April 21, 2021 By Ryan Songalia Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a new plan Tuesday that will add more cops in high crime areas as a means to combat gun violence. The announcement comes at a time when the number of shootings continues to spike across the city and New Yorkers have been calling for… Read more »
April 21, 2021 By Michael Dorgan A 19-year-old Woodside Houses resident faces 25 years to life in prison for the stray bullet killing of a 37-year-old mother-of-two last month. Dajuan Williams was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court Tuesday for allegedly killing Gudelia Vallinas while she was walking near the corner of 48th Street and Broadway… Read more »
April 21, 2021 By Ryan Songalia The Floating Hospital is about to receive more than $4 million in funding to boost its COVID-19 vaccination efforts. The funding, which comes as part of the $1.9 trillion federal relief package, is being earmarked to help the non-profit healthcare provider expand COVID-19 vaccination and testing efforts in underserved… Read more »
April 20, 2021 By Christina Santucci A trio of Asian-American women are teaming up to lead a solidarity bike ride against racist violence through the streets of Queens Saturday. Longtime cyclists – Helen Ho, Carolyn Tran and Julie Won – organized the event, called Bike for Justice. Ho is a co-founder of The Biking Public… Read more »
April 20, 2021 By Christina Santucci What do the homes of Louis Armstrong, William Steinway, Jackie Robinson, Malcolm X, Ella Fitzgerald and Rufus King have in common? All are featured in the new book, Historic Houses of Queens, scheduled for publication next month. The book – written by Rob MacKay, Director of Public Relations, Tourism… Read more »
April 19, 2021 By Christian Murray Mayor Bill de Blasio has come out against NRG Energy’s proposal to overhaul its Astoria power plant, saying that the plan should be nixed since the plant would continue to rely on fossil fuels. The mayor joins more than a dozen elected officials who have come out against the… Read more »
April 19, 2021 By Christian Murray Costa Constantinides, who represented Astoria in the City Council until earlier this month, shared a message on twitter this afternoon that his wife has passed away. Constantinides said that his wife, Lori, died this morning. “My wife Lori went home this morning after a long illness battling kidney failure… Read more »
April 19, 2021 By Allie Griffin More than 40 public schools in western Queens will receive a collective $33 million in funding from the recently-passed New York state budget, State Sen. Mike Gianaris announced Friday. The schools will gradually receive their portion of the funds on a monthly basis beginning in September, Gianaris said. The… Read more »
April 19, 2021 By Ryan Songalia A man was fatally shot while sitting inside his SUV in Astoria late Sunday night, police said. Police responded to a 911 call shortly after 10 p.m. and found a 22-year-old man sitting in the driver’s seat of a late model Range Rover with a gunshot wound to his… Read more »
April 19, 2021 By Christina Santucci Emergency medical technicians jumped into the East River Saturday afternoon to rescue a person, who was clinging to a bulkhead in the water. The rescue took place at around 4:30 p.m. near the Astoria ferry stop, and videos on the Citizen app show emergency responders in the area. EMTs… Read more »