Stories from Queens Courier Local News

The following Memorial Day parades and other related events will take place in the borough. SATURDAY, MAY 25 Sunnyside Gardens Park Annual Memorial Day Fair 11 a.m. Sunnyside Gardens Park (48-21 39th Avenue) SUNDAY, MAY 26 Forest Hills Memorial Day Parade 12 p.m. Metropolitan and Ascan avenues Maspeth Memorial Day Parade 1 p...

The new owner of a luckless Bayside restaurant site is determined to end a streak of bad breaks at the locale. "We're going to bring it back to its original glory," said George Makkos, whose newest restaurant, Vivaldi, replaces Patrizia's of Bayside. The 201-10 Cross Island Parkway building had been a revolving door of new [...

Hallets Point, home to the NYCHA Astoria Houses on the Astoria waterfront, is one step closer to getting thousands of residential apartments, retail space and parkland. On Tuesday, Community Board 1 voted unanimously to approve the planby Lincoln Equities Group to bring 11 buildings to the area. The developer is applying for zoning changes in [...

The family of the 71-year-old Queens woman killed 10 years ago in a staged car accident said bureaucratic delays have held up justice - and a proposed law to stiffen penalties in such cases. "It should have passed," said Daniel Ross, 56, of Bayside. "I don't want another family to go through what we went [...

TODAY'S FORECAST Friday: Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain showers, then rain showers in the afternoon. High of 70. Winds from the NW at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80% with rainfall amounts near 0.3 in. possible. Friday night: Overcast with rain. Low of 50. Breezy. Winds from the NNW [...

Police are looking for a trio of subway dancers who allegedly assaulted a passenger aboard a train in Queens. The 28-year-old victim was on a Manhattan bound F train around 7:20 p.m. on May 7 when he got into a verbal argument with three men police describe as "dance show train performers." As the train [...

5Pointz will soon be gone, replaced by two high-rise apartment buildings. At a public hearing hosted by Community Board (CB) 2 on Wednesday area residents packed the MoMA PS 1 lobby to discuss the special permit application by thee Wolkoff family, owners of 5Pointz for decades, to build the complex. The plan looks to demolish [...

Order up! Queens foodies looking to pig out on a slab of ribs need go no further than Douglaston. Smokin' Aces Championship BBQ is slated to open in the first week of June. It will replace Strawberry's, a popular sports bar at 42-15 235th Street that abruptly closed last October. "Everything just kind of fell [...

TODAY'S FORECAST Thursday: Overcast with a chance of rain, then a chance of a thunderstorm and rain showers in the afternoon. Fog early. High of 77. Breezy. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70% with rainfall amounts near 0.3 in. possible. Thursday night: Overcast with a chance of a [...

Three men have been arrested for kidnapping a man off a Jackson Heightsstreet and holding him in a warehouse for a month in a $3 million ransom attempt, the district attorney's office saidWednesday. Christian Acuna, 35, of Corona, Dennis Alves, 32, of East Elmhurst, and Eduardo Moncayo, 38, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, are currently awaiting [...

Hi-ho, the Muppets are coming to town. On Tuesday Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials announced the late Jim Henson's family has donated close to 400 puppets, costumes, props and other items to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. The announcement included special appearances by Miss Piggy - who got a kiss from [...

The curtain might be closed for good at the Ridgewood Theater. The 1915 building has been vacant since March 2008, said Theodore Renz, executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District (BID). In 2010, the Guzman brothers took over ownership and intended to put a supermarket in the building, but the plan was never [...

BY CHARLES OSBORN LIC has become Citi Field West. Several members of the New York Mets have been living in Long Island City since the start of the 2013 season, though their neighbors may have no idea. "I really wouldn't even know who they were if I ran into them," said one resident of Center [...

TODAY'S FORECAST Wednesday: Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and a chance of rain. High of 86. Winds from the South at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Wednesday night: Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and a chance of rain. Low of 70. Winds from the SSW at 10 to [...]

Anthony Weiner has officially kicked off his political comeback. Almost two years after resigning from Congress because of a Twitter sex scandal, the former Queens politician is running for mayor. Weiner made the announcement late Tuesday in a video posted to YouTube. "Look I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot [...

Former assemblymember Barry Grodenchik has ended his borough president bid less than a day after being beat for a key county endorsement. "The next borough president must focus like a laser on jobs, education, healthcare, economic development and Sandy recovery," Grodenchik said. "I am proud to have brought those issues to the forefront of the [...

What community leaders are calling a "senseless act of violence" has left a 14-year-old girl dead, a family devastated and a neighborhood outraged. D'aja "Asia" Robinson was shot and killed on Saturday aboard a Q6 bus near Sutphin Boulevard and Rockaway Boulevard. Robinson was on her way from a sweet 16 birthday party when a [...

A Queens middle school teacher charged with statutory rape has pleaded guilty and is expected to be sentenced to six months in jail as part of a plea deal, officials said. Daniel Reilly, 36, admitted to having sex multiple times at his Forest Hills home with a 14-year-old girl he used to teach, said District [...

The announcement of a new team may be a major score for soccer officials, but it pushes back the goalposts for a new Queens stadium. Manchester City Football Club and the Yankees are partnering up to establish the New York City Football Club (FC), officials announced today. It is Major League Soccer's (MLS) 20th expansion [...

Officials investigating a stash house in Corona busted three drug traffickers and seized more than $2 million in heroin and crystal meth, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office announced. Miguel Mercado-Guelen, 33, of Queens, Henry Nunez 38, of Brooklyn, and Diego Estevez, 39, of Connecticut, have been indicted on drug and conspiracy charges...