Oct. 20, 2021 By Allie Griffin All city workers must get vaccinated for COVID-19 or face unpaid leave under a new mandate Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday. The mandate requires city employees — including police officers, firefighters and sanitation workers — to get at least one dose by 5 p.m. on Oct. 29. It… Read more »
Author: Allie Griffin
Auburndale Residents Call on City to Shut Down Local Bar Following Multiple Complaints
Oct. 19, 2021 By Allie Griffin A group of Auburndale residents, business owners and local politicians are calling on the city to shut down a local bar they say has made their lives a living hell for the past eight months. Dozens rallied outside Kloud Tequila Grill, located at 192-08 Northern Blvd., Saturday to draw… Read more »
Rosedale Couple Charged With Criminal Sale of Firearms; Stored Stockpile in Home Shared With Daughter
Oct. 18, 2021 By Allie Griffin A couple who allegedly stored a stockpile of gun-making equipment in the Rosedale home they shared with their 10-year-old daughter was charged with criminal sale of a weapon and other charges Friday. Lissette Espinal, 32, and Ricardi Kiem, 31, were arraigned in Queens Criminal Court Friday morning on a… Read more »
Threatening to Report a Person to ICE Will Soon be Illegal Under New State Law
Oct. 15, 2021 By Allie Griffin A new state law will soon make it illegal to threaten to report someone to ICE as a form of blackmail. The legislation, which Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law last week, classifies such threats as extortion or coercion under New York law and therefore a crime. “New York… Read more »
House Prices in Queens Grew at Highest Rate Among Five Boroughs in Third Quarter: Report
Oct. 14, 2021 By Allie Griffin Residential sales prices across Queens grew at the highest rate among the five boroughs over the past year, according to a new report. The median sales price in Queens was $580,000 in the third quarter of 2021, a 17 percent increase from the third quarter of 2020 — representing… Read more »
6 Million NYC Residents Have Gotten at Least One Shot of the COVID-19 Vaccine
Oct. 14, 2021 By Allie Griffin Six million New York City residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday. “This is unbelievable,” de Blasio said during his morning press briefing. “Six million people who have gone and done the right thing for themselves and their families,… Read more »
Regal Cinemas And Asian Restaurants About to Open in Flushing’s Tangram Development
Oct. 13, 2021 By Allie Griffin Several new businesses have recently opened — or are set to open — inside a Flushing mega-development as the city bounces back from the pandemic. Two cafés, a gym, a movie theater and a Japanese retail store are among the new and incoming tenants inside Tangram, a 1.2 million-square-foot… Read more »
Early Voting Begins Oct. 23, BOE Increases Number of Early Voting Sites in Queens
Oct. 12, 2021 By Allie Griffin The NYC Board of Elections has increased the number of early voting sites to open in Queens this month ahead of the general election. There will be 22 early voting poll sites across the borough — an increase from the 18 sites that were available to residents ahead of… Read more »
Pair Steal Man’s iPhone, AirPods and Fanny Pack in Rego Park; Escape on Subway
Oct. 12, 2021 By Allie Griffin A pair of thieves stole a 27-year-old man’s iPhone, AirPods and fanny pack and then made an escape on the subway earlier this month in Rego Park. Two men walked up the 27-year-old near the corner of 63rd Drive and Queens Boulevard at 3:15 a.m. on Oct. 1. One… Read more »
State Closes Applications for Excluded Workers Fund As Money Runs Out
Oct. 11, 2021 By Allie Griffin New York State has closed applications for the Excluded Workers Fund as the $2.1 billion fund is running out. The state department of labor stopped accepting new applications Friday night to the program, which provides monetary aid to undocumented New Yorkers who lost their jobs during the pandemic and… Read more »