Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
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Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
note that the wsndering dago food truck eoman has kicked hid. for cash
Justia Opinion Summary
WD filed suit against OGS, alleging that defendants violated its rights under the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the New York State Constitution by denying WD's applications to participate as a food truck vendor in the Lunch Program based on its ethnic-slur branding. The Second Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendant, holding that defendants' action violated WD's equal protection rights and its rights under the New York State Constitution. In this case, it was undisputed that defendants denied WD's applications solely because of its ethnic-slur branding. In Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017), the Supreme Court clarified that this action amounted to viewpoint discrimination and, if not government speech or otherwise protected, was prohibited by the First Amendment. The court rejected defendants' argument that their actions were unobjectionable because they were either part of OGS's government speech or permissible regulation of a government contractor's speech.
‘Bikini baristas’ may need to cover up following court ruling
Their days of wearing pasties while slinging pastries may be numbered.
Bikini-clad baristas serving cups of joe in a Washington city could soon be covering up following a Wednesday federal appeals court ruling.
A three-judge panel on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s ruling that blockedthe city of Everett from imposing an ordinance requiring a more conservative dress code.
A group of seven women, known as “Bikini Baristas,” and their boss at drive-through coffee shop chain Hillbilly Hotties originally filed the suit against the city in September 2017, claiming the ordinances violate their First Amendment rights to free expression and privacy.
US District Judge Marsha Pechman had initially ruled in their favor, imposing an injunction in December 2017 that enabled the baristas to continue nearly uncovered while their suit is heard in court.
Jovanna Edge, a co-owner of five Hillbilly Hotties stands, has argued the uniforms’ First Amendment value by claiming they let employees “expose messages through tattoos and scars” and “open conversations that attract customers willing to pay more at my business than other coffee stands.”
The federal judges in Wednesday’s ruling disagreed with that notion, saying wearing risque attire — sometimes as little as pasties or a G-string — while selling coffee doesn’t constitute free speech protected by the First Amendment.
Edge said she will appeal Wednesday’s decision.
With Post wires
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