Feb. 2: Judge Favors Firefighters, Hoops Coverage, Zoning Board Submissions Due

It’s Groundhog Day and we know at least this much: winter will definitely extend into this evening, as freezing rain is expected throughout the day. Otherwise, here’s what you need to know on Wednesday:

1. Patch will feature a story on a Nassau County Supreme Court judge who ruled that the City of Long Beach owes three former firefighters approximately $400,000 in disability payments for permanent injuries they suffered on the job.

2. Today is the deadline to submit packages for the Feb. 24 meeting of the city's Zoning Board of Appeals.

3. High school hoops fans, we’ve got games coverage! Return later for our stories on the Long Beach boys’ and girls’ basketball teams in their battles against Calhoun, one of which was a nail-bitter.

4. Wednesday is citywide recycling day, so put your cans, plastics and papers curbside.

5. Patch’s story “Four Arrested After Fracas in West End” and our video "Walking in the Path of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” have generated a considerable number of comments. We encourage Patch readers to weigh in and sound off in the comments sections of our stories and add to those robust debates.