Jan. 21, 2022 By Michael Dorgan Queens Council Member Vickie Paladino took her seat at City Hall Thursday after receiving a waiver from the city council’s vaccination mandate. Paladino, who is an outspoken critic of vaccine mandates, was given an exemption from the rule and provided a negative coronavirus test to enter the council chamber,… Read more »
Jan. 19, 2022 By Michael Dorgan (updated) A group of community and business leaders from Flushing announced Tuesday that more than 54,000 residents have signed a petition opposing the construction of a 90-unit homeless housing development on College Point Boulevard. The petition, launched last month, seeks to stop the proposed seven-story building from being constructed… Read more »
Jan. 18, 2022 By Michael Dorgan A Forest Hills man has been arrested for repeatedly trafficking a 13-year-old boy to Queens and sexually assaulting him after they met online. Manuel Moretti, 39, was indicted in Brooklyn federal court Thursday on sex-trafficking charges after he allegedly lured the boy across state lines to his apartment on… Read more »
Jan. 14, 2022 By Michael Dorgan Queens Borough President Donovan Richards called for the establishment of a new office Thursday to centrally manage the city’s overall response to COVID-19. Richards proposed creating the “NYC Office of COVID Recovery” tasked with streamlining and improving the city’s COVID-19-related services. He said the office was needed to cut… Read more »
Jan. 13, 2022 By Michael Dorgan A brazen arsonist threw a Molotov cocktail into an apartment in Flushing early Wednesday causing a 2- alarm fire that left four people injured – in what cops say was a drug-related incident. The suspect climbed the fire escape of a residential building, located at 34-15 Parsons Blvd., at… Read more »
Jan. 13, 2022 By Michael Dorgan A 75-year-old woman was left with head injuries after being randomly attacked in broad daylight on a Forest Hills street Wednesday. The senior was in front of Hair Cutters, located at 116-23 Queens Blvd., at around 1:30 p.m. when a man approached her and tackled her to the concrete… Read more »
Jan. 12, 2022 By Michael Dorgan The MTA has been sent more than $6 billion in COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday. The bailout, a near $6.2 billion lump sum, is the largest one-time payment ever awarded by the Federal Transit Administration, an agency within the U.S. Dept…. Read more »
Jan. 12, 2022 By Michael Dorgan Nearly $325,000 in funding to support senior services in Queens has been restored, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced Monday. The funding, which had been eliminated from last year’s city budget, will be allocated to senior centers and home care service providers in Queens. The funds are being allocated… Read more »
Jan. 11, 2022 By Michael Dorgan A Rockaway Beach senior — who referred to former President Donald Trump as “Hitler” — was arrested by federal officials Monday for allegedly threatening to kill the ex-Commander-in-Chief, according to a criminal complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court. In the complaint, federal authorities accused Thomas Welnicki, 72, of calling… Read more »
Jan. 10, 2022 By Michael Dorgan Two million Queens residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Borough President Donovan Richards announced Saturday. Richards, citing Dept. of Health data, said Queens was the first borough in the city to reach the milestone for one shot being administered. “To all our neighbors who… Read more »