Eastern/Southeast Queens News

• Breaking

The New York City Campaign Finance Board asks New Yorkers and interested organizations to submit "pro" or "con" statements on the five proposed City Charter amendments that will appear on the ballot citywide on November 5. Statements submitted by October 4 will be published in the city's official online Voter Guide.  

• Featured

The anxiety and complications of getting into the high school or middle school of your choice in New York City have sometimes made getting a mortgage look simple.

Last week, the process was made simpler — though no less anxiety-inducing — when the city announced a new, streamlined application process that will take effect for the 2020 school year.

Like it or not, here it comes.

The Department of Transportation announced last Friday that the Fresh Pond Road bus lane will be implemented this month. The DOT confirmed work began Monday. That is despite the fact that Community Board 5 voted 28-6 against the proposal. The board’s Transportation Committee, however, was in favor.

The Federal Aviation Administration should make public meetings of an industry-connected advisory group more transparent, three members of Congress say.

Along with U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) sent a letter to the FAA requesting more openness with the meetings of the NextGen Advisory Committee.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens) rallied with a coalition of nonprofits on Wednesday in Long Island City to call on Congress members to support the House of Representatives’ recently passed spending plan.

The coalition is also urging New York City’s congressional delegation to advance measures to boost economic security for working families and expand affordable housing and continue fighting against a Trump administration proposal for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Seen this guy?

Around 5:45 p.m. on Aug. 16, he was in the middle of an argument with an employee at the BP gas station on the westbound Horace Harding Expressway by 167th Street in Flushing, police said.

Police are searching for a burglar who entered a home by 46th Avenue and 192nd Street in Auburndale on Aug. 7.

Around noon on that day, he used a chair to get in through the bathroom window. But after the 58-year-old homeowner heard a sound and saw him, the burglar fled.

It’s hard to believe that my son is about to start middle school. He’s excited about having his own locker and the robotics course he’ll be taking. He’s looking forward to meeting new classmates and having more independence at school.

Instead of the normal anxiety that comes when your child is starting a new school (and middle school, no less!), my husband and I are going into this new school year with deep pits in our stomachs. Our son has a great middle school, but our younger daughter’s education is threatened because Mayor de Blasio is refusing to provide a location for a second Success Academy middle school in Queens.