Community Corner
News Nearby: Six Fire Departments Battle Blaze at Smithtown Home
Catch up on the top news stories from across the region.
Six Fire Departments Battle Blaze at Smithtown Home
A half dozen fire departments responded to a blaze at a Smithtown home Monday afternoon that is believed to have started in a basement dryer.
Michael Landrigan, a Smithtown Fire Department assistant chief, was the first one on the scene of the fire on Sheila Drive around 2:30 p.m. The two people inside the home–a mother and her child–at the time of the fire were on the front lawn when Landrigan arrived.
HUNTINGTON
Woman Arrested in Pharmacy Robbery
A Huntington Station woman is under arrest, charged with robbing a pharmacy Friday.
Suffolk County police said Tina Alfani gave a clerk at Stat Script Pharmacy a note demanding narcotic drugs. The clerk and the pharmacist complied, and she fled on foot. No one was injured.
BABYLON
Humpback Whale Found Dead at Gilgo Beach
A humpback whale was found dead on Gilgo Beach on Tuesday morning, entangled in fishing nets, according to the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.
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According to Newsday, a surfer found the large mammal beached about a mile east of Gilgo Beach in Babylon. The female, weighing about 20 tons, showed signs of trauma associated with the fishing net, program director Kimberly Durham said.
COMMACK
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Police: Commack School Bus Aide Assaulted Disabled Boy
Suffolk County Police arrested a Commack bus aide after he allegedly grabbed, twisted and fractured the arm of a 5-year-old disabled student.
According to police, Richard Mason, a bus aide for Acme Bus Corp., was riding in a bus in Commack Sept. 30 at approximately 4 p.m. when he, in an attempt at discipline, grabbed the arm of a 5-year-old developmentally disabled boy and twisted it behind the student’s back. The students on the bus attend North Ridge Elementary School, police said.
NORTHPORT
Village ‘Mussels’ Algae Blooms Out of Northport Harbor
Northport Village has come up with a solution to reduce harmful algae blooms in the Northport Harbor: use a little muscle, or in this case, mussels.
Mayor George Doll announced at a board meeting Tuesday that a $147,900 Suffolk County grant would fund a project to seed the harbor with ribbed mussels. Mussels are filter feeders, which means that they feed on nitrogen, bacteria and phytoplankton. The idea is that by feeding on algae, the mussels will remove nitrogen from the water, and halt algae blooms, which have troubled the waterways and can lead to paralytic shellfish poisoning.
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