News Nearby: Louis Simpson, Pulitzer-Winning Poet, Dies at 89

Energy Efficiency Project Gets Underway at Commack Schools

Commack School District is kicking off its first steps of its Energy Efficiency Project as they begin the 2012-13 school year.

Richard Schramm, Commack's plant facilities administrator, said the district has started the official construction phase of its $18M Energy Efficiency project with Johnson Controls. Schramm gave an overview of the project, it's expected timeline and what progress has been made so far at the Sept. 13 Board of Education meeting

A woman on the FBI's most wanted list for allegedly kidnapping her daughter has turned herself into authorities and returned the girl to her father in Hauppauge.

New York Daily News reports that Yvette Torres 49,  accused of kidnapping her 2-year-old daughter more than 12 years ago, turned herself in on Sept. 5. The teen was reunited with her father David Beck IV of Hauppauge, according to an FBI spokeswoman.

Torres allegedly took her daughter overseas to obstruct Beck's parental rights. She was released on $75,000 bail as part of a deal worked out in advance.

The students of Kings Park High School had an opportunity to speak with top education officials and local politicians in a meeting held at the high school Thursday morning.

State Education Commissiner, John B. King Jr., paid a visit to the school along with state Sen. John Flanagan, Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick and Board of Regents member Roger Tilles.

King sat with about 20 junior and senior students before visiting two classes that were in session.

Louis Simpson, a Stony Brook University English professor who won a Pulitzer prize in 1964 for his collection At the End of the Open Road, died Sept. 14 at his home in Stony Brook. He was 89. Simpson fought Alzheimer's Disease and was bed-ridden for an extended period of time, according to an obituary published in The New York Times.

A critic once dubbed Simpson “the Chekhov of contemporary American poetry,” according to the obituary. Visitation will be at Bryant Funeral Home on Sept. 26 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a 3 p.m. memorial service at Caroline Church on Sept. 27.