A federal court judge has reversed a jury verdict that Queens College and two professors were guilty of discriminating against a black graduate student in grading his comprehensive exam for a master's degree in media studies. Comment.

81-25 Lefferts Blvd. Comment.

A fatal fire at a Seton Hall University dormitory in South Orange, N.J., two weeks ago that killed three students and left five others in critical condition is unlikely to occur at St. John's University, an official at the Jamaica campus said. Comment.

The American Red Cross Emergency Communications Service meets on the first Thursday of the month, 8 p.m. at 133-50 41st Ave., Flushing. Call 357-6851. Comment.

"Murder for the Asking" Theatre A La Carte, 39-50 Douglaston Parkway, will be holding auditions Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. for its spring production to be staged March 31, running for three weekends. There are four male and three female roles. Please bring a monologue, if possible. For more information, call 776-6372. Comment.

Ellen Young, executive director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, has announced her resignation from the organization after a nine-year tenure. The Sunnyside Gardens resident is stepping down from her top spot to another job - to become the full-time mother to her 10-month-old son, Aaron Philip. Comment.

Enroll now for a front row seat at "Late Nite Catechism," the long-running, off-Broadway hit heading for a return engagement at Queens Theatre in the Park, Feb. 12-13. Comment.

The award-winning Thalia Spanish Theatre Inc. is entering a new century with a new director and a new direction: productions offered in both Spanish and English. Comment.

A score of special guests braved last Thursday's snowfall to celebrate the 2000 .Queens Community Arts Fund Awards ceremony held at the Queens Council on the Arts headquarters at Oak Ridge, Woodhaven. Comment.

81-25 Lefferts Blvd. Comment.

While basketball is a game of five against five, the women's game between York and City College Friday night was broken down to a one-on-one battle. No. 23 vs. No. 23. On one end was Lauren Cargill for CCNY, the country's second leading scorer and going shot for shot with the freshman was York's Tamara Taylor. Comment.

New York City Board of Education President William Thompson delivered a post-mortem on the dust-up between City Hall and the Chancellor's office at a meeting last week in Hollis Hills. Comment.

With Queens College trying to break a nine-game losing streak, it couldn't have faced a better opponent to snap the slide on Saturday night at home. Concordia College, also a struggling team, had yet to win a game this season. Concordia remains winless after Queens (4-11, 3-8 NYCAC) broke its own losing streak with a 92-73 win at Fitzgerald Gymnasium. Comment.

Bayside High School football standout Jason Grant has given a verbal commitment to play for Rutgers University in the fall, according to Bayside head coach Joe Capuana. Comment.

With the seconds ticking away, St. John's finally got the ball to Erick Barkley, the team's sophomore point guard and the one player everyone in Madison Square Garden wanted to have the ball. Trailing by one point to the No.-13 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, Barkley took aim and fired just as the final buzzer sounded. Comment.

After its first Big East win of the year last Saturday in West Virginia, the St. John's women's basketball team had two great chances to build on its victory. Instead, the Red Storm wasted the opportunity, first squandering a comeback from an 18-point deficit against Providence, only to lose, 72-67, last Wednesday and on Saturday afternoon, blowing two double-digit, second-half leads to fall, 60-54, to Georgetown at McDonough Arena in Washington D.C. Comment.

And the beat goes on for the Molloy hockey team. Without their head coach, Richie Rodgers, who couldn't make the game because of a personal commitment, and a couple of injured players, the Stanners still managed to blow out Salesian, 11-4, at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon Monday night. Comment.

We are going through another round of proposals to "fix" our public schools. Comment.

Welcome to the Point, The Point, being College Point. It certainly has been cold. I can't imagine the polar bears sitting in salt water with a smile on their faces. I guess their thick fur helps the situation along with perhaps some nice warm fish. Comment.

When I was growing up, I had a hard act to follow - my big sister. She was cute, smart and obedient. One day, when I was still almost new, my maternal grandmother was pushing me in a carriage, while my sister Mary walked alongside holding onto the carriage handle. Comment.

Out of the ventures of a Dutch lawyer-turned-explorer eventually grew the great commercial center of the city of New York. Comment.

February is Black History Month. Every February, the media treats us to a potpourri of African-American icons and their contributions to their rich culture. But, historically, childrens' stories are rarely presented. Comment.

With a mass exodus of elected city officials set to take place within two years because of term limits, many Queens hopefuls are beginning to lay the groundwork for potential candidacies in the 2001 elections. Comment.

Making good on a promise to fight the banking industry's financial exploitation of its customers, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone (D-Astoria) has introduced legislation to ban ATM fees at banks where customers have no accounts. Comment.

Until last Monday, the world outside of southeast Queens paid little attention to the Rev. Charles Norris, the pastor of the Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Jamaica. Sadly, a few careless comments have thrust this dedicated minister into the media spotlight. Comment.

It was supposed to be Doubleday meets Bill Gates in a cyber-age kickoff to the first baseball season of the new millennium. Theoretically, at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, Mets fans were supposed to be able to sit at their keyboards and buy Mets tickets over the Internet. With wind chills below zero, this sounded a lot better than standing in line at Shea Stadium. Comment.

ASTORIA - An argument early Saturday morning in Astoria left one man critically injured from several stab wounds, police said. Comment.

A New York City Corrections Officer and two other men were arrested Monday night after allegedly shooting at employees of a bar. Comments (1).

Nine months after busting a suspected ring of drug dealers inside the South Jamaica Housing Project, Queens prosecutors last week said they arrested 17 more gang members they believe took over after the last sweep of arrests. Comment.

After weeks of delays, 15 firefighters have been transferred from the Union Street station in Flushing, and there are more moves to come, said Michael Regan, spokesman for the city Fire Department. Comment.

Bayside, 230-088 Kingsbury Ave., Coo Garden Apt., $55,000, Bed 1, Bath 1, Construction-Brick, M/Mnt. $414 Comment.

Movies posters advertising upcoming attractions and classic films plaster the entrance and hallway leading up to the Universal Audio and Video store. Comment.

The newly appointed captain of the 108th Precinct plans a major initiative to crack down on prostitution in Queens Plaza. Comment.

The heavy, wet snowfall that dumped as much as six inches on Queens Tuesday closed LaGuardia Airport, delayed the Long Island Rail Road, turned driving into a contact sport but failed to close the borough's schools. Comment.

With a few props and a lot of imagination, students at Martin Luther High School in Maspeth are recreating a lost world of living dinosaurs and intrepid explorers through the almost lost art of radio drama. Comment.

Residents of the 104th Precinct say they are fed up with understaffing, and one Middle Village activist wants the precinct's boundaries redrawn. Comment.

As winter lingered over Queens for another week, the state Department of Health launched its probe of the death of an Astoria woman on the roof of Flushing Hospital during last week's cold snap while her family considered legal action. Comment.

Walking by the stacks of wrecked Chevys, Fords, Pontiacs and other cars in the Willets Point scrap metal yards near Shea Stadium, the last thing one would expect to stumble upon would be city Police Commissioner Howard Safir promoting four policemen. Comment.

With a mass exodus of elected city officials set to take place within two years because of term limits, many Queens hopefuls are beginning to lay the groundwork for potential candidacies in the 2001 elections. Comment.

A well-known black Jamaica minister has faced a backlash of criticism for comments he made and later apologized for about Jews during Rev. Al Sharpton's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Jan. 13 in Harlem. Comment.

With a sharp rise in the number of homicides in southern Queens in 1999, police are plotting new strategies to bring the murder rate more in line with the borough's overall decline in crime. Comment.

Representatives of the School Construction Authority and politicians drew the ire of community leaders, parents and residents last Thursday as they unveiled a proposal to convert a section of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center into three schools for southeast and northeast Queens. Comment.

In the last U.S. Census, it was estimated that as many as half a million New York City residents were not counted, costing the city precious dollars and government representation. Comment.

Superstar Mets catcher Mike Piazza looked a bit out of his element hammering nails into the wall of a house under construction. Comment.

The cousin of the Grammy award-winning rap pioneer LL Cool J was indicted Jan. 18 for the alleged theft of $150,000 from the rapper and parents from southeastern Queens who enrolled their children in a summer camp sponsored by the performer, the Queens district attorney said. Comment.

The temperature last week in the St. Benedict the Moor Roman Catholic Church was below 60, there was no amplification system, and members of Community Board 12 had become increasingly frustrated about their role in city government in recent months, particularly the commissioning of a mural for a public building. Comment.

The 10th annual celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Black Spectrum Theater in St. Albans last Thursday honored the legacy of the slain civil rights leader and the diversity of Queens. Comment.

A well-known black Jamaica minister has faced a backlash of criticism for comments he made and later apologized for about Jews during Rev. Al Sharpton's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Jan. 13 in Harlem. Comment.

The final phase of a nearly four-year battle against a state Department of Transportation proposal to extend High Occupancy Vehicle lanes from Long Island into northeast Queens officially ended last week when a lawsuit against the long dead plan was settled. Comment.

When it finally happened, Bob Mackey knew only one way to deal with it. Comment.

American Airlines received unanimous approval Monday from Community Board 13 to sign a lease extension on its new $1.3 billion Kennedy Airport terminal until 2030. Comment.

The operations manager of a Douglaston apartment complex killed on the job early Friday morning made coffee for the longtime employee suspected of shooting him once in the head less than an hour before the murder, a fellow worker said. Comment.

Campaigning for a U.S. Senate race that he has not formally entered, Mayor Rudy Giuliani stopped in Flushing for a little more than an hour last Thursday to meet and greet a host of Korean-Americans who braved the snows to attend a $500-a-plate fund-raiser for hizzoner. Comment.

Even as Melvin "Anthony" Nieves was mourned at his funeral Monday, detectives with the 109th Police Precinct were interviewing witnesses to find the killer who gunned down the 18-year-old outside his Flushing home last Wednesday. Comment.

Walking by the stacks of wrecked Chevys, Fords, Pontiacs and other cars in the Willets Point scrap metal yards near Shea Stadium, the last thing one would expect to stumble upon would be city Police Commissioner Howard Safir promoting four policemen. Comment.

The Holy Cross varsity boys basketball team finally got its first win of the league season Sunday, topping the Xaverian Clippers, 61-54. It was the Knights' first win in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan in six tries and a welcome one at that for head coach Paul Gilvary. Comment.

A small apartment in College Point allegedly served as one base of operations for the so-called "Home Delivery Cocaine Organization," from which hundreds of New Yorkers - many in professional fields - are suspected of having ordered drugs as easily as phoning for a pizza, said Mary Jo White, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District. Comment.

The one place Little Neck residents should avoid these days if they would like to get warm is the North Hills branch of the Queensborough Public Library, which has been without heat for more than a week during the area's extreme cold, a spokeswoman said. Comment.

As winter lingered over Queens for another week, the state Department of Health launched its probe of the death of an Astoria woman on the roof of Flushing Hospital during last week's cold snap while her family considered legal action. Comment.

The final phase of a nearly four-year battle against a state Department of Transportation proposal to extend High Occupancy Vehicle lanes from Long Island into northeast Queens officially ended last week when a lawsuit against the long dead plan was settled. Comment.

The operations manager of a Douglaston apartment complex killed on the job early Friday morning made coffee for the longtime employee suspected of shooting him once in the head less than an hour before the murder, a fellow worker said. Comment.

A transit watchdog agency's annual "shmutz" report has found nearly 70 percent of the cars in the New York City subway system are dirty and it designated the trains of the G, Q and No. 6 lines as the filthiest of the fleet. Comment.

Trains in the New York City subway system turned in what the Transit Authority called their best on-time performance in eight years in 1999 with several lines serving Queens listed among the most punctual. Comment.

The Hillcrest boys basketball team missed 14 free throws in the second half its loss to rival Jamaica last Tuesday. So what did Hawks' head coach Ken Gershon do to punish his team? One-hundred laps around the gym? Two-hundred pushups? Three-hundred free throws apiece? Nope, he gave them the day off. Comment.

Lauren Cargill has burst onto the women's college basketball scene, but it's been a long road since December 1998 when her future as a promising young athlete was imperiled on the same court where she starred for Cardozo. Comment.

Ronald Reagan was still in his first term as the chief executive of the United States, the New York Yankees were 14 years from their next World Series, Michael Jordan had yet to win an NBA title and David Lee Roth was still in Van Halen. That's how long ago it was when the Christ the King girls varsity basketball team last lost a Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan game. Comment.