______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
your HEALTH body / mind / fitness
March 24, 2022
HERALD Your Health
Star swimmer accepted by Duke
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Vol. 33 No. 12
MARCH 17 - 23, 2022
Locals react to lifting of mask mandate families on March 1, notifying them that “starting tomorrow, wearing a mask will be optional For the first time in two years, indoors, on the bus, and during students were able to walk into afterschool programs.” school without masks after Gov. “This is a significant change Kathy Hochul’s rollback of the for all of us, and it is important statewide mask mandate on that families talk to their chilMarch 2. dren about their own decision At a news conference on Feb. and the importance of respect28, Hochul cited high ing the individual vaccination rates decisions of all stuand “the steady dents,” the letter decline over the past read. several weeks in In a statement to cases and hospitalthe Herald, District izations from Omi24 Superintendent cron” as she called Dr. Don Sturz also an end to statestressed the need to enforced mask use respect students’ DR. JuDitH in schools. personal choices on “Because New lARoCCA wearing masks. “As Yo r k e r s h ave mask optional Superintendent, stepped up, we can implies, there have confidently remove District 13 been those students the statewide mask and staff who have requirement in our schools,” chosen to go maskless while othHochul added. “This is a huge ers continue to wear masks, step forward for our kids and whether that be because of communities.” health challenges or personal In Valley Stream, school dis- reasons,” Sturz said. “We respect tricts were quick to adopt a the decision each individual stumask-optional policy. In District dent and staff member has 13, where school officials have made.” faced mounting pressure from With the number of Covid several parents over the mask cases dropping, many students mandate, Superintendent Dr. have expressed optimism that a Judith LaRocca sent a letter to Continued on page 4
By JuAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com
t
Courtesy Jessica Naissant
JeSSiCA NAiSSANt, owNeR of Wake and Bake Café, on Rockaway Avenue, plans to relocate her store later this year.
Cannabis licenses are coming Local entrepreneur wants dibs on retail sales By KARiNA KoVAC kkovac@liherald.com
Now that recreational cannabis is legal in New York, the question is how those who want marijuana can actually get it. If you’re someone with a past marijuana conviction — or related to someone who has that kind of record — you could be first in line to obtain the first 100 or so marijuana retail licenses set to be handed out this year.
As long as you don’t plan to set up shop in Valley Stream. Village officials opted out of allowing retail sales of cannabis within their borders. Gov. Kathy Hochul, on the other hand, described the overall legalization of cannabis sales as a way of “righting the wrongs of the past” by allowing those disproportionately affected by years of narcotics policing to be the first to benefit from a new direction. The new regulations “prioritize local farmers and
entrepreneurs,” the governor said in a statement, “creating jobs and opportunity for communities that have been left out — and left behind.” Jessica Naissant counts herself among those left out and let behind. Today, the 28-year-old entrepreneur owns Wake and Bake Café, a cannabinoid dispensary on Rockaway Avenue. But in 2018, she found herself on the wrong side of law enforcement when Continued on page 16
his is a significant change for all of us.