Results tagged “queenscounty”

The three police officers facing trial for the November 2006 shooting of an unarmed man are requesting to their trial moved from Queens. Lawyers for Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper claim they won't be able to get a fair trial in Queens, blaming media attention for "incurably poison[ing]" any potential jury pool.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an armed robbery on Washington Pl. and Broadway in Manhattan, a person under a train at 42nd St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, and a bomb threat at Utopia Ave. and 58th Ave. in Queens.
• A Chappaqua neighbor of Bill and Hillary Clinton was arrested for the murder of his wife. Last year, he claimed that a stranger burst into their SUV following an accident and shot her.
• There was a seven-car pile-up on the northbound FDR near 96th St. that backed up traffic for 30 blocks today. No injuries were reported.
• A two foot-long steel girder fell from the under-renovation High Line today and struck a car.
• The three detectives charged with the murder of Sean Bell are close to formally requesting a change of legal venue outside of Queens County.
• Streit's Matzo factory is leaving the Lower East Side.
• The grand rabbi of a Brooklyn-based Hasidic sect was arrested with his L.A.-located executive assistant for operating a money laundering scheme that profited them $750,000.
• Boingboing features a gallery of Soviet era space-themed Christmas cards.

October 22-28: Lance Armstrong Week at Hill Country

Oh dear. Not only is today Friday the 13th, and the thirtieth anniversary of the 1977 lightning-caused Blackout, it is also time for another Manhattanhenge. Could it just be astronomical coincidence or evidence of something more sinister?

hallway of Newtown High School, located at 48-01 90th Street, and stated, “I have to cut your hair.” When Harpal asked, “For what, it is against my religion,” the defendant allegedly displayed a ring with Arabic inscriptions and stated, “This ring is Allah. If you don’t let me cut your hair, I will punch you with this ring.” It is alleged that Harpal initially refused to go into the bathroom with the defendant because he feared that the defendant would hurt him with the scissors.

Did you ever hear the one about the vineyard in Queens, just minutes away from the Little Neck Parkway Q46 bus stop? Even if you haven’t, it’s true. First reported three years ago, the borough is finally set to prove it has terroir in spades with the imminent production of its namesake wine. The epicenter for this oenophile revolution is the Queens County Farm Museum, described on its website as “New York City's largest remaining tract of undisturbed farmland,” and “the only working historical farm in the City.” It’s also one of the oldest farms in the entire state of New York, celebrating its 310th birthday this year. It’s about time for Queens to have its own wine. Gothamist visited the farm yesterday, and got the full story from vintner Gary Mitchell.

There's a fun NY Times City section article about the Queens Museum of Art's Panorama Challenge. The Queens Museum of Art's panorama is a to-scale model of New York City: One inch equals 100 feet (the Empire State Building is 15 inches tall) and the model was originally designed for the 1964 World's Fair, as a "helicopter" ride over New York City. (And, yes, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses commissioned the panorama in 1964, just as he commissioned the Queens Museum of Art's building, the former New York City Pavilion for the 1939's World Fair.)

At 7AM, the three detectives indicted in the shooting of Sean Bell last November turned themselves. WNBC reports that Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper will be fingerprinted and processed before their arraignment this afternoon.

Queens County Farm. Begun in 1697, this is the only working historical farm in the city. All kinds of vegetables are grown on site, and animals like these piglets are raised here. Today there will also be a haunted house ($4 admission, from 1-7pm) as well as a children’s fall festival with hayrides, a petting zoo, and games like the original “trinkets-in-the-haystack.” Available at the shop are farm-produced honey and apples. (Did you know the Newtown Pippin, the “prince of apples” preferred by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, was first grown in Queens in the 1700s? It’s in season now, so seek it out.)

Paul Villanueva and Anthony Digiosaffatte had robbed a Queens County Savings Bank branch earlier this week, and were found at a motel after trying to wash the dye off the money. Villaneuva and Digiosaffatte were arraigned in federal court, and their tale is wacky. They managed to demand $65,000 from the bank on Tuesday - and Digiosaffatte even told the bank tellers, "No dye packs," but the tellers still gave them exploding dye packs, leading the pair to drop about a lot of the stained money, according to the NY Times. They tried to wash out the dye from the rest of the money at their motel laundry, and when police found them, they found stashes of the literally dirty money that had been washed with Cheer multiple times. And as many people know what washing their favorite shirt over and over again can do, a lot of the cash was in poor shape. The best part is how the robbers sprayed the money with Febreze "to get rid of the odor of the dye." There's a Procter & Gamble commercial in here yet!

- Prospect Park has Egg-o-rama (Saturday and Sunday) at the Audobon Center, starting at noon, too.

We're so glad you asked this question, because we are getting ready to kick it into gear for Autumn of Fun 05, which involves getting large-ish groups of people together for autumnal excursions such as apple picking. We found a few orchards that offer apple picking and directions by mass transit: