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VOL. 34 NO. 9
TOH approves redistricted map
Work on Greenway set to begin
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Page 6
FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2023
$1.00
At-large village election nears as parties rally
KAYLEI MCDONALD, OF Valley Stream, picked up gymnastics at age 8 and is now a member of the team at Fisk University.
By JUAN LASSO jlasso@liherald.com
Courtesy Kaylei McDonald
V.S. gymnast is a member of history-making HBCU team By BRENDAN CARPENTER bcarpenter@liherald.com
A Valley Stream graduate is part of the first gymnastics team from a historically Black college or university to compete at the NCAA level. Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education established before 1964 with the mission of educating and serving primarily Black Americans. There are currently over 100 HBCUs across the country, each competing at the NCAA level in various sports, but only one of them does so in gymnastics.
At the start of this year, Fisk University, in Nashville, became the first and only HBCU to compete in gymnastics at the NCAA level, debuting its team at the Super 16 event against North Carolina, Southern Utah and Washington on Jan. 6 in Las Vegas. Other schools have gymnastics programs but do not compete at that level against others. Fisk gymnast Kaylei McDonald, 19, grew up playing different sports, primarily basketball, around Valley Stream. When she turned 8, she was getting bored and wanted to try something new. She decided on gymnastics. “I actually didn’t even start out thinking CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Village general election season is well underway. Parties and their candidates are in the throes of winning the support of voters and getting their volunteers out to put their message before village residents as they get ready to head to the polls March 21 to cast their vote for a mayor, two trustees, and a village justice. Eyeing to reclaim his seat at Village Hall is incumbent Mayor Edwin Fare on the United Community Party ticket, seeking a fourth term. Joining him on the ticket is Trustee Dermond Thomas — seeking a fourth term of his own — as well as Justice Melanie Jenkins, seeking election to her first full term after the resignation of Virginia Clavin-Higgins last year. United Community also welcomed a fresh-faced, political newcomer — Kevin Waszak, who heads the village’s beautification committee. He replaces Trustee Vincent Grasso on the party ticket, who decided last month he wouldn’t seek another term. As in past election years, United Community — a loose coalition of Democrats and Republicans — are rallying around a tried-and-true campaign theme:
Party platform information To learn more about the Valley Stream United Community Party, visit its website at VSUCP.org To learn more about the Good Trouble Party, visit its website at Cristina4office. com To learn more about the Achieve Party, visit its website at APVVS.org The village general election will be held Tuesday, March 21. For more information, visit VSVNY.org Keeping basic quality-of-life issues front and center, while shunning extreme partisan agendas from influencing the role of village government. “There are not Republican potholes, Democratic street lights, conservative snow plows, liberal sanitation pickups,” Fare told supporters during his campaign launch. “These are village issues.” Under Fare’s leadership, village officials have made a point CONTINUED ON PAGE 16