After All Things

Bay biodiversity

A research team launches a zero-carbon vessel to study biodiversity in Shinnecock Bay. New ballot tabulators will be used in Connecticut this election. Suffolk plans to overhaul its cyber security defenses. Plus, a closer look at the progress made on Sunrise Wind.

Duration:: 13m
Broadcast on:: 13 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

WSHU delivers trusted news reporting and culture that keeps you accurately informed and authentically inspired. It's what we're here to do and what you count on. I'm WSHU News Director Terry Sheridan. Your financial support gives our reporters the resources to separate fact from falsehood and news from the noise. Thank you for listening and supporting WSHU Public Radio. We're expanding our world together. A team of marine researchers have launched a 12-foot zero-carbon floating vessel meant to survey biodiversity in Shinnecock Bay. They say it's the most environmentally responsible method to collect this kind of data because it's small and quiet. Other devices can actually rip up the sea floor and even kill small animals. Dr. Ellen Pickich co-leads the project. She says she hopes this can serve as a model for other researchers. But also, very importantly, this is proof of concept. If this can work here, it can work in a lot of places around the world. The bay was named a Hope Spot in 2022 because it's been a key stronghold for endangered species in New York state. You're listening to After All Things, WSHU's Daily News and Culture Update from the Long Island Sound region. New ballot tabulators will be used in Connecticut this election. Suffolk County plans to overhaul its cybersecurity defenses. Do you notice more acorns on the ground this year? Plus, a closer look at the progress made on Sunrise Wind. Those stories and more are coming up. I'm Sabrina Garon. Some Connecticut voters will be using new ballot machines in November's general election. WSHU's Ebang Udama reports it's the first time in nearly 20 years that new election equipment will be deployed in the state. Secretary of the state Stephanie Thomas says voters in the cities and towns with the new equipment will insert their ballots the same way they've always done. The difference is the new tabulators are faster and have a larger display for errors. So it will be more apparent to the voter that they might need to reinsert or do something different with their ballot. Governor Ned Lamont says the new machines are less likely to jam. That was an issue with wet ballots in New Haven in his first election for Governor in 2018. I love the fact that it's a lot less likely to jam, a lot less likely to have problems and you can double check. You've got a paper back up. You can actually count at the end of the day by hand if you want to. The state spent $25 million on the new machines from election systems and software. They'll initially be deployed in nine cities and towns for November's election. Then across the state by 2025 Ebang Udama, WSHU's. Suffolk County plans to overhaul its cybersecurity and IT defenses to prevent another attack. Government computers and county services were compromised two years ago. WSHU's Desiree Diorio has more. A bipartisan committee investigating the 2022 cyber attack voted unanimously to adopt the recommendations in a report released last month. That means the county needs to hire a cybersecurity chief by special cyber breach insurance and hire more IT staff. The county also needs to create a comprehensive recovery plan to guide its response to any future attacks. County executive Ed Romaine said efforts to implement the report's recommendations are already underway, and hiring a cybersecurity chief is top priority. That position must be filled to qualify for a cyber breach insurance policy. Desiree Diorio, WSHU News. With school back in session, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is advocating again for universal free school meals. She says funding school breakfasts, lunches and dinners would improve outcomes for students not just in school performance, but in overall well-being. For a lot of kids, we know that the best meal they get, maybe in a given day, is their school lunch. So, if we can supplement that with nutrition also at five o'clock before they go home, that would be hugely important and beneficial for their bodies and for their minds and for their development. Gillibrand estimates the Universal School Meals Act she's co-sponsoring would cost about $11 billion a year, it does not address staffing needs for school cafeterias. This summer developers broke ground on Sunrise Wind in waters off of Montauk. A look at how things are going is coming up. Social support for after all things 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. On Long Island, a Uniondale High School has gotten three anonymous threats in as many days this week. All three were made as text messages to a suicide hotline. In every instance, police say they searched the school and found no credible threat. School officials and the police say they are still investigating. The City of Stanford has announced recommendations for a task force meant to reduce or eliminate deadly crashes by 2032. The initiative calls for wider streets, protected bike lanes to separate bikers and drivers, narrower lanes to reduce traffic and curb extensions in five areas of the city. Former President Donald Trump will visit Long Island next week. He's scheduled to speak at a rally inside the NASA Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday, September 18. Connecticut's Red Oak trees are producing a bumper crop of acorns this season. Jenny Arrens explains how one state researcher figures that out. JP Barsky says oaks and their acorns are a foundation of Connecticut's landscape. They drive a number of other ecological processes for small mammals, bird populations, insect populations, a number of insects feed on acorns. And so, counting them gives a great picture for other ecologists to do their research work. That's why this agricultural research technician spends two weeks in late August conducting what he calls the Sorenek Challenge. I'm looking up into the canopy through my binoculars and counting the number of acorns that I can see in 30 seconds. He does this for nearly 600 trees scattered throughout the state. This year's survey found that nearly 87 percent of red oaks are producing acorns well above the historical average of under 60 percent. But unfortunately, very few white oaks have produced any acorns. For the New England News Collaborative, I'm Jenny Arrens. New York state officials gathered this week at the Port of Queenens to showcase the progress of construction work on Sunrise Wind, the state's largest offshore wind farm. Dave Lucas reports. Groundbreaking took place in July for Sunrise Wind, a 924 megawatt offshore wind farm located roughly 30 miles off the coast of Long Island. The project, first announced in 2019, is piloted by Orsted. The largest energy company in Denmark. It's expected to come online in 2026. Officials say once in operation, Sunrise Wind will represent the largest infusion of renewable offshore wind energy from a single project in U.S. history. President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Doreen Harris, says every resident will benefit from the wind farm project. He adds that 84 platforms comprising more than half of the so-called advanced foundation components for Sunrise Wind are being built at the Queenens offshore wind hub. We have truly a series of gems here in the capital region that can and will deliver on this industry and bring the benefits here and beyond at the same time. It is true that this region has the fundamentals to do just that. It certainly has the expertise, the people, as we see here today, the grit and the determination to deliver and that's very much what we are here to celebrate. Harris gave a nod to Orsted for its significant investments locally and statewide. With over 800 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs, this project is truly a mega project powering over 600,000 New York homes. So the scale of what you see here today is reflected in the generation from the project that will ultimately be built and deliver right here to New York as well. And this is just the beginning. Orsted offshore America CEO David Hardy says the advanced foundation components under construction in Queenens includes suspended internal platforms, anode cages and external concrete platforms that comprise the foundations for offshore wind turbines. We're progressing the Sunrise Wind Project in many, many ways, not just here in the port of Queenens, but we have our approximately 50% completed in our onshore substation out in Long Island. We're about 30% completed on the duck bank work on the 18 mile onshore transmission system that goes from where the cable lands to the Holbrook substation in Brookhaven Long Island. We'll be starting our what's so-called horizontal directional drilling in our near shore cable installation just in the next couple months in the fall. We'll be kicking off the foundation installations in the spring, which are being produced as we speak around the world. Hardy says Orsted is investing $86 million in Queenens and across its portfolio of projects, the company's putting at least $20 billion into U.S. renewable energy. Julie Tai, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, says harnessing wind power and growing a clean energy economy will significantly reduce pollution and protect public health. It is really nice to see all the momentum that's happening here at the port of Queenens because the climate crisis demands that we meet our state's obligations to get clean energy by 2030 and get to 100% clean energy by 2040, and we cannot just talk about it. We can't just pass laws and talk about policy. We have to deliver. That's why we know that the NISO has said we're actually going to need more clean energy than even the law says. We're calling for getting up to 20 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2050, which is going to mean a lot more jobs for more foundations like this. People say they expect the wind industry to create thousands of New York jobs by 2050. In Albany, I'm Dave Lucas for the New York Public News Network. 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 this election year, we're asking you to set the agenda for what issues candidates discuss. Working with our partners at America Amplified, we have a quick and easy forum you can fill out to tell us what you'd like to know. We'll find out the answer and share it with you. Visit WSHU's website, scroll down a bit, click on elections, and tell us how we can help. I'm Sabrina Garon, enjoy the rest of your Friday, and have a wonderful weekend. I'll talk to you on Monday. [music] [music] [music] [music] You You