🌱 Flushing Arsonist Damages Three Apartments + Restaurant Week

Hey, Queens! It's Thursday, so let's get you started with everything you need to know going on in town today.

First, today's weather:

Intervals of clouds and sun. High: 42 Low: 35.

Here are the top three stories in Queens today:

1. 21 Queens restaurants will be offering deals during New York City Restaurant Week, beginning on Tuesday. Across the five boroughs, more than 400 restaurants are participating in Restaurant Week which runs from Jan. 18 to Feb. 13. Depending on the menu items, the local businesses will be offering a two-course lunch for $29 and a three-course dinner for $39 or $59. (Sunnyside Post)
2. An early morning apartment fire in Queens was sparked by an arsonist, likely in revenge for a drug deal gone bad. The suspect climbed a fire escape and hurled what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail into a sixth-floor apartment on Parsons Blvd. near 34th Ave. in Flushing about 4:40 a.m. The two-alarm fire sent two firefighters to the hospital and damaged three apartments in total. (Yahoo)
3. A Queens man admitted to shooting the mother of his baby boy in the eye on her own front lawn, killing her. 36-year-old Robert Rodriguez plead guilty to killing 21-year-old Luz Cuza on 147th Street in Cambria Heights, at around 2 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2017. At a hearing next month, Rodriguez is expected to be sentenced to 19 years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision. (NBC New York)

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Today in Queens:

• Farming in a Jar with PlantHero: A Hunters Point Environmental Education Center Program, At Queens Public Library Virtual (4:00 PM)

From my notebook:

• As part of the Year Of Uncertainty, YoU Community Partner, Sakhi for South Asian Women, is currently presenting “Inherent Power” at the Queens Museum – an exhibition developed in response to the efforts of youth survivors of gender-based violence to break the silence around their own alienation and oppression. (Facebook)
• Keith Hernandez had his #17 retired by the New York Mets. (Facebook)
• In partnership with David Weprin, Alicia L. Hyndman, Nily Rozic 李羅莎, John C. Liu, and Senator Leroy Comrie, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards will collect any non-perishable foods and donate to India Home, a local senior center in Jamaica. (Facebook)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Thursday off right! See you all tomorrow for your next update.

— Miranda Fraraccio

About me: Miranda Fraraccio is a born and raised Rhode Islander. She works as a staff writer for content creation agency Lightning Media Partners, and is a graduate of The University of Rhode Island, where she earned a degree in Writing & Rhetoric and Communication Studies. In her free time, you can find her traveling, hiking, or photographing her neighborhood as a street photographer.