Yesterday, two thousand residents in Shirley and Mastic on Long Island were evacuated at around 1:30 a.m. due to a gas leak. According to Newsday, "A cracked plastic valve on a propane tank was the source of a leak that sent thousands of gallons of toxic, flammable liquefied propane gas." Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said, “It could have been a terrible disaster, a terrible explosion, but fortunately we had seasoned, trained professionals who did their jobs very well and averted a tragedy." more ›

A complaint to child services led police to a home in Mastic Beach where seven children were being raised in conditions of utter squalor and prompted the arrests five adults who lived there. Newsday reports that the house had no heat along with "no running water, feces on the floor and bottles of urine around the house, with rotted food in the refrigerator." On top of that, "appliances and lights that were being run off a generator, a television was being charged with a car battery and cooking was being done indoors with propane." The seven children ranged from ages two to thirteen and are now in foster care with an order of protection from their former caretakers. One of the five adults was also charged with animal cruelty after the SPCA discovered two dogs and 14 cats. One neighbor told the paper that she refused to open windows in the side of her house that faced their home. A Suffolk County official said redundantly, "It was obviously a health hazard." more ›

Ludlum Elementary School in Hempstead did not even wait until the inauguration to go ahead and rename themselves Barack Obama Elementary School last night. Like the election of Obama himself, the push to rename the school came in large part from a youth movement--this time of preteens in the largely African-American and Hispanic community. District Superintendent Dr. Joseph Laria praised the students' exuberance saying, "You want to talk about "Yes We Can!"? That was a lesson in democracy." In a very different scene elsewhere on the Island, police have arrested three Shirley men on charges of criminal mischief for the sexual and racist graffiti they left on cars in Mastic last week. Since some of the slurs threatened Obama, the Secret Service is still involved with the investigation of the three men, all in their early twenties. more ›

On a quiet street in Mastic, residents found over a dozen cars had racial slurs sprayed on them. Newsday reports some target President-elect Obama--"The graffiti included racial slurs, as well as sexually graphic references."--and that neighbors were shocked, with one saying, "I'm really surprised. This is like the United Nations here." One of the victims told WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs (who took the photo), "It's all over the place. It's just sickening. You know...it's sad. It really is sad," but another said, "One thing about something like this - when everybody becomes a victim - it brings us all a little bit closer together." more ›

Time Out New York’s current issue has a feature documenting ingredients used in both restaurant kitchens and industrial settings like labs and factories: The chemical methylcellulose, for instance, is not only used by chefs like Sam Mason at Tailor, but is also very closely related to a key ingredient of K-Y. more ›