A very special political message from corporate

Daily Point

Goldman get out the vote effort

The business community’s push to affect the New York City mayoral primary is heating up, with one of the city’s biggest players making a move to make sure its employees eligible to vote.

In a Monday email to employees, Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO David Solomon called attention to the "key primary election" on June 22, featuring nomination contests for mayor, comptroller, and City Council. Solomon also sent along some very specific information about upcoming deadlines.

"For those interested in exercising your right to vote in the primaries this summer, I would like to remind you that you must first declare a party affiliation before Sunday, February 14," said the email, obtained by The Point from a Goldman employee.

However, it is not in fact necessary for previously registered NYC voters to declare a party affiliation ahead of the primary — unless, of course, they are not already registered members of the party whose primary they want to vote in. Read more.

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Place your bets for ... Super Bowl poetry

The Super Bowl is next weekend, and with it comes the usual assortment of betting propositions, serious and ridiculous, on topics like the coin flip, national anthem, halftime ceremony, TV ads, and the game itself. And, this year, Amanda Gorman.

Yes, the young poet is having a moment.

Gorman, 22, stole the inaugural show in Washington earlier this month with her powerful delivery of "The Hill We Climb." She’s set to deliver a new poem before the Super Bowl honoring three "community heroes" named by the NFL as honorary captains for the game.

The related online sportsbooks SportsBetting.ag and BetOnline.ag are accepting bets on which of the three heroes – Trimaine Davis, Suzie Dorner and James Martin – Gorman will mention first in her poem, and whether she will say "hero," "pandemic" or "super" first. Also up for betting: the length of her recitation, with the over-under at 4 minutes, 45 seconds ("The Hill We Climb" clocked in at 5:20).

Whatever the outcomes, Gorman has a track record of beating the odds. Each of her first three books, all to be published later this year, will get an initial print run of 1 million copies.

—Michael Dobie @mwdobie

Pencil Point

Surprise attack

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/cartoons

Final Point

Do standardized tests make the grade?

This week state standardized tests for New York were a hot topic as the state Education Department announced it would again seek federal waivers for this school year.

If granted, they’d allow the state to cancel both the English and math tests for students in 3rd through 8th grades and the Regents test high school graduation depends on.

In the Newsday Live Webinar "Education & COVID 19: What’s next for standardized tests," Long Island Regent Roger Tilles argued that the tests never measure what we wish they would, and would be particularly pointless this year, as kids faced such uneven learning and testing circumstances. With some kids doing distance learning and others in person, some testing in school and others in home settings at various comfort and concentration levels — all of this, Tilles said, invalidates the results.

Francisco Miguel Araiza, Education Trust Néw York’s director of research and policy, strongly disagreed, saying such testing is crucial to highlight how students of color and those in lower income districts are being left behind.

And Joseph Coniglione, assistant superintendent with the Comsewogue school district, talked about how such high-stakes tests can be devastating to kids facing setbacks or family trauma the week the tests are given.

For more on the situation this year, and where standardized tests in New York should head in the future, check out the webinar here.

—Lane Filler @lanefiller