Queens Assemblymember Introduces Bill to Establish Diwali as School Holiday

An Edgemere man was sentenced to 19 years in prison Tuesday for attempted murder in the shooting of an off-duty NYPD officer who he tried to carjack in Far Rockaway last year.

Chad Collie, 20, of Rockaway Beach Boulevard, pleaded guilty last month before Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino to attempted murder in the second degree.

Homeless advocates penned a letter to a Manhattan Supreme Court judge opposing Mayor Eric Adams’ recent legal motion calling for the suspension of the city’s decades-old right-to-shelter law amid the ongoing migrant influx.

The letter, sent last Thursday and released Tuesday, comes in response to Adams last week filing a court motion to exempt the city from its legal mandate — established by the 1984 Callahan v. Carey consent decree — to provide shelter to single adults and adult couples when it “lacks the resources and capacity” to do so. The mayor and top administration officials say they’re not seeking to abolish the right-to-shelter, but rather “clarity” from the court that would give them more “flexibility” in finding suitable housing for tens of thousands of migrants.

A day before the city reopened nearly 70 blocks of public beaches along the Rockaway peninsula for the Memorial Day weekend, the U.S. Postal Service and National Park Service hosted a special event at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Broad Channel to honor the piping plover, an endangered shorebird featured on new stamps.

In attendance were members of the NYC Plover Project, a nonprofit with more than 250 volunteers, who have been on the beaches since March preparing for the summer swim season, who celebrated the newly released stamp sheet commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

An FDNY maritime unit pulled off a daring rescue of three boaters who were stranded on the Breezy Point Jetty on Sunday.

FDNY Marine 3, based in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, responded to a report of a vessel in distress at the jetty which is located at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay at the westernmost end of the Rockaway Peninsula.

Bayside High School hosted its annual Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair Friday. Students from the Career and Technical Education Humanities and Nonprofit Management program each pitched their socially responsible products to students, staff and others in attendance.

Each of the 11th grade students in the program have been taking a college credit course from Farmingdale State College called Social Entrepreneur. The students were divided into 17 groups of five and tasked with coming up with innovative ideas to create businesses while also being socially responsible. The Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair grants them with the opportunity to work on pitching their products to potential customers.

May 30, 2023 By Michael Dorgan

A man on an e-scooter who was wanted by police for attacking several residents in Astoria and Long Island City has been arrested and charged with hate crime assaults.

On Friday, May 26, the second annual Memorial Day Ceremony in Kissena Park brought live music, local dignitaries, veterans groups, a presentation of the Colors by members of the Francis Lewis High School JROTC, a flower-laying ceremony and more to the Flushing community.

Those in attendance included Councilwoman Sandra Ung, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, state Senator John Liu, veterans groups, local students, Boy Scout Troop 253 and others.

On Monday, May 29, The Allied Veterans Memorial Committee of Ridgewood and Glendale hosted a memorial service with remarks along a march that followed west along Myrtle Avenue to the Ridgewood Veterans Triangle.

Some elected officials who joined included state Senator Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, Congresswoman Grace Meng, and Councilwoman Joann Ariola.

A winning lottery ticket for the May 28 Take 5 Midday drawing was sold at a Middle Village deli, The New York Lottery announced on Monday. 

The winning ticket, worth $8,926, was sold at Z Star Deli, located at 66-76 69th St. in Middle Village, according to the New York Lottery. 

Rain or shine, the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, touted as the largest Memorial Day parade in the United States, has been a staple of the quaint Queens neighborhoods since 1927. Thousands lined the parade route under clear blue sky along Northern Boulevard from Jayson Avenue in Great Neck to 245th Street in Douglaston on May 29 to honor the brave men and women who answered their call to service and made the ultimate sacrifice while defending their country.

Many onlookers sporting patriotic attire waved Old Glory and cheered on the parade of military vehicles, veteran and military groups and marching bands led by Grand Marshal Vice Admiral Joanna M Nunan, the first female commander of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. This year’s parade marshals were retired Master Sergeant Lawrence Badia and Vietnam veteran Richard Weinberg.