There was a lot of public drunkenness in gym class at Kennedy High School in Bellmore last week –– mock drunkenness, that is. more

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

Summer driving season is in full swing, and we’re out on the roads in large numbers. The absence of winter’s dangers can make it seem like a safer time to drive . . . more

When ticking off the many and varied phys. ed. programs that Saul Lerner has brought to the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, you quickly realize what a profound and lasting impact he has had on the lives of thousands of students, his colleagues say. Among the programs are girls’ lacrosse, boys’ badminton, bicycling in gym classes, and first aid/cardiopulmonary resuscitation for all students, a program begun with the Merrick-based Robbie Levine Foundation, to name just a few. Lerner is the Central District’s director of physical education, health, athletics, driver’s education and adult education. After 19 years in the district and 35 years in education, Lerner, 58, will retire on June 30. “It’s been a great run,” he said during an interview last week, “and I loved every minute of it, and I love the community.” more

“All of us were shocked by how great it went,” said David Seinfeld, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s assistant superintendent for instruction. He was referring to Drug Take-Back Day, ... more

Thousands of children and parents filled the parking lot at the Merrick Long Island Rail Road station between Friday and Sunday last weekend for the Merrick Chamber of Commerce’s annual Kids Fest. more

Last week more than a thousand third- to eighth-grade students in the Merricks did not take state English Language Arts tests. more

State Farm donated $25,000 on March 26 to the Community Parent Center, a Bellmore-Merrick nonprofit organization that supports parents and families with children in kindergarten to 12th grade, for its “Drive in the Safe Lane” program at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools. more

The Levy-Lakeside Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association’s Founders’ Day celebration on March 23 paid tribute to school community members who give enormously of their time and energy to better the lives of Merrick children. more

Opioid-based medications and heroin are being abused in epidemic proportions. To combat the large number of Long Islanders dying of heroin and other opioid-related overdoses, the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center; the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District; the Bellmore, Merrick, North Bellmore and North Merrick elementary school districts; and the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence will host a free Narcan training for parents, families and community members. more