With our children back in classrooms and the leaves beginning their autumnal change, the nation is highlighting another vital milestone as we observe September as National Recovery Month. more

Many people woke up a couple of days before Christmas to heavy rain and wind that flooded residential streets and primary roadways, and may have left them wondering, “Where are all those Sandy flood-mitigation projects we were promised?” more

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget offers savings for volunteer fire departments. The Emergency Medical Service Cost Recovery Act will help fire department ambulances recover the cost of … more

Recently I joined the Nassau County Legislature’s majority caucus, veterans groups and County Executive Bruce Blakeman to announce the creation of a program to provide grants of up to $10,000 to every eligible veterans hall in the county. more

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the operational status quo of many businesses, but few have been as severely hit as the restaurant industry. While dine-in restrictions have been lifted and people are starting to eat out again, recovering restaurants are dogged by a new set of challenges, including inflated food prices and staff and supply shortages. In the steep climb out of an eighteen-month economic slowdown, government help has been limited locally. Only 12 percent of Long Island’s restaurants and dining establishments secured federal grants from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. But the pandemic has opened new avenues for generosity and community-centered responses that have proven critical in reeling businesses back from the brink of bankruptcy. That is the heart of the Small Business Rescue Initiative at the Long Island Jewish Valley Stream hospital, a Northwell Health institution. Four hundred thousand dollars in in-house food and catering services will instead be allocated to pay struggling restaurants on Long Island and Queens to prepare food for the hospital’s staff and catering events. The list spans eateries from Lynbrook and Elmont to Franklin Square and Valley Stream. “It ironically started during a budget process” when after crunching the budgetary numbers, the question arose, “‘Why are we spending so much money on [food and catering services] when we can take that money and transplant that to our local community?’” said Chris O’Brien, associate executive director of finance, who saw an opportunity to help struggling restaurants recovering from the restrictions imposed on them because of Covid-19. The initiative, O’Brien also found, would take a “tremendous burden” off the hospital kitchen staff and free them up to dedicate their full time and attention to the patient service experience and in-room patient dining. “The LIJ hospital was in the epicenter of the epicenter of the pandemic. Every day was uncertain despair, but the one thing that was constant was the unwavering support of the community,” said O’Brien, who added that it was time for the hospital to pay that support forward and find ways to repurpose dollars back into the local economy. According to Dr. Chidubem Iloabachie, associate chair of emergency medicine, the process took several months, as members from the hospital’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee scouted a variety of restaurants with distinct cultural cuisines to match the diversity of the hospital staff and learn about the individual stories of the businesses. Out of more than 40 candidates, 10 were chosen. One of the partnership grants has gone to the father-son duo of Jaime Parra and Luis Payano, the restaurateurs behind L.I. Valle Grill, a family-run restaurant originally based in the Bronx, which planted new roots in Franklin Square in June. The duo took the reins from the owners of the Latino restaurant Higuei, which for years was a fixture in the neighborhood. In honor of them, Parra and Payano have kept much of the same service staff and Latino-based menu items, yet have opened their doors under very different circumstances. “It’s been a little rough. In the beginning, we were a little nervous about jumping into this business, especially because we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Payano said. “After the pandemic, it’s hard to get people back to work. It’s hard to find products, and products are getting more expensive every day,” Parra said. “But little by little we’ve been seeing things are steady, things are positive,” Payano said with a reassuring pep in his voice. “This opportunity that LIJ has given us is outstanding…This $30,000 to $35,000 grant for the year puts us at ease.” Payano further said that the grant money would cushion the added expenses incurred from the inflated food supply costs, so they do not have to raise their menu prices. “As much as we are justified in raising prices because we’re spending more money, we’d rather hold it out, and in the next six months to a year, things will start to stabilize again,” said Payano, who hopes to ride the momentum of the grant and his many business community outreach opportunities to achieve success in the long haul. more

A construction project to fortify the shoreline near Baldwin Harbor Town Park is expected to move forward in the coming months. Town of Hempstead Engineering Commissioner Doug Tuman said at a … more

It is an understatement to say that the coronavirus pandemic has had profoundly negative impacts on the health and well-being of Americans, as well as the job market, personal finances and the economy. more

The Grand Pavilion for Rehabilitation and Nursing at Rockville Centre celebrated its 60th Covid-19 patient recovery last week with a socially distanced car parade. The skilled nursing and rehabilitation center has served as a special recovery center for Covid-19 patients discharged from local hospitals across Long Island since the beginning of the pandemic. more

The unit, which cost roughly $1 million to construct, provides up to 16 patients at a time with respiratory and physical therapy, along with round-the-clock care by physicians, nurses and dietitians. more

With coronavirus cases declining, Glen Cove Hospital has entered a recovery stage, said Dr. Bradley Sherman, medical director and chairman of the hospital’s Department of Medicine. Now … more