The All Star Academy will hold a youth art and poetry contest and art auction fundraiser on Sept. 14 at 11 a.m. at 10 Grande Ave., Rockville Centre to benefit Sunrise Day Camp and the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). Tickets are $5 each and can be bought on allstarresource.com. more

Construction work on Maple Avenue has officially started Aug. 11. “They’re doing the concrete first so they’re digging the curbs, the sidewalks and driveway aprons,” said village Spokesperson Julie Grilli. more

Frank Scafuri wants to entertain you – at the doctor’s office. The 63-year-old professional singer goes to doctor’s waiting rooms in the area, performs a song for the unsuspecting patients, and secretly records the whole thing – with the doctor’s permission, of course. more

Long Island women arrived in Israel on July 21 with their regular luggage and something extra — several heavy duffle bags of supplies for Israeli soldiers. more

Rabbi Elliot Skiddell and his wife, Julie, of Beth Emeth Synagogue in Rockville Centre, were visiting their children in Israel last week. They lived in Israel for many years, and they usually go every July to reconnect with family and friends. This year’s trip included a rabbinic mission with the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, which is headed by Rabbi Skiddell. The trip turned out to be four days longer than they planned, thanks to the Federal Aviation Administration’s temporary ban on all U.S. flights to and from Israel, issued not long after a rocket landed a mile away from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on July 22. more

Students from 41 Long Island and New York City high schools came to Molloy College in the first days of summer for a four-day Business Boot Camp. more