Serving Manhasset, Munsey Park, North Hills, Plandome Heights, Plandome Manor, Plandome and Flower Hill
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Friday, October 29, 2021
Vol. 9, No. 44
the issues
Your guide to the candidates, n and local polling informatio
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ELECTION GUIDE
JOHN RYAN DIES
NIFA SAYS BUDGET ‘OUT OF BALANCE’
PAGES 29-52
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PAGE 7
October 29, 2021
Students with docs warned
HAND OF TIME
District hacked in ransomware attack BY T H E I S L A N D N O W S TA F F Sensitive files from the Manhasset school district, including documents decribing sexual harassment allegations, have been posted on the dark web by hackers. As a result, district officials warned students who held or shared files posted online by hackers that they could face disciplinary action. Among the files now on the web are documents describing a series of sexual harassment allegations between 2006 and 2008. After students reportedly passed around an unspecified file, acting Superintendent Gaurav Passi sent a cautionary email to the community on Saturday and notified the Department of Homeland Security. “We received troubling information that some Manhasset students were in possession of and were circulating a stolen confidential memorandum,” Passi wrote. “We have alerted Continued on Page 77
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MANHASSET SCHOOL DISTRICT
Manhasset’s Allison Zhang received an honorable mention for her “Hand of Time” painting in the Port Washington Art Guild’s juried exhibition.
Curran, Blakeman headline elections Voters go to polls Tuesday to determine who will lead county and towns BY R OB E RT PELAEZ The race for county executive between incumbent Laura Curran and challenger Bruce Blakeman headlines the elections in Nassau County on Tues-
day.
Nassau County Executive Curran, a Democrat, previously served as a member of the Baldwin Board of Education before being elected as county executive in 2017. Blakeman, a Republican, serves as a council member for the Town of Hempstead. Aside from being Nassau’s liaison between the county’s Republican Party and former President Donald Trump,
Blakeman also served as commissioner of the Port Authority and the Town of Hempstead’s deputy supervisor under former Supervisor Laura Gillen. Blakeman has been critical of the county’s reassessment work introduced by Curran after she was elected. Curran has referred to state and independent reports verifying the accuracy of the reassessment. Blakeman also criticized Curran for a recently passed
initiative to provide eligible homeowners with direct payments of $375. The checks were more than half of the $193 million Nassau received as part of the American Rescue Plan. Curran, whose 2022 proposed budget includes a $70 million tax cut, touted the county’s improved financial state as the reason Nassau does not need to hold onto the $100 million in federal funds. Curran and BlakeContinued on Page 66
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