8 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2020
IN THE NEWS
WEB BRIEFS LI AT A GLANCE
NASSAU COMMITTEE EYES PD RESPONSES
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran signed a bill
last month that addresses growing calls for reform
of the response by law enforcement to people with
mental health crises.
The bill, which was introduced by Legislators Siela
Bynoe (D-Westbury) and Josh Lafazan (I-Syosset)
in late June and passed unanimously by the county
legislature in early August, calls for the creation of a
committee that will study alternative approaches to
law enforcement intervention in situations regarding
mental health. Curran called the bill “another positive
step” towards building trust between county
residents and police officers.
The bill ultimately marks one of the legislature’s
first concrete responses to an
issue raised by the nationwide
protests against racial injustice
that have also played out
nationwide and across Long
Island since a Minneapolis
police officer allegedly
murdered George Floyd in
late May.
-Alec Rich
ISLIP VOTING CASE ADVANCES
A lawsuit that aims to split the Town of Islip board
members up into council districts is scheduled to go
to trial this month at Central Islip federal court.
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Brown last week set
a September trial date in the case in which residents
of the town’s largely minority communities of Brentwood,
Central Islip, and Bay Shore seek to reform the
current at-large voting system.
“This is a matter of significance and the court will continue
to expedite and prioritize this case,” Brown said
in his court order, which Frederick Brewington, the
Hempstead-based civil rights attorney representing
the plaintiffs in the case, read aloud during a news
conference outside Islip Town Hall.
Plaintiffs alleged that Islip, the town board, and Suffolk
County Board of Elections are violating the Voting
Rights Act in minority communities, which they
say are getting ignored under the current system. The
plaintiffs argue that if the five town council members
were designated to represent specific communities
instead of sharing responsibility for all 333,758 town
residents, the local lawmakers would be more responsive
to the constituents.
-Timothy Bolger
PSEG-LI OKS PAYBACK
PSEG Long Island has reversed course and now says
it will reimburse customers for food and prescription
medication that spoiled during power outages following
Tropical Storm Isaias.
The electric company initially said customers would
not be reimbursed for perishables following the
storm, despite other utility providers in the New
York Metro area offering a similar program. But the
PSEG-LI reimbursements will apply only to those who
lost power for 72 hours or longer.
The storm
knocked out
power Aug. 4 to more than
420,000 of the utility’s 1.1 million customers
in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaways,
some for more than a week. Residential customers can
be reimbursed up to $250 for food and up to $300 for
medicine. Businesses can be reimbursed up to $5,000.
Customers can apply for reimbursement at psegliny.
com/claims.
-TB
LI LAWYER TEASES TRUMP TELL-ALL
Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former
personal lawyer and fixer originally from Lawrence,
promised to show how Trump cheated in the 2016
election with Russian help in an upcoming book titled
Disloyal: A Memoir.
“Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian
connivance, as you will discover in these pages,
because doing anything — and I mean anything — to
‘win’ has always been his business model and way of
life,” Cohen writes in the book’s foreword, which was
published online last month.
The 3,700-word foreword does not reveal anything
new about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential
election, and it was not clear if the book would.
The book is due to be released Sept. 8.
-Reuters
LOTTO LAWYER SCAMS $107M
The self-described “Lottery Lawyer” from Dix Hills
was among three Long Islanders indicted for allegedly
conspiring to scam lottery winners out of $107 million
to fund the suspects’ lavish lifestyles, federal authorities
said.
For t y- si xyear
old Jason
Kurland,
Franc i s
Smookl
e r ,
45, of
R o s l y n ,
and Frangesco
Russo, 38, of Oyster Bay,
were arrested on charges of
wire fraud, money laundering, and
conspiracy in Brooklyn federal court. Also
charged was 52-year-old Christopher Chierchio of
Staten Island.
“Kurland allegedly violated the law and his oath as
a lawyer when he allowed co-conspirators to pillage
his clients’ bank accounts for their own enrichment,”
said Seth D. DuCharme, acting U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of New York. “In addition, Russo and
Smookler allegedly threatened to torture an individual’s
wife and children.”
After gaining their trust, Kurland steered the victims
to invest in entities controlled by Russo, Smookler, and
Chierchio, who gave Kurland kickbacks in return,
which the attorney did not disclose to the victims,
authorities said. The suspects all pleaded not guilty.
-TB
GYMS, BOWLING ALLEYS REOPEN
Gyms and bowling alleys were approved to reopen
from the coronavirus shutdown in August.
Both sectors were among businesses statewide closed
to curb the spread of coronavirus when its spread
peaked in New York in March. But gyms were among
a handful of industries, including bowling alleys and
movie theaters, that were left out of the fourth and
final phase of the reopening plan.
Movie theaters were yet to get the green light to resume
screenings as of press time.
-TB
For full versions of these stories and more daily local
news coverage, visit longislandpress.com
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
/longislandpress.com
