________________ LONG BEACH _______________
HERALD
������������ ®
Your Home is Your Sanctuary.
Don’t Let High Taxes Chase You Away!
LICENSED REAL ESTATE
SALESPERSON
������������������������������ �������������������
Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
Preview of MlK Day events
Apply online at mptrg.com/heraldnote or call 516.715.1266
C: 516-313-2700
Page 2
Hablamos Español
tion Group, LLC
Maidenbaum Property Tax Reduc
Vol. 37 No. 3
JANUARY 15 - 21, 2026
$1.00
30A West Park Ave. | Lon
g Beach NY, 11561 | 0:5
16-763-6150
1310418
REDUCTION THE LEADER IN PROPERTY TAX
Local issues loom large in governor’s race part campaign stop and part preview of her State of the State address, which she delivCelebrating its centennial, ered on Tuesday. She has also the Long Island Association proposed spending $3.75 billion hosted its annual State of the over five years for water infraRegion breakfast, with remarks structure. “The environment of Long by Sen. Chuck Schumer and a panel discussion moderated by Island, it is everything — it LIA President Matt Cohen that means more here than most places because it’s included State an island,” Hochul Comptroller Tom said, noting the $3 DiNapoli, Nassau million she County Executive approved for Br uce Blakeman upg rading septic and Suffolk County systems. Executive Ed She called the R o m a i n e . G o v. nearly $4 billion Kathy Hochul was commitment to the final speaker. build water infraThe panel disstructure, includcussion at the Jan. ChUCK SChUMER ing building sew9 event highlighted Senator ers, “historic.” several issues that Even before most likely will be the focal points of the guberna- H o c h u l s p o k e , h o u s i n g , torial race between Blakeman, Romaine said, must also be the presumptive GOP candi- a d d re s s e d — bu t t h ro u g h smarter planning and help date, and Hochul, a Democrat. “We have been very success- from the state for vital infraful in Nassau County, we have structure projects. “Affordable housing is not the safest county in America — Niche magazine said we’re the an issue by itself,” he said. most desirable place to live,” “You have to have the infraBlakeman said during the dis- structure — the sewers, the roads — to support it.” cussion. Cohen noted the substantial Hochul spoke for roughly 30 minutes and used her time as
By JEFFREY BESSEN
jbessen@liherald.com
W
Courtesy Debbie Marino
Sophie Marino, a goalie on the Long Beach High School varsity hockey team, had no previous skating or hockey experience.
LBHS goalie Sophie Marino conquers a sports stigma By AIDAN WARShAVSKY awarshavsky@liherald.com
You might never know that Sophie Marino knows how to skate, let alone wield a hockey stick, unless you got to know the lone female member of the Long Beach High School hockey team. Marino, 17, a senior and one of the squad’s two goalies, spent all of 2024 learning to skate, because she didn’t know how. She became a regular at the public sessions at the city’s Municipal Ice Arena, and practiced crossovers and T-pushes on synthetic ice in her backyard on West Chester Street. Marino said it took her 10 months to gain
speed on the ice, and the confidence to play. “Being so behind in the sport, learning how to skate and believing in myself was a challenge,” she said. Playing goalie isn’t new to the Marino family. Sophie’s older brother, Matt, 19, a sophomore at Binghamton University, was a goalie for the LBHS team from 2019 to 2023. In the backyard last year, he and his sister worked on puck tracking, angles and “playing the post.” With Sophie in the net, Matt would fire pucks at her. When she wasn’t on the ice, Sophie would watch the high school team’s practices and games, getting a feel for how the sport Continued on page 3
hen Long Island does well, all of New York does well.
Continued on page 3