🌱 Birria-Landia Expanding + Kew Gardens Hills Home Invasion

Good morning, neighbors! Miranda Fraraccio here with the latest edition of the Queens Daily.

First, today's weather:

Sun mixing with clouds. High: 34 Low: 30.

Here are the top three stories in Queens today:

1. Birria-Landia, the Queens taco truck that sparked NYC's birria boom, is expanding into two more boroughs across the city. The truck currently has two locations in Jackson Heights and Williamsburg and will open up next at East Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse thoroughfare, or within a few blocks of the intersection, in the Bronx. A fourth truck is planned for Manhattan, however, that location is still at least six months out from opening due to construction delays related to the pandemic. (Eater NY)
2. Police are looking for a pair of male suspects after an early morning home invasion in Kew Gardens Hills on Wednesday. At around 3:35 a.m. in the vicinity of 70th Road and 137th Street, two armed men broke into a home, struck the homeowner in the head, tied him up with duct tape, and then drove off with the victim’s Mercedes Benz. The 43-year-old victim is in stable condition at an area hospital, but suffered swelling, abrasions, and cuts to his head. (Ridgewood Post)
3. A man leaped over a subway turnstile in Forest Hills and snapped his neck upon landing this past Sunday morning. In an attempt to evade the fare, Christopher De La Cruz, 28, went headfirst into the concrete ground inside the Forest Hills-71st Avenue train station after attempting to jump a turnstile. EMS pronounced him dead at the station. (Astoria Post)

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:

• LIVE at Culture Lab LIC - Live Stream Concerts! At Culture Lab (7:00 PM)

From my notebook:

• Here are this week’s COVID-19 testing sites hosted by NYC Health + Hospitals. Vaccination is also provided at certain sites. (Facebook)
• Applications are now available for those interested in being a part of the Community Board and participating in the development of Queens. The deadline to submit your application is Wednesday, Feb. 16. (Facebook)

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You're all caught up for today! See you all tomorrow morning for another 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.