U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out a series of raids on the east end this week. According to immigrant advocates, in Westhampton on Wednesday, Edgar Tezen, 35, an immigrant from Guatemala, was partially pinned under the tire of a car during his arrest by ICE agents and was later hospitalized. So claims Melinda Rubin, a Riverhead-based immigration attorney who is representing him.

Southampton Town police, however, said Tezen was not run over by an ICE car. Town police went to a 7-Eleven on Mill Road after an ambulance was requested because Tezen was having respiratory problems, said Southampton Police Chief James Kiernan. His officers, he said, were not involved in the ICE action or arrests.

Bart Jones reports in NEWSDAY that the arrest, which is garnering attention partly because of a video made by a bystander, came several days after ICE agents smashed two windows of a car in Flanders to arrest an immigrant who was inside, said Rubin, who is also representing that immigrant.

Chief Kiernan said he drove past the scene of Wednesday’s Westhampton arrest not long after it happened and saw Tezen on the ground several feet away from the ICE vehicle. He said it was "ridiculous" to state Tezen had been run over by the ICE car, and the ambulance was not called for that reason.

Minerva Perez, executive director of the nonprofit OLA of Eastern Long Island, said the ICE actions were creating chaos, tearing apart families in an area where immigrants make up a critical part of the workforce.

NYS Assemb. Tommy John Schiavoni (D-Sag Harbor) condemned the recent raids he said took place in Hampton Bays and Westhampton. "Thousands across the country are being snatched off the streets without due process," he said in a statement. "Not only is this an affront to the United States Constitution and the New York State Constitution, but the lack of transparency harms the relationship of trust between public officials, law enforcement, and the public, putting civilians and law enforcement in danger."

It's unclear how many people have been swept up in these recent East End raids and what they've been charged with, though Islip Forward, a civic group that tracks ICE arrests, said at least eight people were detained Wednesday in Westhampton and Hampton Bays.

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The Federal Aviation Administration has announced beginning today it would impose a 10% reduction in flights at 40 major airports in over two dozen states, including Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Teterboro in the metropolitan area. Long Island MacArthur Airport is not on the list, but flights there could be affected if they come from or go to the listed airports, including Boston Logan, Baltimore/Washington, Miami, Tampa and Orlando, Florida.

Peter Gill reports in NEWSDAY that like the government shutdown itself, it remains unclear how long the restrictions will be in place.

Rebecca Alesia, a luxury travel adviser with Wanderology, based in Nassau County, said flight travel is relatively slow now compared with the summer or winter holidays. "It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what will happen if this continues into Thanksgiving," she said.

Chicago-based United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement the company’s "long-haul international flying and our hub-to-hub flying will not be impacted ... Instead, we will focus our schedule reductions on regional flying and domestic mainline flights that do not travel between our hubs."

It’s possible, Alesia said, that other airlines will focus on maintaining their flights in and out of their major hubs, though much remains unclear.

"I think economics is going to be the driver" in deciding which flights are canceled, she said. "If you have a flight that's only 60% full ... that's probably going to be [canceled before] a flight that's at 100% capacity."

Tori Tomasheski, co-founder of ET Family Travel, in Garden City, said travelers may want to avoid booking trips with layovers to reduce risk of cancellation.

"If you are delayed at airport one, they're not waiting for you at airport two," she said.

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WLIW-FM's Ed German will be honored at an event at Southampton Arts Center, November 8th, 3-5pm. The event will recognize 3 generations of local Veterans by hearing their stories.

Southampton Arts Center be showing 3 short films from the USA Warrior Stories archive:

Angelique Williams (Navy 1997-2014)

Ed German (USMC 1967-70)

Martin Sylvester (Army 1943-45)

Followed by a Q&A with Angelique Williams, Ed German and Martin Sylvester’s son Paul Sylvester and moderated by USA Warrior Stories founders Matt Hindra & Nick Kraus.

Angelique Williams served as a Yeomen in the Navy and while serving experienced difficulties. By sharing her story, she hopes to encourage other female Veterans to speak out. Angelique's adjustment to post-military life has been helped by her family, the arts and her service dog Buddy (who was given to her by Paws of War.)

On May 10th, 1969, Ed German was wounded along with 3 other Marines by a sniper while on patrol. When Ed returned to “The Real World” no one ever asked him about his time in Vietnam. Eventually Ed started writing and publishing stories about his experience in Vietnam and in 2013 published “Deep Down in Brooklyn”, a memoir of growing up in Brooklyn, the Vietnam War and beyond.

Martin Sylvester grew up in Brooklyn and on April 4,1943 turned 18 and registered for the draft. Martin, a Jewish American, landed on Utah Beach on June 7, 1944. During the Battle of the Bulge Martin was wounded and taken prisoner. When he was eventually liberated by the US Army Martin weighed only 80 pounds. Martin and his son Paul returned to Normandy for the 8oth anniversary of D-Day last year.

Register here.

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A number of schools and colleges on Long Island have stepped up in recent weeks to help students and families amid the government shutdown, which is the longest in U.S. history. Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, was set to halt on Nov. 1. Yesterday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, according to The Associated Press. The administration is appealing.

Darwin Yanes reports in NEWSDAY that in South Huntington, Walt Whitman High School Principal John Murphy said the school’s food pantry generally averaged about 25 to 35 families, but this week they served about 60 families.

"It’s steadily increased over the last couple months," he said.

The pantry is open twice a month on Wednesdays and serves a variety of items, including canned and boxed goods, peanut butter and vegetables.

"We’ve been running pretty low," Murphy said. "What would've lasted us before doesn’t last us now. We’ve been searching for other vendors or other opportunities to make sure that we have enough food for all the families that come to request it."

Higher education institutions like Adelphi University and the SUNY system are taking action as well.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said 500 students from 45 SUNY campuses throughout New York today will dedicate "at least 300 hours to engaging in paid community service" to help combat food insecurity.

"During the crisis I am proud that these students are ready to help our most vulnerable," Hochul said in a news release.

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LIPA is eyeing ways to "continue the momentum" of solar-power installations on Long Island in the face of an expiring federal tax credit that subsidizes solar for nearly 1 in 10 local residential customers, the utility’s chief executive said yesterday. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that most solar companies have stopped promising customers they will finish their installations before year's end to make them eligible for the 30% tax credit, after the Trump administration’s "Big Beautiful Bill" nixed the credit by Dec. 31.

"We want to help keep the momentum going," said Long Island Power Authority chief executive Carrie Meek Gallagher at a conference on green energy hosted by PSEG Long Island in Melville. She said the utility will be working with PSEG, solar industry companies and developers to find ways to "reduce the cost" for homeowners when the credit worth tens of thousands of dollars is gone starting in January.

LIPA and the state probably won’t bridge the "whole difference, but we can still make it affordable," Gallagher said, saying the aim is to help "bridge the difference."

As New York State resets once-aggressive 2019 climate goals that call for retiring fossil-fuel power plants over the next decade, LIPA and its home-solar penetration of nearly 100,000 homes have led the state.

"We’re hitting it out of the park on solar," Gallagher said.

At the same time, LIPA is "a little behind where we’d like to be" for energy storage goals, she said, citing moratoriums on battery storage plants in most Long Island towns. She said LIPA and other state agencies in coming months will be "doing some education and outreach around energy storage facilities," notably as new fire-code safety standards take effect in January.

"We want to try to get that message across and hopefully that will convince some that these moratoriums do not need to stay in place," she said.

Homeowners, firefighters and public officials who oppose the facilities say they should not be located in residential neighborhoods or around schools, or near vital evacuation routes.

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The Hampton Bays American Legion Hand-Aldrich Post 924, along with Westhampton VFW Post 5350, will host a Veterans Day ceremony tomorrow at 11 a.m. at its headquarters, 55 Ponquogue Avenue in Hampton Bays. As reported on 27east.com, Commander Danny Hand will lead the ceremony. The guest speaker will be Purple Heart recipient David Agtsteribbe, a U.S. Army veteran, and finance officer for the Hampton Bays American Legion, as well as a member of the Westhampton VFW, and the military order of Purple Heart. Refreshments and snacks will be served afterward, during which the winning ticket in the 50/50 raffle will be drawn.

That’s tomorrow morning at 11 in the Hampton Bays American Legion Hall on Ponquogue Avenue across the street from the Hampton Bays Public Library.

***

Elise Stefanik, a Republican upstate New York congresswoman and staunch supporter of Donald Trump, officially launched her long-anticipated campaign for governor this morning. Marina Dunbar reports in THE GUARDIAN that there are indications Stefanik, 41, has already been working behind the scenes to secure endorsements from key Republican figures and local officials. The lawmaker, who has represented her district in the House for a decade, has recently amped up her attacks on Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, frequently labeling her as “the worst governor in America” on social media and accusing her of having “bent the knee to Commie Mamdani,” referring to the now mayor-elect of New York City.

Rep. Stefanik repeated those claims in a social media post announcing her bid today:

“Kathy Hochul is the Worst Governor in America. Under her failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery bills. When New Yorkers were looking for leadership from our Governor, she bent the knee to the raging Defund the Police, Tax Hiking Communist causing catastrophe for New York families,” she said.

Elise Stefanik, who has billed herself as “ultra-Maga” and “proud of it”, was not always a Trump evangelist. She first won her congressional seat in 2014, then the youngest woman ever elected to the job, aged 30. Her early voting record was relatively moderate. She appeared to change her strategy in about November 2019, during the House intelligence committee’s Trump impeachment hearings. Stefanik was among the Republican lawmakers who backed litigation that attempted to force the US supreme court to overturn Joe Biden’s election win. Although she did condemn the January 6 Capitol attack.

In response to initial reports that Stefanik was going to announce her run, the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) said: “Stefanik has spent her career selling out New Yorkers to Donald Trump – and that is exactly why she is going to lose to Kathy Hochul next November.