Police are seeking the public's help in finding a man is suspected of sexually abusing 12-year-old girls in Queens. According to cops, he has been luring girls to his car in the Elmhurst section. more ›

A two-year-old boy was fatally struck by a van while crossing the street outside a park in Elmhurst, Queens on Saturday night around 7 p.m. Andrew Ramirez was reportedly following behind relatives and a group of children who dashed across 82nd Street, across from Moore Homestead Park, near Broadway. He was struck by a red van driven by Pablo Paredes, 39, a plumber on the way to a job. Witnesses say Ramirez and the other children were running across the street to get to a bag of cookies and other treats discarded by the Parks Department. more ›

Welcome back to another installment of Ethnic Eating Adventures, in which we travel far and wide to discover the hidden culinary delights of New York City. Today, we're heading to Elmhurst for fusion cuisine that isn't passe: Chinese-Indian at Tangra Masala. more ›

Because sometimes it's just too much of a hassle to open the silly things first, why not just take the whole safe and run? That's what a robber in Elmhurst did recently, wheeling the mini-fridge-sized safe he nicked from a residential building out on an office chair. And he has different disguises, to boot! more ›

Welcome back to another installment of Ethnic Eating Adventures, in which we travel across this fine city in search of unknown pleasures from lands far, far away. Today, inspired by the recent arrival of the sun, we're feeling a little tropical, so for this week's Adventure we present Taste Good Malaysian Cuisine. more ›

The off-duty NYPD officer who was killed earlier this week in a messy car accident in Long Island has been identified as Officer Fred Barraza. Barraza, who was assigned to the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst, was driving home from work around 2 a.m. Thursday morning with his cousin in the passenger seat when he swerved in front of another car, lost control, and careened into a tree. Investigators said Barraza was speeding at the time, but it hasn't been determined yet if he was drunk. The passenger, Jose Valdevenito, was ejected from his seat during the crash, and is being treated for serious head trauma at Nassau University Medical Center. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] High school students in Washington Heights and Elmhurst were stabbed in unrelated incidents this morning, according to authorities. A 15-year-old is expected to survive after getting stabbed with a steak knife 16 times in his back and arm in his Upper Manhattan school, while a Queens 17-year-old was cut inside Newtown High School in a separate violent confrontation. more ›

Queens magician Richie Magic decided to skip past the vaguely creepy vibe that many in his profession put out and go all the way to full-on terrifying for a "trick" he pulled at his Elmhurst shop yesterday. Magic, who changed his name to pursue his dream after working as a corrections officer for 26 years, yesterday celebrated smoking his final cigarette by eating an entire carton in 6 minutes, 3.7 seconds, breaking a previous record. Magic, whose website claims his shows range from "mild to wild" said that his habit had nagged at him since "a lot of kids ask me to mentor them" and the News says he did not want to be "a hypocrite to aspiring magicians and street performers." Richie's wife Barbara (yes, also Magic) also butted out her final smoke yesterday, although she said she couldn't watch her husband's stunt. A 9-year-old girl who recently saw Richie Magic set the record for stuffing 20 lit cigarettes in his mouth in 29 seconds said, "It was cool. But disgusting." more ›

A school bus ride for the nine young summer campers at the Magic Carpet Day Camp turned tragic when their driver dropped dead of a heart attack and collapsed out of the bus while driving yesterday in Queens. Ramon Fernandez, 47, died after losing consciousness while stopped at a red light behind the wheel of a camp school bus in Elmhurst. Fernandez then collapsed out of the door he was keeping open while stopped in order to get additional ventilation into the un-air conditioned bus. When Fernandez fell out, 16-year-old camp counselor Rachel Guzy leaped forward and reached for the emergency brake as the bus slowly rolled into another vehicle in the intersection. The bus matron had minor injuries, but all of the Bayside campers were unharmed. An 11-year-old on board told the Post, "He was driving with the door open because it was really hot, and he felt really hot. It's not normal...Me and my friend, we were in the front near the counselor. She was crying, very nervous after it happened....[Rachel] saved our lives because she pulled the brake." more ›

The NYPD is being accused of another sexual assault case involving two of its officers, this one in a suit by a Queens woman who claims she was sodomized inside a precinct bathroom stall by a cop while another officer held watch outside. The woman claims she was brought to a police station last February by Detective Oscar Sandino following a drug raid of her apartment. On the ride over, she alleges Sandino threatened that her children would be taken away and alluded that the only way to smooth things over was to have sex with him. Once back at the station, she says he barged in on her while she was in a bathroom stall, ordered her to take her pants down and said, "Wow, you have an earring down there," before groping and sodomizing her. Sandino is a married father of two and was placed on modified duty last March. He told the Post, "I am not a rapist." Police sources say that the woman's previous complaints to Internal Affairs were only about inappropriate comments and calls made by Sandino. The Elmhurst woman says that she once met up with Sandino wearing a wire, but that he caught on and merely threatened her. more ›

Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder after they went searching for an Asian man to rob and ended up choking the life out of their eventual victim, whom they left on the side of the road. After committing a similar robbery a month ago, 16-year-old Corey Azor and 17-year-old Chris Levy were hunting for a new target in Flushing, where the two attend high school (in separate schools). They came upon 49-year-old David Kao, who was dozing off in the driver's seat of an SUV while parked on the street. According to the News, Levy admitted to cops that "he and Azor climbed into the car, put Kao into a choke hold and dragged him into the backseat, where they beat him until he was unconscious." They then took his credit cards and dumped him out a few blocks away. 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 ›

A 14-year-old girl walking to school in Queens was killed when a school bus hit her at 57th Avenue and 92nd Street in Elmhurst around 8:10 a.m. The girl was headed to Francis Lewis High School, where she is a freshman. CityRoom reports that cops think the incident "appeared to be accidental" (the bus driver, who stayed at the scene had "no alcohol" on his breath) and adds, "It was immediately unknown, for instance, in what direction the bus was traveling and along which of the streets and it was unknown what direction the teenage girl was walking... Also unknown was whether the vehicle was traveling with or against the traffic light." The Department of Education says the school bus was not affiliated with the DOE. more ›

Charges against Kiana Paez have been upgraded to second degree murder in the death of her 11-week-old son, Pablo Paez. Three weeks after he was brought Elmhurst Hospital, doctors declared that the infant had suffered permanent brain death, and the child was removed from life support. more ›

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes. more ›

The atmosphere at Ploy Thai, a newish restaurant on the corner of Elmhurst Avenue and Broadway in Queens, seems promising in its authenticity; upon entering for the first time we were pleased to find a few tables of Thai families, a specials board written completely in Thai and karaoke of girl band Girly Berry playing on a flat screen TV. more ›