Brian Laline

New York, United States

Executive Editor at Staten Island Advance

Executive Editor, Staten Island Advance/SILive

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Articles

Getting your kicks stomping on a dream | From the editor

2 weeks ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,It’s a condition I learned about the way so many Americans learn, and have since the 1950s:Television. This particular educational experience came compliments of Boston Legal, when Alan Shore (actor James Spader) used it as a defense in the murder trial of a glamorous young wife accused of poisoning her older and wealthy husband. Blame Schadenfreude, he told the jurors. “It means to take spiteful, malicious delight in the misfortune of others,” the TV lawyer explained.
When Medicaid was a dirty word...| From the editor

4 weeks ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,Remember the days when “Medicaid” was a dirty word among those folks who didn’t need it? A government program rife with fraud and freeloaders, they called it. All of a sudden, it’s the political football of 2025. Dems are positive Elon Musk’s DOGE patrol will eviscerate it, while Republicans tell Americans to calm down. No one is losing their Medicaid-funded programs. If you’re a senior in trouble or a child with special needs, it makes no difference Democrat or Republican.
Willowbrook: Never forget . . . everybody is somebody | From the editor

1 month ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,Never forget. Two very powerful words most associated with anyone – especially those of the Jewish faith – who know anything about the horrors of the Holocaust. Six million Jews died horrible deaths in gas chambers, mass shootings and brutal treatment. Never forget. Those two words should be uttered about a lot of other atrocities that have gripped America over the years. And ones that have gripped Staten Island. The atrocity of September 11, 2001.
She’ll dish on Hollywood and Washington. Meet Maureen Dowd at the Staten Island Advance Women of Achievement awards.

2 months ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hey, Staten Island!Want the inside scoop on celeb Kevin Costner, the “grouchy superhunk?” Or Paul Newman, the “reluctant sex symbol?” Want to find out how “The Godfather” made Al Pacino, a guy once shy, “notorious?”Learn that and a lot more in a fun book just published called “Notorious” by Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
Being gay . . . and Catholic

2 months ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,I wonder how many Staten Island Catholics are mourning the death of Pope Francis. By no means do I suggest some are glad to see him pass. But Francis, “The People’s Pope,” might not have been the pope many of the people of our conservative-leaning borough saw as the religious leader who shared their values. After all, the Catholic Church hasn’t been accused of being progressive – there’s that dirty word again – since John XXIII in the early ’60s. And then there was Francis.
Turning a negative into a positive | From the editor

2 months ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,I want to talk with you today about the attack on a female jogger in Silver Lake Park the other week, and the subsequent calls to reopen the road that runs through it. But the Malliotakis Town Hall Advocates from Brooklyn and Staten Island just won’t let it go. We’ll address them later. First, let’s get to Silver Lake . . . I loved driving through the park when the road was open. It felt like motoring through California’s Santa Monica Mountains. Thank the pandemic for shutting it down.
Just call me a consultant | From the editor

2 months ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,Maybe I should be flattered. After all, how often does a representative in the hallowed halls of Congress take my advice? We refer to a town hall held last Saturday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Willowbrook. The “Empty Chair Town Hall,” they called it. The vacant seat was for no-show Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis. Our Republican representative in Washington has decided to eschew town hall invites.
The reinvention of a college | From the editor

2 months ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,It was a visit to Wagner College not long ago that brought back the memories. There wasn’t much talk about going to college in New Dorp High School back in the ‘60s. At least for kids like me. Talk centered more around who was giving his girlfriend an engagement ring for graduation, where we were going after senior prom – or who was going to Vietnam.
It’s our birthday! | From the editor

2 months ago | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,Thursday was our birthday, Staten Island! The Advance is 139 years old! It was March 27, 1886 when a printer named John Crawford and a businessman, James Kennedy, sealed the deal, deciding Staten Island needed another newspaper. Kennedy was the editor and Crawford the publisher. (Despite speculation from some of our neighbors, Kennedy did not beat me out in getting the editor job.)They called it the Richmond County Advance and it published once a week, on Saturday mornings.
A town hall . . . or a town brawl | From the editor

Mar 23, 2025 | silive.com | Brian Laline

Hi Neighbor,A few dozen protesters showed up outside Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ office the other day. They want a town hall with their Republican elected representative. “We’re demanding that she take accountability for her vote and explain it to us,” said Laura LoBianco Sword, Staten Island Democratic party chair. Let’s assume Laura means Nicole’s “YES” vote on a continuing budget resolution that’s keeping the government open for six more months. Or it could be all her votes.