Opinion

Public notices are a basic building block of government transparency, yet an archaic state law mandates their publication in a medium that fewer and fewer people are using: print newspapers. The result is a big problem for government transparency.

By law, most government documents are public documents, accessible by the public, as they should be. Nevertheless, many government officials — especially the lawyers — behave as if national security is at stake and they work for the CIA. 

Local governments have come a long way in achieving transparency in public meetings, in large measure thanks to technological advances and the internet, but they've still got a long way to go.

After nearly 20 years of local news reporting, I could fill a book with stories of government officials trying to prevent reporters — and hence, the public — from finding out what they’re up to.

The negative health effects of zero-tolerance for unblocked exposure to sunlight can't be offset by dietary supplements.

The waters of the L.I. Sound were teeming with marine life in the 1950s and '60s. Today, it's a sewer of huge dead zones, thanks to chemical pollution, garbage, sewage and road runoff.

There are plenty of red flags about the proposal for the Town of Riverhead to partner in a waste-to-energy plant on Youngs Avenue. Column by Greg Blass.

After intense community reaction to reports about a plan for a new food waste plant on Youngs Avenue, Riverhead town board members accuse the press of getting the story wrong. Gee, this sounds familiar. Column by Denise Civiletti.

We just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building homes in an agricultural area to raise our families and this facility would turn our residence into an industrial nightmare. 

A movement based on discredited science has put a generation of children at risk. Measles is a serious virus that can kill your child and you can prevent it with a simple, safe vaccination. Column by Greg Blass