Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
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Friday, January 4, 2019
Vol. 68, No. 1
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HEALTH & WELLNESS
MINEOLA BOARD TO MULL MARIJUANA LAW
COUNTY LEGISLATOR JUDI BOSWORTH?
PAGES 27-30
PAGE 2
PAGE 10
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Mineola High student dies after crash Memorial created for Christian Melendez, 18 BY J E D H E N D R I X S ON
PHOTO BY JED HENDRIXSON
The memorial that has grown at the crash site, honoring the number 10 jersey that Melendez wore.
Mineola High School senior Christian Melendez has died of injuries he sustained in a Williston Park car crash. Melendez, 18, was a passenger in the vehicle, a 2001 Mitsubishi Montero, when it left the roadway" on Dec. 21 and crashed into an iron fence bordering a Nassau County sump on the corner of Willis Avenue and Center Street. The SUV flipped over into the sump upon crashing through the fence. All three occupants of the vehicle were transported to area hos-
pitals, the driver and one passenger with nonlife-threatening injuries, police said. Melendez died from his injuries on Dec. 24, according to police. A memorial of flowers, photos and soccer balls has been placed where the car created a large gap in the fence, now replaced with chain link fencing. Melendez was a member of the high school’s varsity soccer team since he was a freshman" and most recently was the team’s co-captain. He was also a former member of the Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club. Continued on Page 43
NYU seeks medical school at Winthrop BY J E D HENDRIXSON
state aid. The funding allocation for the proposed NYU Long Island NYU is proposing to open School of Medicine is part of a medical school at NYU Win- Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s annual throp Hospital in Mineola and Regional Economic Develophas been awarded $1 million in ment Councils competition,
which awarded a total of $68.3 million to 103 projects on Long Island. In November, NYU President Andrew Hamilton announced plans to open a medical school on Long Island at a University Senate meeting. Hamilton focused on a potential shortage of primary care physicians. The new school located at NYU Winthrop Hospital would
offer a three-year program, training physicians in primary care. An April report by the Association of American Medical Colleges said the nation could see a shortage of up to 120,000 physicians by 2030, having a wide impact on patient care. The new school would join Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Hofstra’s Zucker School of Medicine and" New
York Institute of Technology’s College of Osteopathic Medicine as the medical schools on Long Island. The first steps of the accreditation process have been completed but there are still many remaining, including state approval, Hamilton said at the meeting. The school could be open as early as September if approved, he said. Continued on Page 42
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