LI among regions with slower economic recoveries  The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found differences in the pace of recovery. Credit: Charles Eckert The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found companies with 500 or fewer employees in high-income counties, such as Nassau and Suffolk, reported larger revenue declines last year and lagged the rebound seen at companies in low-income counties. The disparity is due to differences in COVID-19 safety precautions across the country and how households spend their earnings, said Rajashri Chakrabarti, a senior economist at the New York Fed. She said residents of high-income counties, which are near cities and experienced severe coronavirus outbreaks, reduced spending on travel, recreation, entertainment and other discretionary items a year ago. They also saved more. Residents of low-income counties — many of whom lost jobs — still had to spend on necessities but were helped by supplemental unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, she said during a virtual news conference last week. Read more about this study from Newsday's James T. Madore. COVID-19 levels stay low in Memorial Day test results COVID-19 numbers continued a steady decline to all-time lows not seen since last summer, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday, though he said more people need to get vaccinated to wipe out the virus. | | | Newsday readers support our strong local journalism by subscribing. Please show you value this important work by becoming a subscriber now. | | | The seven-day statewide average for positive results in testing for the virus was 0.65%, a new low, Cuomo said. The daily level statewide positivity rate was 0.77% in test results from Monday. The seven-day average of virus positives on Long Island was 0.59%, while it was 0.50% in New York City, according to state data. "New Yorkers are continuing to beat back COVID every day, and as the numbers keep going down we are able to get our economy back up and running and move our state into the future," Cuomo said in a statement. There were a total of 50,528 test results from across New York on Monday, a lower number than usual on the Memorial Day holiday. The state has regularly reported test results exceeding 100,000 and even 200,000 per day through the spring season. The number of new positives reported today: 17 in Nassau, 28 in Suffolk, 176 in New York City and 391 statewide. The graphic below shows when Long Island is expected to see 70%, and then 90% of its population vaccinated based on the current pace of vaccinations.  When Long Island could reach these vaccination levels based on the current pace of residents receiving vaccine doses. Search a map of new cases and view charts showing the latest local trends in vaccinations, testing, hospitalizations, deaths and more. Long Island food trucks near you to try this season  Sisters Sam and Sydney Squatrito, owners of the For Goodness Cakes Co. food truck. Credit: Jack Franzino Food trucks have hit the big time on Long Island. You'll find them at beaches, breweries and other places near you. Many act as caterers on wheels, too, able to come to your own backyard party. (Which has been helpful as more people try to host parties — and even weddings — outdoors this past year due to the pandemic.) The menus go way beyond deli food, offering crepes and homemade ice cream, hickory-smoked barbecue and wood-fired pizza, gourmet grilled cheese and, yes, some old-fashioned and tricked out hot dogs as well. Now joining in on the food-truck boom: mobile bars available for hire that will serve your guests beer, wine and cocktails out of customized trailers, vintage cars, redesigned campers and reinvented Airstreams. Get to know Long Island's most exciting food and booze trucks with this interactive guide. How the pandemic has taken a toll on kids' mental health COVID-19 has hindered the development and social skills of children, but it's too early to determine whether kids will have long-term mental health problems, experts told Newsday. One thing that is clear more than a year after the pandemic closed schools, replaced classrooms with remote learning and separated children from their friends and teachers: The impact is highly individual to each child, said Shari Lurie, senior director of clinical services for South Shore Child Guidance Center in Freeport and Epic Long Island in East Meadow. The agencies, whose services include children's therapy, saw increases of 20% to 50% in parents seeking help for their kids during the pandemic, and they hired or contracted with several new therapists, she said. "The kids are really suffering from being so isolated," Lurie said. "I think they're feeling lonely, which leads to depression. There are kids missing out on big milestones that mean a lot to them — graduations, confirmation and all the major events, not seeing their grandparents and extended family. There's a loss from not having the richness of those relationships on a regular basis." Kids also may be scared that the coronavirus will make them or someone they're close to sick, or they may be devastated by the death of a parent, grandparent or other loved one, Lurie said. It helps that many children returned to school in-person and have resumed some of their "normal routine," but even if on the surface a child seems happy, there may be unresolved issues, she said. More to know Moderna says it has begun the process to win full U.S. regulatory approval for the use of its COVID-19 vaccine in adults. Scores of small business owners on Long Island are calling for Congress and President Joe Biden to approve the additional loan guarantees necessary to continue the Paycheck Protection Program, which ran out of money. The first Broadway show to open after the pandemic shut down the Theater District will be "Pass Over," a three-person drama with no intermission. The Olympics risk becoming an incubator for "a Tokyo variant," as 15,000 foreign athletes and tens of thousands officials, sponsors and journalists from about 200 countries descend on — and potentially mix with — a largely unvaccinated Japanese population, said the head of the Japan Doctors Union as Japan scrambles to catch up on a frustratingly slow vaccination drive. News for you  Joan Jett and The Blackhearts will perform at The Paramount's 10th anniversary show on Sept. 28. Credit: Getty Images / Jason Kempin The Paramount prepares to reopen. After remaining dark for more than a year due to the pandemic, the Huntington venue is booking bands from August into 2022, including a 10th anniversary show featuring Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. See their latest lineup. Root for these singing nurses. If you tune into the season-16 premiere of NBC's "America's Got Talent" Tuesday night you can see two Long Islanders performing as members of the Northwell Health Nurse Choir. Popular festivals returning. The Williamstown Theatre Festival and other popular Northeast festivals are returning this summer. Check out our guide. Plus: After the pandemic canceled most Memorial Day traditions last year, Long Islanders spent Monday honoring America's war dead by marching through their downtowns and reading names at solemn ceremonies, including one that made history. Sign up for text messages to get the most important coronavirus news and information. Commentary $375 per Nassau homeowner? The Newsday Opinion Editorial Board writes: "Who is the best steward of money, the people or the politicians?" It's a core disagreement in American politics. Conservatives argue taxpayers are the wisest users of their own funds and support low taxes because governments tend toward waste. Liberals give governments more credit for spending well, improving communities and helping residents. They argue competent spending on infrastructure, education, health care and child care is efficient and beneficial. But with unprecedented federal largesse flooding states and communities, those political mores have in some cases gone out the window. Earlier this month, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat, proposed the county distribute approximately $100 million of the federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to 300,000 Nassau County homeowners, basically all of those who benefit from STAR rebates. Sending those checks, estimated at $375 per family/household, might be easier to understand in the context of Curran's November reelection bid against Republican Hempstead Town Board member Bruce Blakeman. These tax rebates are a plan that few elected officials from either party will publicly oppose, even as some quietly fume. Continue reading | 
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