🌱 11-Year-Old Boy Robbed At School + Hoyt Playground Fire

Hello, people of Queens! Miranda Fraraccio here with your brand-new issue of the Queens Daily.

First, today's weather:

Breezy and cooler. High: 42 Low: 35.

Here are the top stories today in Queens:

1. An 11-year-old boy is shaken after he was robbed in a Queens school bathroom by another young person who snuck inside and pointed a knife at the boy's chest. Police said the armed and unidentified individual gained entry to Robert A. Van Wyck Junior High School on Wednesday afternoon around 2:30pm and tried to steal money from the boy, but he didn't have any. Police said after the suspect left the school, the assailant was accused of arguing with a 51-year-old man and lunging at the victim's throat with the knife, however the weapon did not make contact with his neck. (NBC New York)
2. An Astoria playground was set ablaze by a large rubbish fire late on Sunday night. Just after 10pm, firefighters responded to reports of the blaze at part of Astoria’s Hoyt Playground, near the corner of 31st Street and 24th Avenue. No injuries were reported and fire officials have said the cause of the fire is still unknown. (WPIX 11 New York)
3. Archer Green, a new 100 percent affordable housing complex in Jamaica, is finally complete. The complex is located at 92-23 168th Street and introduces 387 affordable housing units, a parking garage designed to accommodate 130 vehicles, a low-cost Aldi supermarket, and a 15,000-square-foot community center. Apartments at Archer Green range from studios up to three-bedroom homes and are limited to households between 40 percent and 130 percent of the area median income. (New York YIMBY)
4. Two cases of the COVID-19 variant Omicron have been detected in Queens, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Thursday. Two Queens residents are among five New York state residents who have confirmed cases of the Omicron variant, which was first identified in South Africa last month. Hochul, who joined Mayor Bill de Blasio at City Hall, said the other cases were found in Brooklyn, Suffolk County, and an unknown borough, however the vaccination status of each case is unknown. (Sunnyside Post)
5. A federal workplace safety investigation has found a Queens construction contractor failed to provide effective fall protection safeguards that would have prevented the death of a worker who fell about 60 feet from a roof on May 27, during the demolition of a Brooklyn building. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that Richmond Construction Inc. failed to provide and require the use of all required safeguards related to fall protection, after a worker who was engaged in demolishing a building at 1045 Flatbush Ave. fell from the roof to the building's interior. OSHA cited Richmond Construction for nine willful, repeat, and serious violations of workplace safety standards and proposed penalties totaling $374,603.(WorkersCompensation.com)

Today's Queens Daily is brought to you in part by our friends at Ring, the home security company. Ring does a lot more than doorbells: check out their full suite of smart home products at Ring.com. And thank you Ring for helping to make local news happen in Queens!

Today in Queens:

• Creating Impactful Resumes Webinar - Astoria Branch Library (12:00 PM)
• Local History Chat with Oliver - Astoria Branch Library (2:00 PM)
• Teen Photography Club: Level One - Astoria Branch Library (5:00 PM)

From my notebook:

• Queens Chamber of Commerce: "Show thanks for what you have by giving to those in need. Drop off a new, unwrapped toy at our office and we'll pass them onto The Child Center of NY. Details here." (Facebook)
• Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: "Great News! The deadline to apply for #Ida FEMA Relief has been extended to January 4 2022. If you or anyone you know has been affected by Hurricane Ida, we encourage you to apply, and if you were denied funding you have 60 days to file for an appeal." (Facebook)
• Queens, New York: "The Museum of the Moving Image hosts a Kung Fu fest with nine Joseph Kuo films. Info: https://bit.ly/3IjVWFi" (Facebook)
• Queens Botanical Garden: "Let's repurpose our holiday recyclables! On Sat, 12/18, join the QBG Compost Team for our FREE "Crafting with Compost" workshop in creating festive holiday décor using compostable materials. Create your own dried orange ornaments and recycled paper snowflakes! Appropriate for all ages. Takes place indoors in the QBG Auditorium so please note the Garden's health and safety protocols." (Facebook)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Tuesday! I'll catch up with you bright and early tomorrow with another update. If you're feeling these newsletters, consider inviting some of your friends and neighbors to read along. You can send them this link to subscribe.

— Miranda Fraraccio

About me: Miranda Fraraccio is a born and raised Rhode Islander. She works as a freelance copywriter for content creation agency Lightning Media Partners and as an assistant producer for a live-lit storytelling show in Chicago. She holds a degree in Writing & Rhetoric and Communication Studies from The University of Rhode Island. In her free time, you can find her traveling, hiking, or photographing her neighborhood as a street photographer.