(Huntington, NY) Councilwoman Susan A. Berland, Councilman Mark Cuthbertson and Councilwoman Tracey A. Edwards were at the South Huntington Jewish Center to honor Rabbi Ian S. Jacknis with an official proclamation from the Town of Huntington, commemorating the Rabbi’s 60th Birthday and his contributions to the Town.

“It was a pleasure for me to honor Rabbi Jacknis at his 60th Birthday Celebration with the congregation of the South Huntington Jewish Center,” commented Councilwoman Berland. “Rabbi Jacknis is a welcoming, responsive, insightful, compassionate leader and has brought out the best in the Huntington community. It was truly a wonderful event.”

Rabbi Ian S. Jacknis was honored recently with an official proclamation from the Town of Huntington, commemorating the Rabbi’s 60th Birthday and his contributions to the Town. Photo Credit: Town of Huntington.

“It was my honor and pleasure in joining the South Huntington Jewish Center’s congregation to celebrate Rabbi Ian S. Jacknis’s 60th Birthday,” stated Councilman Mark Cuthbertson. “My best wishes to Rabbi Jacknis for another 60 years of robust health and a lifetime of happiness to you and your family,” added Cuthbertson.

(New York, NY) Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced an agreement with GrubHub Inc., an internet food-delivery company that was created last year when GrubHub Inc. and Seamless North America LLC merged. The agreement requires GrubHub to take steps to ensure that the tips it collects from customers who order via the company’s website will be distributed, in full, to the workers for whom they were intended.

“Our settlement with GrubHub changes a billing formula that may have been used by restaurants to shortchange workers out of their hard-earned tips — tips that customers intended for them,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “In addition, this agreement will leave no doubt among the thousands of restaurants doing business through GrubHub about what their legal obligations are—not only with regard to tips, but also for all laws that protect the rights of workers. Today’s agreement addresses a problem that may have affected thousands of delivery workers, and the industry will be better off for it.”

An investigation by the Attorney General’s Labor Bureau into Seamless – which began prior to the merger – found that the company calculated and charged a fee to its restaurant partners based on a percentage of the total food and drink, taxes and tips paid by customers. Once the fee had been taken by Seamless, the remainder was returned to restaurants. New York Labor Law prohibits an employer, the employer’s agent, or any person from retaining a portion of an employee’s tips and the fee structure used by Seamless potentially created an incentive for restaurants to fail to remit the full portion of tips to delivery employees.

The Attorney General’s investigation began in February 2013 after reports that at least one restaurant was failing to remit all tips to employees in part because of Seamless’ longstanding billing structure. In addition to the fee structure, Seamless contracts with restaurants also did not highlight restaurants’ legal obligation to remit all tips to employees, even as the contracts fully disclosed similar obligations of the restaurants to remit all taxes to the appropriate taxing authorities.

The agreement requires all future GrubHub Inc. contracts with restaurant partners to use a fee calculation that excludes tips. In addition, GrubHub must make efforts to transition those restaurants which still have the old contracts to new agreements in which the method of fee calculation does not involve tips.

Beyond changes to the fee structure, the company will send all New York restaurant partners, which number well into the thousands, a notice informing them of their labor law obligations, with particular focus on issues related to delivery workers. The company will also include a new requirement in its standard contract that restaurants must comply with all laws applicable to delivery workers, including wage and hour laws and laws requiring timely and full distribution of tips. Finally, GrubHub will include a new notification in the billing invoices it sends to restaurants, stating that tips are the property of the delivery workers who earn them.

The case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Haeya Yim, Section Chief Andrew Elmore and Bureau Chief Terri Gerstein, all of Attorney General’s Labor Bureau. The Executive Deputy Attorney General for Social Justice is Alvin Bragg.

(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County Police Sixth Squad detectives are investigating a single-car crash in Farmingville that seriously injured a Middle Island man early this morning.

George Roche was driving a 2012 Chevrolet Suburban southbound on County Road 83, south of Mooney Pond Road, when he apparently lost control of the vehicle, struck a curb, several trees and a fence on the west side of the road before the vehicle overturned into an embankment at 3:53 a.m. Detectives believe icy road conditions may have contributed to the crash.

Roche, 67, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital where he was listed in critical but stable condition.

The vehicle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing. Detectives are asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact the Sixth Squad at 631-854-8652 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

(Long Island, NY) “In this economy, with families struggling to make ends meet, homeowners who are facing foreclosure should know there is assistance available,” said Senator Kemp Hannon (R-Nassau). “The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) will bring their mobile van to Uniondale to speak with those who may be at risk for foreclosure to advise them of programs and services available to help them stay in their homes.”

DFS mortgage foreclosure specialists will meet with homeowners in foreclosure, or at risk for foreclosure, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm on Wednesday, April 30 in the Town of Hempstead lot located across the street from the Uniondale Library (400 Uniondale Avenue, Uniondale). No appointments are necessary!

The Foreclosure Relief Unit can:

• Provide information on available federal programs
• Answer inquiries about the foreclosure process
• Assist homeowners in their efforts to obtain loan modifications or other relief
• Take complaints from aggrieved homeowners and seek resolutions with banks and mortgage servers.

“I’m pleased to bring the DFS Van to Uniondale and homeowners should bring any documents relevant to their individual situations, like records of mortgage payments, and correspondence between themselves and their lenders or mortgage servicers,” said Hannon. “Even if you can’t make it to the mobile command center in person, you can still contact DFS for assistance.”

Citizens who are unable to go to the Mobile Command Center are encouraged to call the Department’s Toll-free foreclosure hotline at 1-800-342-3736 between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:30 pm,Monday through Friday. Insurance information is also available on the Department’s website, www.dfs.ny.gov.

For directions or additional information, please contact Senator Hannon’s Office at 516-739-1700 or visit www.kemphannon.com.

(New York, NY) Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman released the following statement on today’s decision by New York State Acting Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. McNamara, which declared that the NY SAFE Act is not in violation of New York State Constitution or New York Civil Rights Law.

“New Yorkers deserve to live in a state with a strong set of procedures in place to protect them from gun violence. Today, the State Supreme Court agreed with my office that the SAFE Act established those necessary safeguards without infringing on the rights of responsible gun owners, and upheld New York’s comprehensive law. We will continue to defend and expand our state’s efforts to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers by keeping guns out of dangerous hands.”

(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County Police have arrested a Riverhead man who was driving a stolen vehicle and then fled from police early this morning.

Fifth Precinct Police Officer Jason Keenan observed Robert Noon III driving a stolen 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had been reported stolen from Yaphank on April 15, on Main Street in Patchogue just after 1 a.m. When the officer attempted to pull over the vehicle, Noon III fled and entered westbound Sunrise Highway at Route 112, traveling eastbound. Shortly after entering Sunrise Highway, Noon made a U-turn and traveled westbound in the eastbound lanes.

Suffolk County Police have arrested a Riverhead man who was driving a stolen vehicle and then fled from police early this morning. Photo Credit: Chris Tozzi.

Due to safety concerns, Keenan and assisting officers stopped pursuing Noon III, who subsequently abandoned the vehicle in Bohemia. Officers located the vehicle and Canine officers were able to establish a track on Noon III, who was located inside a home located at 31 13th St. in Bohemia.

Noon III, 39, was charged with Criminal Possession of Stolen Property 3rd Degree, Unlawfully Fleeing a Police Officer 3rd Degree, Aggravated Unlicensed Motor Vehicle 2nd Degree, Reckless Endangerment and Resisting Arrest.

Noon III will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip tomorrow.

Fifth Squad detectives are continuing the investigation.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Defendants are entitled to a fair trial with the burden on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

(New York, NY) Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced a court order that permanently bars real estate developer Richard T. Mohring, Jr., his wife, Deborah Mohring, and their company, R&D Willis Avenue, LLC, from engaging in any activity related to the public offering of condominium sales in or from New York.

The court ruling comes after Richard Mohring, the developer of the Cambridge Park Condominium on Long Island, was arrested on contempt of court charges for failing to pay $215,000 in restitution to the victims of fraud perpetrated by him and his wife, Deborah Mohring, and for failing to abide by three court orders requiring them to make repairs to the complex at 711-725 Willis Avenue, in Williston Park. The Mohrings, who live and work in Glen Cove, developed and sold apartments in the Cambridge Park Condominium while promising purchasers that they would repair a retaining wall on the property. For years, they failed to fix the wall, endangering the lives of condominium residents.

“By their deceptive and evasive conduct, Richard and Deborah Mohring put the residents of the Cambridge Park Condominium at risk,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “This office will continue to take action against real estate developers, like the Mohrings, who cheat homebuyers.”

In 2011, the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the Mohrings and proved that they pocketed the proceeds of unit sales at Cambridge Park Condominium while failing to repair a retaining wall on the premises. The developers also failed to obtain the necessary certificates of occupancy for nearly half the units, rendering many of them illegal to occupy or rent and virtually impossible to resell. In 2012, after the Mohrings willfully defied court orders requiring that they repair the retaining wall and obtain the required certificates of occupancy, the Attorney General moved to hold the Mohrings in contempt of court. Only after the court issued warrants for the Mohrings’ arrest, and Mr. Mohring was arrested, did they pay $215,000 to the condominium.

The Attorney General then moved for permanent injunctive relief to bar the Mohrings from future condominium sales, and for civil penalties and costs. The court’s April 14, 2014, order permanently enjoined the developers from engaging in any fraudulent, deceptive or illegal act in connection with any business or activity, as well as from engaging in any business or activity in connection with the public offering of condominium units in or from New York. The order also requires the developers to make a payment of $81,500 in civil penalties and $2,000 in costs to the State of New York.

Click here for a copy of the court order and here for further information on the case.

This case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Serwat Farooq, Special Counsel Jeffrey R. Rendin, and Special Counsel Marissa Piesman, all of the Real Estate Finance Bureau, as well as Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Karla G. Sanchez.

(Long Island, NY) Robbery Squad detectives are investigating a Robbery that occurred in Freeport on Tuesday, April 15, 2015 at 2:00 a.m.

According to detectives, a male subject, armed with a black handgun entered the Bolla Market located at 301 West Merrick Road and demanded money from employee. The employee complied and the subject fled with an undetermined amount of US currency in an unknown direction. No injuries were reported.

Robbery Squad detectives are investigating a Robbery that occurred in Freeport on Tuesday, April 15, 2015 at 2:00 a.m. Photo Credit: Chris Boyle.

Subject is described a male, white 5’5” tall, thin build wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants wearing a mask that partial covered his face.

Detectives request anyone with information regarding the above crime to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS.

(Roslyn, NY) At a recent meeting held by Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners’ Association (NSWCA, which consists of water commissioners from 21 Long Island water districts, Office Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) program Stephen Terracciano spoke about the USGS’ mission and latest findings regarding Long Island’s water supply. The meeting was hosted by Roslyn Water District Commissioners Michael J. Kosinski, William Costigan, and Dr. Sanford E. Klein.

“Data indicates that urbanization of western Long Island has had a significant effect on the underlying water resources,” stated Mr. Terracciano. “Installation of sewers and storm drains, along with large scale pumpage, has caused significant declines in water levels. This has led to reduction in streamflow, loss of wetlands, saltwater intrusion, basement and subway flooding.”

Pictured from left to right at a recent Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners’ Association (NSWCA) meeting is Stephen Terracciano, Office Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) with NSWCA President Howard Abbondondelo of Albertson Water District. Photo Credit: NSWCA.

Water resources are affected by many factors, both natural and man-made, including climate change, storms, population growth and land-use. On Long Island, the USGS collects hydrologic data through a network of stations that monitor wells, streams, lakes, estuaries and meteorological posts. This data is collected, organized and used to identify trends and influences on the water system including water supply, salt water intrusion, climate, population, drought and flood monitoring.

NSWCA President Howard Abbondondelo of Albertson Water District remarked on the importance of the USGS studies. “The data collected by the USGS is essential to the policy making that protects and manages our precious water resource. Introducing the USGS to the newest members of NSWCA and reaffirming the importance of the organization’s work is part of NSWCA’s ongoing educational program and initiatives.”

A national science-based organization, the U.S. Geological Survey has provided the public with impartial information on the health of our environment, ecosystems and natural resources, including water supply, for over 100 years. On Long Island, the organization is currently sustained by a shared funding program to which the NSWCA has supported and contributed $50,000.

Organized and chartered in 1981, the Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners’ Association (NSWCA) is comprised of water commissioners from 21 Nassau County and Suffolk County water districts. The NSWCA is dedicated to promoting environmental excellence and best practices as well as maintaining the highest standards of water quality and supply. It regularly sponsors educational meetings on topics that include the environment, security, economics, rules and regulations, and other related issues.

For further information, contact NSWCA President Howard Abbondondelo via phone, (516) 621-3610 or email, awd11577@optonline.net.

Agency Contact, or for information regarding your district’s water commissioners, contact Mr. Jamie Stanco with Progressive Marketing Group, Inc. via phone, (631) 756-7160 or email, jpstanco@pmgstrategic.com.

(Long Island, NY) The Nassau County Crimes Against Property Squad reports the arrest of a Rosedale man for Grand Larceny that occurred on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 11:25 a.m.

According to detectives, between August 8, 2012 and November 17, 2012 the defendant Kevin Thomas, 27, of 245-12 149th Drive, Rosedale did use re-encoded credit cards at Pep Boys located at 1802 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont and 850 Sunrise Highway, Baldwin. The use of the re-encoded cards caused a loss in excess of $100,000 to Pep Boys. Thomas was arrested at Queens Criminal Court where he was being arraigned on an unrelated charge.

The Nassau County Crimes Against Property Squad reports the arrest of a Rosedale man for Grand Larceny that occurred on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 11:25 a.m. Photo Credit: Chris Boyle.

Kevin Thomas is charged with Grand Larceny 2nd degree and will be arraigned on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at First District Court in Hempstead.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Defendants are entitled to a fair trial with the burden on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.