A lawsuit against the MTA is about to go to trial surrounding the rape of a woman on a G train platform in Queens three years ago. And the victim, now 25, told the Daily News this weekend that she forgives her attacker ("I know he was sick in the head"), but not the token booth clerk at the 21st Street station, "I can't forgive those five seconds when I stared into his eyes, screaming......

The police are searching for a gunman who fatally shot 56-year-old John Bazemore. Bazemore was found in his Jeep in the Jamaica section of Queens on Saturday night, and the Daily News reports that he may have been "trying to flee from robbers when he was shot, sending his 1994 Jeep careening into several parked cars." The NY Times adds that Bazemore, a furniture mover who had two children and five grandchildren, may have been......

About 60 tenants at 8-29 Astoria Boulevard in Queens were evacuated after the city found their building full of safety violations. A tenant had initially complained about bedbugs, but then the Department of Buildings found (report) inadequate sprinkler system, illegal electrical and gas work, illegal plumbing, no fire escapes, and no emergency exits (gas and water were shut off) . WABC 7 spoke to residents who said the landlord for the building--which was zoned only......

Design by Grimshaw Billings Jackson with Systra/HNTB, photo courtesy MTA/Rob Wilson.. It's prototypelooza today! First ten possible prototype back racks of the future were revealed, and now the MTA has upstaged the DOT with their own street furniture prototype, installed in front of 151 West Broadway between Worth and Thomas Streets. The second of three multi-purpose prototypes, it's designed to prevent subway flooding while ventilating the subway system AND providing benches to sit on AND......

Those crafty stereo bike kids are back, and causing some noise complaints. The Queens Courier reports that "at the 106th Precinct’s last community council meeting, there were 'numerous people complaining about those bikes traveling up and down the street creating unnecessary noise,'" according to Officer Kenneth Zorn. Fingers point at the Future Shock crew, comprised of teenagers who are staking claim on the “stereo bike” concept they brought over from their homeland of Trinidad. The......

The Bloomberg administration's plan to transform the industrial Willets Point section of Queens was approved by the City Council's planning committee. But, the Sun points out, "the council vote will be its biggest hurdle." The $3 billion to make way for a hotel, convention center, offices, and stores, is supposed to generate 5,300 jobs and billions in economic activity, but about 200 small business owners, who would be forced out, have been bitterly opposing the......

Worst boyfriend of the week: A Queens man was arrested after shooting his girlfriend, who had been sleeping in bed in their Queens apartment. Police suspect Larry Smith had been cleaning his (illegal) gun when it went off and shot Felicia Crawford in the chest. A police source tells the Post that Smith had the firearm in bed because "He heard a noise and he got up to get his gun." Crawford is in stable......

Last night, a reader told us, "A friend who was on 111st & Jamaica Ave... saw a bull running on the streets chased by NYPD." Well, it was actually a cow (Newsmap called it a "baby cow"), and the Post reports, "The brazen bovine first showed herself on Atlantic Avenue in Woodhaven, Queens, being chased by an urban cowboy - who disappeared along with the animal before cops arrived" around 9 a.m. Then, at 10......

A 12-year-old girl suffered a brain hemorrhage and other injuries after being hit by a black Nissan while crossing the street to school in South Ozone Park, Queens. Nisha Chowdhry and her friend had been dropped off by Nisha's father in the middle of Rockaway Boulevard. The two girls decided to cross in the middle of the street, managing to pass after a bus, but both were hit by the Nissan. Surveillance video shows the......

James (pictured), in Prospect Heights, specializes in farm-fresh French-American cuisine. It's said that chef James Calvert once catered a nightmarish photo shoot for the demanding Britney Spears, who dismissed his buffet and demanded BLTs. She then sent those back, insisting upon BLTs sans mayo. Irrevocably scarred, Calvert went on to open what Frank Bruni at the Times describes as "the kind of modest, warm refuge produced by a chef who wants to simplify things, to......

Two children are recovering from gunshot wounds after being hit by stray bullets during separate incidents Saturday night. On President Street in Crown Heights, 10-year-old Denia Kearse (pictured) was enjoying a block party when shots rang out around 8 p.m. Her aunt tells channel 7, "Everybody heard pop, pop, pop, and it sounded like it was blocks away. And then, the next thing you know, my niece is bleeding." The stray bullet tore across her......

Late last night, livery cab driver Winston Frank was killed in a hit-and-run that police believe was preceded by a robbery. Frank, apparently an unlicensed driver, had picked up a fare in Ozone Park. While driving, police think he argued with female passenger in the front seat--and the woman pushed him out of the car. Halfway out of the car by his seat belt, Frank was then struck by a passing car; a witness told......

Damn teenagers. For years now, Astoria residents have been living in fear of rock-throwing punks who climb onto Amtrak’s railbed along the Hell Gate trestle and toss projectiles at their houses, cars and yards. Locals like Loretta Csikortos place the blame squarely at the foot of Amtrak, who she thinks should pay for repairs to her son’s Ford Mustang, which has a shattered windshield and dented trunk. Residents are calling on Amtrak to beef up......

If you watch just one Community Board Meeting video this summer, make it this one. Willets Point property owners who've been passionately protesting Mayor Bloomberg's controversial $3 billion plan to rezone the area (to make way for a hotel, convention center, offices and retail stores) have put together this video showing how the sausage gets made over at Community Board 7. Their gripping featurette focuses in on a contentious committee meeting that yielded a yes......

The Queens DA's office revealed a 19-year-old Queens resident hired as a contract employee at the U.S. Open was charged with falsely reporting an incident--actually three bomb threats. Apparently Mehmet Kadayifci, per WNBC, "pretended to be hearing impaired and used a special Web site to type three bogus claims between midnight and 1 a.m. about a bomb being inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium." (The website is to help deaf people make phone calls.) One note......

The police say a man fatally stabbed his roommate in Flushing, Queens. WABC 7 reports, "The 47-year-old suspect and his roommate had a dispute inside their Sanford Avenue apartment building just before midnight. " Apparently the suspected killer stabbed the victim once in their building's lobby. He later called 911 and waited for the police to arrive, and cops found the roommate's body in a pool of blood.......

One amateur Queens farmer has found herself standing in the shadows of a 6-foot-tall zucchini! The Daily News reports on Apollonia Castitlione's green thumb, and says she only used fertilizer and water to grow the massive fruit. She told the paper, "I've had my vegetable garden for 26 years, but I never saw anything so spectacular"...and it's still growing! At this rate, it could take out the world record holder, a 7-foot, 10-inch zucchini from......

The retired detective accused of being the "Bling Bandit" is awaiting a psychiatric evaluation, but Athelson Kelson's mother seems to confirm the "suicide-by-cop" hypothesis. Referring to her son's terminal liver cancer, she told the Daily News, "He just didn't want to live like that. He just wanted to die." Kelson allegedly held up banks in Queens and on Long Island, while making no attempt to disguise himself or to wear gloves--and wearing flashy jewelry, including......

The Queens DA's office says an Astoria landlord apparently stole his tenant's identity in order to rack up $50,000 worth of purchases. The Daily News says Jorgji Glekas went to the police after getting bills from credit card "accounts she hadn't opened - then grew suspicious when [landlord Phivos] Ioannou asked if she had received any mail that didn't belong to her." Ioannou used his tenant's name and Social security number to buy numerous items,......

Open up and say "awwww," the Queens Zoo has two new chocolate brown babydoll lambs! The impossibly adorable duo now reside in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, bringing the lamb population there to 18. The Queens Gazette reports that babydolls are the "oldest known purebred sheep in the world...an example of a breed that used to be very popular before the industrialization of livestock production caused it to become rare." No word on the twosomes names yet,......

Authorities have questioned a retired and respected NYPD detective of holding up banks in Queens and on Long Island. The suspect was dubbed the "Bling Bandit" by Newsday after surveillance footage showed "he repeatedly flashed an abundance of gold jewelry on both hands. " Athelson Kelson, a Vietnam veteran who worked on the Joint Terrorism task force, reportedly surrendered at a Queens precinct house last night, and Daily News sources say it seemed like he......

A man accused of stabbing his 21-year-old girlfriend to death over the weekend was arrested in Brownsville, Texas. U.S. Marshals had received information that 25-year-old Segundo Penafiel was on his way to Mexico, so they stopped and checked buses. Spokesman Deputy U.S. Marshal Alfredo Perez said, "Penafiel was the third person to walk off the bus, took one look at our Deputy U.S. Marshals and then tried to run away"--with Mexico just a few hundred......

Yesterday the HBO series Entourage, featuring friend of Gothamist Adrian Grenier, was filming in Queens (in the show, Vincent Chase & Co. are all childhood friends from the borough). Reportedly there was a neighborhood tot screaming and being calmed down by a PA, a slew of fans, a couple paparazzi, and Grenier was graciously giving the fans some face time. Even Kevin Connolly was on hand, despite police wanting to question him about a fight......

Early yesterday morning, an 18-year-old woman was attacked in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. WABC 7 reports the woman had been walking down a street when an man wielding a gun "took her to the back of a building where she was robbed and sexually assaulted." According to the Daily News, the victim ran back home and "hysterically pointed out her attacker to [her boyfriend] and his friends." The group tried to chase the......

Hey surfers and swimmers, this just in from the newswire: POSSIBLE SHARK SIGHTING*| ROCKAWAY BEACH| CLOSING SWIM AREAS AFTER REPORT FROM FISHERMAN FOR A SHARK SIGHTING. You've been warned, Queens. Though most sharks in the area turn out to be tiny, in 2005 Rockaway got a slightly larger creature. For those keeping track, the unofficial start to shark season this year was in July, when a 5-footer was spotted at Jones Beach. If this new......

Early this morning in East Elmhurst, Queens, a livery cab driver was shot in the face. WCBS 2 reports "someone posing as a customer hopped into a livery cab and shot the driver in the cheek." The victim, Jose Santacruz, works part-time for the Tulcingo car company (his other part-time job is as a cook in Manhattan) and managed to make calls over the radio for help. A dispatcher told the Daily News he sent......

Hey Queens residents, about that blackout two years ago that left thousands of you without electricity or hot water for nine sweltering days? Con Ed is sorry! Also, here's one hundred dollars off your next Con Ed bill. Happy? Don't do anything rash like switch to a different electric company, okay? (Hahaha!) City Room reports that Con Ed is finally sending out letters of apology for the disruption, which the company agreed to do as......

A toddler, who ACS had returned to his family in Queens just one month ago, was declared dead yesterday by authorities. It's unclear how Jaysha Brown died, but he was found with cuts, bruises, and bite marks as well as external injuries that appeared days old. The Daily News reports, "Investigators were trying to determine if the child was murdered - the victim of his mother, her boyfriend or, stunningly, his 5-year-old brother." The child's......

A corrections officer was seriously injured when a large tree fell on her yesterday afternoon. The incident occurred around 4:35 p.m., at Fresh Pond Road and Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens. It's believed the tree was rotting, so when a train on the elevated track rumbled by, it finally fell. According to WABC 7, witnesses (the street was closed for a street fair) "saw the thick trunk breaking off, hitting the woman, who had been......

Last summer a rented garage on the outskirts of Queens, NY served as a workshop for a group of Trinidad teens living in the borough. They worked day and night on "enormous stereo systems jury rigged onto ordinary bmx bikes," with Randall Stevens on hand to document the creations, from scraps to mobile dance parties. The group is touted as America's first stereobike crew; Stevens's short film called Made in Queens and you can watch......