Massapequa native heads to U.S. senate

Democrat Joseph Donnelly, born and raised in Massapequa, will be sworn in Thursday as a U.S. senator from Indiana. A congressman since 2007, Donnelly attended St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale before going off to Notre Dame University, in Indiana, where he's lived most of his adult life.

"My sister lives on the East End, and a lot of my cousins still live on Long Island, a number of them around the Massapequa and Wantagh areas," he said Friday, recalling his native area as a "wonderful place to grow up."

Donnelly, 57, part of the Blue Dog Coalition, beat Republican Richard Mourdock in November to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Richard Lugar. -- Dan Janison