Paul Drake was all that a local pastor should be and more, members of his church said, but after five short years since arriving at the Community Church of Little Neck, Drake lost a battle with cancer and died last Thursday. He was 56. Comment.

At a protest outside the office of U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, demonstrators said they were angry about the congressman’s support for the federal mandate that all insurance plans cover the cost of birth control. Comment.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly did his best at a breakfast earlier this month to explain and justify his department’s undercover surveillance in mosques and Muslim student associations within and outside the city. Comment.

Minister Eva Duzant, the president of the Cambria Heights Development Corp. and a member of the 232nd Street Block Assoication, was ordinated into the gospel ministry at the Southern Baptist Church in Manhattan. The event was held in collaboration with the United Missionary Baptist Association, the Empire State Baptist Convention and the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Comment.

I am writing in response to your Feb. 9-15 editorial “Fairness a Stranger at CB 7.” Comment.

The Samuel Field Y in Little Neck held a Purim celebration. Comment.

The Bay Terrace Jewish Center held a Purim carnival. Comment.

The Whitesone Hebrew Centre held a Purim celebration. Comment.

Flushing civics and lawmakers want the city Board of Standards and Appeals to deny plans for a Mormon church that exceeds zoning regulations, but the agency recently gave a green light to a similar application in southern Queens. Comment.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly did his best at a breakfast Saturday to explain and justify his department’s undercover surveillance in mosques and Muslim student associations within and outside the city. Comment.

By the time this newspaper reaches your hands, religious services will be banned by the city Department of Education in public schools. The DOE set Sunday as the final day when the doors would be open to religious services. Comment.

Our Lady of Lourdes celebrated Catholic Schools Week with a performance by students during Sunday Mass and an International Festival, featuring food from the countries where families in the parish are from. Many members of the congregation are from Haiti, Guyana, the Philippines and dozens of other countries. Comment.

Hiding behind the letter of the law, Community Board 7 has unanimously refused to grant a waiver to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to build a two-story church in Queens. Comments (2).

The Jamaica Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints welcomed members of the community to its new location on 163rd Street for an open house Saturday and Sunday. The six-story building will offer religious services, classes and other activities. Comments (4).

The Rev. Timothy Mitchell, pastor of Flushing’s Ebenezer Baptist Church for 43 years, died Jan. 26. Comments (1).

Hundreds of people proceeded through Flushing Sunday during a Shia commemoration called the Arbaeen of Shuhada-e-Karbala, which commemorated the death of the Prophet Muhammed’s grandson Imam Hussain during the Battle of Karbal, as well as Hussain’s bodyguard and cousin, Ghazi Abbas. Comment.

As clergy leaders from Queens Congregations United for Action, we minister to families from all walks of life struggling to make ends meet. It is not just that we are living through hard economic times. Comment.

You would have to be a man of faith to ask for $3 million, joked Monsignor John Tosi, but the pastor’s prayers were answered by the parishioners at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Whitestone. Comments (5).

The headline of a story in the Dec. 22-28 edition of the Bayside Times read, “Bayside priest jailed for 5 years.” Comments (1).