editorial 20 THE COURIER SUN • APRIL 14, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com sun WWW.COURIERSUN.COM VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ, CHERYL GALLAGHER KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA KATARINA HYBENOVA CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI JACLYN HERTLING DEBORAH CUSICK WARREN SUSSMAN CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS STAFF REPORTERS WEB EDITOR CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS EVENTS COORDINATOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.qns.com editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com Entire Contents Copyright 2016 by The Courier Sun All letters sent to THE COURIER SUN should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE COURIER SUN. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE COURIER SUN within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. VIctoria Media Services assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE COURIER SUN and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. SNAPS QUEENS KISSENA PARK GOLF COURSE // PHOTO BY EMMANUEL LOZADA Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us tag @queenscourier on Instagram, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps). Tuning in for real Albany reform We and our colleagues attending the New York Press Association’s 2016 convention in Saratoga Springs, NY, this weekend got a kick out of the introduction of its keynote speaker, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Prior to making his remarks at a luncheon, Bharara was credited for “a series of signifi cant public corruption cases” that read like a who’s who of Albany big-wigs over the past two decades. Preet’s prosecutors are best known for bringing down Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in the same calendar year. The list of disgraced politicians Bharara helped convict went on and on: former state Senators Carl Kruger, Vincent Leibell, Hiram Monserrate, Nicholas Spano, Malcolm Smith and Thomas Libous; Assembly Members Eric Stevenson, William Boyland Jr., Nelson Castro and Gabriela Rosa; and Councilmen Daniel Halloran and Larry Seabrook. After his well-received speech, Bharara was asked by a reporter if any other corrupt public offi cials were on his radar. Bharara repeated the answer he gave after announcing Silver’s indictment last year: “Stay tuned.” This brought chuckles from the crowd, and why not? Albany has been reduced to a joke thanks to the corruption and ineptness Bharara rightly exposed. No one can trust the State Capitol anymore. We’ve been burned so many times that we laugh at the absurdity of it all. The only thing worse is that, despite all the prosecutions, an earnest effort to clean up Albany has yet to happen. Bills were presented, commissions were formed, platitudes were spoken by the governor himself. Still, the cesspool remains virtually unabated. Voters need to begin publicly demanding that their state lawmakers get to work in reforming the way our government works. Start with making the job of a legislator full time and barring lawmakers from having side jobs while in offi ce. State legislators make far less than a New York City councilman; raise their pay for their exclusive duties to the state. Pass a bill that immediately strips leadership positions from any indicted lawmaker, and revokes pensions and other benefi ts for lawmakers convicted of a crime. Somebody in Albany needs to take the lead on this and make reforms happen. If no one steps up, the voters should fi nd a real leader come Election Day. A leader like Preet Bharara comes to mind. The Queens Courier is tops in the state Schneps Communications, which publishes The Queens Courier and many other publications across Brooklyn and Queens, also took home a number of awards during last weekend’s NYPA convention. The Queens Courier secured fi rst place among Division 3 papers for advertising excellence. We also swept the top two slots in the spot news category, with The Home Reporter’s Meaghan McGoldrick winning fi rst prize for her report on a building collapse in Brooklyn. Alina Suriel, who now works for NY1, won second prize for her Courier report on a Whitestone standoff last year. Our excellent design team was also recognized for their work, as Stephen Reina won third place for best special section cover. We also grabbed the third place prize for best news website for QNS.com. We’re particularly proud of this feat considering we only launched QNS.com in October of last year. It’s quickly become the go-to place for breaking news across the “World’s Borough,” as evidenced by the more than 500,000 page views it received last month. We want to congratulate all of our award winners on a job well done. We share our awards with you, the reader, and we thank you for your continued support. We hope to achieve even greater accomplishments in the year ahead! identify this PLACE QNS/Photo by Katrina Medoff
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