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.
Cuomo signs bill stiffening penalties for community center bomb threats
Alan Harrison Berg (January 1, 1934 – June 18, 1984) was an American attorney and talk radio show host in Denver, Colorado. Berg was known for his largely liberal, outspoken viewpoints and confrontational interview style.
On the evening of June 18, 1984, Berg was fatally shot in the driveway of his Denver home by members of the white nationalist group The Order. His provocative talk show sought to flush out "the anti-Semitism latent in the area's conservative population". He succeeded in provoking members of The Order to engage him in conversations on this talk show and his "often-abrasive on-air persona" ignited the anger of The Order.[1][2] Subsequently, members of The Order involved in the killing were identified as being part of a group planning to kill prominent Jews.[3] Ultimately, two members of The Order, David Lane and Bruce Pierce, were convicted on charges of civil rights violations for their involvement in the case, though neither were ever charged or convicted of homicide. Lane and Pierce were sentenced to 190 years and 252 years in prison, respectively. Lane died in prison in 2007, and Pierce died in prison in 2010.
Alan Berg's life and death were chronicled in the book, Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg by Stephen Singular. The book was an inspiration for the films Betrayed and Talk Radio.
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Gov. Cuomo signed legislation stiffening penalties against individuals who make bomb threats against community centers.
(JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo on Monday signed legislation stiffening penalties against individuals who make bomb threats against community centers.
The legislation was passed by the Legislature this spring in response to a spate of bomb threats against Jewish community centers but Cuomo said events in Charlottesville demonstrate the need to give law enforcement stronger tools to prosecute “hatemongers.”
"The horrific events in Charlottesville this weekend demonstrate that now, more than ever, we must stand united against bias and hate in all of its forms and this new law is one more step toward a more just and more equal New York for all,” Cuomo said.
The legislation adds community centers to the list of sites that can be defined as a public place and allows those who make bomb threats against them to be charged with, at a minimum, a class A misdemeanor and receive up to a year in jail.
Previously, the public place definition was reserved for such places as highways, transportation facilities, schools, or amusement parks.
“This new law will ensure that any individual who seeks to instill fear into New Yorkers will be served justice,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester), who sponsored the bill.
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