It’s become commonplace in many homes. You flush your toilet and rather than that modest few seconds of water returning to the bowl after the oddly comforting swoosh-and-gulp noise, the water continues to run…and run….and run. “Jiggle the handle!” some loved one or funny friend will call out and, more times than not, that will be all that is needed to untangle the chain that controls the lever and flap that allow the tank to refill. No plunger needed; crisis averted.

As you get older, most things around the home become less like a chore and more of an act done for pride. At least that’s how it was for me. Not but five years ago, the piling up of dirty dishes was more a challenge than a chore: just how many of my soiled plates, cups, utensils and cookware could I fit into a kitchen sink without causing a real catastrophe? Maybe its laziness, or maybe you just get more aware of what attracts rodents and pests. Either way, these days, it’s hard for me to go a day without cleaning the dishes and, at this point, the sink as well.

The exterior and yard of the historic 150-year-old Flushing Town Hall is undergoing a $1.6 million upgrade that will be completed in the fall.

The city’s Department of Design and Construction reports that the work will create more accessible spaces, bring the building up to code and restore the portico with historical accuracy. A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns.

It is not entirely infrequent that the most common calls for contractors, handymen and service providers end up being the easiest tasks to perform on one’s own. Prevention, as always, is a key element in this argument but seeing as painting and leaks are the most common home improvement calls made, along with numerous installation requests, it’s not hard to see why DIY has become a bit of a fad in the preceding years.

Today's subject comes to us thanks to my cousin's college roommate, who just recently bought a home upstate and sent me a kind e-mail telling me about some projects he was thinking about undertaking. Being a chef, most of his major wants surround the kitchen and his first idea was to repaint his kitchen cabinet doors before putting on a set of designs; we spit-balled and decided that cooking utensils and accessories would make a great theme.

On Monday all 500 coveted job applications for Local Union 46, the metallic lathers and reinforcing ironworkers union, were out the door. About 600 men and a dozen women slept on the union's premises on 61st Street and 32nd Avenue in Woodside, some since April 24, for a chance at an apprenticeship position with decent pay and benefits.

“I'm a veteran trying to get a job just like the next man,” James Pinchback III of Brooklyn said. Pinchback’s cousin and aunt work for the union.

As Queens’ population becomes more ethnically diverse, so do its houses of worship. In “Building Faith,” a four part series, the Queens Chronicle examines four congregations and their struggles to grow—or simply maintain—their homes.

Halloween Harvest Fest At Socrates Park