You may have heard the bad news -- the AWFUL map was passed this afternoon along party lines. BUT it doesn't become law unless County Executive Mangano signs it.  So -- the next step is to lobby him to VETO THE MAP!  There are two things you can do:

1. CALL Ed MANGANO at 516-571-3131  Tell his staff -- or leave a voice-message now! -- that you expect him to veto the map. Let him know that otherwise -- the voters will remember in November!
2. CALL SENATOR DEAN SKELOS at 516-766-8383  Tell his staff -- or leave a voice-message now! -- that you want him to use his influence to make sure the map is vetoed!  The Senator's district overlaps some of the areas that were treated the worst in the map, and he is very influential in the Nassau Republican party.

The map can be signed into law as early as today, so please make your calls NOW!!!!!

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!

The New York State School Boards Association compiled a spreadsheet outlining the immediate impact of sequestration on New York State School Districts.

Elmont Union Free School District ($81,144) and the Sewanhaka Central High School District ($137,878) will lose approximately $219, 022 while spending in excess of $250,000 in new teacher evaluation mandates passed down from Albany Lawmakers.

The following video was produced by an upstate Public School advocacy group. The group is often seen as hostile to Long Island when it comes to the distribution of "Shares" to public schools. Notwithstanding the Upstate v Downstate debate, the video is a clear representation of how Albany define "State Aid Increase"  You do the math, local School are loosing over half a million dollars to sequestration and new State mandates.

Nassau County Presiding Officer, Norma L Gonsalves, holds a second title – Chair of the Nassau County Minority Affairs Committee. But you would not have guessed it as she channeled Peter Schmitt (the previous Presiding Officer who died in office) and held the party line on Gerrymandering with obvious glee and episodic outbursts of disdain toward her Democratic colleagues on the Legislature.

Nassau county residents turned out in great numbers to both witness and voice unanimous disapproval of the Republican actions and maps, maps that move more than 350,000 residents into new legislative districts while successfully cracking, packing and stacking democrats (and minorities) into eight (8) LDs. Maps that Republicans hope will guarantee them a super majority in the Nassau County Legislature.

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The 10th Annual Elmont Online - Highlighting Success, Inc. Black History Month Celebration

Visit HighlightingSuccess.org for more information.

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There is a lot of exuberant talk about a Soccer₁ Field of Dreams in Elmont but residents have been down this road before.  Fact is the last bit of premature exuberance was supported in part by this writer – The Casino.

After reading, listening and reading again I must say there is not much here to report.  A proposal (one of three) has taken on a virtual life - like Manti Te'o girl friend, and reasoned residents are taking a wait and see position.  The merits of a minor league US soccer field as an engine of sustainable economic growth is questionable.  There are many examples of failed US soccer stadiums and wildly successful sport stadiums with negligible to outright negative economic and social impact on the residential communities that surround them.

A quick search for “successful soccer stadium” returns many European

examples and mostly US news articles and fans with hopeful distant dreams.  The most obvious but not exclusive reason for this European / US disconnect is culture.  Soccer, like cricket₂ is a European sport brought to the colonies during colonialism and imperialism (1450–1950)₃.  As such, the two sports have become a part of the fabric of society in places like the Caribbean and South and Latin America.

A 911 call prompted a full response from school officials and Nassau Police at Elmont Memorial High School today.

The caller, a female, reported seeing a  male teen entering the school with a backpack and a gun.  Nassau police Deputy Inspector Ken Lack later told reporters “the gun was lime green in color, possibly a toy".

Other schools in the area were locked down as a precautionary measure.