By Howard Koplowitz
TimesLedger Newspapers
Photo by Christina Santucci
Queens: The two candidates vying for the state Assembly seat vacated by City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) pulled no punches during a debate Monday night in Glen Oaks.
Comment.
By Ivan Pereira
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: Several southeast Queens political leaders’ involvement in a neighborhood nonprofit has been called into question amid a report in the New York Post that the group’s tax returns failed to give a full accounting of how its funds were spent.
Comment.
By Anna Gustafson
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced last week he plans to sue Vantage Properties, which owns more than 80 buildings in Queens, to stop it from harassing rent-regulated tenants and forcing them from their homes in order to rent the apartments to individuals who could pay for more expensive, market-price units, he said.
Comment.
By Howard Koplowitz
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: The winning bidder of the contract to build and operate video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Race Track has strong ties to the Rev. Floyd Flake, the influential minister at Allen A.M.E Cathedral in Jamaica.
Comment.
By Howard Koplowitz
TimesLedger Newspapers
Photo by Christina Santucci
Queens: With about 100 supporters surrounding him, state Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst) denounced the Senate report that may lead to his expulsion from the body and introduced his new legal team Sunday at a Jackson Heights restaurant.
Comment.
By Jeremy Walsh
TimesLedger Newspapers
Council District 25: Freshman City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) spent his first week in office adjusting, learning — and dusting.
Comment.
By Howard Koplowitz
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens Borough President: Borough President Helen Marshall struck an optimistic tone despite the harsh economy and the loss of two borough hospitals last year as she addressed the crowd assembled for her ceremonial swearing-in ceremony Tuesday at York College.
Comment.
By Jeremy Walsh
TimesLedger Newspapers
Council District 29: Queens City Council members picked up a bevy of committee chairmanships last Thursday as the 2010 legislative year began in earnest.
Comment.
By Anna Gustafson
TimesLedger Newspapers
Photo by Nat Valentine
Queens: Jamaica resident Victoria Milord remembers everything shaking, the bricks falling and being pulled out of her house in Haiti by her grandmother.
Comment.
By Howard Koplowitz
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: Glen Oaks Village President Bob Friedrich, running in the special election for state Assembly against former City Councilman David Weprin, painted himself as an out-of-the-box thinking civic leader and a better alternative to Weprin, whom he characterized as “more of the same.”
Comment.
By Anna Gustafson
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: Former City Councilman David Weprin, who is running against Glen Oaks Village President Bob Friedrich in the special election for the state Assembly, said he would be able to hit the ground running in Albany since his years in city politics allowed him to form longstanding relationships with state leaders and prepared him to tackle New York’s significant financial woes.
Comment.
By Ivan Pereira
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: The federal government is lending a hand to Haitian immigrants who need help to remain legally in the United States and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) wants to make sure interested people receive assistance with as little hassle as possible.
Comment.
By Jeremy Walsh
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: A week after a special committee recommended the state Senate either expel or censure Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst), the Queens legislator’s fate remained undecided.
Comment.
By Jeremy Walsh
TimesLedger Newspapers
Assembly District 38: A week after Gov. David Paterson unleashed an ambitious ethics-reform agenda in his State of the State address, the state Legislature rolled out its own initiative.
Comment.
By Anna Gustafson
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: Forest Hills resident Lilianna Zulunova said she plans to challenge state Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) in this year’s Democratic primary and is going around the community to spread word about her platform issues that include job creation, affordable housing and education.
Comment.
By Ivan Pereira
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: The MTA’s proposed cuts to bus service will cripple commuters across the borough, former City Councilman David Weprin warned Sunday as he urged Queens residents to get their heads out of the sand and fight to save their commutes.
Comment.
By Christina Santucci
TimesLedger Newspapers
Council District 32: Elected officials from throughout the borough and beyond celebrated the inauguration Sunday of City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Rockaway Beach) at the Scholars’ Academy School in Rockaway Park.
Comment.
By Anna Gustafson
TimesLedger Newspapers
Assembly District 38: Anthony Seminerio, a 74-year-old former state assemblyman from Richmond Hill, faces up to 14 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 4, a federal judge said last week in a decision that accuses him of abusing his power to bully money out of hospitals, nonprofits, and other groups in exchange for lobbying state officials on their behalf.
Comment.
By Anna Gustafson
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: Queens parents will now be able to receive information about school emergencies as they unfold thanks to the expansion of an alert system, city officials announced at JHS 217 in Briarwood last week.
Comment.
Jeremy Walsh
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: The top three neighborhoods in the city with the largest percentage of immigrants are in Queens, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said last week in a report that showed newcomers make a strong contribution to the urban economy.
Comment.
By Jeremy Walsh
TimesLedger Newspapers
Mayor: Job creation and thrift were the two foremost topics on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s mind as he laid out his State of the City address Wednesday at Astoria’s Frank Sinatra High School for the Performing Arts.
Comment.
By Nathan Duke
TimesLedger Newspapers
Council District 19: Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) is eligible to receive additional funding from the city, but the newly elected councilman for northeast Queens said the money could have been more useful during last fall’s campaign season and that it must all go toward paying off debts accrued for mailing and printing costs.
Comment.
By Jeremy Walsh
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: New York’s elected officials are pushing for a tax cut they said would boost new jobs for small business owners throughout the state and country, but when such a measure could take effect remained unclear.
Comment.
By Connor Adams Sheets
TimesLedger Newspapers
Queens: When the final U.S. Census 2000 tallies were calculated, New York lost two seats in Congress, in part as a result of low response rates in areas of the state such as Queens with high immigrant populations.
Comment.