Latest news with #DennisA.Clark
New York Post
16-06-2025
- New York Post
Hellraiser storms altar at Long Island Catholic church, topples 110-year statue in Sunday mass tantrum
An irate hellraiser stormed the altar at a Long Island church during Sunday mass — toppling sacred, century-old relics and causing $10,000 worth of damages, authorities said. Aldo Hernandez, 26, burst into Corpus Christi Church in Mineola at just after 5 p.m. during a Spanish-language Eucharist celebration and shattered two religious statues — including a Sacred Heart statue that was 100 years old, cops and church workers said. 'I just broke down,' Corpus Christi employee Rob Mondello told News 12, saying he had spent three months restoring the sculpture after taking it out of storage. 'It's sad somebody would do something like that.' 6 Aldo Hernandez allegedly burst into Corpus Christi Church in Mineola and knocked over statues. Nassau County Police Department 6 Hernandez knocked over and damaged two statues in Corpus Christi Church. Dennis A. Clark 6 The incident happened during a 5 p.m Spanish-langugae mass at the Nassau County Catholic church. Dennis A. Clark The motive for the unholy tantrum wasn't immediately known, but cops said the devilish vandal was taken into custody without further incident. But parishioners were left shaken by the unsettling rampage. 'It's very important,' said longtime worshipper Maria Rodrigues. 'I don't know why people [would] do something like that.' 6 The damaged Sacred Heart statue is over 110 years old. Dennis A. Clark 6 A second statue that was damaged during the outburst. Dennis A. Clark 6 The broken hand of one of the statues. Dennis A. Clark Hernandez was charged with second-degree criminal mischief and was set to be arraigned Monday at First District Court in Hempstead. Police said their investigation is ongoing.
New York Post
08-06-2025
- New York Post
Long Island neighborhood named New York's best place to live gives locals new swagger: ‘Why not us?'
Massapequa Park has got that swagger. The Long Island enclave is basking in the glow of earning the title of New York's best place to live in a US News & World Report ranking — with locals saying 'why not us?' It's some welcome attention after some unwanted association with the Gilgo Beach serial murder suspect and an ongoing fight to keep the local school's 'Chiefs' name and logo in the face of a state ban on Native American imagery. Advertisement 7 Massapequa Park was rated the best place to live in NY State by U.S. News and World report. Dennis A. Clark 'This is the place you want to start a family,' said lifelong resident Michael Cassano, owner of American Beauty restaurant in Massapequa Park Village. The Park — as it's nicknamed — is simply different because of the moxie and mettle of the upbeat, take-no-crap population of around 17,000, Cassano added. 'With that comes a pride — you see it in the fight to keep the Chiefs logo,' he said. 'Everybody is getting behind it, just how everybody gets behind this town for all sorts of things.' Advertisement The neighborhood not only made New York's best but was among the top150 in America in the ranking, scoring high in quality of life categories. Both old and new residents said they weren't surprised, viewing the town as the perfect slice of Americana and great values, sitting pretty on the water east of New York City — which bombed toward the bottom 50 of over 850 rankings. Cassano's wife, Maria, 44, added that the South Shore area, where a median home goes for $746,500, per is one where 'we know each other's names.' Advertisement 7 Michael and Maria Cassano are owners of American Beauty restaurant in Massapequa Park. Dennis A. Clark She used the example of how the town rallied to support the family of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller as a vast majority of residents lined the busy Merrick Road out of respect for his funeral procession in the Spring of 2024. 'To see our community come together, that's a norm for us,' she said. 'I think this town brings families together.' A killer reputation 7 Alleged Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann appears in Judge Timothy Mazzeiâs courtroom at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead for a status conference on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. Newsday Advertisement The Cassano testimony paints the town in a much brighter light than what was seen after the 2023 arrest of lifelong resident and Berner High School graduate, alleged Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann. Even that wasn't enough to dampen the good vibes in the village, which has since rocked back to normal since the worldwide press left First Avenue. The devastating news didn't deter Vinny and Allie Frazzetto, both 30, from closing on their home walking distance from the notorious Heuermann house last summer, either. 'The long-standing reputation that Massapequa Park has, the good schools, core values, and the wonderful community prevailed over anything else,' Allie Frazzetto said. Massapequa Park also scored high on public safety stats in the new ranking, as it is in US News and World Report's safest-ranked community in America for 2024. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman praised Mayor Daniel Pearl for doing 'an outstanding job' in other areas of residential needs. Peak pequa 7 Allie and Vinny Frazzetto who recently moved into Massapequa Park from Bayside, NY. Dennis A. Clark Advertisement 7 Ariel views of Front St and Clark Blvd. in Massapequa Park. Dennis A. Clark That's why both Frazzettos called it quits on Bayside, Queens, as they're getting ready to raise baby No. 1, whom they're expecting in September. 'I love that you have the opportunities that a big district would give you, but the feel of a small neighborhood,' Allie Frazzetto, originally of Garden City, added of Jerry Seinfeld's hometown. 'I feel like you get the best of both worlds.' Advertisement Her husband, originally of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said he's excited for his little one to have friends on the block to play with as he grows up, just like dad did in the early 2000s. 'We wanted the great school districts that Massapequa has, and we wanted the backyard, we wanted that next chapter of life,' he said. And Massapequa High School's baseball, softball, and both girls and boys lacrosse teams all won county titles this spring. Advertisement 'We have winners and successful people. It doesn't happen by accident,' town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino, a Massapequa grad. 'It happens because of tremendous support from the parents and the families. The community, and especially the school district. It reflects so well on everyone.' The Park is also home to a diverse range of blue- and white-collar walks of life that Rishi Matadeen, 43, a long-time manager at popular watering hole Johnny McGorey's, sees nightly. 'You could come off the LIRR and you could be in construction clothes…you come and sit down and you could sit next to a guy that works on Wall Street, who makes $400,000 a year,' he said. Advertisement 'And there's no awkwardness…everyone feels comfortable here, so that's the beauty of it.' Matadeen was first 'a little shocked' to hear the news of being named No. 1 — but then it all made sense. 7 Rishi Matadeen, manager of Johnny McGorey's Pub in Massapequa Park. Dennis A. Clark 7 Ariel views of Front St and the LIRR Station in Massapequa Park. Dennis A. Clark 'You start to put things in perspective a little bit and realize you take things for granted,' he said. 'And you go, well, why not us, right?'
New York Post
02-06-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Long Island boaters now use AI to catch fish, see through 'pea soup' fog
Capt. Eric Collins recently boated through '9/10 treacherous fog' off the inlet by Jones Beach to the point he couldn't lay eyes on half a dozen vessels coming toward his Southport 33FE. 'The weather was horrific as far as fog goes,' Collins, a marina owner and fisherman from Massapequa, told The Post. 'We refer to it in the marine world as pea-soup fog, where you could barely see, maybe 50 to 60 feet in front of your boat.' However, Collins has a difference on board that makes miserable pea-soup days much more manageable and safer — cutting-edge AI by New York City-based tech startup Viam, which enables his instruments to communicate with one another in a highly sophisticated way. 7 Eric Collins, a fisherman and marina owner in Massapequa, on his boat in Freeport on May 16, 2025. Dennis A. Clark 'At no point was today something that I would consider an easy, navigable day,' he said. 'This makes it a better experience for everybody on the water.' These advanced safety features, responsible for spotting where the six boats came from, are just one of Viam's new offshore advances. The AI firm is also utilizing machine learning to make it exponentially easier to spot and catch fish, serving as an industry game-changer. 'What's out there now on boats is just a picture with a bunch of green blobs on it,' Viam CEO Eliot Horowitz told The Post. 'Ours is, 'hey, there's a 75% chance it's a fish 300 feet to the right.' Horowitz, who grew up catching striped bass on the Long Island Sound, has seen firsthand that high-tech hardware, such as HD radar, sonar, and GPS, typically isn't worth its price tag. 7 Collins uses AI technology from New York City-based tech startup Viam to help his boat navigate through 'pea soup' fogs. Dennis A. Clark 7 Collins recently used the AI to sail through a fog off Jones Beach where he could hardly see any other vessels coming his way. Dennis A. Clark He said it's because their software interfaces are often anything but user-friendly, to the point that mariners want to smash their radios like Capt. Quint from 'Jaws.' 'If you ask most boaters, they don't really know how to use them very well. They're hard to manage,' Horowitz said. Now, the emerging AI from Viam creates easy-to-read data from instrumentation. 7 Collins' boat seen in Freeport with a 'Powered by Viam' sign on the side. Dennis A. Clark A quick glance at a boat's console shows the predicted location of fish with a clear readout, utilizing metrics such as changes in water temperature, sonar and other real-time probability statistics. 'There's no scientific GPS that's going to say 'go here and you're guaranteed to catch fish,' but it's definitely something that's taking a lot of the guessing out of it,' said Collins, who is hooked on the tech. 'I think that in the boating world, there's not anything touching near the significance of this,' Collins said. The system can even predict when boat parts may need repair or replacement, modifying things to 'a 20-minute fix instead of a two-week fix,' according to Horowitz. 7 The AI also helps Collins spot and catch fish. Dennis A. Clark 7 Collins said the AI helps take some of the guessing out of fishing. Dennis A. Clark 'A ChatGPT for boating' Viam's breakthroughs are still in shallow water as opposed to the potential they could bring in the coming years, according to Collins. 'I see this becoming a ChatGPT for boating that can start networking vessels together,' he said, adding that it will likely appeal to the Coast Guard and the operators of the Staten Island Ferry. The captain's prediction is close to what Horowitz has in the works — something he described as 'a Waze for boaters.' 7 Collins holding a 130 pound bigeye tuna he caught on his boat. Courtesy of Captain Eric Collins Viam is looking to link boats to the same system to provide real-time safety updates on the water in the same way Waze notes traffic and road hazards/ Horowitz said the Jones inlet, where Collins recently fought through the intense fog, is a perfect example. 'Like many inlets in Long Island, it can get dangerous at times because after every storm, the sand gets pushed around.' 'One of the things we're working on with a different customer is actually getting users real-time maps of the ocean floor,' he said, adding that sharper technology to fish in foggy conditions is in the works as well. The long-term goal for Viam, which also operates outside the aquatic space, is to be able to identify different marine life in the water, from sharks to fish and whales. 'We think we can get there, which would be cool,' said Horowitz. 'One of my huge things that I care about is getting more people to enjoy the water.'
New York Post
27-05-2025
- New York Post
Long Island cops raid 26 illegal weed stores in a week, seizing 15K products: officials
Suffolk County cops caught 26 unlicensed pot shops in the act during dozens of raids over just one week – seizing more than 15,000 illegal weed products, officials said Tuesday. The countywide crackdown just began May 20 but has already seen 44 smoke shops or convenience stores raided and resulted in seven arrests and five businesses getting shut down permanently, according to police. 'We are not going to allow the proliferation of illegal marijuana shops in this county,' Suffolk Executive Ed Romaine told reporters at a news conference at police headquarters in Yaphank. 3 A large-scale raid cracking down on illegal cannabis products across Suffolk County led to 26 unlicensed stores being caught with over 15,000 illegal weed products. Dennis A. Clark 'Under the law, we not only padlock their business, but we seize all of their products,' Romaine added, saying the county will likely incinerate the seized products. Police said the biggest busts so far came from raids on Cloud Nine V in Farmingville; Simply Green in Coram; Vape Guru in Bay Shore; and The Norm smoke shop in Patchogue. Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina also revealed the raids found some of these storefronts selling illegal fireworks, magic mushroom chocolate bars from Colorado — and flavored vape pods to minors. He told The Post that the police worked together with town officials from all over Suffolk County to identify locations that were possibly selling weed illegally. 3 Suffolk Executive Ed Romaine told reporters at a news conference, 'We are not going to allow the proliferation of illegal marijuana shops in this county.' Dennis A. Clark 3 The biggest busts came from Cloud Nine V in Farmingville; Simply Green in Coram; Vape Guru in Bay Shore; and The Norm smoke shop in Patchogue. Dennis A. Clark 'The places that we hit, we asked our precinct commanders and our elected townspeople to give us the spots that were the most problematic in our communities, and those are the spots that we targeted,' Catalina said of the raids. Officials promised more raids to come. 'This isn't just about legality, it's more about safety,' said Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr., whose department worked in collaboration with police to conduct the raids. 'Products sold outside of regulated channels can be dangerous and untested,' said Toulon Jr., referring to THC vape products. Officials said the operation will continue indefinitely — with dozens more shops already in their crosshairs.
New York Post
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
A look inside Westhampton Beach — the ‘commuter Hamptons' that caters to ‘local' Long Islanders
The tide is turning in Westhampton Beach. Though the quiet eastern Long Island town has been perceived as poorer in relation to other, celeb-packed Hamptons hotspots — the popularity of the seaside playground has been steadily growing with locals who don't have helicopter-and-private-yacht-level money. 'Westhampton Beach is the Hamptons for the commuters, for the local Long Island people,' pizzaiolo Michael Brunetti, whose restaurant of his namesake is a hot spot on Main Street, told The Post. Advertisement 9 'Westhampton Beach is the Hamptons for the commuters, for the local Long Island people,' pizzaiolo Michael Brunetti said. Dennis A. Clark One advantage is that Westhampton Beach is about 20 to 30 miles closer to the heart of the Island than Southampton and East Hampton. As of Friday morning, a viral video captured what's bound to be months of bumper-to-bumper east end exodus from the Big Apple. Advertisement 9 Westhampton is expecting a big season this summer. Dennis A. Clark 'On a Friday afternoon or evening, to go from Westhampton to Southampton, it could take a few hours,' Brunetti, who boasts that Westhampton Beach's initials stand for 'where Hamptons begin,' added. 'Long Islanders love to come here because it's so close. In Huntington, you could be here in 45 minutes or half an hour sometimes.' Fear of missing what the other Hamptons offer is also minuscule, as Main Street underwent a complete cosmetic overhaul during Covid. Advertisement 9 Main Street in Westhampton has enjoyed a major makeover since the pandemic. Dennis A. Clark The town moved utility poles underground, phased out stinky septic tanks, and ripped up the entire roadway — and that's brought in tons of new restaurants, stores, a reopened theater, and local visitors on a prettier stretch of blocks. 'People coming from Long Island increased, I would say potentially, 45% in the past five years,' Carlos David Vega, the general manager of the posh Westhampton Bath and Tennis Club, said. 9 Long Islanders are carving a niche in Westhampton this summer. Dennis A. Clark Advertisement Folks from up island are using the club's tennis courts, beach access, and saltwater pool — all while returning home by 9 p.m., the 25-year-long employee of the resort and hotel added. 'They've gone from staycation and now make it a daycation.' The 'mom and pop' Hampton 9 The West Hamptons attitude is much more relaxed and low-key, said Shock Ice Cream owner Elyse Richman. Dennis A. Clark That's not to say A-listers don't swing by themselves — Tom Brady has been known to sign pizza boxes inside Brunetti's eatery — but the attitude is much more relaxed and low-key, said Shock Ice Cream owner Elyse Richman. 'We don't really have corporate restaurants here, we don't have stores like Cartier from the city,' she said, adding that people from the other status quo Hamptons and Sag Harbor are also starting to trickle into the charming town. 'Most of the stores on the street are mom and pop…everyone knows everyone, and it's much more personal. I think that's what they enjoy about it. It's very homey. It's just a nice place to be.' Brunetti added that Westhampton also picks up islander appeal as a place where keeping up with the Joneses is virtually non-existent as opposed to other destinations on the fork. Advertisement 'You just don't find it like that here — even though the affluence is here,' he said. 'It's not very flaunted. People here are much more laid-back.' 9 Westhampton caters to the community as much as it does to celebrities. Dennis A. Clark 9 Affluence is present yet relaxed in Westhampton Beach. Dennis A. Clark By land or by sea Another lure for Westhampton Beach is that it's only a quick trip on the boat, explained Peter Haskell of Haskell's Seafood. Advertisement 'That's another way to travel on Long Island,' he said. 'Many times, we're servicing people who would like to take a meal back to their boat to enjoy or fish to barbecue at their marinas. Even during 'shoulder seasons' outside of summer, Haskell hears customers say they're coming by from nearby, such as one couple from Port Jefferson on the North Shore. 'I think things are just getting better season by season now.' 9 Long Islanders are also boating to Westhampton to make the most of a soon-to-be summer day. Dennis A. Clark Advertisement 9 Agata Riccioli and her cousin Maria Burriesci are opening a jewelry business in town because of its new, excellent reputation. Dennis A. Clark The town's turn inspired Ronkonkoma native Agata Riccioli and her cousin Maria Burriesci to open Isola Bella Jewelers on Main Street in the coming days. 'We feel like this is going to be the new spot of the Hamptons, and we're really excited about what it's going to be in the next few years,' Riccioli said.
