🌱 Walgreens Closing + Golden Girls Puppet Show + Manhole Fire

Happy Tuesday, people of Queens! Here are the most important things happening today in Queens.

First, today's weather:

Sun and areas of low clouds. High: 33 Low: 30.

Here are the top three stories today in Queens:

1. Next month, Walgreens will shutter their Astoria and Bayside locations, citing changing consumer behavior as the cause for the closures. The Bayside store, located at 39-20 Bell Blvd., as well as the Astoria location at 47-07 Broadway, will close its doors on Feb. 15. Customers with prescriptions at these locations will be transferred to nearby Walgreens stores. (Astoria Post)
2. Multiple buildings were evacuated in Queens on Sunday after a manhole fire led to elevated carbon monoxide levels. Firefighters were called to the scene at 45-19 74th Avenue at around 2:30 p.m., due to sparking wires underneath the manhole, potentially caused by salt that was put down as a result of the weekend snowstorm. Displaced residents were provided buses as a shelter and no injuries were reported. (WABC-TV)
3. A 'Golden Girls' puppet show is coming to Queens. On Sunday, Feb. 20, the brand-new “That Golden Girls Show!” tour will be coming to the Queens Theatre as the venue’s first in-person show of 2022. The show parodies classic “Golden Girls” moments with puppets portraying the four women and is a way to celebrate Betty White's life, who recently died in Dec. 2021. (QNS.com)

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Today in Queens:

• Chair Yoga, At South Jamaica Branch Library (1:00 PM)

From my notebook:

• Queens Borough President Donovan Richards joined the Forest Hills Asian Association's Day of Remembrance Rally yesterday to stand with and honor the strength of Queens' Asian American community. (Facebook)
• Information regarding this week’s COVID-19 testing sites hosted by NYC Health + Hospitals can be found here. (Facebook)
• Queens Botanical Garden's free Lunar New Year Celebration is just days away! Join the fun on Saturday, Feb. 5, from 12:00-3:00 pm. (Facebook)

More from our sponsors — thanks for supporting local news!

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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door this Tuesday! I'll catch up with you bright and early tomorrow morning with 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.