10 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MAY 2021
IN THE NEWS
WEB BRIEFS LI AT A GLANCE
NY BUDGET DEAL FEATURES BETTING,
SCHOOL BOOST
New York State legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew
Cuomo reached an agreement on April 6 for spending
plan going into fiscal year 2022 — but the handshake
came six days beyond the April 1 deadline.
The budget includes $29.5 billion in aid to schools, $29 billion
in public and private green economy investments,
$2.4 billion for rent and mortgage relief, legalized mobile
sports betting, and other facets that Cuomo believes will
contribute to a recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic as
vaccinations become the norm across the state.
Other aspects of the budget deal include
$2.4 billion for child care, $2.1
billion for excluded workers,
$1 billion for small business
and arts recovery, and a
first-in-the-nation plan
to make broadband
internet affordable. The
school aid accounts for a
$3 billion boost in funding
over the year prior as the tran- sition from
at-home learning to in-person classes continues.
-Mark Hallum
ZELDIN DECLARES RUN FOR GOV
After weeks of toying with the idea, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin
(R-Shirley), made it official April 8 and announced that
he is officially running for governor of New York State
next year.
Republicans were trying to recruit the East End congressman
to challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But since
that story broke, the incumbent Democratic governor
has been under mounting pressure to resign amid an
impeachment probe into sexual harassment allegations
and his administration’s alleged undercounting of the
coronavirus nursing home death statistics, casting a
cloud over the prospects of a fourth term for Cuomo.
“I will bring the kind of relentless, fighting spirit towards
helping to save our state that Andrew Cuomo
only reserves for multimillion-dollar self-congratulatory
book deals, cover-ups, abuse and self-dealing,”
said Zeldin, whose campaign launched the website
ZeldinforNewYork.com.
The four-term congressman and former New York State
senator previously made national news for his defense
of former President Donald Trump in Trump’s first
impeachment inquiry in 2018. If Zeldin wins, he would
be the first Republican governor of the Empire State
since George Pataki left office in 2006.
-Timothy Bolger
LI FED JUDGE FEUERSTEIN KILLED IN HIT-RUN
A longtime federal judge who presided over high-profile
cases on Long Island was fatally struck by a car
that fled the scene in Florida on April 9, a court official
says.
U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Feuerstein, 75,
who has ruled cases in Central Islip federal court
for nearly 20 years, died after the crash in Boca Raton,
Eugene Corcoran, the district executive of the
Eastern District of New York, confirmed for the
Press.
“As we
mourn her
tragic death, we also
remember Judge Feuerstein’s
unwavering commitment to justice and service
to the people of our district and our nation,” Mark J.
Lesko, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of
New York, said in a statement.
The driver, 23-year-old Nastasia Andranie Snape,
who was allegedly high on drugs at the time, was
apprehended shortly after and is being charged with
vehicular homicide, hit-and-run involving death, and
leaving the scene of an accident with injury, WPTV
of West Palm Beach reported. A 6-year-old boy who
was also struck reportedly suffered serious injuries.
Feuerstein’s mother was Judge Annette Elstein. They
are believed to be the first mother-daughter judges in
the nation’s history, according to Columbia Law School.
-TB
CUOMO’S LI BROTHER TIED TO
IMPEACHMENT PROBE
Two weeks into the coronavirus lockdown in March
2020, a top aide in the New York State Department of
Health, reports say, brought a then-hard-to-secure
Covid-19 test to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s Southampton
home, courtesy of the broadcast journalist’s older
brother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The Cuomo Prime Time host announced on his show
March 31, 2020 that he tested positive, and continued
broadcasting from his basement. But a year later, that
virus test — and the laws that were possibly broken to
make it happen — has joined the snowballing number of
accusations of misconduct the New York State Assembly
Judiciary Committee is investigating amid impeachment
hearings questioning the governor’s deeds.
“While the Assembly investigation will look into those
allegations, the committee’s primary focus remains an
investigation into issues related to sexual harassment,
the nursing homes and bridge safety,” Assemblyman
Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove), who chairs the committee
overseeing the gubernatorial impeachment
proceedings, says of the tests.
The bridge inquiry eyes whether
the administration glossed over
potential
structural
concerns
with the
construction of
the nearly $4 billion
Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which
replaced the Tappan Zee Bridge and is
named for the governor’s father. The sexual
harassment allegations — from nine women as of
press time, including current and former aides to Cuomo
— are also being investigated by New York State
Attorney General Letitia James’ office. And the claims
that the governor’s team deliberately undercounted
the state’s nursing home death toll are additional
targets of federal probes. The governor has bucked
calls to resign.
-TB
PD REFORM ARRIVES ON LI
Police reform is officially underway on Long Island:
Both Nassau and Suffolk counties have passed their
respective plans to make changes to their police
departments.
All local police departments in New York State were
mandated to create a reform plan with community
input by April 1 in the wake of the police killing of
George Floyd in Minneapolis and widespread protests
for racial justice that followed.
The Suffolk plan includes the use of body cameras for
all officers, the creation of a task force to recommend
improvements to the school resource officer program,
and a $1 million pledge to mental health crisis
response. It also moves legislation forward to collect
and release data on traffic and pedestrian stops and
gives the Human Rights Commission authority to take
complaints about officers and conduct investigations
of the department.
Nassau’s police reform plan includes the use of body
cameras, more police officer training including an annual
bias training, a mentorship program to increase
diversity in the ranks, and increased transparency
with the release of biannual reports on the use of
force and civilian complaints, but critics say it does
not create an effective procedure or independent body
to oversee the Nassau County Police Department.
-BB
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
/ZeldinforNewYork.com
