• June 18, 2013
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Queens Chronicle

Eastern/Southeast Queens News

Stories from Jamaica, Springfield Gardens, Hollis, Queens Village, St. Albans, Laurelton, Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park

Top Story

FEMA preliminary flood maps are out

The Federal Emergency Management Agency released its preliminary flood maps Monday which include much of coastal Queens that was flooded in Hurricane Sandy. The new maps, the first change in New York City’s flood zones in 30 years, put nearly all of the Rockaway Peninsula, Broad Channel and Howard Beach into high-risk areas that will force residents to purchase flood insurance and follow new guidelines for home construction.

City: Progress slow on S. Gardens trash
Posted: June 13, 2013

New York City officials have had myriad problems in recent years with the Springfield Gardens Apartments complex.

But the only thing residents who live near the complex wanted to talk about at a meeting of the Springfield Taxpayers Association on Tuesday night was garbage on the site, and how it can be eliminated.

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Outer Borough Taxi Plan back on track
Updated: June 13, 2013 - 10:56 am

The New York State Court of Appeals has cleared the way for implementation of Mayor Bloomberg’s Outer Borough Taxi Plan.

The ruling, issued by the court on June 6, paves the way for livery car operators to get licenses that will allow them to accept street hails with the exception of Midtown and Downtown Manhattan and the city’s two airports.

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MTA, TWU differ on fund totals, priorities
Posted: June 13, 2013

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the union representing its subway workers are about $15 million apart on just how much extra funding will be available from the state this coming fiscal year.

But that is virtual agreement compared to their stands on reopening 100 of the subway booths that were shut down when the MTA was suffering a cash crunch in 2010.

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Gun arrests bring results in the 103rd
Posted: June 13, 2013

For its final meeting before the summer break, the 103rd Precinct Community Council devoted most of its June 11 agenda to a report from Inspector Charles McEvoy on crime statistics in the neighborhood.

And the news was overwhelmingly favorable.

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Manley of the Queens Library saluted in DC
Posted: June 13, 2013

Jennifer Manley, the Queens Library’s vice president for government and community affairs, was honored at the White House Tuesday as a “Champion of Change” for her service to the community.

Manley was one of just 12 people from libraries and museums across the country who received the honor.

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McClinton, back in NY, charged with murder 2
Posted: June 13, 2013

Kevin McClinton of Rosedale was arraigned on June 5 on a charge of second-degree murder for the May 18 shooting death of 14-year-old D’aja Robinson.

McClinton, 21, who appeared before Queens Criminal Court Judge Ernest Hart after being returned from South Carolina on a fugitive warrant, also was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

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Monday 06/17/2013
Off-duty NYPD cop shot responding to domestic incident in Jamaica
Updated: June 17, 2013 - 4:03 pm

An off-duty NYPD officer received a gunshot wound to his hand Sunday when he came to the assistance of a woman who was allegedly being assaulted in a domestic violence incident in Jamaica.

Police in the 103rd Precinct said Officer Joseph Koch was leaving a party at about 10 p.m. when he saw an 11-year-old child run from a residence at 144-22 South Road calling for help, claiming his mother was being assaulted inside.

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Thursday 06/13/2013
Senate unlikely to vote on fracking bill
Posted: June 13, 2013

With the Senate session winding down in Albany, and about a thousand bills left to debate, the hydrofracking moratorium bill may not even hit the floor for a vote. Most Queens lawmakers oppose allowing the drilling process in New York State without conclusive scientific evidence that it can be done safely, without contaminating groundwater.

The drilling process known as hydrofracking is used to obtain natural gas from rock formations, such as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from New York’s Southern Tier to West Virginia. Fracking involves injecting millions of gallons of water along with a slurry of sand and about 600 chemicals into a narrow horizontal pipe at high pressure to induce “mini-earthquakes,” which release the natural gas.

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Mixed Martial Arts still controversial
Updated: June 13, 2013 - 11:00 am

New York is the only state in which Mixed Martial Arts is banned, and the controversy surrounding the sport is ongoing in Albany.

In response to a bill that would legalize MMA, 35 Assembly Democrats wrote a letter to Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), a longtime opponent of MMA, asking him to hold the line in opposition.

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Bill de Blasio campaign focuses on education
Updated: June 13, 2013 - 11:01 am

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio minces no words when asked why he is running for mayor and why he feels he is the best choice for the Democratic nomination.

“I am fundamentally dissatisfied with things in the city,” he said last week at a meeting with the editorial board of the Queens Chronicle.

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Cop kills wife, self at St. Albans home
Posted: June 13, 2013

A 33-year-old NYPD officer with a reported history of domestic violence shot and killed his wife as she ran from their St. Albans home on June 5 before killing himself.

Police are calling the incident a murder-suicide.

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Here’s to you, Dad!
Posted: June 13, 2013

The Real Dads Network kicked off its sixth annual celebration of Fathers Week with a Fathers and Children Picnic, held at Roy Wilkins Park in Jamaica on June 1.

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Hossain wins scholarship
Posted: June 13, 2013

Maimuna Hossain of Jamaica, a senior at the Brooklyn Latin School, is one of three high school seniors to win a $30,000 college scholarship from the American Museum of Natural History.

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Lions clubs support the Laurelton Library
Posted: June 13, 2013

Members of the Laurelton and Springfield Gardens Lions clubs recently donated $500 to the Queens Library Foundation to go toward the purchase of new books and other materials for the Laurelton Library.

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Attempted robbery suspects
Updated: June 13, 2013 - 2:49 pm

The NYPD is seeking the public’s help in locating two suspects in an attempted robbery that took place at the Parsons Boulevard and Archer Street subway station in Jamaica on May 24.

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U.S. schools chief visits Aviation HS
Posted: June 13, 2013

In town to speak to graduates at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made a pit stop in Queens to visit with students and business leaders at Aviation High School and talk about the rising focus on career and technical education.

Noting that CTE schools are of special interest to his boss, President Obama, Duncan said he wanted to learn more about how they are working in the city. Aviation is the third such school he’s visited in New York City, and the first in Queens.

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Quick hits
Posted: June 13, 2013

Queens loses out on new teacher awards

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott honored 11 teachers from around the city this week as winners of the first “Big Apple Awards” to recognize excellence in education, but none from Queens made the cut. Each winner will receive a $3,500 grant for use in the classroom and will serve as a “Big Apple Ambassador,” advising the city Department of Education.

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USTA hosts call for US Open singers
Posted: June 13, 2013

They came from across the borough on Tuesday afternoon to show their patriotism and win a chance to sing at the upcoming US Open Tennis Tournament at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The United States Tennis Association, the national governing body for tennis in this country and the primary promoter of the sport at every level, held its seventh annual US Open casting call for children hoping to perform at the 2013 event.

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Mets host blood drive
Posted: June 13, 2013

The New York Mets continued a decade-long tradition in joining with the New York Blood Center to host a blood drive last Thursday at Citi Field.

More than 500 donors attended the event, which took place in the stadium’s Caesar’s Club from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and a total of 565 pints were collected, according to the NYBC.

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Free CPR training from FDNY
Posted: June 13, 2013

The New York City Fire Department offers free CPR instruction courses to groups of between six and 40 through the FDNY Mobile CPR Training Unit.

Personnel from the FDNY’s EMS Division are available to teach compression-only CPR, as well as the use of automatic external defibrillators, both of which can help save a victim of a heart attack or cardiac arrest.

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Bird strike diverts plane to JFK
Posted: June 13, 2013

A Florida-bound plane was forced to land at JFK Airport Thursday morning after being struck by two birds.

JetBlue Flight 1205 to Fort Myers, Fla. took off from Westchester County Airport in White Plains around 8 a.m. and was struck by the birds over the Long Island Sound.

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Tuesday 06/11/2013
Cop kills wife, self at St. Albans home
Updated: June 11, 2013 - 12:23 pm

A 33-year-old NYPD officer with a reported history of domestic violence shot and killed his wife as she ran from their St. Albans home on June 5 before killing himself.

Police are calling the incident a murder-suicide.

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Thursday 06/06/2013
Flushing hit and run inspires Council bill
Updated: June 13, 2013 - 10:40 am

Seven months have passed since the fateful night Taysha Dominguez lost her husband, Dante, in a hit-and-run accident at the corner of 41st Avenue and Union Street in Flushing, with the driver of the vehicle still on the lam.

“To flee the scene? That’s heartless,” Dominguez said as she choked back tears, adding the loss combined with the lack of closure fueled by the driver’s disappearance has torn her family apart.

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Dems talk education in race for 27th CD
Updated: June 13, 2013 - 10:40 am

Democrats running for the City Council in the 27th District have their differences on some aspects of education.

But all said they believe in having more local control over instruction and curriculum in a candidate forum held Monday night at the Campus Magnet Educational Complex in Cambria Heights.

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