ONGOING

It isn't every day that you get to meet an Olympic hopeful, but that is just the kind of day we had recently. We went to the offices of HarperCollins Publishing in Manhattan to interview figure skater Karen Chen before she took off to compete in the Olympics in South Korea. Karen finished 11th overall. As we waited for our interview, we nervously wondered what she would be like.

Commack High School junior Heather Millman is spreading warmth in her community by starting a club at her local temple to loom winter hats.

National Pancake Day is back, with IHOP restaurants offering free pancakes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 27 -- when each diner is entitled to a shortstack of three Original Buttermilk Pancakes.

The streets were named when the neighborhood in Copiague was developed in 1925 -- 70 years before the Olympic skaters competed.

A Southold man who tried to drag a woman into the woods will be sentenced next month for attempted kidnapping, Suffolk court records show.

Reps. Peter King and Thomas Suozzi will rally next month with Long Island high school students to call for action to end gun violence and mass shootings.

Geraldine Hart is expected to begin as acting police commissioner in mid-April when her nomination will go to the county legislature.

Suffolk County police have charged a Patchogue man who sold an illegal AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and multiple high capacity magazines to an undercover officer last month, officials announced on Thursday.

Police are still searching for whoever spray-painted a swastika and lewd graffiti outside two homes this week.

Rob Walker, who served as chief deputy to Edward Mangano and as a former state assemblyman, has surrendered to federal officials, multiple sources said.

One person was killed Thursday in an early morning fire that badly damaged a home in Lindenhurst, officials said.

Long Islanders who prefer rain to snow will get their way, for now at least.

Officials said they began a program last year to replace failing equipment, including installing 3,300 new threshold plates.

Renewable energy developer sPower is dropping a lawsuit it filed earlier this month against Riverhead and a Calverton entity seeking to buy most of the developable property at the Enterprise Park at Calverton for $40 million, the attorneys representing the developer confirmed this week.

Workers could start as early as this summer transforming an abandoned section of old Route 111 in Village of the Branch into a smooth path for shoppers and Long Island Greenbelt Trail hikers.

Village of Amityville officials will hold a Feb. 26 public hearing on a proposed amendment to its two-family house code.

The defendant, a former treasurer for the department, charged a department-issued card for iTunes purchases and a NASCAR membership.

New work includes elements of dance, poetry and storytelling.

The new space is decked out with toys and lounge chairs.