Keon Williams was arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree murder.

Homicide Squad detectives alleged that the 37-year-old Rockville Centre man fatally shot Tyree Sheppard of Hempstead on Sunday, April 14.

A Burnett Street resident found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound lying on the sidewalk within minutes of another murder in the same village.

Williams will be arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead.

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens)

Mothers, don’t let your children grow up to be New York State lawmakers.

The un-shocking news Tuesday that State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) was arrested on bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy charges makes him the 14th state lawmaker and the third State Senate leader facing the wrong side of the law in the past five years.

“Elected officials are called public servants because they are supposed to serve the people,” FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said after the arrest. “Public service is not supposed to be a shortcut to self-enrichment… At the very least, public officials should obey the law.”

Federal prosecutors accused Smith, a key Democratic member of the State Senate’s new bipartisan leadership, of using intermediaries—a cooperating witness and an FBI investigator posing as a political operative—to bribe Republican Party leaders into letting him run for New York City mayor on the GOP line. Also rounded up were Republican chairmen in Queens and the Bronx, as well as a city councilman, plus the Spring Valley mayor and his deputy—a scandal that rocked both the city and Albany.

“You pull this off,” Smith allegedly told the undercover agent last year, “you can have the house … I’ll be the tenant.” He is now denying the accusations.

Smith, the State Senate president during the Democrats’ 2008-2010 majority, was stripped Tuesday of his chairmanship of the Independent Democratic Conference—five Democratic senators that split from the rest—that joined with Republicans this winter to form a rare leadership coalition.

“The allegations outlined today involving Malcolm Smith are extremely troubling,” Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the chamber’s co-leader, said in a statement. “I concur with the swift decision made by Independent Democratic Leader Jeff Klein to strip him of his committee assignments and his conference leadership position.”

Skelos, who was the majority leader until the Republicans lost control of the State Senate in the November elections, succeeded Pedro Espada Jr., a former Democratic senate majority leader from the Bronx and ex-GOP senate majority leader Joe Bruno from upstate—both of whom were also charged federally.

Espada is awaiting sentencing after pleaded guilty to tax fraud in October and being convicted last May of stealing from a Bronx nonprofit he ran. Bruno is facing retrial after appealing his wire fraud conviction.

Shirley Huntley, a former Democratic state senator from Queens, pleaded guilty in Nassau County court two months ago to charges related to covering up her theft of taxpayer money from a nonprofit. She faces up to two years in prison when she’s sentenced Thursday in a related case.

Hiram Monserrate, a disgraced Democratic state senator from Queens, was sentenced in December to two years in prison for misusing $100,000 in taxpayer funds for his campaign. He had joined with Espada in a 2009 Senate coup and was expelled from the senate in 2010 after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.

Carl Kruger, an ex-Democratic state senator from Brooklyn, was also sentenced last year to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to taking $1 million in bribes from health care officials and a lobbyist.

Last summer saw retired Republican state senator Nicholas Spano of Yonkers, who was unseated seven years ago, be sentenced to more than a year in prison for tax evasion.

A year prior, State Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) was convicted of misdemeanor criminal mischief for attacking a New York Post photographer. He was re-elected in November, but was stripped of his then-title of majority whip.

Disgraced Democratic State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was also sentenced to 1-4 years in prison in 2011 for a pay-to-play scheme involving the state pension fund. He had resigned in 2006 after being caught using state employees to care for his sick wife. He was released from prison in December after serving 20 months.

In 2010, Efrain Gonzalez, another former Democratic state senator from the Bronx, was sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing more than $700,000 from two charities.

And in 2009 in the lower chamber, Assemb. Brian McLaughlin, another Democrat from Queens, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after the former labor leader had pleaded guilty to racketeering charges.

Perhaps the biggest corruption scandal in recent memory came five years ago when then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer abruptly resigned after investigators found he was paying prostitutes for sex. He was never charged.

More recently, Assemb. Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) has refused calls to resign last year after former female staffers made sexual harassment accusations that resulted in Lopez being stripped of his title of Brooklyn Democratic chairman.

Although the Smith case doesn’t directly affect Long Island, it does hit close to home—his senate district abuts the Nassau-Queens line, as does the city council district of his alleged accomplice, Daniel Halloran. The councilman’s quotes allegedly caught on tape epitomized New York’s crime wave of political corruption.

“That’s politics, it’s all about how much,” Halloran told the undercover agent while discussing his need to raise money for his congressional campaign, according to the FBI. “Not whether or will, it’s about how much, and that’s our politicians in New York, they’re all like that….And they get like that because of the drive that the money does for everything else. You can’t do anything without the fucking money.”

Joseph Coulon returned to his South Kensington Avenue  home, pulled out a .22-caliber rifle and fired a round through the front glass door while a 59-year-old woman and 14-year-old girl were inside shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

He then walked outside and allegedly fired several more rounds into the ground in the front yard.

Rockville Centre police officers took the 54-year-old suspect into custody and seized the rifle. No injuries were reported.

Coulon was arraigned Thursday on charges of reckless endangerment, possession of a dangerous weapon and endangering the welfare of a child.

Judge David McAndrews set bail for Coulon at $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond. He is due back in court on April 3.

Coulon had also been arrested in February on a charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance but failed to appear at his first two court dates, records show.

John Kaley, left, follows his attorney, William Petrillo, out of Nassau County court to walk a gauntlet lined with police officers on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013.

The truck driver who dozed off at the wheel and caused the crash that killed Nassau County Police Officer Michael Califano two years ago walked out of court Thursday a free man after making a plea deal.

John Kaley pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor reckless driving after prosecutors dropped a felony count of criminally negligent homicide. Police officers packed the Nassau County courtroom for the emotional hearing and lined the hallway outside.

“The pain we experienced is beyond description and continues to be,” Assistant District Attorney Maureen McCormick said while reading a statement written by Califano’s widow, Jackie.

“I wish I could change things but I know that’s impossible,” William Petrillo, the Rockville Centre-based attorney for the 27-year-old Connecticut man, said while reading the statement written by Kaley, who started sobbing too much to read it himself.

Prosecutors said Kaley was driving while drowsy, drifting from his lane on the Long Island Expressway when he crashed into the 44-year-old officer’s cruiser while Califano was conducting a traffic stop near exit 39 on the LIE on Feb. 4, 2011.

But, it has been virtually impossible to convict a driver of criminally negligent homicide in New York, because the statute is in flux, said Nassau prosecutors, who pointed to a Bronx jury that recently acquitted a bus driver of the same charge for killing 15 people in a crash after authorities accused him of driving without enough sleep.

“We’re bound by New York’s laws and New York’s highest court,” McCormick told the court, explaining that investigators were unable to establish evidence needed to convict Kaley under the law.

After the hearing, McCormick joined Nassau County Police Benevolent Association President James Carver at a news conference where they vowed to lobby for state legislation to strengthen the law.

“He knew he was not alert enough to drive, but he continued to do so, resulting in the death of our brother, and that’s not right,” Carver said. “We cannot continue to have laws that let people like this who are reckless and have no regard for anybody else on the road to continue to drive. They should be punished and they should be sent away for a long time.”

Judge William O’Brien ordered Kaley, who faced up to four years in prison for the felony, to pay a $500 fine and revoked his privilege to drive in New York. He then tried to console Califano’s family.

“I too suffered a loss from an early age,” Judge O’Brien told Califano’s three sons, Michael, 16, Christopher, 13, and Andrew, 8. “You too can come back from it.”

Nassau County Legis. Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove), left, ex-lawmaker Dave Mejias, center, and others announce their opposition to building a casino on Long Island on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013.

About a dozen members of a new anti-gambling group declared their opposition Thursday to any proposals to build a casino in Nassau County, citing quality of life concerns and worries that a deal to bring Atlantic City-style gaming to Long Island could be in the works.

The group dubbed themselves Nassau Residents Against Gambling Enterprise Development, or N-RAGED for short, during their debut press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court building in Mineola. Members of various neighborhood civic organizations as well as current and former local Democratic lawmakers round out its ranks.

“We are afraid that our suburban quality of life will be torn apart by some backroom deal in Albany,” said Dave Mejias, an attorney, a former Nassau legislator and the chairman of N-RAGED. “We want to make sure that Long Island is not going to be sold out to those special interests.”

He was referring to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to legalize casino gambling in New York State, a plan that requires a second consecutive vote of approval in the State Legislature before voters ultimately decide its fate in a referendum. The Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton has been scouting for a location to build a gaming facility since winning federal recognition in 2010.

Despite the timing of the rally about an hour after fellow Democratic former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi held a press conference announcing his intentions to reclaim his old position, Mejias maintained that the group was “a-political.” Nevertheless, participants praised Suozzi’s agenda and criticized the Republican who unseated him, Ed Mangano, for proposing a casino at Nassau Coliseum. Also speaking at the anti-casino rally was Nassau Legis. Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, another Democrat from Suozzi’s hometown of Glen Cove.

“It’s a question of whether or not we really want to push gambling,” said DeRiggi-Whitton, adding that she prefers alternative proposals to build sports or research centers that have been floated for Uniondale and Elmont. She and others also expressed concerns that bringing casino gambling to LI would further strain social services because there might be an increase of gambling addicts losing their homes after betting on cards and other games of chance and tearing their families apart.

Cuomo had said during his State of the State address last month that he thinks whatever casinos New York builds should be located upstate, drawing tourists from LI and New York City. When reminded of the governor’s idea, Mejias said it’s still possible LI could be dealt a gaming facility while negotiations continue.

Shinnecock Trustee Chairman Randy King told the Press in a statement that if and when the tribe settles on a potential location to open a casino, they are required by federal law to ask the community for input.

“There has not been any recent activity regarding Shinnecock gaming in Nassau County,” the statement read in part.

Aside from the aging coliseum in Uniondale, there have also been proposals in recent years to build a casino at the Belmont Racetrack in Elmont, where the latest development pitch is for a soccer stadium for the New York Cosmos.

A spokesman for State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the co-leader of the chamber who has been instrumental in Belmont redevelopment talks, did not return a call for comment. Neither did a spokeswoman for Mangano.

“We spend a lot of money sending our kids away to college,” said Mejias. ”They’re not going to be able to live here if they come back to be cocktail waitresses and blackjack dealers.”

Nassau County police said Juan Galdos was walking southbound across Merrick Road at the corner of Oceanside Road when he was hit by an eastbound Peterbilt shortly before noon.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. The 59-year-old man driving the truck was not charged.

First Squad detectives found no apparent criminality but the investigation is continuing.

Long Island Rail Road

Taking the Long Island Rail Road further along into the 21^st century could transform Long Island and revitalize the region, says Nancy Rauch Douzinas, president of the Rauch Foundation, a civic-minded non-profit group which just released its latest Long Island Index report at an event held at Molloy College in Rockville Centre on Tuesday.

“The Long Island Rail Road is one of Long Island’s top assets,” Rauch told the audience, with “potential to be transformative.”

“Our goal is to look at the railroad differently,” she said.

For 10 years her foundation’s annual Long Island Indexes have been providing the Island’s “civic, academic, labor and business leaders” with “useful, unbiased information that will lead to greater community awareness of Long Island issues and to serve as a catalyst for action,” as the organization says on its website. Or as Rauch said from the stage of the college’s Madison Theatre: “Using the facts to think smart.”

This year the Index is called “The Long Island Rail Road: From Moving Commuters to Shaping the Next Economy.” During her presentation, Ann Golob, director of the Index, called the railroad “one of the great underutilized assets of Long Island.” As it is, she noted, the LIRR’s commuters to the city add an estimated $26 billion to Long Island’s economy, while taking more than 100,000 drivers off our major already congested arteries into Manhattan—which became a huge factor after Superstorm Sunday knocked the LIRR out of service for a week.

Making her case, Golob cited how Metro-North has helped transform White Plains from a blighted city in decline into a vital urban center, drawing almost as many reverse commuters from New York City each day as it sends to Manhattan. The railroad did that by building double-track capacity some 15 years ago. Long Island should follow their lead, she advised.

Among the conclusions raised by the Index is that upgrading the LIRR would not only spur improvements for commuters but help spark local economic development for all Long Islanders. With the East Side Access completed to Grand Central, now slated for 2019, the report found that Nassau and Suffolk residents would have better access to 560,000 high-paying jobs in Manhattan, and they’d reduce their commute by almost three quarters of an hour. More importantly, 400,000 homeowners in Nassau and Suffolk counties would see the value of their homes rise by an average of $7,300.

By expanding the Ronkonkoma line to two tracks east of Farmingdale and adding a third track to a 10-mile stretch of the main line from Floral Park to Hicksville—now a major choke point on the second largest commuter railroad in the United States—the region’s employers would have increased access to half a million potential workers in Nassau and Suffolk, unreliable service would vastly improve on the Ronkonkoma line, home values would rise near the stations, property tax pressure on individual residents might ease up and the overall economy would boom. Plus, young people who’ve fled Long Island for Brooklyn and points west might be tempted to move back if developers provided affordable housing within walking distance of the trains.

“We prefer to think of it as Long Island’s ‘fast track,’” said Golob, referring to the line upgrades. “This way we can catch up to our neighbors…. We have the potential to outpace them, but we’ve got to get moving fast.”

LIRR president Helena Williams, who spoke at a panel discussion after the Index presentation, said that restoring service in 2012 to the Port Washington line following drastic cuts previously imposed by the MTA’s budget problems “paid for itself” with increased ridership because those commuters could resume catching a train every half hour instead of once an hour. With the upgrades to the railroad, frequency up and down the line would increase, and the economy would benefit.

Left unanswered—for now—is where the money to finance the upgrades would come from. The East Side Access project alone costs some $8.2 billion, and New York State is rolling in debt. But the people behind the Index hope they can start moving the conversation in the right direction.