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Tara Conry
Long Island native Tara Conry is newsday.com's Nassau community journalist. A Hofstra University communications graduate, most recently she was a local editor for Patch and previously reported for the New York Daily News, Reader's Digest and SmartMoney. She's earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Press Club of Long Island and the American Society of Magazine Editors. When not covering Long Island's local communities, Tara enjoys running (often with her Old English Sheepdog by her side), playing soccer and indulging in her love of musical theater.
Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Jane Fonda film movie in Munsey Park
Photo credit: Tara Conry
Megan Herschlein stood across the street from a movie set in Munsey Park Wednesday afternoon, determined to stay as long as she needed to catch a glimpse of one of the film’s stars.
She didn’t have to wait long, though. Minutes later, Tina Fey and Jason Bateman appeared on the front lawn of a home located on the corner of Burnham Place and Park Avenue. Fey, wearing a white blouse and black...
Read more »'Sean Lives On' DJ bash in Island Park to honor teen
Photo credit: Handout
Zach Kardisch didn’t know Sean Riley very well. Both attended Schechter Upper School in Williston Park, but Kardisch, 19, was only in the seventh grade when Riley, a junior, died in December 2007 from cancer. Still, for the past five years, Kardisch has been committed to keeping his schoolmate’s memory alive.
Kardisch and two of his friends — Schechter seniors Jeff Richards and Phil Roth —...
Read more »Long Island best friends win nearly $23G on 'Wheel of Fortune'
Photo credit: Wheel of Fortune
Having been friends for 49 years, Sheila Campbell and Colleen Finegan often finish each other’s sentences.
But their tight bond also helped them finish the phrases presented to them during the May 15 episode of “Wheel of Fortune.”
Playing as a team, Campbell, 56, of Miller Place, and Finegan, 57, of Bellport, beat out fellow Long Islanders Chris Tsalikis, of Ridge, and Kevin Edelman,...
Read more »Promise to friend keeps Merrick woman walking for AIDS
Photo credit: Handout
While purchasing a new mattress at a local Sleepy’s store earlier this year, Francine Goldstein asked the salesperson to write her a check.
Goldstein, 67, of Merrick, has made similar requests to car dealers, politicians, her doctors, co-workers, friends and family during the past 25 years in her quest to raise money for organizations that support people with AIDS.
“I’m not ashamed to...
Read more »New Jersey music festival raising funds for Ronkonkoma special needs school
Photo credit: Handout, 2012
Maria LaMon was about to head out one Saturday night in late April, when the phone rang in her Oakdale home. She answered it and the man on the other line indicated that they had never met before, but he wanted to help her.
The caller, Jerry Ryan, 37, of Galloway Township, N.J., told LaMon that he was planning a three-day music festival in Atlantic City and had selected her music school to...
Read more »Cancer patients treated to makeovers in Look Good Feel Better demonstration in New Hyde Park
Photo credit: Tara Conry
When Selina Sears steps out of her house, she usually hides behind a headwrap and big sunglasses. Since being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in February 2012, Sears, 49, of Baldwin, has been undergoing treatments that have thinned her hair, discolored her skin and shaken her self-confidence.
That wasn’t the case Wednesday night, though, as Sears modeled a new look for more than 100 people...
Read more »Long Island Rail Road, postal service calling on Long Islanders to feed the hungry
Photo credit: Howard Schnapp
While catching a morning train Thursday, commuters at three Long Island Rail Road stations can also stomp out hunger.
LIRR president Helena Williams announced Wednesday morning that through a partnership with Island Harvest, the LIRR will hold a food drives Thursday at its Mineola, Hicksville and Ronkonkoma stations. Between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., train riders, LIRR employees and nearby residents...
Read more »Kevin Spacey, Olympian Allyson Felix present volunteer awards to two Long Island students
Photo credit: Handout
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey and Olympic gold medal sprinter Allyson Felix are accustomed to receiving awards, but on Sunday night, they presented them to a group of young volunteers that included two Long Islanders.
In February, Samuel Lam, 18, of Old Westbury, and Cory Nichols, 12, of Oceanside, earned the title of New York State’s top high school- and middle school-level youth volunteers...
Read more »Ellie Greenwich, late Cyndi Lauper collaborator and songwriting legend, remembered with Hofstra statue
Photo credit: Howard Schnapp
Laura Alexis Greenwich Weiner stood patiently Tuesday morning on Hofstra University’s campus for a 12-foot statue depicting her sister to arrive.
It was worth the wait.
Greenwich Weiner’s sister, Ellie Greenwich, an award-winning songwriter and a 1962 Hofstra grad, died in August 2009 at the age of 68, but she left behind a legacy of music that includes hits such as “Be My Baby,” Do...
Read more »Returning to 'home away from home' at Sandy-ravaged Oceanside Senior Center
Photo credit: Tara Conry
When superstorm Sandy ravaged the Oceanside community, Corinne Puglisi, 82, was not only displaced from her house in Bay Park, but also her “home away from home,” the Oceanside Senior Center, which was shut down for six months.
Like Puglisi’s Oceanside Harbor Drive home, the Town of Hempstead’s Oceanside Senior Center, at 2900 Rockaway Ave. and 40 neighboring senior housing units had...
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