Suffolk County News

As Hurricane Earl threatens the East End, wineries on Long Island are battening down the hatches to protect their harvests. Winemaker Charles Massoud of Paumanok Vineyards in Aquebogue, says he’s anxious but is trying to remain optimistic. “I woke up this morning at 4 o’clock and couldn't get back to sleep,” he said. “But the reality is, we are concerned, but at the same time hopeful.”

The owners of a sprawling West Hills home were arraigned Thursday on an animal cruelty charge, a day after authorities said up to 150 starving and abused dogs and other animals were found in and around their 33-acre property.

Riders and their horses will continue to compete Friday in the Hampton Classic Horse Show until Hurricane Earl causes weather conditions to deteriorate, organizers of the prestigious event said Thursday.

A convicted sex offender from Ridge was arrested Thursday after he failed to register a change of address, Southampton Town police said.

One of the men who admitted taking part in the hate-crime assault of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero was sentenced Thursday for the second time for his role in the attack because of a mistake made at his original sentencing last week.

Firefighters from a dozen departments needed several hours yesterday morning to extinguish a blaze that ravaged a small Amityville shopping center, officials said.

While the popular "The Sea Around Us" exhibition of 19th and 20th century waterscapes continues in the museum's main galleries, don't overlook "Currents" in the upstairs Contemporary Gallery at the Nassau County Museum of Art.

ALBANY - Rick Lazio continues to lead Carl Paladino in the Republican primary for governor, though the latter's supporters appear more ardent, according to a poll released Thursday.

Firefighters responding to an automatic fire alarm at a large West Hills home yesterday morning, found dozens of sick, malnourished, or deceased animals that included a pony, goats and dozens of dogs, officials said.

Wednesday night, a tropical storm watch was issued for areas from Sandy Hook, N.J. to Woods Hole, Mass., including Long Island.

Kevin Shea, the Medford man who admitted punching Marcelo Lucero in the face before the Ecuadorean immigrant was fatally stabbed in Patchogue nearly two years ago, was sentenced Wednesday at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead to 8 years in prison.

A little Hamptons style now graces the walls of the Oval Office.

The Appellate Division, overturning a state Supreme Court decision, has restored the write-in Conservative primary in the 1st congressional district.

Mastic Beach residents will elect a mayor and trustees by November, and early contenders for the new village's top post are already expressing interest.

A Queens man convicted of shooting and killing a Nesconset real estate attorney in a murder-for-hire conspiracy was sentenced Wednesday to spend the remainder of his life behind bars.

Rick Lazio, candidate for governor, returned Wednesday to the old Suffolk terrain, including a lunchtime meeting with scores of employees at Napco Security Technologies’ plant on Bayview Avenue in Amityville, who warmly applauded his stump speech, which was mostly focused on the state economy and government reform. Later in the day Lazio opened his headquarters on East Main Street in Bay Shore and was due to meet with a local group.

After a yearlong battle, the Suffolk Water Authority has given up plans to extend public water from East Marion to Orient and instead will seek to redirect $1.9 million in federal stimulus funds to bring public water to 200 Calverton homeowners.

Schools opened their doors Wednesday in Amityville, the first district on Long Island to kick off the new school year.

Anthony James watched as the new kindergartners - sporting ribboned pigtails, crooked baseball caps and backpacks half their body size - stepped off their buses Wednesday for the first day of class.

A man who admitted stabbing his roommate to death at a Wyandanch boardinghouse was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison.