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Long Beach Herald 02-02-2023

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________________ LONG BEACH _______________

HERALD

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l.B. women talk business

Marking 35 years in real estate

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Vol. 34 No. 6

FEBRUARY 2 - 8, 2023

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City Council still undecided about pot sales By JAMES BERNSTEIN & BRENDAN CARPENTER of the Herald

Bob Arrow/Herald

Humpback washes ashore A 41-foot-long humpback whale that was found Monday morning in Lido Beach was likely killed when it was struck by a vessel, according to preliminary results of a necropsy. The whale, which weighed 29,000 pounds, was identified as ‘Luna,’ a 40-year-old male. Story, more photos, Page 3.

The Long Beach City Council, still weighing whether to reverse a decision it made in December 2021 to opt out of a New York state program to allow retail sales of marijuana, met with state cannabis officials Monday night and peppered them with questions about the control the city would have over the dispensaries that would sell it. After a 90-minute session on Zoom at a council work session, the answer appeared to be that the city would have to abide by most of the rules set

out by the state’s Office of Cannabis Management. And after the meeting, which was attended by about 25 people — far more than the handful who usually show up at work sessions — council members seemed no closer than ever to making a decision on whether to reverse themselves. Only three council members — Roy Lester, Karen McInnis and Tina Posterli — were present. Councilwoman Liz Treston had a problem with her wheelchair and could not attend, and council President John Bendo was on a long-planned vacation. Continued on page 4

Transplant patient is hospitalized, but plans a ‘Super’ party By JAMES BERNSTEIN jbernstein@liherald.com

Masha Benitiz, the tiny Long Beach woman who underwent a double lung transplant last year, is back at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital this week, recovering from some infections, but her stay there won’t prevent her from attending a Make-A-Wish Foundation gathering at the Bright Rye Beer Co. on Polar Bear/Super Bowl Sunday Feb. 12. Benitiz, 20, had been feeling poorly in recent weeks, and checked into the hospital for some tests to asses her condition, her mother, Michelle Quig-

ley, said. In a telephone interview from her hospital bed earlier this week, Benitiz said she had been feeling some pain. But her commitment to Make-A-Wish dates to when she was 5. Over the years, she said, she has collected about $130,000 for the organization, which helps fulfill the wishes of children between ages 2½ and 18. “All the money I collect goes to Make-A-Wish,” Benitiz said. “I just give it to them” and they distribute it, she added. Benitiz, who is just under 5 feet tall and weighs about 80 pounds, had been on a waiting list for a pair of new lungs for

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ll the money I collect goes to Make-A-Wish. MASHA BENITIz

double lung recipient two years. She was born in Russia to a woman who had to give her up for adoption, and the two have never met. Masha developed breathing problems at an orphanage in Russia, and was brought to the U.S. and admitted to Cohen Children’s Medical Center, in New Hyde Park, for

heart surgery when she was 3. Her travels were paid for by the Gift of Life Inc., which was founded in 1975 by a Rotary Club in Brooklyn. Quigley and her husband, Tony Benitiz, met Masha at the Ronald McDonald House at Cohen Children’s, and almost immediately decided they wanted to adopt her. But they met

resistance from the Russian government, which opposes the adoption of Russian children by Americans. The couple persisted, however, and brought the girl to their home in Long Beach when she was 5. But she remained a sickly child. She has suffered from veno-occlusive disease, a rare Continued on page 17


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