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By Mike White ❄️ Feb. 3, 2025

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☕ Good morning, Long Island!

🦫 Malverne Mel, Holtsville Hal and Punxsutawney Phil all saw their shadows yesterday, Groundhog Day. Looks like it'll be six more weeks of winter. As if we didn't know. (And yes, that's a beaver emoji.)

🥶 Check out these photos of a 'Frozen Babylon,' or these from a snow-and-ice blanketed North Fork. Brrrh!

🍣 In warmer news, Winter Long Island Restaurant Week has been extended due to the lost snow days. Click here for more.

✍🏼 Feel free to respond to this email with feedback.

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First, B-ball performer smokes pot in middle school bathroom, triggers alarm

🏀 A Harlem Magic Masters performer smoked a marijuana vape pen in the boys locker room at Selden Middle School Friday morning, triggering a smoke alarm that forced students and staff out into freezing temperatures during first period, the school district’s top administrator said.

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Second, Locale Gastro Bar & Pizzette closes after 10 years in Patchogue

🇮🇹 After a decade as a fixture on Patchogue Village’s restaurant row, Locale Gastro Bar & Pizzette, the family-owned Italian eatery known simply as Locale, has closed its doors.

Locale was launched by patriarch Fabrizio Castelli and his children — building on a multi-generation tradition of Italian cooking that stretches back to Sicily and several family restaurants in New York.

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Third, Sunday marked last call for Buffalo Wild Wings in Hicksville

🐃 The closure of BWW at Broadway Commons comes less than a month after the mall’s upstairs food court shut down permanently on New Year’s Eve. As GLI previously reported, those closures are part of a planned renovation project at the shopping center expected to exceed $100 million.

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More headlines to higlight

🕊️ A GoFundMe for Nassau County Police Officer Patricia Espinosa’s family raised over $125,000 in just a few hours after she was killed by a suspected drunk driver in St. James.

⚖️ Lawmakers and the family of slain Medford mom Sarah Goode are pushing Sarah’s Law to fix an outdated rule that erased her killer’s 2016 conviction after he died while appealing it, leaving no one legally convicted of her murder.

⚾ The Long Island Ducks were sold to Texas-based REV Entertainment, but fans shouldn’t expect big changes — the team will stay in Central Islip, keep its staff, and preserve the family-friendly experience they know.

☕ A new Starbucks is set to open this winter at 855 Montauk Highway in Shirley, bringing another coffee stop to the area with a drive-thru and walk-in service planned for early 2026.

🐟 Pokeworks is coming to Long Island with its first location planned for mid-2026 through a new franchise deal with longtime local restaurateur Joe Magnotta, who aims to open several spots here.

🥦 Whole Foods Market will be the anchor of a major makeover at the former Mount Sinai Shopping Center, now renamed Crystal Brook Corner.

🎶 Bay Shore announced its 2026 Alive by the Bay summer concert series schedule, with free shows running June through August along the waterfront.

🎤 Pitbull’s 2026 "I’m Back" tour will stop at Jones Beach Theater on Aug. 26 and Grammy-winning rapper Lil Jon ill be join him.

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Sunrise wants you! Bus line is hiring school bus drivers and mechanics

💼 The company says pay begins around $24+/hour for drivers and $28+/hour for mechanics, includes benefits and training, and aims to attract people looking for flexible, community-focused work.

Greater Babylon coverage is funded in part by The Argyle Theatre, where Broadway comes to Babylon. Click here for tickets to Newsies.