🌱 Minimum Wage Increase + LIRR Says COVID Tests Uncollected

Hey, neighbors! It's me again, your host of the Five Towns Daily.

First, today's weather:

Rain, mild; fog in the a.m. High: 53 Low: 51.

Here are the top three stories today in Five Towns:

1. On Friday, minimum wage workers in Westchester, Suffolk, and Nassau counties making minimum wage started getting $15 per hour. New York City has been at that benchmark for three years. (Daily Voice)
2. The LIRR union says that COVID-19 test samples are sitting in MTA boxes in Valley Stream and other locations, uncollected by the vendor. (WABC-TV)
3. The Herald's person of the year in the Five Towns is Hewlett resident Gabriel Boxer who created Kosher Response in March 2020, as the pandemic was shutting down most businesses and restaurants. (LI Herald)

Today in Five Towns:

• The NYC Winter Lantern Festival Presents 'A Bug's Night: A Drive-Thru Adventure' at Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, 5 to 10 p.m.

From my notebook:

• Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library will screen "Ron's Gone Wrong" on a big screen on Sunday, Jan. 9. (Facebook)
• New Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison toured the Gilgo Beach homicide investigation site Friday and said he would renew a commitment to solving the crimes. (News 12)
• Lynbrook resident Nicholas Sincinito is LI Herald's Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald’s 2021 Person of the Year. Sincinito has been involved with Boy Scout Troop 121 in East Rockaway for more than two decades, even since being diagnosed with cancer. (LI Herald)

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That's it for today. I'll see you around!

— Jackie