Tzvi Lewisohn, a Calhoun High School senior, loves to win. Basketball, bowling, you name it, Lewisohn is a competitor. But, he is quick to note, more important than winning is sportsmanship. “We always congratulate the other teams,” Lewisohn, a member of Calhoun's Challenger bowling and basketball teams, says with a smile. “We don't want them to think we're out to win; we're just trying to have fun.” Of course, it doesn't hurt that both teams are undefeated for the past two years. They have not lost since the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District started the Challenger basketball league for special-education students with a handful of other Nassau County school districts in 2008. more

The Kiwanis Club of Merrick is wrapping gifts at Roosevelt Field Mall now through the end of the holidays. Cost is $3-$15 and up, depending on the size of the box. Volunteers will be at the main entrance by the glass elevator outside New York & Co. from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call (516) 972-1423. more

Larry Wallach, a licensed exotic animal trainer and exhibitor from Hewlett-East Rockaway, is bringing some baby critters — including a kangaroo and a Royal White Bengal tiger — to the Hallmark … more

The Merrick-North Merrick Little League's 9-year-old Yankees recently won the World Series in the International Division. Celebrating the victory were, top row, from left, Coach Rob Porcelli, Manager Felix Marks, Coach Ed Goldstein and Coach Gary Birke; middle row, Mike Pokorny, Alec Oppenheim, Ben Birke, Ray O'Keefe, Jack Goldstein, David Kantor and Justin Oberstein; bottom row, Haden Levine, Mike Porcelli, Jake Marks, Matt Molzon and Jack Appello; and on the ground, James Hampton. more

Temperatures might have dipped into the 20s and 30s on Saturday, with the threat of a blizzard, but that didn't stop members of the Merrick Fire Department's Empire Hose Company No. 3 from holding their 13th annual Christmas tree fundraiser, with funds raised benefiting the Merrick F.D. more

A recent string of fires at Calhoun High School in North Merrick has prompted an arson investigation, officials say. According to Vincent McManus, division supervisor at the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office, there have been six suspicious fires at the school since Nov. 19, three of which the North Merrick Fire Department responded to. more

The North Merrick School District Board of Education announced at a Dec. 8 public meeting that a resolution is expected to be reached in coming weeks on teacher contracts that expired in June 2008. The breakthrough was reached at an 8 a.m. negotiation session on Sunday, Dec. 6. more

Craig Papach, Kennedy High School's athletic coordinator and a 19-year phys. ed. teacher, had long heard the stories of poverty and loneliness, and he wanted to help. So, on Thanksgiving morning, he and his family piled into their car and made the trek from their suburban home in a quiet Wantagh neighborhood to a tiny church on Beach 94th Street in Queens. They went to lend their hands and, equally important, their ears to a day-long effort to aid the homeless. Papach was one of 10 Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District teachers who joined roughly 100 volunteers from Rock and Wrap It Up, a Five Towns-based nonprofit group founded by Syd Mandelbaum, to feed hundreds of impoverished street denizens, some of whom had not eaten for days. more

It was a weekend full of holiday fun on Dec. 5 and 6 in Merrick, thanks to the Chamber of Commerce. The chamber was proud to present two holiday celebrations at the Merrick train station gazebo to ring in the start of the holiday season. A visit from Santa lit up children's faces with smiles on Saturday, and on Sunday, two community icons -- Merrick Avenue's own Christmas tree and Menorah - brought cheer to the neighborhood at the annual lighting ceremony. more

It’s opera with a twist when two “divas” take the stage, presented by Merrick-Bellmore Community Concert Association, Sunday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m. Somewhere amid the many costume changes, … more