Police believed that 17-year-old Karon Lenihan shot another teen over a long-held grudge. Patrick Hernandez, a Far Rockaway High graduate who was headed to SUNY Cortland, had been walking back from cleaning up a local beach on Thursday morning when Lenihan allegedly jumped out of a car and shot Hernandez in the chest. While the nature of Lenihan's grudge against Hernandez is unclear, the victim's grandmother raged to the Daily News, "I'd like to kill......

A 15-year-old girl who was shot in the head yesterday died from her injuries. No arrests have been made in the shooting, but Brandon Bethea was shot shortly before midnight on Redfern Ave. in Queens. She was taken to St. Johns Hospital, but did not survive. Bethea had returned to her old neighborhood in Far Rockaway in order to find a dress for her junior prom, when she was shot. The girl seems to have......

While there's video evidence Brooklyn's Kensington post office could be the worst post office in the city, Far Rockaway's post office could give it a run for the money. Representative Gregory Meeks complained to the Daily News, "There is so much incompetence and lack of supervision [there]. I'm hearing from a lot of seniors who don't get their Social Security checks on time. A lot of people aren't getting their bills." Many have been unhappy......

The sports trainer who claimed he gave steroids to Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite and other baseball players hit two vehicles, including a city bus, yesterday. McNamee apparently blacked out. The Daily News reports that around 12:30 p.m., McNamee was on Central Avenue, near Beach 11th in Far Rockaway, "when he rear-ended another car and careened into the bus head-on." McNamee told police his diabetes caused him to faint and next thing he knew he "woke......

Early Saturday morning around 2 a.m., an undercover police officer shot and killed a 22-year-old Queens man after he pointed a gun at him and another officer. Earlier in the night, Ronnie Smalls had run from police when they approached him because they recognized him as a known criminal--he'd been arrested nine times before--and suspected he was carrying a gun. When they saw Smalls a second time, he ran again. According to the Associated Press......

Slowpokes and procrastinators beware: Late fees from overdue library books in New York could be costing you points off your credit score. The New York Times has an article today that describes how the The New York Public Library and the Queens Public Library have been using a private company named Unique Management Services, which is a collections agency that library late fines are referred to when not paid by book borrowers. One rabbi in......

Last week Gothamist was in San Francisco for the third time this year. It was sunny and warm and we took an odd pleasure in watching the natives hustle about wearing wool hats and gloves. In our three trips to the west coast we managed to avoid the Valentine's Day snow storm, the April nor'easter and resultant flooding, and last week's snowy/icy/rainy pair of storms. We will leave it to our readers to decide......

Newsday reports that emergency track work at West 4th Street will be causing delays on the A, E, D and F lines. Apparently Brooklyn-bound F train will be running on the E between 36th Street Station in Queens and 42nd Street Times Square, and then the F will run on the A between Times Square and Jay Street-Borough Hall. And some other Brooklyn-bound F trains will "run on the D line from 47th-50th Street-Rockefeller Center......

It was originally named the 8th Avenue Subway, but the 'A' train turns 75 today, having opened September 10th, 1932. Officials are holding a ceremony at the line's northernmost station––Inwood/207th St.––and will be running six antique railcars from the 1930s during the day to commemorate the event. This is more than the Eighth Ave. Subway garnered on its opening day: Back in 1932, just before midnight, transit workers simply dropped chains blocking access to......

A 50-year-old NJ resident was killed by a drunk driver early yesterday morning in Ozone Park, Queens. The Post reports that Teresa Mankarious, who was driving back from Long Island with her fiance, had gotten out of her car at the Esquire Diner to walk their dog. While on the sidewalk, a car driven by 23-year-old Woodhaven resident Michael Barlow was suddenly on the sidewalk and hit her, throwing her 50 feet. She was pronounced......

We always wonder how the people fishing at various points in the city do, and now we know that there are some huge fish biting off the shores. Reader Ryan Eugene Kelley sent us this anecdote and photographs from his friend, Rodney Calhoun: Bed Stuy resident Percy, seen here riding a Queens bound G train to Bedford Nostrand, battled his giant 43 lb striped bass all morning. Wilson caught the giant fish behind a......

MOVIE: One Ring Zero is a lit-rock fans dream come true. The band features Paul Auster, Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers and Margaret Atwood’s lyrics set to the music of trumpets, theremins, claviolas, and metallophones. Director Joe Pacheco captured the band on film and presents it now as a documentary, As Smart As They Are: The Author Project. Here's a song/video with lyrics by Michael Chabon: 7pm // Barbes [376 9th St, Park Slope] // Free......

Last night, an apartment building in Far Rockaway caught fire, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes in the cold weather. By the time firefighters arrived to Neilson Street, flames were already shooting through the windows. The fire spread to the house next door, and the Long Island Power Authority and Con Ed shut off the power to area customers in order to protect firefighters. One resident told WNBC 4, "I didn't want to......

The new M&M's World store planned for Times Square won't be lacking for future employees. The Mars Retail Group's ad that proclaimed "on the spot hiring" as well as a $10.75 hourly wage (not to mention benefits) attracted thousands of people, causing a huge crowd on Eighth Avenue at 35th Street. The company advertised that 65 full-time and 135 part-time jobs would be available. Police arrived, some on horses, to monitor the group that grew......

Sixteen year old Schermiela Palmer had been running laps at Beach Channel High School in Far Rockaway collapsed on the track and later died at a hospital. One student told the Post, "We were running around. We did two laps, I think, and I looked at her and she looked at me and she fell." Her family is stunned and says she had no known health problems, though her mother said she complained because students......

Today's City section that brings up another problem with the development boom that has covered our fair city the past few years: Where to put the local old folk. Specifically where to put their nursing homes. For instance, the city currently has plans to build 250 low-income apartments on the parking lot of the old Greenpoint Hospital. Building those apartments will help fulfill low-income quotas that developers need in order to build more luxury......

It's been two years since the MTA tried to propose a ban on subway photography and it's been over a year since the MTA and NYPD decided not to impose a ban. And it's been five months since the MTA said they would work on making sure police officers wouldn't harrass photographs for taking photographs in subway and train stations. And yet... reader Jarid emailed us about getting stopped by a police after taking......

With all this global climate chaos, it almost seemed weird that summer arrived perfectly on schedule this year. The first truly hot, sticky, muggy days of the year came over Memorial Day weekend the way the lord intended when He created barbeques, day games, and ice cream trucks. And while summer means boiling apartments and gushing fire hydrants in the more densely populated parts of New York, it means sun tan lotion, body surfing, and......

First off, two sad pieces of news: - Betty Friedan, the founder and first president of the National Organization for Women whose manifesto "The Feminine Mystique" helped lay the groundwork for the modern feminist movement, passed away today, her birthday. She was 85. It is impossible to think about the role of women in the U.S. now without taking Friedan's words and ideas into account. She began a discourse that continues to shape American......

Molly Crabapple, Artist, Model, Burlesque Performer...

A young magazine publisher died from a third rail electrocution last night, after he tried to cross to the opposite platform by walking across the train tracks. The Daily News reports that Patrick Elasik, who lived in Far Rockaway to be near the ocean, was found on the tracks at 1:35AM. His business partner and co-publisher of Mass Appeal says that Elasik entered the Nassau Avenue G train station on the wrong side. Then the......

Sam Seder, Director / Writer / Comedian / Co-Host, "The Majority Report"...

Reverend Billy, Street Preacher, The Church of Stop Shopping...

Priscilla Grim, Membership & Advocacy Director AIVF...

A man on an A-train in Queens yesterday was shot dead by two assailants, who were then chased by police. Police believe the victim, Shamel Garrett, had resisted a robbery attempt, and when the train pulled into the Far Rockaway station, the robbers shot him in the back. The injured Garrett had stumbled into another train car, causing panic amongst other passengers. Plainclothes transit policeman at the station chased the robbers, but one officer......

The Daily News "exposes" that people bring alcoholic beverages to the public places, like Central Park or the beach, even though it's not permitted. But, in Central Park, especially at Summerstage concerts, the enforcement seems minimal, whereas if you're having a fundraiser for September 11 memorials in Far Rockaway, attended by working class cops, fire fighters, and their families, you're more likely to get busted. The Daily News wonders if it's a class difference, with......