After All Things
Down ballot battles
Support for After All Things comes from the listeners of WSHU, a public radio station serving Connecticut and Long Island. For daily news and culture from around the sound, listen at WSHU.org or download the WSHU app. For listening to After All Things, WSHU's daily news and culture update from the Long Island Sound region. The Nassau Legislature advances the Sands lease for Nassau Coliseum, a celebration of the life of Senator Joe Lieberman will be held in DC tomorrow, and Long Islanders react to Kamala Harris' White House bid. Plans for a large-scale casino at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale got another green light yesterday. Nassau County legislators voted yes to give Las Vegas Sands a 42-year lease for the property. The WSHU's Desiree Diorio has more. They also approved an environmental review to study how the $6 billion project will affect the Uniondale area. More than 100 speakers turned out Monday to be heard on the project, including residents who said a casino would increase traffic, crime, and pollution. Others say the project will be an economic boon for the county, like Dan Lloyd with advocacy group Minority Millennials. This is an opportunity for us not to have to go all the way to Montau or to Midtown, Manhattan. We can have something right here as a vibrant economic boom, and it's not just a bar, it's not just a restaurant, it's a full-fledged entertainment, it's a Sands resort. The lease and the environmental study go to the full legislature for a vote next month. The Las Vegas Sands still needs to secure a gambling license from the New York State Gaming Commission. Desiree Diorio, WSHU News. A celebration of former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman's career will be held in Washington, D.C. tomorrow. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in town to address Congress, is expected to speak at the event. WSHU's Molly Ingram has more. Netanyahu is in Washington to address a joint session of Congress. The visit is expected to draw protests against Israel's conduct and its war in Gaza. Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke at Lieberman's funeral in March. He says he will attend the service, and that Netanyahu's appearance will not take attention away from the purpose of the event. Whoever attends that service simply will never detract from. Joe is a person, what he did in his life, his model as a mentor to so many of us and as a leader. Lieberman died in March due to complications from a fall. He was 82 years old. He represented Connecticut in the Senate for more than 20 years, and was the first Jewish person to appear on a major party's presidential ticket. Molly Ingram, WSHU News. Central Connecticut State University is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to a former employee after losing an arbitration case before the state Supreme Court. WSHU's Shelley Hussman-Cadish reports. The university paid former director of student conduct Christopher Dukes more than $760,000 in salary and wages, and more than $42,000 in other pay. Dukes was fired in 2018 after he was arrested in a domestic incident. All charges were dropped, and an arbitration decision required the university rehire Dukes with back pay. A lower court vacated the decision, but the state Supreme Court overturned the lower court ruling, saying that the university's code of conduct didn't require them to fire Dukes. The money he's being paid makes Dukes the sixth highest paid state employee in 2024. Shelley Hussman-Cadish, WSHU News. Could Kamala Harris as the new Democratic nominee for president impact other races in our region, that story is coming up in just a bit. Local support comes from Hartford HealthCare, the only health system in the Northeast, with all its hospitals receiving A grades for safety from the LeapFrog group, the nation's leading independent safety watchdog group, HartfordHealthCare.org. Delegates two next month's Democratic National Convention from New York and Connecticut are backing Vice President Kamala Harris' White House bid. President Biden withdrew from the race on Sunday and endorsed Harris to replace him in the campaign against former President Donald Trump. The convention will be held on August 19 through the 22nd in Chicago. Connecticut had a few strange run-ins with black bears over the weekend, including in Cheshire where a woman was bit in her own backyard. State environmental officials had to euthanize the animal and are looking into why this happened. Another black bear was killed just a day later after being hit by multiple vehicles on Route 8 in Torrington. Connecticut is home to about 1,200 bears, which have been spotted in every one of the state's towns and cities. A small plane crashed at Long Island MacArthur Airport yesterday, killing both of its passengers. Four flights from the airport have been canceled today and one runway is still closed. Officials warn residents that more cancellations and delays are likely. Another 16 mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile virus in Suffolk County, according to health officials. WSA choose Morris Staples reports. Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Piggett says this brings a season total to 32. Last year, Suffolk County reported 99 positive mosquito samples and five human cases of the virus. Most infected will experience mild to no symptoms. However, in severe cases, some people may develop high fevers, muscle weakness and even paralysis. Officials say people over 50 or those with compromised immune systems should be careful to avoid being bitten. There have been no human cases of the virus reported yet this season in Suffolk County. Morris Staples, WSHU News. President Joe Biden's exit from the 2024 presidential race could have significant implications for down-ballot races on Long Island. We shared a little bit of this interview with you yesterday. WSHU's Desiree Diorio has more with Lawrence Levy with the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. He shares his predictions about what could be in store for the Long Island congressional delegation. Larry, how does Biden dropping out of the race impact our Long Island congressional races? Biden stepping down created across the country as well as on Long Island and another competitive mostly suburban swing areas of collective side of relief. On Long Island, in particular, the third and fourth district are the ones to be most affected, but it's also possible that the first district could see a surge of energy, both in terms of feed on the ground and money in the till, to be able to make that race, even if it's tilting Republican, more competitive for the Democrat, John Ablon. Assuming Kamala Harris will be the nominee, do you think that could motivate young voters? Harris' sending to the top of the ticket helps the Democrats across the board with younger voters who were looking for an alternative that was not quite as old as their great-grandfathers. Asian voters who have been leaking toward the Republicans but may find Kamala Harris' Asian roots to be intriguing, if not appealing, with black voters in particular. And I think that's the one that gives Democrats on Long Island, particularly in the fourth district, now held by Anthony de Esposito, some hope. And of course, women, moderates, suburban independent women who aren't beholden to any party. They're energized by the abortion issue, but didn't quite see a compelling torchbearer to represent them. Now all of these groups have something new to kind of wrap their arms around and perhaps get excited about. What will you be watching for in these campaigns as we head toward Election Day? I'm looking to see how much the Democratic candidates link themselves to Kamala Harris when it was pretty clear they were going to distance themselves as much as possible from Joe Biden. I'm looking for a unity of message, a sharing of the surge of fundraising that we've seen since Biden dropped out and Harris dropped in. Mostly, whether the Democrats can run a campaign that pulls in the same direction somehow overcomes the fractures that existed before the debate debacle over the Israel Hamas war or some other issues that tended to divide progressives and moderates. I'm looking for real unity to kind of operationalize the energy. The Long Island Republicans who are running for reelection in the first, the second, and the fourth districts, do you think Biden withdrawing from the race will push those three to more closely align themselves with President Trump? I ask because all three of them have not always been in lockstep with Trump on things like the salt cap, the border bill. Republicans running in predominantly moderate suburban swing districts have had a balancing act all throughout this past term. They couldn't afford to alienate the MAGA base that supports Donald Trump, but they also couldn't afford to be seen as too conservative or even radical for a voting bloc that tends to shy away from extremism of any stripe. So it's going to be interesting to see how Lolota and Gaborino and Diaz-Dazito in particular walked that tightrope. That was WSHU's Desiree Diorio, speaking with Lawrence Levy of Hofstra University. For more of the conversation, head on over to WSHU.org. For the latest news from Long Island and Connecticut, you can listen on the radio, stream online at WSHU.org or download the WSHU app after all things is supported by Hartford HealthCare. And whether it's news, classical music, or podcasts like this one, they're all made possible with support from our listeners. So if you like what you hear and you've been listening to us for a while now, please consider making a donation to WSHU. All the info on how to do that is there for you on our website, which, again, is WSHU.org. I'm Sabrina Garone. Enjoy the rest of your evening. I'll talk to you tomorrow. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]