Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that for Christians marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day liturgical period of prayer and fasting in preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.

According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this 40-day period.

Christian churches have different traditions for Ash Wednesday and Lent, but most have special services scheduled today in observance of the beginning of the Lenten season. Many churches distribute ashes to their congregants, marking their foreheads with the ashes as a sign of mourning and repentance.

Local Ash Wednesday services:

St. Isidore R.C. Church, 622 Pulaski St., Riverhead
Ashes will be distributed at an English Mass at 7 a.m, a Polish Mass at 7 p.m. and at prayer services at 12:30, 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.

St. John the Evangelist R.C. Church, 546 St. John's Place, Riverhead
Ashes will be distributed at Masses at 7:15 and 9 a.m., 12 noon, 6:30 p.m. and (Spanish Mass) 7:30 p.m.

St. John the Baptist R.C. Church, 1488 North Country Road, Wading River
Ashes will be distributed at morning Mass, 8:30 a.m.; prayer service, 12 noon; family prayer service, 4:30 p.m.; evening Mass, 7:30 p.m.

United Church of Christ parishes (Baiting Hollow Congregational Church, Old Steeple Church, First Parish Church and First Congregational Church of Riverhead) combined Ash Wednesday service at Baiting Hollow Church, 7 p.m.

The Riverhead Blue Waves scored a decisive first-round victory in the Suffolk AA girls basketball tournament Monday night, defeating Patchogue-Medford 67-46.

The Waves didn't let the second-quarter ejection, on a technical violation, of head coach Dave Spinella rattle them. They took control of the game and by the end of the half held an 18-point lead. They never looked back.

Jayln Brown scored her 1,000th career point in tonight's game, putting a total of 16 on the board.

Melodee Riley led the Waves with 23 points, followed by Brown and Kaila Nazario, who had 13.
Shanice Allen scored 10 points.

"We played together as a team tonight," Brown said after the game. "That's what made the difference. And we used our speed to our advantage."

The senior said she wasn't aware she was closing in on 1,000 points. "I knew I was close, but I didn't know I was that close," she said.

Spinella's ejection on a technical — a first for him — took everyone by surprise. The referee said the coach was coming out of the coach's box. Assistant coach Jim Janecek said he and coach Gerald Weisman "had a quick pow-pow" after the head coach got sent out. They regrouped and moved on, he said.

With tonight's victory, the Waves (18-1)  advance to the quarterfinals. They host No. 6 Ward Melville (12-5) Wednesday at 5 p.m. Ward Melville beat Kings Park tonight, 53-39.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl

Suffolk County Transit is planning systemwide bus fare hikes effective May 1.

One-way full fares on the East End's S92 and 10C bus lines will rise to $2.25 from $2.

One-way full fares on all other lines will rise to $2 from $1.50.

The higher fares on the two East End lines funds bus service on Sundays during the summer, a change implemented in 2011 under a measure sponsored by county legislators Edward Romaine and Jay Schneiderman, who said Sunday service was essential for the work force in the East End's  agricultural and tourism-based economy.

The S92 line is Suffolk's busiest route, according to Schneiderman.

Fares on the S92 and !0C lines increased to $2 from $1.50 last year to fund the Sunday service. It was the first bus fare increase in Suffolk County in 19 years.

The transit division of the Suffolk County Department of Public Works will hold two hearings on the proposed fare hikes. The first will be on Wednesday, Feb. 29 from 3 to 7 p.m. at 100 Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge.

The second hearing will be on Thursday, March 1 from 3 to 7 p.m. in the Maxine Postal legislative auditorium at the Riverhead County Center.

Student fares will rise to $1.25 from $1, and fares for seniors, persons with disabilities and Medicare card holders will rise to 75 cents from 50 cents.

Transfer fares will remain at 25 cents.

People who wish to speak at either hearing may preregister in advance by writing to Garry Lenberger, acting director of transportation operations, Suffolk County DPW, Division of Transportation, 335 Yaphank Avenue, Yaphank, New York 11980-9744. Preregistration is not required, but people who have preregistered will be heard first, according to the department's public notice.

Oral comments are limited to five minutes at the hearings. Written testimony may be submitted to Lenberger both before and up to five days following the hearing.

Government offices, banks and the stock exchanges are all closed today, Monday, Feb. 20, in observance of the birthday of our nation's first president, George Washington.

The post office is closed and there is no mail delivery today.

There is municipal trash pickup today in Riverhead's municipal garbage districts.

The LIRR is running on a weekend schedule today, which means there is no service on the main line to Riverhead and Greenport. The LIRR is running an additional westbound train from Ronknonkoma to Penn Station at 7:21 a.m. and two additional eastbound trains to Ronkonkoma, at 4:52 and 6:04 p.m.

Suffolk Transit buses are running on a regular weekday schedule on the S92, S62, S90 and S66 lines, but on a Saturday schedule on the 8A, S58 lines.

Riverhead schools are closed today. Today is also the first day of winter recess; schools are closed all week.

There are no day or evening classes at Suffolk County Community College today.

If you're traveling to NYC, subways are operating on a Saturday schedule and buses are operating on a Sunday schedule today. Alternate side of the street parking is suspended today, but metered parking is in effect.

What are we celebrating today?

Today is the official observance of Washington's birthday. "Presidents' Day" is not a federal designation, but its use became common as a result of advertising campaigns that began using the term in the 1980s.

The birthday of Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) was never made a federal holiday, though it is observed by some states, including New York.

Though Washington was born on Feb. 22, the observance of Washington's birthday as a federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which took effect in 1971.

Some proponents of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act wanted to rename Washington's Birthday "Presidents Day," to celebrate the birth of both Washington and Lincoln, but the bill passed by the 90th Congress in 1968 kept the name Washington's Birthday for the holiday we celebrate today, the third Monday in February.

The 'father of our country'

Washington was born in Colonial Virginia on Feb. 22, 1732 (Feb. 11, 1731 under the old style calendar in use until 1750 in England and its colonies)  the son of a wealthy tobacco plantation owner. He became a surveyor and soldier and rose to the rank of a senior officer in the colonial army during the French and Indian War. In 1775, Washington was appointed by the Second Continental Congress to lead the Continental Army as commander-in-chief in the American Revolution, from 1775 to 1783. After the American victory, Washington presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787 and became the first president by unanimous choice of the Electoral College in 1789.

Washington defined the office of the presidency and oversaw the establishment of a strong national government. Many of the customs he put into place as president — using a cabinet system, delivering  an inaugural address — are followed to this day. His refusal to run for a third term of office was a custom followed by all his successors until Franklin Roosevelt ran and was elected to a third term in 1940.

Washington is known as the "father of our country" because of his central role in its birth, in establishing its structure of governance and in shaping the office of the chief executive.

He served as president from 1789 until 1797. He died of a throat infection in 1799 at the age of 67.

Click here for more information about Washington.