The race to succeed term-limited Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) from his City Council seat continues to grow — 18 candidates are vying to represent District 26.

Last week the Chronicle introduced 10 of them. Here are the other 8. Read more

When head coach Mike Anderson was asked about St. John’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament last week after a win over Xavier, he said, “I think you have got to take care of homecourt.”

But the Johnnies followed that up with a loss to perennial cellar-dweller DePaul, a frustrating 88-83 defeat last Saturday. Read more

Two Rockaway residents ran away from the field on Tuesday in the special election in the City Council’s 31st District.

In unofficial results from the city’s Board of Elections on Wednesday afternoon, Selvena Brooks-Powers was leading, with 2,613 votes and 38.07 percent of the vote with 97.78 percent of the votes counted. Read more

Get the popcorn ready.

Movie theaters in the city can open at 25 percent capacity with up to 50 people starting March 5, Gov. Cuomo announced Monday. Read more

Gov. Cuomo was on hand Wednesday morning to officially open a new Covid-19 vaccination site at York College in Jamaica.

And early returns indicate the folks coming out for their shots were pleased with the addition. Read more

A coalition of activists sued the Department of City Planning in June in an effort to halt the Special Flushing Waterfront District development, but the plan was approved by the City Council in December anyway.

Now, the activists are adding the Council to its lawsuit. Read more

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a set of executive orders on Monday that will extend the city’s lease with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, allowing a 20,000-job development project at the airport to proceed.

With $10-to-15 billion of private investment going to the airport’s new infrastructure, de Blasio said the deal would support the city’s recovery from the Covid pandemic and would give residents of South and Southeast Queens a taste of the economic benefits. Read more

In lieu of the contentious Gifted and Talented exam for this coming school year, the city announced last week that it will move to a model in which preschool educators identify students to be entered into a randomized lottery for seats.

In January, Mayor de Blasio announced that he would be changing the admission model of the city’s G&T programs, which are determined by a high-stakes exam administered to children as young as 4. Read more

Restaurants in New York City will be allowed to fill 35 percent of their seats tomorrow, Feb. 26.

The new rule, announced by Gov. Cuomo last Friday, marks a 40 percent jump in capacity over the 25 percent limit in place until now. An eatery with 50 seats, for example, has been able to serve 12 patrons at a time, but as of Friday will be able to serve 17. Read more

After weeks of rising opposition among the Queens community boards to Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s (D-Manhattan) proposal to create a universal system for city development, the bill received another blow at a Council hearing Tuesday — this time from the de Blasio administration.

Throughout the near-seven hour hearing, Director of the Department of City Planning Marisa Lago panned the bill, saying that it would be prohibitively expensive and create bureaucratic obstacles to land-use actions. Read more

Friends of Tracie McManus, the 54-year-old Howard Beach mother who was killed by an alleged drunk driver at an Ozone Park car wash Feb. 15, have stepped in to support her family.

Sunnyside resident Ellenia Keane-Lyons created a fundraiser to help provide for McManus’ three children, Megan, Caitlin and Brian McManus. McManus’ husband, Brian, died in 2012. Read more

A gathering of Queens businesses owners in Floral Park last Saturday was billed as a celebration of Black History Month.

But it also was intended as a clarion call for small businesses and the community to pull together in challenging times that still could be far from over. Read more

On Feb. 9, a man verbally accosted an Asian woman in Astoria, following her and repeatedly asking why Chinese people eat dogs. A week later, a man in Flushing aggressively pushed an older Asian woman to the ground. She required stitches to close the gash on her forehead.

Hate crimes against Asian-Americans are on the rise in New York City. Racially charged incidents against the community rose by 33 percent between 2019 and 2020. Read more

A Glen Oaks GOP leader was arrested Monday for participating in the Capitol insurrection.

Philip Grillo, a 46-year-old District 24 Assembly leader and former City Council District 24 special election candidate, was picked up by police at his girlfriend’s house for his attempts to obstruct President Biden’s win last month. Read more