Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
$1
Friday, February 26, 2021
Vol. 70, No. 9
HEALTH, WELLNESS AND BEAUTY GUIDE PAGES 19-23
SUMMER CAMPS PLAN REOPENING
COVID-19 VARIANT FOUND IN GLEN HEAD
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PAGE 6
Alleged W.P. spy released on $2M bail
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Baimadije Angwang, NYPD officer, charged with aiding Chinese officials BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z A New York City police officer and Williston Park resident accused of supplying Chinese officials with information on Tibetans living in the United States was released on a $2 million bond last Wednesday after testing positive for the coronavirus. Baimadije Angwang, a 33-year-old man and native Tibetan, was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after four months, according to Newsday. John Carman, Angwang’s Garden City-based attorney, confirmed his client’s release. “Mr. Angwang is free today on the strength of 13 people who believed in him so much that they committed to a two million dollar bond. He is going to enjoy an evening with his wife and daughter,” Carman said. He said the trial will occur in two years. Efforts to reach representa-
tives from the Eastern District court for comment were unavailing, but federal prosecutor Matthew Haggans opposed the release, according to Newsday. Newsday said U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee, who presided over the case noted that Angwang’s situation “had notably changed,” after previously denying Angwang bail. Komitee and an appeals court increased the bond from $1 million to $2 million, according to Newsday. Komitee also referred to prosecutors not opposing bail for others accused of being Chinese agents in unrelated cases and certain special procedures that are taken into consideration with a case surrounding sensitive security intelligence as a reason to grant Angwang bail. According to officials, Angwang faces up to 55 years in prison if found guilty. Court docuContinued on Page 27
PHOTO COURTESY OF MINEOLA HIGH SCHOOL
The Mineola Mustangs’ girls basketball team once again took the court, only this time with an extra piece of safety equipment.
Staff error at Jones Beach impacts vaccines BY R OB E RT PELAEZ More than 80 coronavirus vaccines shot into the arms of New Yorkers at Jones Beach on Feb. 15 were deemed “ineffective” by the state’s Health De-
partment. State officials said a staff member at the Jones Beach facility put a hand warmer into a cooler that was carrying syringes, and those who received inoculations there on Feb. 15 are required to go back and be vaccinated again. According to
Health Department statistics, 6 percent of people who got vaccinated at Jones Beach on Feb. 15 did not receive an effective dose. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s spokesman, Jack Sterna, said the staff member, whose name Continued on Page 28
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