We'll tell you about the legal battle over Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman's armed civilian deputies.

Town leaders asked to keep a controversial landfill running for another five years.

The health and environmental concerns about keeping the dump open.

And the fighting in Iran and the impact it could have on Long Island's important mid-term elections.

Island Insider starts now.

You're watching Island Insider.

I'm Doug Geed.

The war in Iran is touching the lives of Long Islanders in so many ways.

First and foremost, there's the loss of life, U.S.

service members, as well as people in Iran.

Then there's the economic impact.

Gasoline prices have risen more than a dollar a gallon since the war began, and there's no indication when prices might go down.

The conflict has triggered wild swings in the stock market, affecting investments and retirement plans.

And there's division here in the U.S.

as to whether we should be fighting this war in the first place.

We caught up with the members of Long Island's congressional delegation to see if they support the Trump administration's handling of the situation.

They get daily intelligence briefings.

They know a lot more than we do.

They know a lot more than Twitter or TikTok.

So I don't want to judge what's going on there now, but I do think, I do agree that boots on the ground would require congressional approval and funding.

Funding is the major portion and they can't do it without us.

As much as emotionally as an individual, I'm like, yeah, we got to get the bad guys.

Let's beat those guys.

You have to have a plan.

We don't want to see more soldiers die.

We don't want to see gas prices going through the roof.

I agree with the oversight.

We should be judicious and we should build more allies and more coalitions.

But they want us dead.

It's not just a slogan.

It's not just a byline.

They chant "Death to America."

They promised it to us.

They've killed a bunch of our folks already.

And we have to do something about it.

I was supportive when Midnight Hammer, when the president executed Midnight Hammer, because I wanted to make sure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons.

But, when you're going to undertake a mission, which I think is now called an excursion, but is a war, you need to come to Congress.

Because coming to Congress means you have to articulate a plan.

And I echo what Tom said, I haven't heard a plan.

Our members of Congress are well aware the war in Iran could have a big impact on the midterm elections in November.

And could the conflict tip the balance of power down in Washington?

Joining me to talk about that, the implications, our political consultant Mike Dawidziak, also Larry Levy, he's the executive dean of Hofstra University's National Center for Suburban Studies.

Thank you both for joining us.

And Mike, we're gonna start with you.

The split both in Congress and in the general public over this war.

- Well of course, that split in power is razor thin.

So anything can affect it.

And a war's a pretty big thing.

And typically, the effect of the war is usually you get this patriotic rally around the flag fervor.

And usually they're popular in the beginning.

But if they drag on and there's a lot of casualties and it has negative effect on the economy, then they can become drastically unpopular like what happened to George W. Bush, for example.

- And the messaging is huge.

Is President Trump's messaging on this helping him or hurting him?

- Well, that remains to be seen because that remains to be seen with the outcome.

But the Trump messaging is vitally important here because midterm elections, by definition, are referendums on the sitting president.

Now, he went into this war with low approval ratings.

And really, he needs sort of this to turn out really, really well for this to help his approval ratings.

Larry, what's your thoughts on this division here?

Riffing off of Mike's analysis, the problem for President Trump is that he started out at what pollsters would call underwater in terms of approval rating.

And the thing they cared most about was affordability.

What's happened now is that, at least for the short term, affordability has skyrocketed in terms of people's lives with higher gas prices and other things affecting the quality of life.

So if the president thought he was going to be getting a bump from this war, he has been sadly mistaken regardless of how successful the military has been in carrying out his orders.

Yeah, the old saying in politics is the economy's stupid.

Just focus on that.

A lot of backlash, of course, obviously over the gas prices rising.

Well, that's right.

I mean, one of my first lessons in politics was people vote on one issue and one issue alone and it's called quality of life and that means their quality of life, not their neighbors, not the country's as a whole, but their personally and if they're feeling the pinch, then absolutely this could have a big effect on how they vote.

All right, Larry, your thoughts on that?

Bigger problem beyond specific issues of the war in affordability is reality that the top of the ticket, even if they're not on the ballot, the perception of a party's national brand and its leadership probably has more of an impact on individual races than anything candidates, what they call down ballot have to do.

So that clearly has Republicans, including Nick Lalota and Andrew Garbarino, our local Republican incumbents, regardless of how safe their districts might be on paper, it puts them definitely at risk.

We're certainly worrying about what's going to happen come November.

Well, if the election were held today, let's play this game.

Do you think the GOP would keep control of the House and the Senate?

Larry, let's begin with you.

If the election were held today, the Republicans would definitely lose the House, it might be a wave of election, where they lose 50 to 60 seats.

We've seen that in history before.

And it's all the makings of it now.

Senate's a whole other deal.

But I could see Democrats taking that back as well.

Difference is though, the election is not today.

There's still a lot of time left.

Democrats can still blow up over their gaps between progressives and moderates.

So this could be anybody's ballgame.

Yeah, seven months in politics and elections isn't an eternity, Mike, but how do you see it if it were today?

Let's just play that game.

Well, predicting this far out is a sucker's bet, but stressing that if it were held today, then yeah, I agree with Larry that the Democrats would take control of the House, but I would stress that I think the four local representatives, two Democrats, two Republicans, I think will all be tough to beat because they're all moderate representatives representing moderate purple districts.

So I think all four of them are going to be very hard to beat.

And all of them considered bipartisan, working well with the other party.

Very much so.

Kind of unheard of these days.

Very much so.

You know, Garbarino's part of the Problem Solver Caucus and rated one of the fifth most liberal Republican in Congress.

So yes, they've all demonstrated this ability to work in bipartisan matters.

And Suozzi and Lalota on the Problem Solvers.

Gillen wants to be in, they need a Republican to offset her.

So it would be all four.

Okay, Mike Dawidziak, Larry Levy, thank you both lending your expertise in this discussion about the political impact of the war.

After Newsday first uncovered the names of many of Nassau County's armed special deputies, the full list of people sworn in to County Executive Bruce Blakeman's controversial program has been released.

Newsday Tv's Virginia Huey has the story.

If a declaration of emergency were declared by me, then they would be called up.

- Since Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman formed a band of armed citizens two years ago to be deployed on his orders in times of emergency, his office has kept the names of the armed volunteers private.

It's a list, it's a database, and I don't know what the big brouhaha is all about.

- But now the list of names of the members in Blakeman's Provisional Special Deputies program is public.

Lawyers for Democrats who were suing over the legality of the program released the files after a state Supreme Court judge ruled they could be unsealed.

The unsealing of this particular file is the, provides the most information to date of who these people are in this controversial program that has been unilaterally formed by the county executive in Nassau.

- Nassau County officials had declined to share details about the program or identities of these armed volunteers by failing to respond to public records requests about it.

But Newsday reporter Candice Ferrette was the first to uncover the names of 26 participants through public records.

Newsday and I obtained a copy of a pamphlet that was handed out in the December 2024 swearing-in ceremony and we checked the names and backgrounds of some of those folks.

This now public filing will validate that story and also add more than 30 more names.

>> The filing shed new light into the credentials of those chosen for the program.

The list includes a former NYPD officer who was involved in a high profile police misconduct case, a physician fired as CEO of Nassau's public hospital and Blakeman's nephew who has no law enforcement or military experience.

There is no place for that in good government.

So I I hope that it's not true.

But if it is, then it deserves scrutiny.

- Scott Davis is one of two Democratic County legislators suing over Blakeman's creation of the program.

They claim he bypassed legislators to do it.

If you're going to do something, be open, transparent about it so that all of the residents of the county can see what's going on.

In response to the files going public, Blakeman's spokesperson issued a statement pointing to the judge's Democratic political ties.

Judge Carleton is a former Democrat district leader who has already prejudged this case.

He should remove himself.

The only issue that should be before the court is whether County Executive Blakeman has the power to create a list, which under black letter law he clearly does.

For Newsday Tv, I'm Virginia Huie.

I was able to sit down with County Executive Blakeman for a one-on-one interview to talk about some of the big issues facing Long Islanders and all New Yorkers and where the Republican gubernatorial candidate stands on them.

We are the most overtaxed, overregulated state in the United States.

We're at the bottom of economic development.

- Boosting businesses and lowering the cost of living, that's at the heart of Bruce Blakeman's campaign for governor.

He says he'd focus on attracting new businesses to New York and on making it less costly for existing businesses by streamlining regulations and cutting red tape.

I want to create a state that's vibrant, where there's a lot of economic opportunity, where there are a lot of jobs, high paying jobs, good benefits.

When people talk about affordability, Kathy Hochul doesn't understand it because she created this unaffordable environment.

Now she says she wants to fix it.

Why should people give her another four years when she created the unaffordability in this state?

- You talk about why should New Yorkers give Hochul another four years.

If you get elected, chances are you're going to be facing a Democratic Assembly and Senate.

How are you going to accomplish the things that you want to with that?

Well, I understand that it's a negotiation process, and if Carl Heastie is still the Speaker and Andrew Stewart-Cousins is still the Majority Leader, then I know we've got to sit down and do some horse trading.

There are things that are important to them, and there'll be things that are important to me.

- Blakeman also says he'd cut utility bills in half by eliminating what he calls "hidden fees and taxes" in those bills.

- "There's no reason why New Yorkers should be paying 50% more in energy costs than an adjacent state like the state of Pennsylvania."

- He also wants to lift the state's ban on fracking for natural gas upstate.

-"Sure, there can be alternative energy sources, but you also have to have natural gas.

We're sitting on one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world here in New York State and we're not drilling.

We're not using that.

- Blakeman is a strong supporter of President Trump, something that could hurt his chances of winning in this heavily Democratic state.

But he remains confident, saying New Yorkers are tired of the daily struggle of making ends meet.

We are failing miserably in this state in creating an environment that people will want to do business here.

They'll want to stay here.

They want to raise their families here.

I want to change all that.

- Now, Newsday Tv has been trying to get Governor Hochul to sit down with us for an interview.

So far, she has not made herself available.

Meanwhile, the Public Campaign Finance Board has ruled that Bruce Blakeman is ineligible to get matching campaign funds from New York State.

The board said that Blakeman didn't properly file the paperwork.

That could pose a big problem since Governor Hochul has about a $20 million lead in campaign funds.

Meanwhile, Blakeman is being asked to return nearly $14 million in interest.

That interest was on money that the county received in a huge nationwide opioid settlement involving pharmaceutical companies.

The chairman of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, which oversees the county's spending, said it was unconscionable for the Blakeman administration to use the interest to prop up its budget.

The county has nearly 103 million dollars sitting in a fund.

Now that money is supposed to be spent on opioid treatment and recovery programs.

Blakeman's spokesperson has said that opioid deaths are down in the county and that the money is being put to good use.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has plans to set up a new detention center in Suffolk County.

But as Newsday Tv's Andrew Ehinger reports, town officials aren't thrilled about that idea.

-It's just an average commercial office building in Holtsville.

One that most people wouldn't give a second glance to.

But if Immigration and Customs Enforcement has its way, this could be a new ICE detention and processing facility on Long Island.

It is completely chilling.

- Immigrant rights activist Minerva Perez from OLA of Eastern Long Island was stunned to learn what Newsday's investigative team recently dug up.

Detailed building plans filed with the town of Brookhaven showing the renovation of the second floor of this building that would include four detention cells, interview rooms with handcuffed bars and bulletproof glass, gun and ammunition storage, a non-detained waiting room for 172 people, a bond payment room, even a secure loading dock with barbed wire, all built to ICE high security standards.

This is what we're going to see now on Long Island is we're going to have people being housed and detained in office buildings.

- The proposed ICE facility would be in a building that already houses a U.S.

Citizenship and Immigration Services office and the IRS.

But because the federal government leases the building from a private owner, the town can say if a detention center is appropriate.

It denied the plan.

It appears to be a detention center and not an office.

It's zoned for an office.

- Brookhaven supervisor Dan Panico says the town has no opinion on immigration policy.

However, he adds the government could appeal or apply for a zoning change, which would open it up to public debate.

If it gets to a public hearing, the people should speak.

They should not want this in their town.

However, there is another option for this building.

The federal government could purchase it outright from the private owner.

If that happens, the town of Brookhaven says its zoning rules will not apply.

If the federal government buys the property, the town has no say and they can proceed accordingly.

- No word if a purchase will happen or not.

ICE nor the building owner responded to Newsday's request for comment.

In Holtsville, Andrew Ehinger, Newsday Tv.

Congresswoman Laura Gillen has gotten enough support in the House to force a vote on a bill that would extend temporary protected status to Haitians in our country.

The Democrat from Rockville Centre has been talking about protecting members of Long Island's Haitian community since January.

The Trump administration moved to end Haiti's temporary protected status last year.

Members of Long Island's Haitian community protested that move.

Many of the people who came to the U.S.

were fleeing the humanitarian crisis in their home country.

Even though the House will take a vote, it is considered unlikely that the bill will get enough support to pass.

Suffolk County Water Authority customers are going to see slightly bigger bills.

The Water Authority approved a budget for the upcoming year that calls for an 11% increase in spending.

That translates into $16 more a year for the average customer.

The utility serves 1.2 million people in the county.

And one of the island's biggest solar power installation companies is shutting down.

Empower just finished laying off all its workers.

Management said it could no longer stay in business because federal tax credits for solar were eliminated in President Trump's budget bill passed last year.

Empower had installed more than 5,000 solar rooftop systems across Long Island.

And Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico has a tentative deal to give town residents a new choice when it comes to getting cable or internet service.

The customers, the residents, the taxpayers of the town of Brookhaven will have the opportunity to take advantage of this competition in the marketplace and get services from Verizon.

Now the town board has to approve the deal with Verizon before it can take effect.

For decades, Optimum and its predecessor Cablevision have been the only options for many town residents.

The Brookhaven landfill has been a source of frustration for many people in the town for years.

And now the town is asking for a five year extension to its operating permit.

As Andrew Ehinger tells us, that's worrying some who live nearby.

All of this ain't right.

- Monique Fitzgerald, just one of a handful of demonstrators recently protesting outside Brookhaven Town Hall, asking for environmental solutions and a meeting with the town over the future of the Brookhaven landfill.

- We want answers.

- The town landfill, which primarily takes in ash from trash to energy incinerators across the island, is expected to reach capacity in 2028.

Its date permit to operate expires in a few months, and the town is asking for an extension to keep operating.

The landfill generates several million dollars a year in revenue for the town, but has also been the source of a toxic groundwater plume.

The Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group, BLARG, says that plume is getting residents sick.

>> I do believe that the town of Brookhaven is aware of the effects of a landfill, but I believe they took the revenue over our health.

Demonstrators say the town of Brookhaven has been dragging its feet over when it could meet with them or the community and how to deal with the contamination and the landfill's operation.

So we are waiting on the next generation.

But one to one, with the town of Brookhaven to discuss our future, my children's future.

In Brookhaven, Andrew Ehinger, Newsday Tv.

And that landfill is expected to close when it runs out of capacity.

And when that happens, it could have environmental and financial implications.

Here to explain what it could mean for you is Newsday Deputy Editor Scott Eidler, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico, and Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.

We appreciate you all being here.

Thank you so much.

Scott, we want to start with you.

Give us a little background on this landfill for those who don't know.

It processes waste from other parts of the island, not just Brookhaven.

That's exactly right.

It's a 192 acre landfill.

It primarily accepts incinerated household trash, automated waste, but the town of Brookhaven, besides its own garbage, directly or indirectly processes trash through Reworld.

And that could be trash from other towns across Long Island.

It processes tons and tons of ash.

- OK, so it affects a lot of Long Islanders.

Supervisor Panico, you've said that the landfill is expected to reach capacity sometime in the summer of 2028.

Could that change and what happens if it does?

Well, it's going to close.

The landfill is going to close when it reaches its capacity.

It's engineered specifications under the DEC permit.

We collect the leachate, we collect the methane, the gases, and that's always been the case.

And I think a lot of the frustration is that it hasn't been accurately explained or reported in many cases that the landfill is going to close when it reaches that capacity.

That will kick off also future issues for this region because if the waste to energy facilities are going to continue, that ash is going to have to go somewhere.

- There has been some changes over the years as far as planning the closure of this.

There have been a number of delays, which as we've reported has been a little frustrating for some residents.

We heard from them in Andrew's story.

Adrienne, do you share in that frustration?

Do you hear that from people?

Yes, I've been working on the landfill issue for I think almost two decades now.

Here's the bottom line of what the community is concerned about.

Number one is the plume.

The plume is 8,000 feet long, which is about a mile and a half.

It's 4,000 feet wide, which is about three quarters of a mile.

It has already been discharging into Beaver Dam Creek.

It's heading towards Bellport Bay.

The plume needs to be intercepted and it needs to be remediated.

In addition to that, we also need to understand better, and I know the supervisor has a plan for this or they're creating a plan for this, you know, how will the landfill be managed even after it closes?

Closing is one thing, but then the landfill doesn't magically go away.

So there still needs to be odor supervision and suppression and management of that, methane gas management.

And also then what's going to happen to that space?

Right now the town is putting some solar farms in.

We are very happy with that and very supportive of that as well.

We think that's a great use of the property.

It also generates money for the town.

- Supervisor Panico, what were some of the reasons for delays in closing this landfill?

Well, there was no delay.

And this is the most misunderstood part of the landfill.

You had COVID, which caused a lot less material coming into the landfill.

And you also had another private entity totally undercut the market when it came to construction and demolition debris, substantially cheaper than even going into the Brookhaven landfill.

And Adrienne's right.

We are, unlike I think most any town, pursuing solar on the cap of that landfill.

And the residents of Brookhaven can be proud that once this landfill is closed, it'll generate clean power.

Scott, we know the eventual closure will have some financial implications.

It's a good chunk of change.

What does it mean for taxpayers when this landfill revenue goes away?

Right.

So last year, the town had about $29 million in tipping fees, which is what they get from, you know, incinerators like Reworld.

But in the past, the number was $50 to $60 million annually.

And you're also seeing these other major financial implications that Supervisor Panico and other supervisors have been talking about that Newsday's been reporting on health care expenses are much higher.

They're growing 10% or more annually.

You're seeing pension contributions based on changes to state law, putting strains.

So there are enormous pressures coming to municipal governments on Long Island.

You're seeing towns like Brookhaven have to not fill positions over time.

So we're going to be hearing more and more about how towns are putting off large capital projects.

But this type of revenue loss is probably the largest in scale that a town on Long Island has had to deal with.

So, Supervisor, it sounds like it's something you're trying to plan ahead for.

We have a landfill post-closure reserve.

We have gotten great support from our Congressman, Andrew Garbarino, in helping pay for the expenses of the cap as we close cells.

We've tried to distinguish ourselves here in the town of Brookhaven by being truthful and conservative, fiscal conservatives when it comes to the budget.

And we are going to meet these challenges head on as we've met others.

It's something these residents and others across Long Island truly care about.

We heard from that woman who was near tears on this.

Now, experts say the DEC is almost certain to approve a new permit for the landfill.

However, the agency did not give us a timeline on that.

We, of course, will keep you updated.

My thanks again to Scott Eidler, Dan Panico and Adrienne Esposito for their time here today.

Thank you so much.

You can read more about the town's permit request and the landfill closure plan on our website, Newsday.com.

And from all of us at Newsday, thank you for joining us for Island Insider, as we explore the issues that affect Long Islanders.

For all the stories we've just shown you, and much more, head to Newsday.com.