A Queens man accused of raping his teenage girlfriend and the mother of his child allegedly stabbed her in a supermarket on Monday after being released on bond. 20-year-old Daniel Paguay reportedly dragged his ex-girlfriend into a Corona supermarket and "plunged a 10-inch blade into her back three times," the Daily News reports. Paguay, who also stabbed his 20-year-old cousin—who is now dating the 17-year-old victim—is being held without bond on charges of attempted murder and assault. The teenage victim is currently paralyzed from the waist down, and her mother Evelia Leon tells the paper that "She cannot speak or move. She can only sense you if you touch her hands." more ›

A pedestrian in the Bronx and bicyclist in Queens were victims of separate hit-and-run crashes over the weekend. In the Bronx, police quickly rounded up a suspect: Seth Johnson, 35, who was allegedly intoxicated at around 4:30 a.m. Sunday and fatally struck Thomas Riley, 23, who was trying to flag a cab on East Fordham Road near Bathgate Avenue. Police sources tell the Post that Johnson stopped and got out of his minivan after the accident, but when a witness tried to grab him, he drove off. more ›

A Queens bus driver was arraigned today on disturbing charges that he repeatedly sexually assaulted three elementary school girls between the ages 7 and 9. Nelson Painchault, 69, was charged with 18 counts of sexual abuse and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors allege that he continually touched the girls' private parts numerous times between Sept. 9 and Nov. 3. Painchault was fired from Adrilliz Transport this month after working as a private contractor for them for 11 years; his bus route this year included two elementary schools in Corona. He was held on $100,000 bail. more ›

Transit nerds, you are going to love this. The MTA has posted this time lapse video on YouTube, saying: "The Corona Subway Yard in Queens is home to the 7 subway fleet. Each weekday morning between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., 27 trains leave Corona Yard to provide service to the Flushing Line's 450,000 customers. The 27 trains join five already in service to provide 32 trains during the peak hours." more ›

A Queens landlord was brutally beaten with a metal pipe and held hostage by her tenant because he was short on rent, officials say. On Tuesday afternoon Yun Zhong Sun, 43, went to 22-year-old Jasuli Abdimutel's apartment to collect the rent. He welcomed her inside, but explained that he only had $340 in cash to give her. When Sun sat down on his bed to write out a receipt, Abdimutel allegedly "hit her over the head multiple times with a metal pipe, causing her to fall over on the bed and suffer multiple lacerations to the back of her head, forehead and her face," according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown [pdf]. more ›

Uh oh: As the city endures a sweltering heat wave, after 11:30 p.m. last night, power lines in the Corona section of Queens were sparking and on fire. WCBS 2 reports they were "falling down on parked cars and causing power outages" and "homes were evacuated in the middle of a swelteringly-hot night because of the dangerous fire conditions." more ›

According to NYPD statistics, Corona wins as drunkest neighborhood in New York, with 257 drunk driving arrests in the 115th Precinct so far this year. Elmhurst's 110th Precinct came in second place, with 167 arrests. Both neighborhoods are seriously under served by mass transit and yellow cabs, making DWIs all the more likely. more ›

A Queens spa owner was charged with second-degree assault, unlawfully practicing medicine and first-degree reckless endangerment for performing "butt enhancement" surgery. Barbara Nieto, owner of Perfect Image Stethics in Corona, performed the surgery on Augusta Velez. According to Queens DA Richard A. Brown [PDF], Nieto removed fat from Velez's stomach and re-injected it into her buttocks, and allegedly injected her with a pain relieving substance. more ›

A storefront pastor has been sentenced to two to six years in prison after swindling more than 100 immigrants with promises of U.S. visas and green cards. Gregorio Gonzalez, 57, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to collecting more than $840,000, mainly from Ecuadorian immigrants who visited him at the Iglesia Pentecostal Roca de Salvacion Eterna in Corona, according to 1010WINS. "He took our money," 27-year-old office cleaner Viviana Ordonez told the Daily News. "He took our trust in him. We right now have nothing. We don't have hope. We want justice." After Gonzalez gets out of prison, he will face deportation proceedings. more ›

Police were looking for the boyfriend of a Queens woman who was found stabbed to death in her Corona apartment on Tuesday—but he fled to his native Colombia. Now the sister of victim Diana Bolivar says she went to the police precinct on Sunday and Monday about her sister's disappearance, but police ignored her requests. A lawyer for Paolo Bolivar told the Daily News that "both times she visited the police station, cops failed to pursue her claim - even telling her once to have her husband 'beat up' [John] Perez." more ›

The Corona dad suspected of slitting the throats of his wife and 14-year-old son claims he has suffered from multiple personality disorder since childhood, and that his alter ego Roberto was "responsible for everything I did that was bad," suspect Otto Herrarte told investigators. more ›

After a Corona dad blamed his split personality for the gruesome murder of his wife and 14-year-old son, the victims' relatives have said they aren't buying the excuse. Friends and family of the victims claim that Otto Herrarte — who has blamed his alter ego Robert for slitting Edna and Daniel Herrarte's throats — is a domineering man with a fake defense. "It's just his way of trying to get out of it," said Edna's niece, who declined to give her name. "He tried to manipulate the situation." more ›

A Queens father is suspected of slitting the throats of his wife and son, then blaming the act on his alternate identity, according to cops. "Otto does not do these things, but Robert does," Otto Herrarte, 48, told investigators, according to the Daily News. "Otto did not do it. Robert did it." more ›

Swine flu ain't gone yet. An assistant principal has been hospitalized in critical condition with the H1N1 virus and the city is closing down three public schools in Queens after hundreds of students have come down with flu symptoms. The assistant principal works at Intermediate School 238 in Hollis and may have had a previous condition that made him vulnerable to the virus. At one of the closed schools, Intermediate School 5 in Elmhurst, 241 students were absent from classes today. The third school is PS 16 in Corona where 29 students reported flu-like symptoms to the nurse's office today. All three schools are expected to be shut down for tomorrow and all of next week. Mayor Bloomberg said, "While the symptoms of H1N1 flu seem to resemble those of seasonal flu, the H1N1 virus seems to spread rapidly, so we’re closing these schools in order to slow transmission.” Just earlier today the Health Department had reemphasized that there have been no deaths related to swine flu in the city and that all who have been affected have recovered or are recovering. The mayor is expected to have another press conference this evening. more ›

Yesterday, some neighborhoods were dealing with the aftermath of rains and 60 mph winds that swept through their neighborhoods. And luckily the casualties were mostly cars and trees, as WCBS 2 shows, though there were some power outages (downed power lines). more ›

Yesterday, a two-alarm fire broke out in a Corona home and after firefighters put it out, they found the body of 5-year-old Jason Guallpa, curled up behind a TV. The police later arrested his 24-year-old brother Diego with endangering the welfare of a child. more ›

It could be argued that all pizza is by definition "ethnic," but we think some pizzeria fare is especially deserving of this designation. Ethnic Pizza Patrol strives to find unique cultural interpretations of this classic New York City food. Expect piping hot tips about New York City pizzerias that feature an ethnic twist on pizza as we know it; combine a pizzeria with another concept, i.e. a taco joint; or manage to do all of... more ›

As health-code inspections in bars and restaurants continue apace in the wake of The Great Rat Rodeo of Aught Seven, strange, unheard of violations are coming to light: a bartender at Red Hook’s Moonshine bar was recently cited for “having bare-hand contact with one slice of ready-to-eat lime while placing on top of beer bottle for patron in bar.” In other words, every time you see your bartender poke a wedge of lime into your... more ›