Outlines process if personal information is stolen and results in a fraudulent tax return

(Long Island, NY) The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance announced today that it published a new Web page regarding identity theft.

The new Web page spells out what to do next if you think you may be the victim of identity theft.  It also provides several links to information, such as the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Taxpayer Guide to Identity Theft, that help taxpayers make identity protection part of their regular routine.

“If you’re a New York State taxpayer and find yourself in this situation, contact us right away,” said Commissioner Thomas H. Mattox.  “We have a process in place to help protect you and minimize further damage that identity theft can cause.”

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing economic crimes in the nation, but taxpayers often don’t realize their information has been stolen until they receive an unexpected notice about their tax account from the Tax Department or the IRS.

Once identity theft is reported to the Tax Department, the agency can correct an account by removing any fraudulent returns from the record, and it can cancel bills issued that are related to the fraud.  To head-off any additional suspicious activity, the Department will devote extra attention to future returns associated with the account.

“We are continually on high alert when it comes to identity theft, and we are dedicating more resources to protecting taxpayers’ information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure,”Commissioner Mattox said.  “But we can’t say it enough: Treat all your personal information with care.”

For more information:

 Complete an Identity Theft Declaration if you are an actual or potential victim of such a crime.

Department of Taxation and Finance home page – www.tax.ny.gov

Follow the Tax Department on Twitter and YouTube

Nassau Bar Association Names Greg Lisi Pro Bono Attorney of the Month for March 2013

(Mineola, NY) – Attorney Gregory S. Lisi of Oceanside has made giving back to the community a key part of his professional legal career. For 17 years he has volunteered pro bono legal services to help countless low income residents facing eviction in landlord/tenant cases through the Nassau Suffolk Law Services Volunteer Law Project’s Landlord/Tenant Attorney of the Day Program, the volunteer mediation program and the pro bono program in the courts. For his many years of continuing dedication to assisting others, Nassau County Bar Association President Marian Rice has named him Pro Bono Attorney of the Month for March 2013.

Lisi has been involved in pro bono work since his law school days at Georgetown University Law Center. He began working with the Volunteer Lawyers Project when he started his own law firm. It gave him the opportunity to give back as well as gain litigation experience. However, he found the experience so gratifying that he has continued to make time to volunteer even with his busy schedule. Lisi now heads the Employment and Labor Practice at Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo & Terrana LLP where he focuses on employment discrimination, sexual harassment, wage and hour law, management/union issues and other related matters. Lisi also volunteers at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and is actively involved with various programs at the Nassau County Bar Association, having served on the Board of Directors, chair of the Lawyer Referral Information Service Committee and chair of the Labor and Employment Law Committee.

Nassau County Bar Association
Founded in 1899, the Nassau County Bar Association, with a membership of nearly 6,000 private and public attorneys, judges, legal educators and law students, is the largest suburban bar association in the country. NCBA demonstrates its commitment to the community by offering a variety of services for the public, including lawyer referral services, senior citizen and mortgage foreclosure clinics, judicial screening, public education programs and support for the Volunteer Lawyers Project, which provides much-needed free legal services for the indigent of Nassau County. WE CARE, the NCBA’s charitable arm, assists children, the elderly and others in need, through countless projects and donations.

For more information, call (516) 747-4070 (translation services available), email info@nassaubar.org, or visit www.nassaubar.org.

Joanne Newcombe, RN, MPA, BC-NE, has been elected secretary-elect of the Greater New York Nassau-Suffolk Organization of Nurse Executives (GNYNSONE) Board of Directors

(Oceanside, N.Y.) — South Nassau Communities Hospital vice president of patient care services Joanne Newcombe, RN, MPA, BC-NE, has been elected secretary-elect of the Greater New York Nassau-Suffolk Organization of Nurse Executives (GNYNSONE) Board of Directors for a two-year term that begins January 1, 2013. Ms. Newcombe has more than 30 years of nursing care experience, including the past 20 in nursing administration.

“I am eager to work with each member of the board to ensure that the organization to fulfill its mission of providing quality programs and services that empower the members to pursue and achieve their goals in nursing leadership and management,” said Ms. Newcombe.

Recognized for her commitment to mentoring and developing nursing administrators and managers at South Nassau and throughout her career, Ms. Newcombe is a recipient of numerous honors in the field of nursing, including the Nursing Center of Excellence and Nursing Excellence in Education awards. In addition to GYNSONE, she lends her acumen and expertise to the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and Health Care Leaders of NY (HLNY). Ms. Newcombe has authored and co-authored clinical papers on advancements and best practices in nursing, which have been published in Nursing Spectrum and Advance for Nursing.

As vice president of patient care services at South Nassau, Ms. Newcombe is responsible for developing and leading the day-to-day clinical and administrative operations for medical surgical care, telemetry, emergency services, behavioral health, maternal child inpatient nursing services, patient relations, and nurse education, development and research. Ms. Newcombe came to South Nassau after serving as associate executive director for Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer of the 249-bed Stern Family Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation in Manhasset, NY. Prior to that, she was director of patient care services for a women’s and newborn health services program from 1997-2006 and assistant nurse administrator at a children’s hospital from 1992-97.

South Nassau Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 435 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,000 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services. In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty and is the only hospital on Long Island with the Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® Perfexion radiosurgery technologies. South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons and is recognized as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

For more information, visit www.southnassau.org.

From Presentation Skills to Negotiating Skills, Second Annual Fair Media Council Women’s Empowerment Summit to be Held on June 26, 2013

(Bethpage, N.Y.) The Fair Media Council has announced the date of its second annual Women’s Empowerment Summit: Wednesday, June 26, 2013.

Fair Media Council’s Women’s Empowerment Summit is a half-day event designed for women in all phases of their careers: From recent college graduates and upper management to those transitioning between careers or reentering the workforce.

This half-day event, which runs from 7.30 a.m.-12 noon, offers six workshops choices and plenty of networking opportunities. Attendees will also get a chance to ‘win’ one of Long Island’s best men: FMC’s A-List Raffle will offer a rare one-on-one mentoring opportunity with some of Long Island’s best-known business leaders. A second raffle featuring spa certificates, psychic readings, etc., will also be held.

Sponsorships are available. Tickets are $85 for FMC members, $99 for nonmembers and $55 for students with a valid ID. To view program, and to purchase tickets online go to www.fairmediacouncil.org, or by phone at 1.855.432.4763, ext.701 or 1.516.224.1860, ext. 701.

The Fair Media Council (FMC) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that educates businesses, nonprofits and the public to become media savvy. FMC also advocates for quality local news coverage and has about 200 New York Metro area businesses and nonprofits as members.

H2M a 2013 Gold Award recipient in the category of Waste and Storm Water

(Melville, NY) The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of New York has named H2M a 2013 Gold Award recipient in the category of Waste and Storm Water. Judges for ACEC New York’s 2013 Engineering Excellence Awards Competition selected the firm’s project entry, the Patchogue Wastewater Treatment Facility Upgrade and Expansion, for its demonstration of superior skill and ingenuity.

“Over the past eight years there has been over $150 million dollars’ worth of public and private investment in the Village of Patchogue, with another $150 million currently underway,” said Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri. “This type of investment doesn’t happen without a wastewater treatment plant. It also doesn’t happen without the right partners, and for Patchogue, that partner has been H2M.”

Pontieri added, “H2M engineered and oversaw the construction of our new plant, which came in on time, under budget, and with only one minor change order. The plant will continue to play a critical role in the revitalization of the Village of Patchogue and the protection of the waters of the Great South Bay.

Patchogue Wastewater Treatment Plant project to receive ACEC Engineering Excellence Gold Award

The ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards Competition celebrates the most outstanding project achievements of the consulting engineering industry. Each year, over 60 firms submit projects that are judged on a rigorous set of criteria that includes complexity, innovation, and value to society.

H2M will receive its Gold Award at a black tie dinner dance on April 6 at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York, NY. Its winning project panel will be on exhibit at a reception immediately preceding the dinner.

About H2M
Melville-based H2M is a full-service consulting and design firm offering the expertise of more than 270 architects, engineers (water supply, civil/site, structural, M/E/P, wastewater and environmental), planners, designers, inspectors, surveyors and scientists. H2M meets the challenges associated with buildings and infrastructure and has been serving various markets throughout Long Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut for 80 years.

To learn more, please visit www.h2m.com

(Senate bill 2942) will provide law enforcement with the necessary guidelines and authority to crackdown

(Long Island, NY) “There is a growing black market in expensive, non-controlled prescription drugs, such as those for AIDS and asthma and anti-psychotic medications, which have a very high street value,” said Senator Kemp Hannon (R-Nassau). “The temptation to illegally obtain and resell these meds is great, and these drug resale scams cost the Medicaid system hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Hannon’s legislation (Senate bill 2942) will provide law enforcement with the necessary guidelines and authority to crackdown on this type of behavior and keep our communities safe.

“The black market puts patients at risk and rips off the taxpayers through Medicaid fraud,” said Hannon. “My bill makes it a crime to fraudulently prescribe, buy and sell these types of medications.”

The expensive medications are most often paid for by Medicaid and sold on the street for a fraction of their actual value. The criminals who then buy these medicines often bring them to a “stash house,” where they are collected and resold to unscrupulous pharmacies or shipped to other countries.

“Unfortunately, there are often negative and severe consequences resulting from these black market deals,” said Hannon. “These include sick patients not being able to take their medications, unsuspecting patients purchasing black market drugs from their pharmacy (many of which were not properly stored and maintained), and Medicaid paying huge sums for meds that are dispensed under these fraudulent circumstances.”

This bill has been sent to the Assembly.

S.1636 Passes the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee

(Albany, NY) Today, Senator Kevin Parker’s (D-Bklyn) initiative to spread broadband across the state passed the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and Capital Investment. The next step for the legislation is to pass the Senate Finance Committee, and then it is headed to the floor for a vote.

Senator Parker’s bill is known as the Connect New York act, and amends the state technology law to allow the Office of Information Technology Services to develop a public-private partnership and to establish social and physical access to reliable broadband service statewide. “This legislation will speed the vital process of bridging the “Digital Divide” felt by urban and rural areas across the state that lack either “social” or “physical” access to high-speed Internet,” stated Senator Parker.

Currently, many inner city, low-income and rural areas do not have access to high-speed (“broadband”) Internet connections that allow high-speed transmission of electronic information (i.,e., “physical access”). Other communities have physical access to broadband Internet, but it is prohibitively costly, so those communities cannot afford high-speed access (i.e., the “social access” problem). The combination of these two problems are what is holding back deployment of universal access to broadband in New York.

The Senator’s legislation seeks to alleviate the physical and social access problems by creating a public-private partnership, modeled after several other states including Vermont, Maine, Kentucky, Ohio and Minnesota. It is believed that passage of this legislation will lead to a reduction of the price of Internet access, and expanded access to computers and telecommunication by many who cannot now afford such access.

With state grants such as the $25 million grant recently announced by the Governor and other private investments, New York is on its way to strengthening universal Internet access within the State. The spread of broadband in several other states, and the resulting competition, has already proven to provide affordable access to broadband technology. In order for New York to compete in the global economy, along with our neighboring states, it is imperative that all New Yorkers have both physical and social access to affordable, widely distributed broadband capabilities,” concluded Senator Kevin Parker.

About Senator Kevin Parker
Senator Kevin S. Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of his ethnically diverse community in the heart of Brooklyn that consists of 318,000 constituents in Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, and Park Slope. He is the Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, Assistant Democratic Leader for Intergovernmental Affairs, and Chair of the Democratic Task Force on New Americans.

Massey Knakal Announces Exclusively to Sell Rare Development Site

(Long Island, NY) Today, Massey Knakal Realty Services has announced it has been retained on an exclusive basis to sell one of the few remaining prime development sites on the Upper West Side of Manhattan located at 206-210 West 77th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway.

The site is 75 feet wide and contains up to approximately 92,000 square feet of development rights, including allowable bonuses. The property is currently improved with a six-story, 250 space parking garage. Allowable uses for the property include mixed-use, residential and retail, or community facility.

“As we had anticipated, the land market is white hot right now as fundamentals are improving and construction financing is plentiful,” stated Massey Knakal Chairman Bob Knakal, who is exclusively representing the seller along with Senior Vice President of Sales Paul Smadbeck. “It is a perfect time to be bringing development sites to the market,” he added. Mr. Knakal and Mr. Smadbeck can be reached at 212.696.2500.

Massey Knakal specializes in the sale of investment and user properties in the New York Metropolitan area. Since 1988, Massey Knakal Realty Services agents have closed over 4,500 transactions having a market value in excess of $17 billion.

For more information please contact:

Shannon Krause, PR Manager
skrause@masseyknakal.com
275 Madison Avenue, Third Floor
New York, NY 10016
www.masseyknakal.com

“Top priority to help provide real relief to residents whose homes were damaged by Super Storm Sandy”

(Long Island, NY) Assemblyman Edward Hennessey (D-Medford) announced that the 2013-14 Assembly budget proposal includes $20 billion for Super Storm Sandy recovery efforts, including capital projects to rebuild infrastructure washed away by the storm, as well as tax credits to spur redevelopment (E.182).

“The assistance set aside in the Assembly’s budget proposal would bring some much-needed relief to Suffolk County, our families and businesses that are recovering from the devastation brought on by Sandy,” said Assemblyman Hennessey.

The 2013-14 budget proposal includes:

• emergency preparedness grants to not-for-profit providers;
• capital improvements for public housing;
• grants to small businesses, multiple dwellings and not-for-profit providers for unreimbursed costs;
• shoreline repair and flood mitigation;
• restoration of local facilities and attractions; and
• the promotion of economic redevelopment.

In addition to his work on the budget proposal, Assemblyman Hennessey sponsored the Hurricane Sandy Assessment Relief Act, which provides property tax relief to homeowners and businesses hit by Sandy (A.2294) and the Homeowners Bill of Rights legislation, which protects homeowners hit hardest by Sandy from dishonest insurance companies (A.2287).

“One of my top priorities is to help provide real relief to residents whose homes were damaged by Super Storm Sandy,” Assemblyman Hennessey said. “I’ll continue to fight to ensure this $20 billion is included in the final state budget so the families and businesses affected by the storm have the resources they need to make a full recovery, and to make sure we come back better and stronger than ever,” Assemblyman Hennessey said.

New York State Senate passes legislation to help encourage installation of renewable energy technologies

(Long Island, NY) The New York State Senate today passed legislation sponsored by Senator George D. Maziarz (R-C, Newfane) that would help encourage the installation of renewable energy technologies by making them more cost efficient and accessible.

The bill (S1111) would add solar, wind, fuel cells, micro-hydro-electric, farm-based biogas and residential Micro Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) to current state financing initiatives that help make
energy efficiency upgrades more attractive to potential consumers, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and support job growth in the clean energy sector.

“Renewable energy technologies are an extremely important part of New York State’s energy future,” said Senator Maziarz, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee. “The addition of these
technologies provides residents, local businesses and not-for-profits accessibility to these energy alternatives that they might otherwise have not invested in. The use of these innovative energy sources will then provide increased energy savings, which in turn would lead to job retention and creation throughout New York State. I am proud to be the sponsor of this legislation that will help many consumers and businesses alike.”

“Adding renewable technologies to the programs available through the state’s existing low-cost financing programs is good for our environment and our economy,” Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said. “More
consumers would find options like solar and wind power cost effective, which would then lead to increased energy savings, continued growth of the clean energy industry here in New York, and the creation of new jobs.”

Currently, the Green Jobs Green New York Program offers residential consumers, small businesses, and not-for-profits significant savings through low-cost energy audits and financing for improvements. As of the
end of 2012, more than 2,500 loans amounting to $24 million had been issued, but the program has been growing at about half the pace that was initially projected.

The bill passed today adds solar, wind, fuel cells, micro-hydro-electric, farm-based biogas and residential micro-CHP systems to the list of measures eligible for the Green Jobs Green New York Program’s low-interest loans or on-bill recovery – payment installment plan tied to the utility bill.

Adding the renewable technologies to the program would help reduce the front-end costs that may prevent consumers from investing in cost-effective energy saving installations. It would help boost the ability
of solar, wind and other renewable energy companies to market their products and also help increase jobs to meet the growing demand for the systems.

The bill has been sent to the Assembly.