Recreational marijuana delivery, second Thomas Valva trial, Sun Vet Mall and more: What to expect in 2023

Whether it was your best year yet or one you're ready to say good riddance to, 2022 is on its way out and it's time to look ahead.

The new year always brings with it much uncertainty (Hello, inflation!), but it's not all a mystery. For instance, there are some events and developments we can pencil in on our calendars, like the rollout of Nassau County's newest area code and the election of a new county executive in Suffolk for the first time in 12 years.

We also can expect the second trial in the death of Thomas Valva, this time Angela Pollina, who also was charged with murder in the boy's death. Wegmans plans to break ground on its first Long Island store. And for Long Island Rail Road commuters, the MTA anticipates completing its $600 million improvement project in Penn Station.

Plus, there's an exciting lineup of concerts and festivals, and business and restaurant openings planned. Here's a preview of what's in store for 2023.

January

Manganos appeal. The appeal briefs of former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and his wife, Linda Mangano, are due to be filed with a federal appeals court in late January, according to court records.

The two surrendered separately in September to begin serving federal prison time after their 2019 convictions in a bribery case connected to their longtime family friend, Harendra Singh.

The Manganos maintain their innocence. A Manhattan federal appeals court recently ordered their attorneys to file appeal paperwork by Jan. 25.

Linda Mangano, 59, is serving her 15-month sentence in a minimum-security satellite camp in Danbury, Connecticut. Bureau of Prison records show she is due for release in October. Edward Mangano, 60, is serving his 12-year-sentence at the Massachusetts facility Federal Medical Center, Devens. –Bridget Murphy

Returning to the office? Some Long Island companies surrendered to hybrid work by letting leases lapse and cutting square footage. But others would like to bring workers back to the office. A survey of 1,000 executives by ResumeBuilder.com found that 90% of companies will require employees to return to the office in 2023, up from 66% in September, when they were polled. –Ken Schachter

Recreational pot delivery. Long Island could see its first recreational pot shops sometime in 2023. The state awarded the Island’s first seven retail licenses in November. Those owners will be able to use warehouses to deliver products to consumers before they set up storefronts.

Retail licenses are initially only available to New Yorkers who were convicted of — or are related to someone convicted of — a marijuana-related offense. The state planned to secure retail spaces for these licensees as a way to give them a leg up before the industry is opened up to other businesses. But the state only identified one dispensary location in Harlem.

In late 2022, regulators announced that the licensees may find their own locations. When shops open on the Island will depend on how quickly the licensees can find storefronts. –Sarina Trangle

Hochul's first elected term. Gov. Kathy Hochul will, for the first time as an elected governor, present her first State of the State speech and present her first state budget proposal in January. These two documents drive most of the 2023 state legislative session, as well as state spending.

Hochul has made it clear in dozens of vetoes since she was elected Nov. 8 that she is willing to cut spending sought by the Legislature as the state enters an increasingly uncertain fiscal year. She proposed record spending in the current 2022-23 budget, but that budget adopted in April expires March 31. It was her first budget.

She rose from lieutenant governor to chief executive in August 2021, when then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment. But an elected governor can potentially exercise more clout when negotiating with legislative leaders. –Michael Gormley

Social Security COLA. Inflation is painful, but for the roughly 70 million Americans who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits, help is on the way. They will see an 8.7% cost-of-living increase in their benefits in January. –Ken Schachter

A new area code. For more than 70 years, 516 has been the only area code assigned to Nassau County, but soon callers will have a new trio of numbers to learn: 363. Phone service carriers can begin assigning the new area code to the start of new phone numbers issued in Nassau at some point after it goes into service Jan. 20.

East Side Access. With the MTA’s $11.1 billion East Side Access project scheduled to be completed in December, January should be the first full month that LIRR riders have the option to commute to and from a second Manhattan station, Grand Central Madison. Even commuters who aren’t headed for Grand Central will be affected by the new service plan, as it will come with major schedule changes for Brooklyn and Penn Station customers, too. –Alfonso Castillo

Gyrodyne. The former defense contractor, headquartered in northern Smithtown on North Country Road, has said it expects to receive final approval from town officials in 2023 to subdivide its 75-acre property, which includes one of the largest undeveloped land tracts in western Suffolk County. 

The company could then sell much of the site piecemeal for uses such as medical offices and assisted living. Opponents of the plan have said development would bring traffic congestion to area roads and threaten environmentally sensitive Stony Brook Harbor, which lies to the northwest. 

There are complications, however. Head of the Harbor Village and a coalition of local residents in early 2022 sued Gyrodyne and Smithtown in Suffolk County Supreme Court to annul town approvals, alleging flaws in its environmental review. And in November, Peconic Land Trust said it was exploring a bid to buy and preserve a portion of the Gyrodyne site. –Nicholas Spangler

A new restaurant from Robke's team. In mid-January, Louie Selvaggio, host par excellence at his family's popular Northport restaurant, Robke's, is opening a higher-end venue, Birdie Bar, down the street. The team has gutted the old Seven Quarts Tavern and, Selvaggio said, plans to serve "a lot of steak, a lot of fish, a big raw bar. We’re going to bring some really good ribs to Northport, too." –Erica Marcus

Parties choose leaders. In January, the state Republican Party is expected to choose a new state leader. State GOP chairman Nick Langworthy won a seat in Congress in November after orchestrating some wins statewide for the House of Representatives and the state Legislature. So far, Republicans have suggested Rep. Lee Zeldin of Shirley, the GOP nominee for governor in 2022, as a possible successor. Some Democrats also have called for a change in their party’s leadership after those Republican gains and the closeness of the governor’s race, which was won by Hochul, a Democrat. Jay Jacobs, the longtime Nassau County Democratic chairman, has been the state Democratic chairman under former Gov. Cuomo and Hochul. The state party leaders could consider a change in a meeting that could be scheduled in January or extend Jacobs’ tenure. –Michael Gormley

A mild winter? The New York metropolitan region should have a mild winter, with possibly fewer storms because they tend to take a more western track during the La Nina weather pattern, experts said.

The odds that temperatures for much of the East Coast, from the northern tip of South Carolina to Maine, will be warmer than usual are 40% to 50%, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

There are equal chances, however, of precipitation running around average or above or below, it said.

The La Nina weather system arises when the trade winds push “warm water back into the western Pacific,” which in turn raises the deeper and thus colder waters to the surface in the eastern Pacific, NOAA says.

The opposite weather pattern, El Nino, occurs when slower trade winds instead push warmer water on the sea’s surface east, to South America’s coast. –Joan Gralla

LIRR police patrols. Responding to growing concerns about crime on the LIRR, MTA Police has said it plans to deploy a dedicated patrol unit to ride trains beginning in January. The cops will board trains on Long Island during the morning rush hour, and ride them to western terminals along with commuters, and then head back east on the trains during the evening commute. –Alfonso Castillo

Legislature picks leaders. In the first week in January, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) are expected to be chosen by their Democratic members to serve another two-year term. Both chambers continue to be controlled by Democrats after the November elections. –Michael Gormley

Brookhaven special election. A special election will be held in January to replace Brookhaven Town Clerk Donna Lent, who has retired. Supervisor Edward P. Romaine told Newsday on Nov. 17 that voting would be held from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Jan. 17. Poll locations were undecided.

Lent, 70, retired on Nov. 10 after nine years in office. She told Newsday she planned to move out of state. Lent had been deputy town clerk until 2013, when she won an election for her first term as clerk. She subsequently won two more four-year terms, in 2017 and 2021. Deputy Town Clerk Lauren Thoden is the interim clerk until a new one is elected. –Carl MacGowan

New adjudication bureau. Babylon Town officials plan to hold a ribbon cutting for the town’s new adjudication bureau in North Amityville in January. The court, which will hear cases that previously had been in Suffolk County District Court in Lindenhurst, is expected to be up and running by March. The town received the green light from the state to create its own adjudication bureau in 2021. –Denise Bonilla

Automatic voter registration. A new state law will allow New Yorkers to register to vote when they receive social services, register a vehicle or apply for unemployment or disability checks. The law calls for "automatic voter registration" through an electronic form that will be available at many state and county government offices beginning in January. –Caroline Curtin

A postage price hike. On Jan. 22, the price of a first-class Forever postage stamp will increase from 60 cents to 63 cents. –Caroline Curtin

Restaurant week. Eateries in Nassau and Suffolk will be offering prix-fixe menus during the Winter Long Island Restaurant Week being held Jan. 29 to Feb. 5. –Caroline Curtin

Regeneron scholars. It’s a safe bet that when semifinalists are announced in the prestigious 2023 Regeneron Science Talent Search competition in January, Long Island high school students will make the list. Of 300 semifinalists in the 2022 competition, which awards high school students prizes ranging from $40,000 to $250,000, there were nearly 50 from Island schools. The field narrowed to 40 finalists, seven of whom were from local schools.

Ward Melville High School senior Amber Luo finished third in the 2022 competition, where she won $150,000 and was named one of the nation's top young scientists. Regeneron selections are based on research skills, academics, innovation and promise as scientists. –Joie Tyrell

Deer hunting. In Suffolk, properly permitted deer hunters can use firearms from the first Sunday in January to Jan. 31, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Bow hunting, which began in October, ends on Jan. 31. Nassau has no deer hunting season.

In August, the bluetongue virus was detected in two deer found dead in the state, including one in Southampton, the DEC said. The hemorrhagic virus, called bluetongue for one of its most obvious symptoms and spread by tiny midges that die in the first frost, usually kills deer swiftly, but the DEC says there is zero evidence this disease can infect people. Still, hunters long have been advised to cook game to 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill parasites or any infectious agents. –Joan Gralla

New dean. The NYU Long Island School of Medicine is set to welcome its next dean, Dr. Gladys Ayala, in the new year. She takes over from founding Dean Dr. Steven Shelov, who plans to retire as dean and professor of pediatrics on Jan. 2. Ayala, now the medical school’s vice dean and professor of medicine, has been with the school since 2018, when she joined as the senior associate dean for medical education. –Maura McDermott

February

Second trial in Thomas Valva murder. Angela Pollina, the ex-fiancee of former NYPD cop Michael Valva, is scheduled to go on trial in February in the death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva.

Pollina has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with Thomas’ death and the alleged abuse of Thomas and his older brother Anthony, then 10.

Prosecutors have alleged that Pollina and Valva, who was convicted at trial on the same charges in November, forced Thomas to sleep in the unheated garage of their Center Moriches home when the low temperature was 19 degrees. Thomas died from hypothermia. –Nicole Fuller 

An MTA budget update. The MTA's regular update to its five-year financial plan, expected in February, should provide some insight into the transit agency's fiscal future. The agency has been balancing its books using federal COVID-19 bailout money, and has said that, without a new revenue stream, it could be facing a $2.5 billion deficit by 2025. –Alfonso Castillo

WTC bombing anniversary. On Feb. 26, the 30th anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing will be marked with a moment of silence, the tolling of a bell, and a reading of the names of the six victims of the first terror attack at the site. –Caroline Curtin

Jurassic Quest. More than 100 life-size animatronic dinosaurs will be taking over Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Feb. 17-20.

Early 2023

Another Lidl grocery store. Lidl will open its 24th Long Island grocery store in early 2023.

The German discount grocer is building a 35,827-square-foot store at 450 Commack Rd. in Deer Park that will be its first new construction and largest store on Long Island, spokesman Will Harwood said.

Lidl entered the Long Island market in January 2019, when the retailer’s U.S. arm finalized its purchase from Bethpage-based Best Market of 27 stores, including all 24 on the Island, for an undisclosed price. The discounter converted most Best Markets to the Lidl name, but it also closed a few and opened new Lidl stores. –Tory N. Parrish

'Tripledemic' cold season possible. Winter always has been a busy time for respiratory viruses that cause everything from the common cold to COVID-19. But infectious disease experts have been particularly concerned about a combination of factors that could lead to a particularly difficult start to 2023. 

December, January and February are typically the months where flu circulation is at its highest. But this year, cases started appearing as early as September and October, and health officials stepped up their annual public awareness campaigns urging people to get their flu shots. 

By the end of October, flu cases on Long Island were seven times higher than for the same time period in the previous 12 years.

Add to that an unpredictable COVID-19 path through the winter months and an uptick in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and you have what officials believe could be a “tripledemic” of potentially serious illnesses. Experts speculate that these viruses, which are commonly seen every year, were suppressed during the early years of the pandemic through mitigation efforts such as social distancing and wearing masks. 

Statistics also show that fewer people received their flu shots in the fall and not many people have received the updated COVID-19 booster shot, which provides better protection against the newest variants. Efforts to boost those vaccination rates will continue through the early months of 2023. 

In 2023, federal health officials are expected to further discuss whether COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will be updated and recommended on an annual basis, similar to the way annual flu shots are administered. In addition, several major pharmaceutical firms are looking into development of a dual COVID-19/flu shot. –Lisa Colangelo

New ways to combat COVID variants? Research into treatments for COVID-19 continue, as well as the monitoring of long-term effects of the disease that was first discovered three years ago. The National Institutes of Health is supporting studies of a drug that could help the body ward off the new viral variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Researchers are looking at NMT5, a variation of memantine, a treatment for neurological disease, which could make it more difficult for the virus to infect cells. –Lisa Colangelo

School ratings. Annual academic ratings of public schools and districts will resume on Long Island and across the state, following a two-year interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ratings are required by federal education law and are used to identify schools that fall in the bottom 5% academically or that fail to meet scholastic standards in other ways. Designations are based on state test scores, high school graduation rates, student attendance and other criteria. 

In 2020, identifications of low-performing schools were temporarily frozen for the 61 schools and 34 districts then listed in Nassau and Suffolk counties. State education officials told Newsday on Nov. 9 that revised preliminary ratings would be issued “in early 2023, with final determinations announced in the following weeks.” –John Hildebrand

Sentencing in MS-13 case. The MS-13 female gang associate known as “La Diablita” could be sentenced to up to life in prison in early 2023, unless a federal judge grants her defense team’s bid for a new trial.

A jury in April 2022 convicted Leniz Escobar, then 22, of racketeering and murder in aid of racketeering following a quadruple slaying in the woods of Central Islip five years earlier. Prosecutors argued at trial that she was both the “bait” that lured four young men who died to the scene and a “mastermind” who helped plot the crime.

Escobar’s lawyers have argued for a new trial, saying in part that a post-trial disclosure from the prosecution shows one of the government’s cooperating witnesses lied during part of his testimony. –Bridget Murphy
 

Health care expansion. Weill Cornell Medicine’s Southampton location will expand its offerings, adding gynecologic care in the first quarter and expanding its family and internal medicine services in the second quarter. The office also provides reproductive care. –Maura McDermott

Just Salad's LI debut. The salad chain plans to open three Long Island eateries in the first quarter — in Huntington, Westbury and Commack — before opening an Oceanside restaurant in the second quarter, said Nicole Natoli, spokeswoman for the Manhattan-based company. 

The Huntington shop will be a 2,400-square-foot eatery at 350 Walt Whitman Rd. in the Huntington Shopping Center, where an approximately $75 million redevelopment is underway. The Westbury store will be in a 2,600-square-foot space at 1256 Old Country Rd. in Westbury Plaza. Just Salad and incoming Mediterranean restaurant Cava will be splitting the space vacated by a 5,000-square-foot, free-standing California Pizza Kitchen restaurant in 2019, said Eric Davidson, spokesman for Regency Centers Corp., the Jacksonville, Florida-based operator of the shopping center. (Cava will open in January.)

The Just Salad at Commack Marketplace will be located at 6040 Jericho Tpke., in a 2,200-square-foot unit vacated last February by a longtime dentist’s office, Wisdom Tooth of Commack, said Marc Kemp, a principal at Woodmere-based real estate developer Basser-Kaufman, which owns the Commack shopping center.

Just Salad sells salads, wraps, warm bowls and other items at its eateries. The chain has waste reduction initiatives, including a reusable bowl program and bagless pickup and checkout, and a lower-carbon menu category. Founded in 2006, Just Salad has more than 60 eateries in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Dubai. –Tory N. Parrish

Improvements in Islip. Islip Town has several projects in store for 2023. “Whether it be road paving or major park projects, we’re getting them done,” Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter said. “Over the next couple of years, projects like Byron Lake, built 55 years ago, and others will see major improvements, renovations or replacement. These projects touch every corner of the town and will last into the next half century.” 

The town began renovating Byron Lake Park in Sayville in September, which includes rebuilding the entire pool area with the addition of a zero-entry pool, slide and kiddie pool with a spray pad. The pool buildings also are under construction to make them ADA accessible. The second leg of the project will begin in early 2023. The town plans to install new bulkheading around the lake and island, along with draining structure improvements to improve water flow. This is expected to be finished by the summer. –Brinley Hineman

Savage X Fenty at Roosevelt Field. A Savage X Fenty store will open at Roosevelt Field in Garden City in the first quarter, said Molly Crabill, a spokeswoman for the mall.

The store will be the lingerie retailer’s first on Long Island, said Imani Goldman, spokeswoman for Savage X Fenty. Founded by singer Rihanna as an online brand in 2018, Savage X Fenty now has five brick-and-mortar stores and is planning six more. –Tory N. Parrish

St. James sewers. A feasibility study could be ready by the start of the year exploring expansion of a Suffolk County sewage treatment plant to serve the hamlet’s downtown Lake Avenue. The study will evaluate expansion of a treatment plant serving the nearby Fairfield at St. James condominium community.

Municipal officials and business leaders have said sewers would provide environmental and economic benefits for the hamlet, enabling restaurants to add more tables, or developers to build second-floor apartments over retail spaces.

Workers in 2020 laid a sewer line under Lake Avenue, but with no treatment plant hookup, it was derided by some as “a sewer main to nowhere.” –Nicholas Spangler

Dredging projects underway. Islip received an emergency dredging permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and  were slated to begin dredging at the West Islip Marina in December. The marina’s mouth has become difficult for boaters to navigate, the town said. This is the first part of marina renovations. The town plans to replace the west side bulkheading, rehabilitate the boat ramp and dredge other boat slips. 

Islip also  was to embark on another dredging project  in which crews will dredge the Brown’s River East and Brown’s River West marinas. Silt and debris has settled in the 167 boat slips, which the town said makes it difficult for boaters to use. The dredging project will be completed in early 2023 before boating season. –Brinley Hineman

March

Shinnecock cannabis dispensary. Little Beach Harvest, the region’s first indigenous-owned cannabis company, is slated to open in the first quarter, with a 5,000-square-foot dispensary at 56 Montauk Hwy. on Shinnecock Indian Nation land in Southampton. –Caroline Curtin

Expanded cardiac care. Plainview Hospital will open two cardiac catheterization labs as it expands its cardiac care offerings and establishes a wing dedicated to cardiac care. –Maura McDermott

Adventureland reopens. The Farmingdale amusement park opens its doors again for a new season on March 25-26 at 10 a.m. 

Spring

Penn Station improvement. MTA officials have said they expect to complete a $600 million improvement project in Penn Station in the first quarter. The plan calls for raising the ceiling along the LIRR’s Penn Station concourse below 33rd street to 18 feet, and nearly doubling the width of the walkway there. In the spring, several businesses are expected to return to the concourse, including Rose’s Pizza. –Alfonso Castillo

A new Burlington store. Off-price clothing and home furnishings chain Burlington will open a store at 222 Sunrise Hwy. in Meadowbrook Commons in Freeport this spring, said Will Amari, a spokesman for the Burlington, New Jersey-based retailer.

The new store will occupy 25,901 square feet of space created by the vacancies of three former tenants, including a 20,500-square-foot Modell’s Sporting Goods.

The rest of Burlington’s space will come from a 3,500-square-foot vacancy created by America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses relocating in the shopping center and some of the space, 1,900 square feet, from the former Danice women’s clothing store, said Chris Ostrowski, spokesman for Kimco Realty Corp., the Jericho-based owner of Meadowbrook Commons. –Tory N. Parrish

Fare increase. After deferring a fare and toll increase for two consecutive years, the MTA has said it intends to return to its regular schedule of raising rates by 4% every other year. That will mean an increase for all transit riders, including on the LIRR, some time in 2023. In recent years, the hikes have taken effect in the spring. Nassau’s NICE Bus typically follows the same fare structure as MTA buses and subways. –Alfonso Castillo

Jurassic World Live. Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly canceled its last tour on Long Island, Jurassic World Live is returning, this time to UBS Arena March 17-29.

New medical care centers open. The Stony Brook Medicine Advanced Specialty Care at Lake Grove is expected to open in the spring. The facility formerly occupied by Sears will span 170,000 square feet and include a multispecialty medical practice and clinical research area. 

Catholic Health’s Family Care Center at Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre is scheduled to start seeing patients by late spring. The 16,000-square-foot medical office building will be the home of Mercy’s women’s and children’s services. It received a $1.3 million grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. 

The Hospital for Special Surgery will open its new Town of Southampton practice in late spring. The 2,800-square-foot office in the hamlet of Water Mill will offer orthopedics, sports medicine, rehabilitation and pain management, as well as digital X-rays. The HSS Rehab Network, which includes private physical and occupational therapy practices, also expects to open several offices on Long Island in 2023, adding to its lineup of 48 practices on the Island. –Maura McDermott

A new, more inclusive playground. To make the Sayville Marina Park New Beach playground more inclusive, the town is replacing the nearly 30-year-old playground with an upgraded playground for children of all abilities. The fully inclusive playground will be outfitted with ramps and wheelchair swings. Work began on the playground in September and is expected to be complete in the spring. –Brinley Hineman

Major road improvements. Work on a $13 million pavement renewal project covering 40 lane miles in various sections of State Route 25A in Nassau and Suffolk counties is expected to begin in the spring.

The award of a construction contract is also expected in the spring to resurface approximately 40 lane miles of the Northern State Parkway between Wolf Hill Road (Exit 41) and the eastern terminus at state Routes 347/454. –Lorena Mongelli

Pickleball courts added. Islip Town's Holbrook Country Club tennis courts are being expanded and renovated to accommodate pickleball. The four existing courts are being revamped to three tennis courts and three pickleball courts. The project is underway with plans to open for the 2023 season. –Brinley Hineman

April

Bruce Springsteen. On April 11, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, 2023 Tour, will perform at UBS Arena in Elmont. –Judy Weinberg

The housing market. A surge in mortgage rates helped slow down the growth in home prices in 2022 and showed just how unpredictable interest rates can be. We’ll learn more about how the market performed during the traditionally slower winter months when real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel release first-quarter data on the number of sales and prices in late April.

Keep an eye on the number of homes on the market. If the supply of for-sale homes doesn’t increase from winter 2022’s record lows, homebuyers may have longer to wait for relief on prices. –Jonathan LaMantia

LIRR Main Line expansion. Although the LIRR finished construction of its 10-mile Third Track between Floral Park and Hicksville in October, work remains to be done to complete the entire $2.5 billion expansion project, including various station improvements. The LIRR said it will achieve “substantial completion” of the entire project in April. –Alfonso Castillo

State budget sets the tone. The state budget is due by April 1 and will have to balance the needs of progressives in the Legislature with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan for fiscal prudence as the state heads into continued difficult economic times. –Michael Gormley

May

Wyandanch Rising. Phase II of the $500 million public-private revitalization effort in downtown Wyandanch is expected to begin in 2023. This is the first time that the redevelopment work will move south of the LIRR tracks, reaching on the east side of Straight Path down to Commonwealth Drive. It will begin with a groundbreaking for a new mixed-use apartment building in May. –Denise Bonilla

Blink-182 is back. The band brings its North American Tour to UBS Arena on May 20.

LI Marathon.The Jovia Long Island Marathon Weekend takes place May 5-7 at Eisenhower Park.

Anita Baker performs. The singer-songwriter known for her soulful ballads comes to UBS Arena on May 12.

Splish Splash reopens. The Calverton water park opens again on May 27 for the summer season at 10 a.m. 

June 

Spray park renovations. Babylon Town is spending $1.4 million in American Rescue Plan money for a new deck and UV system at Venetian Shores spray park in Lindenhurst. The renovation also will include new equipment. It is expected to be completed in June. –Denise Bonilla

Long Island on the big screen. “No Hard Feelings,” a movie staring Jennifer Lawrence that was filmed on Long Island and takes place in Montauk, is scheduled for release June 16. –Caroline Curtin

The 68th annual Strawberry Festival. The event hosted by the Mattituck Lion’s Club is slated to mark a sweet weekend on the North Fork June 14-18. 

Summer

More Aldi grocery stores. Aldi will have doubled its number of stores on Long Island over a four-year span by the end of 2023 as consumers in search of bargains help fuel the discount grocer’s growth.

The German discount grocer, which has 10 stores on Long Island, will open three more supermarkets on the Island in 2023, said Chris Daniels, vice president for Aldi’s South Windsor Division. 

An Aldi will open at 280 Peninsula Blvd. in Hempstead Village Commons in early summer, Daniels said. The store will take an approximately 24,000-square-foot space that a Staples vacated in November, said Marc Kemp, a principal at Woodmere-based real estate developer Basser-Kaufman, which owns the shopping center.

Also, Manhasset-based PX4 Development was approved for a zoning change by the Town of Islip but still needs site plan approval to redevelop the former Central Islip Psychiatric Center property for retail businesses and housing for seniors, disabled veterans and autistic people that would total 150,000 square feet, including a 20,259-square-foot Aldi. The site, which previously housed a New York Institute of Technology campus, is at the southwest corner of Carleton Avenue and South Research Place. The store will open next fall, Daniels said.

Also, a new 21,543-square-foot Aldi is planned for a former Mattress Firm space at 85 North Country Rd. (Route 25A) in Crossroads Plaza in Rocky Point. The store will open in the summer, Daniels said. –Tory N. Parrish

More electric vehicle charging stations. Electric cars are gaining market share, but coverage of public charging stations on Long Island remains spotty for those who can’t plug in at home. NYSERDA lists 3,184 stations for the state overall. The Biden administration infrastructure law includes more than $5 billion to build EV chargers in all 50 states over five years. North Hempstead plans to add 30 charging stations through a $500,000 state grant in 2023. –Ken Schachter

Second phase of LIE repairs. A $7.3 million concrete pavement repair project for the Long Island Expressway that began in summer 2022 between State Route 112 and Yaphank Avenue (Exits 64-67) will continue. A second contract is expected to be awarded in fall 2023 to extend work between Yaphank Avenue and Wading River Road (Exits 67-69). –Lorena Mongelli 

Boosted shark patrols. Drones, helicopter and boat patrols and keen-eyed lifeguards again will be keeping watch in case sharks again return too close to Long Island beaches, as they have the past few seasons, though bites remain rare.

George Gorman, Long Island regional director, New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, for one, is increasing safeguards. 

“We are purchasing five new drones for ocean surveillance, and we will be training an additional 12 staff members, including lifeguard and park police, to operate the drones,” he said.

The imperative of safeguarding swimmers and surfers, an increasingly common problem along the Eastern Seaboard as research shows sharks native to southern waters are ranging farther north, led a Maine law professor to propose creating a New England “shark council” to plot strategies — and add electromagnetic barriers to keep sharks well offshore.

“However, there is currently no evidence that sharks are spending more time near shore as a result of warming waters,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. –Joan Gralla

Thomas Rhett plays UBS Arena. Country music star Thomas Rhett will bring his “Home Team Tour 23” to UBS Arena at Belmont Park in Elmont on July 22.

New medical care options. Mount Sinai South Nassau’s $35 million Long Beach Medical Arts Pavilion is due to open in early summer. The 15,400-square-foot facility will offer services including primary care, geriatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, urology, cardiology services including treadmill stress testing, lab services and diagnostic imaging. The building includes 15 patient rooms and four procedure rooms, as well as recovery and imaging areas.

Catholic Health will launch its first walk-in clinic outside of a hospital by early summer. The new Catholic Health Ambulatory & Urgent Care also will provide primary care, women’s health, behavioral health, cardiology, neurosciences and orthopedics treatment in a 63,000-square-foot “medical mall,” the Rockville Centre-based health care system said. 

Northwell Health’s new $4.3 million dollar Center for Genomic Medicine at The Center for Advanced Medicine, part of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute, will open in early summer. The 3,200-square-foot center will contribute to cancer clinical care, clinical trials and cancer research. A new clinical molecular diagnostics laboratory will conduct genomic profiling to provide targeted therapy intended to improve the accuracy of patients’ cancer prognosis and diagnosis. –Maura McDermott

Parole hearing for convicted child killer. Robert Turley's next hearing before the parole board is scheduled for August. The convicted child killer is imprisoned upstate for the 1984 murder of 12-year-old Jennifer Goff in Nesconset and is serving a 25-years-to-life sentence. In June 2022, he was denied parole in his latest bid to be released from prison.

September

A new LIRR fleet. After nearly three years of setbacks, the LIRR has said it expects to have its entire fleet of new M9 train cars in place by September. The rollout of the 202 new train cars has been beset by delays, many of which the LIRR has blamed on “workmanship issues” by the manufacturer, Kawasaki Rail Inc. –Alfonso Castillo

Medical facility replaces Sears. NYU Langone Health’s new multispecialty practice at the former Sears building at 1111 Franklin Ave. in Garden City is due to open in the third quarter. The 260,000-square-foot building will include 290 exam rooms providing radiology, women’s imaging, cardiology, pediatrics, diabetes, pulmonary, internal medicine, ob/gyn, surgery offices, endocrinology, urology, orthopedics, maternal fetal medicine, bariatrics, rheumatology/allergy and geriatrics.

Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside is adding new equipment to improve the diagnosis and treatment of stroke, vascular disease and other life-threatening conditions. The hospital’s interventional radiology suite’s new apparatus, called a biplane 3D imaging system, creates detailed three-dimensional images that help radiologists perform minimally invasive procedures. –Maura McDermott

October

The Oyster Festival. The 40th annual waterside attraction is expected to return for another season, drawing more than 150,000 people to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in historic Oyster Bay. The 2022 event marked its return after it was held online in 2020 and canceled in 2021. 

A new transit system in Suffolk. After years of planning and gathering public input, Suffolk County has said it is set to roll out a redesigned transit system in the summer. The overhauled Suffolk County Transit system would include more frequent service on the busiest routes, but also would cut in half the total number of routes in the county, from 42 to 21. –Alfonso Castillo

A new Old Navy. An Old Navy will take the approximately 15,000-square-foot space that Modell’s Sporting Goods occupied in the South Port Shopping Center in Shirley, said Thomas Rettaliata, vice chairman at Ripco Real Estate LLC, the Jericho-based company representing the landlord.

“The proposed opening date is October 2023,” he said. The Modell’s was at 1019 Montauk Hwy. –Tory N. Parrish

Home health aide pay. The minimum wage for home health and personal care aides around the state is scheduled to increase by $1 per hour on Oct. 1. The increase, aimed at retaining an in-demand but historically low-paid workforce, follows a $2 minimum wage increase for those workers put into effect this past October. –Victor Ocasio

An MTA infrastructure to-do list. The MTA expects to release its latest 20-year-needs assessment in October. The report, which is supposed to be updated every five years, includes a list of infrastructure priorities that the agency aims to tackle in future capital programs — the next of which is expected to take effect in 2025. It could include major initiatives to improve service on the LIRR, including potentially new stations and routes. –Alfonso Castillo

Late 2023

A new Suffolk county executive. Suffolk County will elect a new county executive for the first time in 12 years in 2023 as incumbent County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, has reached a 12-year term limit.

While no Republicans have publicly declared their intent to run for the county’s top office, Democrat Dave Calone, a venture capitalist and a former federal and state prosecutor, announced his candidacy in July. 

Bellone, who has not publicly said what he will do after his term is up, has faced a tenure marked by multiple crises, including reducing an inherited deficit, the response in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the COVID-19 pandemic and most recently a crippling cyberattack on county government.

Meanwhile both parties will be jockeying for control of the 18-seat County Legislature — where Republicans took an 11-7 lead on the board in 2021 for the first time in 16 years. All 19 seats of the Nassau County Legislature will be up as well. –Vera Chinese

Pot licenses expand: The state anticipates accepting applications for cannabis businesses from a wider array of entrepreneurs and businesses. The first round of licenses were reserved for people impacted by the inequitable enforcement of old marijuana laws, and for farmers and processors who have worked with hemp. Regulators released proposed rules for more generally accessible licenses in November 2022. State agencies typically spend seven to nine months finalizing regulations, so that process may wrap up around the third quarter, according to Aaron Ghitelman, a spokesman for the state Office of Cannabis Management. –Sarina Trangle

Advanced surgical center. North Shore University Hospital’s new $325 million Petrocelli Advanced Surgical Pavilion is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. The seven-story, 280,000-square-foot building will include 18 operating rooms, including three hybrid suites with advanced imaging. It also will have 44 intensive care unit beds and two levels of parking under the building. Construction began in April 2020. –Maura McDermott

Legal recourse for sexual survivors. Under recent legislation, adult survivors of sexual assault in New York can now have legal recourse even if the statute of limitations has passed against the alleged abuser and potentially the abuser's employer for cases that could go back decades. The Adult Survivors Act provides a one-year look-back window that started Nov. 24 for those sexually assaulted when they were over the age of 18 to bring forth civil claims, regardless of when the abuse occurred. They would have until Nov. 23 to file such claims. Previous legislation opened up such a window between 2019 and 2021 for those who were under 18. –Caroline Curtin

Primark comes to Smith Haven. Irish fast-fashion retailer Primark will open a store in Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove in November or December, a spokeswoman for the mall said.

The store will occupy the 42,978-square-foot, first-floor space of a former two-level J.C. Penney, said Peter Hans, planning director for the Smithtown Planning Department.

Primark opened its first Long Island store and 14th in the United States in Roosevelt Field in Garden City in November. The retailer also has a Long Island store planned for Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, but declined to say when the store will open.

Founded in 1969, Primark stores sell adult and children’s clothes, as well as beauty products and home goods, at discounted prices. –Tory N. Parrish

Final minimum wage increase. After more than seven years, the plan to raise the minimum wage statewide to $15 will come to a close on Dec. 31. That is when workers in upstate New York will see their hourly minimum go up to $15, joining Long Island, New York City and Westchester, which reached that pay rate in years prior. At the end of 2022, upstate workers  were to see the minimum wage increase to $14.20, and pending formal approval by the state Division of the Budget, will see another increase of 80 cents at the end of 2023. –Victor Ocasio

Revamped women and infants center. South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore is expected to complete its $71 million expansion and renovation of its Women and Infants Center by the end of the year. The 45,560-square-foot center will have its own entrance; a renovated neonatal intensive care unit with 16 private suites; and two new operating rooms for women’s health procedures, including a new da Vinci surgical system to perform minimally invasive, robotic-assisted gynecologic procedures. It also includes four obstetrical-triage beds and 11 postpartum private suites. The hospital also will add six beds in its intensive care unit and two hybrid operating rooms for open-heart surgeries and minimally invasive procedures such as angioplasty, angiography and transcatheter aortic valve replacement, an alternative to open-heart surgery. –Maura McDermott

Prep for new OT threshold for farmworkers.The state Department of Labor will go through a rulemaking process to implement a lower threshold for overtime pay for farmworkers. Employers will have to adjust their operations to the new rule.

The labor commissioner has ordered that the OT threshold over the next decade go from the current 60 hours per week before time-and-a-half pay kicks in to 40 hours. The first reduction — to 56 hours — starts on Jan. 1, 2024. –James T. Madore

A new satellite ER. Stony Brook Medicine's new satellite emergency department in East Hampton is scheduled to open in late 2023. The 22,000-square-foot facility will include a resuscitation room, cardiac monitoring in every exam room, fast-track treatments rooms for general, pediatric, obstetrics/gynecology and ophthalmology patients, imaging and an isolation room. –Maura McDermott

Sometime in 2023

Sun Vet Mall plans. Redevelopment of the nearly vacant Sun Vet Mall in Holbrook is expected to begin, said Jon Cohen, a principal at Blumenfeld Development Group Ltd.

The Syosset-based developer is awaiting building and rezoning approvals from the town of Islip to begin redeveloping the mall as a shopping center. Whole Foods is among the grocers considering opening a store on the property after it is redeveloped, and a Starbucks is planned there.

Blumenfeld expects redevelopment work on the mall to begin in the spring, and it should take about two years to complete, said Cohen.

Under the name BDG Sun-Vet LLC, Blumenfeld submitted a proposal to the town that includes demolishing sections of the mall. The property would be reduced in size by 42%, from 282,000 to 163,000 square feet, but that would include six new out-parcels.

Built in 1973, the main mall building would be converted to a 134,000-square-foot shopping center with seven tenants: an anchor grocery store occupying 40,000 square feet, a 58,000-square-foot anchor, a 26,000-square-foot store, and four small tenants ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet.

The six new out-parcels would have seven buildings: three banks, totaling 12,000 square feet, with drive-thru lanes; a 3,500-square-foot sit-down restaurant with 100 seats; a 2,845-square-foot fast-food restaurant with 74 seats and a drive-thru lane, the 1,512-square-foot Starbucks, and a 7,000-square-foot retail and medical/dental building.

Blumenfeld also is requesting a change of zoning for the mall — from the current split-zoned Business 3 and Industrial Corridor District to just Business 3. –Tory N. Parrish

Clarity in congestion pricing. The state’s plan to charge a fee for motor vehicles traveling into the most traffic-congested parts of Manhattan will hit some controversial hurdles. Officials will have to decide how much the fees will be for different times and days and who should be exempted from the fees because they provide critical services. The governor's office said those difficult discussions will start in January. –Michael Gormley

Long Island's first Wegmans. Wegmans will begin construction of its first Long Island supermarket. The Rochester-based grocer has entered into a deal to buy 8.5 acres from Prestige Properties and Development in a shopping center in the village of Lake Grove, where it plans to build a 100,000-square-foot supermarket that would open in 2024.

The Wegmans would be located in the 28-acre DSW Plaza at Lake Grove at the corner of Middle Country and Moriches roads.

Prestige will continue to own and operate the rest of the shopping center. Prestige has received Lake Grove’s planning board, zoning board of appeals and village board approvals for the grocery store’s construction, but it still needs to submit applications for building permits, said Kara Haufler, village clerk.

The property sale hasn’t closed yet because the project is awaiting subdivision approvals, too, said Jerry Welkis, president of Welco Realty Inc., the New Rochelle-based real estate firm that represented Prestige in the Wegmans deal. –Tory N. Parrish

More casinos planned. State officials will issue up to three licenses for casinos in the New York City metropolitan area. These would be the first state-licensed casinos to tap the lucrative Manhattan market. The state now has four upstate casinos in addition to gaming on tribal properties. –Michael Gormley

More warehouses? Maybe. More than 11 million square feet of warehouses have been proposed for Long Island. That equals more than 25 Nassau Coliseums.

Some of the projects are expected to win approvals from town governments and tax breaks from the Island’s eight industrial development agencies in 2023. Others, facing community opposition and a possible recession, may never be built. –James T. Madore

Wren Kitchens expands. Wren Kitchens will open a store in 2023 in an 18,100-square-foot space formerly occupied by Modell’s, at 5510 Sunrise Hwy. in Massapequa. Wren signed a 10-year lease, according to Schuckman Realty Inc., which represented the landlord.

Founded in 2009, U.K.-based retailer Wren designs, manufactures and delivers kitchens. After entering the U.S. market in 2020, Wren now has six U.S. stores, including two on Long Island — in Levittown and Selden. –Tory N. Parrish

With Judy Weinberg and Laura Mann

Correction: An earlier version of this story included a new tax reporting requirement for users of payment apps such as Venmo that the IRS in December delayed for a year.