The drug addicts’ brain scans that Dr. Stephen Dewey takes appear in psychedelic shades of red, yellow, green and blue, each indicating a level of brain activity — or inactivity. Red means excited. Blue is dormant. Dewey is the laboratory director for behavioral and molecular neuro-imaging at the North Shore-LIJ Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. In that capacity, he’s put hundreds of addicts’ brains to the test — the positron emission tomography test, that is — seeking to understand precisely what happens to the mind when a pot smoker lights up or a heroin junkie shoots up. And, he has found, it isn’t pretty. more

District attorney is the single most important job in Nassau County when it comes to keeping families safe and ensuring that our criminal justice system is smart, fair and just. It requires . . . more

On Nov. 3, the voters of Nassau County will elect a new district attorney for the first time since 2005. I’m supporting Kate Murray, because . . . more

In many elections, it can be hard to persuade candidates to discuss real issues in anything other than sound bites. Trying to get a straight answer from a politician . . . more

In their race for Nassau County district attorney, Madeline Singas and Kate Murray are both trying to prove that they are primed to take on Long Island’s heroin problem — and that they are … more

I cherish a dreamy memory of Mexico. It was 1990, and we were on vacation in Zihuatanejo, then a sleepy fishing village, on the Pacific coast. more

Nassau County police have arrested a mother-daughter duo from North Merrick and charged them with the sale and possession of heroin in Freeport on May 25 at 9 p.m. more

The Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center and the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District will host a Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Mepham High School, 2401 Camp Ave., Bellmore. more

It’s hard to see so many people in so much pain, especially when they’re mourning one of our neighbors. It’s even harder when they’re mourning the death of someone so young, who had his whole life ahead of him. more

What’s the biggest concern on Long Island today? Sure, property taxes and quality education are always on everyone’s mind, but right now the heroin epidemic that is threatening members of our community . . . more