Around the State

Mar 19, 08:41 PM

Current Headlines: >YouTube will issue its own video awards

NEW YORK (AP) -- The video-sharing Web site called YouTube plans to hold the first YouTube Video Awards to recognize the best user- created videos of 2006. The awards will be handed out in seven categories: most creative, most inspirational, best series, best comedy, musician of the year, best commentary and "most adorable video ever."

The nominees, picked by YouTube, are compiled at www.youtube.com/ YTAwards. YouTube community members can vote on their favorites beginning today and concluding on Friday. The winners, as chosen by the community, will be announced next Sunday. Each will be prominently featured on YouTube and receive a trophy, the design of which will be revealed later.

Series such as Lonelygirl15's and "Ask a Ninja" have been nominated. The power pop band OK Go is perhaps the most professional of the nominees; it's nominated for the treadmill-choreographed music video, "Here It Goes Again."

Whether the YouTube Video Awards becomes a permanent, annual affair is likely, Byrne said, but it will depend on how the first awards are received.

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>Wounded officer's wife seeks mayor's office

GARDEN CITY (AP) -- For more than two decades, Patti McDonald stood as the persevering, loyal and stoic companion of her husband - - a New York City police officer paralyzed in 1986 by a teenage gunman's bullet in Central Park.

On Tuesday, McDonald hopes to create some headlines of her own. She's running against Mayor Anthony Panzarella in the village of Malverne, a one-square-mile suburban community of 9,000.

McDonald, a member of the village board for eight years, said her inspiration to serve in public office comes from her father, John Norris, a board member for 17 years. She filled the seat after his death.

Her husband Steven was left paralyzed on July 12, 1986, when he was shot by a teenager suspected of stealing a bicycle. He subsequently issued a public statement forgiving the shooter, and became an internationally known voice for peace.

McDonald's opponent, Panzarella, is not surrendering the mayor's job without a fight. The past president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association points to his experience as a reason for his re-election.

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>Cabbie and passenger survive flip of taxi

ISLANDIA (AP) -- If there were an Olympic event for taxis, this cab probably would win.

A cab hit some ice on the Long Island Expressway, flew over a guardrail, flipped over, dropped 30 feet to the highway below -- and landed upright. The driver and the passenger weren't seriously hurt.

Passenger Daniel Kocis, 55, told Newsday he didn't immediately understand what he had just gone through. He said he thought he was still on the expressway after the car came to a rest on the Veterans Memorial Highway around 8 a.m. Saturday.

Kocis, who had been picked up by driver Victor Frank at John F. Kennedy Airport, kicked open the door of the cab and freed himself. Frank was freed with the help of rescue machinery, police said.

Both men were taken to a hospital, where Kocis was treated and discharged and Frank, 40, was admitted in stable condition.

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