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of Information Law, NY Pub Off Law Sec 84 et seq.
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.
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.
Freeport author, business owner announces Democratic candidacy
Posted
Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, who is running for county executive as a Democrat, introduced Ama Yawson, of Freeport, on Wednesday as the candidate he would like to see take his place as comptroller.
these guys simply needed to look to the old country to diversify their healthcare dealings
nyc otb might still be in exidtence if politicisns knew how to steal better?
NY AP TOP NEWS
Authorities: 19 charged in NY mob takedown
Associated Press
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Federal authorities say 19 people have been indicted in a New York mob investigation that includes allegations of fraud in a $25 million hospital expansion and in other public building projects.
Murder, extortion and drug dealing are among the other crimes cited in the indictment.
Many of the defendants were arrested Wednesday and were awaiting court appearances in suburban White Plains.
Those named include Matthew Madonna, described in the indictment as the street boss of the Luchese (loo-KAY'-zee) crime family. He is currently jailed in Trenton, New Jersey on other charges. It was not immediately known who his lawyer would be for the New York case.
csndiate who cannot count to three, closed otb branches that were making money, took a seversnce psckage that would make an armef robber blush and paid off teresa butler for
introducing the one and only former nassau otb president dino amotoso
C. William Gaylor, III (Bill) retired from the United States Army as a Lieutenant Colonel, after serving more than 23 years on active duty. His last assignment was as the Professor of Military Science at Hofstra University and Battalion Commander of the Long Island Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Program.
Bill is a practicing attorney, a former Nassau County Traffic Court Judge, and is the former Lynbrook Village Associate Justice having served in that position for more than six years. Bill stepped down as Judge to run as a Legislator and was elected in November 2015 to represent the 6th Legislative District which includes Lynbrook, Malverne, North Lynbrook, Valley Stream and portions of Rockville Centre, Hewlett, Franklin Square and Woodmere.
Bill enlisted in the Army, was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and attended Army Officer Candidate School. He received his Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Gaylor has commanded at all levels from platoon to battalion and has served stateside as well as overseas, with tours of duty to Korea, Germany (two tours) and two combat tours in Panama and Kosovo. While assigned to NATO with the Allied Command Europe Mobile Land Force he served as NATO’s Host Nation Support Officer responsible for providing logistical support to an international force of more than 15,000 soldiers and marines, while serving on exercises in Poland, Hungary, Greece , Turkey, Norway, Slovenia, Albania, the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and Italy.
Bill is also a Master Paratrooper and Jumpmaster having served in the All American 82nd Airborne Division making 32 jumps. He is a lifetime member of the 82nd Airborne Division Association. Lieutenant Colonel Gaylor has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from East Texas State University and a Juris Doctor from Hofstra University School of Law.
Bill is admitted to practice law in the State of New York, the State of North Carolina, the Federal District Courts within the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the United States Supreme Court in Washington D.C. He maintains his own law practice in Lynbrook, New York, providing a variety of legal services in the areas of civil litigation, including family and matrimonial matters, criminal, personal injury claims, real estate transactions, wills & estates, landlord/tenant disputes, contracts and business matters.
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Gaylor is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (Post 3350), the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, Hofstra University Veterans Alumni Association and the Military Officers Association. Bill is also a member of the North Carolina and New York State Bar Associations, as well as the Nassau County Bar Association.
He and his wife Deborah reside in Lynbrook, New York.
Candidates named at Wednesday night’s Nassau County Democratic Convention:
N.J. Town to Pay $3.25 Million to Settle Federal Lawsuits Over Mosque
Agreement clears the way for a Muslim group to open the first mosque in Bernards Township
Mohammad Ali Chaudry, the former mayor of Bernards Township, co-founded the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge. PHOTO: BRYAN ANSELM FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A New Jersey town will pay $3.25 million to settle two federal lawsuits that alleged discrimination against a local Islamic society, according to an agreement that paves the way for the Muslim group to open the town’s first mosque.
The settlement, the terms of which were made public Tuesday, resolves complaints lodged by the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge and the U.S. Department of Justice that accused the Bernards Township Planning Board of violating a federal law that prohibits religious discrimination in land-use decisions. Town officials denied anti-Islam bias and said they rejected the application because of parking concerns.
Last December, a federal judge ruled that planning board members showed “sufficient intent to discriminate on the basis of religion” in their consideration of the mosque proposal. The 11-member board held 39 public hearings on the proposed mosque before voting in December 2015 to deny the application.
The settlement, which will be paid by the town’s insurance carriers, includes $1.5 million in damages for the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge and $1.75 million in compensation for legal costs. It also requires officials “not impede in any way” the necessary local approvals for the mosque, which will be built on a 4-acre site owned by the Islamic Society, co-founded by former Bernards Township Mayor Mohammad Ali Chaudry.
New Jersey Acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick said Tuesday that towns must treat houses of worship proposals “like any other land use application.”
“Bernards Township made decisions that treated the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge differently than other houses of worship,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said in a written statement. “The settlement announced today corrects those decisions and ensures that members of this religious community have the same ability to practice their faith as all other religions.”
The case was one of nearly 20 disputes across the country that prompted lawsuits by the Justice Department under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, according to a December letter sent by the federal agency to local officials.
The federal government has opened nearly 100 formal investigations into alleged violations of the law, which prohibits local officials from using religious discrimination or substantially-burdensome land-use regulations in their consideration of proposed houses of worship.
In 2014, the New Jersey township of Bridgewater settled a federal discrimination suit for $7.75 million and agreed to allow the Al Falah Center to open a mosque there. Last week, a Muslim group seeking to build a mosque in Bayonne, N.J. filed a federal lawsuit alleging religious discrimination by the city’s zoning officials.
The mosque in Bernards Township will provide 50 paved parking spaces, the same number as initially proposed in the Islamic society’s 2012 application, as well as some overflow parking to accommodate a maximum 150 people.
Bernards Township is an affluent town of about 27,000 in Somerset County.
“We look forward to welcoming people of all faiths and backgrounds to our mosque,” Dr. Chaudry, who has a doctorate in economics, said in a written statement provided by his attorney on Tuesday. “Our doors will be open to anyone interested in building bridges to promote harmony in the community and peace in the world.”
Bernards Township officials said the settlement decision reflected a desire to avoid further costly litigation, according to a written statement issued by a spokesman hired by the town to handle public statements related to the mosque litigation.
“The township maintains that the denial of the planning board was based on accepted land use criteria only,” the statement said. “Indeed, Bernards Township is a diverse and inclusive community.”
The Islamic Society’s attorney, Adeel Mangi of the New York firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, said it would donate its share of the settlement to charity and “other worthy causes.”
“Municipalities around the country should pay close attention to what happened in Bernards Township,” Mr. Mangi said in a written statement. “The American Muslim community has the legal resources, the allies, and the determination to stand up for its constitutional rights in court and will do so.”
Legal exhibits filed by the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge included several examples of alleged bias by Bernards Township officials, including an email by a planning board member who wrote that “Islam owes its size and in[fl]uence to a tradition from Day One of forced conversion through violent means.” Another email sent by a township committee member said Mr. Chaudry should be prevented from participating in a town Sept. 11 memorial event and suggested instead finding “a real moderate Muslim.”
The Bernards Township spokesman declined to comment on the emails. Mr. Chaudry served as the Republican mayor of the town in 2004.
The settlement agreement also mandates Bernards Township officials undergo diversity training, including on Islam, as well as instruction on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person Act.
The town also must change or replace an ordinance passed in 2013 that required houses of worship only to be built on 6-acre plots. The Islamic Society claimed in its lawsuit that the zoning change was intended to prevent them from building their, an allegation town officials denied.
Appeared in the May 31, 2017, print edition as 'Mosque Settles For $3.25 Million.'
