John Avlon Raises $1.1 Million For Race Against Nancy Goroff

Long Island Morning Edition

New York’s highest court yesterday was the setting for the latest skirmish over abortion rights in a pivotal election year.

Church groups told the Court of Appeals that a regulation requiring insurance policies to cover medically necessary abortions not only violates their religious beliefs, but also doesn’t apply evenly across religious organizations. Yancey Roy reports on Newsday.com that in contrast, an attorney for the state contended the insurance mandate mirrors a contraception insurance mandate that’s been upheld by the courts for two decades and that the group’s claims are undermined by the fact none of them sought a religious exemption provided in the regulation.

Though the courtroom battle was thick in legalese, the underlying issue in the case known as Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Vullo centered on abortion access and the obligations on employers and insurance.

New York financial regulators approved the abortion coverage requirement in 2017; the State Legislature codified the rule into law in 2022. It requires employers to offer their workers health insurance that includes coverage for medically necessary abortions.

Technically, the lawsuit by the Catholic Church and other plaintiffs challenges just the regulation. But attorneys for both sides have said a Court of Appeals decision to toss the regulation could lead to overturning the state law.

The NYS Court of Appeals typically takes four to eight weeks to render a decision after hearing oral arguments in a case.

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Greenport Village must make earlier-than-anticipated repairs to the bulkhead in Mitchell Park after an early April nor’easter pummeled the shoreline with torrential rain and whipping winds. Tara Smith reports on Newsday.com that the April 3 storm flooded neighborhoods, downed trees and wrecked floating docks in the municipal marina. It also damaged critical points along the wooden bulkhead, leaving gaping holes and cracked concrete in its wake.

Several small docks were ripped from their connections as waves tore through, twisting thick pieces of metal.

A total replacement of the 776-foot bulkhead was slated to begin later this year, using a $3 million federal grant. But the Village of Greenport may seek to tap into the funding for emergency repairs to bolster coastal resiliency amid more intense storms, rising seas and recurring flooding. Mayor Kevin Stuessi declared a state of emergency and said the next step is to seek bids for the repairs to get through the summer.

The worst of the damage is between the North Ferry landing terminal and Railroad Dock, according to village officials.

The bulkhead project was among more than 50 Long Island projects that received about $87 million in federal dollars through congressional earmarks, Newsday recently reported.

A 2018 engineering report found the existing bulkhead, which is more than 30 years old, was failing.

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This coming Saturday, The Southampton Rose Society will hold its annual rose planting and pruning session with rosarian Peter Bertrand, who will demonstrate the fundamentals of planting and pruning a variety of rose bushes, including climbers. The session will be held on the grounds of the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton on Saturday, April 20, at 10 a.m. No registration is required for the hands-on session created to make rose gardening accessible for all. Take-home instructional pamphlets will be given to all participants. The rose is the official flower of the United States, New York State, and Southampton Village. The Southampton Rose Society is a nonprofit charitable organization, affiliated with the American Rose Society. It has created and maintains five public gardens in Southampton.

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Former CNN analyst John Avlon jumped ahead of former professor Nancy Goroff with a $1.1 million haul in the money race for the Democratic nomination to face Republican Rep. Nick LaLota in the 1st Congressional District, new federal campaign finance filings show.

Tom Brune reports on Newsday.com that the figures reported Monday to the Federal Election Commission for the first quarter of the year show the early stirrings of the June 25 primary and the Nov. 5 general election.

All four of Long Island’s congressional districts appear headed for primaries: Democrats will face off in the 1st and 4th districts and Republicans in the 2nd and 3rd districts.

The new reports show LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito, Tom Suozzi and 2nd District Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) lead their challengers in fundraising. And U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has a significant lead in campaign funds in her bid for a third full term. In the 1st Congressional District…which includes the East End …Avlon’s entrance into the race for the Democratic nomination has drawn national interest — and big bucks for his campaign. About 170 of his donors gave $6,600 each, maxing out their contributions for the primary and general election.

Contributors to Avlon, of Sag Harbor, include well-known figures such as former Judge J. Michael Luttig, a conservative and never-Trumper; broadcast icons Maury Povich and Connie Chung; and billionaires such as Eric Schmidt, former president of Google.

Federal Election Commission figures from the first quarter indicate Avlon collected $1.1 million. Goroff, a former Stony Brook University professor, raised about $323,439 with $625,490 in the bank.

“The sums raised by Avlon are notable, even if they are behind [LaLota], in showing that Democrats believe they can win back the seat,” said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.

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One Democrat is seeking to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in the state's June 25 primary, the state board of elections said yesterday. Scott Eidler reports on Newsday.com that Gillibrand has served since 2009 and is running for a third full term. To qualify for a Senate primary, candidates must submit 15,000 signatures from enrolled party voters. Of that total, 100 must come from voters in 13 of the state's 26 congressional districts. Petitioning ran from Feb. 29 until April 4.

The New York State Democratic Committee selected Gillibrand as its nominee during the party's convention in February.

Party surrogates have filed petition objections to the prospective challenger. State election commissioners will review signatures and decide on their validity in the coming weeks. The board will certify the state's primary ballot after meeting on May 1, said Kathleen McGrath, a spokeswoman for the elections board.

Democratic, Khaled Salem has filed petitions to challenge Gillibrand, according to the state board of elections. Salem's website says he is a human rights activist who was born in Egypt and immigrated to the United States from Kuwait in 1992.

Jay Jacobs, chairman of the state and Nassau Democratic Party, said in an interview that Gillibrand “is the nominee of the party.”

“It's clear that there was definitely something worth looking at” with regard to Salem's petitions, Jacobs said. “Whether or not it results in the candidate being knocked off the ballot remains to be seen.”

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The East Hampton Library Board of Managers has announced an opportunity for bi-lingual individuals interested in pursuing a career in library and information science. Through a private funding source, the library is offering a scholarship that will cover the tuition expenses of a master’s degree in library and information science, coupled with an employment opportunity at the East Hampton Library.

As reported on 27east.com, the scholarship aims to empower Spanish/English speaking scholars who are passionate about libraries, information science, and community engagement.

The application deadline is April 29.

Interested candidates should visit easthamptonlibrary.org/scholarship for complete information about eligibility criteria and for application guidelines.

For more information, contact Fabiszak at [e-mail] or 631-24-0222, ext.7.

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Legendary journalist Karl Grossman and Rabbi Daniel Geffen teamed up on Sunday for an open house at the recently renovated Temple Adas Israel sponsored by the Sag Harbor Historic Museum.

Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that before an audience of approximately 40 people, Grossman spoke about the Jewish presence in Sag Harbor and elsewhere on the East End, and Geffen spoke about the symbols of the Jewish faith, displayed the synagogue’s Torahs, and showed off the stained glass windows designed by Romany Kramoris, which, he said, represented the congregation’s openness to the surrounding community.

He noted that Sag Harbor, unlike other communities on the East End and on Long Island, welcomed Jews who moved to the village in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to work at Joseph Fahys’s watchcase factory.

“I can assure you I would not be talking to you right now, Karl’s family would not have been here, Karl himself would not have been here, had the community of Sag Harbor not welcomed us,” Geffen said. “And it’s not something we take for granted.”

Geffen showed off two of the synagogue’s four Torahs, one of which was donated to the fledgling congregation by then Colonel Theodore Roosevelt after his Rough Riders were quarantined in Montauk after the Spanish-American War, and the other, which had been rescued from the Nazis by the Memorial Scrolls Trust.

Temple Adas Israel was founded in 1896 as Temple Mischan Israel, and Geffen said it held its first High Holy Day services in 1898. Although the synagogue is thriving today, Geffen told the gathering it had been a largely seasonal house of worship for much of its first century and that he became only its second full-time rabbi.

Grossman, whose grandparents, Herman Grossman and Stefanie Spiegel were both Hungarian Jews, met in Sag Harbor after Grossman arrived in the village to work at the Fahys factory like many other skilled engravers who were recruited right off the boat. The couple later moved to New York City, where Karl Grossman was born and raised. Karl Grossman eventually moved to Noyac with his wife, Janet.