12 times • FEBRUARY 18, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.QNS.com 18 THE COURIER SUN • FEBRUARY 18, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT qns.com sun Font: Engravers WWW.COURIERSUN.Old COM English Normal VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH ALAN SELTZER STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JENNIFER DECIO, CHERYL GALLAGHER KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA, ALINA SURIEL CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI DEMETRA PLAGAKIS WARREN SUSSMAN CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. 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SNAPS QUEENS SNOW DAY IN LIC PART 2 / PHOTO BY ORESTES GONZALEZ Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us via our Instagram @queenscourier, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@queenscourier.com (subject: Queens Snaps). Double-down on mosquito killing efforts Only a couple of decades ago, the worst thing Queens residents had to worry about regarding mosquito bites were their itchiness. That all changed with the arrival of the West Nile virus in 1999, and now the Zika virus from South America — which has already infected a few New Yorkers who traveled to the region recently — is an even greater mosquitotransmitted threat. Every year since the West Nile outbreak, the Health Department pre-treats marshy areas of the city — such as the former Flushing Airport site in College Point and areas near Jamaica Bay — with larvicide to prevent the proliferation of mosquitoes. Even with that treatment and pesticide spraying in the summer, the mosquitoes come anyway — and often, many New Yorkers wind up infected with West Nile. The chances of a major Zika outbreak in New York City are low, given that the mosquitos can’t survive in cold weather and the most infection-prone type of mosquito doesn’t reside here. We are glad Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Health Department are carefully monitoring the situation, and hope they continue amplifying efforts to kill mosquitoes and their larvae before the warm spring weather hits. We also urge our readers during the spring and summer months to take a simple step that might wind up saving someone’s life: removing any stagnant water, which are notorious breeding grounds for mosquitoes, from their properties. Mourning Scalia and the path to replacing him He was a staunch conservative, and his strict interpretation of the Constitution rankled many New Yorkers, but the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a tremendous blow for our government. A brilliant jurist revered even by the liberal wing of the court, Scalia was a proud son of Queens who fondly recalled through the years his childhood in the “World’s Borough,” from his time as a student at P.S. 13 to playing with his friends in local sandlots. But tragically, as the city and nation mourned his loss, Scalia’s now empty Supreme Court seat was swallowed up by partisanship. Acting like greedy relatives fi ghting over the will while standing next to a relative’s casket, the political grandstanders now debate over whether President Obama should — he most certainly can — nominate someone to take Scalia’s place before he leaves offi ce next January. Here are some facts ignored in all the shouting. The president has the Constitutional responsibility to nominate someone for the bench, even if there is less than a year left in his term. The Senate has the Constitutional responsibility to vet that nominee and vote to reject or confi rm the nominee. We can’t imagine that Justice Scalia would accept anything less than such adherence to Constitutional duty by the president and Senate. In a nation with so much dysfunction between two of the three branches of government, we cannot allow such obstructive incompetence to spread to the third branch: the highest court in our land. The president should swiftly nominate a successor to Justice Scalia. The Senate should, as swiftly as possible, properly vet that nominee and vote to confi rm or deny based solely on the nominee’s merits. And the grandstanders need to get out of the way and let democracy work. identify thisPLACE THE COURIER/Photo by Katrina Medoff COPYRIGHT 2015 SCHNEPS NY MEDIA, LLC. 62-70 Fresh Pond Rd., Ridgewood, N.Y. 11385 General Publication Office: 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 TELEPHONE: 1-718-821-7500/7501/7502/7503 FAX: 1-718-224-5441 E-MAIL: info@timesnewsweekly.com WEB SITE: www.timesnewsweekly.com ON TWITTER @timesnewsweekly PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY FOR 107 YEARS COMPOSITION RESPONSIBILITY: Accuracy in receiving ads over the telephone cannot be guaranteed. This newspaper is responsible for only one incorrect insertion and only for that portion of the ad in which the error appears. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to make sure copy does not contravene the Consumer Protection Law or any other requirement. TIMES NEWSWEEKLY Is Listed With The Standard Rate & Data And Is A Member Of The New York Press Association Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us via our Instagram@ridgewoodtimes, Facebook page, tweeting @ridgewoodtimes or by emailing editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com (subject Queens Snaps). editorial Ridgewood must have say in L line closure The MTA needs to close part of the L line between Brooklyn and Manhattan for a significant amount of time to make permanent repairs from damages suffered during Hurricane Sandy more than three years ago. It is only a matter of time before the temporary fixes made after Sandy wear out their use, and the resulting problems will cause a commuter nightmare perhaps greater than a long-term closure of the tunnel. It’s not going to be easy for anyone who uses the L train. Nonetheless, the MTA and the L Train Coalition — a Brooklyn-based civic group keeping their pulse on the project and its impacts on the affected neighborhoods — must keep all communities affected engaged in the planning process. So far, the outreach effort has been concentrated on Bushwick and Williamsburg in Brooklyn; the MTA and the L Train Coalition must remember, however, that tens of thousands of people in Ridgewood, Glendale and other surrounding areas use this line, too, connecting to it via several bus lines and the M train at Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues. Closing the L line impacts them no less. Meetings in the Ridgewood area must be held in order to inform people of the planned L line repairs and gather local input so the best possible contingency plan could be developed. We would also hope that the MTA and coalition also remember to hold meetings in areas of eastern Brooklyn. Everyone impacted by it must be kept up to speed about what happens and directly involved in ways to cope with losing service on one of the city’s busiest subway lines. Mourning Scalia and the path to replacing him He was a staunch conservative, and his strict interpretation of the Constitution rankled many New Yorkers, but the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a tremendous blow for our government. A brilliant jurist revered even by the liberal wing of the court, Scalia was a proud son of Queens who fondly recalled through the years his childhood in the “World’s Borough,” from his time as a student at P.S. 13 to playing with his friends in local sandlots. But tragically, as the city and nation mourned his loss, Scalia’s now empty Supreme Court seat was swallowed up by partisanship. Acting like greedy relatives fighting over the will while standing next to a relative’s casket, the political grandstanders now debate over whether President Obama should — he most certainly can — nominate someone to take Scalia’s place before he leaves office next January. Here are some facts ignored in all the shouting. The president has the Constitutional responsibility to nominate someone for the bench, even if there is less than a year left in his term. The Senate has the Constitutional responsibility to vet that nominee and vote to reject or confirm the nominee. We can’t imagine that Justice Scalia would accept anything less than such adherence to Constitutional duty by the president and Senate. In a nation with so much dysfunction between two of the three branches of government, we cannot allow such obstructive incompetence to spread to the third branch: the highest court in our land.
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