Good morning. Suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann appeared in court on Tuesday. He is being held without bail.
Heuermann was arrested last month for three of the Gilgo Beach murders. The bodies of sex workers Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello were discovered in 2010.
An interagency task force connected Heuermann to the murders through burner phone data and DNA found on a pizza crust outside his Manhattan office. Police recovered over 200 guns and a “massive amount” of evidence from his Massapequa Park home.
Heuermann denies the allegations and has no prior criminal record, according to his attorney. Here’s a bite-sized look at what else we are hearing:
CVS to cut 5,000 jobs nationwide, potentially impacted the Connecticut-based insurer, Aetna. In 2018, Aetna and CVS merged for $70 billion. It's unknown where employees will be cut, but CVS has said the cuts will be from behind-the-scenes positions and not "customer-facing" positions, like cashiers or pharmacists. CVS employees over 300,000 people in the country.
The Army Corps of Engineers will study invasive plants in the lower Connecticut River this month. Crews will pour Rhodamine WT tracer dye at multiple sites through mid-September. The red dye will be used to study, control, and potentially help eradicate the invasive aquatic plant Hydrilla verticillata. Native to Asia, Africa and Australia, this waterthyme displaces local aquatic weeds and can host diseases capable of killing birds.
Lake Ronkonkoma will be overseen by a lake keeper. No one has been selected to fill this new role as of yet. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said once someone is chosen, the lake keeper will help maintain a sustainable and thriving lake ecosystem, implement recommendations for the Lake Ronkonkoma Watershed Management Plan, and conduct water quality testing.
Five teenagers have drowned in Connecticut so far this year. The latest was a 17-year-old Bridgeport teen last week. According to the state Office of the Child Advocate, teenagers rarely drown, but can if they ignore swimming risks and safety measures, overestimate their swimming ability, use alcohol or drugs while around the water or have not learned how to swim. Advocates urge for there to be statewide curriculum requiring school districts to teach children or teens how to swim. Drowning is the leading cause of preventable death for children ages 1-4.
Brookhaven’s Town Planning Board has approved the construction of a warehouse and distribution center in Yaphank, despite local concerns. Town planners said the $45 million center will address the growing need for storage facilities and increase annual property tax revenue by 30%. However, residents are concerned about increased truck traffic on small neighborhood roads, and negative impacts to local environments and drinking water.
The former president of a Waterbury credit union is going to jail for embezzlement. Tara Kewalis, who led Skyline Financial Federal from 2016-21, was sentenced to almost 2 years in prison for taking $254,000 from the bank. Kewalis used her position to create several fraudulent accounts to steal the funds. She already paid the money she stole in restitution, but may have to pay more to cover the bank’s investigation expenses.
A Greenlawn toddler died after being left inside a hot car for eight hours on Monday. Suffolk County Police said her grandmother forgot to drop her 14-month-old granddaughter off at daycare in Smithtown and went to work, leaving the girl in the car. Temperatures reached over 80 degrees outside. The girl was brought to St. Catherine of Siena Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
New York is considering replacing paper election ballots with touch-screen devices. The state Board of Elections will vote Wednesday whether to adopt the ExpressVote XL, a two-in-one ballot and tally machine that can instantly record people's votes and quickly determine election results. The machine has faced much opposition from residents, politicians and even celebrities. Common Cause New York cited election security concerns and said it would lead to result errors.
Urgent care centers are popping up all over Connecticut. Hartford HealthCare and GoHealthMedical operate 26 care centers, and Yale New Haven Health and PhysicianOne Urgent Care run 22 centers — with more in development. Urgent care centers are a popular alternative to emergency rooms in hospitals due to reduced costs to treat minor injuries. Excluding the pandemic, emergency room use has been on a steady decline since 2016.
