(Long Island, NY) St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School is proud to announce the renovation of a new wrestling room for the 2015-2016 season.  The space will provide the Cougar wrestling team with a larger and safer space.

“I am so happy and proud to be the Boys Athletic Director, especially as we complete the final upgrades to all our athletic facilities.  The new Cougar Wrestling room is brighter and bigger. It reflects our continued commitment to excellence in athletics. The Wrestling program with the hard work of our coaching staff, athletes and parents helped make this goal a reality. I am proud of all of them and our school for the work and perseverance that made this happen! Our wrestling program has had a long and successful history and I am confident it will continue to succeed as we move forward with a renovated space facility.” said Ralph Dalton, SJB’s Boys Athletic Director.

St. John the Baptist has a rich history of success in wrestling. Throughout our 50 years, St. John’s has produced fourteen individual state wrestling champions, eleven Nassau/Suffolk Catholic High School League Team Championships, and one National High School Wrestling All-American. “This team and their coaches have always represented SJB as disciplined athletes, students and fine young gentlemen. They will continue to make us proud.” said principal, Ms. Nan Doherty.  Go Cougars!

About St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School
About St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School: 1,700 students attend St. John the Baptist DHS, a college preparatory Catholic High School located on the south shore in West Islip. As part of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, St. John’s offers a value-centered education that recognizes the unique talents and abilities of each child, while fostering a school environment that challenges students to reach their true potential. Open since 1966, St. John’s offers a rigorous curriculum and extensive activity and athletic programs. Students have the opportunity to take numerous Advanced Placement classes and 99% of St. John’s graduates continue on to higher education. For Mission Statement and additional information: http://www.stjohnthebaptistdhs.net.

(Long Island, NY) Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the members of the Common Core Task Force. The Alliance for Quality Education has released the following statement:

“The Common Core Task Force has its work cut out for it. The rebellion against the Common Core is largely driven by the misuse of standardized tests to grade and punish schools and teachers. The task force can’t solve the problems with the Common Core until they address these issues,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education.

Politically Motivated Hedge Fund Financed Attack Ad Ignites Widespread Disapproval

(Long Island, NY) A wide array of outraged groups will hold a rally to demand that the hedge fund-financed Families for Excellent Schools (FES) take down its racially divisive television ad attacking public schools. The rally will take place on Tuesday at 1:00PM on the steps of Tweed Courthouse.

The ad, titled “The Tale of Two Boys” has provoked outrage across New York City for its perceived race-baiting. The ad is apart of an orchestrated assault on public schools run by FES and financed by a handful of hedge fund managers. The ad’s release is timed to be days before a rally on Wednesday to be led by potential mayoral candidate Eva Moskowitz, who has ordered the closure of her schools for the day.

FES and supporting groups are opposed to an increased investment in traditional public schools.

WHO: Public School Parents, Hazel Dukes of NYS NAACP; Bertha Lewis of The Black Institute; Elected Officials, The Alliance for Quality Education, the Coalition for Educational Justice, New York Communities for Change, Make the Road NY, Working Families Party, Strong Economy for All Coalition, Clergy Members

WHAT: Rally demanding Families for Excellent Schools take down racially divisive ad

WHEN: 1:00PM Tuesday, September 29

WHERE: Steps of Tweed Courthouse

Generously sponsored by Judy Gibbons & Francesco Scattone

(Long Island, NY) Gallery North is pleased to present Local Color: Then and Now. As Gallery North celebrates its 50^th Anniversary, this show will be one of the last in a series of art events that have commemorated 50 years. Artists from Gallery North’s Artist Advisory Council have spent time exploring the local scenery of Long Island and havecaptured locations and places through a variety of mediums including painting and mixed media art. The result is an exhibition of contemporary works that celebrate Long Island and its rich history, exploring the identity of the Three Village Area and celebrating its unique historical and cultural heritage. Locations will include local landmarks such as Mill Pond, Frank Melville Park and West Meadow Beach, and original 18^thand 19^thcentury buildings, including Gallery North on North Country Road, Emma S. Clark Library andStony Brook Grist Mill.

Carol Marburger: “American Provisions,” Watercolor. Photo Credit: Gallery North.

Judith Levy, Director of Gallery North, says of Local Color:

“At Gallery North we look forward to Local Color every year. The Artists involved interpret the local area in imaginative and diverse ways, using different mediums and techniques. It’s a tribute to and a celebration of the Three Village area”.

Eleanor Meier: “Onions and a Secret Place.” Photo Credit: Gallery North.

Participating artists include: Kelynn Alder, Fred Badalamenti, Sheila Breck, Pam Brown, Nancy Bueti-Randall, Jeanette Dick, Flo Kemp, Bruce Lieberman, Carol Marburger, Eleanor Meier, Terence Netter, Doug Reina, Pat Solan& Fernanda Vargas. Stony Brook URECA award winners Emily Brownwell, Kay Denton, Chris-Ann Wright and Luca Rivelaare also included in this exhibition.

Gallery North is open Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 5 and Sunday 12 – 5. For more information contact Gallery North, 631-751-2676, www.gallerynorth.org.

(Long Island, NY) The Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD) received a $5,265donation from 115 friends and family members in memory of Daniel Grym, 19 of Bellmore NY, who passed away from the effects of a heroin and benzodiazepine overdose on January 8, 2015. Daniel’s older brother and only sibling, Kenny, passed away 5 years ago on the same date from a heroin overdose.

With the heroin and opiate crisis raging, the demand for LICADD’s services has increased exponentially.  Significant price drops in the street price of heroin on Long Island, have increased the number of young people who are using the drug. Calls to LICADD’s hotlines and requests for services mirror these increasing trends and beyond the sheer rise in numbers of young people and their families seeking heroin addiction treatment services, the rapid progression from snorting to injecting the drug is startling and obviously increases the potential health consequences for users.

This significant donation assists the Long Island community by providing additional services for families in desperate need of LICADD’s services.  A counseling office in LICADD’s Executive offices in Mineola will be named in memory of Daniel at a private dedication with close family and friends.

“We are very grateful to LICADD for the good work they offer.  The family and friends of Daniel hope that this dedication will help to raise awareness about the dangers of heroin and direct individuals to LICADD for help.”says Christine Rocke, Daniel’s aunt.

For over 59 years, LICADD has successfully delivered evidence-based programs designed

to prevent and treat substance abuse and addiction.  LICADD offers crisis intervention, screenings,brief interventions, referrals to treatment and several family and parent education workshops to help Long Islanders struggling with the effects of addiction. Through our Open Arms, EAP Program, LICADD has provided targeted solution-focused support to companies all along the East Coast, serving over 60,000 employees and their families.

For more information please call (516) 747-2606 or visit us on the web at www.licadd.org and Facebook.

A celebration of togetherness, triumph and recovery

(Long Island, NY) The Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence will hold its 26^th Annual Peter Sweisgood Breakfast on Sunday, November 8, 2015, from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM at the IBEW Local 25 in Hauppauge. This year’s featured Keynote speaker will be Suffolk County Executive, Steve Bellone.

LICADD will honor Community Champion, Bruce Both, President UFCW 1500.  Bruce W. Both is President of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 (UFCW). Local1500 represents over 22,000 working men and women in the New York Counties of Nassau, Suffolk,Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, the City of New York and New Jersey. The members of Local 1500 workprimarily in the supermarket industry for companies such as, King Kullen, Stop & Shop, Pathmark, ShopRite, Gristedes, D’Agostinos, Key Foods and Fairway.

The Fisher of Men Award, that honors Father Peter Sweisgoods’s commitment to recovery will go to Anthony Rizzo, from Seafield Center.  He is a Credentialed Alcohol andSubstance Abuse Counselor as well as a Licensed Social Worker. Anthony has been working for SeafieldCenter for the last 13 years. He currently serves as the Provider Relations Representative in Long Islandas well as the Clinical Director for the Domestic Violence Program. In 2013, Anthony is the ExecutiveDirector and Founder of an organization called F.I.S.T – Families in Support of Treatment.

“We are thrilled to present these three outstanding Long Islanders with our Champion Awards,” said LICADD’s Executive Director, Steve Chassman, LCSW, CASAC. “This award is a celebration of the miracle of recovery and the camaraderie that recovery offers.” he added.

The Peter Sweisgood Breakfast is LICADD’s annual opportunityto applaud its contemporary partners in addiction treatment and prevention, as well as to honor its own rich history in recovery support services.Father Peter Sweisgood and LICADD’s founder, R. Brinkley Smithers, dedicated their lives to supporting people on the road to recovery and because of their work’s solid foundation, thatlegacy continues today;.

Tickets to LICADD’s Peter Sweisgood Breakfast are just $45 per person and a table for ten can be purchased at a discounted rate of $400. LICADD is also pleased to offer a variety of sponsorship opportunities, all of which come with prominent brand visibility at Long Island’s premier addiction recovery celebration event. All proceeds from the event support LICADD’s family interventions and other clinical services for adults, children, and families.  Purchase tickets through our website or now by contacting Angela Brooks, Development and Communications Associate, at 516-747-2606.

LICADD is Long Island’s premier non-profit agency providing life-saving alcohol and drug prevention and intervention services to at-risk children, individuals, and families across the region. With offices in Mineola, Holbrook and Riverhead, LICADD conducts screenings, brief interventions, referrals to treatment and relapse prevention services to individuals and families impacted by substance abuse. The agency also conducts evidence-based prevention programs, community outreach initiatives, and a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents and public policy advocacy. More information about LICADD’s services is available online at www.licadd.org. or find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Initiative Aims to Reverse the Trend of Young people Leaving the Region

(Long Island, NY) Today, September 28, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone will be at SJC Long Island to show his support of the Institute for Attainable Homes at St. Joseph’s College.

The Institute for Attainable Homes is a project of the Center for Community Solutions at St. Joseph’s College. The Institute’s purpose is to address the shortage of affordable and sustainable housing throughout Long Island with the goal of reversing the trend of people (young adults, retirees, businesses) leaving Long Island. The Institute supports the growth of sustainable communities through the development and revitalization of homes and neighborhoods, and through economic development, like the County Executive’s plan for the Innovation Zone (I-Zone), as an integral component of any viable affordable housing plan.

At 1:00pm, County Executive Bellone will provide an I-Zone briefing to St. Joseph’s faculty and students.

WHO:

• Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone
• Dr. Christopher Frost, vice president for academic affairs at St. Joseph’s College
• Jo Anne Durovich, director of the Institute for Attainable Homes at St. Joseph’s College
• Tim Bishop, distinguished professor of civic engagement and public service and director of the Center for
• Community Solutions at St. Joseph’s College and former U.S. Congressman

WHEN:

• Today, September 28, 2015, 12:15pm

WHERE:

• SJC Long Island
  Board Room
  O’Connor Hall
  155 West Roe Boulevard
  Patchogue, NY 11772

SJC Long Island is located at 155 West Roe Boulevard in Patchogue, and is accessible via the South Service Road of Sunrise Highway, just east of Exit 52 (Waverly Avenue).

2015 Savvy Senior King & Queen Crowned

(Long Island, NY) Seniors from across Long Island and Queens were recently showered with admiration and appreciation among their family and friends during  Association of Generational Experts for Seniors’ (AGES) Sixth Annual Savvy Senior Day at Parker Jewish Institute in New Hyde Park. Each senior nominated attended the event with their families where they were publicly recognized for their vast accomplishments and contributions made within their communities. Among those honored were 70-year-old Jim Alchus of Little Neck, NY and 83-year-old Sabina Miller of Great Neck, NY who were crowned 2015 Savvy Senior King and Queen, respectively, and each awarded gift certificates for professional oil painting portraits, courtesy of Bradford Renaissance Portraits. Other senior nominees honored during this year’s Savvy Senior Day were: Stanley Gayda of Maple Pointe Assisted Living in Rockville Centre, NY; Miriam Epstein, a resident at Atria Glen Cove in Glen Cove, NY; Siroon Shahinian, PhD of Great Neck, NY; and Rose Collo of Elmont, NY.

Pictured at the Association of Generational Experts for Seniors’ (AGES) Sixth Annual Savvy Senior Day from left to right are AGES Chairperson Kevin Lawrence, 2015 Savvy Senior King Jim Alchus of Little Neck, NY, 2015 Savvy Senior Queen Sabina Miller of Great Neck, and AGES Savvy Senior Committee Chairperson Rita Medaglio-Barrera. Photo Credit: AGES.

“Savvy Senior Day is a special event that gives seniors living within our communities the opportunity to be recognized for all the wonderful accomplishments and contributions they’ve made and continue to make, says AGES Chairperson Kevin Lawrence. “Each year, AGES is given the privilege of receiving so many wonderful senior nominations and it is with great honor that we get to celebrate them each year among their families at our annual Savvy Senior Day event.”

Crowned 2015 Savvy Senior King by 2014 Savvy Senior King William Young of Huntington, NY, Alchus was selected this year’s Savvy Senior King for demonstrating inspirational strength and perseverance in not only overcoming severe injuries and disabilities following a bicycle accident at the age of 13 that caused him memory loss, limited movement in one of his arms and the inability to walk, talk or see, but also for his incredible dedication to help other children who have had accidents in which they too have faced severe injuries and disabilities. Alchus is an artist who has volunteered at Long Island Jewish Cohen’s Children’s Hospital, where he has met with children who have suffered critical injury and disabilities to offer hope and inspiration through his personal story of triumph. Additionally, he volunteers as a tour guide at the Queens Farm Museum in Little Neck and plays each month for seniors living at Deepdale CARES NORC their favorite old movies.

“Being named 2015 Savvy Senior King is true honor,” says Alchus. “ It not only is a testament of all that I have overcome and achieved but also inspires and motivates me to continue doing even more in making a difference for children braving severe injury and disability. It is my goal to inspire other children facing severe injury or disability following an accident and to get more organizations and hospitals to increase their offerings of support and counseling for these children.”

Pictured at the Association of Generational Experts for Seniors’ (AGES) Sixth Annual Savvy Senior Day (front, left to right) Savvy Senior Day honorees Stanley Gayda of Maple Pointe Assisted Living in Rockville Centre, NY and Miriam Epstein, a resident at Atria Glen Cove in Glen Cove, NY, 2014 Savvy Senior King William Young of Huntington, NY, 2015 Savvy Senior King Jim Alchus of Little Neck, NY, 2015 Savvy Senior Queen Sabina Miller of Great Neck, NY, and Savvy Senior Day Honorees Siroon Shahinian, PhD of Great Neck, NY and Rose Collo of Elmont, NY. Photo Credit: AGES.

Miller, who was crowned 2015 Savvy Senior Queen by 2014 Savvy Senior Queen Lillian Guadagno of Valley Stream, received her royal title in recognition of her community activism and outreach to fellow seniors. The contributions she has made have earned her numerous public praise and accolades, including Great Neck Chamber of Commerce’s Jesse M. Markel Community Achievement Award and two time Town of North Hempstead’s May W. Newburger Women’s Roll Of Honor designation. Among various initiatives Miller has led are co-hosting the Town of North Hempstead’s Project Independence Radio Show that broadcasts out of CW Post, serving on Great Neck’s Project Independence Advisory Board, and serving as a 25 year volunteer at Children’s Learning After School Program (CLASP), a non-profit Day Care Center in  Great Neck. She is a three time former Great Neck Lions Club president and served as co-chair of the “Bachelor Auction” Public Access TV Station fundraiser held at the Merchant Marine Academy located in Great Neck. In addition, she has been a 12 year volunteer with OmbudService as an advocate of residents, patients and families with administration at Grace Plaza Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Great Neck. Among other her other notable charitable efforts is visiting Easter Island (located halfway between Chile and Tahiti) ,where she volunteered her  personal services and provided eyeglasses to children in need.

“I was so shocked to be named this year’s Savvy Senior Queen,” says Miller. “Every senior attending this year’s Savvy Senior Day was a senior who does great volunteer work and understands that when you do volunteer work you are helping yourself just as much as you are helping others. I am so fortunate and humbled to been among last year’s Savvy Senior Day honorees and am even more humbled to be crowned this year’s 2015 Savvy Senior Queen among so many other remarkable seniors who have also shown such tremendous level of community outreach and volunteerism.”

Miller admires AGES and its mission to recognize seniors during its annual Savvy Senior Day. “I think what AGES does in recognizing seniors each year through its annual Savvy Senior Day is so wonderful,” she explains. “To be in a room full of seniors who you have so much in common with in terms of passion for volunteerism provides all of us with great pride and great sense of camaraderie. I thank AGES for bringing us together and providing us with a special forum where we not only get the opportunity to be recognized for our personal contributions and accomplishments but also receive the chance to celebrate and recognize one another.”

About AGES
The Association of Generational Experts for Seniors (AGES) is an independent network of highly qualified, caring and knowledgeable professionals from family and senior related fields. AGES has been created in the New York Metropolitan area for the purpose of addressing the needs and challenges that face many families today. Working within a cohesive resource team that addresses the concerns and needs of today’s senior citizens and “sandwiched” generation (adult children caregivers), AGES members apply their personal skill-sets to help guide seniors and family caregivers toward an improved quality of life. For more information, please visit www.agesresourcenetwork.com.

(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County Police Vehicular Crime Unit detectives are investigating a crash that killed a pedestrian in Lindenhurst on Monday, September 28.

John Aluska was walking on Montauk Highway at approximately 1:20 a.m. when he was struck by a vehicle that was traveling eastbound on Montauk Highway.

Suffolk County Police are investigating a crash that killed a pedestrian in Lindenhurst on Monday, September 28. Photo Credit: Chris Boyle.

Aluska, 61, of Lindenhurst, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

Detectives are asking anyone who may have witnessed this crash or has any other information about the incident to contact the Vehicular Crime Unit at 631-852-6555 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police Sixth Squad detectives are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the men who stole jewelry from a Middle Island store earlier this year.

Suffolk County Police are seeking the public’s help to identify the men who stole jewelry from a Middle Island store earlier this year. Photo Credit: SCPD.

On May 15, a man and woman entered the Walmart, located at 750 Middle Country Road. The man cut glass on a jewelry display. A short time later, another man entered the store with a red hat, and removed jewelry from that display. Detectives believe the men were working together. The approximate value of the jewelry is $2,300.

Three suspects, whom detectives believe were working together, stole approximately $2,300 in jewelry from Walmart. Photo Credit: SCPD.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.