🌱 Panettone Festival + 85th Rd. Apartment Stabbing + LL Cool J

Miranda Fraraccio
·5 min read

Hey Queens: As you may know, Amazon Web Services experienced an outage on Tuesday that affected the Queens Daily. Some of you might have received a late newsletter on Wednesday, or no newsletter at all. Please know this was unfortunately beyond our control, but know that we are fully back in business! -Miranda Fraraccio

First, today's weather:

Sun mixing with clouds. High: 40 Low: 35.

Here are the top stories today in Queens:

  1. The New York Panettone Festival, a Latin Jazz Concert, Holiday on the Avenue, and more are all taking place this week in Queens. Part one of the first-ever New York Panettone Festival features fantastic Italian panettone chefs, chocolate, and Lavazza coffee with a Midtown Manhattan skyline in the background. The festival runs Dec.9-12 at the The Piazza, located at 52-41 Center Blvd., in Hunters Point South. (Western Queens Gazette)

  2. Two alleged fentanyl traffickers who were busted in Queens have been released without bail. Queens Criminal Court Judge Karen Gopee made that decision at the Dec. 3 arraignment of Navarro Gonzalez, 26, of Bell Garden, Calif., and Juan Esquer, 48, of Jalisco, Mexico. The two were ordered by Gopee to be released under supervision and are scheduled to return to court on Feb. 1, 2022. (AMNY)

  3. A Queens man stabbed his girlfriend to death with a sword and stuffed her in his apartment closet before calling cops to report a robbery on Wednesday. The gruesome slaying was revealed after 37-year-old Peter Ikonomou’s mother arrived at the apartment because she hadn’t heard from him in a while, and found him appearing to be under the influence of drugs. When cops got into the apartment on 85th Rd., they found the body of Mindy Singer, 35, with a 46-inch sword still stuck in her backside. (Yahoo)

  4. The driver of a discount-fare bus pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for crashing after mistakenly believing he was exiting northbound Interstate 95 onto Interstate 295. The bus had 56 passengers aboard and the crash led to two deaths, including the death of Janetta Cumberbatch, 81, a retired nurse from Queens, and dozens of injuries. The driver, Yui Man Chow of Staten Island, N.Y., will not serve time in jail but will perform community service.(Independent-Messenger)

  5. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, LL Cool J, was honored in his hometown of Queens with “The G.O.A.T Monument.” The statue, sculpted by Sherwin Banfield, has a musical piece that includes actual audio in it and shows LL as his younger self wearing his infamous Kangol hat, holding a Boombox along with a cassette tape of his debut album, Radio. The new statue is located at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the David Dinkins Circle. (Hot97)

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Today in Queens:

  • Cafe des Artistes: A Focus on Modern Art - Astoria Branch Library (11:00 AM)

  • Mistake-Free Cover Letters Webinar - Astoria Branch Library (12:00 PM)

  • Literary Thursdays: Made in China with Anna Qu - Astoria Branch Library (4:00 PM)

  • How to be a Birdwatcher: A Hunters Point Environmental Education Center Program - Astoria Branch Library (4:00 PM)

  • Google Drive for Job Searching - Astoria Branch Library (5:00 PM)

  • Chinese Bird Painting Appreciation Program - Astoria Branch Library (6:00 PM)

  • Keeping Jazz Alive: Duke Ellington America’s Greatest Jazz Composer - Astoria Branch Library (6:00 PM)

From my notebook:

  • Queens Museum: "The only Museum offering a free aerial view of all of New York City! The Panorama of the City of New York is great fun and a learning experience for the whole family. Stop by the Museum today and ask one of our Museum Experience Ambassadors about the history of the Panorama, how it’s been updated to reflect a growing NYC over the years, and anecdotes about specific areas. Click here to RSVP and learn more about our current exhibitions and programming: https://qnsmu.se/PlanYourVisit" (Facebook)

  • Queens Chamber of Commerce: "“While we remain concerned about COVID-19, we are also worried about the impact that further restrictions will have on businesses. We hope the administration will work collaboratively with small businesses on vaccine mandates to ensure we are keeping our city safe while allowing our businesses to stay open.”- CEO of the Queens Chamber Tom Grech" (Facebook)

  • Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: "🚨 ALERT: New York Blood Center has declared a blood emergency ❗️With the ongoing blood shortage we kindly encourage anyone to please donate. Together we can save lives! Schedule an appointment today: https://www.nybc.org/" (Facebook)

  • Queens, New York: "Christmas Crooning! Colm Reilly does a cabaret-style dinner-show at the New York Irish Center on Dec. 10 at 7 pm. Info: https://bit.ly/32Cw07f" (Facebook)

  • Queens Council on the Arts: "High School to Art School helps students earn acceptance to competitive art colleges! Our program has impacted hundreds of talented young artists. Your support ensures that Queens' emerging artists reach their potential as college students. Visit https://bit.ly/3lFOGtt to contribute." (Facebook)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Thursday! I'll be back in your inbox tomorrow morning with a new update. If you're liking these newsletters, consider bringing some of your friends and neighbors into the fold. 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.

This article originally appeared on the Queens Patch