ELMHURST — A 39-year-old Elmhurst man was arrested after he allegedly attempted to break into a gate in front of an Elmhurst delicatessen with a crowbar, the Queens district attorney said. Comment.

REGO PARK — An 18-year-old Forest Hills woman was arrested after she and another person allegedly broke into a Rego Park apartment and stole a jacket and money, the Queens district attorney said. Comment.

New York City took a leap forward last week in its efforts to combat climate change, for which we owe City Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) a debt of gratitude. Comment.

In one of the local Queens newspapers a couple of weeks ago, Marc Haken of Holliswood wrote, “I will vote for David [Weprin] in the special election, and I know that all of those actively involved in civic and community activities will do so, also.” Comment.

As I travel around the borough, I see how much we have in common. Although we may observe different holiday traditions, we all look forward to spending time with loved ones, exchanging gifts and giving thanks for the blessings in our lives. Comment.

Faced with a deficit of close to $400 million, the board at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had to make tough decisions. The board has a fiscal responsibility to present a balanced budget and a reduction in state funding service cuts are inevitable. Comment.

State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) will soon begin serving his 38th year in the Senate. For a brief period last year, before Eric Ulrich (R-Rockaway Beach) won a special election for the City Council in the 32nd Council District, Padavan was the only Republican elected official in Queens. Comment.

Houses dressed in their holiday finery, trees bedecked with precious ornaments garnered from sources past and present and cherished yuletide traditions bespeak the ever-present yearning we have today for an old-fashioned Christmas. It is the music of the season, however, that makes this festive time deeper and warmer and enhances and emphasizes the joyous bond of this special time of the year. Comment.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation on Long Island is one step closer to federal recognition, which could pave the way for the tribe to open up a casino either at Aqueduct Race Track or Belmont Park. Comment.

Little Closets, Long Island City’s new consignment store, focuses on small garments, but it is defined by the community’s big heart. Comment.

So you have been a Queens small business owner for many years, but you are worried about becoming a statistic. In speaking with many Queens business owners, a valid concern is how healthy their businesses are. Many are asking how much longer they can endure this economic downturn. Thousands of businesses go down the road of failure every year, but pitfalls can be avoided. Comment.

The ever-evolving fate of what was once Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica has changed course once again. Comment.

A 22-year-old Astoria man who works at a Manhattan day care center was arrested last week after he was alleged to have downloaded sexually explicit photographs of children between the ages of 4 and 16 through his AOL e-mail account, the Queens district attorney said. Comment.

City Councilwoman Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights) and Elmhurst Hospital Center officials broke ground Tuesday on a women’s health center that will provide a wide array of services, including gynecology and prenatal care, to the institution’s increasing number of female patients. Comment.

In the eyes of the Richmond Hill Block Association, the neighborhood’s best Christmas lights display can be seen at 112-13 86th Ave. Comment.

One of the tenants of an illegally converted home in Woodside plans to sue the city after a fire there last month killed three of his neighbors. Comment.

Transit officials have approved drastic subway and bus system cuts because of a nearly $400 million deficit, but the new MTA chairman as well as several MTA board members appeared to suggest the possibility of a way out or at least mitigating the worst of the dreaded plan. Comment.

The five-minute grace period at parking meters will soon become a reality after the City Council overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of the bill that he said would bring chaos. Comment.

Elderly and visually impaired residents will now have a much easier time reading their bills, thanks to a suggestion from Forest Hills High School Principal Saul Gootnick and a student from the school. Comment.

The MTA is again threatening to do away with the Cross Bay Bridge toll rebate for Broad Channel and Rockaway residents to help alleviate its multimillion-dollar budget deficit, but the area’s elected officials said they will not go down without a fight. Comment.

A Ridgewood mother of two was found shot dead in her home Friday and police were still searching for her killer Tuesday. Comment.

The L.A. Guns jamming live in Willets Point may seem like a strange dream for most people familiar with the district better known for its chop shops and stray dogs. Comment.

The same day last week that the MTA approved a doomsday budget that eliminated two subway lines in Queens, elected officials in Jackson Heights called the agency’s attention to a potential lost funding source: the 74th Street-Roosevelt Avenue transit hub. Comment.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan subpoenaed documents for its probe into the Working Families Party from City Councilman-elect Danny Dromm and former Council candidate Lynn Schulman last week, a lawyer for Dromm and Schulman said. Comment.

Long Island City’s Hour Children food pantry got a visit from an Angel last week — the Mets outfielder, that is — who brought with him a much-needed influx of food for the center, which serves the Queensbridge, Ravenswood and Astoria houses. Comment.

Freedom will have to wait for Howard Beach resident Nicholas “Fat Nick” Minucci after his appeal of his hate crime convictions stemming from the summer 2005 beating of a black man was denied by an appellate court. Comment.

Queens members of Congress helped to lead the push for national immigration reform last week, co-sponsoring legislation to legalize millions of undocumented individuals that has drawn praise from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, foreign workers and immigrant rights activists in the borough. Comment.

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) was among six Council members to criticize the MTA at its board meeting for the service cuts in its doomsday budget passed last week to close a $383 million deficit. Comment.

Thomas Campagna, who was a member of the Queens Borough Hall staff for about 10 years, died Dec. 18 of lung cancer. He was 63. Comment.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered the nation’s airlines to let passengers off planes waiting for takeoff after three hours. Comment.

Last weekend’s storm dumped a massive snowfall at John F. Kennedy International Airport and left more than 10 inches of the white stuff in at least four Queens neighborhoods, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service said. Comment.

More than 25 workers in varying jobs at Elmhurst’s Queens Center Mall joined advocacy group Make the Road New York and several borough elected officials Sunday to protest their low wages and lack of benefits. Comment.

State Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights) has come under fire from a Corona activist who suspects the legislator of wrongdoing in his associations with a now-defunct nonprofit based out of a building co-owned by his mother. Comment.

Students from Woodside’s PS 152 showed poise and fancy footwork as they outstepped two other Queens schools and six others from the five boroughs in a citywide ballroom dancing competition. The school, which entered the contest this year for the first time, will go on to the grand final dance in June. Comment.

An individual involved in the construction of a Forest Hills home that has been fined nearly $200,000 for disregarding a number of stop-work orders has been accused of falsely certifying that he inspected a Brooklyn building where a city firefighter was injured after balconies collapsed, city officials said. Comment.

A new air quality study conducted by the city Health Department has found that Sunnyside and Woodside were the most polluted borough neighborhoods in three out of four air contaminant categories, while the Rockaways ranked among the cleanest. Comment.

A 34-year-old professional engineer from Astoria has been accused of falsely certifying that he had inspected a Brooklyn building where a city firefighter was injured last year after two floors of balconies collapsed, the city Department of Investigation’s commissioner said. Comment.

Astoria’s elected officials blasted the city’s decision to shut down its W train service last week, saying thousands of western Queens residents rely on the subway to commute to Manhattan. Comment.

Two enormous boring machines have finished the first phase of the No. 7 subway extension to Manhattan’s far west side in what Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the end of a half century of drought in New York City subway expansion. Comment.

New Yorkers have always been known for their ingenuity. Comment.

Bronx residents already angry over the proposed elimination of the Bx14 bus were furious to learn that the MTA also plans to eliminate Bx8 bus Sunday service. Comment.