The babysitter who was charged with child endangerment, a misdemeanor, for letting an eleven-month-old baby drown in a seven gallon bucket of water was in court yesterday. The infant's parents made it clear that they would like to see charges upped to negligent homicide after prosecutors claimed that 28-year-old sitter Kristal Khan was passed out on cold medicine during the incident. Khan was watching the victim, James Farrior III, along with her own two children out of the Richmond Hills house she used as an unlicensed day care center (none was required); the baby's mother, Chrisann Josiah, had found Khan through a craigslist ad. Josiah says that when Khan called her to say that Farrior had been taken away in an ambulance, the babysitter was "real calm." Josiah said to the News, "I was planning his birthday and now I'm planning his funeral." Yesterday in court, relatives of Farrior's screamed at Khan, leading the judge to have one of them removed. The Queens DA said charges may be upgraded once an autopsy is complete. more ›

The Long Island Rail Road mechanics making upwards of $200K in annual overtime pay at one Queens yard are doing so because of a forty-year-old loophole, according to a new report. Hopefully the well-compensated LIRR workers have used their hefty paychecks for Times subscriptions because they might not like the treatment they're getting from the Post. The tabloid says that the "grease monkeys" are getting paid to "sleep on the job." The jackpot loophole they're referring to is a rule that states that vacant shifts at the Richmond Hills yard must be filled, no matter if any work needs to be done. The Post says this leads to "hundreds of instances last year when mechanics worked 24 to 32 hours straight, racking up time-and-a-half and double-time pay." After those extra-long shifts, the employees then get another eight hours mandatory pay to go home and sleep. The MTA is currently investigating schedule and pension rules. The Richmond Hills rule has been challenged in two previous negotiations by the LIRR, but an arbitrator upheld it both times. more ›

With high school graduations quickly approaching, it’s time for the annual day where 17-year-olds look back on their twelve-plus years of free education and ditch any tender moments of gratitude or nostalgia in lieu of creating pure chaos: Senior Prank Day. Yesterday in Queens, Richmond Hill High School's pranks turned into a riot with ten students arrested and the school put on lockdown—all before 10 a.m. The arrests were spurred on when authorities arrived in response to a fire alarm students had pulled. On top of that, the Post reports that departing seniors "threw baby powder, oil, food, paint, barbecue sauce and eggs all over the school's second floor, causing a panic." Windows were broken and computers damaged. One student gave the paper a familiar story: "It was supposed to be a powder fight, but people started showing up with eggs and rice and bananas and shaving cream. It was supposed to be something minor." The ten students were charged with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. more ›

They may be considered "grease monkeys" by the New York Post, but LIRR mechanics are cleaning up when it comes to overtime pay. One diesel yard in Richmond Hill, Queens saw six of its union mechanics take in $1.5 million in income, mostly from OT and other perks. Leading the way is Ronald Dunne, a car repairman, who made $220k of his $283k in income from overtime and puts him as the fifth highest breadwinner in the MTA. The paper calls the Richmond Hills yard a gold mine, reasonably enough since they mention that Dunne made so much last year that he purchased a set of gold-plated wrenches. A spokesman for the LIRR said, "Antiquated work rules in collective-bargaining agreements have led to excessive earnings at our Richmond Hill maintenance facility by some employees with high seniority," Last year it was revealed that mostly retired LIRR employees have made over $250 million in disability pay this decade. more ›