Amidst the stifling heat of summer, residents of one Queens neighborhood close their windows to shut out the noise of “guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, singers and amplifiers," emanating from a nearby church, reports the Queens Courier. According to Patheos.com, worship for Pentecostals, like the congregation of the Love & Praise Assembly of God at 108h Street and Jamaica Avenue, is "a sensory experience filled with music, body movements, sounds, dancing, shouting, praying out loud, and speaking in tongues." It lasts a long time, upwards of two hours, and is capped off with a "moment of silence." But for neighbors, it seems like that moment never comes. more ›

A building that formerly housed the Jamaica Savings Bank is total landmark bait. It was even called "the finest Beaux-Arts building in Queens" by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. But now the building's current owner may stand in the way of the third attempt to landmark the building. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A boat in distress at the Roosevelt Island Bridge, a homicide on Howard in Brooklyn, and a stabbing on Jamaica Avenue and 161st Street in Queens
• Hillary Clinton out-fund-raises Rudy Giuliani and Barack Obama in New York, which makes sense since she's been building her donor list as a Senator from New York.
• The big mystery of NYC: Where the middle class live.
• A man was fatally hit by a car on 54th Street between the West Side Highway and 11th Avenue; he apparently darted into traffic "to relieve himself on the side of the street."
• Is a honey bear in shoe-bomber Richard Reid's cell a deadly weapon? Maybe.
• Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas ate 173 Buffalo wings in 12 minutes, winning Buffalo's National Buffalo Wing Festival. Still, Nathan's Hot Dog eating champ Joey Chesnutt holds the record, eating 7.5 pounds of wings in 12 minutes (Thomas's 173 wings is about 5.17 pounds).
• In the wake of three people arraigned for their $5 million pot operation in Long Island, Newsday reports feds made 40% more indoor pot-farm busts between 2001 and 2006.
• If you find yourself near Chester, NJ, the Stony Hill Farm Market has a corn maze in the shape of the Manhattan skyline where you can also learn about Manhattan history!
• In addition to derision, there's much confusion about Julian Schnabel's pink palace, dubbed Palazzo Chupi.
• Nanny Diaries directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer-Berman explain the difficulties of filming an "apartment porn" movie to NYU: "[Robert] was like, 'I don’t know where you are, where are you guys,' we were like, 'We’re by the kitchen,' he was like, 'Which kitchen? There’s three kitchens.' It was crazy."

- As an alternate route, customers are advised to take the Q43 bus to the Sutphin Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue bus stop and take the j train at the Supthin Boulevard Station. more ›

Yesterday, hundreds of people gathered for two different marches in Queens to protest the police shooting of Sean Bell, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield and police conduct in the community overall. A chapter of the NAACP organized a march of hundreds of people from Jamaica Avenue and 168th Street to where the shooting took place, at Liverpool and 94th Avenue. The other march was organized by the New Black Panther Party, which started at the shooting scene and ended at Jamaica and 168th, and offered much angrier words. more ›