Results tagged “Queens”

This is why we can't have nice things, or dogs in bars: An elderly Queens man says his sex life was ruined (and so was his knee) after he tripped over an "unleashed and unrestrained" dog in a Kew Gardens pub in April. Irving Grossman, 81, is suing Austin's Steak and Ale House, which is popular with gamblers because it has its own Off-Track Betting window. That's exactly where Grossman was headed on that fateful spring day when his luck took a turn for the worse.

Today is the 8th anniversary of Flight 587, the American Airlines flight that crashed into Belle Harbor, Queens in 2001. The flight had taken off from JFK Airport, on its way to the Dominican Republic; turbulent air led the co-pilot to use the rudder to keep the plane up, but the rudder broke off. All 260 people on board—251 passengers and 9 crew members—were killed, as were five people on the ground. There is a memorial service, with Mayor Bloomberg speaking, this morning.

Following a local's video footage of unsafe work going down at the spot that used to house St. Saviour's Church (it was relocated to another space), the Daily News takes a look at the mess in Maspeth. A chain link fence and partial stop work order have appeased the situation for now, but what's in store for the future?

Councilman-elect Dan Halloran (R-Bayside), a devout heathen, has apologized for comparing the role of animal sacrifice in his faith with Greek Orthodox Easter traditions. After coming under fire yesterday for linking the role of "blood sacrifice" in his religion, Theodism, with Easter lamb roasts, the incoming Councilman said he was sorry if he "inadvertently offended" any Greek Orthodox constituents in his Queens district.

After the Queens fire that killed three and injured four others in an illegally subdivided home, people are speaking out against illegal subdivisions. Queens Civic Congress president Corey Bearak told the NY Times, "It’s not just about taxing sewer lines and overcrowding in schools and parking. Ultimately, what happens with these fires, it manifests itself in people dying, and it’s absolutely outrageous." And some tenants have no idea they are living in dangerous apartments or rooms, with one saying "We didn’t know. Where are we going to go? It makes me angry." Landlords have said they bought the buildings with the subdivisions already in place.

Three Queens students were brought to the hospital yesterday after complaining of sickness right after they received the H1N1 vaccine. Within twenty minutes of getting vaccinated, one student of PS 124 in South Ozone Park "complained of a headache" says NY1, and overall 16 students said they felt ill. However, of the three girls brought to the hospital, one wasn't even given the vaccine in the first place! Maybe the dog ate her homework?

Last week, Councilman-elect Dan Halloran (R-Bayside) narrowly defeated a Democratic candidate in one of the nation's most liberal cities. Now comes the hard part: explaining his religious beliefs to the press. For the past two decades, the cop-turned-lawyer has been a devout believer in Theodism, a pre-Christian faith rooted in Celtic and Germanic tribal religions. "Understanding my theology is a little difficult for mainstreamers," admits Halloran, who serves as the "First Atheling," or king, of a local tribe of 120 followers called New Normandy.

As debate continues over whether a fire dispatcher's typo led to three deaths and four injuries in a Woodside, Queens home on Saturday, it turns out the basement apartments where the victims lived had been eyed by the Department of Buildings before. According to the Daily News, the two-family home "had been illegally converted into a five-family residence with another seven single rooms"—but when the DOB inspected it in 1990 and 2004, they found nothing wrong!

Firefighters responding to a deadly Woodside fire that killed three and injured four in an illegal basement apartment yesterday could have arrived sooner — had they not been routed to the wrong address first. A 911 operator mistakenly entered a two instead of a five and sent Engine Company 292 and Rescue Company 4 on a "wild goose chase" to 62nd Street instead of 65th Street, a delay that cost firefighters about 2 minutes and 30 seconds, according to the fire union.

Yesterday afternoon, NY1 reports, "Authorities received a 911 call about a stabbing and found the bodies of Paul Johnson, 47, and Regina Alston, 46," in a Jamaica, Queens home. "Alston had multiple stab wounds, while sources say Johnson hung himself and had cuts on his body." The Daily News says the couple's teen daughters were present at the time and one jumped out of a second story window to escape. The landlord said they were good tenants but recently Johnson moved out after a fight.

A fire claimed the lives of three men and critically injured four others when it ripped through an illegal basement apartment this morning in Woodside, Queens. The blaze broke out in the two-story home's improperly partitioned basement at around 2:45 am, according to the Daily News. When firefighters arrived at the "chaotic scene," they discovered "badly-burned victims" on the "front sidewalk, just inside the front door and beneath a basement window." The surviving victims were taken to the New York Hospital-Cornell Burn Center. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

The Queens woman found guilty of suffocating her abusive stepfather and cutting off his penis in 2007 was sentenced yesterday to five to 15 years in prison — the maximum sentence for the charge of second-degree manslaughter. Brigitte Harris, 29, was acquitted of murder charges last month, but found guilty of the lesser manslaughter charge after her lawyers argued she wasn't attempting to kill the victim, Eric Goodridge, but protect her nieces from a "pattern of repeated systemic sexual abuse" perpetrated against her since she was 3 years old.

Whenever there's a story about the site of the World's Fair you can be certain the words neglected and/or deteriorated will be used. Last year the city was criticized for not better preserving the 130' x 166' terrazzo replica of a Texaco New York State road map at the New York State Pavilion. The winter weather dislodged and even cracked panels after a decision not to protect it was made.

One day in September 2008, Queens High School student Stephen Cruz suffered a lacerated forehead when school safety agent Daniel O’Connell, without provocation, allegedly kicked open a restroom stall that Stephen was using. Cruz claims that after he tumbled to the floor bleeding from his head, O'Connell (whom the students called RoboCop) walked away saying, "That's life; it will stop bleeding." Typical robot.

A member of the notorious MS-13 gang told police that the gang's El Salvadorian leaders put a hit out on a federal agent meddling in the gang's NYC activities. Walter "Dukes" Torres was arrested along with four others for hassling passersby in Queens last month and said he was in New York "for the specific purpose of participating in the planning and execution of the murder plot...Gang members were trying to get their hands on a high-powered assault rifle, like an M-16. to penetrate the agent's bulletproof vest." Another gang member said bosses were "exceedingly angry" at the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Police arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with two rapes in the Rockaways last month. The Daily News reports that DNA evidence linked Malcolm Johnson to the crimes. He was charged with "rape, sexual assault, robbery, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon."

Queens has been long ignored by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, but the 160-year-old St. Saviour's in Maspeth has gotten a lot more attention than the likes of Jack Kerouac's old stomping grounds. In fact, Curbed recalls that at one point, "a deal was worked out to save the main church building and relocate it to a nearby cemetery, while the Parks Department works on a potential deal to acquire the land and turn it into a much-needed park." Here's a complete timeline of the saga.

A man between 30 and 40-years-old allegedly tried to abduct an 8-year-old boy in Astoria Wednesday morning and the police are on the search for him. Police said the man, who was wearing a beige baseball cap, gray hoodie, and a long gray overcoat, grabbed the boy by the wrist and pulled him along saying "Come go with me." The boy broke away from the man and ran crying for help; his mother tried to confront him but he got away. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or online.

Hooters has added insult to injury. If it isn’t painful enough to wear those tight, little, crotch-riding orange shorts, waitresses at the restaurant chain also have to dip into their paychecks to pay for the uniforms - which is illegal.

Things are not looking good for State Senator Hiram Monserrate. The NY Times reports that the Queens Democratic party is "expected to dump" him, after his misdemeanor conviction for reckless assaulting his girlfriend: "It is extremely rare for a party to seek to unseat one of its own incumbents, even those dogged by scandal."

An elderly Manhattan diamond merchant with business and health problems shot and killed his 78-year-old wife in their bed yesterday, and then fatally shot himself in the chest, according to investigators. Police found the couple in their Fresh Meadows home after co-workers at Green Bros. Jewelers reported that Morris Green, 76, hadn't showed up at his Fifth Avenue office. The jeweler's business had been hit hard by the economic downturn, and he faced crushing medical bills after a recent heart surgery. But at least one person who knew Green refused to believe it was suicide.

Two girls have died from a horrible van crash in St. Albans, Queens that occurred at 5 p.m. yesterday. Both were foster children: The first, a 15-year-old, died late Monday night, and the other, a 5-year-old died at 4:30 this morning. The Daily News reports that driver Shelia Bethea, 45, "crossed the double-yellow line on Dunkirk St. in Saint Albans while going between 60 and 70 miles an hour, slamming her minivan into another van."

An explosion rumbled through a Flushing, Queens neighborhood after a man was trying to empty out his propane tank. A neighbor said, "I felt the ground move. I thought it was a plane coming down. There was a big rumble...I was in my basement and still felt it. I ran outside and saw debris everywhere."

Ten years ago Demetrius Edwards pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old Brooklyn girl at gunpoint. According to the justice system, his debt to society has been repaid, so he was recently released from prison and moved into his parents' apartment, about 100 feet from the St. Raphael Elementary School on 37th Street in Queens. It's no surprise parents are panicking, but although Edwards is a sex offender with a record and a "Level Three" status—which means he's at "high risk to commit another sex crime"—nothing in the law prohibits him from living by the school.

Following the 40th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's death (which was yesterday), a fan of the author is speaking out again about the lack of recognition the beat gets in his one-time home borough of Queens.

Former Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, who resigned after being indicted on fraud charges for basically selling his influence for $1 million, actually racked in $2 million in bribes! Seminerio's trial is taking place, and audio of his bragging to informants was played. For instance, he'd steer state money to the Long Island Rail Road in exchange for jobs for friends: "Anytime that I would, ah, give them a $250,000 contribution or $500,000 for repair of the railroad, I need two jobs. Even if I didn't have anybody, then I find two people and get them jobs.

While some Brooklynites are lobbying to get trees removed from their neighborhood, Canadian street artist Poster Child is planting them around the city. There's already a dwarf pine in a long-retired newspaper dispenser on Bedford Avenue, and now he's gone and planted another in a telephone booth in Astoria. Personally, we'd like to see an entire greenhouse in one of the four remaining enclosed booths (as long as no one's using them anymore, that is). Challenge.

The latest Improv Everywhere mission brought the troupe to the Best Yet grocery store in Astoria, Queens to end fruit segregation... in musical form!

Finally deciding a lawsuit first filed in 2003, a federal jury has found Exxon Mobil liable for $104.7 million in compensatory damages for contaminating groundwater in NYC. The city had originally sought $250 million to cover construction of a treatment plant to purify the water in five wells in southeastern Queens. (The well water is used when the upstate reservoirs system is out of service during repairs, droughts and other emergencies.) The jury found Exxon Mobil guilty of failing to warn government agencies when it decided to add M.T.B.E. to gasoline. So what is M.T.B.E.?

Yesterday, hundreds of people gathered in College Point, Queens to protest the brutal attack that left a 49-year-old gay man clinging to life. Jack Price had been walking home on October 8 when he was savagely beaten—broken jaw, broken ribs, collapsed lung— by two men who called him gay slurs. Price's brother told the Daily News, "Nobody should have to worry about looking behind their backs. Parents have to teach their kids. They learn hatred and all that stuff at home."