Desiree D'Iorio
American Homefront ReporterBorn and raised in Connecticut, Desiree now calls Long Island home. She was WSHU’s 2019-2020 News Fellow, covering local government, the environment and public affairs on Long Island. She received her A.A. in Communications from Nassau Community College and B.A. in Journalism from Stony Brook University. Her past internships were at the Long Island Press and WSHU. In 2019, she co-wrote a four-part series about the Long Island Pine Barrens, bringing to listeners the sights and sounds of this unique ecosystem nestled in the heart of Suffolk County. She joined American Homefront Project in 2021, reporting on the lives of military service members, veterans, and their families.
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Get excited! A new season of the WSHU podcast Off the Path debuts May 10. Also, Connecticut — like the rest of the U.S. — needs lifeguards. And Long Island school districts are paying sexual abuse settlements.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded access to fertility treatments, reversing its decades-old policy that blocked in vitro fertilization for unmarried, single or LGBTQ veterans. But IVF is still out of reach for many other veterans due to the requirement that they prove their infertility was caused by their military service.
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International fentanyl trafficking will be declared a national emergency due to the passage of a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is more powerful than heroin and kills hundreds of Long Islanders every year.
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A bite-sized look at what else we're hearing: Election officials in Connecticut say they’re still overwhelmed with complaints from Bridgeport’s Democratic primary election for mayor last year. Suffolk County will overhaul its opioid settlement disbursement program.
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On Earth Day, activists on Long Island rallied against U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito’s record on the environment, criticizing the first-term Republican congressman for his positions on climate issues like offshore wind and fossil fuels.
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Lawyers for the alleged Long Island serial killer, Rex Heuermann, want the FBI files related to James Burke, the Suffolk County police chief who originally investigated the human remains found near Gilgo Beach over a decade ago.
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Cleanup crews at Bethpage Community Park on Long Island have dug up 10 containers of chemical waste at the site formerly used by Grumman Aerospace. Workers are using ground-penetrating radar to look for what else might be buried in the park after another layer of concrete was discovered this week.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has reversed course on education funding in her latest framework for a budget deal. Long Island schools will not face funding cuts, but the entire school aid formula is under review.
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For the second time, Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic has sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to force the agency to cover gender confirmation surgery for transgender veterans.
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New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the state got $1.06 from Washington for every dollar it sent in federal taxes due to pandemic relief packages. Still, the balance of payments could turn negative again when federal spending returns to pre-pandemic levels.