Red light refund

I don't know. This is WSHU's After All Things with daily news and culture from around Long Island Sound. Suffolk will pay drivers millions in a red light camera lawsuit. Primary Election Day in Connecticut is a week out, a look at what folks are predicting, and the unique lawsuit to come out of the 5th District. Plus, Bruce Blakeman takes a stance on solar. Those stories and more are coming up. I'm Sabrina Garon. Suffolk County has agreed to pay drivers millions in a class action lawsuit over its red light cameras. WSHU's Shelley Hesman-Kadish reports. The more than $57 million settlement stemmed from a decade-long legal battle brought by drivers who paid extra fees on red light camera tickets. The county will repay them up to $36 for administrative fees they added to the $50 fine, according to Newsday. A federal appeals court ruled the fees were illegal because tickets can't be more than $50 under state law, plus a $25 late fee. The state will pay out $45 million in total. Drivers will need to apply to get reimbursed. Suffolk County ended its red light camera program in December 2024 after it lost the appeals court ruling. Shelley Hasman-Katesh, WSHU News. We're a week away from primary election day in Connecticut. The stakes are higher this year. The top two races are between younger, further left candidates and older, long-time incumbents. But other stakes are higher, too. Betting stakes, WSHU's Molly Ingram reports. In the last two years, prediction markets like Kalshi and Pali market have exploded. Users can bet on pretty much anything, and that includes the Democratic and Republican primaries in Connecticut. More than $100,000 is on the line next Tuesday. More than half of that is on the primary between Governor Ned Lamont and Josh Elliott. And in the state's first U.S. House of Representatives district race between incumbent John Larson and Luke Brunen, more than $38,000 has been spent. Richard War is a researcher and professor of finance at the Pool College of Management at North Carolina State University. He says platforms aren't the ones coming up with the contracts. It's the users.

Lots of the little elections or regional elections are driven by people wanting to basically bet on something. And so I think they are going to become increasingly a part of the narrative around election cycles. War says in some cases, prediction markets can predict the outcome of an election more reliably than typical opinion polls. Asking people who they want to win versus who they think will win yields different results. That can also mean that candidates bet on themselves to make their chances look better. How the markets are and aren't regulated is a point of contention. They're overseen by the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission as opposed to the states, which typically oversee betting. There are highly publicized insider trading concerns. Plus, is it really healthy for society to be able to put money on everything? I think it's a little concerning. People have always betted on things, particularly in sports. I mean, but the dollar amounts now that are being funneled into sports betting and prediction market betting is really crazy amounts of money. And while it might not be the most conventional way, war says prediction markets could get people who typically wouldn't care about a primary interested in politics. Molly Ingram, WSHU News. Long Island Water Districts are slated to get millions from the state to protect them against cyber attacks. WSHU's Desiree DiOrio has more. Three dozen Long Island municipalities will get over $4 million to protect drinking water and wastewater infrastructure from hackers. Grants totaling $9 million were distributed across New York State, with Long Island getting the lion's share. That's almost a million dollars for Suffolk County and over three million in Nassau. The grants come from a state pot of money earmarked for boosting cybersecurity at utilities, as concern mounts nationwide about vulnerable systems amid the ongoing Iran war. Desire DiOrio, WSHU News. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is running for New York Governor. A look at a recent stop on the campaign trail is ahead.

This summer, Carnegie Hall comes to you. Carnegie Hall Live brings performances from one of the world's great stages to you, wherever you happen to be. Enjoy acclaimed orchestras, celebrated soloists, and live concerts from New York City without having to fight traffic. Listen Saturdays at 2 with an encore Thursday nights at 8. To see the full schedule, visit WSHU.org. Carnegie Hall Live all summer long on WSHU. An Lidabler train struck a downed tree on the tracks near Smithtown this morning. The collision caused delays on the Port Jefferson and Oyster Bay branches. The MTA says trains are back to running on or close to schedule. New Haven County has the highest fatal overdose rate of any high-income county in the nation. That's according to CDC data released by an Ohio-based drug rehab. Litchfield County also makes the top 10. But Tallinn County has the lowest fatal overdose rate of any county examined, according to Connecticut Inside Investigator. On Long Island, three North Shore school districts are challenging an energy project that would install high voltage cables through the districts. They're asking New York state officials to deny permits for the Propel NY Energy Project. They say the developers didn't properly consider the environmental impact to the schools specifically. Work is scheduled to begin later this year pending state permits. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is appealing the federal government's decision to deny disaster aid to Long Island. She says the February blizzard caused at least $20 million in damage on Long Island and over 160 million statewide. President Trump denied aid to three other Democrat-led states affected by the storm. A Republican primary in Connecticut's 5th district has led to accusations of murder and a defamation lawsuit. WSHU's Davis-Dunovan reports. The candidates are Chris Shea, a former Navy SEAL, and Jonathan DeBarros, an electrical technician. DeBarros was convicted of murder in 1998, but the conviction was overturned two years later. He was resentenced to manslaughter and spent 19 years in prison, then got a pardon from the Board of Paroles. Four supporters of Shea called DeBarros a murderer during a Facebook live stream, according to the lawsuit. DeBarros says that's defamation. The pretrial hearing is set for later this month, and the primary is next week. Shea has the endorsement of Connecticut Republicans, but the seat is widely considered safe for Democratic incumbent Johanna Hayes. Data Stunovan, WSHU News.

NASA County Executive Bruce Blakeman took his gubernatorial campaign to the small town of Forrestburg, New York last week, where he rallied against what could be the largest utility solar facility in the Hudson Valley. The New York Public News Network's Kimberly Isar has the story. Utility-scale solar is quickly shaping up as one of the key issues in New York's gubernatorial race this November. Republican nominee for state governor Bruce Blakeman joined other lawmakers Thursday outside Forrestburg's Town Hall to push back against a proposed large-scale solar facility in Dan Sullivan County. We're going to talk about the green energy scam. That is Kathy Hochul's scam on all the rate payers in the state of New York. The solar developer RWE submitted its town line solar application to the state's Office of Renewable Energy and Citing Transmission, or Ores, on July 20. If approved by Ores, the project would include a 200 megawatt solar energy and 100 megawatt battery energy storage facility in the towns of Thompson and Forestburg. It would span more than 1,200 acres. Bruce Blakeman has accused Governor Kathy Hogle of attempting to fast-track utility scale solar in upstate New York. When asked about what changes he'd make to Orez, if elected governor, Bruce Blakeman had this to say. Well, first of all, if you're for Ores, in November, it's going to be your ass. The fact of the matter is that people are up in arms all throughout the state. and they don't like this big footing of state government. This is the absolute worst of government. When they come into local communities, small communities like this, and because they're the big state government, they think they can trample over people's rights. That ends when I become governor. I will end the green energy scam. In June, the Trump administration accused New York of violating USDA standards in its solar permitting process. On Thursday, Bruce Blakeman was joined by Senator Peter O'Brocker, Assembly member Chris Tague, local officials, and community members. Tague says upstate farmers desperate to lease their land are especially susceptible to solar developers. Now, you can't blame the landowner. that wants to sell the property because a lot of them mostly are struggling farmers that have been struggling for years and years. If they came to you and offered you millions of dollars, you'd probably do the same thing. But what they don't take into account is the fact that New York State is one of the top producers of agricultural products, not only in the state, but in the world. And we continue to take productive farmland out of the circuit.

for stupid projects like this that do nothing. But the project's leaseholders aren't necessarily struggling farmers. A good chunk of the land is actually owned by the local IDA's attorney, Walter Grigliano. The Solar Energy Industries Association also found that utility solar uses less than 0.1% of American prime farmland. John Lamontagney, a spokesperson for the developer RWE, said in an email to Radio Catskill that New York's growing demand for electricity requires practical solutions that can come online quickly and safely. Still, residents are concerned about how the project could change the fabric of their neighborhoods. Laura and Frank Jay Jones live near Melody Lake in Thompson along the proposed site. We love living there because of what it is. It's quiet. We're on a lake. You see deer with the little baby bambies running around. But they're worried, not only about the wildlife and wetland threats, but how it could affect their home's property value. With the November election still months away, Bruce Blakeman says he's looking forward. to debating Kathy Hochul about the future of solar in New York and other issues. Kathy Hochul, if you're watching, I'm ready. We can do it here in Forestburg. We can do it in Tosso. Bring it out. We can do it everywhere. Bring it out. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you. In Liberty, I'm Kimberly Aizar for the New York Public News Network.

For the latest from Around Long Island Sound, listen on the radio, online with our free app, and tune in right here to the After All Things podcast every weekday evening. And don't forget to give us a follow on Instagram for more on the music you hear, the latest news, and some behind the scenes fun. We are at WSHU Public Radio. Drop us a comment on there that really helps us out. I'm Sabrina Garon. Have a great rest of your day and we'll speak tomorrow. Wow.