Instead of attending the joyous celebration they had planned to honor Israeli Air Force Colonel Ilan Ramon as Israel's first astronaut, members of over a dozen Great Neck Jewish organizations gathered on Feb. 12 at the Iranian Jewish Center on Steamboat Road for a solemn tribute to Colonel Ramon and the six American astronauts who perished in the recent Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. A memorial service also was held at Temple Israel of Great Neck on Feb. 3, the Monday after the Columbia crash. FULL STORY

Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi will speak at the next Great Neck Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting on Thursday morning, Feb. 24, at 8 a.m., at the Inn at Great Neck. Mr. Suozzi will present his Economic Plan for Nassau County. FULL STORY

Since the North High track team visited Yale University about a month ago, both the boys and girls teams have come a long way. On Friday Jan. 24, the girls attended their conference championships. In Nassau County, there are six conferences, and the girls belong to Conference 4. It is divided based on school size, and within each conference there are between eight and 10 teams. All the girls attended the meet, which took place at SUNY Farmingdale, with high hopes of performing their season's best. FULL STORY

Alan Someck, coordinator of the Great neck Spirits Special Olympics of New York-Long Island is pleased to welcome Diane Polland, Shelly Greenbaum and Michael Polland to the Great Neck Spirits sports training club. Diane, Shelly and Michael will be coaching the Spirits in basketball when training starts on Friday, March 28 at the North Middle gym. FULL STORY