New York State leaders say environmental projects and policies will remain on track, despite an order from President Donald Trump attempting to undo state climate laws. Trump signed an executive order last week directing the U.S. attorney general to identify "illegal” state and local climate, energy and environmental justice laws that "impede” domestic energy use and production. The U.S. attorney general could then take action to try to stop the enforcement of the laws found to be illegal. Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that NYS Attorney General Letitia James, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other state leaders pushed back, saying efforts will continue, including electrifying vehicles and buildings, and building out renewable energy sources, as the State of New York aims to get all electricity from emission-free sources by 2040 and reduce economywide emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2050. "We are a nation of states — and laws — and we will not be deterred,” Hochul said in a joint statement with New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who together co-chair the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors. The executive order itself has "no legal effect,” said Michael Gerrard, professor of environmental law at Columbia Law School. "The issue will be whether the Department of Justice will actually bring any lawsuits.” Environmental advocates, however, say the order, along with actions of the administration, may give investors pause in financing new projects and delay new environmental legislation as state and local lawmakers consider legal challenges.

New York Republicans and gas and oil industry leaders applauded the president's order, stressing the importance of affordability — a major issue in elections last November.

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A co-founder of the California laboratory whose new nuclear DNA extraction method is at the center of an ongoing hearing to determine its admissibility in the criminal case against alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann is scheduled to testify in Riverhead today. Grant Parpan reports in NEWSDAY that Astrea Forensics co-founder Richard E. Green will be the third prosecution witness to testify during the hearing when it resumes at 10 o’clock this morning, per Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei.

Green, a professor of biomolecular engineering and bioinformatics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, is expected to speak to how Astrea recovers genetic profiles from rootless hair samples using ancient DNA methods and whole genome sequencing.

Suffolk prosecutors have said Astrea used highly degraded hair samples found with or near six of the seven Gilgo victims and linked it to the DNA of Heuermann or his family members.

Heuermann defense attorney Michael J. Brown, of Central Islip, has argued the DNA technique used to develop the evidence should be deemed inadmissible at trial because it has not been sufficiently tested and accepted in the scientific community.

The Frye Standard for admissibility of scientific evidence tests novel scientific evidence — like the DNA evidence that prosecutors want to use in their case against Heuermann — and "requires that before being admitted, the prosecutor must prove the evidence's general acceptance by the scientific community," according to the federal National Institute of Justice.

Prior witnesses in the hearing have testified to the effectiveness of the methods used by the lab and its acceptance.

Heuermann, 61, of Massapequa Park, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla. He has denied any involvement in the deaths since his arrest in the decades-old case in July 2023.

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Southold’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) is holding a “Synergy Summit” next Tuesday, April 22,...