The following are profiles of candidates running for seats on the Nassau County and district court. more

Kathleen Rice ascended to the district attorney’s post four years ago as a virtual unknown -- a former federal prosecutor and Brooklyn assistant district attorney who had never run for political office before. Back then, she appeared a tad unsure of herself, slightly nervous in her interviews with the Herald. And why not? She was opposing the legendary Denis Dillon, who had served as Nassau County district attorney for 31 years. Despite being a political neophyte, Rice ran a strong campaign, and was elected with 51 percent of the vote to Dillon’s 49 percent. Four years later, we’re happy that Rice was elected. She has proven herself to be a consummate professional who only improved an already well-run D.A.’s office. Cases are processed nearly twice as fast as they once were. Conviction rates are up. And Rice has garnered a national reputation for her aggressive stance against driving while intoxicated. Many now call her the toughest DWI prosecutor in the country. more

It’s hard to argue with a track record like that of Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, a Democrat from Glen Cove. Over the past eight years, he took a fiscally mismanaged, virtually insolvent county and turned it around, consistently balancing a budget that seemingly could not be balanced. Suozzi saved money by cutting the county work force by 1,000 employees and instituting tried-and-true management practices that were previously nonexistent. At the same time, he has put in place a host of programs to improve residents’ quality of life, from smoking-cessation regimens to energy-efficiency incentives. more

When Gina Capone of Valley Stream was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2000, she began scouring the Internet to find someone with diabetes whom she could talk with; someone who knew what she was going through. Capone’s aunt was the only person she knew with diabetes, and her aunt’s case was filled with complications. more

Former Rockville Centre resident Linda Breitstone is set to be honored at Island Harvest’s 16th annual Taste of the Harvest celebration, on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. In what has become one of Long Island’s best known, and widely attended fundraisers, the “Taste of the Harvest” will raise money to help Island Harvest in its fight against hunger on Long Island. more

From breaking news updates on 1010 WINS, to traffic reports on Z100, to sports recaps on WCBS 880, to political debates on national television, the alumni of Hofstra University’s radio station can be heard across the metropolitan area and around the country. more

When Richard Brodksy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer seven years ago, his doctors told him he only had two to four years to live. But this Saturday, Brodsky will be running in his charity’s first HIV/Cancer 5K in Oceanside Park while he proves his doctors wrong. more

On Oct. 13, the Oceanside Middle School Sailors played a good old-fashioned scrimmage game of Amerikkalainen Jalkapallo — football — against the Helsinki Roosters, a youth team visiting from Finland, which was sponsored by the Oceanside Stallions football team. more

The race for Nassau County district attorney pits one-term Democratic incumbent Kathleen Rice, a former federal prosecutor and Brooklyn assistant district attorney, against Republican Joy Watson, a former assistant Nassau County district attorney who is now a law clerk for a county Supreme Court justice. more

Essential services and property taxes are often in the forefront of the issues in the Town of Hempstead, but in this year’s race for supervisor, the rhetoric has shifted toward the proposed … more