Drivers complain that LED headlight glare makes it harder to see the road. Glare can be caused by headlight aim, aftermarket lights, and more large vehicles, like pickups and SUVs. Some experts are calling for automobile safety standards to lower the blue threshold in LED headlights. LED headlamps on newer vehicles are hailed for their sleek appearance, durability and energy efficiency. As the lights have become more prevalent, drivers and lighting experts are calling attention to glare and potential safety concerns. Lorena Mongelli reports on Newsday.com that in the most extreme examples, some frustrated motorists said they now avoid driving at night. Eyes are more sensitive to the bluer and brighter-looking headlights that are replacing traditional lights, lighting experts said. First rolled out in the mid-2000s, LEDs — light emitting diodes — for low beams were in about 86% of 2023 model vehicles tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, spokesman Joe Young said.

Even if they have the same light output as halogen lighting, which tends to be more yellowish, LED lights can make other drivers uncomfortable, said John Bullough, an Albany-based senior scientist and program director of the Light and Health Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“They're going to be blinking, squinting, looking away and possibly not looking where they should be looking to see things that they might need to see to avoid a collision,” Bullough said.

While the lights will make the periphery of the road look brighter, he said the overall benefit is small.

“Just because it looks brighter doesn't necessarily mean that things are more visible,” Bullough said.

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The Riverhead Charter School is purchasing 71-acres of property on Sound Avenue in Northville, setting the stage for the construction of a new high school building and athletic fields, according to the school’s superintendent. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that a new high school building, which is five to seven years away, will allow the Riverhead Charter School to accommodate more than 400 high school students — an increase over the current capacity of 130 students — according to charter school superintendent Raymond Ankrum. The charter school’s board on Nov. 30. authorized the land purchase for roughly $4.5 million using reserve funds, Ankrum said. The parcels to be acquired by the school are adjacent to the charter school’s current high school at 5117 Sound Avenue. The largest parcel is 52.2 acres and is listed as being used for “field crops” with acquired development rights. The land is within the Agricultural Protection zoning use district, which allows educational institutions by special use permit of the Riverhead Town Board. The Riverhead Charter School opened a high school campus at a renovated schoolhouse in Northville at the start of the 2022-23 school year.

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The Southampton Town Board will be accepting public comment on its Climate Action Plan during tomorrow’s public hearing at 1 p.m. in town hall. Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that the plan, in the works since 2021, lays out a path for the town to follow to reach its ambitious goals of dramatically reducing the town’s carbon emissions, with the goal of Southampton Town being carbon neutral by the year 2040. Southampton Town’s Climate Action Plan outlines the interplay of state and federal policies, sequestration of carbon and local initiatives that will be part of the puzzle of getting to carbon neutrality. Consultants believe nearly half of the reduction can come from local actions outlined in the plan. The electric grid on Long Island is being rapidly decarbonized as the state pushes for renewable sources of electricity, like solar and wind power.

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At the Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons, volunteers have been walking through a maze of plastic tubs containing injured or sick turtles occupying the bulk of the center's 2,400 square feet. Maureen Mullarkey reports on Newsday.com that since the COVID pandemic, this is the new normal at the Jamesport facility, a converted 1920s farmhouse devoted exclusively to turtle recovery. It is filled with tubs ranging from bathtub- to shoebox-sized. They serve as hospital beds for a wide range of freshwater turtles that volunteers are nursing back to health.

“Basically, they are coming in by the droves,” Karen Testa, the organization's executive director, said of the turtles. The rescue treats all 11 native New York terrapin species. There is no clear explanation for the sudden explosion of unwell reptilian patients, although theories, including a loss of habitat and more humans, abound. What is clear is the phenomenon is not unique to Testa's center. Sweetbriar Nature Center's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Smithtown, which cares for other wildlife species, including birds, deer and squirrels, reported almost double its usual population.

Isabel Fernandes, Sweetbriar's wildlife coordinator, said the center usually has about 25 turtles in its care. Last week, there were about 40.

Most of the injured reptiles are eastern box turtles, a species labeled of “special concern” by conservationists. Some have been struck by automobiles or even boat propellers. Others have found their way down steps leading to residential basements and become trapped. Michael Bottini, wildlife biologist with the Seatuck Environmental Association, said that when even a few turtles die from injuries, it could have a catastrophic effect. “When you start knocking off one or two females crossing the road, you're going to lose the whole population in that region,” he said. Maureen Mullarkey reports on Newsday.com that each spring, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation launches its “Give Turtles a Brake” initiative, which urges drivers to slow down when traveling near turtle hatching grounds and educates the public on what to do if they find an injured turtle.

Some see the gradual loss of habitat as a possible explanation for the sudden explosion of injured turtles.

Veronica Sayers, program coordinator at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, said she'd noticed an increase in calls from construction companies who had cleared properties and uncovered the dispossessed reptiles.

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Dotting the horizon like large vertical life rafts emerging from the fog, a grid of 12 yellow monopoles that will become the foundations for the South Fork Wind Farm are being fitted this month with towers and blades for the first utility-scale wind farm in federal waters in the United States. Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that power is now flowing from the first wind turbine at the South Fork Wind Farm, 35 miles off of Montauk, to Long Island’s electric grid.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced last week that the first turbine had been “powered up,” providing electricity through an undersea cable that comes ashore on Beach Lane in Wainscott, traveling to a substation in East Hampton. “South Fork Wind will power thousands of homes, create good-paying union jobs and demonstrate to all that offshore wind is a viable resource New York can harness for generations to come,” she said as she announced the turbine was producing power. When completed in early 2024, the wind farm is expected to produce 130 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 70,000 Long Island homes. The governor added that she remains committed to the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal to install nine gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035.

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Gov. Kathy Hochul warned there will be consequences for New York State universities that don’t discipline students and faculty who call for the genocide of Jews — following the tepid response of elite college presidents on Capitol Hill last week. Vaughn Golden reports in THE NY POST that in a letter addressed to the presidents of colleges and universities across New York, Hochul said the state would take enforcement action against schools that allow antisemitism to go unchecked.

“The moral lapses that were evidenced by the disgraceful answers to questions posed during this week’s congressional hearing cannot and will not be tolerated here in the state of New York,” she wrote in her letter Saturday.

Hochul’s message was a clear response to the testimony given by the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who when asked if calling for genocide against Jews would violate the schools’ codes of conduct, cited “perspective” not condemnation of such speech.

“I was shocked to see the presidents of several prominent universities – current leaders that are responsible for educating young minds who will grow into the leaders of tomorrow – fail to clearly and unequivocally denounce antisemitism and calls for genocide of the Jewish people on their college campuses,” Hochul stated.

The governor said she’s received affirmations from SUNY Chancellor John King and CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez that such speech would constitute a violation.

She added that the state would refer any instances left unchecked by the colleges to the state Division of Human rights, as well as the federal government for potential legal action under civil rights laws.

Hochul went as far as suggesting that colleges and universities could lose their funding if they don’t enforce their codes of conduct around hate.