Union membership on Long Island stands below the level from before the Great Recession, with a falloff of younger workers seen as contributing to the situation, according to a report from Hofstra University. This chart and table detail estimates of membership by age — with declines in the three youngest groups — and the chart and table below show estimates for the overall trends. Read more about the union membership report.
2004-6
Employment
Members
Rate
16-24
157,906
14,237
9
25-34
230,428
64,088
27.8
35-44
340,900
93,833
27.5
45-54
291,311
83,346
28.6
55-64
172,254
53,776
31.2
65 & up
63,320
8,170
12.9
Total
1,256,119
317,450
25.3
16-24
160,485
13,401
8.4
25-34
227,269
58,276
25.6
35-44
309,085
78,374
25.4
45-54
302,103
93,701
31
55-64
186,100
48,187
25.9
65 & up
48,267
8,985
18.6
Total
1,233,310
300,924
24.4
2014-16
Employment
Members
Rate
16-24
142,359
13,997
9.8
25-34
198,722
48,314
24.3
35-44
274,261
81,195
29.6
45-54
299,631
90,881
30.3
55-64
246,470
53,867
21.9
65 & up
76,063
14,614
19.2
Total
1,237,506
302,868
24.5
Overall union membership
Total union membership, broken down between public and private sector on Long Island, in New York City, and nationwide. Each bar represents the total for the combination of private and public sector members. For details, click on either segment of a bar.
Long Island
2004 – 2006
2008 – 2010
2014 – 2016
Total
317,450
300,924
302,868
Public sector
190,834
180,555
168,274
Private sector
126,617
115,756
134,594
Total employment (in thousands)
1,256
1,233
1,237
Union as % of total employment
25%
24%
24%
New York City
2004 – 2006
2008 – 2010
2014 – 2016
Total
856,334
800,884
875,985
Public sector
352,926
366,040
335,306
Private sector
503,408
427,894
540,679
Total employment (in thousands)
3,185
3,338
3,532
Union as % of total employment
27%
24%
25%
Nationwide
2004 – 2006
2008 – 2010
2014 – 2016
Union Members/employment (estimated)
2004 – 2006
2008 – 2010
2014 – 2016
Total (in thousands)
15,505
15,379
14,605
Public sector
7,358
7,783
7,187
Private sector
8,146
7,595
7,448
Total employment (in thousands)
125,893
125,980
133,785
Union as % of total employment
12%
12%
11%
Source: “The State of New York Unions 2017” Hofstra University’s Center for the Study of Labor and Democracy. Charts built using amCharts; tables using Tableizer.
It’s the command center for the federal task force leading Long Island’s fight against street gangs, most notably MS-13, the criminal organization accused of dozens of vicious killings in Suffolk and Nassau.
Geraldine Hart, the 21-year FBI veteran who leads the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, said when it comes to MS-13 the bureau’s chief target is the 200 hard-core members of the gang at large on Long Island. But the task force also focuses on other violent street gangs operating on the Island, such as the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings.
“We deal with the worst of the worst,” said Hart, who also is the chief FBI supervisor on the Island. The task force focuses on made — or, as they are known within MS-13, “jumped in” — members of the gang, not “kids [who] can make gang signs,” she said.
We deal with the worst of the worst.
FBI Senior Supervisory Special Agent Geraldine Hart. Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr.
President Donald Trump, who has linked gang violence with illegal immigration, visited Brentwood in July and spoke about needing to “liberate” towns on Long Island from the scourge of the gang. In April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions came to Long Island and pledged “to demolish” MS-13.
Sources say there have been at one time or another at least 11 different MS-13 chapters active on Long Island. Most of its members hail from El Salvador and other Central American countries.
And there is new information that MS-13’s leadership in El Salvador is now once again attempting to centralize its control over all the Long Island chapters, the sources said.
Inside the Melville offices there are 33 investigators and crime analysts who make up the task force — equally divided between FBI agents and crime analysts and their counterparts in 10 other law enforcement organizations, including Nassau and Suffolk county police.
Hart, bureau officials and agents, including Michael McGarrity, the head of the FBI’s overall criminal division for the New York area, agreed to talk about the work of the gang task force in general terms. They declined to talk about current cases or investigations, such as the recent arrest of the MS-13 members in the killings of the two Brentwood teenage girls or four young men in Central Islip.
Since 2010, there have been charges filed against defendants in 40 gang-related homicides in Suffolk and Nassau as a result of the work of the task force, according to FBI figures. And of the 17 MS-13-related homicides in Suffolk since 2016, nine of them so far were solved by task force investigators, the FBI says.
Since its establishment in 2003, the task force has made 1,190 arrests, including 280 members of MS-13, of whom 30 were top leaders of chapters, according to FBI statistics. Most arrests have resulted in successful prosecutions on charges including murder, attempted murder and assault in federal court in Central Islip. Prosecutors in the office of Acting Eastern District U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde work closely with the task force in developing cases, officials say.
The task force also gets regular input from other investigators not stationed at the Melville office, and other police departments on Long Island that could help them identify a pattern — such as the arrest of a suspected gang member at a particular location — that might lead to other arrests or a better understanding of an MS-13 chapter or hierarchy.
McGarrity and Hart say that the task force uses the same “enterprise theory” in dealing with gangs that the FBI has used on traditional organized crime: Each chapter is a single organization or enterprise, all of whose members are involved and which should be completely eliminated, member by member.
Big progress being made in ridding our country of MS-13 gang members and gang members in general. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!
Hart is more than familiar with the enterprise theory; she led the FBI’s New York squads investigating the Genovese, Bonnano and Colombo organized crime families.
Working in collaboration with local police and others that may have gang information but not the resources or the time to deal with gang activity, the FBI can bring its greater resources to bear on all the members of a chapter, McGarrity said.
Those resources include a network of FBI agents in other MS-13 hot spots such as the Washington, D.C. suburbs, Boston, and Los Angeles, as well as about a half-dozen FBI agents permanently stationed in El Salvador working with Salvadorean law enforcement officials on the gang and sharing information with the task force on Long Island.
Further bolstering the work of the task force are federal criminal laws such as Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) that provides for more penalties and allow prosecutors to charge criminal elements with a broader range of crimes.
“The latest surge in MS-13 criminal activity is being met head-on and has resulted in significant racketeering charges, due in large part to the collective experience our office and task force members have developed,” Rohde said.
And the FBI has deep financial resources allowing for significant payments for informants, as well as for overtime pay for local law enforcement officers.
A key element in the gang fight is the ability to place cooperators in the federal witness protection program.
For example, in the case of the MS-13 members who in 2010 murdered 2-year-old Diego Torres and his mother, Vanessa Argueta — because she showed disrespect to the gang — a key informant and gang associate, Carla Santos, was placed in the witness program. She testified in 2013 in federal court against one of the killers and was guarded by federal marshals from the program, according to court records. The defendant was convicted of murder and other charges and was sentenced to life in prison plus 35.
And another of the killers convicted in the case, Argueta’s former boyfriend, Juan Garcia, was captured in 2014 in Central America, a day after he was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and a $100,000 reward was offered for his arrest.
But McGarrity and Hart stressed that the unstinting cooperation between the FBI and the local Long Island police forces and other agencies is vital to the task force’s work.
Raid breaks up meeting
Soon after its establishment in 2003, the task force had a big win. At dusk on Oct. 10, 2004, as an FBI surveillance plane circled overhead, 50 heavily armed agents stormed a three-story building at 25 Montague Place in Brooklyn, hurling six flash-bang grenades to break up a planned secret meeting of the heads and other members of the Long Island chapters of the MS-13 street gang called by the leadership in El Salvador.
An infrared film of the event recorded from the plane shows gang members tossing guns out windows and unsuccessfully attempting to evade capture by fleeing from the building’s roof to adjoining rooftops. In all, 16 members of the gang, were arrested without incident at the building and in follow-up raids in the following days. The raid resulted in convictions in several murders as well as other violent crimes, according to officials and court records.
The raid also resulted in quashing — to this day — the effort by the gang’s central leadership in El Salvador to coordinate the activities of its Long Island chapters, say sources familiar with the results of the raid.
Three of those arrested had been in direct contact with the leadership in El Salvador, which ordered the LI chapters to unite and follow the Central American leadership, the sources said. A more centralized, Central-American-based control of MS-13’s cliques in an area is more typical of the gang structure in Los Angeles, the Washington suburbs, and the Boston area, the sources said.
Most recently the task force’s work in the face of the latest surge in violence by MS-13 has resulted in the arrests of gang members accused in: the killings of two teenage girls who attended Brentwood High School and the slayings of four young men in a Central Islip park.
In March, six months after the September killings of the Brentwood teenage girls — Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15 — the task force’s work resulted in the arrests of a half-dozen members of MS-13 in the slayings. Gang members believed Cuevas had disrespected them, while Mickens had been assaulted while walking down a street with her friend, officials said. More than a half-dozen members of the MS-13 street gang “whose primary mission is murder” were indicted in the killings, officials said.
In July, four months after the April slayings in a Central Islip park of four young men, the task force arrested and charged about a dozen defendants the in the slayings of Justin Llivicura, 16, of East Patchogue; Jorge Tigre, 18, of Bellport; Michael Lopez Banegas, 20, of Brentwood; and Jefferson Villalobos, 18, of Pompano Beach, Florida, who was on Long Island visiting his cousin Banegas at the time, officials have said. MS-13 members believe some of the four had disrespected the gang and were believed to be members of a rival gang, authorities have said.
Specific skills are key
While many investigators on the task might be involved in providing information on a case, a four-member team — two FBI agents and two other investigators — is typically responsible for investigating one particular case, Hart says.
The FBI supervisor in the task force’s early days, Robert Hart — no relation to Geraldine Hart — who is now an assistant Nassau County Police Commissioner, said the FBI selected for the task force agents who speak Spanish, have the ability to get along with people with a special sensitivity, and those with an understanding of the Salvadorean culture and MS-13 structure and habits.
It was not unusual, for example, for an agent to help getting a suspect to cooperate by buying a suspect pupusas, the corn tortilla filled with cheese or beans or pork that is a staple of El Salvadorean cuisine, according to a source.
Also helping drive the work of the task force is what investigators see as the unrestrained brutality of MS-13.
FBI agent Ed Heslin, a Spanish-speaking former immigration lawyer, said that even after serving as an investigator with the bureau in Afghanistan, “I was shocked” by the close-up violence of MS-13 members on Long Island.
In Afghanistan, the killing was at a distance: “Not personal” involving “somebody with an IED,” Heslin said.
But to the MS-13, “It’s close up and personal,” where victims are attacked face-to-face with machetes and knives and bats.
Hart found it “shocking to me” that the gang would murder a 2-year-old.
As someone who was raised on Long Island, Hart said she finds it “very satisfying … to have some input in diminishing these gangs.”
Hart says that there is “an ebb and flow” to MS-13’s notoriety and visible presence on Long Island. The task force would typically arrest and prosecutors convict the major MS-13 members on Long Island, but several years later the gang’s cliques would resurface with newer members from Central America.
Experts who study MS-13 say this ebb and flow reflects both downturns in El Salvador economy, making the United State an attractive place for people to seek work, as well as the waxing and waning of the violent wars between criminal gangs and the military and police in El Salvador.
Ron Hosko, former assistant director of the FBI’s criminal division, and now head of the Law Enforcement Criminal Defense Fund, said law enforcement alone cannot permanently stamp out MS-13; they will persist until the financial and immigration issues involving El Salvador are solved.
But whatever the overall solution, Hart says, when it comes to stopping MS-13 violence and arresting those who commit the gang’s brutal crimes.: “We don’t go away … We are never going to stop. We always have and will always be doing cases.”
Long Island in 1790 was populated by about 1 percent of the people who live here today; with a relatively equal number of men and women and about 2,000 slaves.
That’s the picture painted by America’s first Census, collected after President George Washington signed the 1790 Census Act so the government could learn “the aggregate amount of each description of persons” to be able to form a representative government, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Aug. 2, 1790, was the official “Census Day” and the process was to be led by then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.
In honor of the 227th anniversary of America’s first Census, here’s a look at Long Island’s population in 1790.
Scenes from Long Island in the 1800s. Photo credits from top left, clockwise: East Williston Village Historian; Nassau County Museum Collection; Nassau County Museum; Unknown.
Boys in a barn in Old Westbury circa 1890.
The geography of 1790
In 1790, Brooklyn and Queens were still considered part of Long Island. Nassau County did not yet officially exist; the towns of North Hempstead, Oyster Bay and South Hempstead were part of Queens County. Suffolk County was made up of eight towns; what was the Town of Huntington then also included the current Town of Babylon, and what was the Town of Southold then included what is now the Town of Riverhead.
Long Island map from approximately 1780. Credit: New York Public Library Digital Collections
The numbers highlighted here, unless otherwise noted, represent statistics from Suffolk County and the three towns that would become Nassau County — so these are the 1790 totals for the area making up modern day Long Island.
The findings
The Census sought information on just five categories:
Free white males over 16 (for possible industrial and military potential)
Free white males under 16
Free white females (including heads of households)
All other free persons (including free blacks and Indians)
Slaves.
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In 1790, Long Island’s total population was 27,061. By comparison, the 2010 census estimate placed LI’s population at about 3 million — just under the population of the entire United States in 1790.
Broken down by county, the three areas that currently make up Nassau County had 10,621 people, and Suffolk County had 16,440.
Nassau’s most populated area was Oyster Bay, with 4,097 people, and its least-populated area was North Hempstead, with 2,696. Suffolk’s most populated area was Southampton, with 3,408 people, and its least-populated area was Shelter Island, with just 201 people.
Here are the islandwide totals for the six categories in the Census:
27,061
Total population
6,168
Free white males older than 16
5,260
Free white males younger than 16
11,627
Free white females
1,694
All other free persons
2,312
Slaves
Each white family in Suffolk County had an average of 5.1 members; in Queens County (including modern-day Nassau), there were 5.7 members.
Roughly 17.1 percent of Suffolk households reported holding slaves; in Queens County that number was 34.6 percent, and in Kings County (Brooklyn), the number was 61.1 percent.
Slaves on LI
The Census found that New York was the largest slave-holding state in the north, with 21,324. In comparison, the largest slave-holding state in the south was Virginia, with 292,627, more than 13 times as many.
There were 2,312 slaves on Long Island, roughly 8.5 percent of the total population.
According to the Census, the largest slaveholder in Suffolk County was William Floyd of Mastic, who had 14, and the largest slaveholder in what would become Nassau County was Samuel Martin of South Hempstead, who had 17.
The William Floyd Estate in Mastic Beach. Credit: Newsday/ Michael E. Ach
Ethnicity
Though the Census solicited no information about ethnic background, the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research analyzed the surnames of the white population in 1790 to create a likely ethnic breakdown of national backgrounds. (Their analysis is for Suffolk County and all of Queens County — all of modern-day Nassau County and all of modern-day Queens).
They found that nearly three quarters of the population — 73.2 percent — was likely either English or Welsh. The next biggest group was slaves, at 10.5 percent, and 7.4 percent of people were Dutch.
Heads of household
Scroll through and zoom in on the full Census document below to see which last names populated Long Island in 1790.
Watch as a Jones Beach lifeguard walks us through a day at the beach.
On Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, Jones Beach Field 6 lifeguard captain Donald Kramer walked us through what a day is like at the beach, what he has to watch for in order to keep swimmers safe and how much fun it is to work at the beach. Many lifeguards, he said, consider it the best job they’ve ever had. (Credit: Newsday / Chris Ware)
Note: On mobile devices, the 360-degree video experience can be viewed only in the YouTube app.
In the days leading up to Oct. 29, 2012, Long Islanders were warned of “a once-in-a-lifetime storm” hurtling toward the Northeast.
It was called “Frankenstorm” for both its timing right before Halloween and the mash up of weather elements expected to worsen its impact. People were urged to prepare for punishing rain and high winds as well as flooding made worse by the full moon.
Sandy made landfall in New Jersey around 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 29. That morning, Long Islanders awoke to states of emergency already declared in most Long Island towns, 100 people already in Red Cross shelters, and 400 members of the National Guard activated. Here is how the storm’s effects unfolded over the next 30 hours.
Monday, Oct. 29 – 8 a.m.
Flooding underway
Nearly the entire beach at Robert Moses State Park is flooded as Sandy inches closer.
Waves on the Long Island Sound are cresting at 10 feet in Bayville ahead of the 11:30 a.m. high tide.
Across Long Island, trees are down from high winds overnight.
In Freeport, water is “spilling over the bulkheads” of local canals even before high tide at 8:41 a.m., said Richard Holdener, Freeport’s director of emergency management.
Freeport, NY already has major coastal flooding with this morning's high tide. Expected to become worse. #Sandypic.twitter.com/b9Uc9rwT
Extensive flooding is reported in communities throughout the south shore.
In Northport, people and cars move through rising waters on streets.
9:45 a.m.
‘Worse than we thought’
The National Weather Service outlook presents an increasingly bleak look for the area. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone quotes the services as telling officials, “this is worse than we thought,” as he tours Smith Point Beach.
In Wading River and Port Jefferson, flooding begins in earnest with water rising quickly. In Miller Place, a local businesses large metal sign topples and large tree branches block back roads in nearby Mount Sinai.
A house fire on Branch Avenue in Freeport destroys a single-family home. Flooded streets in the area hindered the rescue crew, though officials said no injuries were reported.
Freeport,NY- As if flooding isn't bad enough…how about a house fire in the middle of a flooded out area. #sandypic.twitter.com/pCC6UTVI
Residents still in the streets gawk at rising water.
2 p.m.
Nassau cops rescue woman from home in Massapequa
Police using an Army Humvee rescue an 82-year-old woman from her house on Cedar Lane.
“These guys drove up on her lawn and I went in with a neighbor and helped her out,” said Officer Vincent Bellissimo from the back of the Humvee, after he and the soldiers driving the vehicle came back to check on the house.
2:40 p.m.
High winds seen in Lindenhurst
3 p.m.
The worst of the storm reaches the Island
The brunt of the storm begins to batter Long Island, with heavy rain and recorded wind gusts of 76 mph at Plum Island.
Hempstead official: ‘Absolutely unsafe’ to go to town marinas
Highway workers report 79 downed trees in Hempstead through 3 p.m., according to Hempstead Town spokesman Mike Deery.
It’s “absolutely unsafe” to go to town marinas, Deery said.
About 120 people still on Fire Island
In the center of Ocean Beach, water rises to thigh high. Suffolk County officials make one last attempt to evacuate Fire Island residents. Five people are rescued, but nine could not be reached. Police abandon an SUV in the process. “The water picked the car up and turned the vehicle over,” County Fire Rescue and Emergency Services Commissioner Joe Williams said.
In all, 120 residents ignore the evacuation order and ride out the storm.
“The worst is still coming,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo says at a news briefing. “Don’t be fooled. Don’t look out the window and say, ‘Well, you know, it doesn’t look so bad.’ “
One thousand additional National Guard troops are activated to bolster the 1,000 called up earlier, and the bulk of the additional call-up will be deployed to Nassau County, where the village of Bayville and the City of Long Beach are already hit hard, he said.
5 p.m.
Rescuers in Riverhead
Riverhead, NY- Rescuers using motorboats to navigate downtown Riverhead looking for residents. pic.twitter.com/jcUb89sa
Before darkness falls the North and South shores and low-lying areas are inundated and in some cases — such as Bayville — cut off completely from the mainland.
Fires break out in Island Park, Freeport, Lindenhurst and Babylon, with firefighters hindered by flooded streets.
6 p.m.
Destruction in Long Beach
The Long Beach boardwalk wall is breached in places, with water flowing in streets.
City Manager Jack Schnirman says “it’s too late to leave” and orders police to move spectators indoors.
“We’ve seen tons of downed trees,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, “and the scary part is that we haven’t really had the major part of the storm hitting yet.”
In the days prior, officials had cautioned that with many leaves still on the trees, branches were more susceptible to being ripped off and whole trees toppled.
7 p.m.
Sandy no longer a hurricane
Per NHC: #Sandy is now POST-Tropical and is expected to make landfall very soon. ALL WARNINGS ARE STILL IN EFFECT. High tide is yet to come.
The National Hurricane Center announces that Sandy is no longer considered a hurricane but a “post-tropical storm.”
The change in classification is made because of the storm’s shape and its mix of cold and warm temperatures. Its winds also weakened slightly from 90 mph to 85 mph.
A wind gust of 82 mph was recently reported at Islip, New York. #Sandy
John Miller, 39, of Lloyd Harbor, is preparing to drive his wife and two daughters, ages 3 and 5, to a neighbor’s house two blocks away when is was killed by a falling tree at about 7:25 p.m., Suffolk police said.
Around the same time, Safar Shafinoori, 84, goes outside to move his vehicle and is killed by a falling tree on Engineers Road in Roslyn, Nassau police said.
Waves batter the shore in Glen Cove
8 p.m.
Sandy makes landfall in New Jersey
The storm makes landfall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which brings high winds, including a wind gust recorded at 90 mph.
Roadways closed
All state parkways on Long Island are closed due to Hurricane Sandy until further notice, according to state police. The Metropolitan Transpiration Authority closed all of its bridges and tunnels shortly before 9 p.m.
National Guard troops are called to fight multiple working fires that break out in Lindenhurst and the surrounding areas, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said.
More than 640,000 customers are without power, but conditions remain too dangerous for Long Island Power Authority to send out crew.
In Freeport, a storm tide of more than 10 feet is recorded. In Kings Point, it’s over 14 feet.
11 p.m.
A fire breaks out in Breezy Point, Queens. Its flames are fed by the storm’s winds and firefighters are helpless to get through the flooded streets. Entire blocks of homes and businesses are engulfed.
Breezy Point fires on the night of Oct. 29.
Tuesday, Oct. 30 – 1:30 a.m.
Woman killed in Port Jefferson Station
Vishwaha Muppa, 21, of Edison, New Jersey, is killed in a car accident at the intersection of Route 347 and Route 112 where Sandy had knocked out traffic and streetlights. A Suffolk police car struck the vehicle in which Muppa was a passenger, police said.
Rescues continue through the night
Firefighters make more than 100 rescues overnight in Lindenhurst, according to village officials.
First responders rescue residents stranded by floodwaters until 4 a.m. in Babylon Town. Babylon public works use bucket trucks to save some residents and payloaders to push water into house fires, Babylon Town spokesman Tim Ruggeri said.
8 a.m.
Crews clearing trees in Hempstead
Hundreds of fallen trees are blocking roadways in Hempstead town, spokesman Mike Deery said in a statement.
“Priority is being given to trees on primary roadways so emergency vehicles have access throughout the town,” the statement said.
#Sandy#LI 8AM – over 900,000 customers w/o power. Damage assessment is ongoing. Call 800-490-0075 to report downed wires via @LIPAnews
Residents rise to find the wooden planking across the entrances to the beach have washed away, allowing water to rush under the boardwalk and into city streets.
Up to six inches of sand cover areas of parking lots and streets, slabs of asphalt are uprooted and glass in the lobbies of some buildings are smashed.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve lived here all my life,” Robert Hitchens, 63, said as he surveyed the damage outside his condo building on West Broadway.
Long Beach makes plans to evacuate remaining residents later today, city spokesman Gordon Tepper said in a statement.
The National Guard is deploying helicopters to Long Island — both for rescue missions and so public officials can get an aerial view of the damage, said Eric Durr, spokesman for the state’s Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
That’s in addition to the 275 National Guard vehicles already transporting police officers and emergency responders around the Island.
In Lindenhurst, National Guard Humvee teams drive through streets filled with nearly 8 feet of water. Cars are underwater.
The ruins of 100 homes still smolder in Breezy Point, and NYPD flatbed trucks cut through floodwaters carry residents away.
Breezy Point. Photo by Patrick E. McCarthy.
954,000 without power
By the storm’s end, about 945,000 of LIPA’s 1.1 million customers are without power, surpassing the previous record of 750,000 during Hurricane Gloria in 1985.
2 p.m.
The worst of the storm has passed Long Island and residents in the hardest-hit areas assess the devastation and deal with the storm’s lingering affects.
Sandy continues to move over the northeast throughout the day, not losing its punch until long after nightfall. By 11 p.m., Sandy was 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, tracking toward Canada and with sustained winds down to 40 mph.
Step inside a towering gothic cathedral in Garden City; listen to the spirited sounds of a Baptist church in Amityville; absorb the colors and light of a Melville Hindu temple; take shelter in a hospitable mosque in Selden.
Newsday visited seven houses of worship on Long Island: Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Roman Catholic Church, B’nai Israel Reform Temple, Islamic Association of Long Island, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, BAPS Hindu Temple, The New Hope Institutional Baptist Church and the Cathedral of the Incarnation. In the video above, seven religious leaders tell us how they view “sanctuary.” Even though the term is rooted in shared principles, each of the faith-based communities offer a unique perspective on providing physical and spiritual refuge to those in need.
Scroll down to discover the rich history and visual highlights behind each house of worship. While watching the individual videos, use your mouse to move left, right, up and down to take in all 360 degrees of each space. On mobile devices, you’ll need the YouTube app to view the 360-degree video experience.
Wyandanch:Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Roman Catholic Church
Father Bill Brisotti says that his parish is about 75 percent Hispanic and 5 percent Haitian. The church, located in Wyandanch, has been offering Spanish language services since 1972. Brisotti hopes the calm atmosphere and simple architecture of the church — built in the 1930s — makes folks feel comfortable during his services. Take a look at how the community joins together after a service at the 1:04 mark.
Oakdale: B’nai Israel Reform Temple
We took a peek inside the Oakdale temple with Rabbi Steven Moss, who has been leading his congregation for 45 years. The synagogue has been a staple in the Town of Islip for more than 50 years. Moss says that when he welcomes visitors to his services, the “wow” moment usually occurs when he reveals eight Torah scrolls enclosed behind bronze gates, seen at the beginning of the video. Be sure to listen to the musical stylings of B’nai Israel’s female cantor, Ilana Plutzer, who can be seen strumming her acoustic guitar during a prayer at 0:42.
Selden: Islamic Association of Long Island
When Mohammad Javaid Akhtar moved to Long Island decades ago, there wasn’t a place for Muslims to pray as a community. Now, he is the president of the Islamic Association of Long Island in Selden, the first masjid — or mosque — on Long Island, established in 1979. Akhtar says that the mosque provides a peaceful and social setting for the community, bringing in large groups nightly after work and school. Listen to Imam Amin Ur Rahman lead prayer at the 0:45 mark during the weekly congregational service, which takes place on Friday afternoons. Check out how the modern architecture of the mosque is accentuated by gleaming lights at 0:37.
Huntington: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Nestled next to the historic Coindre Hall — which boasts sprawling fields and immaculate furnishings — the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Huntington holds its services every Sunday morning. The Rev. Jude Geiger says that the building used to serve as a carriage house, adding that its “bright and simple” architecture speaks to the well-rounded teachings of Unitarianism. We stepped inside to meet the welcoming community and hear the cheerful choir, which you’ll find performing around a piano at 0:28.
Melville: BAPS Hindu Temple
The colorful and vibrant Hindu temple contains rooms for peaceful thought and prayer, rows of classrooms and even a basketball court. According to Shreena Shah, the regional coordinator for youth girls, the friendly environment has been bringing people of all backgrounds together on a daily basis since the temple opened its doors in 2016. This is the first Hindu temple — also referred to as mandir — of its kind on Long Island. Check out how young boys and girls interact with each other in the classrooms at 0:17 and 0:27, and discover what awaits behind the curtains at 1:01, as Swami Sadhu Sahajmunidas guides us through the grand Hindu temple.
Amityville: The New Hope Institutional Baptist Church
The Baptist church greets Long Islanders with kindness, love and plenty of music. Overseer Sallie Lloyd, the church’s pastor, says that the space and the people in it helped her through a rough patch when she was younger. Now, she ensures that people who enter the church with troubles can leave with a clear mindset. Gospel music is a major part of the positive atmosphere, and you’ll see how it gets folks out of their seats and on their feet at 0:22. And, take in some moments of contemplative group prayer seen at 0:15.
Garden City: Cathedral of the Incarnation
Some might say that the cathedral — the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island — looks like it came right out of a Medieval Europe art history book. Take it from the Rev. Michael Sniffen, the cathedral’s dean, who described how imposing the gothic brownstone appears at first glance. “In a sense, [cathedrals] model the human person,” he said. “From the outside, we might seem a bit inaccessible or hard, but the depth of the human spirit, the depth of the human soul, is unfathomable. When you come into the cathedral, there’s this sense of openness and light and it’s a bright place. It looks nothing like the outside.” Take a peek at the cathedral’s ceiling at 0:52, and the finer details of the space, such as the golden dish at 1:02.
Videographer & Video editor: Jeffrey Basinger | Producers: Saba Ali and Rachel Weiss
Swim with sharks and take a peak behind the glass at the penguin exhibit.
Newsday took a 360-degree dive into the shark tank and watched the sea lion’s best dance moves. Watch what happened when a penguin thought the camera was a snack! (Credit: Newsday / Jeffrey Basinger)
Note: On mobile devices, the 360-degree video experience can be viewed only in the YouTube app.
While the role of a borough president can seem ceremonial at times, these are the only politicians whose sole purpose is to advocate for a whole borough.
“The borough-wide perspective is an important one, and we work with the legislators in order to deliver that perspective,” Queens Borough President Melinda Katz says.
The borough presidents use that perspective to advise on issues like land use and the city budget. Their primary role isn’t to pass legislation, Katz notes, although they can sponsor legislation if they partner with a member of City Council. But in order to achieve their agendas, they must work with city agencies.
“In Borough Hall, what you do is interwoven in these agencies, and you need to figure out a way to get the mayor and the administration to work with you,” Staten Island Borough President James Oddo says, noting that it’s different from working in City Council, where there are ways to achieve agendas “not only without the administration’s help, but despite the administration’s help.”
The five borough presidents, who are all up for reelection in November, focus on issues that many city politicians speak on, including securing affordable housing and promoting healthy living.
Their days can include anything from mundane meetings to dancing with seniors at a local center. Here’s a snapshot of the lives of each of the borough presidents.
Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr.
“We’ve been so beaten down psychologically and spiritually.” Credit: Corey Sipkin
Ruben Diaz Jr. “can’t stand” that his son, in his 20s, moved to upper Manhattan when he graduated college, he says with a laugh over lunch at a Bronx pizzeria.
He wants young people, like his son, to stay in the Bronx, but that hasn’t always been the mindset. When the borough president grew up in the Bronx, the mindset was to get an education and get a job so you could “get the hell out.” Now, as the borough sees more and more development, there’s more reason to stay, he says.
In order for that “skilled, young workforce” to remain, however, there needs to be affordability — and not only for the lowest incomes, Diaz, who has been borough president since 2009, says. Affordable housing needs to have a mix of availability for low-income and middle-income.
“If you don’t have that balance, then you’re really not setting our professionals up for a place to stay here.”
Hear more from Diaz by clicking on the video above.
Staten Island BP James Oddo
“Staten Islanders have an elevated expectation of their elected officials.” Credit: Yeong-Ung Yang
“I am hyper by nature. I like to bounce around the building,” Borough President James Oddo says as he tosses a rubber ball between his hands at his desk at Staten Island’s Borough Hall in St. George.
That energy also translates to his job, which he said is “to fight for Staten Island every day, all day,” and many days it is a fight – with city agencies.
“I’ve told the mayor in chapter and verse, in Technicolor language, about just how frustrating it is to deal with agencies like DDC [Department of Design and Construction], and at times DOT [Department of Transportation].”
Oddo, who was a council member for 15 years before becoming borough president in 2014, works with city agencies on quality of life issues like getting roads paved, which he says has been a long battle.
“For 15 years, we essentially underinvested in our roads in terms of resurfacing, and four years ago, just about any community in Staten Island, just about every other block was crumbling,” but in the last three years, more roads have been paved than ever before, Oddo says.
Hear more from Oddo by clicking on the video above.
Queens BP Melinda Katz
“People, right now, are trying to figure out all over the world how to bring their kids and their parents to the borough of Queens.” Credit: Raychel Brightman
When Melinda Katz introduced her then-6-year-old son to an assemblyman, young Carter was confused because he wasn’t a woman.
“Men can be elected officials, too,” she recalls telling him, adding that he “learned that on that day.”
“From my son’s perspective, women are very strong,” she says.
Katz, a single mom raising her two sons in her own childhood home in Forest Hills, served in City Council between 2002 and 2009 and became borough president in 2013. She often refers to Queens as the “borough of growth” or the “borough of families.”
“We have folks coming in from all over to bring up their kids here.”
But there are challenges that come with that growth, including a need for more jobs in the borough. “The economy is the key factor in moving forward here,” Katz says. “The creation of jobs as we grow is going to be the pivotal thing.”
Hear more from Katz by clicking on the video above.
Brooklyn BP Eric Adams
“There’s no building off limits.” Credit: Yeong-Ung Yang
Eric Adams is incredibly proud of his transformation after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2016.
“I want to be a living example of how wellness matters, how you can reverse your condition by living a healthier lifestyle and making smarter choices,” he says in his Downtown Brooklyn office, which features a cooking station, exercise equipment and a standing desk. By becoming vegan and exercising every day, Adams, who took office in 2014, says he was able to reverse his diagnosis.
As borough president, he wants to give residents of Brooklyn – the second unhealthiest borough according to the 2017 County Health Rankings – the tools to “take power over their health.”
One way he does this is by investing in greenhouses, especially at NYCHA properties, “where you have some of the worst eating habits and access to healthy food,” and at schools, where healthy habits can be taught to children who can then teach their parents, he says.
Hear more from Adams by clicking on the video above.
Manhattan BP Gale Brewer
“The biggest challenge in Manhattan is the affordability crisis.” Credit: Yeong-Ung Yang
Even Gale Brewer can’t overcome Manhattan’s transit problems. “The traffic is an issue. Sometimes the subway’s faster, but not always,” she said, after deciding she won’t be able to make an event before a 2 p.m. meeting at her office near City Hall. “It’s too bad, I was trying to get to it.”
The borough president craves face-to-face meetings with her constituents, appearing at as many as 12 events, public meetings, rallies or other functions a day.
“You can only do so many things.”
In between events, though, Brewer — a college professor and mom of several foster kids — also tries to mentor younger generations. Her office accepts all intern applicants, who can range from high school students to graduate students, and she’s been known to have as many as 150 interns at one time.
Brewer, who was elected in 2013, said she likes to have as many as possible. “It gives us an excitement of young ideas in the office,” she said. “I love to see them grow.”
Hear more from Brewer by clicking on the video above.
Sixteen years of U.S. warfare in Afghanistan have left the insurgents as strong as ever and the nation’s future precarious. Facing a quagmire, President Donald Trump on Monday outlined his strategy for “victory” in a country that has historically snared great powers and defied easy solutions.
America’s longest-running war began well as U.S.-led forces quickly toppled the Taliban government and disrupted al-Qaida leaders who plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from Afghan soil. But the fighting never ended.
Trump is the third U.S. president to grapple with the Afghan challenge. A look at the phases of the U.S. involvement to date:
Regime Change
Less than a month after the 9/11 attacks, a massive U.S. air campaign targets al-Qaida fighters and Taliban troops, training camps and air defenses. Anti-Taliban forces of the Northern Alliance enter Kabul as the Taliban flee.
By December 2001, Afghan groups agree on a deal in Bonn, Germany, for an interim government.
With Afghanistan liberated from Taliban control, the U.S. military force grows to 2,500 as troops scour the mountainous Tora Bora region looking for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He eludes capture. Although President George W. Bush remains leery of supporting nation-building efforts in Afghanistan, the U.S. expands its counterterrorism operations. By the end of 2002, there are 9,700 U.S. troops in the country.
Democracy and distraction
In November 2004, Hamid Karzai, who had served two years as interim leader, is the clear winner in Afghanistan’s first direct election for president. The Bush administration hails the vote as a key step in the nation’s transformation. Millions of girls return to school after being barred under the Taliban. As the country opens up, Western aid helps the economy grow, at least in urban areas.
But the Taliban, enjoying sanctuary in Pakistan, show signs of re-emergence, launching sporadic attacks on government forces in eastern Afghanistan. Although Karzai is an ethnic Pashtun, which comprise the bulk of Taliban recruits, his government alienates what is Afghanistan’s main ethnic group. Karzai’s administration is dominated by former commanders of the Northern Alliance.
U.S. troop numbers swell to 20,000, but Washington’s attention increasingly turns to Iraq. The U.S. invades in March 2003, toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It struggles with the aftermath. Soon Iraq is gripped by an explosion of sectarian violence that preoccupies Bush until he leaves office.
More Western troops, more violence
In 2006, NATO assumes responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan, pumping troops into Taliban heartlands in the south of the country.
I’m not sure we’re winning.
– Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, 2008
The U.S. ups its forces in the country to 30,000. Britain, Canada and others boost their contributions. But the violence and lawlessness worsens.
Production of opium, the raw material of heroin, soars to a record high, funding the insurgency and fueling official corruption. Tensions grow between Afghanistan and Pakistan over cross-border Taliban attacks.
In the fall of 2008, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen concedes, “I’m not sure we’re winning.”
Surge
President Barack Obama, vowing to refocus U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, enters office in 2009 endorsing shifts to a counterinsurgency strategy designed to protect Afghan civilians rather than hunt down Taliban.
He quickly sends in 21,000 more forces. After a prolonged policy review, Obama orders an additional surge, bringing troop levels to a high of 100,000 by August 2010. He says the U.S. will begin withdrawing forces by 2011.
Critics say the drawdown date diminishes the incentive for the Taliban to negotiate for peace.
Bin Laden is killed in a U.S. special operations raid in Pakistan in March 2011.
Obama then presses ahead with plans to hand over security responsibilities to Afghanistan by 2014. By the end of that year, NATO ends its combat mission in the country. U.S. relations with Karzai, however, deteriorate. A contested election to replace Karzai introduces a more pro-U.S. leader in Ashraf Ghani, but his government is bitterly divided.
No withdrawal
With violence reaching post-2001 highs and Afghan security forces taking heavy casualties, Obama backtracks on plans to virtually withdraw all U.S. forces by the end of 2016.
He leaves office with 8,400 troops still in the country.
The U.S. kills new Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in a drone attack in Pakistan in May 2016, derailing peace talks. But on the battlefield, the Taliban are in the ascendant and threaten provincial capitals in both the north and south. The Islamic State group gains a foothold in eastern Afghanistan.
Enter Trump
Trump says little about Afghanistan during his first seven months in office, while the military grows antsy.
The Pentagon proposes sending in nearly 4,000 more U.S. troops to increase training of Afghan forces and counterterrorism operations, but the administration is divided on strategy. Nearly everyone considers the fight a stalemate, and some in Trump’s administration even propose withdrawing or handing over the entire American effort to private security contractors.
We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists.
– Trump, in his announcement Monday night
Among Afghans, anti-Western sentiment grows over deteriorating security, even in the capital, Kabul. The economy also suffers, partly as a result of a drawdown in foreign forces. As Trump is poised to announce his plan, Afghanistan’s government controls only about half of the country.
After months of debate, Trump finally unveils his strategy in a prime-time television address.
He says the U.S. will win “in the end,” defeating al-Qaida and IS fighters, and ensuring the government doesn’t fall to the Taliban. He refuses to provide troop increase numbers or timelines, saying military assistance would be determined by results and the cooperation of Afghanistan’s beleaguered government.
For years, astronomers and other sky watchers have been ticking off the days in anticipation of the celestial event that is now behind us.
A partial solar eclipse was visible on Long Island between roughly 1:25 p.m. and 4 p.m. In other parts of the United States, crowds were awed by totality — a period of minutes when the moon completely blocked the sun — but Long Islanders saw just 70 percent coverage. Throngs of people gathered at beaches, museums and other outdoor spaces, passing around eclipse glasses, taking photos and looking skyward.
Here’s how the event played out on social media from Long Island and beyond:
The following times are in Eastern Standard Time.
4:10 p.m. Reflecting at Jones Beach
The skies barely dimmed but eclipse was still a marvel. "I thought it would be twilight. I had a different idea, but it's cool."#Lieclipsepic.twitter.com/XiwTcjDGgS
Welcomed Cornerstone students to Naval Observatory to witness the wonder of our universe in motion. Fun & educational event! #Eclipse2017pic.twitter.com/gFl7W5MuJ4
Rich D'Alsace, a Riverhead Middle School science teacher, said he's been talking about #lieclipse for 12 yrs. "It's exciting to finally see" pic.twitter.com/HFhKCseevG
Suzanne Aiello, 72, of West Islip, was the only person I saw today at Jake's 58 who came prepared to see the eclipse. #lieclipsepic.twitter.com/RRD4YPfADJ
#Lieclipse Keira, 9, of Massapequa, left, and fellow Girl Scouts from Nassau Ct. take in the sights above the Cradle of Aviation. pic.twitter.com/mn7Isy6UGM
#lieclipse Thousands turned out to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City's eclipse events, the museum's Kerri Kiker said. pic.twitter.com/Z8KDKDMhad
Christine Martinez, with her daughter & niece, initially said #lieclipse "really isn't a big thing." Once borrowed glasses: "that's amazing" pic.twitter.com/DveEHH4Pzr
Charles Renick, 91, of Great Neck and his daughter Christina Sobel, 47, of NYC. Renick saw an eclipse in W. Va. when he was 8yo. #lieclipsepic.twitter.com/cCRSMCd0Ow
