The Expendable

IBT

An FDNY firefighter has died from a heart attack after he was fired as part of the city's initiative to allocate funds for its migrant crisis, leaving his widow and children struggling to run their home. Derek Floyd, 36, suffered cardiac arrest and died on April 15, just four months after the city fired him as part of a budget crunch to fund migrant services.

Floyd was one of the about 10 Fire Department employees categorized under the "long term duty" — people either injured on the job and assigned office work or absent due to prolonged illness. They were terminated just weeks before Christmas, as per sources within the FDNY.

Floyd's death has left his grieving widow, along with his six-year-old son Ethan and two-year-old daughter Abigail, facing the daunting possibility of being unable to afford their home.

Floyd, a veteran who completed three tours in the Middle East with the Marines, had been assigned to a desk job within the Fire Department chaplain's office because he had suffered another heart attack in 2019 while he was in the Fire Academy.

 While working in the chaplain's office on modified duty, Floyd helped coordinate the funerals of deceased FDNY members.

Despite being a married father of two young children, he was striving to get medical clearance to return to active duty as a firefighter before his termination.

Floyd was close to qualifying for additional medical benefits for his family and over $600,000 worth of death benefits when he was dismissed, leaving his family without any support despite his years of service.

Following his dismissal from the FDNY, Floyd found a job with a non-profit organization helping veterans. However, the salary was a lot lower than what he earned with the FDNY, the benefits were limited, and the demanding hours prevented him from spending time with his 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.

"He used to be so present for, like, our kids and stuff," Cristine said. "Being a firefighter was something he was really passionate about. He was really a big-time, like, family person, he was all about his kids.

"If Derek would have stayed on, he would have had a life insurance policy with the FDNY. That would have helped out financially because right now, it's really bad. I'm honestly swimming in a lot of debt," his grieving widow revealed.

Man shot to death in front of nite club

  

AMNY

Queens police are investigating an early-morning shooting on Monday outside a nightclub that left a man dead.

Officers from the 106th Precinct responded to the scene of a male shot at approximately 1:04 a.m. on April 29 near the Caribbean Fest Lounge at the intersection of 117th Street and Rockaway Boulevard in South Ozone Park.

When officers arrived, they found a male covered in blood after being shot multiple times throughout his body, including his head, chest, leg and abdomen, law enforcement sources said.  

 EMS were on scene and transported the victim to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. 

Six unknown caliber shell casings were recovered on scene, according to police sources. No arrests have been made, and the investigation remains ongoing. 

The name of the victim is being held pending family notification, police said.  

 Actually there were 23 shells found. 

Recidivist criminal kills cop in Far Rockaway

NY Post 

 An NYPD officer was shot and killed by a career criminal during a traffic stop in Queens on Monday evening, according to law enforcement sources.

The 34-year-old suspect, who has 21 prior arrests, shot through the window of the vehicle while seated in a passenger seat, striking the uniformed officer in the stomach around 5:50 p.m. near 19-19 Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway, the sources said.

The bullet hit the 31-year-old officer under his police vest, sources said.

Other officers returned fire, and the suspect,  a passenger in the vehicle, was struck in the back, according to sources.

The cop was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, sources said.

The suspect was also taken to Jamaica Hospital where police said his condition was not immediately known.

Other officers returned fire, and the suspect,  a passenger in the vehicle, was struck in the back, according to sources.

The cop was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, sources said.

The suspect was also taken to Jamaica Hospital where police said his condition was not immediately known.

Former City Councilman Paul Vallone dead at 56

 

 AMNY

Paul Vallone, a former City Council Member who was part of a Queens political dynasty, died suddenly this weekend. He was 56 years old.

Vallone most recently served as the city’s Deputy Commissioner of Veterans’ Services. His brother Peter, a fellow former Council Member who presently serves as a judge in Claims Court, confirmed Paul’s passing.

Peter Vallone said his brother was rushed to Flushing Hospital Saturday evening after suddenly falling ill at home, but could not be saved. The news was first reported by the Queens Chronicle.

In addition to his brother, Vallone is survived by his wife Anna-Marie and three children, as well as his father Peter Sr., formerly the City Council speaker and a giant of municipal politics.

News of Paul Vallone’s death stunned Queens politicos and spurred an outpouring of grief.

“Paul didn’t just carry on his family’s immense legacy of service — he personified and embodied it,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said in a statement. “He inspired me every single day to be a better elected official, but it’s his lessons in friendship, family, and fatherhood that I will cherish for the rest of time. Queens is a better borough because of Paul, and I am a better person for having had the privilege of calling him a colleague and a friend.”

Before entering politics, Vallone was a managing partner at his family’s general practice law firm, Vallone & Vallone LLP, founded in 1932 by his grandfather, Judge Charles Vallone. His father, Peter Sr., was elected to the City Council in an Astoria-centered district in 1973, and became the first Speaker of the City Council following the reorganization of city government in 1989.

Vallone Sr. was term-limited out of the Council in 2001 and was succeeded as Astoria’s City Council representative by Peter Jr., who served two terms.

After running unsuccessfully in 2009, in 2013, Paul Vallone contested the Democratic primary in northeast Queens’ 19th District, which includes the neighborhoods College Point, Whitestone, Beechhurst, Bayside, Bay Terrace, Auburndale, Douglaston, Little Neck, and part of Flushing.

 

The district at the time was represented by Republican Daniel Halloran, who during the 2013 campaign was arrested and charged in a broad federal corruption probe that also ensnared Queens Senator Malcolm Smith, Bronx Republican Chair Joseph Savino, and a slew of others.

Vallone narrowly won the Democratic primary and then prevailed in the 2013 general election. Per his City Council webpage, his mission from day one was to “put District 19 back on the map.” He won reelection in 2017, and at the end of his second term he told the Queens Chronicle he was proud to have added school seats to his district and helped launch a new free transit service for northeast Queens seniors. He also got underway efforts to build a new environmental center at Alley Pond Park and to renovate Bowne Park. He chaired the Economic Development Committee.

The moderate Democrat represented one of the most conservative districts in the city. At the end of his two terms, in 2021, the political pendulum had swung to the right and he was succeeded by Republican Vickie Paladino, an ardent Trump supporter and arguably the most right-wing member of the current City Council.

That same year, Vallone narrowly lost a race for Queens Civil Court to Republican Joseph Kasper, another sign of voters’ repudiation of the Democratic Party in northeastern Queens. The defeat meant a Vallone was not in elected office in the city for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Afterward, Vallone was appointed by Eric Adams to be the Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs at the Veterans’ Services Department under his new mayoral administration.

Members of New York’s political class expressed shock and dismay at Vallone’s untimely passing. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who reps southeast Queens, said she was “utterly heartbroken” by his death.

“Paul was a kind, beloved, and dedicated public servant who left an indelible mark on Queens and NYC,” said Speaker Adams. “My prayers are with his wife, children, and the entire Vallone family.”

 

Mets world champion player and coach Bud Harrelson dead at 79

 

 Queens Chronicle

Bud Harrelson, the scrappy, switch-hitting shortstop for the 1969 Miracle Mets and the third-base coach for the 1986 world champions, died Wednesday night after a nearly seven-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

He was 79.

The two-time National League All-Star and 1986 inductee into the Mets Hall of Fame spent the first 13 seasons of a 16-year career in Flushing.

He also played for the 1973 “You Gotta Believe!” pennant winners, won the Gold Glove 1971, and received Most Valuable player votes in 1970, 1971 and 1973. He managed the club in 1990 and 1991.

“We were saddened to learn of Mets Hall of Famer Buddy Harrelson’s passing,” Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen said in a press release on the team’s website.

“He was a skilled defender and spark plug on the 1969 Miracle Mets. The Gold Glove shortstop played 13 years in Queens, appearing in more games at short than anyone else in team history. Buddy was the third base coach on the 1986 World Champs, becoming the only person to be in uniform on both World Series winning teams. We extend our deepest condolences to his entire family.”

The team said Harrelson passed away at a hospice house in East Northport, LI.

“The Harrelson family announced they will have a celebration of his life at a later date,” according to the statement.

“Terribly sad to hear of the passing of one of the finest human beings ever to be associated with the @Mets, Bud Harrelson,”  said Howie Rose, a lifetime Mets fan and longtime team broadcaster, on X. “Apart from being a World Champion and National League Champion as a player, a World Champion as a coach and a manager, the Mets have never had better ambassador. There was no fan to whom he would refuse an autograph, a handshake or a conversation, no charity to which he would refuse a request for help, or an appearance, and no one who was any prouder to be a New York Met during and after his playing days.”

Derrel McKinley Harrelson was born in California on June 6, 1944 — D Day. He was signed by the Mets in 1963 and joined the team in 1965. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1978 and 1979, and concluded his playing career with the Texas Rangers in 1980.

Harrelson was typical of the slick-fielding, light-hitting starting shortstops of his day, weighing 160 pounds. He hit six of his seven career home runs as a Met, and never more than one in a single season.

By comparison, Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver hit seven of his 12 career home runs as a Met.

But his defense never quit, nor did his fighting spirit, the latter never more famously on display than in the 1973 National League playoffs in which the Mets upended the heavily favored Cincinnati Reds.

In Game 3 at Shea Stadium, with the Mets drubbing the Big Red Machine 9-2, Pete Rose tried unsuccessfully to break up  a double play with a dirty, late side. 

Rose had taken exception to comments Harrelson made to the media after Game 2. Harrelson, giving away 40 pounds to Charlie Hustle, got right into Rose’s face before Rose grabbed him, slammed him to the ground and began throwing punches.

After the multiple-contest bench-clearing brawl was brought under control and the inning ended, Rose went out to left field to a four-letter serenade and a shower of garbage from the Mets’ faithful until Reds Manager Sparky Anderson pulled his team off the field.

Manager Yogi Berra, Seaver and Willie Mays had to go out to left field to quiet the crowd down.

The unlikely Eastern Division championship club that won only 82 games in the regular season proceeded to finish off the Reds before losing the World Series to the eventual three-peat Oakland Athletics dynasty team in seven games.

 

Senior citizen dies after an ebike rider hits him

 

Queens Post 

 A 75-year-old Elmhurst man died on Saturday, 10 days after he was struck by an e-bike rider while walking in the vicinity of Roosevelt Avenue and Broadway in Jackson Heights.

Kabrinda Nath Sen succumbed to his injuries at Elmhurst Hospital, a block away from his home on Ithaca Street, according to the NYPD.

Sen was struck in broad daylight in front of the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street subway station at around 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, authorities said. 

Police from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian stuck at the intersection and found the senior with injuries to his head. EMS rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition. He died on Jan. 6, police said.

Further investigation by the NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad determined that Sen was crossing Roosevelt Avenue at Broadway when a cyclist riding an e-bike westbound on Roosevelt Avenue plowed into him. Sen’s head stuck the pavement, ultimately killing him. 

The cyclist remained at the scene and was not arrested, police said Wednesday.

 

Assassination in Little Guyana

Photo by JQ LLC

CBS New York

Police are investigating a shooting in Queens that left a woman dead and a man hospitalized. 

CBS New York's John Dias spoke with people who heard the commotion, and obtained exclusive video of the shooting. 

The video shows the intense moments before a deadly shooting in Richmond Hill just before midnight Wednesday morning. 

It shows two people wearing hoods that conceal their faces as they casually walk across Liberty Avenue by 127th Street while a third paces along on the sidewalk. 

The three then quickly whip out guns, and start shooting into a parked car. 

One man said he heard about 20 shots. He told Dias the overwhelming number of shots he head had him thinking someone was using a military rifle. 

"Like, semi-automatic," he said. "It goes bang bang, then bang bang bang." 

Police said 28-year-old Clarisa Burgos of Brooklyn was fatally shot in the head. A 39-year-old man driving the car was shot multiple times in his chest and torso. 

The video shows him driving frantically away from the scene right after. Police said he drove two miles to the 103rd police precinct in Jamaica to get help. He was then rushed to the hospital. We're told he is expected to survive. 

"That's crazy to hear," one man who just moved down the street last year said. "That's not right. It makes me sad... That's not nice. Not happy at all." 

Police are still trying to work out a motive. 

So far, no arrests have been made.

Octogenarian ebike rider killed by hit and run truck driver

QNS 

New details have emerged from the investigation into the fatal hit-and-run on Northern Boulevard that killed an electric scooter rider in Flushing on Thursday morning.

The NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad has determined that the victim was an 82-year-old man who was traveling eastbound on Northern Boulevard in the left turn lane.

The senior proceeded to turn left onto the westbound lanes of Northern Boulevard at Parsons Boulevard when he was struck by the driver of a red 2015 International tractor-trailer that was traveling eastbound on Northern Boulevard. The truck driver drove away from the scene of the collision westbound on Northern Boulevard, according to investigators

 EMS responded to the location and pronounced the 82-year-old man dead at the scene. The identity of the deceased is pending proper family notification, police said.

 No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad. 

 This is actually a regular folding bike but with a lithium-ion battery cartridge. And it's actually bigger than the bike itself. 

Alan Hevesi died

 

 AMNY

Queens political fixture Alan Hevesi, who served two decades in the Assembly and as city and state comptroller before resigning over a corruption scandal, died Thursday in his Nassau County home at age 83.

“Alan passed away peacefully surrounded by his children and loved ones after a prolonged illness,” Hevesi’s family said in a statement. “We will miss him and his laughter more than words can express.”

Current state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Hevesi’s successor, praised him in a Thursday social media post. 

“Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was a long-serving public servant and educator,” DiNapoli wrote. “He cared deeply about Queens, fiercely debated issues he cared about and fought hard for school fiscal accountability.”

Before going into politics, Hevesi was a college basketball star, according to the New York Times, and earned a doctoral degree in public law and government from Columbia University.

Hevesi was first elected to the Assembly in 1971 and represented the Forest Hills section of Queens in Albany’s lower chamber for 22 years.

He then ran for city comptroller in 1993, unseating former city Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman in the Democratic primary and overcoming Republican and Liberal line candidate Herman Badillo in the general election. 

As the Big Apple’s numbers guru, Hevesi successfully blocked former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani from selling off the city’s municipal water system to the semi-independent New York City Water Board for $2.3 billion.

Facing term limits, Hevesi ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2001.

The next year, Hevesi ran for state comptroller and won. In that position, he launched the office’s first investigations unit.

But Hevesi did not finish his first term as the state’s chief money man. He resigned in 2006 after he was found guilty by a state ethics panel of unlawfully directing a government employee to drive his disabled and chronically sick mother around in a state vehicle.

After leaving office, Hevesi pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that he engaged in a pay-to-play scheme while in office and was sentenced to one-to-four years in prison. He was released on parole after 20 months behind bars.

Brooklyn City Council Member Justin Brannan wrote on social media that Hevesi was a “friend and early mentor” to him.

“Always the smartest guy in the room but still a tough kid from Forest Hills who never forgot where he came from,” Brannan wrote. “As comptroller, he used the power of the purse for good before that was a thing. He was a friend and early mentor of mine. Rest in peace, Alan.”

 

RIP Queens reporter Ruschell Boone

 

NY1

We have some deeply sad and personal news to report.

Ruschell Boone, an Emmy award-winning journalist and our beloved colleague here at NY1, passed away Sunday due to complications related to pancreatic cancer. She was 48. 

For 21 years, Ruschell was a member of our staff, as well as a friend and mentor to many.

Every New Yorker’s story starts somewhere, and Ruschell West’s story began in Kingston, Jamaica, where she spent her early childhood before immigrating to the Bronx with her family when she was 11 years old.

Ruschell’s path led her to Harry S. Truman High School and then to Baruch College in Manhattan. But she found her way into journalism by fate. When she was a senior in college, a classmate missed their radio slot, giving her the opportunity to jump in. This was the beginning of what became her life’s work, telling the stories of New Yorkers.

For someone who lived and breathed the five boroughs, NY1 was a perfect match, and she joined the station in 2002 as our Queens reporter.

She embedded herself in the borough, dedicating herself to issues that directly affected residents. From neighborhood controversies and police misconduct cases, to devastating events like Hurricane Sandy, Ruschell was all over Queens, pounding the pavement and following up, no story too big or too small.

Ruschell had a unique ability to connect with New Yorkers — through the screen and in person — in a way that made her feel like a trusted friend. Highlighting the city’s diverse communities was always a priority.

As a proud member of the Caribbean diaspora, attending the West Indian-American Day parade on Eastern Parkway each year was a highlight for Ruschell - and for the New Yorkers who got to celebrate with her.  

Ruschell was always comfortable in a crowd, whether asking New Yorkers about their thoughts on national politics or as a familiar face at some of the city’s biggest celebrations — the Annual Village Halloween Parade, and in Times Square for the ball drop. 

She took home numerous awards throughout her career, including Best Spot News Reporting from the New York Association of Black Journalists, a New York Press Club Award for Best Feature Reporting, and a New York Emmy Award for a series that was a creative labor of love for her: “New York: Unfiltered.” 

In 2018, she was the only television reporter to speak live with an underdog candidate for Congress who was about to become world-famous. In fact, she delivered the news to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

And at a time when thousands of people took to the streets of a pandemic-ravaged city, Ruschell was front and center, in the crowd and hearing directly from protesters who wanted someone to tell their story. 

Despite her long list of awards and accolades, Ruschell was always most focused on her family, including her mother, her siblings, her husband Todd and her two sons, Carter and Jackson. Todd and Ruschell met at NY1 and married on Sept. 24, 2005.

She also had so much love from her other family: the generations of NY1 colleagues who relied on her for friendship and advice, and some straight talk when it was needed.

After nearly two decades of telling the news from the street, Ruschell moved to the anchor desk in 2021, where she brought New Yorkers the latest each day at noon on News All Day, a show that highlighted her love of community, her passion for breaking news and her understanding of the way New Yorkers live. She also always found time each day for some joy — and for her trusted pair of Nikes worn around the newsroom, and on the anchor set. 

On June 2, 2022, Ruschell celebrated 20 years at NY1, surrounded by colleagues. Shortly after, she learned she had pancreatic cancer and began a grueling fight. 

Throughout a difficult process, Ruschell was open about her journey, sharing regular updates on social media. She made it back to the anchor desk and was joined by the mayor on her first day back. 

She was devoted to raising awareness about cancer and other health issues. And while she was facing a constant fight of her own, Ruschell felt it was important to extend a hand and help others in their time of need. 

Wherever Ruschell was, she always made time to laugh, to dance, and to celebrate life.

A mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a journalist, a Jamaican-American, a true New Yorker, Ruschell leaves behind a rich and loving legacy for her family, her friends and her city.

Ruschell covered and helped platform this blog 16 years ago. Wish we could have more of her out there giving voices to independent reporters and concerned citizens in the World's Borough. Rest In Power Mrs. Boone.

Here's a blast from the past. 

Setting the record straight

It was brought to my attention that Ruschell Boone from NY1 filed a story on Friday, December 3rd about a tree stump and a broken sidewalk alongside the Van Wyck Expressway service road in Jamaica.

Greg Mocker from WPIX reported on the same stump/sidewalk issue on Monday, December 6th, the same day I posted Ruschell's story here on the blog. Mocker said in his followup report after the stump was removed that the City was watching. Well, they are, but it's not him they're watching. Got this official statement from Parks:

"We saw the story on NY1. We haven't watched WPIX since Kaity and Jim got the boot."

And there you have it. On the trail of a reporter trying to take credit for someone else's work, I'm the Queens Crapper.

NYPD, DHS and homeless service provider cover up overdose death at Glendale warehouse shelter

 

QNS

Glendale residents who live only blocks away from the men’s shelter on Cooper Avenue are well-informed on the recurring issues emanating from shelter inhabitants.

A local business owner who spoke with QNS, who wished not to be identified, said although they’ve been fortunate enough not to have any problems with the shelter occupants, locals continue to complain about overall safety and trespassing on private property.

Residents who spoke with QNS emphasized more concerns over shelter residents seen walking into their backyards, asking for money and loitering in front of storefronts.

The recent death of a 25-year-old man inside the Cooper Rapid Rehousing Center, located at 78-16 Cooper Ave. in Glendale, amplified concerns from residents and Councilman Robert Holden, who is continuing to fight against the housing facility.

On Wednesday, Aug. 16, officers from the 104th Precinct responded to a 911 call of an unconscious person inside the Cooper Avenue shelter. When officers arrived, they were told a 25-year-old man was found unconscious and unresponsive. EMS responded and pronounced the man dead at the scene. Police have yet to release the name of the deceased.

According to information shared with Holden’s office, the deceased allegedly overdosed on drugs, but neither the NYPD nor the city’s Department of Homeless Services could confirm the cause of death when contacted by QNS.

“Protecting the health and safety of our clients is our top priority. We work to ensure that we are providing quality care and comprehensive security at our sites, and our provider-partner staff work closely with clients to help them stabilize their lives, a DHS spokesperson told QNS in a statement. “When we learn of any fatalities at our sites, even in cases of natural causes, we absolutely cannot make any immediate determinations and must defer to a medical examiner’s report to determine the cause of death. We have necessary processes and protocols in place to ensure we are doing our due diligence,”

Holden continues to hold former Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Steve Banks responsible for the shelter’s ongoing issues in the Glendale area. Holden once again called on the city to close the homeless shelter for good.

“Former Mayor de Blasio and the ‘Grim Reaper,’ former DHS Commissioner Banks, recklessly pushed this shelter, fully aware of its impact on my constituents’ lives,” said Holden. “WestHab’s involvement, driven by questionable affiliations, has only exacerbated the problems. Another overdose death underscores the urgency of shutting down this ill-conceived shelter — a decision that should have been made years ago.”

Ebike fire destroys building, kills elderly woman and leaves other tenants homeless

  

NY1 

 

Thomas Rodriguez, a resident of Ozone Park, says he’s lucky his wife, 67-year-old Marie Rodriguez, and their dog Penny are alive after a fire tore through their apartment building Friday afternoon. 

“She was ready to jump. Don’t worry, the fire department is here and they’re going to bring up a ladder. They were able to get here. She was more concerned that she couldn’t get the dog out because of the smoke,” Thomas Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez was at work while the FDNY rescued his wife and their dog from the flames. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital for smoke inhalation, but has since been released. The couple lives at the back of a building on 98th Street in Ozone Park.

He says the owner of the building and his 93-year-old mother, Kam Mei Koo, live in the adjacent apartment. Koo did not survive her injuries and died as a result of the blaze, according to police.

“She was a very nice lady. She was to herself. She was 93-years-old. She could barely make it up the steps,” Rodriguez said.

The FDNY got a call at around 1:30 p.m. and says an e-bike was discovered at the scene. On Saturday, fire marshals determined that a lithium-ion caused the fire, which the department says was accidental.

Rodriguez says the owner charged the bike near the entrance of the building by a staircase leading to the two apartments in the building.

“I left this morning for work and noticed the bike was plugged in and I said, ‘Maybe I should unplug it.’ It’s been like that a few times and no problems, nothing,” Rodriguez said. “And you know what I told myself, ‘Maybe I should call my wife and tell her to unplug it’ but I got busy at work.”

Tony Bennett dies at 96 from Alzheimer's

 

Queens Chronicle

Hearts were left broken from the Hell Gate to the Golden Gate Friday morning as the death of legendary singer Tony Bennett was announced.

Bennett, Astoria’s most famous son, best known for 1962’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” was 96.

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on Aug. 3, 1926, at St. John’s Hospital in Long Island City, Bennett grew up in a four-story walkup at 21-15 33 St. His father was grocer John Benedetto and his mother seamstress Anna, nee Suraci, and, according to Wikipedia, he was the first member of his family to be born in a hospital.

“Bennett grew up listening to Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Judy Garland, and Bing Crosby as well as jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, and Joe Venuti,” the online encyclopedia says. “His uncle Dick was a tap dancer in vaudeville, giving him an early window into show business, and his uncle Frank was the Queens borough library commissioner. By age 10 he was already singing, and performed at the opening of the Triborough Bridge, standing next to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who patted him on the head. 

“Drawing was another early passion of his; he became known as the class caricaturist at PS 141 and anticipated a career in commercial art. He began singing for money at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around his native Queens.”

Bennett quit school at 16 and worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press along with various other jobs. But he always planned a professional singing career.

He was drafted into the Army in November 1944 and sent to Europe. Though Nazi Germany was on its heels, six months of bitter warfare remained and Bennett took part in brutal combat including house-to-house fighting. He later described his position on the front lines as a “front-row seat in hell” and he became a pacifist, writing, "Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone through one.”

After the war, Bennett studied singing technique under the GI Bill. He worked as a waiter and performed when he could. In 1949, the singer Pearl Bailey asked him to open for her in Greenwich Village, at a show attended by Bob Hope. Hope was so impressed he took young Anthony on the road with him and got him to simplify his name to Tony Bennett.

He was signed to Columbia Records the following year and started putting out hits — “Because of You,” “Blue Velvet,” “Rags to Riches” and more. He performed a heavy schedule of shows at the Paramount Theatre before screaming teen fans. He continued to enjoy success even as rock ’n’ roll pushed into the entertainment space occupied by pop songs and standards, famously performing a 44-song show at Carnegie Hall in June 1962 and singing on the first episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” that October. 

Earlier that year he had released “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” — as a B side to a song called “Once Upon a Time.”

“The A-side received no attention,” Wikipedia says, “and DJs began flipping the record over and playing ‘San Francisco.’ 

“It became a hit on the pop singles chart in 1962 and spent close to a year on various other charts, achieving gold record status. It then won the top prize of Grammy Award for Record of the Year, as well as for Best Male Solo Vocal Performance.”

The song became the City of San Francisco’s second official anthem and is played every time the Giants win a ballgame at home. A statue of Bennett was unveiled outside the Fairmont Hotel there in 2016 and a block of Mason Street was renamed Tony Bennett Way in 2018.

Throughout it all, Bennett was a New Yorker who never forgot his Queens roots, not by a long shot.

In December 2000, he addressed guidance counselors and other staffers at what was then Community School District 28 in Forest Hills, pitching them on the planned Frank Sinatra School for the Arts in Long Island City he was establishing.

Lunatic kills one man and wounds 3 other people during broad daylight mass shooting spree while riding a ghost e-bike

AMNY 

Detectives in Queens have a suspect in custody in connection with a shooting spree in Queens and Brooklyn on Saturday morning that left one man dead and three others injured.

Law enforcement sources said a scooter-riding suspect shot the three victims in Richmond Hill, Queens, between 11:25 and 11:40 a.m. on July 8. He was also linked to a fourth shooting in nearby Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, that preceded the Queens portion of the rampage.

The motive for the shootings, four of which occurred in the 102nd Precinct‘s confines, remain unknown at this time, police sources said. 

“It seems that these acts were random,” Assistant Chief Joe Kenny of the NYPD Detectives Bureau said. “The video shows he’s not targeting anybody, he’s not following anybody. As he’s driving on the scooter, he’s randomly shooting at people.”

Acting Police Commissioner Edward Caban said the suspect, a 25-year-old man with one prior arrest on his rap sheet, was apprehended at about 1 p.m. in nearby Jamaica, Queens, at the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue.

The suspect had been picked up by officers assigned to the 103rd Precinct, who recognized the man from security video obtained quickly from the shooting scenes and transmitted to every police officer in the city through a “critical message,” Caban noted.

The commissioner said that the shooter rode an illegal scooter, and the weapon allegedly used in the spree, a 9 mm handgun with an extended magazine, was found stored within the illegal ride.

At each shooting scene, police officials noted, the NYPD recovered 9 mm shell casings, as well as video footage and/or witness descriptions of the same scooter-riding suspect. 

Sure looks like this bastard was looking to kill a lot more people while rolling on pedestrian heavy Jamaica Avenue. Anybody want to say defund the police now?

City and subway finances savior Richard Ravitch dies

 

 New York Times

Richard Ravitch, a politically savvy, civic-minded developer and public citizen who helped rescue New York City from the brink of bankruptcy and its decaying subways from fiscal collapse, died on Sunday in Manhattan. He was 89.

His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his wife, Kathleen M. Doyle.

Mr. Ravitch never won elective office. But he left an outsize mark on government at every level as one of the backstage wise men recruited to stave off the financial collapse of New York’s Urban Development Corporation in 1975 and, a few months later, of New York City’s own overdrawn municipal accounts.

By rallying public support for inventive means of raising revenue, he was also instrumental in rejuvenating the city’s mass transit system in the 1980s as the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

He later served as New York’s lieutenant governor, enlisted by David A. Paterson in 2009 to lend gravitas to his teetering administration. (Mr. Paterson had succeeded Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in disgrace after a prostitution scandal.)

Mr. Ravitch, who inherited a construction company, also left his mark on the cityscape with signature apartment projects like Waterside and Manhattan Plaza.

A progressive in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson, he espoused an Emersonian faith in democracy as a dynamic symbiosis between politics and good government. Invoking a lesson learned from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose successful Senate candidacy he helped promote in 1976, Mr. Ravitch recalled in his 2014 memoir, “So Much to Do: A Full Life of Business, Politics, and Confronting Fiscal Crises,” “There is a more powerful connection than people think between the world of ideas and the world of practical politics.”

Queens is burning again. It's a lithium ion battery again.

 

Eyewitness News 

 One person was killed and several others were injured in a house fire that broke out in Queens.

Officials say the heavy flames tore through the home on 89th Street in East Elmhurst at around 11 p.m. Friday.

As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, they found a man in his 60s unconscious on the second floor. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Some of the other residents were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Residents say an e-scooter could be to blame for the fire.

"I unplugged the scooter, I was on the first floor. As I'm putting cereal in a bowl, I heard an explosion, like gunfire. As I open the door to the second floor, those stairs were already on fire in seconds. It was a disaster," Jose Corona said.

Firefighters did pull a burnt scooter from the residence, but the official cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

Whale washed up in Arverne

The "affordable housing" development of death

Documented 

On April 6, Holger Molina, a 46-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, was removing plywood as part of his job in the construction of a 17 story tower. It is slated to become the tallest building in the area bordering Ridgewood, Queens and Bushwick, Brooklyn. It was raining when, at 3 p.m., Molina slipped and fell from the first-floor stairwell approximately 20 feet through a hole into the basement. He was rushed to Wyckoff Hospital and the next day was declared dead from the injuries sustained in his fall, according to the safety incident report filed by his employer.

After the accident, a Department of Buildings inspector visited the construction site and “observed no safety measures to safeguard workers,” according to the violation report, which considered the incident an aggravated offense level two, the most serious violation from the agency. The judge of the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings in New York upheld the violation and slapped the contractor, AB Capstone Builders Corp, with the maximum penalty — a $25,000 fine. For that single incident, the Department of Buildings would issue additional violations for penalties worth $55,000 in total. 

The penalties were imposed after the project, slated to be called Myrtle Point — a mixed-use complex with four floors of commercial space and 133 residential units, of which 30 percent would be an “affordable component” — had been fully suspended on three instances since 2021. As of today, the Department of Buildings has issued five full-stop work orders after considering that the work on any of the 90,000-square-foot property was unsafe for workers. 

That’s an inordinate number of stop-work orders for a construction project. For example, the 47-story office tower at 425 Park Avenue scheduled to be completed next year — a complex renovation project that added 75% new construction to the old building’s structure, costing more than $900 million — has over 90 safety violations, according to Department of Buildings records. However, this agency has never issued a stop-work order for that renovation project, which started in 2016.

Cops shoot armed man down following his tirade against Adams and Hochul

NY Post 

NYPD officers shot and killed a Queens man who was threatening to kill the governor and other top officials, saying he was going to “blow up” the world Saturday evening, cops and sources said.

Police arrived at 205-17 116th Ave. in Cambria Heights shortly after 6 p.m. after they received multiple threatening 911 calls from the man, identified by sources as Raul Hardy.

Hardy, 60, said he would “change the government” by assassinating New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the “PD Chief,” and also threatened to “blow up” the world, according to police and law enforcement sources.

“He clearly stated that he was going to blow the head off of the first police officers that he saw,” NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news conference at the scene.

“A short time later he made another 911 call and he basically reiterated the same thing.”

A large group of uniformed officers responded to the call, parked down the street and walked to Hardy’s house with guns drawn, Maddrey said.

Hangry Assassin gets sprung on bail and his wife got busted for gun possession on the same day

 

 Queens Post

A Briarwood man who allegedly gunned down a food delivery worker in Forest Hills in late April has been released on bail.

Glenn Hirsch, 51, appeared in court in Kew Gardens Monday and a judge set bail at $500,000. He has been charged for the shooting death of Zhiwen Yan, 45, and will now remain free while awaiting trial.

Hirsch’s attorney Michael Horn argues that his client is innocent and that the police have nabbed the wrong person.

Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder set strict guidelines as a condition of Hirsch’s release, which includes monitoring by an ankle bracelet and limitations as to where he can go outside of his apartment.

Hirsch is accused of fatally shooting Yan at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. Yan was shot in the chest while on his scooter making deliveries for the Great Wall Chinese restaurant located at 104-37 Queens Blvd.

Fox News 

Dorothy Hirsch, the 62-year-old wife of the man accused of gunning down a New York City Chinese food deliveryman amid an ongoing dispute with the restaurant over duck sauce, was arrested on Monday after police found eight guns and more than 200 rounds of ammunition hidden in her Queens apartment, according to a report. 

Police arrested the woman and charged her with gun possession after NYPD conducted a search warrant at her 84th Road apartment where she maintains a separate residence from her husband, New York Daily News reported. Her bail was initially set for $150,000. 

Records show NYPD recovered a loaded 9mm semi-automatic with a clip containing nine rounds and a .38 caliber revolver containing 10 rounds from a box in a back closet. 

Authorities discovered a second 9mm and a .45 caliber revolver in a bag in the same closet, according to police, while a .38 caliber revolver, a .357 caliber revolver, a 9mm pistol, and a .25 caliber pistol were located in a black zippered pouch, which also contained the rest of the recovered ammunition. 

Dorothy Hirsch’s lawyer, Mark Bederow, said that the woman — a registered nurse with no prior arrests — is "adamant" about her innocence and has refused to be used "as a pawn" in the case regarding her husband.