Sunday News

• Examining key differences between Obama and McCain

  COLORADO SPRINGS - With just two months to go before the Nov. 4 election, the presidential race has been dominated recently by an intraparty drama, a surprise running mate, two historic nominations, duels over judgment and experience - and the occasional issue.

• A weakened Hanna still causes damage on the Island

  A weakened but still dangerous Tropical Storm Hanna whirled through Long Island last night, flooding key roads, knocking out power to thousands of homes, and threatening fragile beaches.

• Ellis Henican: Palin family saga all too familiar American narrative

  You can't blame the parents for every reckless decision a 17-year-old might make.

• FASHION WEEK SPRING '09: WANDERLUST

  Whether their thoughts are in Rio (Nicole Miller), the Côte d’Azur (Lacoste) or workingclass London (Rag & Bone), designers are thinking faraway places in the

• Just try not to like Brett Favre

  Go ahead. Try it. Try not to root for Brett Favre.

• Rick Brand: POLITICS & POWER: LI McCain backer gets his due

  Back in 2000, Assemb. Phil Boyle (R-East Islip) angered top Suffolk Republicans when he first helped maverick presidential contender Sen. John McCain sweep all of Suffolk's convention delegates, save one - then-County Executive Robert Gaffney.

• Joye Brown: Even a tropical storm doesn't dampen their wedding day

  Fourteen palm trees swayed in a hard wind yesterday as a legion of white-capped waves stormed ashore to splash them.

• Palin questions Biden's record as 'agent of change'

  COLORADO SPRINGS - Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin yesterday challenged the reform credentials of her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, contrasting his many years and many friends in Washington with her reputation as a reformist outsider.

• In securing rebuilt World Trade Center, officials seek balance

  Picture years from now, when hundreds of thousands of mourners and visitors enter the rebuilt World Trade Center and the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, the 16-acre site's centerpiece.

• Long Island primaries feature series of rematches

  Long Island's primaries Tuesday could be considered the political version of television summer reruns.

• Suicide attack kills at least 30 in Pakistan

  PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A pickup truck packed with explosives blew up a police security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 30 people and injuring dozens more, the day after a foiled militant kidnap attempt led to an additional 24 deaths in the region.

• Our summer really went to extremes

  Turn the summer's weather into a movie, and it would have to be a Hollywood thriller complete with plot twists, danger and surprise characters.

• Stars turn "Fashion Rocks" show into night of tributes

  It was as if the "Fashion Rocks" organizers were inspired by a constant loop of Tim Gunn uttering his trademark phrase, "Make it work."

• Smithtown schools to get solar panels

  Smithtown's school board has approved a $6-million energy conservation project that includes what is being touted as the largest combined solar panel installation at any Long Island school district.

• WAR UPDATE

  A suicide car bomber blasted an outdoor market yesterday in a northern Iraqi city, killing six people and wounding 54, authorities said. The attack in the mainly Turkoman city of Tal Afar took place one day after a suicide car bomber struck a convoy carrying ex-Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi in Baghdad. The former Pentagon favorite escaped injury but six people, including five of his bodyguards, were killed. Yesterday's attack occurred in the same Tal Afar market where a suicide truck bomber killed 28 people and injured 72 last month. That raises questions whether Iraqi police are capable of maintaining security in the strategic north - where al-Qaida in Iraq remains active - as the Americans hand over more responsibility for security to Iraqi soldiers and police. Police said the bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near a crowd of people gathered around a traffic accident in the market, which was crowded with shoppers buying food for the evening meal that breaks the daily fast in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

• Chapel at St. Anthony's blends old and the new

  The chapel at St. Anthony's High School that opened yesterday is both Old World and New: a diverse blend of Italian and American churches, stone from a mountain in Iraq, Roman influence found through historical research and scouring of the Italian countryside - and even items bought on eBay.

• Legislator wants social-service audits questioned

  A Nassau County legislator is demanding a public hearing to determine whether minority-run social service agencies are unfairly singled out for audits.

• LI coastal towns keep wary eye out for sand erosion

  There are countless grains of sand on East End beaches, and it's Aram Terchunian's job to keep track of them. Yesterday, Tropical Storm Hanna was making the beach erosion consultant's job more difficult.

• Bhutto's widower sweeps Pakistan's presidential election

  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto's widower swept Pakistan's presidential election yesterday, offering hope for stability to a nuclear-armed country feeling intense U.S. pressure to crack down on Islamic militants.

• WORLD & NATION UPDATE: AT HOME

  The military is investigating the death of a soldier from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division in North Carolina, who collapsed during physical training. The Army said in a statement yesterday 44-year-old Staff Sgt. Huy Nguyen of Inglewood, Calif., died Friday. A cause of death has not been determined. Nguyen was a CH-47 Helicopter Flight Engineer with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade. He joined the division earlier this month and joined the Army in 1996.

• WORLD & NATION UPDATE: ABROAD

  Now is not the right time for the United States to move forward on a once-celebrated deal for civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday. Her comment increased speculation President George W. Bush is planning to punish Moscow for invading Georgia by canceling the agreement. Such a move is being planned, according to senior Bush administration officials, but is not yet final. The nuclear deal was signed in May by U.S. and Russian officials and is now before Congress.

• Candidates weigh in on Fannie, Freddie

  WASHINGTON - The historic takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which could come as soon as today, moved to the forefront of the presidential campaign yesterday as candidates and congressional leaders seized on the implications for taxpayers and the economy.

• Tuesday primaries

  MAJOR PARTY PRIMARIES

• Bethpage wells mystery solved

  Since testing wells were installed on her street last year, Bethpage resident Margaret Cavaliere has seen unmarked trucks come and go and large, black barrels accumulate on the block.

• Obama, McCain spar over Social Security

  NEWARK - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama criticized Republican John McCain's approach to Social Security yesterday, saying it would undermine the government program aimed mainly at retirees. McCain said he would preserve Social Security.

• Sunken Meadow State Park parking lot to get lights

  On June 6, we held our son's dental school graduation party at The Pavilion at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park. The party ended at 10 p.m. and the parking lot was so dark and dangerous you could not take one step without faltering. We had many elderly guests who were in fear of stumbling. Days later, I called the caterers about the lighting. I was told that they have had a work order in with state parks for three years. I am fortunate that all my guests safely navigated their way to their cars with the minimal light from their cell phones. Would you be able to investigate this so other families will not have to deal with this?

• Bay Shore man fatally shot outside his home

  Paul Joell was a devoted father of four, a friendly worker and an amiable neighbor who liked to spend idle moments on the porch of his Bay Shore home, his co-workers and neighbors said yesterday.

• High-resolution GeoEye-1 satellite launch a success

  VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A super-sharp Earth-imaging satellite was launched into orbit yesterday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Central California coast.

• Hurricane Ike menaces Caribbean and Florida

  KEY WEST, Fla. - "Extremely dangerous" Hurricane Ike grew to fierce Category 4 strength yesterday as it roared on an uncertain path that forced millions from the Caribbean to Florida, and Louisiana to Mexico, to nervously wonder where it might eventually strike.

• Rock slide kills 24 in Cairo slum; many more feared buried

  CAIRO - Massive boulders crashed down on an Egyptian shantytown yesterday on the outskirts of the capital, killing at least 24 people, authorities said. Rescuers were digging by hand to reach any survivors.

• Keeping campground traffic off Old Bethpage street

  I live on a narrow dead-end street next to the Battle Row Campground in Old Bethpage. Our street is called Battle Row, so we get lots of campers mistakenly coming down our block. As a result, they need to awkwardly and dangerously back out. We have kids playing and cars parked on the street. I've called the town for a "Dead End" sign so campers know not to drive down here. Can you help?

• Taktser Rinpoche, Dalai Lama's older brother, dies

  DHARMSALA, India - Taktser Rinpoche, the oldest brother of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, has died in his home in Indiana after a prolonged illness, the office of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India said yesterday. He was 86.

• Nassau says no to traffic light at Island Trees school

  ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL Cathleen Potorski has been lobbying Nassau County officials for a pedestrian push-button traffic signal in front of Island Trees Memorial Middle School on Wantagh Avenue in Levittown for more than 25 years.

• THIS DATE IN HISTORY

  1825: The Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, bade farewell to President John Quincy Adams at the White House.

• McCain and Obama to appear together at Ground Zero on Thursday

  WASHINGTON - Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama said they will put aside partisan politics for a joint appearance at Ground Zero to mark the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

• Weathering storm with little concern: Relieved storm wasn't as feared

  Threats of gusting winds and torrential rain didn't keep Dov Schwartzben away from Saturday night services at Fire Island Synagogue. And it didn't keep the congregation from reaching quorum - 14 men, and a number of women and children.

• Weathering storm with little concern: Not exactly living in fear

  Relaxing on the boardwalk in Long Beach yesterday, Noel Desmond said she knew all along that meteorologists' dire warnings about Tropical Storm Hanna causing disaster would be but a tease.

• Weathering storm with little concern: You can't change nature

  At Hampton Bays Pet Supply on Montauk Highway, it was business-as-usual yesterday evening for Bill Deinzer, the store's owner.

• Weathering storm with little concern: Ready to wave Hanna goodbye

  Come today at 6 a.m., when what's left of Hanna is well north of Long Island, Andrew from Islip will be out bright and early at Gilgo Beach to ride the waves.

• Weathering storm with little concern: 'Nautical Mile' a ghost town

  On any other Saturday night on Woodcleft Avenue in Freeport - commonly known as the "Nautical Mile" - the streets would be packed with customers moving in and out of bars and restaurants and music playing until early in the morning.

• Weathering storm with little concern: No scene at movie theaters

  It was Saturday night at South Shore movie theaters. The popcorn was ready. The aisles were clean.

• Weathering storm with little concern: Waiting to see the worst of it

  When rain picked up yesterday afternoon, Robert Stojanowski carefully eyed the storm drains across the street from his Franklin Square home.

• Boy, 13, shot to death, 2 wounded on Harlem street

  A 13-year-old boy was killed and two other youths were wounded by a spray of bullets on the median of a Harlem street, New York City police said yesterday.

• Sunday, Sep. 07, 2008

  It was incorrectly reported in yesterday's editions that Jelena Jankovic would take over the No. 1 ranking regardless of the outcome of the championship match with Serena Williams. The winner of that match will be No. 1.