Kids reading, horseshoe crabs, 2026 wishes, 'tranquil life', LIRR price hikes
Children will read if they are given stimulating, relevant material and if their reading is carefully monitored by teachers and parents, a reader writes. Credit: Getty Images/Tim Boyle
Simple answer: Focus on reading
As a former English teacher and high school principal, I wasn’t shocked by the news that students aren’t acing the English Regents [“Fewer LI students ace Regents English test,” News, Jan. 5]. I think it’s because, in strong measure, kids simply aren’t reading enough, and reading is the key to better writing, speaking and language arts skills in general. There are probably many reasons for this decline in reading, including kids’ preoccupation with social media. But kids will read if they are given stimulating, relevant material, if their reading is carefully monitored by teachers and parents, if they get a chance to discuss and personalize it, and if they are evaluated in part based on their reading. I suggest that parents who are concerned about this issue engage with their schools to find out the quantity and quality of assigned reading.
— Joseph Darrigo, Mount Sinai
Next step for horseshoe crabs
I commend Gov. Kathy Hochul for signing the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act. As Newsday’s editorial board argued [“Hochul can save horseshoe crabs,” Opinion, Nov. 20], this legislation protects a species that has inhabited our waters for 450 million years. The phaseout of commercial and biomedical harvesting aligns New York with Connecticut and New Jersey, and with synthetic alternatives now approved for pharmaceutical testing, there’s no justification for continued bleeding of these ancient creatures.
However, harvesting isn’t the only threat. Research documents how nitrogen pollution creates oxygen-depleted “dead zones” in Long Island Sound. Nitrogenous waste from over 400,000 outdated cesspools causes algal blooms that suffocate marine life during summer months when horseshoe crabs are most vulnerable.
This is why Suffolk and Nassau counties’ septic replacement programs are essential. These initiatives offer homeowners up to $20,000 to install nitrogen-reducing systems that cut pollution by 70%. Long-term horseshoe crab recovery requires both ending harvests and improving water quality. I urge readers to contact their local soil and water conservation district about septic upgrade grants.
— Brandon Tang, Great Neck
Sure bet for ’26 with more uninsured
Your list [“What LIers can expect in 2026,” News, Jan. 4] could have included items more fateful than a Long Island Association breakfast and more dire than the Wolf Moon. Your editorial [“An EPA that doesn’t protect us,” Opinion, Jan. 4] has several. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will continue to protect the business environment, just as MAHA advances unregulated supplements over vaccines, FEC protects our ballots and ICE our freedom.
It’s a pretty sure bet that Nassau University Medical Center’s fiscal challenges will worsen as newly uninsured, and their children, seek care, and “LI Cares” futures surely indicate a rise in demand.
— Brian Kelly, Rockville Centre
It’s no longer a dungeon
The Long Island Rail Road is instituting price increases and new rules about ticketing, which make the ride into New York City more expensive and more annoying [“LIRR price changes taking effect,” News, Jan. 4].
If the LIRR needs more revenue, how about an advertising campaign with the focus on the new modern stations at Grand Central and Penn Station? Penn is no longer the dungeon it once was and both are modern and safe. The rider actually has a convenient choice into the city.
— John Napolitano, Williston Park
Bigger context on ‘tranquil life’
“Southampton residents have complained that the developments did not match the character of the tranquil life in the wooded area” [“Ruling in billboards fight,” News, Dec. 31]. Those residents should take a look out the windows of their own McMansions at their huge lawns and consider how much of that “wooded area” was bulldozed to accommodate them and think of local Native Americans a few hundred years ago who could do nothing but watch as those wooded lands were just taken from them and whose “tranquil life” changed forever.
New York State argues that the billboards are an unsafe distraction, but apparently not dangerous enough to prevent the state Department of Transportation from being one of the first advertisers on the billboards.
If the Shinnecocks were some wealthy developer with attendant political connections this would have ended a long time ago.
— Mark Salamack, Massapequa
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