Jimmy Meng, former assemblyman and father of congressional candidate Grace Meng, was arrested on charges that he arranged to receive a bribe worth tens of thousands of dollars hidden in a fruit basket. He claimed he could reduce time in prison for a defendant if the man delivered $80,000 to a lumber- yard he owned. Then Meng said he would distribute that money to prosecutors in exchange for a shortened prison sentence
The Skyway Hotel homeless center created controversy when it went from a family homeless facility to a male only shelter. Commu- nity Board 10, neighbors, and local elected officials condemned the transition for the lack of community notification and claimed their area was forced to service an unfair portion of the homeless population.
Twenty-one registered sex offenders are now living at the shelter.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law last week legislation that requires all 5-year-olds in New York City to attend kindergarten. Formerly, city children were not required to attend school until the age of six, often times bypassing kindergarten all together. Private school or home-schooled children are exempt from the law.
The Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps (FHVAC) launched their initiative to train 200 members of the community in lifesaving CPR. Their first CPR event, of many scheduled for this year was a great success.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley took a reduction of almost half the discretionary funds she took home to her district in the budget passed last month. Crowley received just under $380,000—a cut of about $300,000—to distribute to her district, which encompasses Middle Village, Maspeth, Ridgewood and Glendale. Her fund is the smallest of any council member from Queens and a far cry from the $689,715 she was awarded last fiscal year.
New York City and the Department of Education lost their bid to eliminate 24 schools forcing all teachers at those institutions to reapply for their jobs. It was part of the controversial turnaround plan that would have closed and immediately reopened the schools, including seven in Queens. On Tuesday, a state judge refused to overrule an arbitrator’s decision last month that the plan violated the teachers union contract.
A New Jersey man was charged in a “sex sting” case where he allegedly tried to meet up with a 14-year-old, Queens girl he propositioned with sexual relations over the Internet. The 14-year-old girl was actually an under-cover NYPD detective, who was contacted several times via instant message over the course of a month by the 57-year-old defendant, Dhirubhai H. Patel.
Estelle Cooper, 82, faced charges of second-and-third-degree larceny for stealing over a four year period from the nonprofit that funds activities in the park. The former administrator of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park stole more than $50,000 from the organization that she helped found.
The city Parks Department released the rendering of the giant skate park that is set to be built at Plane Tree Park in Ozone Park. The 10,350 square-foot skate park is only part of a huge renovation of the park that is on Atlantic and 95 avenues between 88 and 89 streets. The renovation, will cost a total of $1.7 million and is funded by both Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Councilman Eric Ulrich.
An explosion rocked the school playground at P.S./M.S. 207. Units responded to a call from neighbors about a very loud explosion and discovered that one of the benches in the park had been totally blown apart, with sharp slats of wood found more than twenty feet away from the blast.
