Sunday, October 4, 2026
National Newspaper Week, Oct. 4–10, is an opportunity to focus attention on something Long Islanders experience every day but can easily take for granted: the value of having journalists paying attention to your own community.
Recently I’ve come to believe that the strongest influence on developing human beings is the times in which they live. Try as I might, summoning all the empathy I possess, I simply can’t know what it was like to endure the London Blitz during World War II. Or the Dust Bowl in America, or the Holocaust, all of which changed the way people lived and thought.
But this loss is different. I discovered that I’m not myself anymore; more challenging, I’m not sure who I am. When you’re a partner in a 58-year-long marriage, identity becomes somewhat fluid. We were a “we” and now I’m an “I.”
The problem, however, is that data centers are a legitimate challenge to elected officials who aren’t always capable of understanding what the centers do and how the public may react. It’s a balancing act that isn’t working well, and the public has now become fired up, because people are afraid of rising electricity rates and don’t want their water supply depleted.
But being innocent doesn’t prevent the government from suspecting you of wrongdoing, or even arresting you. The government may target people not because they have committed a crime, but to make examples of them, intimidate others, or silence those they regard as troublesome or subversive.
For years, Oceanside High School math teacher Rocio Saborido has heard students pose an eternal question about the arcane figures and symbols they struggle to master in her classes: “When will I ever use this?” Saborido found an answer in something many of them already had in their hands — energy drinks.
Mount Sinai South Nassau will rally support for its next chapter of cardiovascular services at its annual “Soiree Under the Stars,” with this year’s gala benefitting the hospital’s “Bringing Heart Home” campaign.
The Oceanside Community Warriors recently gathered with local families, scouts and community members for a cleanup at Detective Luis G. Alvarez Memorial Park, continuing an effort to keep the special Oceanside gathering place beautiful and welcoming.
