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Excelling on first day back By BRANDON CRUZ bcruz@liherald.com
Courtesy Uniondale School District
Superintendent Monique Darrisaw-Akil with students on the district’s first day of the new school year.
Children in the Uniondale school district headed back to class for the first day of the new academic year on Tuesday. “We’re excited about all the great things this new school year has in store for us,” Superintendent Monique DarrisawAkil said. For many young students, like Alisha Fenner’s children, a second-grader and a kindergartner, it was the first in-person first day since the pandemic. Parents and guardians watched with mixed emotions as they said goodbye to their kids, grateful for the return to a ContinueD on pAge 4
State increases tax on cigarettes, aims to ban menthol By BRANDON CRUZ bcruz@liherald.com
Everyone knows that cigarettes are bad for you, but in New York state these days, buying a pack of smokes may do almost as much harm to your wallet as to your health. Starting Sept. 1, the tax on cigarettes sold in the state increased by $1, from $4.35 to $5.35, raising the overall price of cigarettes to over $15 per pack — the highest in the nation. This is the state’s first cigarette tax increase in a decade, which implemented as part of the 2023 state budget of $229 billion. According to Gov. Kathy
Hochul, the obvious reason for the tax increase, besides bringing in more revenue, is to try to deter people from smoking. It is projected to generate an additional $1.3 billion in revenue, which lawmakers say will be used to fund anti-smoking programs and initiatives, including research and education. “Raising the cigarette tax is going to save the lives of over 15,000 New Yorkers —- it’s a common-sense measure that will make cigarettes less affordable and discourage people from smoking, especially young people,” Hochul said in February. The governor has been on a mission to push younger gener-
ations of New Yorkers away from smoking. She recently proposed a ban on the sale and possession of menthol and other types of flavored tobacco products. Although that proposal was left out of the budget, rejected by Democratic lawmakers in the Assembly and Senate, discussion of, and support for, the ban are picking back up now that the Food and D r u g A d m i n i s t r at i o n h a s jumped on board and proposed a new federal ban on mentholflavored products. Hazel Dukes, president of the New York state chapter of t h e N A A C P, r e c e n t l y announced her support for the ban, saying, “Banning menthol-
flavored products will save the lives of thousands of New Yorkers, mostly Black and brown smokers.” Dukes added, “Menthols make it easier to get addicted to tobacco, leading to a higher rate of deaths for Black smokers.” B u t l o c a l a c t iv i s t s R ay Ramos and Sylvia Miranda, of the National Latino Officers Association — a police advoca-
cy group dedicated to bridging the gap between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve — say that the endorsement by Dukes is a contradiction of everything the NAACP historically stands for. “Prohibitions don’t work,” Miranda said. “What results from prohibition is a thriving illegal underground market to ContinueD on pAge 19