People from across the South Shore gathered at Mulcahy’s Pub and Concert Hall in Wantagh on Sunday for the annual Seaford 9/11 Oktoberfest. Merrick residents Tom Greeley, far left, Nate Murley and Tim and Penny Galagher joined in on the fall fun. Story, more photos, Page 3.
By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
Seaford resident Ryan Clifford ran his way into the record books this month, completing the 572-mile stretch of the Empire State Trail from Buffalo to Brooklyn in just over eight and a half days.
Clifford, 28, was honored by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman at an Oct. 16 news conference at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola.
A graduate of MacArthur High School in Levittown, Clifford thanked his family and friends for supporting him on what he called “a big journey,” which took him eight days and 13 hours, shattering the previous record of nine days, 11 hours, set in May 2024 by Matthew VosBurgh, a New York City-based ultramarathoner.
“I fought through a lot of different tough conditions,” Clifford said, “but it was really cool to be able to do it and set the fastest known time that, of course, is being recognized here by the county.”
Clifford began his journey on Oct. 6 in Buffalo, on the western end of the Empire State Trail, a 750-mile route that stretches across New York from Buffalo to New York City and north to the Canadian border. The trek was anything but easy — he ran through hazardous conditions, from unseasonably hot fall weather to a nor’easter that drenched the region over Indigenous Peoples Day weekend.
Clifford averaged about 70 miles a day, spending 12 to 16 hours running. He went through several pairs of running shoes and kept himself fueled with foods high in protein and carbohydrates. He
By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
A new Buddy Bench has been installed at Forest Lake Elementary School in Wantagh, offering a place where students can signal they’re looking for a friend — courtesy of a Girl Scout who once felt shy on the playground herself. Julianna Simon, a sixth grade student at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Regional School in Bellmore and member of Girl Scout Troop 3209, unveiled the bench by the playground swings, behind the school on Oct. 6. Family members, school staff and local officials attended the ceremony. The project was part of Julianna’s Silver Award, the highest honor available to Girl Scouts in sixth through eighth grades, which recognizes projects that create lasting community change.
lonely or looking for someone to play with.
“It encourages everyone to be kind and include others,” she said. “I worked hard on this project, from planning and fundraising to getting the bench installed.”
t encourages everyone to be kind and include others.
JulIANNA SImoN Girl Scout Troop 3209
Julianna brainstormed the project with school psychologist Emily Bogart, discussing possible locations, sizes and designs. With approval from the Wantagh School District, she chose the fence by the swings behind the school as the spot for the bench. She picked out the wood from Home Depot, and her father, Michael, helped her cut and assemble it. The project cost around $300, receiving $80 in donations.
For her Silver Award project, Julianna set out to make the school a friendlier place — and a Buddy Bench, she explained, gives students a spot to sit if they’re feeling
Her father said he was proud of his daughter’s accomplishment and especially pleased to see her speak on the microphone as she presented the bench during the unveiling ceremony.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “She’s really shy, so for her to
Continued on page 12
Seaford Middle School students are finding fun and friendship during their lunch breaks through the library’s “Lunch in the Library” program. The initiative, led by librarian Samantha Riebling, turns the library into a lively space for creativity, teamwork and learning outside the classroom.
— Charles Shaw
Over the summer, Seaford Middle School’s library underwent a transformation with new flooring, bookshelves and a variety of seating options to accommodate different activities. The updated design makes it a more flexible and welcoming place where students can collaborate or find a quiet spot to read. Riebling said the upgrades have allowed her to expand programming and make the library a destination during lunch. The new layout supports everything from craft projects to STEM challenges, encouraging students to explore the library’s many materials and resources.
Each lunch period, 30 students can sign up for “Lunch in the Library,” where they can choose from an assortment of games, projects and challenges. Popular options include board games such as Battleship, chess, Guess Who and Scrabble, which encourage friendly competition and teamwork. Students have also tackled creative projects like a large pixel art mural and craft sessions that promote self-expression. Early in the school year, Riebling guided students through making vision boards to display in their lockers, a reminder of their personal goals. They’ve also crafted friendship bracelets, pom-pom bookmarks and taken on fun group engineering challenges.
n Encouraging creativity and reading
Beyond games and crafts, “Lunch in the Library” provides a space for students to read, study or start their homework in a relaxed environment. Riebling encourages students to borrow books before returning to class, helping them discover new interests and genres. Each month, she introduces themed activities to keep things fresh— October’s highlight is a scary story contest, where students submit two-sentence horror tales for a Halloween prize. Riebling said her goal is to make the library a “safe space for students to come and try something new,” fostering curiosity and a lifelong love of learning.
The Mount Sinai Health System is committed to providing Long Island with exceptional, patient-centered health care, and has invested in your community with our state-of-the-art multispecialty practice in Wantagh.
Mount Sinai-Wantagh offers:
• Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center
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You will also gain access to the full resources of the Mount Sinai Health System, including the latest treatments, clinical trials, and research.
Mount Sinai-Wantagh is fully integrated with Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, for hospital-based procedures.
Our goal is to provide an optimal patient experience and keep the South Shore healthy.
Seaford Middle School’s ‘Lunch in the Library’ program offers students a welcoming space to play games, create projects and explore new interests during their lunch periods.
Learn more and make an appointment at mountsinai.org/wantagh or call 516-308-1978.
Mount Sinai-Wantagh 2020 Wantagh Avenue Wantagh, NY 11793
From video games to microscopes, Wantagh Middle School students got a hands-on look at after-school life during the second annual Club Fair on Oct. 8. The event filled the gymnasium with 25 tables representing the school’s wide variety of clubs, giving sixth through eighth graders a chance to explore new interests and meet classmates who share them.
Students stopped by to chat with advisers and club members about meeting times, activities, and what to expect throughout the year. Interactive displays helped spark curiosity — the eSports Club invited students to play Mario Kart, the Science Research Club offered a peek through microscopes, and the Home and Career Club sweetened its table with cookies. QR codes were available for students to easily sign up or learn more.
Several new clubs made their debut this year, including Best Buddies, which promotes inclusion between general and special education students; Morgan’s Message, a mental health awareness initiative expanding from Wantagh High School; and Wantagh Wavelength, a new multimedia journalism club that will produce a monthly video news program.
Assistant Principal Rachel Quattrocchi said the fair has already proven successful in helping students find their place. Many of the older students who ran tables this year joined their clubs after attending the first fair last year.
“We want them to get involved,” Quattrocchi said in a news release.
“They can make new friends and explore different interests. The research shows that students who are more involved have a better school experience.”
— Charles Shaw
Members of the
Club, led by advisor Jamie RashFlynn, were there to answer questions about their different activities and projects.
In the midst of abundance such as we have never known, why are so many people unhappy? It may be that pursuing happiness is too vague a concept. Instead, we recommend pursuing peace of mind. Peace of mind can be found by eliminating those situations or circumstances that are preventing you from achieving it. Impossible, you say? Not if you are determined to fnd a way. Someone once said, “Tell me what it is that you want that you can’t have, and I’ll ask you what it is you aren’t willing to do.”
Recently, a client contacted me for advice on a family matter. She was the executor of an estate where the decedent had been in a second marriage and the two families were bickering over an old motorcycle, some personal effects and a relatively small amount of money. She wanted out as executor but her brothers wanted to fght. I asked her brothers whether they wanted peace of mind or to be right, since they couldn’t have both. They fnally relented.
Too many people want the thing but are un-
willing to pay the price. You want out of the relationship or situation but the other side is asking too much? Pay the price and get on with your life, it’s worth it. It doesn’t have to be fair, it just has to get done. Emerson said “Do the thing and you will have the power.”
Many of the issues we see people grappling with involve fghting something or someone in a way that resembles Don Quixote tilting at the windmill. They are fghting all by themselves. We say “stop fghting”. Let it go.
We also meet a great many worriers. Worried about everything all the time. Perhaps it is no more than a bad habit. Why do we say that? Whenever we solved a client’s worry, they immediately started worrying about something else! Churchill recounted a dying friend telling him, “You know, Winston, I had a lot of troubles in my life. Most of which never happened.”
Finally, from the Canadian thinker, Brian Tracy, “Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it”
The Town of Hempstead marked the completion of its 100th mile of repaved roadway for 2025, highlighting Supervisor John Ferretti’s commitment to improving local infrastructure and road safety.
The Town of Hempstead has reached a major milestone in its 2025 infrastructure program, completing the 100th mile of repaved roadway this year. Supervisor John Ferretti announced the achievement at the freshly paved intersection of Howe Court and Whittier Avenue in Levittown, joined by members of the Town Board and Highway Department crews.
“This 100th mile isn’t just about asphalt — it’s about results,” Ferretti said. “It represents our ongoing dedication to building stronger, safer, and longer-lasting roadways across the Town of Hempstead.”
Town officials said nearly 110 miles of roadwork are expected to be finished by the end of the year, putting Hempstead on pace to repave at least 100 miles of town-maintained roads annually. The effort would allow all 1,200 miles of local roads to be repaved approximately every 15 years.
The town has allocated more than
$35 million in 2025 for road and infrastructure improvements. Crews are using a new asphalt mix combining crushed stone and binding oils to extend the lifespan of repaved streets. The town is also applying the Benkelman Beam Test, which evaluates and reuses existing base materials to cut down on labor and material costs while improving efficiency.
Ferretti also reminded residents of the town’s “Pothole Patrol,” a Highway Department unit that repairs road damage during winter months. Residents can report potholes on townmaintained roads by calling (516) 4895000 ext. 3471.
“Every repaved mile is a step toward a better Hempstead,” Ferretti said. “We’re investing in neighborhoods, supporting our residents, and ensuring our roads reflect the high standards our community deserves.”
— Charles Shaw
&
typically slept about six hours a night before starting his runs at 6:30 or 7 a.m. For the first five nights, he bunked in a converted RV camper, and then stayed at hotels and even at his grandmother’s house in Poughkeepsie.
When he crossed the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 14, he said, he felt a sense of relief at not having to run any farther.
“It was good to just stop and reflect on the fact that all the work that was put in and what I had set forth was able to be accomplished,” Clifford said.
At last week’s news conference, Blakeman presented him with a citation and declared Oct. 16 “Ryan Clifford Day” across Nassau County.
Clifford’s crew chief, Cody Oher, supported him throughout the journey, helping manage his health, food and supplies. The two have been friends for more than a decade, and own a business together, Escape Room and Lounge in Westbury.
“It’s just crazy to see that level of commitment from a human being and to really push limits and do that,” Oher said.
This wasn’t Clifford’s first attempt at the Buffalo-to-Brooklyn record. He tried it three years ago, but was sidelined on the sixth day by a swollen shin.
“When I got hurt, I was really frustrated,” he recalled. “The last couple of years I’ve been wanting to come back to the trail.”
Clifford began training for this attempt
at the record in August, starting with 50 miles a week and gradually increasing to 200 miles a week. His father, John, joined him for the final three days, mixing running with biking. John said he never doubted his son would reach the goal, though the physical and emotional challenges were intense, and included exhaustion, blisters and stomach issues.
“Any time any runner does something like this, something different is going to
happen,” John Clifford said, “whether it’s your stomach or your feet or your hamstring.”
Ryan’s mother, Cheryl, said she was proud of her son’s accomplishment but also relieved it was over.
“I’m very proud, but glad he’s done, because I just worry about him,” his mother said. “He’s out there in the elements and running all day.”
Ryan has competed in numerous other
long-distance races, including the 2019 Cayuga Trails 50 Miler in New York, where he finished fourth despite nearly 8,000 feet of elevation gain and scorching heat. In the End Trails 12-Hour Race in North Dakota that year, he finished 80 miles in freezing temperatures and won easily.
He has also supported numerous charitable causes with his running. In 2020, he completed a solo 131-mile run the length of Long Island, from Montauk to Brooklyn, in just over 21 hours, raising more than $14,000 for the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, a Wantagh-based nonprofit that helps sick and underprivileged children.
“It was really cool to be able to do that and run with a purpose other than just running,” he said.
Clifford described the mental challenge of ultra-running, saying the hardest part is pushing through long days of running and the repetitive grind, constantly battling fatigue and playing a “mental mind game” to keep moving toward his goal. His mantra as he ran across the state this month, he said, was, Just keep moving forward.
“Even if it was just walking, you’re going to get close to the destination as long as you keep moving forward,” he said.
For more information about Clifford’s accomplishments, visit his website, Ryanontherun.com.
PICKING UP WHERE she left off last fall when she earned All-County honors, Ventura has reached new heights while leading the Jets to a 10-2 start in Nassau Conference II field hockey. Through Oct. 16, the Adelphi University bound standout was leading the county in goals with 20 to go along with 8 assists. She began 2025 with a bang, scoring all three of East Meadow’s goals in a win over New Hyde Park. Ventura has more than 50 career goals.
Friday, Oct. 24
Football: Seaford at Island Trees 5 p.m.
Football: Farmingdale at Port Washington 6 p.m.
Football: Freeport at Oceanside 6 p.m.
Football: Sewanhaka at Division 6 p.m.
Football: Hempstead at Plainview 6:30
Football: Hewlett at Manhasset
Football: Long Beach at MacArthur
Football: East Meadow at Glen Cove
Football: Plainedge at Malverne
Saturday, Oct. 25
Football: South Side at V.S. South
Football: Wantagh at Carey
Football: Clarke at Floral Park
Football: V.S. North at Elmont
Football: Garden City at Calhoun
Football: Baldwin at Mepham 2 p.m.
Football: New Hyde Park at Kennedy 2 p.m.
Football: Roslyn at V.S. Central 2 p.m.
Football: Lynbrook at C.S. Harbor 2 p.m.
Football: East Rockaway at Locust Valley 2 p.m.
Football: West Hempstead at North Shore 2 p.m.
Football: Lawrence at Oyster Bay 2 p.m.
Football: Syosset at Massapequa 3 p.m.
Football: Herricks at Uniondale 3 p.m.
Nominate a “Spotlight Athlete”
High School athletes to be featured on the Herald sports page must compete in a fall sport and have earned an AllConference award or higher last season. Please send the following information: Name, School, Grade, Sport and accomplishments to Sports@liherald.com.
By ANDREW COEN sports@liherald.com
The MacArthur girls soccer team completed a grueling regular-season schedule last week that could pay dividends for a fresh start in the postseason.
The Generals kicked off their playoff push Tuesday, after press time, following a 3-8-4 season featuring stiff competition in the AAA/AA 1 division competing against some of the top girls soccer programs in Nassau County. The grueling schedule featured a win against Oceanside, the top-seeded team in Conference AAA, along with ties against defending Class AA champions Garden City and unbeaten Seaford.
“The girls think we’re a good team and know we can make a run and have a confidence level that has remained relatively high even though we didn’t get the results we wanted most of the time,” said fourth-year MacArthur coach Steve Costello. “We are a better team than what the record shows.”
The regular season was highlighted by a 1-0 home win against Oceanside on Sept. 30 that handed the Sailors just their second loss of the season at the time. The Generals scored the game’s lone goal off a shot from senior midfielder Mia Rodriguez following a throw-in by Katelynn Paulich with 2:13 left.
Sophomore goalkeeper Lyla Curtin keyed the Oceanside win with eight saves and also recorded eight stops in a 2-0 win against Syosset on Oct. 4 that marked her third shutout in four matches. Curtin, who is in her first varsity season patrolling the net, also stepped up big in a 0-0 tie with defending Class AA champion Garden City on Sept. 19 with nine saves.
“She’s been tremendous and she’s been maybe our most consistent player every game,” said Costello of his starting net-minder.
“She’s a very improbable player because she’s tiny and you don’t see a lot of Conference I goalkeepers who are under five feet tall, but she’s got the heart of a lion, and she is fully committed to doing her best every day.”
Curtin is part of a backline that fea-
this week.
tures outside backs Gianna Winkler and Emily Squicciarini along with center backs Abigail Zazulka and Katelynn Paulich.
The unit, which has also featured contributions at times from versatile junior midfielder Alexa Coppola, has held opponents to a goal or less in seven games.
The offense has seen production from a variety of different goal scorers this season led by senior midfielder Ysabelle Perillo, a reigning All County midfielder and freshman forward Alyssa Schmutzler. The Generals produced four differ-
ent goal scorers in a 4-4 tie with Manhasset on Sept. 21 from Perillo, Schmutzler, Coppola and Iannuzzi.
Third-seed MacArthur was scheduled to host the winner of a play-in game between Jericho and Hewlett with a win advancing the Generals to the quarterfinal round Friday back home in Levittown against either Long Beach or Roslyn. A quarterfinal win would put the Generals into the semifinals stage of the playoffs for the eighth straight season on Oct. 29 at Cold Spring Harbor High School.
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Scan the QR code to submit your photo today for a chance to win a pair of New York Islanders tickets to a game this season and be featured in your Long Island Herald.
Contest Ends 11/20/25
By LUKE FEENEY lfeeney@liherald.com
Nicole Aloise, a Democrat running for Nassau County district attorney, is focusing her campaigning on public safety, community investment, and experience forged in courtrooms.
“I firmly believe in the job of a prosecutor,” she said. “It’s all I’ve done in my career.”
Aloise, 41, has worked as a prosecutor for 16 years in both Nassau and Queens, most recently as a senior assistant district attorney in the Queens Homicide Bureau. She began her legal career in 2008 after graduating from St. John’s University School of Law. While in Queens, she secured more than 20 violent felony convictions and helped establish case law by making use of NYPD body camera footage for the first time in a trial in New York City.
Aloise moved with her family from Astoria to Garden City in 2019. From 2019 to 2023, she prosecuted homicides and violent felonies as senior litigation counsel in the Nassau D.A.’s office. She returned to Queens for a brief period before stepping down in 2024 to launch her campaign.
Despite its staff of hundreds, one of the largest D.A.’s offices in the country, it has fallen behind, Aloise said. “The office now being run,” she said, “is not appropriate for a 2025 D.A.’s office.”
She criticized what she called a lack of courtroom experience in the office’s current leadership, and said that has led to high staff turnover. The issues that are central to her platform include strengthening the county’s Hate Crimes Bureau, especially when it comes to antisemitic and anti-Asian attacks; sup-
porting a statewide “death by dealer” law to hold drug suppliers accountable in fatal overdoses; and increasing funding for youth, mental health and violence prevention programs.
Aloise has also pledged to pursue tougher prosecutions in drunken-driving cases, and expanding cooperation
‘It’s been my life’s work,’
By LUKE FEENEY lfeeney@liherald.com
For Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, pursuing justice and supporting crime victims isn’t just a job — it’s a passion.
“It’s been my life’s work,” she said. “I have worked in every bureau in the office. I have been a boss, a supervisor, and I’m very passionate about what we do.”
Donnelly, 61, a Republican and a longtime prosecutor, defeated former State Sen. Todd Kaminsky in 2021 to become district attorney — the fourth consecutive woman to hold the office. A Garden City resident who graduated from Fordham Law School in 1989, she is seeking a second term on a platform of public safety, gang enforcement and law enforcement support.
Since taking office in 2022, Donnelly has created three county law enforcement units. The Firearms Suppression and Intelligence Unit, focuses on illegal gun sales and weapons trafficking. “We’ve had an uptick of guns being taken off the street, and I wanted to know why,” she said. The Pharmaceutical Diversion and Cybercrimes Unit targets opioid diversion by medical professionals and prosecutes cybercrimes, including dark web activity. The Hate
with local police departments. “I’ve got the best experience to be in this job,” she said, “because I won’t be asking anybody to do something I myself personally haven’t done, and I will know what resources and guidelines to put into place to make sure they’re successful.”
Like the Republican incumbent, Anne Donnelly, Aloise has criticized New York’s 2020 discovery and bail reform laws. “It absolutely makes our job harder,” she said. “I’ve been outspoken about these laws since prior to their inception.”
But, she noted, she successfully worked under the same rules in Queens, and argued that the county badly needs an upgraded functioning discovery system. “They have one in Queens,” she added. “They have one in Suffolk.”
“I won’t run a stagnant office,” Aloise said. “I’ve got the passion, I’ve got the energy and I’ve got the vision to make the Nassau’s district attorney’s office one of the premier offices in the country — because we have the resources, if used correctly.”
Tim Baker/Herald
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly is seeking a second term as the county’s top prosecutor.
Crimes Unit is tasked with investigating bias-motivated violence and boosting community outreach, training and reporting.
“There’s always going to be crime,” Donnelly said. “The important aspect of maintaining or keeping Nassau safe
is to target the crimes that we see increases in.” She has been an outspoken critic of New York state’s bail reform and Clean Slate laws, which she described “problematic,” and argued they allow repeat offenders back onto the streets.
She also raised concerns about the state’s discovery reform law, passed in 2020, which requires prosecutors to quickly share evidence with defense attorneys. Under the law, prosecutors originally had 20 to 35 days after a defendant’s arraignment, depending on pretrial custody, to provide all evidence — with a possible 30-day extension.
“It’s not like we’re trying to hide anything from them,” Donnelly said. “Getting all the information within the window is the challenge.” A 2025 amendment now allows cases to proceed if prosecutors show “good faith and due diligence” in providing evidence.
On the subject of the 2019 bail reform law, which eliminated cash bail for many non-violent offenses, she pointed to aggravated animal abuse and DWI as examples of “violent and dangerous” offenses that don’t meet the law’s definition of violence.
With nearly 250 attorneys and a staff of more than 450, the Nassau County district attorney’s office is one of the largest in the country. Donnelly said that her management experience stands in contrast to her challenger in next month’s election, Democrat Nicole Aloise. “She’s a very nice person, but has never managed one person,” Donnelly said. “I don’t think she’s the person for it. I think I am.”
Community members gathered at Mulcahy’s Pub and Concert Hall in Wantagh on Oct. 19 for the annual Seaford 9/11 Oktoberfest, a fundraiser supporting the Seaford 9/11 Memorial Committee. The event featured live music, raffles, and a buffet, with proceeds benefitting the committee’s programs — including the Patriot Award scholarships, annual candlelight ceremonies, educational initiatives, and field trips to the National September 11 Memorial in Manhattan.
The nonprofit, founded to honor Seaford High alumni Thomas and Timothy Haskell, John Perry, Robert Sliwak, and Michael Wittenstein, continues to ensure their legacy is remembered through community service and education. The committee also organizes the town’s yearly memorial on the high school lawn, where hundreds gathered last month to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the attacks.
— Charles Shaw
By CHARLES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
At 27, Kayla Knight is looking to give back to a community that has supported her throughout her life. Knight, a lifelong Wantagh resident, is running on the Republican ticket for the seat in Nassau County’s 15th Legislative District. An attorney in private practice specializing in personal injury law, Knight previously interned for the legislative office she now seeks to represent while earning her law degree at Hofstra University.
Growing up in Wantagh, Knight said she has always valued community service. She volunteered at her church, Christ Lutheran, and with the Miss Wantagh organization, an academic and service-based program for young women that focuses on the importance of giving back. She was crowned Miss Wantagh in 2014.
“I just want to serve my community,” Knight said. “I want to help people and give back to the groups that have given me so much.”
She remains involved with the Miss Wantagh organization, helping young women dedicate their time to community service. She is also vice president of the Italian American Lions Club, which represents chapters across Long Island.
Her top priority as county legislator, Knight said, would be addressing taxes and making the county more affordable for residents. “I’m a young person, and I obviously want to stay and ultimately raise a family in the communities that I was raised in that have given me so much,” she said. “I want to make sure that it’s affordable for young people to live here and continue to remain in Nassau County.”
She noted that the Legislature’s Republican majority has held the line on property taxes despite rising
that residents have a voice in local government.
inflation, and has been recognized for its strong fiscal management. “I definitely want to follow in my predecessor’s footsteps,” Knight said, “and make sure that Nassau County is affordable and remains affordable for young people and everybody to live and work.”
She also wants to maintain Nassau County’s reputation as one of the safest in the nation,” she said. Knight supports the recent hiring of additional law enforcement officers, the use of new technologies, increasing patrols for faster response times, and the state-of-the-
art training village, which opened on the campus of Nassau Community College over the summer.
“Public safety is at the forefront,” she said, “and I want to make sure that our officers have the necessary resources and support to do what they need to do.”
Knight said she also wants to focus on what is ultimately sustainable for Nassau County — fighting government overreach in Albany and protecting residents’ way of life. She stressed the importance of not overburdening infrastructure, school districts and water systems with high-rise apartment developments in already congested areas. It’s important, she said, that residents have a voice in telling Albany what they need.
As a county legislator, Knight said, she wants to keep an open ear, an open heart and an open door to address important community issues, regardless of political background. Ultimately, she wants residents to know she’s one of them.
“I’m in the community,” she said. “I care about our futures, I care about our families and I care about our way of life, so I don’t want them to see me as a legislator. I want them to see me as a neighbor.”
Editors’ note: The Democratic candidate in the 15th District, Stephen Richard Hellman, did not respond to the Herald’s requests for an interview.
come out of her shell and talk on the microphone is pretty cool.”
Julianna attended Forest Lake, on Beltagh Avenue, and often didn’t have others to play with on the playground, according to her mother, Nicole Denn-Simon. Her mother said Julianna is shy and anxious, and would sometimes sit alone during recess.
“She would come home and sometimes she would be upset because her perception would be that nobody would want to play with her and she would be by herself,” her mother said.
Julianna wasn’t interested in playground sports, Denn-Simon said. Instead, she would sit off to the side and play with chalk or a toy while other students played games. The bench, she added, gives students a way to show they’re looking for a friend to play with simply by taking a seat.
For decorations, Julianna painted flowers, hearts and animals on the bench, including an image of “Fluffy,” a gray stuffed rabbit she has possessed since she was 2 years old. Across the backrest, she added the saying, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
According to Denn-Simon, Julianna researched quotes about friendship and inclusiveness before choosing that one.
“She wanted a saying that resonated with the other kids,” her mother said. “She narrowed it down to four, and she settled with that one.”
Forest Lake Principal Thomas Burke called the bench “a great addition” that gives students a place to go when they’re seeking a friend.
“It came from a great place,” Burke said. “Julianna has come such a long way. It’s great for her to put it together for so many kids here.”
Julianna’s older sister, Isabella, a Girl Scout in Troop
3105, holds the title of Miss Wantagh 2025, part of an academic and service-based program that encourages young women to give back. Isabella said she is proud of her sister’s Silver Award project and looks forward to seeing what Julianna does next to serve the community.
“It means a lot to see her do something like this and, on top of that, speaking too,” Isabella said. “It makes me feel like I’m doing a great job as a sister and a role model, because she looks up to me and I love that. I’m very proud of her.”
At the unveiling, Julianna thanked her family, Bogart and Burke for their support in creating the bench.
She expressed pride to have built a space where other anxious students could connect and make friends.
Her mother said she was happy that her daughter built the bench, knowing the positive impact it would have on other anxious children looking for a friend. She added that she was proud to see Julianna speak and present the bench at the event and hopes it marks the beginning of a new chapter for her.
“She seems to be turning a new leaf,” her mother said. “She seems to be getting more comfortable, so I’m hoping that this is the beginning of seeing her anxiety coming down a little bit.”
Candidate profiles, ballot Information and more inside! LOCAL ELECTIONS
Kate Murray is running for re-election as Town Clerk of Hempstead. She was first elected to the position in 2002 and returned to the office in 2019 after serving as Hempstead Town Supervisor from 2003 to 2016, making her the first woman to hold the position.
She has also served in the New York State Assembly representing the 19th District.
On the issues:
As Town Clerk, Murray has focused on improving accessibility and convenience for residents. Her initiatives include the “One-Stop Passport Shop,” online access to permits and licenses and commuter parking permits available directly at LIRR stations. She oversaw the construction of a $6 million multipurpose center for the ANCHOR Program, which offers programs in
athletics, aquatic activities, theater, computer skills, nutrition and social engagement. Murray’s office has also advanced renewable energy initiatives, including a green energy park and a solarpowered government office recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency for its zeroemission design.
The Town Clerk’s Office handles vital records, marriage licenses, permits, public notices, town board records, official records and historical archives dating back to 1644. The office also performs wedding ceremonies and processes applications for zoning changes, public garages, and other municipal permits.
Democratic candidate Yveline Dalmacy has not responded to requests for an interview for a roundtable.
On the issues:
Republican Kayla Knight, a lifelong Wantagh resident, is running for Nassau County Legislature in District 15, which includes Wantagh, Seaford, and Levittown. An attorney and former assistant in the Nassau County Executive’s office, Knight is seeking to represent her community with a focus on fiscal responsibility, public safety, and local control.
Knight’s campaign emphasizes cutting property taxes to keep the district affordable for residents of all ages. She also prioritizes public safety, advocating for law enforcement to have the resources and support necessary to maintain safe neighborhoods.
A strong advocate for local voices, Knight opposes overreach from Albany and seeks to ensure county policies reflect the priorities and needs of
suburban communities. She has said that government decisions should be guided by the people they serve, not by officials removed from the day-to-day concerns of local residents.
At 27, Knight has been active in community service throughout her life, volunteering with local organizations, supporting VFW halls and Lions Clubs, and participating in programs aimed at giving back to the groups that shaped her. She emphasizes the importance of keeping the community’s values and way of life intact while ensuring future generations can continue to thrive in the district.
Knight positions herself as a candidate dedicated to balancing fiscal discipline, safety, and responsiveness to residents’ concerns, with a focus on protecting the suburban character and affordability of District 15.
The Herald was unable to contact Knight’s Democratic opponent, Stephen Richard Hellman.
Republican John Ferretti, appointed Hempstead Town Supervisor in August following Don Clavin’s resignation, is running to retain the position with a focus on fiscal discipline, public safety, and community values.
On the issues:
A former Nassau County legislator, Ferretti, a lifelong Levittown resident, has emphasized his record of opposing tax increases and supporting responsible budgeting.
officials to increase patrols at houses of worship and co-authored legislation to prevent individuals from concealing their identities during acts of intimidation.
In addition to his focus on safety and fiscal management, Ferretti has positioned himself as a defender of suburban neighborhoods, opposing proposals for high-density housing developments he believes would alter the character of local communities.
Democrat Joe Scianablo, a Marine combat veteran, former NYPD officer, and prosecutor, is running for Town of Hempstead supervisor with a pledge to restore transparency, lower taxes, and hold local government accountable.
During his tenure, he led efforts to reduce county taxes by $70 million and block $150 million in proposed hikes. He has said government should operate within its means, similar to the financial discipline of local families.
Ferretti’s platform highlights a commitment to maintaining public safety and supporting law enforcement. As a legislator, he helped expand police presence, reopen a closed precinct, and invest in advanced public safety technology. He also worked with town
Before his election to public office, Ferretti served as Chief Deputy County Clerk, overseeing a staff of more than 100 employees and managing over $240 million in annual revenue. Ferretti has also prioritized strengthening community infrastructure and ensuring that development and town policies reflect the needs and values of local residents, supporting initiatives that preserve open spaces and enhance the quality of life in Hempstead.
Scianablo, a Garden City resident, says families across the town are feeling the strain of rising costs, from a 12 percent property tax hike to increases in water, power, and fuel bills. He is calling for a full financial audit of all departments, a freeze on nonessential spending, and new measures to root out waste and corruption.
On the issues:
Joseph Scianablo Party: Democrat
If elected, Scianablo said his first 100 days would include converting all town streetlights to LED to save $1 million annually, implementing zero-based budgeting where every dollar is justified, and exploring shared services with nearby towns to eliminate duplicate
costs. His platform emphasizes “commonsense solutions,” including proactive infrastructure maintenance, performance-based funding, and energy efficiency upgrades. He has also vowed to hold monthly town halls and establish resident oversight to keep taxpayers informed.
Scianablo said improving public safety and supporting veterans would also be key priorities. Drawing on his law enforcement background, he aims to strengthen trust between communities and public safety departments. As a Marine veteran, he wants to expand access to healthcare, housing, and employment programs for fellow veterans.
He has also criticized the closure of the Safe Center and pledged to expand domestic violence services by working with Nassau County and community partners.
Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is seeking a second term, emphasizing public safety, fiscal stability and preserving suburban character as the foundation of his administration. He said Nassau remains the safest large county in America, citing expanded law enforcement ranks, a stable budget and seven Wall Street bond-rating upgrades as evidence of sound fiscal management. Blakeman has repeatedly highlighted that county taxes have not increased during his tenure and that Nassau’s average home value has risen, which he sees as proof of prosperity and stability.
neighborhoods and strong schools.” On crime prevention, Blakeman defended his creation of a volunteer emergency database, which critics have called a militia, describing it instead as a vetted roster of former police and military members who could be mobilized
Democratic Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow, of Merrick, is running for county executive on a platform centered on transparency, fiscal accountability and restoring public trust in local government.
A central point of pride for Blakeman has been Nassau’s partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement the first of its kind in the country which dedicates jail space and crosstrained detectives to assist federal agents. He said the agreement improves safety and has strong support among Hispanic residents who want “safe
Blakeman continues to challenge the state’s takeover of Nassau University Medical Center, calling it “illegal” and harmful to residents who rely on it as a safetynet hospital. He contends the move is part of a broader state plan to reduce local control and diminish services. On housing, he opposes state-mandated density requirements, arguing that Nassau is already one of the nation’s most developed suburban counties and that zoning decisions should remain local.
Overall, Blakeman’s campaign message centers on fiscal prudence, public safety and protecting Nassau’s suburban quality of life.
A former Queens assistant district attorney and small business owner, Koslow said his decision to run was motivated by frustration over what he views as secrecy and mismanagement under the current administration. He cited ongoing problems at Nassau University Medical Center and the county jail as examples of a government unwilling to answer questions or plan for the future.
Seth Koslow Party: Democrat
waste and redirect resources toward infrastructure, housing and public services. He supports using county-owned properties for new mixed-use housing and simplifying the permit process for small businesses to boost local revenue without raising taxes. Koslow also said he would end Nassau’s cooperation agreement with federal immigration authorities, arguing it strains community relations and overextends county resources.
Koslow criticized County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s creation of a civilian militia, saying it undermines law enforcement and creates liability, and argued that Nassau’s shortage of detectives poses a more urgent safety threat. On fiscal issues, he said the county must better track its spending, cut
On social policy, he has rejected measures like the county’s bans on transgender athletes and public masking as divisive distractions from more pressing issues of affordability and public safety. His approach, he said, would emphasize collaboration with state and regional leaders, community input on major development projects such as the Nassau Hub, and long-term planning to keep future generations living and working on Long Island.
Elaine Phillips, the Republican Nassau County Comptroller, is seeking re-election on a platform centered on fiscal responsibility, government efficiency, and taxpayer protection. Since taking office in 2022, she has focused on modernizing Nassau County’s financial systems, strengthening oversight of county spending, and ensuring residents receive measurable value for their tax dollars.
payments owed to Nassau County, identified inefficiencies in procurement and contract management, and implemented updated auditing procedures to prevent waste and fraud. She has also emphasized modernization, leading efforts to digitize accounting systems.
A former New York State senator representing the 7th District, Phillips previously served as mayor of Flower Hill, where she managed local budgets and enacted cost-saving reforms. Before entering public office, she built a successful career in finance with senior roles at J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and MetLife, bringing private-sector expertise to government operations.
As comptroller, Phillips has prioritized accountability and transparency in county finances. Her office has recovered millions in outstanding
On the issues: Phillips has focused on strengthening fiscal stability, monitoring contract performance, and scrutinizing the county’s partnerships with major public entities such as the MTA. She has also overseen audits addressing delayed payments to small businesses and service providers, ensuring timely reimbursements and greater financial clarity. Phillips points to her background in both finance and local government as key to her pragmatic approach to fiscal management. She has emphasized longterm planning, responsible borrowing, and efficiency-driven reforms designed to safeguard public resources.
Wayne Wink, the Democratic candidate for Nassau County Comptroller, is running on a platform centered on transparency, fiscal integrity, and restoring independence to the county’s chief financial office. With more than two decades of public service, he brings extensive legislative and administrative experience to the race.
Wayne Wink Party: Democrat
A resident of Roslyn, Wink began his career in local government on the North Hempstead Town Board, where he served from 2003 to 2007. He was later elected to the Nassau County Legislature, representing the 10th District from 2007 to 2014, which includes parts of Great Neck, East Hills, Roslyn, and Manhasset. During his tenure, he developed a reputation for fiscal diligence and constituent advocacy, focusing on responsible budgeting and government accountability.
In 2014, Wink was elected North Hempstead Town Clerk, a position he held until 2021. In that role, he oversaw
modernization of the town’s recordkeeping and licensing systems, implemented digital accessibility initiatives, and ensured compliance with open government and transparency laws. His administrative experience as clerk further solidified his focus on efficiency
On the issues: Wink has framed his campaign for comptroller around independence and transparency. He emphasizes the need for unbiased financial oversight, ensuring that county contracts, audits, and expenditures are handled with integrity and free from political influence. His platform includes expanding digital access to county financial data, improving internal controls, and strengthening collaboration with local municipalities to enhance fiscal efficiency. Wink holds a bachelor’s degree from Union College and a law degree from St. John’s University School of Law.
Ejecutivo del Condado
Amendment to Allow Olympic Sports Complex In Essex County on State Forest Preserve Land. Allows skiing and related trail facilities on state forest preserve land. The site is 1,039 acres. Requires State to add 2,500 acres of new forest land in Adirondack Park. A yes vote authorizes new ski trails and related facilities in the Adirondack forest preserve. A no vote does not authorize this use.
Enmienda para Permitir Complejo Olímpico de Deportes En el Condado de Essex en Tierra de Reserva Forestal Estatal. Permite el esquí e instalaciones relacionadas de pistas en tierra de reserva forestal estatal. El sitio es de 1,039 acres. Requiere que el Estado añade 2,500 acres de nueva tierra forestal en el Parque Adirondack. Un voto afirmativo autoriza nuevas pistas de esquí e instalaciones relacionadas en la reserva forestal Adirondack. Un voto negativo no autoriza este uso.
(1) DEM,MOD
Seth I. Koslow REP,CON
Bruce A. Blakeman
Fiscal del Distrito
DEM, MOD
Nicole Aloise REP, CON
Anne T. Donnelly
Controlador del Condado
DEM, MOD
Wayne H. Wink, Jr. REP, CON
Elaine R. Phillips
Secretario
DEM, MOD
Joylette E. Williams REP, CON
Maureen C. O’Connell
Supervisor
DEM, MOD
Joe Scianablo REP, CON
John R. Ferretti
Justice
Surrogate
actual ballot, but a composite of several sample ballots so as to reflect all the districts within the communities covered edition of the Herald. Complete reporting on candidates running in districts covered by the Herald may be found at under the Elections ’25 tab. For election results after the polls close Tuesday night, go to LIHerald.com
District 6
Legislador del Condado Distrito 6 Vote for One (1) REP, CON
Matthew Pasternak Dennis Dunne, Sr.
Secretario Municipal Vote for One (1)
MOD
Yveline L. Dalmacy REP, CON Kate Murray
County
District 15
Legislador del Condado Distrito 15 Vote for One (1) REP, CON
Stephen Richard Hellman Kayla L. Knight
la Corte Suprema Vote for Eight (8) REP, CON
Kenny
Mark A. Cuthbertson
Margaret C. Reilly
Joseph C. Pastoressa
Steven A. Pilewski
James W. Malone
Carl J. Copertino
Bronwyn M. Black-Kelly
Tribunal Sucesorio Vote for One (1)
David P. Sullivan REP, CON
DEM, REP, CON
Nancy Nicotra Bednar Donald X. Clavin, Jr.
Juez del Tribunal de Familia
REP, CON Robert E. Pipia
District Court Judge
Juez del Tribunal
DEM, REP, CON Maria Boultadakis
Robert G. Bogle
Howard E. Sturim
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Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties
Age: 65
Legal career: Bronwyn Black-Kelly has served as a Suffolk County District Court judge since 2023, following a long career in both public service and private practice. From 1990 to 2022, she was a partner at the Law Offices of Black & Black, a general practice firm. Earlier in her career, she worked as an assistant district attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office from 1985 to 1989.
Black-Kelly earned her law degree from Hofstra University School of Law in 1985, and her bachelor’s degree from Fairfield University in 1981. She was admitted to the state bar in 1986, and is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and the U.S. Supreme Court. She is a member of both the Suffolk County and New York State bar associations.
Endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 59
Legal career: Since 2018, James Malone has been a District Court Judge. From 2014-2017, he was a principal law clerk for State Supreme Court Justice William Condon. He received his undergraduate degree from Clarkson University in 1983 and a law degree from Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in 2005.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties
Age: 69
Legal career: Judge Carl Copertino currently presides over family cases in the Family Court of Suffolk County and has served as a New York judge for 13 years.Previously, he spent five years as an attorney with the New York City Transit Authority. He received his law degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1981. He was admitted to the New York State bar in 1981.
Endorsed by Republican and Democratic parties
Age: 59
Legal career: Mark Cuthbertson, a lifelong Huntington resident, focused his legal career on commercial real estate, municipal litigation, and the representation of municipalities and notfor-profit cemeteries.
Admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut, Cuthbertson earned his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Albany Law School of Union University. There, he served as the executive editor of the Symposium for the Albany Law Review. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University.
In addition to his legal practice, Cuthbertson has served on the Huntington Town Board since 1998, where he has worked to reduce and stabilize taxes while advancing environmental protection and smart growth initiatives. He sponsored legislation preserving hillside areas and open space throughout the town.
Endorsed by the Conservative party Age: 36
Legal career: Matthew McDonough, of Massapequa, has been admitted to practice law in New York since 2019. He is also admitted to the District of Columbia, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern districts of New York, the U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. McDonough, a graduate of the City University of New York School of Law at Queens College, he earned his Juris Doctor before serving a clerkship with the State Supreme Court. In 2020, he opened his private practice in Babylon, focusing on municipal and public sector law. He works often with local governments, businesses and residents on municipal policy, taxation and regulatory compliance.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 66
Legal career: Justice Joseph C. Pastoressa has served on the state Supreme Court in Suffolk County since 2012. Before that, he was an acting Supreme Court justice from 2004 to 2011, while also serving as a Court of Claims judge. Earlier in his career, Pastoressa worked in private practice, and later as a principal law clerk for a justice on the state Appellate Division, a Court of Claims judge and a state Supreme Court justice. He earned his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University, and graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 69
Age: 64
Legal career: Paul Kenny, a Glen Head resident, began his career in 1986 as a court attorney in the New York City Criminal Court and later joined a general practice firm in Queens. He served as co-counsel to the State Court Officer’s Association. From 1992 to 2007, he worked in the Kings County Supreme Court Law Department, as a court attorney-referee for matrimonial matters, and from 2000 as the deputy chief court attorney. He was appointed chief clerk of the Appellate Term, Second Department in 2007 and edited the Election Law Handbook for more than a decade. He serves on the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission, is an instructor at Lehman College, an adjunct professor at the NYC College of Technology and lectures at the Appellate Division, Second Department and State Judicial Institute on election law.
Endorsed by Republican, Conservative, and Democratic parties Age: 61
Legal career: Steven A. Pilewski is a longtime member of the state’s court system, with more than two decades of experience in judicial chambers. From 2000 to 2022, he served as principal law clerk to Justice Guy J. Mangano Jr. in the state Supreme Court in Kings County. Before that, he worked as a principal appellate law clerk for the Appellate Term of the 2nd Department from 1995 to 2000. Pilewski earned his law degree from Touro College in 1994, and received a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University in 1989. He has been a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association since 1999.
Legal career: Margaret Reilly has served as a Nassau County Surrogate’s Court judge since 2016. She was previously a Nassau County Supreme Court Justice from 2012 to 2015, an acting justice from 2007 to 2012, and a twice-elected County District Court judge from 1998 to 2011. Earlier in her career, Reilly practiced law as a deputy Nassau County attorney, the Stewart Manor village prosecutor and a senior associate at Mulholland Minion & Roe and the Law Office of Vincent D. McNamara. She has lectured at Hofstra and Touro law schools, co-chaired the Nassau County Courts’ Women in the Courts Committee, and served as an adjunct professor in trial advocacy at St. John’s.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties
Age: 54
Legal career: Nancy Nicotra Bednar is a lifelong Nassau County resident raised in Elmont. She lives in Rockville Centre.
A 1993 Notre Dame graduate with a bachelor’s in English, she graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City in 1996 She has over 25 years of legal experience working with the Innocence Project to her leadership roles in the Nassau County Attorney’s Office and state courts.
In 2003, Bednar became a deputy bureau chief-for the General Litigation Bureau in the County Attorney’s office until 2008. Then a senior principal law clerk for Appellate DivisionSecond Department She is now a principal law clerk in the County Supreme Court
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties
Age: 68
Legal career: Bogle has served as a New York judge for over 40 years and began his term after election in 2015. He also serves as a supervising judge of the Village Courts in the county. He received his law degree from Hofstra University in 1982 after receiving his bachelor’s degree in political science from Niagara University in 1979. Bogle has received awards such as the Magistrate of the Year Award from the State of New York in 2006 and the Frank J. Santagata Memorial Award from the Nassau County Magistrates Association in 2008. A lifelong resident of Valley Stream, he and his wife, Kathleen, have two children. He is a Knights of Columbus member.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 56
Legal career: Donald X. Clavin Jr. is the former Town of Hempstead Supervisor who served almost 3 terms from 2020-2025. He stepped down in August. Clavin was the Town of Hempstead Receiver of Taxes from 20012019.
Previously Clavin worked as a trial attorney and as deputy county attorney in Nassau County’s Attorney’s office. Clavin holds a law degree from Hofstra University and a bachelor’s in history from Canisius College. Clavin lives in Garden City with his wife and two children. He has stated “tax relief” as his top priority. He also helped develop the town’s 2019 and proposed 2020 budgets, including tax cuts. He has also hosted public information forums
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 61
Legal career: Robert E. Pipia is a judge on the Nassau County District Court in the 10th Judicial District of New York. He was first elected in 2014.
Before that, Pipia was the executive assistant to then Town of Hempstead Supervisor’s Office. This followed his work as deputy town attorney for the town’s Attorney’s Office where he served as the Americans with Disabilities Act compliance coordinator.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from SUNY Albany in 1987, and earned his law degree from Hofstra University in 1992. He was licensed in New York in 1993.
Born in Queens and raised in Elmont, he attended the Henry Viscardi School.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties
Age: 39
Legal career: Maria Boultadakis is a candidate for district court judge in Nassau County’s 2nd District. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2012 and is registered with the New York State Unified Court System. She earned her law degree from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Boultadakis has served as a law clerk for three New York State Supreme Court justices, and she also held the position of deputy county attorney in Nassau County from 2022 to 2023.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 55
Legal career: Karen L. Moroney serves as a judge in the Nassau County District Court, first elected in 2007, she was re-elected in 2013 and is currently serving a five-year term that expires at the end of this year.
Since 2017, she has also served as principal law clerk to Justice Sharon M.J. Gianelli of the Nassau County Supreme Court, and previously held similar roles for three other county Supreme Court justices. Her legal experience includes work as an attorney for the state Supreme Court and as an assistant district attorney in Queens County from 1992 to 1999.
Moroney earned her law degree from St. John’s University School of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1992. She is also admitted to practice before multiple federal courts.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 41
Legal career: Diana Hedayati is an attorney based in Plainview and a candidate for district Court judge in Nassau County’s 3rd District. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2010 by the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department and is currently registered with the New York State Unified Court System.
Hedayati graduated from Pace University School of Law. Her professional background includes over a decade of legal experience in the public sector, with a focus on administrative and regulatory law.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 66
Legal career: Howard E. Sturim is a New York Judge in the Supreme Court of Nassau County and has served for 10 years. His career began as an assistant district attorney for the Nassau County District Attorney’s office from 1991 to 2004. He prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases then became head of the Arson Unit and Major Offenses Unit. He then became a principal law clerk for the state Court of Claims to Alan L. Honorof before his term as New York Judge began in 2016.
Sturim earned his bachelor’s degree from the New York Institute of Technology in 1987 before receiving his law degree from Hofstra University in 1990 in the Maurice A. Deane School of Law.
Cross endorsed by Democratic, Republican and Conservative parties Age: 60
Legal career: James A. Saladino is a district court judge in Nassau County, appointed in March of this year. He has over 30 years of legal experience, including service as a judge, law clerk, prosecutor and private practitioner. From 2019 to 2024, he served as a district court judge in Suffolk County, presiding over criminal and civil matters. Before that, he spent eight years as a principal law clerk in the New York State Supreme Court and practiced law as a partner at Saladino & Hartill, LLP. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant district Attorney in Suffolk County from 1991 to 2002.
Saladino earned his law degree from St. John’s University School of Law and a B.A. from Boston University. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1991.
Maureen O’Connell, Nassau County Clerk since 2006, is seeking re-election to continue her work modernizing the office and expanding services for seniors and non-English-speaking residents. With over 30 years in public service, O’Connell brings experience as both a registered nurse and attorney, having previously served in the New York State Assembly and as Deputy Mayor of East Williston
On the issues:
state’s earliest Supreme Court e-filing systems and integrated digital connections with state and local agencies. She has also prioritized digitizing historical documents, making decades-old records more accessible for residents, particularly seniors who often need to retrieve property information.
During her nearly two decades as clerk, O’Connell has overseen a major transformation of the office’s operations. Under her leadership, millions of backlogged documents were processed, and the office transitioned to a fully digitized system for court and land records. This modernization has allowed residents and attorneys to file and access official documents online, reducing the need for in-person visits.
O’Connell implemented one of the
In an effort to protect homeowners, O’Connell launched a Property Fraud Alert Program, allowing property owners to receive email notifications if deeds or mortgages are filed in their name, helping to prevent fraud.
If re-elected, she plans to continue digitizing older records and expand parking at the Mineola office. She also intends to further adapt services for residents who speak languages other than English, building on the existing language line currently in place.
A lifelong Nassau County resident, O’Connell lives in East Williston and teaches nursing at SUNY Farmingdale.
Joylette E. Williams, a longtime educator and community leader, is running for Nassau County Clerk with a platform focused on modernization, accessibility, and administrative efficiency. A county resident since 1993, Williams has spent over two decades in public service and education, currently serving as a professor of English at Nassau Community College and a two-term member of the Hempstead School Board.
Williams holds a Ph.D. in English and is completing a second doctorate in Higher Education Administration at the University of Connecticut. Her academic and professional background includes extensive experience in document management, recordkeeping, and organizational leadership—skills she says directly translate to the responsibilities of the clerk’s office.
Her public service includes prior roles as a Village of Hempstead trustee and current board member of the Town of
Hempstead Industrial Development Agency. Williams is also actively involved in civic organizations, including the NAACP, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lions Club, and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, among others
On the issues: If elected, Williams plans to prioritize the digitization of county records, improve online access to public documents, and expand the use of the clerk’s mobile outreach van to underserved communities. She also proposes extending office hours one day a week to better serve working residents and increasing language accessibility for non-English-speaking residents.
Williams advocates for reducing or waiving fees on property transactions for groups such as seniors, veterans, first responders, and first-time homebuyers, citing Nassau’s fees as higher than neighboring counties.
Anne Donnelly, a Republican and prosecutor for over 30 years, defeated former State Sen. Todd Kaminsky in 2021 to become Nassau County’s top prosecutor; becoming the fourth consecutive woman to do so.
Donnelly, 61, is campaigning on her record as a career prosecutor who has prioritized public safety, gang enforcement and support for law enforcement. She is a Garden City resident and took office in 2022.
To address gun violence and online drug trafficking, she created a Firearm Suppression Unit and a Cyber Crimes and Pharmaceutical Unit. Her office has also expanded education programs in schools and invested in hate crime prevention efforts.
Nicole Aloise, a Democrat and candidate for Nassau County District Attorney, is mounting a campaign centered on addressing crime in the county, community investment and public safety.
Upon taking office she assembled a team of prosecutors and law enforcement officials—including a former police commissioner—to focus on violent crime, narcotics, and unsolved cold cases.
Donnelly also assisted in the Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation and helped close multiple cold cases from the 1960s and 1970s. Donnelly has said her administration prioritizes justice for vulnerable populations, including animals, and has prosecuted abusers under animal cruelty laws.
Donnelly has been an outspoken critic of New York’s “Cashless Bail” and “Clean Slate” laws, which she argues put repeat violent offenders back on the streets. She has called for their repeal while voicing continued support for police.
Before her election, Donnelly served 32 years in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, most recently as deputy bureau chief of the Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau. Her cases included murder-for-hire schemes, narcotics rings, and a counterfeit electronics bust that led to the largest asset forfeiture in county history.
Donnelly holds degrees from Fordham University and Fordham Law School.
Aloise, 41, brings 16 years of experience as a prosecutor in both Nassau and Queens counties, including recent work as a senior assistant district attorney in the Queens Homicide Bureau. She began her career in 2008 after earning her law degree from St. John’s University. In Queens, she helped secure more than 20 violent felony convictions and made case law by introducing the first NYPD body camera footage used in a New York City trial.
From 2019 to 2023, she served in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office as senior litigation counsel, prosecuting violent felonies and homicide cases. She returned to Queens in 2023 and continued her work until stepping down in 2024 to
run for district attorney. On the issues: Her platform includes strengthening the county’s Hate Crimes Bureau to better address attacks on Jewish and Asian communities, supporting the creation of a “death by dealer” statute to hold drug traffickers accountable in fatal overdose cases, and boosting funding for mental health, youth and violence prevention programs.
Aloise has also pledged to crack down on DWI cases through the county’s Vehicular Crimes Bureau and continue partnering with local police departments to improve public safety.
She lives in Garden City with her family, serves on her school’s PTA, coaches youth soccer and teaches legal ethics as an adjunct professor at Molloy University.
up
Get your ghoul on with a tricky treat of a bash
By Karen Bloom
The big day of tricks — and treats — is fast approaching. Ir’s the perfect excuse to let your spooky side shine. Whether you’re hosting little ghouls or adults who love a good fright, transform your home into a playful (or slightly spooky) party lair. Think mad scientist candy tables,“frightfully” delicious bites, bubbling mocktails, and enough treats to satisfy every sweet tooth.
Costumes optional, fun required. Not everyone wants to go all out with a full costume — and that’s fne! A Halloween Disguise Table lets guests add just a touch of whimsy. From goofy glasses and wacky hats to plastic fangs and spinning bow ties, everyone can join the fun, one accessory at a time.
Go for some spooky eats and magical drinks. Turn everyday foods into Halloween delights with cookie cutters, clever renaming, or inventive presentation. Sandwiches become tombstones, cookies turn into ghosts, you get the idea. Drinks? Pour them into vintage bottles and jugs and label them “magic potions” for an instant wow factor.
With a little imagination, your Halloween gathering can be a playful mix of tricks, treats and memorable moments — no matter your age. Try these tricked-out goodies for tasty spooking.
Spooky Ghosts
These friendly ghosts are sweetly spooky.
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup extra-fne Baker’s Special Sugar
• Chocolate mini chips, for eyes
Preheat the oven to 200°F, with a rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Prepare a pastry bag with a 1/2” plain tip. Place the room-temperature egg whites into the bowl of a mixer. Add the cream of tartar. Beat on slow speed until the cream of tartar is dissolved and the egg whites are foamy. Slowly increase the speed of the mixer. When
the volume of the eggs has doubled and they begin to look opaque, sprinkle in about half the sugar. Continue to beat until the whites are glossy and getting stiff. Add the remaining sugar and mix until it’s evenly distributed and the whites hold a stiff peak.
Transfer the meringue to the pastry bag and, holding the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet, pipe, with even pressure, about 2”-high mounds of meringue.
Carefully press two chocolate mini chips into each meringue ghost, to make eyes.
Bake the meringues for approximately 60 to 90 minutes, or until they’re dry and crisp to the touch.
Turn off the oven, open the door a couple of inches, and leave the meringues in the oven to fnish drying several hours, or even overnight.
Remove the ghosts from the completely cold oven, and store them loosely covered. They should keep for several days at cool/dry room temperature. Yield: 20 to 24 ghosts.
Take a bite out of these mummies if you dare.
• 1 can (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
• 20 meatballs, pre-made
• Ketchup or mustard
• Marinara sauce, as desired
Heat oven to 375°F. Line work surface with cooking parchment paper. On parchment-lined surface, unroll dough and press perforations to seal; cut into 4 rectangles.
With knife or pizza cutter, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough.
Wrap 2 pieces of dough around each meatball to look like “bandages,” stretching dough slightly to cover meatballs.
Separate “bandages” near one end to show meatball “face.” On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped meatballs.
Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and meatballs are hot. With ketchup and mustard, draw “eyes” on mummy
bites. Serve with warm marinara sauce. Monster Mouths
A spooky treat you’ll want to sink your teeth into.
• 1 roll (16.5 oz) refrigerated peanut butter cookies
• 3/4 cup hazelnut spread with cocoa
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 16 balls. On ungreased cookie sheet, place balls 3 inches apart.
Bake 15 to 17 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.
Spread hazelnut spread on bottom of each cookie; cut each cookie crosswise in half. For each “mouth,” press 4 to 5 marshmallows into hazelnut spread along rounded edge of 1 cookie half. Top with second cookie half, bottom side down; gently press together.
Melted Witch Punch
Take a sip and you’ll be feeling “witchy.”
• 6 cups water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 (6 ounce) package lime-favored gelatin mix
• 1 (46 fuid ounce) can pineapple juice
• 2 quarts orange juice
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 (2 liter) bottles chilled lemon-lime soda
Mix water, sugar, and gelatin mix in a large saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook at a boil, whisking frequently, until gelatin and sugar have dissolved, about 3 minutes. Stir pineapple juice, orange juice, and lemon juice into gelatin mixture and transfer into resealable plastic bags. Place in freezer until slushy, about 4 hours.
Pour mixture into a large punch bowl and stir in lemon-lime soda; foat a black plastic witch hat atop the punch.
Ruthie Foster is eager to share tunes from her new CD, “Mileage.” Renowned for her ability to weave together a tapestry of diverse musical infuences ranging from gospel and blues to folk and soul, Foster’s musical odyssey has taken her from singing in churches in rural Texas to earning multiple Grammy nominations, gracing the stage with the Allman Brothers, and collaborating with Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. With her milestone 10th studio album, Foster continues to tell stories that refect her personal triumphs, losses and the universal human experience. Born into a family steeped in gospel tradition, she initially shied away from the spotlight, preferring to play guitar, piano and write songs for others. Now, many albums later, she stands as a testament to the power of authenticity and resilience in music.
Friday, Oct. 24, 8 p.m. $43, $38, $33. Jeanne Rimsky Theater at Landmark on Main Street, 232 Main St., Port Washington. Tickets available at landmarkonmainstreet.org or (516) 767-6444.
One of America’s most distinctive and longest-running rock bands, Little Feat is back in a big way with a revitalized lineup and a stellar new album — its frst of original material in over a decade. The venerable band is touring in support of ‘Strike Up the Band,” their frst new studio album reliant on new material since 2012’s Rooster Rag. It’s Little Feat’s triumphant return to rock ‘n roll with plenty of swampy Southern soul. The band builds on a deep, over 50-year history of elite musicianship and brilliant, idiosyncratic songwriting that transcends boundaries. California rock, funk, folk, jazz, country and rockabilly mixed with New Orleans swamp boogie has kept audiences grooving for decades.
Saturday, Oct 25, 8 p.m. $141.25, $120.25, $99.75, $77.75, $66.25. The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington. Tickets available at ticketmaster.com or paramountny.com.
Christ Lutheran Church Country Fair
Christ Lutheran Church hosts its 29th annual Country Fair. With boutique items, Christmas décor, crafts, tools, raffle baskets, and the church’s “famous cookie walk,” available on Saturday only.
• Where: 3384 Island Road, Wantagh
• Time: 9 a.m.-3 p.m., also Oct. 25
• Contact: Call (516) 221-3286 for more information
‘Uncle Vlad’s Pumpkin Patch: Under New Management’ Long Island Children’s Museum welcomes all to its latest theater production. Horrible news! The Mountain Boo Soda Company has their eyes on a piece of property for their new factory — Uncle Vlad’s pumpkin patch! Join Uncle Vlad, his nephew Chad, and their freakish friends as they team up to protect their Halloween home from the bony fngers of big business. The company is run by a skeleton, after all! With puppeteers and actors from LICM’s Theater, this musical adventure will tickle your funny bone as a Halloween treat for the whole family. $5 with museum admission ($4 members). $10 theater only.
• Where: Museum Row, Garden City
• Time: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., also Oct. 26
• Contact: licm.org or (516) 2245800
Dog Days Weekend
Enjoy the glorious grounds of Old Westbury Gardens with your pooch (leashed of course), With fall dog parade and costume contest on Sunday. Prizes awarded to best dog costumes, including Prettiest, Most Handsome, Most Original, Best Duo or Group, Funniest. Costume contest participants must register.
• Where: 71 Old Westbury Rd., Old Westbury.
• Time: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.: also Oct. 26, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., with costume parade/contest, 3-5 p.m.
• Contact: oldwestburygardens.org or call (516) 333-0048
Step back in time at Old Bethpage Village Restoration for some Halloween fun. Enjoy safe trick or treating, a kids’ costume parade and contest, witch-broom making, pumpkin painting, and other family fun. Meet the Headless Horseman and listen to a reading of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Enjoy the spooky fun while you appreciate the colors and beauty of the fall season in the farms,
• Where: 2900 Jerusalem Ave., Wantagh
• Time: Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.; Thursdays, 7:15-10 p.m.
• Contact: (516) 221-2370
Game time
30
Play Mah Jongg and Canasta every Thursday at Congregation Beth Tikvah. Snacks and drinks are provided. $5 contribution.
• Where: 3710 Woodbine Ave., Wantagh
• Time: Thursdays, noon-4 p.m.
• Contact: mahjonggCBT@yahoo. com or (516) 785-2445
• Where: Tilles Center, LIU Post campus, 720 Northern Blvd., Brookville
• Time: 7 p.m.
Music Director Cristian Maˇcelaru leads the Orchestre National de France on its frst U.S. tour in nearly 10 years, performing with Grammy-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov. Their brief three-concert tour, with a stop at Tilles Center, culminates in a much-anticipated return to Carnegie Hall. Founded in 1934 and prized as France’s leading orchestra, the Orchestre National frst toured in North America in 1948. Joined by the pianist-extraordinaire (whose career has taken him far and wide, to Paris, throughout France, and to the most prestigious classical music venues in the world), the Orchestre National de France, the orchestra performs repertoires that lie at the core of its identity: Maurice Ravel (to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth), Elsa Barraine and Camille Saint-Saëns. Their brilliant repertoire features Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, along with Elsa Barraine’s Symphony No. 2 and two works by Ravel — Concerto in G and Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2 — with Trifonov as soloist on both of the program’s concerti. Under the baton of Cristian Maˇcelaru, this masterful program stuns in the musical story it provides, bringing the listener on a picturesque journey from start to fnish. The programming of Elsa Barraine’s Symphony No. 2 with its gumptous string lines that compliment the playfulness of the work’s structure sits beautifully in the program with Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloé. The two piano concertos bring different stylistic characters to the stage, with Saint-Saëns offering late romantic era lushness and Ravel offering the lavish fancy. Hearing these two works performed by Trifonov, a performer with a dedication to perfecting concerto repertoire for piano, is iconic.
woods, and fields of the historic site. $15, $12 seniors and children 5-12.
• Where: 1303 Round Swamp Rd., Old Bethpage
• Time: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Contact: oldbethpagevillager esto ration.org or call (516) 572-8409
Not-So-Spooky Ghost’s Missing Candy Halloween Puppet Show
Get into the Halloween spirit with giggles, not goosebumps at Old Westbury Gardens. After trick-ortreating around the gardens, take in The Not-So-Spooky Ghost Puppet Show by Wonderspark Puppets, taking place in The Barn at Orchard Hill! When a timid little ghost’s Halloween candy goes missing, only one detective is clever enough, brave enough, and smart enough to solve the case – Mystery Max! Join Max on a wild adventure to fnd the ghost’s missing candy. Along the way meet crazy characters, make new friends, sing songs and fnd clues. Whodunit? $18, $15 seniors 65+, $12 ages 3+
• Where: 71 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury
• Time: 1-2 p.m.
• Contact: oldwestburygardens.org or call (516) 333-0048
Old Time Country Bazaar
Check out the scene at the bazaar, hosted by Senior Citizens of Westbury. With treasures, fea market, White Elephant, jewelry, knitted and crocheted items, and more. Also raffe baskets and prizes. Lunch available.
• Where: 360 Post Ave., Westbury
• Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
26
Suicide Awareness Walk
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Long Island Chapter holds their Long Island Out of the Darkness Community Walk at Jones Beach. Register to walk or become a sponsor.
• Where: Field 5, Jones Beach, Wantagh
• Time: 10 a.m.
• Contact: Carrie Aronson at (516) 865-3944 or afsp.org/ longislandwalkwest
Freaky 5K Run/Walk
Join in the Freaky 5K Run/Walk. With a 1/4-mile Kids Fun Run and cash prizes for top fnishers, age group medals, and costume awards. Registration is $25 by Oct. 23, or $30 on race day; Fun Run is $10
• Contact: ticketmaster.com or tillescenter.org or (516) 299-3100
for children under 10. First 700 registrants receive a long-sleeve shirt. Refreshements provided.
• Where: Behind TOH Parking Lot, 1869 Wantagh Ave., Wantagh
• Time: Fun Run 8 a.m., 5K 8:30 a.m.
• Contact: (516) 679-5098 or email john@jtcf.org.
Child car seat safety program
Schedule a 30-minute inspection of child car seats through the Town of Hempstead’s Public Safety Department. The team will check car and booster seats are properly installed and make sure that seats are the best fit for your child. Appointments are required.
• Where: Forest City Community Park, 3099 Morgan Drive, Wantagh
• Time: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
• Contact: (516) 538-1900 ext. 7709 or visit hempsteadny.gov for more
Bingo at Temple B’Nai Torah
Temple B’nai Torah hosts weekly bingo with prizes, progressive games, and refreshments every Wednesday and Thursday.
Long Island Turkey Trot Step into November with the Long Island Turkey Trot 5K.
• Where: Eisenhower Park, Parking Field 2
• Time: 9 a.m.
• Contact: EliteFeats. com/25LITurkeyTrot
Vendors Wanted for Holiday Shopping Day
Congregation Beth Tikvah Sisterhood & Men’s Club seeks vendors for its Holiday Shopping Day. Vendor opportunities available at reasonable rates for selling apparel, jewelry, housewares, collectibles, gifts, toys, seasonal items, crafts, and more.
• Where: 3710 Woodbine Ave., Wantagh
• Time: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Contact: For information and registration, email CBTWantaghHolidayShop@ gmail.com
Having an event?
Items on the Calendar page are listed free of charge. The Herald welcomes listings of upcoming events, community meetings and items of public interest. All submissions should include date, time and location of the event, cost, and a contact name and phone number. Submissions can be emailed to kbloom@ liherald.com.
ATTENTION STUDENTS: THE HERALD IS HOLDING A CONTEST TO DESIGN HOLIDAY WRAPPING PAPER
THE WINNING DESIGNS WILL BE PRINTED AS HOLIDAY GIFT WRAP IN 12/4/25 & 12/11/25 ISSUES OF YOUR HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Who can enter: There will be 2 categories:
Students in grades k-5. Students in 6-12
One entry per student
Deadline: Entries must be received by 5 p.m.
Friday, November 14, 2025
Requirements: All entries should have the student’s name, age, address, telephone number, email, grade and school printed on the back. Design can be reflective of all religious holidays. Entries will not be returned.
Mail or hand-deliver to:
Wrapping Paper Contest
Herald Community Newspapers
2 Endo Boulevard, Garden City, NY 11530 OR Scan and email to:
ekimbrell@liherald.com
(No Photos of Artwork Will Be Accepted).
Winners will be notified by email or phone by November 21
• Must use 8 1/2 x 11” unlined paper, copy paper or construction paper.
• Be creative & original.
• Use bright colors.
• Fill the entire page.
LEGAL NOTICE
REFEREE’S NOTICE OF SALE IN FORECLOSURE
SUPREME COURTCOUNTY OF NASSAU
U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR SG MORTGAGE SECURITIES BACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-FRE2, Plaintiffagainst - SUZANNE M. BRADY, et al Defendant(s).
Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered on March 15, 2019. I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction on the North Side steps of the Nassau County Supreme Court located at 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola, N.Y. 11501 on the 6th day of November, 2025 at 2:00 PM. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being at Wantagh, in the Town of Hempstead, County of Nassau, State of New York. Premises known as 3677 Smith Street, Wantagh, NY 11793.
(SBL#: 57-89-105)
Approximate amount of lien $614,197.89 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of fled judgment and terms of sale.
Index No. 010340/2015. John G. Kennedy, Esq., Referee. McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC
Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 840 New York, NY 10170 Tel. 347/286-7409
For sale information, please visit
Auction.com at www.Auction.com or call (800) 280-2832
Dated: September 8, 2025
During the COVID-19 health emergency, bidders are required to comply with all governmental health requirements in effect at the time of sale including but not limited to, wearing face coverings and maintaining social distancing (at least 6feet apart) during the auction, while tendering deposit and at any subsequent closing. Bidders are also required to comply with the Foreclosure Auction Rules and COVID-19 Health Emergency Rules issued by the Supreme Court of this County in addition to the conditions set forth in the Terms of Sale. 156078
LEGAL NOTICE NOTICE OF SALE
SUPREME COURTCOUNTY OF NASSAU MID-ISLAND MORTGAGE CORP. Plaintiff, Against
KERYN L. HING AVERY
A/K/A KERYN L. HINGAVERY A/K/A KERYN HING AVERY A/K/A
KERYN HING A/K/A
KERYN AVERY A/K/A
KERYN HING-AVERY; GREGORY AVERY
A/K/A GREGORY L. AVERY; et al
Defendant(s)
Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale, duly entered 05/02/2024, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction, on the North Side steps of the Nassau County Supreme Court located
Wantagh Elementary School students got a hands-on lesson in fire safety on Oct. 17 during the school’s annual Fire Prevention Month presentation.
at 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola, N.Y. 11501 on 11/18/2025 at 2:00PM, premises known as 15 Hamlet Road, Levittown, New York 11756, and described as follows:
ALL that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being at Levittown, near Hicksville, Town of Hempstead, County of Nassau and State of New York.
Section 46 Block 387 Lot 39
The approximate amount of the current Judgment lien is $345,000.93 plus interest and costs. The Premises will be sold subject to provisions of the aforesaid Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale; Index # 618413/2022 If proper social distancing cannot be maintained or there are other health or safety concerns, the then Court Appointed Referee will cancel the Foreclosure Auction. This Auction will be held rain or shine.
Jonathan Christian Juliano, Esq., Referee. MCCABE, WEISBERG & CONWAY, LLC, 10 Midland Avenue, Suite 205, Port Chester, NY 10573
Dated: 10/2/2025 File Number: 22-301437 CA 156290
LEGAL NOTICE
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NASSAU U.S. BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS OWNER TRUSTEE
FOR RCAF ACQUISITION TRUST, Plaintiff AGAINST ILEANE D. BEILER INDIVIDUALLY AND AS SURVIVING SPOUSE OF GERALD D. BEILER IF LIVING, AND IF HE/SHE BE DEAD, ANY AND ALL PERSONS UNKNOWN TO PLAINTIFF, CLAIMING, OR WHO MAY CLAIM TO HAVE AN INTEREST IN, OR GENERAL OR SPECIFIC LIEN UPON THE REAL PROPERTY DESCRIBED IN THIS ACTION; ET AL., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered July 28, 2025, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the North Side steps of the Nassau County Supreme Court, 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola, NY 11501 on November 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM, premises known as 17 Wilson Lane, Bethpage, NY 11714. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being at Bethpage, in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County and State of New York, Section 49 Block 175 and Lot 26. Approximate amount of judgment $477,899.87 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of fled Judgment Index #619193/2023.
Leonard B. Symons, Esq., Referee Gross Polowy, LLC 1775 Wehrle Drive Williamsville, NY 14221 23-003455 87372 156261
Members of the Wantagh Fire Department visited the school to teach grades K-5 about having an escape plan, changing smoke detector batteries regularly, and keeping bedroom doors closed at night. Principal Randee Bonagura encouraged students to discuss these safety steps with their families. Fourth- and fifth-graders also visited the fire safety trailer, or “smokehouse,” where they practiced emergency escape procedures in a simulated smoke-filled room under firefighter guidance.
— Charles Shaw
Q. With winter coming, we’re realizing that our windows are drafty and hard to open. It’s time to replace them after 40 years in our house. As we start shopping around, are there windows you recommend, and why? We keep seeing commercials for replacement windows, and were wondering if there’s a difference since our window openings aren’t standard. I took some measurements, and some of the windows are very uniform — like 4 feet tall, and others are off by 2 or 3 inches and those don’t match one another. Will the new windows be custom fit to the openings, or will we need to change the openings? I’m concerned, because our house is brick, and it seems like not every window is going to fit. What should I look for when talking to a contractor, and will we need a permit?
A. The most important thing to look for with windows is energy compliance and the strength and ease of operating the hardware. Windows that will lose more energy are a poor investment, followed by those that can’t be opened easily as they age. The strength of the frames goes hand in hand with the window operation, because less costly vinyl windows are made of less costly materials that will distort over time and directly affect the seal around the frames, making for more difficulty opening and closing.
Lately I’ve noticed that clients are searching for unique styles and brands from faraway places and even other countries. One person asked me to look at a lift-out window from Southern California that was meant for a café serving counter, but they wanted to use it for a second-floor bedroom. The window was a push-out-and-up type that didn’t look like it could handle our weather in the Northeast. There was no energy data to show resistance to our winters, and nothing published that could pass our local codes.
Another client is getting windows from Poland. They’re very strong, triple-pane units that cost less and will probably comply with the energy codes, but it was a struggle to get the energy data in a format required in your state codes.
The rule with most building departments in your area is that direct replacement doesn’t need a building permit, but altering window sizes does. You should still verify this with your building department, because you want to avoid receiving a warning or summons during the installation and then having to stop to get plans made and permits filed.
Custom window sizes require creating extra framing to attractively insert standard sizes. If you reduce the window opening, it must still comply with safety requirements. Consult either a local official or an architect to be sure that you comply. The codes vary for existing window openings, which require 4 square feet versus altered openings that bump the required size up to 5.7 square feet. The architect can also give you some guidance about wood versus vinyl, fiberglass versus metal, etc. Good luck!
AFFORDABLE
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Wanted To Buy
Costume Jewelry Wanted Necklaces, Earrings, Bracelets & Rings. Also Buying Gold & Silver. $$ CASH PAID $$ 631-500-0792
Long Island / Will Travel
Finds Under $100 (2) 30 X 36 mirror, bevelled edge, etchings in corners, hardware attached. beautiful 516-579-9089 $45.00 36 INCH DOG crate $35.00. Call 516-872-8486
BRAND NEW HOLLY Pattern Vase, Vintage Statues (Christmas), Christmas ornaments, excellent. (516)579-9089 under $25.00 all
CEDAR RABBIT HUTCH: Mica cleanout drawers, Casters, 54" X 24", Solid construction. $95. 516-343-4010
DRESSERS: TWO BLACK Wood. Single drawer, 2 doors w/shelf. Formica top. W-32"xH-30"xD-18" $35 each. 516-320-1906
GIRLS SIZE 10, Hoodies, Long-sleeve tops & pants, New with Tags $10. Text (917) 420-5814
GIRLS SIZE 6 Tops and Jeans - New with Tags $8. Text (917) 420-5814
IKEA SOLID OAK: Unassembled, Media Storage Cabinets, New in Box: DVD, CD VCR $50 each. 516-486-7941
MIKASA SENTIMENTS CARAFE, glass, new, boxed, inscribed with Happiness, Success, Wisdom and Friendship. $25, 516-678-0694.
MIKASA SENTIMENTS CHAMPAGNE Fluted Glasses, 4, inscribed with Friendship, Wisdom, Success and Happiness. $40. 516-678-0694.
QUARTERS: ALL FIFTY STATES: Uncirculated, in presentation folders. 3 sets all 50 States. $50. 516-486-7941
Finds Under $100
SEIKO SCHOOLHOUSE CLOCK: Like New, Excellent condition, Chimes, $80 (516) 486-2363 Jack Taylor.
WOMAN'S REVERSIBLE BLACK shearing coat for $90.00. Pictures upon request. 516-668-7286
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Home Improvement
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Miscellaneous
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CHARLIE THE PAINTER: Highly Skilled Professional Painter. All Phases Of The Painting Trade. Interior/ Exterior. Expert Repairs. Commercial. 25 Years Experience. FREE Estimates. Charlie 516-325-6574
Plumbing
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POWERWASHING ALL SURFACES: Houses, Fences, Concrete/ Brick, Decks/Sealing. ANTHONY & J HOME IMPROVEMENT, INC. 516-678-6641
Services
AGING ROOF? NEW HOMEOWNER? STORM DAMAGE? You need a local expert provider that proudly stands behind their work. Fast, free estimate. Financing available. Call 1-833-880-7679
INJURED IN AN ACCIDENT? Don't Accept the insurance company's first offer. Many injured parties are entitled to major cash settlements. Get a free evaluation to see what your case is really worth. 100% Free Evaluation. Call Now: 1-833-323-0318. Be ready with your zip code to connect with the closest provider. PEST CONTROL: PROTECT YOUR HOME from pests safely and affordably. Roaches, Bed Bugs, Rodent, Termite, Spiders and other pests. Locally owned and affordable. Call for service or an inspection today! 1-833-549-0598 Have zip code of property ready when calling! Sprinkler
Telephone Services
CONSUMER CELLULAR - the same reliable, nationwide coverage as the largest carriers. No long-term contract, no hidden fees and activation is free. All plans feature unlimited talk and text, starting at just $20/month. For more information, call 1-844-919-1682
Tree Services
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Satellite/TV Equipment
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Health & Fitness
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opiNioNs
The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1. I can’t stand it. I’ve been back and forth to Washington, but the Capitol is relatively quiet. Federal workers are missing paychecks; Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare applications can’t get processed; flights are being delayed; and without any action come Nov. 1, millions of Americans will be notified that their health insurance premiums are going up by over $1,000 — per month!
Why can’t we fix this? Republicans have the White House and majorities in both the Senate and the House, but they need eight Democratic votes in the Senate to pass a government funding bill. Despite the high stakes and the need for high-level bipartisan negotiations to end this crisis, no one is talking. Why?
Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government is reopened. House Speaker Mike Johnson hasn’t called us back to Congress for a month. Senate Majority Leader John Thune refuses to budge, and President Trump continues his my-way-or-the-highway
“Nposture, unilaterally — and likely unlawfully — firing federal employees, cutting projects in Democratic states and eliminating programs to try to impose his will, making this shutdown as painful as possible.
The Democrats are just as dug in. They warn that those health insurance premiums will soon skyrocket because Republicans refuse to extend the tax credits that keep the premiums down. We’re running out of time.
We need a solution that staves off spikes in health insurance premiums.
If the credits expire, 22 million Americans, including more than 100,000 Long Islanders, will see their premiums spike. Healthy people all over the country will choose to forgo coverage, which will shrink the risk pool and raise premiums for everyone. The results will be catastrophic.
The crazy thing is, most Democrats want to reopen the government, and many Republicans want to extend the tax credits. The problem is that no one trusts one another. Republicans want to open the government with a handshake promise to talk about health insurance later. Democrats want it dealt with as part of the reopening. There must be compromise, often a dirty word in D.C.
Normally, I’d advocate for trust. I don’t believe shutdowns should be used
as negotiating tactics for these kinds of policy debates. But these aren’t normal times. For the past nine months, the administration has ignored the Democrats, unilaterally eliminating jobs and cutting key programs, reversing budget decisions without warning and generally steamrolling Congress’s constitutional authority over “the power of the purse” and the use of the military in our cities.
Johnson and Thune have refused to negotiate with Democrats. I’ve voted to keep the government open more than 40 times over my five terms in Congress. Each time, the governing majority has negotiated with the minority party, with the understanding that they simply don’t have the votes on their own.
How can Democrats reasonably be expected to trust that health care will be dealt with after the reopening in an environment of such fear, anger and distrust in Washington?
Nevertheless, we need to find a way to reopen the government as soon as possible, or things will only get worse. We need a solution that also staves off spikes in health insurance costs.
That’s why I’m leading a bipartisan effort with Republican Congresswoman Jen Kiggans. Our bill, the Premium
Tax Credit Extension Act, would extend the credits for one year, protecting families while giving Congress time to reach a broader health care deal. It’s not perfect. Like most of my Democratic colleagues, I’d prefer extending the credits permanently. But we’re in the minority, and we can’t let our aspiration for perfection stop us from achieving the good. Republicans, who can’t open the government without Democrats, must also see that truth.
The sticking point in this shutdown is health care affordability: Polling shows that the top concern in our country is the cost of living, and health care costs are a key contributor. At Trump’s inaugural address, he said he would “rapidly reduce prices.” I, like many Americans, hoped that he would.
Now inflation is up, costs are climbing, and Americans feel duped. They want us to reopen the government, prioritize lowering costs —health care a big part of that — and stop playing partisan games while they pay the price.
For many Americans, Washington hasn’t just shut down this month — it’s felt closed for far too long. We need to reopen it in every sense: by rebuilding trust, negotiating honestly, and committing to working together to find solutions for the people we represent.
Tom Suozzi represents the 3rd Congressional District.
o man can step into the same river twice.” — Heraclitus, 500 B.C.
After spending the past few years in Florida, my husband and I decided this season to rent a place near Woodmere, where we lived in the same house for 51 years. I taught in the local schools, our kids grew up here, and our roots in the community run deep.
We’ve been back in town for about two months.
I don’t have meteorological data, but I believe we’ve had the most glorious autumn weather ever experienced in southwestern Nassau County. Until the nor’easter, of course, which brought back memories of Hurricanes Belle and Irene and Sandy.
I took myself to Woodmere Dock and found the seascape of the bay, the waterside holes of the Rockaway Hunting Club and the vast marshes all the same. I imagine I’m one of few people who
recall that the dock was owned at one time by the Ike family, who rented rowboats by the hour and owned an access road to the dock known as Ike’s Lane.
You can go home again, but if you do, be prepared. Everything is the same, but entirely different. And, of course, you are different, too. Our old house looks as if we closed the door and walked away yesterday. The tiny memorial to our dog Sheba still rests in a flower bed where we buried her ashes.
You can go home again, but be prepared. Everything is the same, but entirely different.
The second day up North, I walked into a doctor’s office and into a friend from our kids’ high school days. We looked the same, other than dusted and stamped by time. That afternoon, a woman jogged by our rental house, and I realized she was in a book group I ran 25 years ago. I kept running into people who looked as if a makeup artist had worked them over. And they did double takes when I reintroduced myself.
Things are where I remember them — firehouses and supermarkets and a few restaurants. But some stores are now banks, and many small businesses
have been replaced by medical megapractices, gyms or nail spas. Community boards advertise unfamiliar events and groups. I felt like Emily in “Our Town,” when she returns from the dead to revisit her 12th birthday and realizes that no one ever appreciates the everydayness of their lives while they’re living them. I took the LIRR to the city from Lawrence one day. I didn’t know where or how to park, how to buy a ticket or how to find the train schedule. Since I last rode the Snail, it went digital. I got a tutorial from my granddaughter and enjoyed a glorious day with her traipsing through downtown Manhattan. BTW, despite the fearmongering of many Floridians, the subway was clean, and it all felt safe.
Penn Station was emblematic of my experience, looking completely new and kind of brazen and futuristic, but foundationally the same. Track 19 is still Track 19, and the train back to Lawrence still left from there.
Another day, I drove from the Five Towns to Astoria. I hadn’t driven in city
traffic for six years. That was hell and a half. I felt gratified that my memory of the roads was accurate, and the Van Wyck still went to the Grand Central and then to Steinway Street — but what a holy mess the roads are. Everything is under construction, and cement trucks terrorized me all the way from here to there. My Waze app told me to go right so I could go left, and then an 18-wheeler backed into my lane. More people gave me the finger salute during that 50-minute ride than in all of my years driving. The Woodmere and other towns of my younger self have evolved and, in some cases, disappeared. That’s what happens. New people, new shops, new activities festoon the old infrastructure. All the little back roads are the same, though. I realized I knew 10 different ways to drive anyplace.
I also know the origin stories, the history, of people and places, and it all came flooding back as I zipped about town. I felt grounded in the way you can only feel when your present is layered with rich memories of the past.
It’s autumn in New York again, and it’s good to be home.
Copyright 2025 Randi Kreiss. Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.
For decades, justice in Nassau and Suffolk counties often depended on eyewitnesses, confessions and detective work that, while diligent, was limited by the science of its time. But today, the breakthroughs of modern forensic science are rewriting history, freeing the innocent and holding the guilty accountable.
Last week, the Nassau County district attorney’s office announced a stunning development in one of Long Island’s most haunting cold cases, the 1984 murder of 16-year-old Theresa Fusco in Lynbrook. Fusco disappeared after finishing her shift at the Hot Skates Roller Rink. A month later, her body was found in a nearby wooded area.
For nearly 40 years, her family lived with grief and confusion, compounded by the wrongful convictions of three men whose lives were destroyed before DNA technology could prove their innocence. Those men — Dennis Halstead, John Kogut and John Restivo — spent nearly two decades in prison before DNA testing cleared them in 2003.
Now, that same science has brought the case full circle. Investigators linked Richard Bilodeau, 63, of Center Moriches, to the crime after obtaining DNA from a discarded smoothie cup earlier this year. When tested, it was a 100
percent match with evidence preserved from the Fusco crime scene.
“Science and DNA evidence doesn’t lie,” the district attorney’s office stated. And it doesn’t coerce confessions. It doesn’t forget. It doesn’t play favorites. It tells the truth when the truth is hard to find.
The Fusco case isn’t just about closure — it’s a lesson in progress. Four decades ago, detectives couldn’t imagine a world in which a cold case could be revived by a few microscopic cells. Today, the Nassau County forensic unit has reopened a number of cases, identifying both victims and suspects through genetic technology once considered science fiction.
Science is also central to another major Long Island case now unfolding in court: that of Rex Heuermann, the Massapequa Park architect accused of being the Gilgo Beach serial killer. There, too, DNA stands at the center of the search for truth. Prosecutors are relying on cutting-edge testing from Astrea Forensics, a California lab that analyzes even the tiniest hair fragments. Defense attorneys have tried to discredit the science as “magic,” claiming that New York courts haven’t yet accepted it.
But experts such as Dr. Kelley Harris,
The following letter was sent to Nassau County legislators.
The South Shore Women’s Alliance is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of women and families. In line with this mission, SSWA hosted “Not Me” workshops for parents and their daughters, in which the Safe Center LI, of Bethpage, played a crucial role, providing instruction on fundamental prevention and protection strategies, as well as education on the warning signs and cycles of abuse.
In addition to serving as the primary center for people affected by domestic violence and sexual abuse, the Safe Center operated as an advocacy center for child-abuse prosecutions, maintained a crisis-intervention hotline and offered an advocate-response program that dispatched trained volunteers to emergency rooms to assist survivors of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence.
The Safe Center was the lifeline for over 5,000 people each year, providing crucial resources and support to victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, the only center of its kind in Nassau County. It is unconscionable that County Executive Bruce Blakeman allowed it to close.
Nassau provided $2.9 million to the Safe Center in 2023. But when asked for county grants to keep the center going, Blakeman failed not only to provide the needed funding, but also to facilitate a takeover by another organization, forcing the center to shut its doors.
The Safe Center board’s former president, Shanell Par-
a University of Washington geneticist, defend the method as “elegant and powerful”— a reminder that while justice is constant, the tools to attain it evolve. Every forensic innovation, from fingerprints to fiber analysis to DNA sequencing, was once new and controversial. Yet each step forward has given law enforcement stronger, fairer tools to uncover facts that human memory or intuition alone could never provide.
Whether it’s exonerating the innocent, as in Fusco’s tragic case, or convicting the guilty, as prosecutors hope in the Gilgo Beach murders, forensic science is reshaping the path toward justice on Long Island. It demands accuracy. It demands accountability. And it demands that we trust evidence grounded not in guesswork or coercion, but in chemistry, genetics and time-tested truth.
For the Fusco family, science may finally bring the closure they’ve waited for since 1984. For the families of the Gilgo Beach victims, it may soon bring answers to a mystery that has haunted this area for years.
From Lynbrook to Massapequa Park and across Long Island, one message is clear: Science keeps faith with the facts — and with the people who deserve justice.
rish-Brown, said, “The county sort of left the Safe Center out to dry.”
As reported in Newsday, County Legislator Seth Koslow “said the impending closure could have been avoided with better county planning.”
“This was a failure of leadership in Nassau to ensure the safety of these children who have been victim-
ized once and are now being victimized again by the Blakeman administration,” Koslow said. “This wasn’t something that just fell out of the heavens — people saw this coming.”
Why weren’t there hearings about the future of the center when the financial problems first became known? Why hasn’t the Legislature’s
my 2025 began in a way that no one wants their new year to kick off: i got the flu. i woke up the first Monday of the year with a 103-degree fever, body aches that were almost unmanageable and a headache so intense i could barely keep my eyes open.
The one thing that made me smile that day was a text from my sweet grandma, a nurse, who wrote, “Hang in there. Eat some nice warm soup and toast. Comfort food.”
Grandmas always know best. in my dreary state, i decided to kick-start my annual reading goal of at least 50 books. i opened up “Sandwich,” by Catherine Newman, a witty tale of a family that has spent nearly every summer on Cape Cod, told from the perspective of its matriarch, rocky. The book explores love, lost dreams, hope and more, offering a well-rounded glimpse into the many life stages we all experience.
When i read, i highlight lines that leave an impression on me, either by writing them down or using a tool on my kindle. “Sandwich” was filled with them. i noted several things, but the one i kept thinking about in the days and weeks after i finished reading it was this: “Maybe grief is love imploding. or maybe it’s love expanding.” like everyone, i’ve experienced grief for different things, for different people, but i hadn’t truly encountered its profound weight — the type of grief that makes it hard to breathe.
iCatholic, she was devoted to her church, its people and myriad ministries.
t’s hard to put into words how much those final chats with her meant to me.
My grandma died unexpectedly on May 4, at age 85. She took excellent care of herself, and besides a few minor incidents in her later years, she was generally in great shape. All it took was a brief, serious illness that led to sepsis and eventually organ failure. Her last few days were filled with moments i fear i’ll never be able to comprehend.
She was an exceptional woman, as most grandmothers are. She had seven children, 10 grandchildren, and family and friends galore in her neighborhood of Middle Village, Queens. A devout
Health and Social Services Committee held hearings about how it might save the center?
Even more egregious is how Blakeman uses women’s trauma as a political ploy in mailings and TV ads against his opponent, while abandoning survivors of rape, abuse and domestic violence — effectively casting them onto the streets.
The South Shore Women’s Alliance gathered hundreds of Nassau resident signatures urging that, rather than spending millions of dollars on outside legal fees for frivolous culture war lawsuits or for his own personal militia, Blakeman reinstate the county’s only domestic violence center.
The SSWA requests that Nassau County allocate funds in the 2026 budget for opening a new facility that shelters and provides the services that the Safe Center provided to women and children of Nassau County.
ClAudiA BorECky Executive director, South Shore Women’s Alliance
The following letter was sent to United States Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
it has been reported that the u.S. Senate is advancing the confirmation of former Congressman Anthony d’Esposito to
be inspector general of the u.S. department of l abor. Nassau r esidents for Good Government is a nonpartisan group concerned about transparency, accountability and integrity. We believe Mr. d’Esposito is wholly unqualified for this job, and ask that you block his confirmation.
Anthony d’Esposito’s history of questionable hiring practices has been well documented. While at the New york City Police department, he reportedly broke labor rules by working a second job. More recently, d’Esposito was at the center of a scandal. in September 2024, it was reported that that while he was serving as a congressman in the 4th district, he put his fiancée’s daughter and his mistress on his congressional payroll, despite the House Code of Conduct prohibition against employing spouses, relatives and stepchildren.
There are also questions about his judgment. d ’Esposito was part of the GoP’s slate of 2022 freshmen candidates for Congress, which included the disgraced George Santos, who was expelled in 2023 (and just released from prison).
d’Esposito reportedly had a close financial relationship with Santos, and coordinated with him during their concurrent 2022 House campaigns, sharing a campaign treasurer (who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to defrauding the u.S. government) and raising money together through the Santo d’Esposito Nassau Victory Committee.
d’Esposito says that if confirmed, he
The last day i saw her was April 19, the day before Easter. it was exceptionally warm — over 80 degrees in Queens — and we had lunch and a long chat about baseball. A tried-and-true yankees fan, she reminded me that she never rooted against the Mets, unless they were playing the yankees. That day, she told me her favorite Met was francisco lindor — who had hit a walkoff home run the night before, much to her delight. i guess we yankees fans know a thing or two about good shortstops.
it’s hard to put into words how much those final conversations mean to me. i never could’ve imagined that the next time i saw her would be our last moments together.
As i write this, i feel that overpowering sense of grief. This year didn’t start off the way i wanted it too, and really, it hasn’t gotten much better. There have been good moments, of course, but there have been a lot of sad ones, too.
it’s funny, though: As i think about
“Sandwich” — a book i decided to read maybe an hour or so after Grandma sent me well-wishes for the new year — i realize i can feel this way because before grief, there was love.
What i’m feeling is love imploding. i can’t say i’ve enjoyed the experiences i’ve endured this year, but i’m grateful that Grandma loved us so deeply that her absence leaves me with such a profound sense of loss, which is really just a testament to the type of person she was. All of us would be lucky to be loved so deeply, so consistently, by someone like her.
They say time heals all wounds, but i don’t always think that’s fair. The hurt i’ve felt these past few months may fade, but there will always be this void in my heart that only she could fill. i’ll wait forever, i hope, to see her again.
As her love expands in her absence, i hope to carry it with me everywhere — through every book i read, every milestone i reach and every ordinary day in between. if grief is love imploding, then maybe what follows is love reshaping itself, reminding me that she’s still here, in everything i do.
Jordan Vallone is deputy managing editor of Herald Community Newspapers. Comments? Jvallone@liherald.com.
will bring “grit, independence and accountability to the d epartment of labor.” in fact, his record is antithetical to that position and that promise. As detailed above, his record is one of corruption and a general disregard for ethical considerations.
President Trump chose d’Esposito despite his ethical lapses amid lingering questions about his hiring practic-
es. But the Senate doesn’t have to. Here in Nassau County, we have seen up close d’Esposito’s labor practices, which we believe should disqualify him from consideration. i nstead of advancing d’Esposito’s confirmation, it should be blocked.
