Gov. Kathy Hochul said yesterday the state would not force counties outside of New York City to accept migrants, essentially throwing cold water on Mayor Eric Adams’ request that she order communities on Long Island and elsewhere to provide shelter. Yancey Roy and Matthew Chayes report on Newsday.com that earlier Thursday, Newsday reported the Adams administration filed a letter in relation to a court proceeding, saying Hochul should issue an executive order to “preempt attempts by certain localities to stymie the city’s efforts to place new arrivals in accommodations outside the city."

Further, the Adams administration suggested specific state-run facilities for sheltering, including Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base on Moen Street in Westhampton Beach; Pilgrim Psychiatric Center on Crooked Hill Road in Brentwood; and the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Nissequogue River State Park.

Hochul didn’t address Adams’ request specifically, but she said a 1981 consent decree that established a right-to-shelter mandate in New York City cannot be imposed on New York’s 57 other counties. “Which is one of the reasons we cannot, and will not, force other parts of our state to shelter migrants. Nor are we going to be asking these migrants to move to other parts of the state against their will,” the governor said in a briefing at the state Capitol.

Instead, the state will seek, as it has done previously, to work with communities outside the city that are open to receive migrants.

“That said, I do believe we have a moral imperative to help these new arrivals,” the governor said. “I’m grateful to the counties that have welcomed and supported the migrants, and we’ll continue to partner with them. But…there does not appear to be a solution to this federal problem any time soon.”

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The President’s Council of Suffolk County Officials voted Wednesday night to ratify a new contract between Section XI, the governing body of scholastic sports in Suffolk County, and its referees for the upcoming season. Gregg Sarra reports on Newsday.com that the three-year agreement between the officials and Section XI will call for incremental raises of $3 per game in the first year and $5 per game in the second and third years for all sports.

Tom Combs, the executive director of Section XI, said he was satisfied that there is an agreement but disappointed that it took such a long time.

“We can finally get to work on our schedules, which begin Monday,” Combs said. “It’s good that we’re going to have officials and it’s not going to affect the student-athletes. That was our main concern. We did not want to delay or jeopardize the fall season in any way."

The Suffolk high school season opens with non-league games in boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls soccer, and field hockey on Monday.

The cost for officials in 2022-23 was $3.3 million in Suffolk and that number will grow to approximately $3.6 million for the 2023-24 school year. Combs has said that more than 1,300 officials work in Suffolk through the school year.

Under the previous contract, referees and umpires for varsity baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, lacrosse and gymnastics made $131 per event last season. Varsity football officials made $134 per game, and varsity wrestling referees were paid $139 last season.

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The Town of Riverhead has filed a lawsuit to recover title to the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall property. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the town’s summons and complaint was filed Aug. 2 in Suffolk County Supreme Court seeking a court order granting title to the town under a “reverter clause” in the 1982 deed from the town to the Council for the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall. The clause requires the property to be used for educational, recreational or cultural purposes and it requires the council to maintain the building’s historic character. The building, constructed in 1881, was purchased by the Riverhead Community Development Agency in 1980 and conveyed to the Council for the Vail Leavitt in March 1982. The complaint states that, despite the town’s efforts to help the council prepare an application for a share of the $10 million downtown revitalization state grant awarded to Riverhead in 2021, the Council for the Vail Leavitt did not complete a business plan and could not apply for a share of the downtown revitalization award.

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Risks associated with using facial recognition technology in schools likely outweigh the benefits of the biometrics tool, and educators should be cautious about its use, a report from the state’s Office of Information Technology Services found. Joie Tyrrell reports on Newsday.com that the report, produced with assistance from New York State’s Education Department and released earlier this month, examined the use of “biometric identifying technology” — where physical characteristics, including facial recognition and fingerprints, can be used in schools whether for security, administrative or classroom purposes.

The state's education commissioner, Betty A. Rosa, will consider the report and its recommendations in determining whether to authorize the purchase or utilization of the technology in public schools. A determination will be made within the next few weeks, the Education Department said.

Long Island educators are skeptical about the technology being used here on students. “Biometric scans could be beneficial if [schools] are trying to keep track of staff in and out of a building or for automated processes like payroll, but when it comes to safety and security, facial recognition for students and managing the security of the building, I share many of the same concerns that the report detailed. And I would be cautious going forward until the technology improves,” said Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.

David Wicks, superintendent at Eastern Suffolk BOCES, said local systems ceased discussing such technology when the state issued its moratorium on it in 2020. He expects that schools would be cautious about moving forward with it — if they did at all — if use is approved.

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An Arizona man who attempted to rush the stage this week at Manhattan's 92nd Street Y to get to Drew Barrymore showed up at the actor and talk-show host's south fork farmhouse Wednesday night, according to Southampton Town police. Robert Brodsky reports on Newsday.com that the department received a 911 call Wednesday evening that a "suspicious person," later identified as Chad Michael Busto, was going door-to-door looking for Barrymore's house, said Lt. Todd Spencer. Busto, he said, was temporarily detained "in the vicinity of her residence" but not arrested.

"He was detained and questioned and subsequently released," Spencer said yesterday, adding that Barrymore was not home at the time of the incident. "We have an ongoing investigation and will have updated information going out tonight." Lt. Spencer added that the Southampton Town Police Department has had no previous interaction with the 43 year old Busto.

The alleged stalker aggressively approached Ms. Barrymore as she was doing an interview with singer-actor Reneé Rapp as part of the 92nd Street Y’s Recanati-Kaplan talks.

Security guards quickly ushered Barrymore offstage while Busto was detained. The NYPD confirmed he was not arrested.

Busto has dozens of arrests in Arizona; South Carolina; Washington, D.C.; Wisconsin; Virginia and California in connection with trespassing, failing to obey a police officer, theft, assault, harassment and indecent exposure, records state.

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Gov. Kathy Hochul demanded President Biden step up and take action to address the surge of migrants flooding into New York — in her first public appeal to the White House since the crisis began in Spring 2022. Carl Campanile and Craig McCarthy report in THE NY POST that the fiery comments from the governor, who has previously opted to try to work behind closed doors on the migrant issue, blamed the Biden administration for the unmanageable influx and urged the president to take ownership. “This crisis originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved through the federal government,” Hochul said yesterday at an Albany address, where she announced the demands were sent to the president in a letter. “I’m confident if the federal government steps up and does its part, we will see this crisis through,” she added. In New York City, more than 100,000 migrants have arrived over roughly the last 18 months, forcing leaders to deal with sheltering and housing issues.

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This coming Monday, August 28, marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, which is largely remembered today because it was the day the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Monument, gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to a vast crowd of some 250,000 people gathered on the Mall. Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that the speech may be the most famous oration in American history.

E.T. Williams, a retired real estate developer and active art collector, who lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, took part in the march and, thanks to a little luck, found himself with a nearly front-row seat to history in the making.

Williams said as marchers neared the Lincoln Monument, dignitaries, who had not taken part in the entire march, were ushered into the procession.

“We happened to be just behind where they broke into the line,” he said, “so we just followed along, as though we were part of the entourage. I was dragging my wife, Lyn, who was my girlfriend at the time.”

Williams, who was 25 at the time, was living in Washington, D.C. in 1963, where he worked as a recruiter for the Peace Corps, after having spent a year in Ethiopia with the organization.

Williams learned many years later that he appeared in a famous Associated Press photograph from the event. “I didn’t know until I saw it on TV,” he said.

The photograph shows King giving his address just as gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who is seated in front of him, began to exhort him, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.”

In the photo, Williams, wearing sunglasses, can be seen to the right of King, just above his microphone. He also appeared in another newspaper photograph taken that day that showed the line of marchers making its way to the Lincoln Monument.

He joked that his wife was too short, so only the top of her head appears in both photographs.