The unfolding story about the mistaken-identity, fatal police shooting in Harlem couldn’t be more sorrowful, or more familiar. We wrote about it on the Opinion page today. Obviously, there are many parallels between the death of NYPD Police Officer Omar J. Edwards, 25, and the death of our own Christopher Ridley, the Mount Vernon police detective who was also shot dead by brother police officers,  in White Plains in January 2008. Both officers were young, black, in plainclothes and wielding their weapons, when they were mistaken for perpetrators.

I haven’t gotten to today’s headlines yet, but from all appearances yesterday, it seemed that lots of community leaders and politicians, from Al Sharpton to Mayor Bloomberg, were saying helpful things. Sharpton was appropriately curious about the facts—who did and said what? were policies followed? etc.—but called for calm. He did the same in the tense aftermath of the Ridley shooting, even when others recklessly deemed the shooting an “execution.”

Bloomberg, mindful of the racial dynamics—Edwards is black and the shooting officer white—reached out to community leaders to express his sorrow and concern, and pledged to get to the bottom of the matter. That’s the best you can hope for in these cases. And many of Edwards’ colleagues had positive things to say about the officers, describing him as one who sought to build bridges in communities. An big loss, in ways too numerous to count.

I wrote about New York City’s experience in these so-called “confrontation situation” shootings involving plainclothes police and other officers, in the context of the Ridley shooting. You might find it helpful in understanding some of the issues in the Edwards case. Here’s the link.

Students from A. MacArthur Barr Middle School in Nanuet are heading home from Boston right now, and they certainly deserve a very boring, uneventful ride home.

Yesterday morning, middle schoolers, chaperones and the driver kept their cool as a coach bus carrying them to an overnighter in Boston burst into flames. (See story, photos and video here and check out the photos, taken as the bus burned on the shoulder near Exit 2 of Interstate 684 in Armonk. Cutline information below.)

Everyone got off the bus safely before the flames really started, witnesses said. Items were lost, with some suitcases apparently damaged. Items can be replaced (they sell toothbrushes in Boston, too). Everyone kept their wits about them, a pretty remarkable feat.

The 40 or so seventh-graders stood along I-684 for several hours until the next bus came so they could continue their trip. But continue they did. The Boston trip is an annual tradition at the school.

In the age of text-messaging and picture phones, parents got an upclose look at what the kids were experiencing — video sent via phone showed the large bus engulfed in flames, burned down to its metal bones. Wonder how many kids were saying, “watch my mom freak out.”

They are due back at the school this evening. Wonder, in 30 years, if these kids will remember what they learned on the Boston trip, beyond how to evacuate a bus quickly, and why those fire drills are important, after all.

PHOTOS: At left, a contributed photo by Amy Cargain of Somers showing the bus on fire on the shoulder of Interstate 684 in Armonk. That bus was carrying 40 MacArthur Barr Middle School 7th-graders to Boston. They evacuated just before it burst into flames. At right, a photo by Journal News/LoHud staffer Christine PIzzuti shows the remnants of the burned bus.

USA Today’s lead story today basically tells us that, just by being on the planet last year, each of us in taxpaying households went into debt $55,000. That was just in 2008. It is all due to “an explosion of federal borrowing during the recession,’’ the paper reported, “plus an aging population driving up the costs of Medicare and Social Security.’’

Here’s the real stinger: According to the newspaper’s analysis, using federal data, our federal obligations are $546,668 per household as of last year. “That’s quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other debt combined,’’ USA Today reports.

You can read the whole story at http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-05-28-debt_N.htm

It gets into more detail, but here’s a warning: When the word “trillion’’ starts to appear, don’t be too hard on yourself if you find your eyes wobbling and you start to rock in your chair trying to imagine what the following means in “real life” — or at least to your life: “The government took on $6.8 trillion in new obligations in 2008, pushing the total owed to a record $63.8 trillion.’’

Trillions? Sheesh. I’ve gotten proud of myself for getting my mind wrapped around the concept of a billion. Like, as our paper reported today on its page one that the assets of former North Salem Supervisor Paul Greenwood — who is facing felony charges related to massive fraud — have been traced and total $893 million.

See? $893 million. Got it. Almost a billion dollars. Wow.

But trillions? That must be something like the “gazillions’’ we used to cite as kids, when we thought we had too many chores to do.

Meanwhile, all the big money-watchers — Forbes, CNN, Money magazine —  are reporting that the average individual’s credit card debt is a lot more than the $8,000 figure that was thrown about for a while; it’s now closer to $11,000 each.

Of course that, and higher amounts, need to be paid off as steadily as we can. And we have to stop charging so much.

After all, there is that $546,668 in federal obligations to face.

Here on the Editorial Board, our school election season ends the day before Election Day; this year, that was May 19, last Tuesday. That’s because our views on whom we endorsed in contested school board races are published in a wrap-up the day before the ballot-casting to remind voters to do two things: 1) Vote on candidates for their boards of education and on proposed school budgets, in this case for the 2009-10 school year, and on an assortment of propositions; and 2) To share our views on those candidates we thought would make the best choices for board trustees in the races that are contested.

This year, of the 53 school districts in the Lower Hudson Valley that have elected school boards and public budget votes — 45 in Westchester and Putnam, and eight in Rockland — 31 districts had contests.

People sometimes needle us when it’s all over about how “wrong’’ we were — voters ignore our recommendations and “our guys’’ don’t always win.

Truth is, our job is not to call the winners — I think we could do a pretty good job at that — but it is to endorse candidates we think would do the better job among the pack running in each school district. Sometimes that means choosing among a slew of good candidates; other times, it means holding our noses and recommending the best among the weak. And, yes, the weak can include incumbents who really only have their familiarity with their districts going for them while their opponents are too ill-informed to recommend themselves for serious consideration.

That said, there were many solid school board candidates who ran this year for an often thankless — and by the way, unpaid — job.

The results? They are available on this Web site under www.lohud.com/schoolelections. Only two of the budgets “went down,’’ with voters saying “No’’ in Mahopac and Clarkstown.

As for candidates, well, we endorsed 71 of them. Of those, 16 lost out to other candidates. That’s a more than 77 percent success rate — high, for us, in any year.

Apparently, there are still some hard feelings regarding this week’s school elections, judging by two letters I received. One was from a woman who claimed that on Election Day (I am withholding the name of the school district): “. . . one of the candidates for School Board was out there at a polling location, pumping hands, asking for support and thanking people for their votes as they left. I hear that the candidate’s campaign material was even on display at the PTA’s Children’s Voting program. Was it illegal? Inappropriate? Unethical? Do the opposing candidates wonder if they should have been out there, too? Did it actually affect the vote? I don’t have the answers to these questions. But I would certainly appreciate it if the current School Board would see to it that rules are laid out and enforced in the future. . .”

One would hope that the writer reported such behavior to the appropriate people to prevent any possible wrongdoing in the future. But her implication that an unnamed candidate stepped out of bounds is inappropriate for the Opinion Page – by not naming the candidate in question, she unfairly casts suspicion on all the candidates in that race. And had she named the candidate, we would not be able to use the letter because it would just be hearsay. (I did end up sending it to our News department, but, again, unless the writer made a formal complaint to a governing body, there really isn’t anything we can do to corroborate her charges.)

As for the second letter, I don’t have to withhold the name of the district becuase the writer did not provide one. Nor did he give us his address, hometown or phone number (he did sign a name to it, though). Here, verbatim, is what he had to say: “To all those (including myself) who showed no reaction to a woman shouting heil hitler and givinge a salute to a jewish guy after she voted. We should be ashamed of ourselves. With Memorial Day approaching I wonder what my granddad would say to all us gutless folks.” Well, OK, if such an incident did take place as the writer described, then it’s a shame that no one called out the woman for her actions. But what is the purpose of sending us this accusatory letter without even naming the district in question? We’re certainly not going to publish it; nor does it have any news value without us knowing where this took place. (And even if we did know, again, unless some kind of formal complaint was filed, it’s just hearsay.) If this writer wants to assuage his guilt over being “gutless,” maybe he can join or start a group to address the tensions that apparently exist among this district’s various members – this letter serves no purpose at all.

Spc. Zachary Boyd is famous. Even if you don’t know his name, or his face, you’ve seen him, or more specifically, his skivvies.

He’s the young soldier whose picture appeared last week fighting the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan. He’s the one on the left — in his pink boxers.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates last night added to his celebrity by lauding his efforts.

“Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage …. I can only wonder about the impact on the Taliban. Just imagine seeing that — a guy in pink boxers and flip-flops has you in his crosshairs.”

I heard a radio interview with his mom a few days ago in which she explained the origins of the pink boxer shorts with “I Love New York” logos all over them. She said he purchased them when his flight was delayed in New York, during his leave home in March,  and that he was motivated to sign up for the Army by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was a lovely interview, his mom so clearly bemused by his instant celebrity, overwhelmed by the attention, and just plain proud of her son.

Of course, being a mom, she added in an interview with the family’s hometown paper, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, these wonderfully embarrassing quotes:

“I was always telling him to pull up his pants … I would give him a wedgie to make him do it. As a mom, you want your son to look nice.

Thanks, Mom!

AP Photo/David Guttenfelder: Soldiers from the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry take defensive positions on May 11 at firebase Restrepo after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan’s Kunar Province. Spc. Zachery Boyd of Fort Worth, Texas, far left was wearing “I love NY” boxer shorts after rushing from his sleeping quarters to join his fellow platoon members. From far right is Spc. Cecil Montgomery of Many, La. and Jordan Custer of Spokan, Wash, center.

An alleged plot by four Newburgh men to blow up a Jewish temple and shoot down military planes at Stewart Airport has refocused attention in the Lower Hudson Valley on national security and terrorisn, especially in light of the proposed closing of Guantanamo’s prison. Here’s what one reader had to say:

Our country is infested with terrorists and those non-believers had better wake up. … Citizens of the United States had better stop procrastinating that we are above calling a terrorist a terrorist and must call them enemy combatants. … Are the citizens of these United States so naive they do not realize what and who they are dealing with?

While another reader said:

I am glad they were caught, but if they believed they could get C-4 explosives and Stinger missiles, they must have had a reason. And if so, it’s scary to think there are networks out there where they could procure things like that.

Others aren’t convinced that the four men behind the plot would have been able to carry it out. This is what one person had to say:

Calm down people. Calm down. If the story is accurate, three idiots were caught planning something they seem too stupid to pull off.

Another person wrote:

This initially strikes me as more of ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight’ than a serious terrorist cell.

People are also praising the law enforcement agencies involved in foiling the plot:

Great job by the Feds and local cops,

one reader wrote, while another added:

I hope these pieces of trash spend the rest of their lives in prison. Good job to the Feds and cops that worked on this!

I heard a little voice coming from the ladies room in our West Nyack office, “13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19…”

A little girl, probably a kindergartner, in her smart school uniform, was at the sink, washing her hands diligently (yes, she missed “16.” But she was concentrating, very, very hard.) Her mom was trying to rush her to a medical appointment, but the little girl wouldn’t budge. She informed her mother, “You have to count to 30 when you wash your hands.”

The Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and other medical groups say proper handwashing is a key preventative in spreading swine flu and  other viruses. Recall the MRSA skin infection fears last school year that included notes sent home reminding kids to wash hands, and student athletes to shower regularly and wash their uniforms? Soap and water matter.

That lesson remains important.

Swine flu (or H1N1 influenza, to be more accurate) has been detected in Rockland. Two preschoolers are on the mend, Rockland County Health Commissioner Joan Facelle told staff writer Jane Lerner today (see story here). Westchester has 18 confirmed cases and Putnam has none. New York state has 299 confirmed cases.

FILE PHOTO: Rachel Lauzer, a fourth grader at Daniel Webster Elementary School in New Rochelle washes up after art class Nov. 15, 2007. Students made hand washing posters reminding people to wash their hands to prevent the spread of MRSA.

Tune into Wednesday’s (5/20)  LIVE Editorial Spotlight interview at 11 a.m. with Dennis Hanratty, executive director of Mount Vernon United Tenants; Westchester County Legislators Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, and Thomas Abinanti, D-Greenburgh; and attorney Dorothy Finger, representing the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester, to discuss a proposal banning housing discrimination based on the source of a person’s income. Go to lohud.com/editorialspotlight.

Taxpayers go to the polls today to decide the fate of school budgets and school board races.
On our forums, the debate still rages about these proposed spending plans for the 2009-2010 school year, most of which contain the smallest increases in recent history. The majority of readers commenting don’t think the district administrators and boards of education went far enough in making cuts. Rather than flat or slightly increased spending, they say there should have been cuts in recognition of how many homeowners are struggling in the recession.

School budgets, over the last decade, have run amok and have caused havoc on families through out the region. Somehow schools think they are immune to the economic reality of the day. I suggest we all provide them with a healthy dose of reality and vote these budgets down,

reads one comment that is applauded and echoed many more times.

We live in Mahopac and with an approximate 4 percent increase — way above even the most wealthy districts — and knowing friends that are out of work, we will be voting ‘No’. Enough is enough already,

wrote another, while a third reader added:

Voting no is my way of telling them that it is not business as usual anymore. The tax well in my front yard has run dry.

Much of the anger is directed at personnel costs — the salaries and benefits of administrators and teachers. People are talking about how they don’t think school officials have been skillful negotiators when it comes to the collective bargaining talks and as a result, taxpayers are footing the bill for some generous packages.

I want to know why the teachers are getting raises or even cost of living increases when many of us didn’t get anything this year. I know people who have lost their jobs, had their time cut, or even had their pay cut. Usually I am supportive of teachers but in this case I’m not.

Check back on lohud.com later today for updates on the election and budget vote results and tomorrow for reaction from residents in the districts.