With a cavalcade of notable people and an avalanche of blue and red balloons, Delta Airlines officially opened its JFK Airport gateway at Terminal 4 last Friday, just in time for the summer flying season.

Delta CEO Richard Anderson welcomed elected officials, sports stars and heads of foreign airlines, including Virgin’s Richard Branson, to Gate B41 at the end of Delta’s renovated and extended Concourse B — which at some points seems to look more like a mall than an air terminal — for the ceremonial grand opening.

While inside the dry, warm concourse of Terminal 4, officials and Delta employees celebrated the grand opening of the airline’s new JFK Airport gateway, outside dozens of airport service workers marched in the cold drizzle, saying that while Delta Airlines received billions of dollars in subsidies for its new terminal, workers have been left with low pay and little job security.

The protest, organized by the largest service employees union in the New York area, 32BJ of SEIU, as well as New York Communities for Change, called on airlines and airport service companies to treat their employees better. Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Rosedale), who represents part of the airport and many of the workers who rallied, also attended the protest.

The NBA Draft Lottery held last week at the Disney Studios in Times Square determined the order of selection in the 2013 NBA Draft, scheduled for June 27 at the Barclays Center. The participants were all from NBA clubs that did not qualify for the playoffs, which meant that for the first time in years, neither the Knicks nor Nets were involved. Nevertheless, there were a number Queens-related stories.

Ernie Grunfeld, the greatest basketball player in Forest Hills High School history, was at the lottery as president of the Washington Wizards. Ernie has the unique perspective of having been a former first-round draft choice himself, as he was chosen by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1977, and now is in the position of selecting a player for that honor. I asked him about his memories of being selected by an NBA team after finishing his four years at the University of Tennessee.

Ten people have been indicted on 82 counts in an alleged auto theft ring that targeted four well-known Queens auto dealerships, according to District Attorney Richard Brown.

The suspects are accused of stealing vehicles from the four dealerships in Queens and one more in Brooklyn over the course of three months and allegedly selling one of the cars to a defendant who planned to send it overseas on a container ship.

Powerful state Sen. John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) allegedly contacted an employee of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn in an effort to identify potential witnesses in a mortgage fraud investigation, and to determine if Sampson himself was being investigated.

A nine-count indictment of Sampson unsealed on Monday alleges the senator told an associate who was a defendant in the case that if witnesses could be identified, Sampson could arrange to “take them out.”

Ten people have been indicted on 82 counts in an alleged auto theft ring that targeted three well-known Queens auto dealerships, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. 

Who did it? That’s the question on most minds as the investigation into the terrorist slaughter of three people and the maiming of nearly 200 in Boston on Monday continues.

On Wednesday afternoon we had to suffer through one of the worst failings of the media: false reporting. There has been an arrest, respected outlets such as CNN said. No there hasn’t, law enforcement authorities quickly responded.

However, the package turned out to contain part of a lighting system and an all-clear was given less than an hour later, according to a spokesperson from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Several hundred travelers evacuated the airport and waited on the surrounding roads and terminals while the authorities investigated.

The rally held in Flushing on Monday evening was billed by local chapters of the NAACP as a generic call for an end to the police practice of stop and frisk, and to the alleged use of racial profiling and excessive force.

But Ken Cohen, president of the NAACP Northeast Branch in Queens, acknowledged that the location and the timing — a street corner about 20 feet from where Robert Jackson has accused multiple NYPD officers of beating him on Jan. 8, and three days after a tense standoff between Southeast Queens residents and officers from the 113th Precinct — were not accidental.

Officially the chairman of the Queens Republican Party is Phil Ragusa. But if what U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara says is true, that may come as a surprise to the borough party’s Deputy Chairman Vince Tabone, who was one of six people indicted in the scheme centered on state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) and Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone).

On a late Monday morning, Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) stood in front of Cascarino’s Pizzeria decrying the looming ban on soda servings larger than 16 ounces at select merchants and restaurants around the city.

He called on the city’s Department of Health to educate small business owners on how to comply with the impending rules, instead of fining them. When asked about a lawsuit brought on by soft-drink companies to block the new rules, the lawmaker predicted the ban would be shot down for being “arbitrary and capricious.”

(NAPSI)—There are good reasons to include travel insurance in your vacation budget.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority made minor changes to the routes of the Q10, Q37 and QM18 near the terminus for all three lines south of the Belt Parkway.

The Port Authority has authorized $175 million to fund an 11-gate, 75,000-square-foot expansion of Delta Air Lines’ Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The money will fund the second phase of Delta’s massive ongoing expansion of operations at JFK. The project is an addition to the $1.2 billion Delta is spending to make JFK its international hub.