Hi, Brian Lairer here.

Up next, Brian Lairor Weekend,

three of our favorite segments from the week,

packaged together for you to listen to on the weekend.

So enjoy, and I'll see you back on the radio Monday at 10 a.m.

on WNYC and on WNYC. Welcome back, everybody.

I'm Matt Katz, sitting in the big seat for Brian today.

We're going to move to Long Island now, where Nassau County Republicans did something that took a lot of

us by surprise this week. They voted to ban masks in public, with some exceptions. Why? Why now?

Masks have been a culture war touchstone since COVID when the right

railed against mandates that masks be worn in public spaces and now the opposite is happening.

Banning masks is becoming a public policy priority and that has less to do with COVID and more

to do with anti-Israel protests. My colleague in the WNYC in Gotham

's newsroom, Charles Lane, has been covering the story and he's here with me in the studio to talk

over the issue. Good morning, Charles. Good morning. Listeners, are you in Nassau County resident

affected by the mask band? Do you support it, oppose it, or are you just confused why this is an issue at all?

Give us a call or send us a tax step. 212-433 W-NYC, that's 212-433-9692. Charles, where did this come from?

Why did Nassau County legislators bring this up as an issue to be

addressed in the first place? Well, I think it all goes back to sort of the increasing tensions that we've

had around the protests starting in, you know, in the springtime, early springtime. They just become

more tense and very often the protesters want to wear face

coverings in order to hide their identity. And, you know, during the springtime, there was,

...