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By Gina Martinex

TimesLedger Newspapers

An 11-year-old Middle Village boy is dead after falling through the ice on a frozen pond, FDNY officials said.

According to police, Anthony Perez, 11, and his friend Juan Umpierrez, 12, were playing on the frozen waters of Strack Pond in Forest Park Tuesday afternoon when Umpierrez fell through. Perez rushed to help Umpierrez, fell in himself, and was unable to get out of the freezing water.

Police said Umpierrez ran home to call 911 and when the FDNY arrived, firefighters had to break through the ice with their hands so they could get to the area that they knew he would most likely be, then went into the water to get him.

Once they retrieved his body from the pond, firefighters performed CPR to try to revive Perez, but were unable. The boy was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Two firefighters were treated for hypothermia and are in stable condition, the FDNY said.

FDNY Deputy Chief George Healy implored parents to make sure their kids know the ice on the lakes and ponds of the city are not safe places to play.

“It won’t support your weight,” he said in a statement. “Please stay off the ice. There are signs around all the lakes in the city and we implore you, tell your children it can have tragic consequences. Again, the ice looks to be safe, it looks to be thick, but the temperature today was well above freezing.”

Medical examiners will determine Perez’s cause of death.

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Bob Capano

TimesLedger Newspapers

The opioid crisis is inflicting all of our communities at an alarming rate.

More families than ever are impacted by drug addiction. There were almost 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, with two-thirds of them related to opioids such as heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This was the most lethal year yet in the drug epidemic and it is getting worse.

There is no greater feeling of helplessness than watching a family member suffer because you know there is nothing that can be done until they are ready to seek treatment. The last thing we need is a legal facility that encourages continued drug use. Unfortunately, this is the path New York City is on.

Recently, the New York City Police Department and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene met to discuss opening “supervised injection facilities” in local neighborhoods.

These facilities allow addicts to inject heroin and other drugs under medical supervision with sterile syringes, with taxpayers footing the bill. Currently, there are only about 100 of these centers in the world, mainly in Europe and Canada. Today, New York City is racing with Philadelphia and Seattle to become the first city in the United States to open one.

This would be a victory for Mayor Bill de Blasio in his goal to raise his national progressive bona fides, but opening these facilities would be bad for communities, law enforcement, taxpayers, and even worse, addicts.

Any funds spent on this issue should be used to break the cycle of the addict’s dependency on drugs, not by taking an action that condones heroin use. These sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and friends need help, hope and rehab. Condoning drug use as long as you shoot up at a supervised injection facility is sentencing them to a life of addiction.

We also must think of the problem these facilities would cause for law enforcement. How can we to prosecute drug crimes if City Hall provides places for drug users to legally shoot up?

In response to Vermont also exploring opening these facilities, the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement making clear: “It is a crime not only to use illicit narcotics, but to manage and maintain sites on which drugs are used and distributed… such facilities would also threaten to undercut existing and future prevention initiatives by sending exactly the wrong message to children in Vermont: the government will help you use heroin.” Supervised injection facilities would send mixed messages to law enforcement and citizens about heroin use.

Local neighborhoods would also suffer. Can you imagine the uproar if a facility were proposed in your community? Let’s face it, drug dealers are true entrepreneurs. They’ll relocate close to one of these facilities to better serve their customer: the addict. If one were to open in your area, common sense tells you that there will be dealers setting up shop next to the closest subway station, because these facilities do not provide the drugs. The addict will do anything to get the cash to pay the dealers.

Cities like Vancouver found out what happens when injection facilities are located there; quality of life complaints rise and the area around them becomes a magnet for addicts and drug dealers. Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa told me that in the 1990s, when his team patrolled the East End of Vancouver where one of these facilities had recently opened, there was an increase in addicts coming from other parts of Canada. This brought more dealers because users had to first buy their heroin to get their fix.

Since the first supervised injection facility opened in Switzerland in 1986, there have been many studies offering contradictory information about their effectiveness. These are worthy discussions to have, because both opponents and supporters of these facilities share the same goal of saving lives. However, no debate has occurred in New York City worthy of making us the first place in the United States to open these controversial facilities.

In 2016, the council announced a $100,000 taxpayer-funded six month study to be conducted by the Department of Health on the feasibility of opening these facilities. The results of the study have not been released, and there has not been any comment on these facilities by the mayor or any public hearings on this issue. Yet, last week two city agencies met about opening these facilities.

New Yorkers, especially those suffering from addiction, deserve better.

Bob Capano has been an adjunct political science professor at the City University of New York.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

The Monday death of an 8-year-old Corona girl from the flu spurred a reaction from the city Dept. of Health on Tuesday to inform the public on the disease as it is the second pediatric fatality in the city thus far.

Physicians visited the girl’s LeFrak City home because she was having trouble breathing, according the city’s Health Department. She was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where she died at around 6:30 a.m., CBS reported. The medical examiner’s office conducted an autopsy. AN ABC 7 report says that “death indicates the circumstances and cause were natural.”

City Dept. of Health Commissioner Mary Bassett held a Long Island City press conference Feb. 5 following the incident, in which she warned people that if their condition escalates to shaking chills and high fever with body aches, they should seek immediate medical attention, where they would likely receive antiviral treatment, which is in good supply in the City.

“It’s very important to remind New Yorkers that the flu is not the sniffles and a cough, that there are many people who die of influenza related illness,” Bassett said. “We lose more people to influenza and pneumonia every year than any other infection… I’m sure the tragic loss of a schoolmate and the tragic loss of a child will reverberate throughout the community, including the schools, but we are not treating this as something that needs an environmental intervention.”

Bassett advised residents to take advantage of the City’s paid sick leave law and not to go into work or school if they were experiencing symptoms, and to seek medical attention if their condition deteriorates quickly.

Bassett said the Dept. of Health monitors the flu from October through May and that the city had an early “rapid-rise” of the disease.

In 2015, the earliest year the City agency has data available, 2,094 people died of flu and pneumonia, with over 90 percent being over 65 years old, Bassett said.

Pediatric deaths average between zero and eight per year, she added, with six altogether occurring last year.

“This particular virus that we seeing this year, the H3N2 virus, is a wily virus which has proved difficult to find a highly effective vaccine for,” Bassett said. “That doesn’t mean that it isn’t protective.”

The Health Department cited the incident in a statement released following the girl’s death that urged locals to seek the proper treatment to avoid contracting the potentially fatal virus.

“The tragic death of a child due to the flu is a reminder of the devastating effects this illness can have on people of all ages. Influenza season is far from over, and it is not too late to get the flu shot. We urge parents to protect themselves and their families by getting this potentially life-saving vaccine today,” the agency’s statement read. “In addition to health care settings, flu vaccines are also available at pharmacies for children as young as 2-years-old. People with a compromised immune system, children, pregnant women, and those aged 65 and older who develop influenza-like symptoms should seek medical care as early as possible. For more information about where to get vaccinated, New Yorkers can call 311, visit nyc.gov/flu, or text “flu” to 877877.”

Bassett also advised people go to the emergency room if their symptoms worsen.

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

A major construction project on three bridges at the Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway interchange just south of the World’s Fair site at Flushing Meadows Corona Park has been completed nine months earlier than anticipated, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

The traffic pattern was moved into its final configuration this week, allowing nearly 350,000 vehicles to move through the interchange with fewer delays each day.

“These vital improvements will help ease congestion at this busy interchange for motorists, while offering those traveling to LaGuardia or JFK a smoother commute,” Cuomo said. “By modernizing and strengthening Queens’ transportation infrastructure, we help meet the demands of the 21st century traveler while spurring economic growth for the entire Empire State.”

The reconstructed bridges include the LIE mainline over the Grand Central, as well as the eastbound and westbound LIE over the GCP. The decks and steel structures for all three bridges were replaced and the bridges were widened to create shoulders where none existed. In addition, the westbound entrance lane from the Van Wyck Expressway was extended, providing a longer merge distance to help reduce traffic congestion.

“The LIE/GCP interchange is a critical highway artery connecting the four corners of Queens,” City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) said. “The completion of this $58 million project is exactly the sort of investment our community needs, and I’d like to thank Governor Cuomo and the State DOT for exceeding expectations and coming through nine months ahead of schedule.”

Lighting upgrades were installed on the LIE mainline and service roads between College Point Boulevard and the GCP, as well as beneath the LIE at the GCP. New LED lighting and upgraded cables have increased visibility there and are saving energy.

“Strong and resilient transportation infrastructure is critical to spurring local economies, connecting travelers to their destinations and helping move New York forward,” state Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Flushing) said.

Additional drainage structures were installed and existing ones were cleaned to facilitate storm water run-off. Upgrades to the Intelligent Transportation System, which helps publicize and manage traffic conditions, were also completed.

“Our roads need an urgent injection of investment to ensure they do not continue to deteriorate,” state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) said. “We need to accelerate and make the modernization of our infrastructure a priority. The reconstruction of these three bridges at the Long Island Expressway/Grand Central Parkway interchange is a good step toward the goal of modernizing our roads to improve safety.”

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Gina Martinez

TimesLedger Newspapers

Nearly half of the city’s public school cafeterias are not up to health code, according to a recently published report by the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.

The report’s release comes after the schools started offering free meals to 1.1 million public school children citywide. It revealed that nearly 700 school cafeterias — almost half of the 1,400 inspected by health officials in 2017 — were found to have at least one critical violation, which indicates the kinds of problems that could lead to food-borne illnesses.

Health Department inspectors found an average of two violations per school cafeteria visit. Officials noted that while some schools had no violations, others racked up more, driving up the average.

The report found that one out of every five of the citations was classified as a critical violation. More than half of the 1,150 critical violations reported in 2017 showed evidence of mice, rats, roaches and flies in food preparation and consumption areas, the report said.

On July 12, 1,500 flies were found at Ozone Park’s MS 137 cafeteria. The school’s kitchen prepares more than 700 meals for five area schools. The Health Department gave the middle school two days to clean up and put all food in rat-proof containers. According to the report, while there was some improvement when an inspector returned July 17, flies still loomed and the kitchen remained dirty. The school got another two days to fix the violations; by the third try the problems were solved.

The four dozen schools with the worst health inspection records in 2017 were found to serve some of the city’s poorest students. The CUNY report said that city records showed that students who attend these schools tend to be disproportionately minority group members.

The research also found that at least five suspected outbreaks of food-borne illnesses were suspected to stem from norovirus, and affected hundreds of students, including 200 students at PS 12 in Woodside during an outbreak in 2016. The school was shut down for the day after the outbreak, according to the CUNY report.

The Department of Health released a statement regarding the report’s findings, saying that in 2016, 97 percent of city schools passed inspection and “any violations were immediately addressed.”

“We are committed to working with the Department of Education to ensure all students are provided with a safe and clean environment in our city’s schools,” the statement said. “We will continue to hold school cafeterias to rigorous safety standards.”

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

Queens College was to kick off its Black History Month celebration this past Thursday with an interactive exhibition titled “Waging Peace: 100 Years of Action,” which was organized by the American Friends Service Committee at the school’s Godwin-Ternbach Museum.

The American Friends Service Committee is a non-profit organization committed to social justice, according to its website.

Through the use of interactive media and artifacts, the exhibition is intended to explore themes about building peace, ending discrimination, and addressing prison issues, just economies, immigration rights and calls to action.

The museum will expand on the exhibition by including historical posters, photographs and documents from its collection of Queens College Civil Rights Archives, according to the school.

The materials from Godwin-Ternbach are firsthand accounts of the fight for social justice by Queens College students and faculty, according to the institution.

A panel about the origins of Black History Month will be held Monday from 10:45 a.m. to 12:05 a.m. to kickoff week two celebrations. It will be at the Muyskens Conference Room at the school’s Summit apartments. The school is at 65-30 Kissena Blvd. in Flushing.

Jessica Harris, a culinary historian, cookbook author, journalist and Queens College faculty member, will present “My Soul Looks Back: Reflections on My 50-Year Career at Queens College” on Tuesday from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Student Union’s fourth-floor ballroom.

Dr. Patrice Fenton, Babajimi Famusesan and Jason Rosario will round out Week 3 of the celebration on Feb. 13 at a “What is Blackness: A Discourse on Identity, Ethnicity and Race” panel at the Benjamin Rosenthal Library at the President’s Conference Room.

The emergence of contemporary blackness will be discussed, along with the panelists’ own experiences and understanding of ethnicity, race, and identity, as well as social and political forces that have shaped them.

The panel will start at 4:40 p.m. and end at 6 p.m.

For Week 4, there will be guest lectures by author Vanessa Valdes and Katrina Adams, the chairwoman of the board of the United States Tennis Association, on Feb. 20 and Feb 21 at Rosenthal Library. Both lectures will be from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m.

The fifth week of Black History Month will have students who went civil rights sites in Georgia and Alabama reflect on their experiences at the Student Union Ballroom West on Feb. 26 from 12:15 to 2 p.m.

The final event will be a panel discussion, “Black Women and the Vote: Suffrage to the Era of Trump,” scheduled at the Patio Room at the school’s dining hall for Feb. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by email at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

A married mother of four from Jamaica could face 15 years in prison for taking nearly $70,000 in Medicaid funds over the course of three years despite her family’s earning more than $1 million from 2012 to 2016, according to Welfare Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott.

Galit Levi, 37, was arraigned last week and charged with grand larceny, welfare fraud, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing for stealing $67,000 in Medicaid money, according to District Attorney Richard Brown.

Scott said that from January 2012 to December 2015, Scott lied on Medicaid applications and renewal forms to receive welfare benefits for herself and her four children by claiming that she was unemployed and that her husband earned only $1,750 a month, or what would amount to $21,000 annually before taxes.

The false filings, Scott said, led to Levi and her children’s receiving Medicaid benefits, which are meant for individuals or families struggling financially.

“This defendant’s alleged crimes involved a breathtakingly misplaced sense of entitlement by reaping a very comfortable family income while utilizing benefits meant for those in need to cover her expenses, as if she were in dire financial distress,” Scott said.

Investigator Caroll Lopera of the Office of the Welfare Inspector General and Detective David Moore of the Queens District Attorney’s Office Detective Bureau helped to uncover bank records from Levi and her husband that revealed the couple made deposits exceeding $1.13 million from 2012 through 2016.

“Medicaid is intended to help the truly needy, but this defendant’s bank records allegedly show her family’s income was well above the levels that would have made her and her children eligible for assistance,” Brown said.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Karen Gopee set Levi’s bail at $5,000 and ordered the defendant to return to court on Feb. 13 and to surrender her U.S. and Israeli passports.

“I will continue to use all of the resources at my disposal to protect public funds meant for those in the most need of financial assistance,” Scott said.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by email at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Gina Martinez

TimesLedger Newspapers

Senior citizens in Kew Garden Hills got free self-defense lessons.

Chazaq, a Jewish nonprofit organization, hosted the inaugural Self-Defense Class for Seniors last week at Queens Library in Kew Garden Hills. More than 55 seniors attended the class, led by instructor Avi Avramcheyiv of the New York Self-Defense Academy. The class was funded by Councilman Rory Lancman (D- Hillcrest), who allocated $16,000 in the fall 2018 budget through the Support Our Seniors Initiative to facilitate events for local seniors.

During the one-hour class, Avramcheyiv explained several self-defense maneuvers and spoke with the seniors about the importance of self-defense. Seniors were taught how to handle potential muggers with or without a gun. The demonstration featured ways in which a person, when approached or attacked, can use his or her body and mindfulness to maneuver out of harm’s way. The older seniors were also taught how to bring harm to the attacker in a way that will give them time to walk away or call for help.

Another technique taught to seniors is how to use a cane to poke a mugger in the stomach to thwart the attack. Avramcheyiv said that after using the cane, the senior could then use other techniques to disable a mugger.

Detective Dan O’Brian and Mark Katz, of the Queens District Attorney’s Office, spoke to the attendees about safety issues that seniors face.

Councilman Lancman said he was proud to provide funding for the event.

“We want to do everything possible to keep our seniors safe,” he said. “The self-defense class was a unique opportunity for local seniors to learn defense skills and techniques needed to empower and protect themselves and others.”

Israel Peskowitz, community development coordinator at Chazaq, thanked Lancman and said he was pleased with the enthusiasm and turnout, and plans for more.

“We hope to see even more participants join us at future events,” he said. “A lot of thought has gone into providing seniors with informative, educational programming within a social framework. There is tremendous importance to increasing resources available to our elders.

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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Source: Times Ledger