Greg Blass
Opinion column by Greg Blass, a retired public servant who served as Suffolk County social services commissioner, NYS family court judge and Suffolk County legislator.
Greg Blass
The Shinnecock Nation knows how to play poker
Have to hand it to the Shinnecock Nation. After centuries of the kind of exploitation, oppression and downright abuse that have befallen most Native Americans, they have Long Island’s power elite reeling.
Greg Blass
Dementia, another surging illness, is worsened by pandemic
For people with dementia, unquestionably the pandemic has been a grim ordeal. During extended lockdowns, the loss of social, even routine, contacts has hastened cognitive decline in great numbers of people.
Greg Blass
Prop 2 is a scam. Vote No.
Prop 2 is yet another ploy to fix the county’s budget mess caused by its own fiscal mismanagement — by erasing its legal obligation to repay $154.17 million it “borrowed” from environmental protection funds, by erasing a court judgment of $29.4 million arising from an earlier lawsuit and by raiding the Sewer Assessment Stabilization Fund to the tune of at least $15 million. Voters should say no to this scam.
Greg Blass
COVID is a convenient scapegoat for county’s fiscal mismanagement
Suffolk County's fiscal crisis long preceded the COVID pandemic, but the county seeks to blame COVID in its quest for a federal bailout. New column by Greg Blass.
Greg Blass
A cashless economy will hurt the working poor
A desire for contactless commerce in the pandemic has accelerated the trend toward a cashless economy. The consequences for poor people may be dire.
Greg Blass
With new heavy-hitting partners, Shinnecock Nation shows it’s serious about a L.I. casino
The Shinnecocks have partnered with Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment and Tri-State Partners. Is the EPCAL property on their short-list of potential sites for a new casino?
Greg Blass
To mask or not to mask?
From the Anti-Mask League during the 1918 flu pandemic to today's anti-maskers, Americans have resisted face coverings. Greg Blass explores the subject and concludes wearing a mask is one of our best defenses in the current pandemic individually and as a community.
Greg Blass
Honor his honor’s memory: Replace that court
Judge Allen Smith urged town board after town board to replace the cramped, outmoded justice court — which the town has planned to do for more than a decade, but never acted.
Greg Blass
A father’s advice for interacting with police
How might a parent advise a child about the inevitable day when they will have an encounter with the police? Greg Blass tackles the subject in a fictitious letter from father to son.
Greg Blass
The return of the Monarch butterfly and the Mexican man who became its unlikely champion
Millions of Monarch butterflies will return to the Northeast this spring in unexpectedly large numbers. Here's the story of Homero Gomez, a Mexican man who became an unlikely champion of the Monarch.