Long before he blew out the 17 candles on his birthday cake, Jason Perrone gave himself the best present he could ask for: a walk-off single to give St. Francis Prep a 6-5, nine-inning win against Archbishop Molloy at Cunningham Park last Thursday afternoon. Comment.

Legislators representing Middle Village and Glendale announced they had authored two bills to alleviate the strong stench of garbage from trains passing by that has been breathed in by residents in both neighborhoods. Comment.

Community Board 11 turned down a proposal to create a new sidewalk pizzeria off Northern Boulevard in Little Neck as neighbors of the site complained it would add noise and traffic to a residential street. Comment.

A Douglaston church is attempting to raise thousands of dollars to refurbish its 81-year-old organ so that it can offer a children’s music program beginning this fall. Comment.

ROCKAWAY — An Ozone Park man was arrested last month for allegedly burglarizing an apartment at night, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Comment.

JAMAICA — A man was arraigned last week for allegedly touching a woman inappropriately in his basement, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Comment.

JAMAICA — A Jamaica man was charged with harassment, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing after he allegedly threatened to kill another man on 75th Street at the end of April, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Comment.

JAMAICA — A young man was arraigned last month on charges of causing a ruckus in his home, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Comment.

A nonprofit group that helps New York’s homeless population wants to set up a new housing unit in Jamaica, but the district manager of the local community board has taken issue with the proposal, fearing her neighborhood will be overrun with shelters. Comment.

A Flushing man who viciously attacked an elderly grandmother as he burglarized her Springfield Gardens home will spend the next 14 years in prison, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said last week. Comment.

Working to clean and maintain the city’s sewers may not seem like the most desirable job, but the men who spend day after day in the deep of things take their craft very seriously. Comment.

How can anyone with a pulse walk by a person lying on the sidewalk who is injured or already may be dead and do nothing? Surveillance video shows at least eight people walking by a Guatemalan immigrant stretched out on the sidewalk and then doing nothing. Comment.

An upcoming construction project in Holliswood and Jamaica will not focus on what the community really needs — sewers — but disrupt businesses that rely on pedestrian traffic and available parking to survive, residents told city officials Monday. Comment.

An Indo-Guyanese supporter of a candidate hoping to oust state Assemblyman Michael Miller (D-Woodhaven) is claiming Miller is insensitive to minority communities in part because he alleged the assemblyman has no minorities working in his office. Comment.

Queens parents at a hearing in Forest Hills last week supported the city’s proposal to streamline the application process for intermediate schools but were divided as to whether sixth-grade students should be removed from elementary schools. Comment.

For many of the thousands of Bukharian Jews who have fled their homes in the former Soviet Union for Rego Park and Forest Hills in recent years, one of the first stops for them after they arrive in the United States is Bramson ORT College. Comment.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) and state Assemblyman Michael Miller (D-Woodhaven) joined the AARP last week at a Woodhaven Boulevard intersection to highlight the need to pass legislation the two lawmakers co-sponsored that would make the city’s streets safer for all modes of travel. Comment.

Peace and tranquility are headed to Flushing’s Kissena Corridor Park if members of a local conservation group have their way. Comment.

The city Economic Development Corp. owes the city more than $125 million in funds it failed to properly return to city coffers from transactions like the sale of the Queens Family Courthouse, according to an audit started in 2008 and completed last week by city Comptroller John Liu. Comment.

For 43 years Albert and Josephine Magliano lived on their narrow, tree-lined stretch of 25th Avenue in Whitestone across from the Flushing Fields park in relative peace. No bus routes ran past their house, and they liked that sleepy aspect of their neighborhood. Comment.

Martha Flores-Vazquez, Democratic district leader for the 22nd state Assembly District in Flushing, kicked off her re-election campaign last Thursday with a barbecue fund-raiser featuring her friends and allies. Comment.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week new safeguards to prevent airplanes from hitting birds over and near the trash transfer station the city Sanitation Department is currently building in the College Point Corporate Park, about 2,000 feet from LaGuardia Airport’s eastern runway. Comment.

A public hearing last month at LaGuardia Community College did little to reassure skeptics that the revision of the City Charter was being done thoughtfully. At the meeting held by the City Charter Revision Committee, members of the public were given three minutes to make statements or raise questions. This falls short of intelligent debate. Comment.

Harry Wieder, a community activist from Forest Hills who never stopped fighting for gay and disabled rights, died last week after he was hit by a taxi on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. He was 57. Comment.

Three Queens homeowners filed a lawsuit against JP Morgan Chase Bank Tuesday for allegedly illegally delaying and denying their applications for foreclosure relief. Comment.

The Poppenhusen Institute in College Point has held criminals in its now-defunct jail cells and taught youngsters in America’s first free kindergarten. And now it has a new distinction to add to the list of roles it has served since its construction in 1868: part of a Martin Scorsese production was filmed there April 19. Comment.

A neurosurgeon from UCLA Medical Center wrote a report in defense of an embattled institute run by the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System that treats a rare brain condition known as Chiari malformation. The hospital, which asked for the review, said it would expand the center based on the findings. Comment.

Community Board 11 approved the extension of a variance at a Bayside building that houses a BP service station and a 7-Eleven but on the condition that the site’s owners keep it clean. Comment.

Queens residents packed the Officers’ Club at Fort Totten last weekend for the unveiling of the Bayside Historical Society’s new exhibit honoring 21 women who have made invaluable contributions to the community. Comment.

FLUSHING — A Corona man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a series of cocaine sales to an undercover police detective near a Flushing school for the deaf, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said this week. Comment.

I would like to make a few comments about Dee Richard’s April 22 column “Flat user tax would treat the rich and the poor equally.” Comment.

There was a time in this city when all kinds of land use deals were being made between politicians and real estate developers without the involved community and its residents having a say in the matter — indeed, even knowing beforehand what was going on. Comment.

They say you cannot fight City Hall and as I walked away from a meeting hosted by the Station Road Civic Association April 21, I wondered if the expression may have some truth to it. The main topic of the evening was the Auburndale rezoning. Comment.

I am writing regarding a serious matter, which is school bullies. It is a school’s responsibility to protect children from this type of behavior. It is every child’s right to attend classes or use a restroom without the fear of a bully looking to start a fight with that individual. Comment.

After watching the testimony by the Goldman Sachs executives on TV, I think if New York state replaced its state legislators with these men from Wall Street, we would never have the financial problems we have today. Comment.

As the city and state grapple with how to make financial ends meet, the debate about the potential for laying off 8,500 city public school teachers is outrageous and must not happen. Comment.

For weeks now the media have been filled with stories about reaction to Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law. The law not only allows local police to ask for the papers of anyone they suspect may be in this country illegally, but requires them to do so. Comment.

Recently, both Republican gubernatorial candidates, Rick Lazio and Steve Levy, appeared in northeast Queens and northwest Nassau County. They delivered major addresses to the assembled gatherings of people who came to hear them. Comment.

Nancy Wolf, who coordinates New York City Arbor Day — observed April 30 — told me that one of the most enthusiastic regulars each year is Pat Evens, a kindergarten teacher in PS 174, the William Sidney Mount School, in the Crescents section of Rego Park. Evens and her students have created a small arboretum with the successful planting of Arbor Day trees for many years. Comment.

Just when you thought Queens politics couldn’t be more convoluted, guess what? It is! This time it involves the Queens GOP in its decision to endorse Steven Levy over its previous endorsement of Rick Lazio. After giving its word, how do you un-endorse someone? Comment.

Who ran to help me when I fell,/And would some pretty story tell,/Or kiss the place to make it well? My mother. — Jane Taylor Comment.

In our new era of tougher credit regulations, many Queens residents are adopting frugal spending habits. Many people are on the fence on whether to use their credit or debit card for their cost of living and purchases. There are advantages to both, so the real question is what those benefits are. Comment.

Igor Kalantarov, owner of newly opened Dogs Cats & Beyond in Bellerose, said his store goes the extra mile in grooming your pet without charging extra. Comment.

The Queens district attorney’s office has seen a major surge in mortgage fraud cases over the last few years, so U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) was able to secure some federal funding to boost its prosecuting power. Comment.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) joined a room full of Queens College students this week to blast proposed city budget cuts that would eliminate a scholarship fund created 13 years ago by his father. Comment.

Runners from all over the world recently gathered at Flushing Meadows Corona Park to brave the cold, wind and rain to compete in the races held in honor of Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual leader from Briarwood who died several years ago. Comment.

Ira Gluckman, Queens borough commissioner for the city Department of Buildings, donned a hard hat and rode a hoist to the 14th floor of a building under construction at 37-14 Prince St. in Flushing last Thursday. Comment.

A homeless woman was bludgeoned to death Monday morning in a Richmond Hill Park, police and the chief medical examiner’s office said. Comment.

LaGuardia airport is so outdated that it ought to be torn down and rebuilt if it is to properly serve the multitudes of passengers never envisioned when it opened in 1939, a Port Authority official told business leaders. Comment.

The proposed closing of an East Elmhurst after-school program would likely leave parents with nowhere to send their children when the school day ends at 3 p.m., the program’s director said. Comment.

Gov. David Paterson announced this week that he is creating a state panel to review cases involving legal immigrants facing deportations for criminal convictions. Comment.

Hundreds of people from throughout the country gathered in Cambria Heights Sunday to rename part of a street after Morris Lee, a longtime civic leader in southeast Queens who secured thousands of jobs for youth and minorities in the borough. Comment.

Former Sen. Hiram Monserrate has taken blows from his former colleagues over his conviction for assaulting his girlfriend. Now Monserrate is going to be the one throwing the punches — inside a boxing ring for charity. Comment.

State Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) said last week she and City Councilman Peter Koo (R-Flushing) were encouraging business owners in the community to put up newer-looking signs on their storefronts that include English translations. Comment.

Today Baisley Pond Park may not look like the environment where a prehistoric mammal made its home during the ice age, but experts said a mastodon spent its last years in the southeast Queens greenspace. Comment.

More than 100 people gathered at MarPat Wines and Liquors in Flushing last week to protest a proposal by Gov. David Paterson to allow grocery stores to sell wine. Comment.

LaGuardia Community College is hosting an event to celebrate Asian heritage at its Long Island City campus May 5 and May 12 that will include a panel featuring two survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Comment.

A stray bullet may have ended Kevin Miller’s short experience as a member of the Campus Magnet High School student body, but his presence will continue to grow right on the front lawn of the Cambria Heights school. Comment.

Relatives of Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax said he was the type of man who came to the help of anyone in need, so after several pedestrians did nothing as he lay dying from a stab wound meant for a stranger, the Guatemalan immigrant’s family has been trying to figure out why his heroism was not returned. Comment.

A man raised in Flushing agreed to serve 15 years in prison after admitting last Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan to conspiring to supply Al Qaeda members in Afghanistan with protective outdoor clothing. Comment.

The rumored closing of the Key Food supermarket in Flushing would be a serious blow to the many seniors and single mothers who rely on the grocery store that has been a staple in the community for more than 40 years, according to residents who rallied Saturday for the business to remain open. Comment.

For most of the 14 years Corona resident Diana has been alive, she has been terrified her family could be split apart. Comment.

A fire that originated in a Richmond Hill home on 111th Street near Atlantic Avenue caused by a fallen tree branch last week spread across the road and damaged the Deeper Life Christian Fellowship church. Comment.

The state Senate approved a bill Monday that would raise the cap on charter schools in New York from 200 to 460, a move legislators said could help the state land as much as $700 million in federal education funding. Comment.

More than 32,000 bicyclists made their way through Queens Sunday as part of the sold-out Five Boro Bike Tour, touted by cyclists from throughout the city as a great chance to travel 42 miles on car-free streets on a warm spring day. Comment.

Elected official from Queens, other legislators and civil rights advocates denounced Arizona’s new immigration law last Thursday as hateful, unconstitutional and creating a climate of intolerance. Comment.

Southeast Queens leaders strongly backed Aqueduct Entertainment Group’s bid to install 4,500 video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Race Track, but the consortium may not have had the best plan to benefit minorities. Comment.

Astoria leaders said they will continue to push for a traffic-slowing device at a dangerous intersection in the community after the city concluded that no action should be taken at the site. Comment.

Zikrayat, the Queens-based musical group that performs new sounds inspired by the golden age of Arabic music and dance, released “Cinematic,” its second album, Saturday. The release was a long-anticipated follow-up to the 2008 Independent Music Award winning album Live at Lotus. Comment.

The newly formed Variations Theatre Group became official in March, but the members of the company have known each other for years. It began with the collaboration between Artistic Directors Rich Ferraioli and Kirk Gostkowski, which started in their Hofstra University years where they worked together in the theater department. Comment.

The Ridgewood branch of the Queens Library will close for seven weeks to allow for the construction of an area for teens as well as a new cyber workstation. Comment.