Queens News - Local News

Police are searching for two men who tore down a Pride flag outside a Queens home. -Photo by NYPD Pedicab Rider Spat in Woman’s Face, Made Anti-Gay Slur - Cops Say Teens Tear Down Pride Flag from Home By Dan Gesslein  Manhattan Voice  June 16, 2023 NEW YORK - Police are searching for three suspects in two unrelated hate crime cases against members of the LGBTQ community in two different boroughs.   The first incident took place near Rockefeller Center on May 31. At around 6 pm a 27-year-old woman was walking in front of Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Cops say the woman got into a dispute with a pedicab driver who made anti-gay remarks to her.  Police are looking for a pedicab driver who is acused of spitting in a woman's face and shouting anti-gay slurs. -Photo by NYPD Then the driver spat in her face before riding off down 6th Avenue, investigators said.  Police released what appears to be cell phone video of the suspect. The video not only shows...

A NYCHA Housing complex at 344 E. 28th St. | Hiram Alejandro Durán/ THE CITY By Greg B. Smith, The City This article was originally published on Jun 15 1:38pm EDT by THE CIT Y NEW YORK - The New York City Housing Authority has begun notifying hundreds of tenants with take-home pay deemed to be “over income” that they’ll have to pay higher rent and will no longer be listed as public housing residents, THE CITY has learned. Last week NYCHA mailed notices to 290 households containing about 741 residents where the authority has determined their take-home pay for the last two years was 120% of the area median income for New York City. That translates to $118,000 for a single-tenant household and $160,000 for a family of four. All “over income” tenants will also have to start paying for utilities, a cost NYCHA currently covers for almost all its tenants. NYCHA is taking this step under new protocols mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the federa...

Robbers Assault Woman, Steal Her Purse Cops are searching for these men in connection with an assault and robbery in Astoria. -Photo by NYPD By Dan Gesslein  Queens Voice June 15, 2023 QUEENS - Cops are looking for a pair of muggers who assaulted a woman when they couldn’t snatch her purse from the back of an e-moped in Astoria. At around 6 pm on May 25, an 18-year-old woman was walking in the vicinity of 24-18 79 Street in Astoria. Two men on an electric moped rode up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. When they couldn’t remove it, the m oped stopped and the rider on the back got off. Cops said the robber threw the woman into a parked car and then ripped the purse from her. With the purse in hand, the attacker hopped on the back of the moped and the pair drove off on 79th Street. The victim went to an area hospital by private means and was treated for minor injuries. Police released surveillance of the suspects on the moped. The driver was last seen wearing ...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams Makes School Food-Related Announcement at P.S. 75 Emily Dickinson on June 6, 2023. -Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office By Mayor Eric Adams Community Op-Ed  June 15, 2023  NEW YORK - Here in New York City, we are lucky to have an abundance of food from all over the world, yet many of our families face food insecurity, and for some of our children, the breakfast and lunch they eat at school are their only meals for the day. This makes it even more important that we serve our students healthy, nutritious meals that look good, taste good, and are culturally appropriate.    As a city, we have taken important steps in this regard: we follow strict nutritional guidelines; we are offering more plant-based choices, especially on Plant Powered Fridays and Meatless Mondays; we’ve expanded Halal Kitchens so that 87 public schools are now certified to serve Halal meals; this year, we’ve committed $50 million to cr...

At City Hall, UFT President Michael Mulgrew discusses reaching a contract agreement for teachers, June 13, 2023. | Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY By Claudia Irizarry Aponte, The City This article was originally published on Jun 13 3:37pm EDT by THE CITY NEW YORK - Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s second-largest union, the United Federation of Teachers, struck a tentative five-year agreement on Tuesday, one that significantly raises starting salaries for newly hired teachers and includes a major expansion of remote learning. The deal, which must be approved by the union’s 120,000 members, guarantees raises of 17.58% to 20.42% by 2026, including compounded wage increases and bonuses.  In addition to broadening an existing pilot on remote learning, high schools and combined middle-high schools will be able to offer virtual learning programs after school and on weekends. Students and teachers will have to volunteer to participate in the remote programs, according to a summary of the ...