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Students take part in hackathon
Voting year for local elections shifts to 2026 By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
Courtesy Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed a bill that will align many local elections currently held in odd-numbered years with statewide and federal elections that are held in even-numbered years. The shift aims to increase voter turnout.
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation aligning many odd-year local elections with statewide and legislative elections that are held in even-numbered years. Hochul believes the bill will expand access to voting, and make it easier for New Yorkers to vote in local elections that directly impact their lives and the communities they live in. The change will begin in 2026. The law will mean that elections for county executive, county legislatures and town board seats will be held at the same time as voting for state and federal offices. The bill has been met with opposition from Long Island republicans, who say the shift will take the focus away from local candidates and drown out local issues. “Local elections and issues will be pushed aside and ConTinued on paGe 4
Rory Kaplan abuse survivor, pens powerful memoir about life By RACHElE TERRANoVA rterranova@liherald.com
Growing up is challenging, and individual circumstances may make it easier — or much harder. For 68-year-old Rory Kaplan, the latter rang true. Living in the same North Bellmore home for over three decades, he has lear ned to make peace with his past — but his journey didn’t go without plenty of hard work and determination. Kaplan turned his story into a memoir, “No Simple Highway: The life Jour ney of a Childhood Trauma Survivor,” which was released on Nov. 2. In hopes that others may learn
found security in from it, Kaplan dove the loving, nurturinto the physical and ing perimeter of his verbal abuse he, his grandmother’s brother and sister house at a young faced at the hands of age. But that their mother while changed, he said, growing up. Severe when his immediate b e at i n g s t o o k a n family made their unbelievable toll on way out of their the siblings, he said. grandmother’s Even losing his house and moved to eyeglasses when he the southern Brookwas six years old instantly triggered RoRY KAplAN lyn neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay. his mother’s rage, His mother’s vercreating a disaster bal and physical abuse caused for him. “I somehow got through it,” Kaplan to develop anxiety, low Kaplan told the Herald, “and I self-esteem and plenty of anger about the past. came out of it.” After moving to Queens in A Brooklyn native, Kaplan
the late 1960s, his neighborhood became his lifeline. As he grew up, the dichotomy of his home life and school life became apparent. The psychological and emotional abuse he suffered at home contrasted with the success he showed in school. However, in high school, his life took a sharp turn when his grandmother suffered a stroke.
Kaplan said he found himself part of the “bad crowd.” “After the crazy partying and everything I went through in high school, all the trouble I was getting into, I just knew I wanted to get out of that,” he said. “That wasn’t really me.” Time after time, through a series of sharp and sometimes unbelievable tur ns, Kaplan faced the reinvention of his ConTinued on paGe 2