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Friday, June 14, 2024
Vol. 12, No. 24
EDIA PRESENTS B L A N K S L AT E M
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LEADERS COUNTY OF NASSAU G AWARDS EVENT NETWORKIN
A BLANK SLATE MEDIA
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| JUNE 14, 2024
TOP BUSINESS MANHASSET BOYS GOLFERS WIN LI TITLE LEADERS
SUOZZI, D’ESPOSITO BLAST FAA OVER FLIGHTS
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F I E L D DAY
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Ready, ‘set,’ go for Manhasset mascot District replaces ‘Indians’ under state mandate BY C A M E RY N O A K ES The Manhasset School District mascot will be no mascot at all. Instead, the district announced last week that the school’s “Indian” mascot would be replaced by just the school’s name, “Manhasset,” or abbreviated to just “Set.” As in, Go Set. “Manhasset is a brand, that ‘M’ is a brand,” said Mickey Giacobbe, chairman of a renaming committee. “At this point, our recommendation as a committee is that we don’t need a mascot. People know who we are and they know what we represent.”
Giacobbe explained that the name is a natural progression for the school district, with many sports teams yelling “Go Set” at events. The mascot, or rather lack thereof, was suggested by the school district’s Team Name Committee after multiple student and community polls and adopted by the Manhasset Board of Education Thursday night. The district was required to change its “Indian mascot” after the New York Board of Regents voted to ban school districts from using Native American mascots, team names, logos and depictions in April 2023, School districts that utilize Na-
tive American mascots must make the change by the end of the 20232024 school year. If they fail to comply, then state funding will be withheld. The district reached out to the community after the regents’ decision to solicit team name recommendations. About 275 were suggested. “Some were appropriate, some were not,” Giacobbe said. These 275 suggestions were then used as the basis for the team names then selected for consideration. Continued on Page 38
Hochul halts congestion pricing plan in 11th hour Elicits support from Nassau Democrats, Republicans BY TAY L O R H E R Z L I C H PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MANHASSET PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Shelter Rock Elementary School fifth and sixth grade students partake in a series of games for their annual Field Day.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that she was halting the long-awaited MTA congestion pricing plan just weeks before tolls were set to hit New Yorkers. The move elicited support from Long Island Democrats and Republicans. The governor said while the plan was initially created pre-pandemic B L A N K S L AT E M E D I A P R E S E N T S
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LEADERS OF NASSAU COUNTY NETWORKING AWARDS EVENT
with noble causes in mind, such as reducing city traffic and vehicle emissions and boosting funds for MTA capital projects, it is unfair for workers who are now being “hammered on costs.” “Circumstances have changed and we must respond to the facts on the ground, not from the rhetoric from five years ago,” Hochul said in a video Wednesday. “I have directed
the MTA to indefinitely pause the program.” The tolls were set to hit commuters June 30, MTA officials said. Car drivers would face a $15 charge to enter Manhattan at 61st St. and below, truck drivers would face a $24 to $36 charge, depending on their vehicle size, and motorcycle drivers would face a $7.50 charge. Continued on Page 37
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