Three years ago in 2020, zero fires were caused by lithium-ion batteries in New York City. In 2021, FDNY reported a total of five fire deaths with four of the fatalities result­ing from lithium-ion battery fires. “Some­thing we have never seen before in Department history,” said a FDNY spokesperson at the time. This year, FDNY has responded to 239 fires […]

Thanksgiving is traditionally a day for family gatherings, football rivalries, swapping memories and gobbling down a great meal. In keeping with tradition, officials at the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) last week re­leased their annual fire safety checklist and are urg­ing Queens residents to take precautions to prevent turning Thanksgiving into a real turkey. NFPA officials said there is more […]

Queens police officials this week issued a warn­ing to motorists who party too hard and get behind the wheel drunk over the holidays. Police announced a “Zero Tolerance” crack­down in precincts throughout northern Queens from Thanksgiving week through New Years Day, in­cluding a series of undisclosed checkpoints and in­creased monitoring for drugged, drunk or “buzzed” driving, seat belt offenses, and […]

Burlington Stores, Inc., a national dis­count retailer offering low prices every day on brand name merchandise for the entire family and home, has just opened its newest store in Astoria, marking the retail­ers’ 1,000th location nationwide. This opening brings the total number of loca­tions in the state of New York to 63. With up to 60% off other retailers’ prices […]

In case the reader doesn’t already know, I love to gamble. As to the title of this month’s piece, I offer the following: it is that time of year when baseball takes a five-month sabbatical and basketball takes center stage for the next (coming) five months. Here’s my take on both topics: BASEBALL: Baseball concluded its season with some really […]