South Queens News

• Breaking

A computer teacher at PS 174 in Rego Park with a confirmed case of touching children inappropriately at another school is out on bail after being arrested on Thursday for allegedly touching two male students.

Seniors and elder advocates blasted the MTA’s Access-A-Ride program at a meeting of the Queens Interagency Council on Aging on Feb. 8, at Queens Borough Hall. They cited late pickups, rude phone operators and poorly marked vehicles among other problems.

A spokeswoman for the agency said it works diligently to address such concerns.

The group that filed a lawsuit last year accusing five Queens judges of being biased against borough residents applying for Social Security disability benefits recently presented oral arguments before the judge who will decide whether or not to grant the federal government’s request to dismiss the case.

“It went really well,” said Emilia Sicilia, a senior attorney at the Urban Justice Center, which, along with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher filed the suit in Federal District Court in Brooklyn in April. “It was very clear the judge is taking the case really seriously. She has not issued a decision, but she expressed serious concerns with the defendants.”

Over the next three months, New York homeowners facing foreclosure will learn if they are covered by a sweeping settlement with five major banks announced on Feb. 9.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who had been pursuing payments from banks for alleged misconduct since taking office in 2011, announced on Feb. 9 that the state would receive $136 million as part of a $26 billion settlement with Bank of America, Citi, Chase, GMAC and Wells Fargo.

• Featured

The group of state legislators that drew the proposed district lines for the Assembly and Senate should be exiled to New Jersey after creating areas resembling Rorschach ink blots that split apart communities and dilute minority voters’ power — or, at the very least, be sent back to the drawing board — irate residents and legislators said at a hearing in Queens this week.

Hundreds of people packed a room at Queens Borough Hall on Tuesday for a hearing held by the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, often referred to as LATFOR.

• Special Section

In his State of the Union Address last month, President Obama spoke at length of the interrelation between the housing crisis and the economic crisis.

And among the discussion of new and future regulations aimed at improving things, he recommended that homeowners consider refinancing their mortgages.

• Featured

Sound the fire alarms — again.

As he has since taking office, Mayor Bloomberg is threatening to throw a number of fire companies into the furnace, and Queens legislators are gearing up for what has become an annual budget battle that typically results in no, or few, units being disbanded.

In 2012, New York State officials are preparing for primaries and elections for the state legislature, Congress and President of the United States, a process that is undertaken every four years.

What could possibly go wrong?