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Thursday, May 14, 2026 ~ Volume 138 ~ Issue Number 26 ~ $1.00
LIRR Strike By Matt Meduri The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), North America’s busiest commuter railroad - about 300,000 daily riders - is facing possible service disruptions if an agreement is not reached by Saturday. Five unions representing more than 3,500 workers are ready to walk off the job on Saturday, May 16, at 12:01p.m. if they don’t see bigger raises than what they’re currently being offered. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) says that those raises would lead to “higher fares, higher State taxes, or service cuts.” The unions involved consist of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union. They are seeking a 9.5% retroactive wage increase covering the last three years. The MTA offered the same deal to other transit and civil service unions recently. Continued on page 4
A Penn Station-bound LIRR train departs Woodside
Mason Tech Breaks Ground in Hauppauge By Matt Meduri The second-largest industrial park in the nation isn’t in New York City, Los Angeles, or Chicago. It’s right in Hauppauge. The Hauppauge Industrial Park, generally considered the largest such park in local marketing, houses over 1,500 companies and employs more than 55,000 people. The economic impact means the park accounts for 1 in 20 jobs on Long Island. On Tuesday afternoon, the park added another business to their fold: the future corporate headquarters of Mason Technologies. Founded in 2002, Mason Technologies is a national leader in low-voltage tech integration, handling structured cabling, audiovisual systems, data centers, and unified security. Continued on page 10
(Left to right) Exec. Romaine, Jennifer and Adam Mason and family, and Supervisor Wehrheim break ground on the new facility in Hauppauge (Credit - Matt Meduri)
FULL STORIES ON:
County’s Kratom Debate Continues Page 8
Tom Minnigan Runs for Smithtown BOE Pages 12
One Seat Open On Kings Park BOE Page 15
(Credit - wikimedia commons, Mtattrain)
MTA Warns of Possible