Nearby: School Superintendents Want Change

Long Island school superintendents are urging changes in a formula that they say has cost local schools nearly $1 billion in state aid.

Representatives of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association and the Nassau County Council of Superintendents are pushing for the elimination of the Gap Elimination Adjustment.

Long Island representatives and educators have long complained that the region pays a disproportionate share of taxes compared to what it gets back in state aid. 

Among those leading the charge are Gary Bixhorn, chief operating officer of Eastern Suffolk BOCES and legislative chairman for the SCSSA, Roberta Gerold,  president of the Suffolk organization and superintendent of the Middle Country school district, and David Feller, superintendent of the North Merrick district and president of the Nassau organization.

Read on. 

Bloomberg Signs Under-21 Cigarette Ban

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, just weeks away from leaving office, has struck what will likely be his final blow against cigarettes in New York City.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg signed the City Council's ban on cigarette sales to residents under 21 years of age. The law will go into effect in six months. 

It is still legal for anyone over the age of 18 to possess cigarettes, but store owners risk losing their license to sell if they are caught offering up smokes to 18 through 20-year-olds three times during a three year period. 

B’Way Newcomer Returns to North Shore

Fresh from the Broadway debut of the musical "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," Steven Lutvak (he wrote the critically acclaimed show’s music and lyrics) returns to Sands Point Preserve on Saturday, Dec. 7.

That’s when Lutvak will perform the upcoming “Not Quite Christmas Cabaret,” with a cast of Broadway performers singing favorite standards and holiday songs. In the mix will be a sampling of some of the music from “A Gentleman’s Guide,” which the New York Times called a “true tour de force that is hardly likely to be bettered on Broadway this season.”  Set in Edwardian England, the musical comedy tells the tale of Monty Navarro, who will stop at nothing, even murder and seduction, to capture his family’s fortune.

For Lutvak, who has sung some of his "Gentleman's Guides" tunes to Sands Point audiences before, the Dec. 7 performance is a homecoming of sorts.

“I'm delighted to be returning to the Sands Point Preserve,” Lutvak told Patch. Read on.