State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick, Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, a Democrat from Long Beach, and Lenny Rosado were joined at a news conference last week by state and local officials to remind Long Islanders that Leandra's Law took effect on Friday, making drunken driving with a child a felony offense in New York. more

State Sen. Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. is reminding all Nassau County residents that the deadline to apply for New York State's School Tax Relief (STAR) program is Jan. 4, 2010. more

Most of us cannot understand what possesses a person to drive drunk. This paper’s position has long been that drinking and driving is potentially deadly behavior that can have the same result as opening fire with a gun in a crowded mall. DWI requires stiff penalties. more

It's a safe bet that any dust settling on the blackboard in Lisa Drewes's classroom at Fayette Elementary School in North Merrick is a byproduct of abandonment rather than chalk. The fourth-grade room is outfitted with one of 15 SMART Boards in the North Merrick School District, a new tool that teachers are crediting with revolutionizing teaching methods and making conventional blackboards obsolete. "I put my schedule on it every day, aside from that I don't write on my blackboard at all," Drewes said. more

Gov. David Paterson gave the green light for the New York State Department of Transportation to install a guardrail along the Wantagh Parkway bike path at an Oct. 22 meeting with state Sen. Charles Fuschillo, Assemblyman David McDonough, and the family of Matthew Scarpati, who was killed on the path by an allegedly drunk motorcyclist this past summer. The new guardrail will be what DOT spokeswoman Jennifer Post described as a "cable design," which will consist of three metal cables suspended by posts reaching about 33 inches high, spaced roughly 10 feet apart. more

"Four DWIs [is what] it took before that woman killed my child," said Deena Cohen, president of the Long Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Cohen was speaking before an assembly of about 50 students at Seaford High School, arranged by State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican, and Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, a Democrat who is up for re-election. Cohen’s 21-year-old daughter, Jodi, was killed by a drunk driver 20 years ago. "I need you to understand the importance of [not] drinking and driving and drugging and driving," Cohen told the students. "The pain never goes away, ever ... The pain is still here. The 20-year number did something to my head. Jodi is gone almost as long" as she was alive. Tears were welling up in students' eyes as Cohen spoke. more