Nov. 29: Crash Closes Turnpike, Community Budget Meeting and More

Avoid Hempstead Turnpike, especially near Westminster Road, this morning as a serious crash has shut down traffic in both directions. 

Patch will be following this story today. Plus, we'll be at tonight's community budget meeting.

Here are your top headlines for Nov. 29.

1. Turnpike Closed: Hempstead Turnpike in West Hempstead is a traffic nightmare this morning as police investigate an accident that occurred around 7 a.m. for the story.
2. Budget Forum: The West Hempstead school district invites all parents, residents, students, faculty and other community members to its first on the 2012-2013 budget tonight. The forum will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria. (A brief special business meeting of the school board will take place at 7:15 p.m. in the school's library.)
3. Holiday Events: This weekend is jam-packed with in Malverne and West Hempstead. Every day this week we'll preview one of them. On Monday, we showed you what to expect at this year's and today we'll tell you about a popular West Hempstead tradition that will be celebrated this Sunday. Don't miss it!
4. Tree Time: The Christmas trees are in at local merchants and today we'll help you find the perfect one and keep it alive for Dec. 25.
5. Restaurant Proposal: More than 50 Patch readers have voted in our poll to tell us what they think of the plans for this mostly vacant Malverne building. See what they had to say and tell us what you think .