17 Photos
Patchogue's Main Street. ALYSSA MELILLO
17 Huntington Lane, Flanders ALEXA GORMAN
Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing banning the release of both arrest information and mugshots by New York state’s police departments. PRESS FILE
Students at Remsenburg-Speonk Elementary School are using computers this year on state mandated ELA and math tests. BY ERIN MCKINLEY
Co-owner Brian Sckipp came straight from his job as a high school teacher to work at the brewery on Tuesday. ANISAH ABDULLAH
Southampton Town Historian Zach Studenroth flips through a book of handwritten Hampton Bays minutes from the early 1900s. AMANDA BERNOCCO
Southampton Village Police Chief Thomas Cummings briefs the Village Board on Monday night's shooting. ALYSSA MELILLO
Master brewer David DeTurris canning the new seasonal beer, Strawberry Blonde. ANISAH ABDULLAH
Jared Strecker, 16, of Hampton Bays is going to present his research at the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation’s annual International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma later this month. AMANDA BERNOCCO
Material from the former Tappan Zee Bridge is dropped into the Atlantic Ocean—roughly 2 nautical miles from the Shinnecock Inlet— in May, bolstering an artificial reef. PRESS FILE
Tuckahoe teachers celebrate making adequate progress on last years state tests, a goal they failed to meet the year before. BY ERIN MCKINLEY
With a giant splash, an excavator centered on a barge lowered material from the former Tappan Zee Bridge into the Atlantic Ocean—roughly 2 nautical miles from the Shinnecock Inlet—on Thursday afternoon, bolstering an underwater artificial reef.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said during a press conference that the reef will be made of 885 tons of materials from the former bridge, plus three decommissioned vessels—including a 74-foot tug boat and a 40-foot tender.
DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos added that the materials have been cleaned and examined to make sure they have no contaminants before they were set in the water. He noted that once the expansion of the reef was complete, it would only be a matter of hours before the fish find it.
The reef measures 35-acres long and is 85 feet deep at its deepest point, according to Mr. Cuomo. Artificial reefs help improve existing habitats and, in turn, increase local marine biodiversity, stimulate more productive aquatic ecosystems, and promote environmental sustainability through fish habitat improvement.
But fish are not the only ones that are going to benefit from the artificial reef. Mr. Seggos noted that the fishing community has been eagerly waiting for the reef.
“They have been asking for it for 20 years,” Mr. Seggos said.
Mr. Cuomo added that the reef will also make the area a great diving site.
Maria Hults of Hampton Bays, who has been diving under the Ponquogue Bridge for more than 40 years, agreed with the governor.
“This is going to become the number one spot on Long Island,” she said.
Amanda Bernocco on May 31, 2018