Hugh Mason, a Bellmore sheet metal worker, has learned to be patient. In Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, he and his family endured more than most. “I had 39 inches of water in my kitchen, all over my countertops,” Hugh recalled. more

I was driving north on the Meadowbrook Parkway, headed to the Herald recently, and Nirvana's "All Apologies" –– that hauntingly beautiful song –– came on the radio. Instantly, I was transported back to 1993 . . . more

The Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center and the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District will host a Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Mepham High School, 2401 Camp Ave., Bellmore. more

When Suzanne Reek, of Wantagh, used to bring her young son, Joseph, to the dentist, she would hire a team of two to six people to carry him into the office. Once there, he was strapped down to an examination table for treatment in what the American Dental Association calls a “papoose board,” essentially a stretcher with wide Velcro braces. In the end, Reek said, she would be hit with a $5,000 bill because her son, who suffered from extreme “dental anxiety,” would inevitably need to be sedated during treatment, which insurance didn’t cover. more

Merrick Herald Life Senior Editor Scott Brinton, third from right, who is an adjunct journalism professor at Hofstra University, recently brought his Issues in Science Reporting students to a cleanup in the Merrick woodlands off the Meadowbrook Parkway to help out and report on the event. More than 50 volunteers attended the cleanup. more

Chaz Murray, 54, grew up in Merrick bounding through the woods near his home. He became a Boy Scout and went on to camp in the wild. He moved away when he turned 24 and returned seven years ago. On Sunday, he said he was horrified to see the derelict state into which Merrick’s forests off the Meadowbrook Parkway have fallen. Murray, a New York City paramedic, was one of 52 volunteers who came to the woods between Sunrise Highway and Meadowbrook Road in Merrick to clean up debris that had washed from farther north into the forest via the Meadow Brook or had been strewn there by vandals. He said he learned about the cleanup by reading the Merrick Herald Life. more

The April 6 issue of The New Yorker disappointed me. Therein lay what can only be described as a rambling rant decrying the National Audubon Society, of all organizations. more

I wouldn’t go so far as to call Howard Gardner a prophet, but way back in 1993, he sure predicted the chaotic politics that are roiling our public education system these days. more

Herald Community Newspapers staff came home from their weekend in Saratoga Springs with 14 awards, earned in the New York Press Association’s 2014 Better Newspaper Contest. more

In 1983, famed Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner published his seminal book, “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences,” which laid out seven primary intelligences . . . more