Nassau stories from Newsday

1. Marie Colvin mourned by family, colleagues
   Marie Colvin's editor urged her to leave Syria immediately because it had become too dangerous, but the veteran foreign correspondent from Long Island insisted on staying one more day -- to file yet another battlefield dispatch.
2. LI builder earns award from White House
   A Massapequa builder's effort to help an ill stranger make his home safe has earned an award from the White House.
3. Blame game in delayed tax refunds
   Democrats and Republicans in Nassau are at an impasse over millions of dollars in residential tax refunds, with each blaming the other for delaying checks to about 17,000 homeowners.
4. Cops: Workers stole from pizzeria
   Two Uniondale teens have been arrested, charged with burglarizing a pizza place where both teens had worked, police said.
5. Jet noise, pollution to be discussed
   Residents, politicians and aviation officials will gather Monday evening to discuss aircraft noise and pollution created by runway use at Kennedy Airport.
6. NICE Bus unveils money-saving changes
   Some bus riders in Nassau will wait longer at stops, and midday and Saturday service on a few lines will be cut in money-saving moves being unveiled Wednesday, the NICE system's operator said Tuesday.
7. Court OKs Garden City discrimination suit
   A federal district court has dismissed claims that Nassau County's housing practices toward minorities was discriminatory but allowed a lawsuit to proceed against the Village of Garden City.
8. AG: LI center of NY prescription epidemic
   State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was on Long Island Tuesday -- the place he called "the center of the state's prescription drug epidemic," to gain support for a bill to better monitor who is using narcotic medicine.
9. Court: Mangano lacked authority to fire 9
   Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano did not have the authority to fire nine property-tax appeals commissioners when he took office, the state's highest court ruled Wednesday.
10. Nassau to target traffic scofflaws
    Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos is pleading with traffic scofflaws to pay their outstanding parking and red-light camera tickets or face booting and towing of their vehicles -- and $100 or more in costs to get them back.
11. Old Brookville police union labor deal OKd
    An agreement on a five-year labor contract has been reached by the Old Brookville police union and a board of police commissioners from the six North Shore villages served by the police force, officials said.
12. Seaford fan wins big at Knicks game
    Until Monday night, Seaford resident Mike Sapraicone said he had never won anything in his life.
13. Man dies in house fire, wife escapes
    A Manorhaven woman managed to escape a raging fire from a second-floor window in her home Tuesday morning, but her husband died in the blaze, Nassau police and fire officials said.
14. Cops identify Hempstead shooting victim
    Police Tuesday released the name of the man slain over the weekend in a double shooting in Hempstead Village.
15. Riders demand better NICE Bus service
    A newly formed watchdog group of Nassau bus riders released its demands Tuesday for better service from NICE Bus -- the day before the system's private operator will unveil plans to reduce service on some routes.
16. Cop retirement plan could save Nassau $20M
    Nassau police unions have agreed to an incentive package intended to encourage higher-paid officers to retire and save the county as much as $20 million annually, officials said Monday.
17. Cop unions: Delay precinct closing plan
    A sharp increase in burglaries in Nassau County this year should prompt the county to delay its plan to turn four of its eight police precincts into community policing centers, police union leaders said Monday.