LI DATELINES
Only 25¢ for 5 months
HUNTINGTON STATION/Bail increased for shooting suspect
A Suffolk County Criminal Court judge on Friday increased bail for a teenager accused of shooting a 16-year-old girl in the leg in Huntington Station earlier this month.
Saheam King, 19, of Wyandanch, was to be arraigned in court in Riverhead on a grand jury indictment charging him with assault and reckless endangerment. But his lawyer was a no-show and arraignment was rescheduled to Monday.
His bail was increased to $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash.
Suffolk police said King was arrested July 18 for shooting the girl in the leg on July 11 after a party in Huntington Station near a parking lot of the controversial Jack Abrams School.
The shooting was the final straw in a decision by the Huntington School Board to close the school because of concerns about the safety of the neighborhood.
King had been held on $100,000 cash bail on charges of second-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment.
- DEBORAH S. MORRIS
SUFFOLK COUNTY/West Nile virus found in 19 more sites
West Nile virus was detected in mosquitoes at 19 more sites across Suffolk County, health officials said Friday.
Since monitoring began in April, 38 sites in Suffolk have been found to contain mosquitoes that carried the potentially fatal virus.
The latest samples testing positive were collected between July 21 and July 23 in Selden, Farmingville, Melville, Dix Hills, Greenlawn, South Huntington, Smithtown, Nesconset, Jamesport, Aquebogue, West Babylon, North Babylon, West Islip and Ronkonkoma. Two of the Smithtown samples were collected in Blydenburgh County Park.
To protect the public, the health department has recommended that the park be closed from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. and all activities suspended during those hours.
Six birds have tested positive for the virus. There have been no human cases reported in Suffolk County this year.
- DEBORAH S. MORRIS
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.