Nassau County News

The driver in a fatal auto accident on the Long Island Expressway Monday was charged with second-degree manslaughter and driving while intoxicated after he went the wrong way in the eastbound HOV lane and crashed into a median, police say.

Frank A. Krayer had some rules about the ocean: Never turn your back to the unpredictable waters. Read the surface of the ocean - it'll tell you where there's danger. And if you've done one rescue, that's one too many.

The sweet, sweaty summer of 2010 was starting to feel like a distant memory at Jones Beach Monday. Under the crisp blue sky, some beachgoers reminisced about the sizzling summerlong heat even as sections of the beach were under water, courtesy of Hurricane Earl.

The driver of a Corvette that partly shattered upon colliding with a large van Sunday night survived the crash in Freeport, Nassau police said.

Nassau County enlisted Theodore Roosevelt to show voters how to use new voting machines set to debut in next Tuesday's primary. In a five-minute video posted at nassauvotes.com, TR impersonator James W. Foote of Sea Cliff traces the history of voting, from paper ballots and wooden ballot boxes to levers and electronic scanners. Ragtime music plays; images change from black-and-white to color as new overtakes old. Once he feeds his completed ballot into a scanner, Roosevelt declares, "That was easy enough. Actually not much different than was done in 1904" when he was re-elected president. SOE Software Corp. of Tampa, Fla., produced the video at no cost after winning the contract for an instructional video for poll workers, said William Biamonte, Democratic elections commissioner. - James T. Madore in Albany

KEN ROSE wept, just for a moment, as he wrapped up his brief speech by quoting Winston Churchill's famous declaration during the Battle of Britain:

Voters in next Tuesday’s primaries get to decide some of the most unpredictable nomination fights in recent memory.

These two dispatches come from Celeste Hadrick in Nassau, and from Rick Brand in Suffolk, perhaps showing the Long Island counties to be parallel universes. Hadrick: Nassau Republican Elections Commissioner John DeGrace, 59, the Valley Stream GOP leader, is retiring Sept. 30 from his $128,000 per year public job.A former Valley Stream mayor, DeGrace started in Nassau in 1976 as a county grants writer, then moved to Hempstead to serve as a deputy receiver of taxes, returned to Nassau as a deputy treasurer,  became clerk to the former County Board of Supervisors and was appointed elections commissioner almost 14 years ago.“I’ve had a good run,” DeGrace said. “It’s time to make room for a younger person.”Nassau Republican Chairman Joseph Mondello, who chooses the commissioner, has yet to select a replacement. But DeGrace has advice for his successor: “Stay focused and make sure you stay close to your county chairman.” Brand reports: Suffolk Republican Chairman John Jay LaValle is about to name a new Republican elections commissioner, a plum patronage post, after 34 year elections veteran Cathy Richter Geier stepped down from her $131,000-a-year post a week ago.Geier, whose term was up at year’s end, retired even though as a commissioner she was not eligible to take advantage of state early retirement incentive, though sources say she unsuccessfully sought to be included.In the interim, GOP deputy commissioner, Wayne Rogers of Brookhaven but once worked as chief labor advisor to former Islip Supervisor Peter McGowan, is in charge, but LaValle said party leaders have not made a decision though it could come as early as this week. Sources say that Rogers is a heavy favorite to get the post but David Reilly, a lawyer from Northport is also a contender. Insiders also say that Smithtown GOP leader Bill Ellis is pushing succeed Rogers as deputy. While the party leaders recommends the commissioner, the county legislature must vote on it. What makes the post attractive is that it carries a four year term..

Nassau Republican Elections Commissioner John DeGrace, 59, the Valley Stream GOP leader, is retiring Sept. 30 from his $128,000-a-year post. DeGrace started in Nassau in 1976 as a county grants writer, then moved to Hempstead to serve as a deputy receiver of taxes, returned to Nassau as a deputy treasurer, became clerk to the former County Board of Supervisors, and was appointed elections commissioner almost 14 years ago.

A man was killed Saturday night in Inwood of what appeared to be gunshot wounds, Nassau police said.

Across Long Island - in districts rich, poor and middle-class - students returning to class this week will be dealing with the fallout from the greatest financial challenges.

Robert Emmett Bowen III died Monday after being struck by a truck in a hit-and-run accident on Second Avenue in Manhattan.

In a post-9/11 world the Coast Guard is asked to do more with less.

The National Weather Service warned of a high risk of dangerous rip currents along the Atlantic shore until well after sunset.

An East Farmingdale firefighter was hospitalized Saturday after the roof of a burning building in Lindenhurst collapsed, burying the firefighter underneath, the department's fire chief said.

Rough seas are keeping the large recreational fishing fleet moored in Montauk Harbor.

Eric Brooks, a recent graduate of Hewlett High School, is one of 20 students nationwide named a 2010 Davidson Fellow by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development in Nevada, based on his study of genetic factors affecting metastatic progression of prostate cancer.

Continued consumer confidence seems to be keeping a healthy flow of sales tax revenue coming into the coffers of both Nassau and Suffolk.

For several weeks, there have been different fraud claims coming out of the 21st A.D. race where there's competition to succeed GOP Assemb. Thomas Alfano, who decided not to seek re-election. Mimi Pierre Johnson draws fire from Pat Nicolosi on the Democratic side, reflected in Elmont blog pieces such as this one which seems persuasive on the strict point that someone "signed" a petition who's no longer with us and that other fudgery took place. Also, Patricia Friedman, who's been challenging Edward Ra on the Conservative side, has alleged that three objectors to her petitions filed a false instruments when they claimed she had forged signatures.

Pennsylvania authorities have ruled that a developmentally disabled Freeport teen did not have sexual contact in the bathroom of a residential facility for people with special needs.