July 27, 2020 By Allie Griffin Nearly half of Queens residents have still not completed the 2020 Census more than four months after it was opened for responses. The borough has a self response rate of about 54 percent, according to Census map data. The number is below New York State’s total response rate of… Read more »
July 27, 2020 By Allie Griffin The Queens Public Library (QPL) will reopen a second batch of branches in August after reopening a handful of sites earlier this month. The library system will reopen eight additional locations for “to-go” service on Aug. 10, bringing the total number of open branches to 15. The first seven… Read more »
July 27, 2020 By Allie Griffin A Pennsylvania woman has died after she crashed her motorcycle in Holliswood Sunday. Tineisha Howard, of Allentown, PA, was driving a 2019 Kawasaki ZX6R motorcycle southbound on Francis Lewis Boulevard, near Epsom Course, when she lost control of the bike Sunday, police said. Howard struck a nearby fire hydrant… Read more »
July 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new initiative today to turn a dozen blocks citywide into play arenas for New York City kids. The initiative, dubbed ‘Play Streets,’ will turn 12 open streets — including three in the Jackson Heights/ Corona area — into a play space on weekdays… Read more »
July 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin Several Queens streets were added — and removed — from the city’s open streets program, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today. Four streets in Queens were added to the program in which select blocks are closed to traffic and opened for pedestrians and cyclists’ use from 8 a.m. to… Read more »
July 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin Brand new elevators at the Astoria Boulevard N/W station opened to customers today, after many months of construction. Two street-to-mezzanine elevators and two mezzanine-to-platform elevators were put into service today at the station. Local leaders — who have pushed for elevators at the station for years to make it… Read more »
July 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin Police are looking for a duo who robbed a gas station in Astoria at gunpoint last night. Two men entered a Mobil gas station along 21st St., just before 9 p.m. brandishing a black firearm. The pair demanded money from a 65-year-old employee as they went behind the sales… Read more »
July 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin Alternate side parking rules will return for all of next month, beginning Monday, Aug. 3, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today. The city has repeatedly suspended the street parking rules during the coronavirus pandemic, so that New Yorkers don’t have to move their cars for street cleaning. Alternate side… Read more »
July 24, 2020 By Allie Griffin A former Wake Forest basketball coach avoided jail time at his sentencing Thursday for the ‘one punch’ death of a Florida man in Long Island City two years ago. Jamill Jones, 37, of North Carolina, was sentenced to three years’ probation, 1,500 hours of community service and a $1,000… Read more »
July 23, 2020 By Allie Griffin BJ’s Wholesale Club will open a Long Island City location early next year, the company announced Wednesday evening. The bulk goods warehouse store will open on 48th Street, taking the spot in the Plaza 48 mall that was once home to National Wholesale Liquidators. The news that BJ’s was… Read more »