Newsday from New York, New York • A6

County Executive Curran tries on a hat from Christine A. Moore Millinery. Video: newsday.com/nassau TOP STORIES EB BI EG A -C INYear after spectators banned, 11,000 can attend last leg of Triple Crown The Washington Post A soon-to-be-released govern- ment report on unexplained aerial phenomena finds no proof of extraterrestrial activity, but cannot provide a definitive expla- nation for scores of incidents in which strange objects have been spotted in the sky, officials said on Thursday. The findings of the report, due to be provided to Congress by the director of national intelli- gence as soon as this month, will offer no firm conclusions about what the objects repeatedly detected by military pilots and others in recent years might be, according to two officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address a docu- ment that is not yet public. That the report, whose conclu- sions were first described by The New York Times, does not rule out extraterrestrial activity is likely to further stoke what has become a highly unusual na- tional discussion about the possi- bility that unknown life forms are visiting Earth, as senators, former CIA directors and former President Barack Obama ex- press new openness to UFOs.

The report, mandated as part of a gargantuan pandemic relief package signed last year by then- President Donald Trump, emerges as what was once seen as a fringe conspiracy theory be- comes more mainstream. It comes as years of political divi- sions and misinformation shake faith in their govern- ment and fuel doubt about estab- lished science. Interest in the UFO report was stirred further last month when aired footage of in- frared video of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs in Pentagon parlance, taken by mili- tary aircraft. Ryan Graves, a re- tired Navy pilot, said that he and other pilots had similar sightings every day for several years. Objects recorded in such videos have baffled pilots, mili- tary and intelligence officials for their apparent defiance of known laws of flight and gravity, Luis Eli- zondo, a former military intelli- gence official, told reporters on an April roundtable call.

Navy pilots struggled to under- stand the velocity and move- ments of UAPs they captured on fighter jet sensors. In one 2015 video recorded by an Super Hornet, a tracked UAP powers through wind recorded at more than 130 miles per hour. The pilots are heard discussing its possible origins before it oscil- lates like a top. one pilot says in bewilderment. Among the early proponents in Washington of investigating unexplained aerial objects was former Senate majority leader Harry Reid who urged the federal government to take the potential for UFOs seriously.

ROBERT BRODSKYBY robert.brodsky@newsday.com One year after the COVID-19 pandemic closed the Belmont Stakes to spectators, more than 11,000 fans are set to head back to the races Saturday for the third leg of the Triple Crown. a symbol that things are getting back to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said at a kickoff news conference Friday outside the Garden City Hotel. can go and watch the horses, and talk and socialize, and eat and drink semi-normally. It feels The 153rd running of the Bel- mont Stakes is also an eco- nomic engine for the county as spectators spend money at nearby hotels, restaurants and retail stores. Grady Colin, managing direc- tor of the Garden City Hotel, said sold out this week- end, with many people on a waiting list for a room.

that has not happened in a very long Colin said. Although far from capacity Belmont could host up to 90,000 fans during a regular year the 11,000 spectators in attendance for the Stakes will be the largest in-person racing event in New York since the pandemic began. The 1.5-mile race went on last year but without fans, cost- ing the county, and the region, millions in economic revenue. critically important not just for businesses today but in the said Richard Kessel, chairman of Nassau County Industrial Develop- ment Agency, a sponsor of the Belmont Stakes. Belmont Park will have vacci- nated sections where fans, many in wide-brimmed hats, will be permitted to take off their masks and sit closely together.

Fans in the unvaccinated sections must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test, and wear masks and socially distance from one another. Temperature checks will be performed at entry. Tickets are required in ad- vance and only a few seats re- main in the vaccinated sec- tions, according to Jeffrey Can- nizzo, senior director of govern- ment affairs for the New York Racing Association. are happy to have that many fans back to kick-start rac- Cannizzo said. The Long Island Rail Road says 11 different trains will be running to get fans to the Bel- mont Stakes.

U.S. report does not confirm, rule out UFOs off to races at Belmont Moore and Norman Achong, a Garden City Hotel staffer, at Belmont Stakes kickoff. The race provides a boost to local economy. EB BI EG A -C IN Navy footage of an unidentified aerial phenomenon, or UAP. A FP VI A ET TY IM AG ES A6 EW SD AY SA TU RD AY JU 5, 20 21 ne sd ay.