With the imminent second printing of her book, Seeds of Hope, Monica Westin continues her labor of love as an advocate for children everywhere. The book, a compilation of poems and drawings by children who shared their feelings about the bombings of September 11, 2001, was originally published in June 2002. It was self-published, with donations raised primarily from the Swedish community. (Westin was born in Sweden and came here about 25 years ago when she married.) "The Swedish people love New York," she said. FULL STORY

On Wednesday January 29, when police spotted a speeding motorist on West Shore Road, they probably expected it to be a routine stop. However, instead of a reckless driver with lame excuses, they encountered a frantic husband trying to get to the hospital before his wife gave birth in the passenger seat next to him. This was no false alarm, but luckily the fast response of five members of Fire Medic Co. 1 from the Port Washington Volunteer Fire Department (PWVFD) ensured a baby girl was delivered safely albeit not in the manner her anxious parents had anticipated. FULL STORY

Well, the fat lady has sung, and the Swiss Alinghi are taking the America's Cup to Europe for the first time in the history of the event. The sweep of Alinghi over Team New Zealand (5-0) ended with a decisive final victory (delta of 45 seconds) over the home team, who once again experienced gear failures. After the disastrous first race, when New Zealand had to pull out of the race because of a broken boom, followed by a broken mast on the fourth race, forcing them to pull out of that race, one had to wonder what possibly could go wrong for the young New Zealanders who were desperately trying to keep the Cup "down under." But the fifth and last race brought more trouble when the spinnaker pole snapped on the second downwind leg, allowing Alinghi to increase their lead, which they held from the start of the race. With this final win, the two native New Zealanders, Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth have made history. This is the first time ever that the Challenger has won the Cup on its initial attempt. Other records have been made. Alinghi finished the America's Cup season with a 31-4 overall record, with an on-the-water record of 30-3. Coutts becomes the all-time winning skipper in the America's Cup Match, having won 14 races with no defeats, breaking Dennis Conner's record of 13 America's Cup race victories. He also tied Charlie Barr and Harold Vanderbilt record of three consecutive Cup wins. While Coutts has won 14 consecutive races, some of his teammates have won even more. Butterworth (tactician), Murray Jones (traveller, wind spotter), Warwick Fleury (mainsheet), Simon Daubney (genoas) and Dean Phipps (bow) all have won 15 races. They're all former Team New Zealand crewmembers. One can only imagine how the New Zealand team must have felt to see the Commodore of the Royal New Zealand YC hand Coutts et al the Cup, and watch him raise it over his head in jubilant victory. FULL STORY

The Bart J. Ruggiere Memorial Foundation and the Ruggiere, Gerbasi and Fontana families are inviting you to join them on March 22 for a Special Ski Event at Bromley Mountain in Peru, Vermont (five minutes from Manchester). FULL STORY