Homeowners particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy may soon receive some property tax relief under two proposals being pushed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Comments (2)

A coalition of community members dedicated to unifying the needs and resources of southeast Queens is all set to hold its first town hall meeting to do just that. Comment

Recent news reports indicating that the state Legislature may not reconvene this year could be bad news for Queens co-op and condo owners. At the end of the legislative session in June, leaders reached a deal to extend and enhance the co-op and condo real property tax abatement, which was due to expire. Comment

U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) was elected last Thursday to serve as vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives. The new position will make Crowley the fifth-ranked member among House Democrats. Comment

Queens Hospital Center marked off another project on its checklist Monday when the hospital community gathered to cut the ribbon on a newly expanded psychiatric emergency center. Comment

Hurricane Sandy has remained a sensitive subject for New Yorkers across the city, including in Queens, but at Douglaston’s Alley Pond Environmental Center, the historic storm has become a topic of education and looking forward for the borough’s youth. Comment

SOUTH JAMAICA — Police were asking for the public’s assistance in locating a 75-year-old man who has been missing since Nov. 29, according to the NYPD. Comment

Major League Soccer is a private, for-profit sports businesses and much hoopla was announced over a poll of people in Queens indicating 71 percent support a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 21 percent are against it and 8 percent are undecided (“Survey finds Queens wants soccer stadium,” TimesLedger Newspapers, Nov. 15-21). Comments (2)

In a quiet conference room near the entrance of Long Island City High School last Thursday, a student who lost her uncle during Hurricane Sandy made a strong case for better education about climate change to a room of leaders a world away. Comment

A number of seniors are upset that a facility in Cunningham Park used for socializing has shortened the number of hours it is open and are demanding that the city Parks Department restore the original hours. Comment

New York state’s attorney general is gathering information from nonprofits helping with hurricane relief efforts in order to disclose to the public how their donations are being spent. Comment

Hockey players of all ages strapped on their roller blades at George Harvey Park in Whitestone Saturday for a series of games to raise funds for Superstorm Sandy victims. Comments (2)

The damage brought to the city from Hurricane Sandy brought out the best in some — and the worst in others. Comment

Shining chrome and roaring engines signaled the beginning of the holiday season for some excited children in Bayside. Comment

A Queens Supreme Court jury found a young Elmhurst man guilty Friday in the 2010 fatal stabbing of a Woodhaven man defending his brother on the J train platform at the 85th Street-Forest Parkway station, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Comment

ASTORIA — A 74-year-old woman was arrested and charged with assault after allegedly slashing her daughter with a kitchen knife, according to the Queens district attorney’s office. Comment

FLUSHING — A barfight brawl ended with one man in cuffs and another in an area hospital, according to the Queens district attorney’s office. Comment

A 19-page booklet called PlaNYC was issued in 2006 by the mayor’s Sustainable Advisory Board as a special supplement from the city. Its purpose was to alert people to the needs of 2030. It warned that by 2015 our temperatures will have risen by half a degree and that by 2020 half of our power plants will be more than 50 years old. Comment

Although three Queens high schools are on the city Department of Education’s chopping block, two in western Queens ranked among the most successful city schools based on the most recent progress report. Comment

New York state needs to take a long, hard look at how elections are conducted. During this year’s presidential election, there were long lines of people all over the state waiting to cast their ballots. Some did not have the time to stand on a long line, and so forfeited their vote. In areas where devastation resulted from Hurricane Sandy, voting was difficult. Some people had other priorities on their minds. Comment

Residents in storm-battered Far Rockaway have learned to expect the unexpected and even a large hole in the ground can appear without much fanfare at all. Comment

Shortly after Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he wanted the boardwalks in the Rockaways to be rebuilt with concrete, about 300 residents and activists from the peninsula and beyond gathered on the beach Sunday to declare rock jetties are what saved the surf from complete devastation. Comments (1)

Residents hit by Hurricane Sandy gathered at PS 146 in Howard Beach Monday to ask local attorneys about tax and legal considerations following the superstorm that left many with damaged or destroyed documents and struggling to navigate their insurance plans. Comments (1)

A Woodside man will be spending four years in jail as the result of a burglary spree and flight from the police last summer that ended in multiple car crashes and four people — including three officers — injured, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Comment

The 2013 elections are a little less than a year away, but City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) held a kick-off party for his re-election campaign last week that netted about 200 people. Comment

The field to replace City Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton) got a little more crowded when Far Rockaway resident Selvena Brooks threw her hat into the race. Comment

A Bellerose man said he was inspired after seeing how his street came together in the wake of disaster when Hurricane Sandy swept through the borough, knocking down trees and power lines. Comment

BROOKLYN — A Ridgewood man was arrested and charged with spray painting his tag on the side of the Brooklyn Bridge, according to the NYPD. Comment

BROAD CHANNEL — At least three cars were involved in a collision that injured at least one person and left a car in flames Monday afternoon. Comment

LONG ISLAND CITY — A 47-year-old registered nurse in Long Island City was arrested on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and robbery dating back to an incident in Louisiana in 1984, the Queens district attorney’s office said. Comment

Queens College freshman MacKenzie Rowland (Shaker, N.Y./Cohoes) was named East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week, it was announced by the league office Monday. This is the second such award for the talented freshman basketball player. Comment

Toward the end of the decades-long political campaign this year, a mantra developed among some troglodytes: “No one helped me! I did it all by myself!” Comments (2)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a decree at a meeting Friday in the Rockaways. Comment

As our area is still reeling from the savage blows from Hurricane Sandy, we need to mindful of the heroism of our first responders. Comment

The residents of Meadowmere and Meadowmere Park, two tiny waterside communities off Rockaway Boulevard, are used to flooding, but Superstorm Sandy was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Comments (1)

A New Jersey doctor who ran a weekend pain management clinic in Flushing was charged with homicide Thursday after allegedly prescribing medication that led to the overdose of two of his patients, the city’s special narcotics prosecutor said. Comment

As disgraced former state Sen. and City Councilman Hiram Monserrate prepares to face sentencing for fraud convictions that could put him behind bars for up to 40 years, the girlfriend who he was found guilty of assaulting is still standing by her man. Comment

On the wall inside the lobby of the Oakland Gardens School, a vibrant display of blue outlined why students at PS 203 think their school deserved its classification as a National Blue Ribbon School. Comments (15)

Eager to help their neighbors while still having a fun Saturday, Baysiders participated in a pub crawl at several bars on Bell Boulevard and 41st Avenue and raised $1,000 to help victims of Superstorm Sandy. Comment

The 105th Precinct passed a milestone in late November when the crime level fell below where it had been last year. Comment

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) launched a letter-writing campaign last week urging residents to demand that an Astoria resident who threw his dog out the window be deported. Comment

As residents living in areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy slowly start to put their lives back together and rebuild, some are worried about an additional concern: the quality of their air and water. Comment

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, President Barack Obama, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the MTA and FEMA all get high marks on their performances after Hurricane Sandy struck, according to a poll less kind to the Long Island Power Authority. Comments (1)

Police in Cambria Heights are recommending installing a traffic light along a heavily traveled stretch of road following a deadly accident last month that has raised concerns about speeding in the neighborhood. Comment

Sharmin Derrick grabbed her cellphone to snap a photo when Mayor Michael Bloomberg reached out to shake her hand, thanking her and several other city Parks Department workers who helped clean up after Hurricane Sandy. Comments (1)

RIDGEWOOD — Police were looking for a suspect wanted in connection with multiple bank robberies across Ridgewood and two other boroughs. Comment

ELMHURST — An Elmhurst has been charged with raping a 29-year-old woman after he allegedly pushed his way into her Manhattan apartment complex at West 15th Street near 6th Avenue, authorities said. Comment

St. Francis Prep boys’ basketball Coach Tim Leary is staying positive, despite his team’s 62-45 loss to Iona Prep in CHSAA Class AA play Friday night in Fresh Meadows. Comment

Sophomore Saarah Velandia had already done the hard part by sparking a St. Francis Prep comeback. Still, she was nervous as she stepped to the free throw line before making one of two to seal her team’s basketball season opening win. Comment

Three Queens high schools — Law, Government and Community Service and Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship in Cambria Heights as well as Flushing — remain on a list of 24 schools the city has targeted for closure. Comments (7)

The election is over and the losers are in post-election mortem dissecting what went wrong? They will have four years to figure it out. If they do not come to the conclusion that they had the wrong message and the wrong messengers with which to deliver it, they can look forward to the same results four years hence. Comments (1)

The Beach Channel boys basketball team will likely be forced to cancel its season because of the damage Hurricane Sandy inflicted on the still-shuttered building, as players are now scattered throughout the state and attending other schools, head coach Jim Malone told the TimesLedger. Comments (1)

The new leaders of a Flushing community garden held their first meeting last Thursday, months after a 75-year-old man who long ruled the plots went on a hunger strike and threatened self-immolation to prevent his ouster. Comment

Some flood insurance premiums are set to double after federal legislation was enacted over the summer, and portions of Queens residents recovering along the borough’s southern coast will be affected more than others. Comment

Developers looking to build a six-story condo complex on the shores of College Point are mulling over an agreement with environmentalists that would create wetlands in front of the property, an amenity that could prove useful if the city is slammed by another serious storm. Comment

She was the cat lady of Beach 87th Street, her next door neighbor said. Comment

Major League Soccer presented plans for a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park Monday night to the borough president and civic leaders from around the borough, who expressed concern about the impact to existing traffic problems and several crucial aspects of the project that are still vague. Comments (1)

Unless they are nonprofits, groups looking to use the city’s public schools have been told to back off by the city Department of Education, community leaders in Queens said this week. Comments (1)

While the borough was cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy, a city agency approved a resolution to send a much-maligned statue packing to Brooklyn. Comments (1)

Residents who have finished fighting fires and floodwaters in Breezy Point are now dealing with a new scourge: thieves. Comment

New holiday banners will soon beautify the businesses along Bell Boulevard, courtesy of the students of Bayside High School. Comment

A state senator from Queens questioned Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Department of Environmental Conservation on hydraulic fracturing this week, arguing the recent release of revised draft regulations on the controversial drilling method raises concerns about assurances from the administration that it will take the public health impact into account in its final decision whether and how to allow the practice in the state. Comment

A 16-year old cancer survivor from Middle Village is using her experience with leukemia to urge others — especially minorities — to sign up to become bone marrow donors. Comment

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have appealed to federal officials for tens of billions of dollars to repair the damage from Hurricane Sandy in the city and the state. Comment

LONG ISLAND CITY — Police wee looking for two suspects wanted in connection with a September burglary that occurred on Northern Boulevard, according to the NYPD. Comment

In a 75-minute comedy, Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn will take their audience through the ups and downs of love and marriage in the stage play “You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up!” The couple adapted the play from their book of the same title. Comment

The sky’s the limit for Queens-based recording artists Nicole and Natalie Albino, who have performed all over the world — from Europe to Japan, from Africa to Dubai, and recently, Indonesia. Comment

Christ the King Coach Bob Mackey liked what he saw from his team in the middle of the game, cutting a 20-point deficit to just four in the fourth quarter. Comment

Chris Obekpa’s offensive confidence is growing and it’s helping St. John’s at just the right time. For the second game this season the 6-foot-9 freshman, known more for his “SportsCenter” highlight blocks, provided big shots in the closing minutes of a tight game on his terms. Comment

Since the early, 1980s there have been disputes over leadership within the Queens Republican Party, which has led to periodic election contests in the form of district leadership primaries, in addition to contests for members of the county committee. Comments (1)

The family of an Elmhurst man who police say was pushed in front of a Q train told members of the media Wednesday they were grieving and requested privacy at a news conference in Maspeth with City Comptroller John Liu. Comments (1)

The city will yet again shut down portions of the No. 7 train during Flushing’s Lunar New Year celebrations even as organizers take new steps to expand the event and deliver an even greater economic boost to the neighborhood. Comment

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans), who earlier this year tested the waters for a Republican nomination in next year’s mayoral race, will break from the Democratic Party to work with the GOP when the Senate reconvenes in January. Comment

After a six-month testing period in which the Federal Aviation Administration tested controversial changes in departure procedures at LaGuardia Airport, one northeast Queens lawmaker said the agency has committed to implementing the plan. Comment

In a feat of legal gymnastics, the commission in charge of redrawing the City Council districts Tuesday took back its supposed final version to make further changes and reunited Flushing’s Mitchell-Linden co-op and condo complex into the same district. Comment

The Rockaway community still waits for its share of federal aid after Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited Washington, D.C., last week to lobby for relief funds. Bloomberg said he met leaders from both houses of Congress and both parties to describe the recovery efforts and explain why the city needs $9.8 billion, backing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s request for $42 billion in federal relief aid for the state. Comment

Holy Cross opened the season with a 65-56 win over visiting Holy Trinity in non-league boy’s basketball Tuesday night in the first game without Paul Gilvary at the helm in 16 seasons. The coach, who led the Knights to last season’s CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens title, was dismissed from the position and put on paid administrative leave from his job as director of admissions Nov. 10 because of alleged improprieties. Comments (1)

Christmas Tree and Poinsettia Sales at the Farm Comment

MANHATTAN — An Algerian immigrant who formerly lived in Whitestone pleaded guilty to multiple synagogue bomb plots Tuesday in a Manhattan state court, the Manhattan DA said. Comment

ROCKAWAYS — An Arverne teen allegedly killed a 28-year-old in a Rockaway housing project last month, police said. Comment

CORONA — Police were looking for two men wanted in connection with a possible early morning hate crime that occurred on 46th Avenue. Comment

FLUSHING — State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman informed four Queens gas stations that he will initiate enforcement proceedings against owners after the fuel depots allegedly violated the state’s price gouging law in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Comment

Hurricane Sandy chased 11 Xavier players from their Rockaway homes, but left them wanting to keep their football family together as long as possible. Comment

A 58-year-old Elmhurst man died early Monday afternoon shortly after being pushed in front of a downtown-bound Q subway train in Manhattan, police said. Comment

Borough Hall is losing its civic virtue after a city agency ruling. Comments (1)