By Leader Staff   Bill Bleyer, a local historian and Chair of Friends of the Bay, will be publishing a book on "Shipwrecks of Long Island" thanks to a generous grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.   The Riverhead-based Gardiner Foundation supports historical projects on Long Island and around the region, and has provided a $3,000 grant towards publication of “Shipwrecks of Long Island.”  The book is expected to be published by the History Press in late fall o

By Aman Verma   If you received tips or overtime pay in 2025, you may be eligible for a new deduction when you file your income tax return. Both deductions can be claimed whether or not you itemize deductions. But various rules and limits apply. Also be aware that such income may still be fully taxable for state and local income tax purposes. And federal payroll  taxes still apply to tips and overtime income you deduct for federal  income  tax purposes.   Deducting Tips   Eli

By Steve Levy The shooting weeks ago of a protester by an ICE official has triggered outcry from Democrats and the liberal media, as anticipated, but also from a large number of Republicans. That’s not surprising since the video appears to contradict statements from ICE that the victim had been brandishing a weapon with the intent to slaughter federal agents. The protestor was interfering with an ICE arrest and appears to have been resisting his own arrest. But the video does

By Mark Demetropoulos Northwell Health’s Feinstein Labs, located in Manhasset, announced the opening of the  Center for Psychedelics Research and Treatment (CPRT) , a new branch of the Feinstein Labs, which will be located at  Zucker Hillside Hospital  in Glen Oaks, Queens NY. This Center will showcase a state-of-the-art clinical laboratory including driving simulator, modular bar as well as living spaces which shall imitate real life social environments; and shall include de

By Thomas Nothel   REV Entertainment - the official sports and Entertainment Company of the Texas Rangers – has purchased the Long Island Ducks baseball team.   The Ducks are a franchise of the Atlantic League of professional baseball, and the prior owner is Frank Boulton who was the original owner of the Ducks.   Boulton said “the time has come” to sell the team because he is 75 years old and wants to ensure the the legacy he built with the Ducks will continue.   REV Enterta

By Rupert Deedes     Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney announced the arrest of nine members of a violent Huntington criminal gang known as the "Lowndes Block Gang" - an affiliate of the national Bloods street gang - who were indicted on sweeping charges including murder, shootings, illegal weapons possession, and sex trafficking.   DA Tierney described the group as a “violent street organization” that operated in and around Lowndes Avenue in Huntington Station.   Prosecut

By Rupert Deedes   The arrest of nine members of the violent “Bloods” gang in Huntington, raises questions about the gang: The Bloods emerged in Los Angeles in the early 1970s as a loose coalition of neighborhood gangs formed largely in response to the growing power of the rival “Crips” gang. Rather than a single hierarchical organization, the Bloods developed as a confederation of local sets, united by opposition to the Crips and by shared symbols (notably the color red). Fr

By Ishan Shah   Oyster Bay Officials issued an appearance ticket this week after police discovered a Kangaroo and several sloths inside a vehicle near the Karmic Grind coffee shop in Locust Valley.   According to multiple town officials the animals were being transported by an exotic exhibitor in a manner that violated local safety regulations.    The owners claimed that the animals were not injured – but the state and local laws prohibit the public presence of exotic animals

By Chris O’Neill   A Huntington-based police detective – Robert Sacco - has been arrested by the US Department of Justice for sexual exploitation of a child.   Sacco is being prosecuted by the US Attorney’s office in the northern district, because the investigation was run out of upstate New York.   According to the Justice Department, beginning in October 2025, Sacco began contact with an undercover law enforcement officer online using encrypted messaging. This contact went

The horrible and tragic deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good earlier this month at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota echo the killing five years ago of Ashli Babbitt at the US Capitol.   In all three cases, unarmed civilians (or in the case of Pretti - a disarmed civilian) were gunned down by heavily armed federal officers who pumped multiple rounds into a protesting civilian US citizen.   Many readers will object to drawing a parallel between the Good and Pretti killi