A Far Rockaway woman was stabbed to death early this morning, and police are now hunting for the woman's ex-boyfriend. Police believe that Charlie Mitchell, 53, is responsible for killing the woman, who is described as in her 50s, as well as stabbing the woman's 15-year-old daughter in the face. And neighbors say the couple, who broke up about a month ago, had an abusive relationship in the past: "He beat her up about two or three months ago. Her whole eyes were all black, and she had to wear sunglasses. It's scary. I have a granddaughter," one neighbor told the News. more ›

The Far Rockaways are most certainly not lovin' it after McDonald's ran an ad on the A train touting the energizing powers of their iced coffee, implying that those who drink it will not suffer the indignity of falling asleep on the train and waking up at the end of the line. more ›

A group of angry Queens residents booed a DOT representative and Mayor Bloomberg at a community meeting in the Rockaways last night, according to accounts in the Daily News and the Post. The jeers erupted after one local resident asked the DOT to get rid of the bike lanes that were installed last summer on the main thoroughfare of Beach Channel Drive. The response from Maura McCarthy, the DOT’s Queens Borough Commissioner, didn't go over too well. more ›

All the great criminals of our time (the Joker, the Wet Bandits) have left a "calling card" of sorts at the scene of the crime, so perhaps this Queens robber was just trying to join their illustrious ranks. In October, 19-year-old Fred Littles and two accomplices refused to pay for a $40 cab ride they took to Far Rockaway, and then beat up the driver and stole $150 from him before jumping out. However, Littles dropped his identification card close to the cab, and police were able to track him down last week. Two months to find him? Maybe it was a fake ID. more ›

A Queens woman has filed a suit against ConAgra, the makers of microwaveable Act II popcorn, claiming she came down with "popcorn lung" after inhaling the vapors from the buttery snack. Agnes Mercado says she consumed the popcorn twice a day for 16 years, and is just one of many consumers suing over exposure to the additive biacetyl (or diacetyl), which gives the popcorn a buttery taste. She told the Daily News, "I was eating two or three bags of popcorn a day. I didn't know it would destroy my lungs." more ›

The tragic murder of 15-year-old Brandon Bethea triggered the investigation that led to a massive gang takedown in Queens. Bethea was killed by a stray bullet in 2008 in a Far Rockaway project, shot by a gang member firing into a crowd. The gunman's arrest sparked a wiretap investigation that took down 104 people identifying with "Flocc," a gang alliance between members of the Crips and the Bloods. "It was that investigation that got us up on the phones as we learned about the [gang] activity in that area," Deputy Chief Robert Boyce told the Daily News. more ›

A nearly two-year long police investigation, "Operation Under Siege," revealed over 100 suspects, dozens of guns, and piles of drugs, all in connection to a plot to assassinate cops. The team behind this plot? A strange alliance of the Bloods and the Crips, traditionally rival gangs. They allegedly set aside their differences to plan the assassinations of patrol cops in projects in the Rockaways. Police Commish Ray Kelly said one gang associate "intended to position himself on rooftops and shoot police officers who were compromising his business in Far Rockaway and South Jamaica." more ›

Cops broke up a major drug ring and arrested fifty suspected dealers operating out of a Far Rockaway housing project. After making 174 undercover purchases in six months, police raided the Hammel Houses, the Post reports. According to the Daily News, officers cuffed 45 suspects including members of the Bloods, Crips, and Money Over Bitches gangs. Police seized 41 bags of crack, 230 bags of marijuana, and smaller amounts of heroin and Oxycontin. Ten of the suspects had been arrested in a bust two years ago, and police continue to search for 13 other suspects. Queens Narcotics Capt. Thomas Marren says cops will pay close attention to the nearby Carleton Manor housing project so the dealers can't easily relocate. more ›

On Monday a federal judge ruled that the state must begin moving mentally ill New Yorkers out of "warehouse-like" institutions into more normal quarters, but concerned parties are already voicing their objections. "We are ground zero of this grand experiment that the judge has unleashed," City Councilman James Sanders Jr., a representative for Far Rockaway which houses many of the group homes, told the Daily News. "No one knows what this is going to do." A patient at a facility in the area worried that though mentally ill New Yorkers want to "live their lives the way the rest of us do," it might not be possible. "These people don't even know how to shower or shave, let alone shop or cook," said Robert Evans, who plans to move out of his group home. "It won't work out." more ›

A Queens man and his dog are the latest victims of stray voltage. According to WPIX, 52-year-old James Evans was walking his dog Max in Far Rockaway at 2 p.m. yesterday when he felt a shock. Max managed to pull away after a few yelps, but Evans says he couldn't move. more ›

Well, here's surveillance video of armed thugs running amok in a Far Rockaway jewelry store on November 28th, in broad daylight. After locking two employees in a bathroom, the thieves handcuffed a third employee, who tries to casually walk away at the 50 second mark. He almost makes it out the door, but is dragged back in and thrown to the floor. A second escape is attempted but quickly thwarted by a hooded perp disguised as a Jawa. Honestly, this employee is lucky he wasn't [SPOILER!] killed. more ›

One of the undercover cops involved in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old who was pointing a gun at officers fired eight rounds, according to the Post. Three officers contributed to the 15-bullet salvo (up from 14 in yesterday's papers) that left Dashawn Vasconcellos with 11 separate wounds, three to the back, one to the chest, one to the right arm and the rest to the legs. The shooting occurred after the teen fled from police who spotted him leaving a park after hours and allegedly raised a gun at officers. While Vasconcellos' friends and relatives have complained that officers responded with excessive force, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said it was too early in the investigation to make a definitive call, but he stated: "On the surface, the shoot looks clean." more ›

Police gunned down an 18-year-old in Far Rockaway when he pointed a 9mm handgun at officers. When four plainclothes cops approached Dashawn Vasconcellos and two other men as they were leaving Bayswater Park after-hours at around 11:30 pm, Vasconcellos fled. Officers pursued the teen to Bay 32nd Street near Beach Channel Drive when Vasconcellos allegedly spun around and aimed the handgun at police. "After repeated orders to drop his weapon," officers shot the teen in the torso and legs, a police source told the Daily News. Vasconcellos was pronounced dead about an hour later at Jamaica Hospital. According to NY1, the other two men were not arrested. more ›

Brooklyn Heights construction worker Robert Keller appeared to be as dead when an out-of-control, drugged-up driver came heading straight for him at 60 mph while at his Far Rockaway work site last Friday. But his life was saved by Ossining's Michael Hudson, the flagman on his crew, who shoved Keller, took the blow of the speeding vehicle along with him and ended up losing a leg in the process. Hudson still has internal bleeding and has just been released from intensive care. Keller tells the Daily News his co-worker was his "guardian angel." Hudson's girlfriend said, "He looked awful, and I didn't know if he was going to make it. I didn't know if he would live to hear me say 'I love you' one last time." As for the woman who admitted to cops that she had smoked crack and was arguing with her passenger before plowing into the construction site near JFK, she is in jail with bail set at $250,000. Yolanda Silvera of Long Island has been charged with second-degree assault, second-degree vehicular assault, second degree reckless endangerment, DWI and other violations. more ›

A 19-year-old man from The Bronx drowned in Far Rockaway yesterday where he and his girlfriend had been enjoying a day at the beach. 19-year-old Daniel O'Neil swam outside the designated area near the East Rockaway Inlet near Beach 25th Street around 3 p.m. Lifeguards eventually pulled O'Neil out and and FDNY EMTs took him to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later. O'Neil had just graduated from Mount St. Michael High School and volunteered in the rectory of Sacred Heart Church in Mount Vernon. He was set to attend John Jay College in the fall and hoped to one day be a lawyer. His aunt told the News, "He was a young kid who wanted to prove to himself that he was a young man. He was full of life, full of youth." Lifeguards say that there has been a strong riptide over the last two weekends, forcing an unusually high number of swimmers to be pulled out of the water. The National Weather Service has tips here on what to do if you are caught in rip currents. more ›

Far Rockaway has gotten a Mad Max treatment over the years. Nate Kensinger has some amazing shots of the eastern edge of Queens, which "was once a flourishing summer community. Today, its landscape is like the half-abandoned city of Buffalo, with vast empty lots and a large number of abandoned homes. In 2008, according to the NY Times, the Far Rockaway's city council representative called his district 'ground zero' of the subprime mortgage crisis." It's hard to picture the beach bungalows before they were boarded up, in their old time glory when the area was dubbed The New Hamptons. Maybe the Beachside Bungalow Preservation Association can bring them back to life. more ›

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 chest, chipping her collar bone, and passed dangerously close to her neck. According to the Daily News, she's in Kings County Hospital and expected to recover. Later that night in Far Rockaway, an 8-year-old boy was grazed in the head by a stray bullet as he got out of a car with his aunt around 10:30 p.m. The unidentified victim is in critical condition, and police are still looking for suspects in both shootings. more ›

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 [Lenihan] my goddamn self...My heart is destroyed. You want to fight him? Fight him fist by fist. Be a man." more ›

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 been a random victim after a man opened fire on a crowd in the street. One resident was despondent about the senseless violence. "All these young babies are dying over nothing." more ›

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." more ›

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. more ›

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 account, with two undercover police chasing on foot and the third giving chase in a car, the officer in the car said he saw the suspect pull his gun and point it at the pursuing officers. At that point, Smalls either tripped or was tackled and the closest pursuing officer fired four shots at Smalls as they struggled on the ground. more ›

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 Far Rockaway found this out when he tried to apply for a mortgage! more ›

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 if our timing was mere coincidence or meteorological perspicacity on our part. more ›

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... more ›

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 turnstiles up and down the line and riders were free to pay the five cent fare at any of the original 28 stations between 207th St. and Chambers St., a total distance of 12 miles. more ›

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 dead at Jamaica Hospital. more ›

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 school in Far Rockaway using clams for bait. "They're smart you see, all morning they were just sucking the bait, not really striking it you know". But eventually Wilson got the strike he'd been looking for, and now he and his family will be eating striped bass for weeks to come. "I'm gonna fillet it up soon as I get home, then I'm gonna take a nap, that fish wore me out."