Long Island News

Gov. Kathy Hochul's office named Heatherwood Communities LLC the designated developer for a 13-acre state-owned former airplane factory on Conklin Street in East Farmingdale, where neighbors have watched the property sit derelict since the 1990s. The Town of Babylon is now preparing a Generic Environmental Impact Statement covering a new 113-acre Overlay Zoning District that includes both the state parcel and an adjacent private site.

Heckscher State Park sits on 1,657 acres along the Great South Bay in East Islip, with two swimming beaches, more than 10 miles of hiking and biking trails, and one of the few public campgrounds on the South Shore. Here is how to make the most of a visit.

Sabor Quisqueyano opened last week at 148 Front Street in Hempstead, bringing family-style Dominican cooking to a neighborhood where the cuisine had no dedicated sit-down spot. Owner Carmen Reyes left a catering job in Queens to open the 38-seat restaurant, with lunch plates starting at $12 and dinner entrees topping out at $22.

Babylon Village's 100th Memorial Day parade steps off Monday morning as Robert Moses State Park's beach reopens for summer. From a concert at Argyle Lake to a kayak launch at the town marina, here are five ways to spend the long weekend on Long Island's South Shore.

Riverhead's town board voted 4-1 Wednesday to approve a 68-unit mixed-use building one block from the Peconic River, the town's biggest downtown housing project in more than 20 years. Fourteen units will be capped for households earning 80 percent of area median income. Developer KPG Long Island expects to break ground by November.

Governor Hochul elevated Nassau and Suffolk from Drought Watch to Drought Warning on May 16. Here is what that means for Long Island's sole-source aquifer — and what every homeowner should do right now.

Lifeguards take their posts Memorial Day weekend and Long Island's beach season opens for real. From the six and a half miles of Jones Beach to the nationally ranked sand at Coopers Beach in Southampton Village, the island's public beaches are among the best in the Northeast. This guide covers nine of the top spots, what makes each one worth the drive, what it costs, and what to expect on a summer Saturday.

Memorial Day Weekend is eight days out, and for the hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders who cross Great South Bay each summer, the season starts at the Bay Shore ferry terminal. Fire Island Ferries runs service to eight car-free communities on the barrier island, from family-friendly Fair Harbor to the restaurants and bars of Ocean Beach, with morning departures at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

The boardwalk is getting its biggest new tenant in years as Tulum Tacos & Tequila prepares to open a 5,800-square-foot location — and the city just made it easier to pour drinks along the water.

Taheni Cafe and Grill, the Palestinian-owned halal kitchen that built a following in Brooklyn, has opened at 175 Bay Shore Road in Deer Park, bringing shawarma wraps, manakish, and a smash burger in soft potato pita to the south shore's growing dining scene.

Brothers Eric and Jason Machado, the Huntington restaurateurs behind MB Ramen and Bistro Cassis, have opened Pasta Joint at 28 Wall Street in the former Faz's location. The concept centers on handmade pasta made in an open kitchen, with most dishes priced around $17. It is the third restaurant the siblings operate in the village.

From Levittown's carnival circuit and the Patchogue waterfront to Fire Island's season opener and the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead — here is your complete Long Island Memorial Day Weekend calendar.

Memorial Day weekend arrives May 23, and Long Island is firing up its summer calendar early. From a free craft fair at the Smithtown Historical Society to the weekly arts market on Long Beach boardwalk and the America250 celebration at Jones Beach, here are five things worth putting on your calendar for May 17 through 25.

The third annual Gold Coast Book Fair closes out its weekend run through Sunday afternoon in downtown Oyster Bay, bringing more than 150 authors across 11 venues. Broadway productions run from Northport to Babylon Village, a craft fair hits Smithtown next weekend, and the summer street festival season gets underway in Ronkonkoma on May 24.

Five unions representing 3,500 workers shut down the LIRR just after midnight Saturday — the first strike since 1994. Here is where to catch shuttle buses, what to tell your boss, and how to get a refund.

Suffolk County homeowners have until Tuesday, May 19, to formally challenge their property tax assessments, and missing the deadline means waiting until 2027. The filing period covers all 10 Suffolk townships, from Babylon to Islip to Riverhead. Tax attorneys say the process takes less than an hour and can save hundreds or thousands of dollars annually, making it one of the most underused but highest-impact moves Long Island homeowners can make.

The Riverhead Town Board will hear public comment at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, on a proposal to condemn the long-vacant Long Island Science Center building at 111 East Main Street on the town square. A 3-2 board vote in April put formal eminent domain proceedings in motion, and residents who want to weigh in on the forced purchase have until Tuesday night.