KJOY spent the morning at Crossroads Farm in Malverne to get the scoop from Malverne Mel, Nassau County’s famous prognosticator! Six more weeks of winter? Early spring? Find out what Mel had to say here:
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran joined Jamie Thursday morning to discuss how Nassau County is dealing with COVID-19.
Check out this awesome duet remix of “Cold Heart” with Elton John and Dua Lipa!
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge on Tuesday threw out terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione, rejecting the Manhattan district attorney’s theory in a state murder case that the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was “intended to evoke terror.”
Judge Gregory Carro kept other charges in place, including a second-degree murder count that requires prosecutors to prove Mangione intended to kill Thompson but not that he was doing so as an act of terrorism.
The ruling eliminated the top two charges in Mangione’s state case, sparing him the possibility of a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. The 27-year-old Ivy League graduate is also facing a parallel federal death penalty prosecution. Carro said the defense’s argument that the dueling prosecutors amounted to double jeopardy was premature.
Mangione, a cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry, appeared in good spirits and raised his eyebrows at supporters as police officers led him out of the brief hearing after Carro issued his ruling.
In a written decision, the judge said that although there isn’t any doubt that Thompson’s killing last December was no ordinary street crime, state law in New York doesn’t consider something terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology.
“While the defendant was clearly expressing an animus toward UHC, and the health care industry generally, it does not follow that his goal was to ‘intimidate and coerce a civilian population,’ and indeed, there was no evidence presented of such a goal,” Carro wrote.
The judge also said there was insufficient evidence that Mangione intended to influence or affect government policy by intimidation or coercion — another element of the terrorism charges. He noted that federal prosecutors hadn’t charged Mangione with terrorism offenses even though the federal terrorism statute was a model for the state law.
But in keeping the second-degree murder charge, Carro ruled there was sufficient evidence that Mangione “murdered Brian Thompson in a premeditated and calculated execution.” That charge carries a potential penalty of 15 years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.
Afterward, Mangione lawyer Marc Agnifilo told TMZ: “It’s a big win and it’s the first of many.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office issued a brief statement, saying, “We respect the Court’s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts.”
Carro scheduled pretrial hearings in the state case for Dec. 1, just days before Mangione is next due in court in his federal case.
Mangione handcuffed and shackled for court appearance
Mangione, who has been locked up since his arrest, arrived in court in beige jail garb, handcuffs and ankle shackles. Making his first appearance in Carro’s courtroom since February, he was mostly silent, quietly conferring with his lawyers as the judge outlined his decision.
Echoing the scene at his last hearing, a few dozen supporters — mostly women — packed three rows in the rear of the courtroom gallery. Some were dressed in green, the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi. One woman sported a “FREE LUIGI” T-shirt. Across the street from the courthouse, cheers erupted from a pro-Mangione rally as news spread that the judge had dismissed his terrorism charges.
Mangione pleaded not guilty late last year to multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shoot Thompson from behind on Dec. 4, 2024, as the executive arrived at a midtown Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione was arrested five days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of New York City.
Judge rejects ‘double jeopardy’ argument
Mangione’s lawyers have argued that the simultaneous state and federal prosecutions violate double jeopardy protections meant to prevent people from being tried multiple times for the same crime. But Carro rejected that argument, saying it would be premature to make such a determination because neither case has gone to trial.
Bragg’s office contended that there are no double jeopardy issues, in part because the state and federal prosecutions involve different legal theories. The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked Thompson and do not involve terrorism allegations.
Mangione’s lawyers said the two cases have created a “legal quagmire” that makes it “legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously.”
Diary writings had been a basis for the terrorism charges
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in April said she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Mangione for “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Bragg’s office quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diary as they sought to uphold the terrorism charges. In a June court filing, they highlighted his desire to kill an insurance honcho and his praise for the late Theodore Kaczynski, the convicted murderer known as the “Unabomber.”
In the writings, prosecutors said, Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and said killing an industry executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming.” They also cited a confession they say he penned “To the feds,” in which he wrote “it had to be done.”
Mangione’s “intentions were obvious from his acts, but his writings serve to make those intentions explicit,” prosecutors said. The writings, which they sometimes described as a manifesto, “convey one clear message: that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change to the healthcare industry.”
Carro noted in his ruling that terrorism “has been famously difficult to define.” He knocked prosecutors for emphasizing Mangione’s use of the phrase “revolutionary anarchism” in their attempt to bolster their claim that he intended to influence government by intimidation or coercion.
“Not only does this stretch the import of a two-word phrase beyond what it can carry, but it ignores other, more explicit excerpts from defendant’s writings in which he states that his goal is to spread a ‘message’ and ‘win public support’ about ‘everything wrong with our health system,'” the judge wrote.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has introduced a $4.2 billion spending plan for 2026, pledging to bolster public safety while holding the line on property taxes.
The proposal, announced this week, calls for funding additional police officers and other public safety initiatives. Blakeman emphasized that his plan would strengthen law enforcement without raising property taxes on county residents.
With Republicans controlling the county legislature, the budget is widely expected to pass. However, critics contend the proposal falls short of fiscal balance. Opponents argue that while the focus on public safety is welcome, the spending plan lacks sufficient attention to long-term budget stability.
The legislature is set to begin reviewing the proposal in the coming weeks, with a final vote anticipated before the year’s end.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order establishing an emergency mediation board to address a labor dispute at the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), a move aimed at preventing a possible strike that threatened to disrupt daily commutes for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
The dispute, involving LIRR unions and management, raised the prospect of service disruptions that could have left nearly 250,000 daily riders without reliable transportation. The timing of the threat was particularly concerning given the upcoming Ryder Cup, which is expected to draw large crowds to Long Island and increase demand on the rail system.
By appointing the emergency mediation board, the Trump administration seeks to bring both sides back to the table and avoid a shutdown that could ripple through the region’s economy and transportation network.
“The President is taking decisive action to ensure that New Yorkers don’t face unnecessary disruptions in their daily lives or during major events,” a White House spokesperson said.
The mediation board will conduct hearings, gather testimony, and issue recommendations designed to resolve the contract dispute before a strike deadline is reached. Both union and management representatives are required to participate in the proceedings.
New York officials and business leaders have welcomed the move, noting that a strike would have had a “devastating impact” on commuters and the state’s image as it prepares to host an international sporting event.
While the order does not guarantee an agreement, it buys time for negotiations to continue under federal oversight, reducing the immediate risk of a strike.
By BOB THOMAS Associated Press
Robert Redford, the Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, died Tuesday at 89.
Redford died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement. No cause of death was provided.
After rising to stardom in the 1960s, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the ’70s with such films as “The Candidate,” “All the President’s Men” and “The Way We Were,” capping that decade with the best director Oscar for 1980’s “Ordinary People,” which also won best picture in 1980. His wavy blond hair and boyish grin made him the most desired of leading men, but he worked hard to transcend his looks — whether through his political advocacy, his willingness to take on unglamorous roles or his dedication to providing a platform for low-budget movies.
His roles ranged from Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward to a mountain man in “Jeremiah Johnson” to a double agent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his co-stars included Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. But his most famous screen partner was his old friend and fellow activist and practical joker Paul Newman, their films a variation of their warm, teasing relationship off screen. Redford played the wily outlaw opposite Newman in 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a box-office smash from which Redford’s Sundance Institute and festival got its name. He also teamed with Newman on 1973’s best picture Oscar winner, “The Sting,” which earned Redford a best-actor nomination as a young con artist in 1930s Chicago.
Film roles after the ’70s became more sporadic as Redford concentrated on directing and producing, and his new role as patriarch of the independent-film movement in the 1980s and ’90s through his Sundance Institute. But he starred in 1985’s best picture champion “Out of Africa” and in 2013 received some of the best reviews of his career as a shipwrecked sailor in “All is Lost,” in which he was the film’s only performer. In 2018, he was praised again in what he called his farewell movie, “The Old Man and the Gun.”
“I just figure that I’ve had a long career that I’m very pleased with. It’s been so long, ever since I was 21,” he told The Associated Press shortly before the film came out. “I figure now as I’m getting into my 80s, it’s maybe time to move toward retirement and spend more time with my wife and family.”
Sundance is born
Redford had watched Hollywood grow more cautious and controlling during the 1970s and wanted to recapture the creative spirit of the early part of the decade. Sundance was created to nurture new talent away from the pressures of Hollywood, the institute providing a training ground and the festival, based in Park City, Utah, where Redford had purchased land with the initial hope of opening a ski resort. Instead, Park City became a place of discovery for such previously unknown filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson and Darren Aronofsky.
“For me, the word to be underscored is ‘independence,'” Redford told the AP in 2018. “I’ve always believed in that word. That’s what led to me eventually wanting to create a category that supported independent artists who weren’t given a chance to be heard.
“The industry was pretty well controlled by the mainstream, which I was a part of. But I saw other stories out there that weren’t having a chance to be told and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can commit my energies to giving those people a chance.’ As I look back on it, I feel very good about that.”
Sundance was even criticized as buyers swarmed in looking for potential hits and celebrities overran the town each winter.
“We have never, ever changed our policies for how we program our festival. It’s always been built on diversity,” Redford told the AP in 2004. “The fact is that the diversity has become commercial. Because independent films have achieved their own success, Hollywood, being just a business, is going to grab them. So when Hollywood grabs your films, they go, ‘Oh, it’s gone Hollywood.'”
By 2025, the festival had become so prominent that organizers decided they had outgrown Park City and approved relocating to Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027. Redford, who had attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, issued a statement saying that “change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the core of our survival.”
Redford was married twice, most recently to Sibylle Szaggars. He had four children, two of whom have died — Scott Anthony, who died in infancy, in 1959; and James Redford, an activist and filmmaker who died in 2020.
Redford’s early life
Robert Redford was born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on Aug. 18, 1937, in Santa Monica, a California boy whose blond good looks eased his way over an apprenticeship in television and live theater that eventually led to the big screen.
Redford attended college on a baseball scholarship and would later star as a middle-aged slugger in 1984’s “The Natural,” the adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s baseball novel. He had an early interest in drawing and painting, then went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, debuting on Broadway in the late 1950s and moving into television on such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Untouchables.”
After scoring a Broadway lead in “Sunday in New York,” Redford was cast by director Mike Nichols in a production of Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park,” later starring with Fonda in the film version. Redford did miss out on one of Nichols’ greatest successes, “The Graduate,” released in 1967. Nichols had considered casting Redford in the part eventually played by Dustin Hoffman, but Redford seemed unable to relate to the socially awkward young man who ends up having an affair with one of his parents’ friends.
“I said, ‘You can’t play it. You can never play a loser,'” Nichols said during a 2003 screening of the film in New York. “And Redford said, ‘What do you mean? Of course I can play a loser.’ And I said, ‘OK, have you ever struck out with a girl?’ and he said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he wasn’t joking.”
Indie champion, mainstream star
Even as Redford championed low-budget independent filmmaking, he continued to star in mainstream Hollywood productions himself, scoring the occasional hit such as 2001’s “Spy Game,” which co-starred Brad Pitt, an heir apparent to Redford’s handsome legacy whom he had directed in “A River Runs Through It.”
Ironically, “The Blair Witch Project,” “Garden State,” “Napoleon Dynamite” and other scrappy films that came out of Sundance sometimes made bigger waves — and more money — than some Redford-starring box-office duds like “Havana,” “The Last Castle” and “An Unfinished Life.”
Redford also appeared in several political narratives. He satirized campaigning as an idealist running for U.S. senator in 1972’s “The Candidate” and uttered one of the more memorable closing lines, “What do we do now?” after his character manages to win. He starred as Woodward to Hoffman’s Carl Bernstein in 1976’s “All the President’s Men,” the story of the Washington Post reporters whose Watergate investigation helped bring down President Richard Nixon.
With 2007’s “Lions for Lambs,” Redford returned to directing in a saga of a congressman (Tom Cruise), a journalist (Meryl Streep) and an academic (Redford) whose lives intersect over the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
His biggest filmmaking triumph came with his directing debut on “Ordinary People,” which beat Martin Scorsese’s classic “Raging Bull” at the Oscars. The film starred Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore as the repressed parents of a troubled young man, played by Timothy Hutton, in his big screen debut. Redford was praised for casting Moore in an unexpectedly serious role and for his even-handed treatment of the characters, a quality that Roger Ebert believed set “the film apart from the sophisticated suburban soap opera it could easily have become.”
Redford’s other directing efforts included “The Horse Whisperer,” “The Milagro Beanfield War” and 1994’s “Quiz Show,” the last of which also earned best picture and director Oscar nominations. In 2002, Redford received an honorary Oscar, with academy organizers citing him as “actor, director, producer, creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere.”
“The idea of the outlaw has always been very appealing to me. If you look at some of the films, it’s usually having to do with the outlaw sensibility, which I think has probably been my sensibility. I think I was just born with it,” Redford said in 2018. “From the time I was just a kid, I was always trying to break free of the bounds that I was stuck with, and always wanted to go outside.”
Long Island’s Newsday apologized Sunday after publishing a syndicated cartoon about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk that sparked fierce backlash from Republican leaders.
Local officials, including Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Rep. Nick LaLota blasted the image as “unconscionable” and urged readers to cancel or boycott the paper.
Newsday said it “deeply regrets this mistake,” has pulled the cartoon from its digital platforms, and extended condolences to Kirk’s family.
MADRID (AP) — A framework deal has been reached between China and the U.S. for the ownership of popular social video platform TikTok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after weekend trade talks in Spain.
Bessent said in a press conference after the latest round of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies concluded in Madrid that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping would speak Friday to possibly finalize the deal. He said the objective was to switch to U.S. ownership from China’s ByteDance.
“We are not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal,” Bessent said. “It’s between two private parties. But the commercial terms have been agreed upon.”
Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, told reporters the sides have reached “basic framework consensus” to resolve TikTok-related issues in a cooperative way, reduce investment barriers and promote related economic and trade cooperation.
The meeting in Madrid is the fourth round of trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials since Trump launched a tariff war on Chinese goods in April. A fifth round of negotiations is likely to happen “in the coming weeks,” Bessent said, with both governments planning for a possible summit between Trump and Xi later this year or early next year to solidify a trade agreement.
However, nothing has been confirmed, and analysts say possible trade bumps could delay the visit.
Why a TikTok deal is needed
In Madrid, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the team was “very focused on TikTok and making sure that it was a deal that is fair for the Chinese” but also “completely respects U.S. national security concerns.”
Wang Jingtao, deputy director of China’s Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, told reporters in Madrid there was consensus on authorization of “the use of intellectual property rights such as (TikTok’s) algorithm” — a main sticking point in the deal.
The sides also agreed on entrusting a partner with handling U.S. user data and content security, he said.
During Joe Biden’s Democratic presidency, Congress and the White House used national security grounds to approve a U.S. ban on TikTok unless its Chinese parent company sold its controlling stake.
U.S. officials were concerned about ByteDance’s roots and ownership, pointing to laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government. Another concern became the proprietary algorithm that populates what users see on the app.
Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly extended the deadline for shutting down TikTok. The current extension expires Wednesday, two days before Trump and Xi are scheduled to discuss the final details of the framework deal.
Although Trump hasn’t addressed the forthcoming deadline directly, he has claimed that he can delay the ban indefinitely.
Wendy Cutler, senior vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said it appears that “both sides have found a way forward to transfer ownership to a U.S. company.”
“If accurate, this would represent an important step forward in resolving a lingering bilateral dispute,” she said.
Fentanyl and other issues are still unresolved
Other long-running issues like export controls, Chinese investments in the U.S. and restrictions on chemicals used to make fentanyl also came up. Bessent indicated that money laundering, related to drug trafficking, “was an area of extreme agreement.”
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who led the Chinese delegation, said the sides held “candid, in-depth and constructive” communications, according to China’s official news agency Xinhua.
But Li, China’s international trade representative, said Beijing opposes the “politicization” and “weaponization” of technology, trade and economic issues, adding that China would “never seek any agreement at the expense of principle, the interests of the companies, and international fairness and justice.”
He criticized the U.S. for overstretching the concept of national security and imposing sanctions on more Chinese companies. Calling it “a typical, unilateral, bullying practice,” Li said China demanded restrictive measures be removed.
“The U.S. side should not on one hand ask China to accommodate its concerns, whilst at the same time continue to suppress Chinese companies,” Li said.
As the weekend talks were underway, Trump said the war in Ukraine would end if all NATO countries stopped buying Russian oil and placed tariffs on China of 50% to 100% for doing so. The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Monday called the demand “a classic example of unilateral bullying and economic coercion.”
A leaders’ summit may be in sight
China’s foreign ministry on Monday did not say if Beijing has invited Trump for a state visit.
Analysts have suggested that the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries in South Korea at the end of October could provide an opportunity.
The plan for another round of trade talks is “encouraging but seems to be cutting things close,” Cutler said, adding that more work is needed at lower levels for a Trump-Xi meeting to take place and that there are other opportunities for them to meet next year.
For now, “there is little time to hammer out a meaningful trade agreement,” she said. “What we are more likely to see is a series of ad-hoc deliverables, possibly a Chinese commitment to buy more U.S. soybeans and other products, a U.S. agreement to hold back on announcing certain further U.S. high-tech export controls, and another 90-day rollover of the tariff pause.”
By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer
Ed Giacomin, a Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender and one of the faces of the New York Rangers’ franchise in the 1960s and ’70s, has died. He was 86.
Giacomin died of natural causes, a Rangers spokesperson said after the organization learned of the news from his family. A spokesperson for the NHL Alumni Association said Giacomin died at his home Sunday night.
Known for puck-handling and leaving the crease before it was common practice for netminders, Giacomin won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie in 1970-71 and backstopped New York to the Stanley Cup Final in ’72.
“Giacomin routinely heard chants of ‘Ed-die! Ed-die!’ from adoring Madison Square Garden crowds,” the NHL said in a statement. “We send our condolences to Eddie’s family, friends and the many fans he thrilled throughout his memorable career.”
A native of Sudbury, Ontario, Giacomin was a five-time All-Star during more than a decade with the Rangers from 1965-76 before finishing his career with the Detroit Red Wings. His No. 1 is retired in the rafters at Madison Square Garden in New York, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987.
The Rangers in a statement said Giacomin personified what it meant to play for them, adding, “You cannot discuss the history of this organization and not immediately think of Eddie.”
NEW YORK (AP) — A potential strike has been averted that could have shut down the nation’s largest commuter rail system this week.
Unionized workers for the Long Island Railroad announced they voted overwhelmingly Monday to authorize their labor leaders to call a strike if an agreement on a new contract isn’t reached.
But officials representing locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other train workers said they’ve also asked President Donald Trump to intercede by forming an emergency board that delays the potential for a strike at least for a few more months.
Union leaders said the earliest a strike could happen is in January while the Presidential Emergency Board, once formed, reviews the contract dispute and presents its recommendations.
A strike, which could have happened as early as Thursday under federal rules, would have impacted some 250,000 riders who ride the LIRR to work each day to and from New York City and its eastern suburbs.
A work stoppage would have also thrown a wrench in the Ryder Cup, which begins Sept. 26. The three-day men’s golf tournament between players from the U.S. and Europe is expected to bring 225,000 spectators to Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale on Long Island.
“This action does not mean a strike won’t happen, but it does mean it won’t happen now,” said Gil Lang, general chairman for the union representing LIRR locomotive engineers, at a news conference at the union’s office in Manhattan on Monday.
“We will continue to be the adults in the room,” he added. “A strike is the last thing we want, and we’ll do everything we can to avoid that.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the LIRR and other area transit systems, dismissed the union’s announcement as a “cynical delay” that “serves no one.”
“If these unions wanted to put riders first, they would either settle or agree to binding arbitration,” spokesperson John J. McCarthy said in a statement. “And if they don’t want to strike, they should say so — and finally show up to the negotiating table.”
The agency and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had resisted calling for an emergency board even though they have the power to do so.
Instead, the MTA announced plans last week to provide commuters with free shuttle buses to take them from some LIRR train stations to subway stops in the New York City borough of Queens in the case of a strike.
Hochul, a Democrat, has also blamed the Trump administration in recent days for the prospect of a strike, even as she’s called on both sides to resume negotiations.
Spokespersons for the White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The last LIRR worker strike happened more than three decades ago and lasted about two days in 1994. Workers nearly walked out in 2014 before then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reached a deal with unions.
In this most recent contract dispute, five labor unions representing about half the train system’s workforce are seeking a 16% raise over four years. The MTA has proposed a 9.5% wage increase over three years.
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