Long Island launches drones in desperate search for missing Democrat whose car, clothes found near beach
Nassau County launched drones in an aerial search for a missing Long Island Democratic candidate whose car and clothes were found near a local beach, officials said Thursday.
Petros Krommidas, who is running for a seat on the Nassau Board of Legislators, vanished Wednesday night when he went for a training swim at Long Beach, cops and family said.
Petros Krommidas, 29, hasn't been seen since he set off for a training swim last Wednesday night at Long Beach.
Advertisement
Police later found the 29-year old's locked car by the Allegria Hotel, just near the beach he had regularly visited to train for a triathlon, his family said. He had appeared to have taken a towel with him.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Thursday he ordered the mobilization of Nassau's Community Emergency Response Team and drone team to conduct an aerial search that began in Atlantic Beach.
'The safety and well-being of our community members is our highest priority, and we are doing everything possible to locate Petros and bring him home safely,' Blakeman said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
36 minutes ago
- Politico
The DREAM is real: Progressive donors hedge against Cuomo, Adams in NYC mayoral race
NEW YORK — The campaign against ranking Andrew Cuomo for mayor — and supporting Mayor Eric Adams, in general — has been quietly playing out for months in New York City. A POLITICO analysis of campaign finance data shows progressive voters have been hedging their bets since the early days of the Democratic mayoral primary by donating to multiple left-leaning candidates. Their hope? Deny the moderate frontrunner Cuomo the Democratic primary and avoid the MAGA-curious incumbent Adams, who dropped out of the contest to run in the general election as an independent. POLITICO pored over donations to top contenders in the primary, including contributions before the mayor exited the race, through early-June. The findings show nearly 3,000 New Yorkers gave to candidates like City Comptroller Brad Lander, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — but not to Cuomo or Eric Adams. The contribution pattern is reminiscent of a strategy for ranked-choice voting that was initially popularized by the 'Don't Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor' or DREAM campaign. In New York City primaries, voters are able to rank up to five candidates. The idea behind the slogan was to maximize the chances of left-leaning hopefuls, while minimizing the number of second-place votes going to Cuomo and Adams. 'If you're Brad, Zellnor, Zohran or Adrienne, the theory is: The more of us there are, the more energy people will feel and the more they will turn out to vote,' said Democratic strategist Jon Paul Lupo, who is not affiliated with any of the mayoral campaigns. 'But the risk is that you have candidates who are too similar splitting votes and not amplifying them.' With the mayor out of the race, New Yorkers for a Better New York Today, a super-PAC opposing Cuomo, changed the slogan to 'Don't Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor.' The message has not resonated. Cuomo has maintained a solid lead with less than a week until the Tuesday primary, according to the latest Marist survey released Tuesday. And the field opposing him has only begun to embrace ranked choice voting. Adrienne Adams has resisted — urging supporters to rank a slate of candidates backed by the Working Families Party but declining to cross endorse — making efforts to win over her base of Black voters in Queens more difficult for the likes of Mamdani and Lander. Marist noted, however, that Mamdani has gained ground on Cuomo as the clear second-choice. And neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of multi-donors — progressive and vote-rich enclaves in Brooklyn and Manhattan — will play a deciding role in the race. Out of almost 72,150 donations from January 2024 to June 2025, POLITICO found 2,944 donors contributed to more than one candidate, excluding the mayor and the former governor, according to contribution data from the Campaign Finance Board. To figure out how many unique individual donors there were, POLITICO looked at each donor's name and ZIP code. The results showed multi-donors clustered in Park Slope, Gowanus and Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and on the Upper West Side and in Morningside Heights in Manhattan. And they were not fans of Cuomo or Adams. 'We need better people in charge, and I think just about anyone that isn't one of those two schmucks would be better,' said Daniel Rothblatt, who lives on the Upper West Side and has donated to five candidates. Rothblatt has also printed roughly a thousand stickers for the DREAM campaign. In interviews with POLITICO, multi-donors frequently cited Adams' now-defunct criminal case and his cozying up to President Trump as the primary reasons for not supporting him. For Cuomo, donors felt his pandemic-era directive allowing Covid-positive patients into nursing homes, his handling of the MTA and his resignation as governor after 11 women accused him of sexual harassment disqualified him. Adams has maintained he committed no crime. And Cuomo's team has said its Covid orders were consistent with federal guidelines. They have touted projects like the Second Avenue subway extension as proof of the former governor's management chops. And Cuomo himself has denied allegations of sexual harassment. The most common candidate to benefit from these multi-donors was Lander, who got money from 1,654 contributors. The longtime progressive has moderated some of his more left-leaning positions in the hopes of building a coalition broad enough to send him to Gracie Mansion — something ranked-choice voting encourages by incentivizing candidates to seek support in neighborhoods that might rank them second or third. 'This is just further proof that Brad Lander has by far the widest coalition of support in the city — and he's going to win on Tuesday,' spokesperson Dora Pekec said. 'The reason is simple: Brad brings people together.' So far, it hasn't been paying off. The recent Marist poll found Lander ending the race in third place. And in the seventh round of voting, just under half of the comptroller's support goes to Cuomo, whom he has spent months relentlessly attacking. But since that poll was in the field, Lander has had a series of energizing moments that included a breakout debate performance and a dramatic showdown with federal immigration agents that resulted in his arrest. And earlier this month, he cross-endorsed Mamdani — potentially steering more votes to the democratic socialist. Mamdani is much further ahead in the polls and received the second-highest share of multi-donors, with 1,296 contributions. He's banking on expanding the electorate to include younger and Muslim voters, and has received endorsements from progressive standard bearers Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. 'He's also been clear that defeating the disgraced ex-governor requires a ranked choice strategy, so it's heartening that so many of our donors have also contributed to other campaigns,' spokesperson Andrew Epstein said in a statement. 'This is how you build a coalition to win.' Myrie, the state senator, received the third highest number of contributions from multi-donors at 1,294. He came in just ahead of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — a sign that multi-donors do not necessarily translate to first-place rankings. Both candidates have been consistently polling in the low, single digits. Meanwhile, only 367 people donated to Adams or Cuomo along with one other candidate. The low number of multi-donors reflects that Democratic voters who rank Cuomo do not commonly rank a second-choice candidate, according to Marist. Despite POLITICO's analysis showing an appetite for supporting multiple campaigns, the field chasing Cuomo has been unable to parlay that force into denying the former governor the ranked votes he needs to cross the 50 percent threshold. When Lander is eliminated after the sixth round of ranked-choice voting in the Marist poll, for example, almost half of his votes go to Cuomo despite the comptroller relentlessly attacking the former governor and cross endorsing Mamdani. But the New York Working Families Party, which endorsed a ranked slate of candidates in the hopes of stopping Cuomo, said the multi-donor trend identified by POLITICO shows voters in the party's strongholds are warming to the relatively new ranked-choice system. 'We've specifically told donors that by donating to multiple campaigns you are resourcing the candidates who are aligned,' co-director Ana María Archila said. 'And obviously this demonstrates to some extent that adaptation.' To assess unique donors, POLITICO inspected unique pairings of a donor's name and ZIP code. If a name differed slightly from a previous iteration, POLITICO programmatically assessed names' similarity, including those with a similarity score of 90 or above, which had a 94 percent accuracy rate, on average. Any individuals who moved from one ZIP code to another during the contribution period are considered separate donors under this rubric.
Politico
37 minutes ago
- Politico
Legal dramas would trail Andrew Cuomo to City Hall
NEW YORK — A thicket of court cases and a legal strategy that silences critics will follow Andrew Cuomo into City Hall if he's elected mayor of the nation's largest city. Playing out against the backdrop of the heated New York City Democratic primary that Cuomo has dominated for months is his aggressive legal maneuvering as he continues to deny any wrongdoing in the scandals that pushed him from office. The frontrunner and former New York governor is embroiled in several lawsuits, including two filed by women — a former member of his State Police security detail and an ex-aide — who accused him of sexual harassment. Cuomo signaled his intention to file a defamation suit against a third woman, former aide and accuser Charlotte Bennett. The move came as Cuomo was preparing to enter the mayoral race last year; Bennett described it as effectively muzzling her from talking about her experience. Cuomo's legal tactics have included seeking Bennett's gynecological and therapist records, which his attorney Rita Glavin called a 'pro forma request' made at the direction of a psychiatric expert due to the damages being sought. Glavin said she'd have offered a fulsome response, but is limited by a confidentiality order enforced by Bennett's attorneys. In a separate case filed by former aide Brittany Commisso, Cuomo's attorneys subpoenaed communications with her ex-husband, an Albany politician, that her attorney argued have nothing to do with the case. The ex-governor's legal team has insisted these demands are routine and necessary to mount a robust defense. Complicating matters further for Cuomo, he is reportedly under investigation by the Trump administration after House Republicans referred him for prosecution after accusing him of lying to a Congressional panel investigating his Covid-era policies, a claim he's denied. Cuomo says he's yet to be contacted by the DOJ and has called the probe politically motivated, even though Democrats also raised concerns about his testimony. Taken together, the legal cases surrounding the former governor paint a picture of someone acclimating to the job of running New York City while defending himself in two lawsuits, pursuing a third and potentially responding to a federal investigation. It all comes as he seeks to turn the page on the scandals that led to his political downfall four years ago, with an electoral comeback that would belie the ongoing legal machinations that blossomed following his resignation. The dynamic calls to mind the legal woes of Mayor Eric Adams, whose corruption charges were dismissed after the Democrat cozied up to President Donald Trump. Adams' closeness to the Republican president further tarnished his standing with voters, leading him to forgo seeking the Democratic nomination and run as an independent in November. Cuomo critics assert the legal dramas would hinder his management of the city and create a dynamic similar to the one that has dogged Adams. 'It would take away Cuomo's ability to govern,' Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas said. 'It's why Eric Adams is deeply compromised. We don't need one scandal-ridden mayor replaced with another.' The ex-governor's attorneys have pounced on criticism of him as he attempts his political comeback. Lawyers have admonished their counterparts in harassment lawsuits from publicizing that Cuomo has leveraged a state law to have taxpayers cover his attorneys' fees in some cases, warning that such criticism is 'prejudicing Governor Cuomo's right to a fair trial.' Taxpayers spent $20.3 million to defend Cuomo and several former advisors in three sexual harassment lawsuits, according to a recent tally by the state comptroller's office. Efforts to suppress criticism have crossed into his mayoral bid. His campaign attorney in May sent a 'cease-and-desist' notice to a union backing one of Cuomo's rivals for making inaccurate claims in a political flyer. Some of the notice's concerns — an accusation that the ex-governor is no 'friend' of working people — are standard campaign rhetoric. Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi pointed to efforts by the Trump administration to investigate or arrest prominent Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer while opening an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James. State lawmakers approved a $10 million pot of money for James' legal bills, he noted. 'Pretending like this nonsense is somehow a different situation is silly and disingenuous,' Azzopardi said. 'Trump will try this with anyone who — unlike Mayor Adams — refuses to bend the knee. These are serious times and New Yorkers know Andrew Cuomo is the only candidate who has the experience and the record of results to fix what's broken and put the city back on the right track.' The former governor has insisted as mayor he would not be beholden to Trump and is best suited to negotiate with the mercurial president given their decades of shared history. He said the allegations against him — sexually harassing 11 women as determined by the state attorney general's report — were 'all political.' The former governor during a televised debate said the allegations never translated to criminal cases, rather 'political fodder for my opponents.' 'Four years later, we've had five district attorneys — Democrat, Republicans, upstate, downstate — nothing has come of them whatsoever,' Cuomo said during the debate. 'There has been one civil case that's been resolved,' he added in reference to Bennett withdrawing her lawsuit last year. 'I was dropped from the case.' Cuomo's scandals have not dented his mayoral prospects, and his rivals have failed to capitalize on the controversies. He entered the race on March 1 and instantly became the leading candidate for the party's nomination after weeks of privately sewing the perception that his victory would be inevitable. But there is some sense his scandals are not far from voters' minds, given his otherwise high negatives, even as most polls show him winning the race. Candidate Zohran Mamdani, however, is gaining on Cuomo in polls, and early voting returns show an increase in participation from younger voters likely to back the 33-year-old democratic socialist Mamdani over the former governor. On Saturday, Cuomo foe Brad Lander appeared with Bennett and several others who accused the ex-governor of harassment, along with a man whose father, a nursing home resident, died of Covid. At least two sexual harassment lawsuits stand to follow Cuomo into City Hall. Commisso sued him in November 2023 after she alleged Cuomo groped her at the governor's mansion. Court papers show Cuomo would sit for a deposition as late as December — weeks before the inauguration of the city's next mayor. Another suit filed by a woman known as Trooper 1 is not expected to conclude this year. As he prepared to run, Cuomo's attorneys moved to sue Bennett, a former administration aide who first accused him of sexual harassment in 2021, claiming she defamed him when making her claims public. Bennett only days earlier dropped her own sexual harassment lawsuit against the ex-governor. Going on the offensive, Cuomo's legal team asserted Bennett's allegations were a key factor in his eventual downfall. 'Bennett's false allegations materially contributed to a cascade of harm to Governor Cuomo,' attorneys for the former governor wrote in an initial court filing. 'Among other things, the false accusations she publicized in the national media were a significant factor in calls for an investigation into Governor Cuomo's conduct.' Cuomo last week did not answer a reporter's questions over whether he would pursue a defamation case against Bennett if elected mayor. Bennett responded on X: 'There have been a lot of discussions about my gynecological records and yet barely any mention of the fact that I STILL am not safe to discuss this personal experience publicly.' Her attorney did not return messages seeking comment. The defamation maneuver stunned advocates for survivors and reinvigorated a push by state lawmakers to pass a law that would make it harder for people accused of sexual harassment to file such cases. The effect of a defamation suit, though, could be far-reaching for Cuomo's potential tenure in City Hall. 'It sets a highly concerning tone for what New York stands for. Imagine how terrifying that would be with him coming back — what does that do to an ordinary person who may come forward?' said Victoria Burke, a California-based privacy attorney who crafted legislation meant to limit defamation suits like the one Cuomo filed against Bennett. 'It would have a chilling effect on anyone who comes forward. He's powerful, he's back, he's not remorseful.' Glavin, the Cuomo attorney, said: 'Everyone is entitled to due process and has the right to defend themself, particularly against demonstrably false allegations.' The Bennett lawsuit, she said, 'fell apart' due to requests for text and video messages 'that disproved her claims' which investigators did not obtain. 'Bennett's claims were virtually worthless, which is why the state eventually agreed to a nuisance settlement. Commisso's lawsuit is headed in the exact same direction — like Bennett, Commisso also withheld from investigators dozens of texts that gut her allegations, which is why her lawyers are now engaged in legal maneuvering to avoid Commisso having to sit for a deposition,' Glavin said. She continued: 'Trooper 1's case — which the New York State Police are also defending against — is likewise in tatters. What you cite are nothing more than routine, pro forma discovery requests that any defendant would make. Moreover, none of these cases involve an order preventing any complainant from talking publicly. If anyone is worried about a defamation claim, it must be because they know their allegations are false. ' Cuomo initially expressed regret when Bennett first came forward in 2021 to describe how the then-governor would ask questions about her personal relationships and sex life while telling her he was lonely. Looking directly into the camera during one of his Covid briefings that shot him to national stardom, Cuomo apologized if he made anyone feel uncomfortable. Out of office, Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing. In legal filings, his attorneys are taking a forceful posture, which extends to lawyers representing the women. Less than a week after Cuomo announced his mayoral campaign, in a letter to the court, Glavin blasted Commisso lawyer Mariann Wang for calling the ex-governor 'an unrepentant sexual harasser' as 'defamatory.' Criticizing Cuomo for receiving taxpayer assistance to defend himself would hurt his chances for a fair trial, Glavin wrote. 'There is nothing improper about Governor Cuomo receiving the state funded defense to which he is entitled to under the law,' Glavin wrote. 'Yet, Ms. Wang seeks to weaponize that fact and taint public opinion by calling Governor Cuomo's appropriate and routine discovery efforts 'vindictive.'' Wang responded that Cuomo would 'surely like' to prevent accusers from speaking about him but 'unfortunately for him, the First Amendment does not allow for such prior restraints on core political speech.'
Chicago Tribune
39 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: ‘The Sandberg Game' rocks Wrigley Field
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 23, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) Chicago's history with hosting Democratic and Republican conventions dates back to 18601888: Frederick Douglass spoke at the Republican National Convention in Chicago's Auditorium Theatre. He received one vote from Kentucky in the fourth ballot — making him the first Black person nominated for president. 1895: A Chicago Colts game against Cleveland was interrupted after the third inning so the entire team could be arrested for violating laws banning baseball games on Sunday. While a West Side Grounds crowd of 10,000 fans waited, the players were marched into the clubhouse where they signed $100 bail bonds. They then returned to the field to finish a 13-4 victory. 1930: Future Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Hack Wilson hit for the cycle against the Philadelphia Phillies. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Chicago Cubs who have hit for the cycle Wilson drove in a single-season record of 191 runs during the 1930 season, hit his 22nd home run of the year into right field in the first inning, then picked up a triple, double and two singles. 1960: Ground was broken on a 51-acre site in Elk Grove Village, which was just 5 miles away from O'Hare International Airport, for United Airlines' headquarters and training schools. United remained at the location until its offices were moved in 2009 to Willis Tower. In August 2022, CloudHQ began demolition of the former United Airlines corporate headquarters in Mount Prospect, with plans to build a $2.5 billion data center campus. 1975: Chicago City Council passed 'Burke's Law,' an ordinance proposed by former 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke that outlawed nudity in massage parlors. The nickname was inspired by a popular television detective show from that time. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to play1976: The Chicago Sting beat the New York Cosmos, in front of 28,000 fans. It was soccer star Pelé's last match at Soldier Field. 1984: 'The Sandberg Game.' Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg hit a pair of late-inning, game-tying home runs off St. Louis Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter in the Cubs' 12-11, 11-inning win before a crowd of 38,079 at Wrigley Field. It signaled his rise to stardom — setting the second baseman on a course that would earn him the National League Most Valuable Player Award. The wild, comeback win gave notice to the rest of America that the 1984 Cubs were for real despite a 39-year World Series drought and not a single championship since 1908. That game ignited an unforgettable summer run that ended with a postseason collapse in San Diego, only one game shy of the World Series. What to know about the Chicago Bears' possible move to Arlington Heights — or a domed stadium on the lakefront2000: Churchill Downs Inc. bought Arlington Park for a reported $71 million. Arlington closed its gates on Sept. 25, 2021. The Bears finalized a deal to buy the site in February 2023. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
