Keyword: 'politics' | Herald Community Newspapers

Senator wants background checks for bus drivers

Following a recently released National Transportation Safety Board report that calls for more comprehensive driver history checks of bus drivers, New York State Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick, called on the state Assembly to pass legislation that would require criminal background checks for bus drivers. The legislation, sponsored by Fuschillo, was approved by the Senate in January. more

6/18/12

Linda Leonard, executive director of the Long Island Crisis Center in Bellmore, said she worries that her agency could lose its 24-hour, seven-day-a-week suicide-prevention hotline if Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano eliminates funding for the private, nonprofit agency.

Nassau’s social-service network in crisis

The Bellmore-based Long Island Crisis Center would lose more than $300,000 in funding if Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano were to make good on a threat to cut all contracts with nonprofit social-service agencies that work with troubled youth, the mentally ill and drug addicts, said Linda Leonard, the Crisis Center’s executive director, this past week. more

By Scott Brinton | 6/9/12

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, at the lectern, held a brief ceremony last Wednesday to celebrate the town’s new wind turbine, which generated more than 125,000 kilowatt hours of electricity in six months. She was joined by, from left, Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby of Hempstead, Councilwoman Angie Cullin of Freeport and Town Clerk Mark Bonilla of Bellmore.

Town of Hempstead blows through a milestone

Round the final bend as you’re headed south on the Loop Parkway into Lido Beach, and you suddenly spot it in the distance –– a more than 10-story, high-powered wind turbine, with its massive rotors spinning in the wind, generating electricity to power a hydrogen-fueling station at the Town of Hempstead’s Department of Conservation and Waterways. more

By Scott Brinton | 5/25/12

Charles Fuschillo Jr., chairman of the Senate TransportatioN Committee

Senate: New York needs stiffer penalties for drivers who pass school buses

Every day, nearly 50,000 vehicles illegally pass stopped school buses in New York state. According to the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee 2009 report, 69 students were injured between 2002 and 2004 by motorists illegally passing buses. One student was killed. more

By Deirdre Krasula | 5/24/12

Control board rejects sewer privatization contract

Shortly before Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano hosted his third public hearing on a proposed public-private partnership for the county sewer system on May 17, the Nassau Interim Finance … more

By Brian Croce | 5/18/12

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano recently announced his intent to pursue a public-private partnership to operate and maintain the county’s three sewage treatment plants.

County weighs leasing the sewer system

Facing a $3 billion debt, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano recently announced his intent to pursue a public-private partnership to operate and maintain the county’s three sewage treatment plants. At a news conference in Mineola on Thursday, Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage, said the transaction would earn the county $750 million, alleviating 25 percent of Nassau’s debt –– the highest of any county in New York. more

By David Weingrad | 5/5/12

Ava Stamm, 8, joined with fellow protesters on Sunday to show her concern about a feral cat community at Newbridge Road Park in Bellmore.

Town of Hempstead to postpone feral cats move

Protesters’ signs jeered at the Town of Hempstead on Sunday, calling a decision to trap and move feral cats in a colony at Newbridge Road Park in Bellmore “cruel” and “corrupt.” The town had planed to move dozens of feral cats from their makeshift protected shelter behind the baseball field at the park. The move was set to begin on May 1, but following the weekend’s protest, the town has postponed the relocation. more

By Deirdre Krasula | 5/3/12

Herald file photo County Attorney John Ciampoli is accusing the Democratic caucus, led by Kevan Abrahams, above, of criminal misconduct. Democrats say the charge is a “desperate attempt” to deflect attention from County Executive Ed Mangano’s borrowing practices.

County attorney charges misconduct by lawmakers

Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli is alleging criminal misconduct by the nine members of the County Legislature’s Democratic caucus, and has asked District Attorney Kathleen Rice to look into the matter. Democrats, meanwhile, say Ciampoli is playing a dangerous game of partisan politics to cover up county borrowing to fill multi-million-dollar budget gaps. more

By David Weingrad | 5/3/12

Nassau weighs total ban on ‘synthetic pot’

It’s marketed as herbal incense at gas stations and convenience stores across the country, but what’s sold under brand names like Spice and K2 is really a combination of herbs and chemicals that mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to the New York State Department of Health. While smoking the compound, users might suffer heart attacks, respiratory distress or kidney failure. more

By Deirdre Krasula | 5/3/12

$Sam Bernhardt, the Long Island organizer for Food and Water Watch, spoke about the potential risks of permitting hydraulic fracturing in New York on April 23, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church of Shelter Rock in Manhasset.$

Local residents attend hydro-fracking forum

National organization Food and Water Watch, along with Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Reach Out America and Grassroots Environmental Education, held a public forum on April 23, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Shelter Rock in Manhasset, to rally support for a ban on hydraulic fracturing — a process that involves the injection of millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand into shale rock formations at high pressure to break apart the rock and release trapped natural gas. more

By Jackie Nash | 5/1/12