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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Dumping Scandal Throws Youth Football Team for a Loss

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Monday, July 21, 2014   

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. – The illegal dumping of thousands of pounds of toxic materials in a playground and other sites in Brentwood, Central Islip and other locations has thrown a local boys football team for a loss of yardage – a temporary one, team members hope.

The city had been promising for years to build a new field for the Cougars of the Central Islip Police Athletic League. The project finally moved ahead after a push by parents last year.

However, the 13-year-old football players' hopes were sacked when this spring's investigation turned up what looked like asbestos on the sideline, according to coach Ken Cox.

"We found out that there was a pile of dirt approximately 10 by 10 that's towards the south of our field,” he says. “So now that field has been prohibited for playing on."

Cox adds it has been determined the pile contains asbestos, but not the potentially airborne kind. He and the Cougars are hoping their new field will be ruled safe and ready by the time they put their cleats on for August practices.

Cox is angry, as are many Islip and Brentwood residents, that someone dumped more than 50,000 tons of debris including asbestos, heavy metals, petroleum-based products and pesticides in parks and public places.

"Right now there's no access to them, so hopefully if this one is given a clean bill of health and they can just remove that pile of dirt, hopefully, you know, we can play on it," he says.

Children who usually frolic in the summer in Brentwood's Roberto Clemente Park have had to be bused to other summer recreation sites.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, who is investigating the dumping, says it will likely take more than one summer to safely clear out the toxic material.

Cox is optimistic his Cougars will get to play on the football field they had to fight for in the first place.

"It's disheartening when these things happen in our communities and the kids have to go through all of these other avenues to get to activities for the summer," he says.





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