three told the home's residents they were selling insurance, referring to President Barack Obama's push to overhaul America's health care system. Police say the suspects then...

NY Congressman Tim Bishop tried to pack his town hall with unions on the ‘take’ for nationalized healthcare. The people of his district erupt in open rebellion when one of the union goons tries to speak! Union members, many from outside the district, were snuck into the hall beforehand in an effort to stack the deck with a friendly audience. The last straw came when one of the union leaders from outside the district was asked to speak. The citizens erupted in open revolt which almost led to violence from the union goons.

A local union leader was booed out of Rep. Tim Bishop's town hall meeting last night in New York.Like they tried to do here in St. Louis, union members, many from outside the district, were snuck into the hall in an effort to stack the deck with a friendly audience. There are reports that as many as three busloads were brought in.Things boiled over when Mr. Mitchell, head of the Long Island Federation of Labor, steps up to the podium and announces that he in fact does not reside within the borders of NY's First Congressional District.