State of emergency

New York City has discontinued the actions it filed against the Town of Riverhead and the County of Suffolk and most of the other counties it sued in June, seeking to invalidate their emergency orders banning the relocation of migrants and asylum-seekers to their jurisdictions.

Facing a legal challenge from New York City, Riverhead Town’s most recent emergency order removes all reference to asylum seekers and migrants in its language.

Supervisor Yvette Aguiar went on the attack in her most recent executive order extending the state of emergency barring housing asylum-seekers in Riverhead motels and shelters.

Reacting to reports of an impending “high influx” of undocumented migrants being sent to Riverhead from New York City, Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar declared a state of emergency Tuesday night.

The omicron variant has not yet been detected in New York, but “it’s coming,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said yesterday. Citing the new variant and "warning signs" of a winter surge, including COV1D-19 transmission rates the state has not seen since April 2020, the governor declared a new statewide state of disaster emergency.

New Yorkers are "getting back on track and starting to live life once again," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said yesterday, as he announced the COVID-19 emergency order, set to expire at midnight June 24, would not be renewed.

Under the latest emergency order issued by the town supervisor, all town buildings and facilities are now open to the public and town board meetings will resume their normal schedule, with the second meeting each month taking place at 6 p.m.

The state of emergency has been extended in the Town of Riverhead, where town buildings and facilities remain either closed or open on a limited basis through the end of the month, Supervisor Yvette Aguiar announced Friday.

Assembly Republicans, including North Fork Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo, have introduced legislation that would limit the governor’ executive authority during states of emergency and allow county executives more power over state of emergency declarations in their counties. Palumbo has also called for a quicker easing of business restrictions.

Here's the latest update from the Town of Riverhead, including information about beaches, parks, town government reopening preparations, meetings and more.