Denise Civiletti

A ray of sunshine on an otherwise bleak day.🏳️‍🌈

Supreme Court Denies Request to Revisit Same-Sex Marriage Decision Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, had asked the court to reconsider its landmark 2015 opinion.

There's no money to continue the Affordable Care Act tax credits that allow working people to access health insurance, and no money for food stamps or heating assistance for the working poor, but the Trump treasury department, through new tax rules and regulations can somehow add hundreds of billions of dollars in new breaks for big businesses and investors — ON TOP of the $4 trillion in tax cuts in that "One Big Beautiful Bill" enacted in July.

“Treasury has clearly been enacting unlegislated tax cuts,” said Kyle Pomerleau, a tax economist at the American Enterprise Institute told the NY Times.

And that's illegal. But laws are meaningless now.

How the Trump Administration Is Giving Even More Tax Breaks to the Wealthy The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service are issuing rules that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief to big companies and the ultrarich.

Newsday op-ed I wrote on behalf of the Press Club of Long Island.

Nassau County is wrong on its first responder protection act Requiring a 15-foot buffer around first responders could unlawfully restrict newsgathering, a fundamental right protected by the First Amendment.

🎉 Join us for a night of inspiration, recognition, and celebration at the 2025 PCLI Media Awards Banquet! 📰✨
🗓️ June 5, 2025 | 🕕 6–10 PM
📍 Fox Hollow, Woodbury, NY
We’re thrilled to honor Long Island’s finest journalists and induct John Hildebrand, Ellen Mitchell, and Timothy Bolger into the LI Journalism Hall of Fame 🏆🖋️
🎟️ Buy your tickets now to help us plan a memorable evening!
👉 pcli.org

Frustrated by efforts to access public records and "offline" government meetings — including school board "executive sessions" — and public matters being discussed via texts and emails decisions?

The Press Club of Long Island is hosting a panel discussion with Heather E. Murray, the managing attorney of the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic’s Local Journalism Project, and Michael Linhorst, the local journalism attorney for the clinic, who will explain New York's records access and open meetings laws and what we can do to make them work for us as citizens who have a Right to Know. Free event and you don't have to be a PCLI member to attend.

Join us on Zoom on Thursday, October 17, at 7 p.m. Eastern. Register here:

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Freedom of Information and Open Meetings Law Primer with the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. New York State has both a Freedom of Information Law and an Open Meetings Law, but these laws are not always followed, and ensuring they are enforced can feel like an insurmountable task. Heather E. Murray, the managing attorney of the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic’s Local Journalism P...

An email waiting for me this morning read, "TinCity, as a child I lived there bud forgotten about it until I saw the Article memories thank you I showed it to my grandsons to see how I came up."

The message had me crying pretty hard. I'm currently reading Isabel Wilkerson's excellent book, "The Warmth of Other Suns," which brings to life the history and the people of the Great Migration. There's so much more to learn about those who came to Riverhead to escape Jim Crow oppression and violence in the hope of finding a better life. The stories of their lives need to be told and preserved. Researching and writing "Tin City" opened my eyes to a lot of things, and inspired me to learn more.

Tin City: The story of Riverhead’s forgotten slums Sixty years ago, there were no playgrounds, picnic tables, hiking trails or campsites on the property we know today as Indian Island County Park. In 1964, bulldozers leveled the tin-roofed sheds at…

Long Island journalist friends: If you're on the awards finalist list, time is running out to get your tickets to the PCLI Media Awards event June 13. Check the list then get your tix:

2024 PCLI Media Awards Finalists The PCLI Media Awards Banquet and 50th Anniversary Celebration will take place on Thursday, June 13, at Fox Hollow in Woodbury. Tickets, tables and journal ads are on sale now.

The Press Club of Long Island will host "Reporting During Tumultuous Times: How Journalists Can Stay Safe" on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. EST on Zoom. This panel discussion will examine the many ways that journalists face bullying and intimidation, and what measures they can take to counteract threats and stay safe during what will likely be a tumultuous political cycle, at the local and national levels. Register for the Zoom link:

Reporting During Tumultuous Times: How Journalists Can Stay Safe. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Public intimidation and bullying of journalists have long been part of the job for many editors, producers and reporters. In recent years, however, vitriolic political messaging, not only in the U.S. but in many parts of the world, has caused a deterioration in civil discourse, ratcheting up harassm...

Tin City: The story of Riverhead’s forgotten slums Sixty years ago, there were no playgrounds, picnic tables, hiking trails or campsites on the property we know today as Indian Island County Park. In 1964, bulldozers leveled the tin-roofed sheds at…

Honored to be invited to participate in this upcoming panel discussion of journalism ethics with Fred Brown, former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists and an active member of its ethics committee, who guided the modern SPJ Code of Ethics. Presented by the Press Club of Long Island, the local chapter of SPJ on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. The discussion and Q&A will be moderated by PCLI President Brendan J. O'Reilly. Register for the Zoom link here.

PCLI Presents ‘Navigating Ethical Pitfalls’ on February 16 Some ethical quandaries are thornier than others, and not every journalist will reach the same answer. To help navigate ethical pitfalls, the Society of Professional Journalists […]

PCLI Presents ‘Navigating Ethical Pitfalls’ on February 16 Some ethical quandaries are thornier than others, and not every journalist will reach the same answer. To help navigate ethical pitfalls, the Society of Professional Journalists […]

NY State is finally releasing data on COVID-19 hospital deaths — after a critical report by the NY AG and a court order in a FOIL lawsuit brought by a watchdog group. The state health department posted the data online this weekend (classic move). It's still incomplete. BUT it shows a 45% increase in nursing home resident deaths and 1,735 deaths among residents of adult care and assisted living facilities — 1,516 of which were not previously disclosed. The Cuomo administration's lack of transparency, while certainly nothing new, has never been more outrageous.

COVID-19 hospital deaths among NY's long-term care facility residents push death toll much higher than previously disclosed, new data show | RiverheadLOCAL The State Health Department has finally begun reporting COVID-19 fatality data for residents of nursing homes, adult care facilities and assisted living facilities who died after being transferred to hospitals.