The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. August 30, 2024 First Arrest Made as New York's Nassau County Bans Face Masks in Public ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Here in New York, a Long Island man is the first person to be charged with wearing a face mask in public. Police say the 18-year-old was wearing a ski mask when he was arrested on Sunday and charged with possessing a knife with the intent to engage in robbery. A new law passed by Nassau County's Republican-controlled Legislature makes it a misdemeanor crime to wear a face covering in public, with narrow exceptions for health or religious reasons. Last week, the group Disability Rights New York filed a lawsuit against the mask ban, saying it discriminates against immunocompromised people. .