🌱 Astoria Dry Cleaners Must Repay $90K To Workers + Four-Alarm Fire

Good morning, Queens! 😆

• 👕 The owners of a commercial dry cleaner in Astoria must pay back $90,000 in stolen wages to their workers, prosecutors say.
• 🔥A massive four-alarm fire erupted early Tuesday morning inside a Long Island City commercial laundromat.
• 🚲 Goodbye, "Boulevard of Death." The Department of Transportation announced that it is set to reach its ten-mile bike lane mark in Forest Hills along Queens Boulevard.

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🍃 Breezy in the afternoon. High: 55 Low: 43.

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🏡 Attention, real estate pros in Queens! We're now offering an exclusive sponsorship opportunity for an agent interested in attracting local clients and standing apart from the competition. Click here to learn more.

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Here are the top stories today in Queens:

1. Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday a $90,000 settlement with the owners of a commercial dry cleaner in Astoria who admitted to underpaying their workers for years. From 2014 to 2020, Fat-Lun "Michael" Kong and Cheng Teh "Jeffrey" Tang, doing business as Enterprise Cleaners, failed to their employees minimum wage, overtime pay and sick leave, James's office says. State prosecutors are now forcing Kong and Tang to immediately repay their workers — $25,000 by Oct. 17, followed by $3,000 every month until July 2024, and another $2,000 by August 2024. "All workers should be treated with the utmost dignity and respect, but the owners of Enterprise Cleaners took advantage of their hardworking employees, forcing them to work long hours and failing to pay workers what they were owed," said James.

Patch ; New York State Attorney General

2. A massive four-alarm fire erupted early Tuesday morning in a Long Island City warehouse, causing the structure to partially collapse, and injuring two firefighters. The fire began just before 2:40 a.m. on Oct. 18 inside a commercial laundromat and at least 168 firefighters and EMS workers were called to the location. Personnel were forced to briefly retreat from the building as propane canisters and other hazardous materials exploded inside, but were able to get the blaze under control by 7 a.m. Fire marshals are now investigating the cause of the fire.

AM New York Metro ; Patch

3. On Monday, the city's Department of Transportation announced on Twitter that it is set to reach its ten-mile bike lane hardening mark in Forest Hills along Queens Boulevard, a street infamous for its high rate of traffic fatalities. The bike lane expansion is part of a nearly 10-year city safety program called Vision Zero, which aims to add more protected bike lanes, crosswalks, and expanded medians across the city.

Patch

4. District Attorney Melinda Katz is hosting a free Domestic Violence Workshop on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at Queens Public Library's Ozone Park Branch as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month programming. Joining Katz in highlighting resources will be state Senator Joseph Addabbo and Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar. "In 2021, New York City's Domestic Violence Hotline received over 93,000 calls, which has increased by 15% during the pandemic. We must answer every one of these calls for help, and do all that we can to bring the number of calls down to zero," Rajkumar said. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will also be live-streamed on Katz's Facebook page.

Queens Courier

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🗞 Hungry for more news? 🍴Snack on these headlines:

• Man Killed by Subway Train After Falling During Fight in Queens Station (The New York Times)
• Queens councilwoman announces partnership with DSNY to combat littering and promote composting (Queens Courier)
• Inequality in NYC's public space results in alarming health, environmental disparities, report finds (AM New York Metro)
• Hey, New Yorkers: Meet Your Neighborhood's New Congressional District (The New York Times)

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🗓 To Do Today in Queens:

• YWCA of Queens Food Pantry (10 a.m.)
• Queens Farm Farmstand (11 a.m.)
• Pronoun Party at Queens College (12:15 p.m.)
• Compost Bagging Community Volunteer Days (1 p.m.)
• Children's Book Club (6 p.m.)
• Shut Up and Write (6:15 p.m.)
• Game Night: Anything Goes at Albatross (8 p.m.)

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🗣 Queens Chatter:

• 🎃 Things to do with old pumpkins: "LIFE After Pumpkin Patch! The pumpkins from QBG's Pumpkin Patch are sugar pumpkins–the kind that's perfect for cooking and baking! Here are some ideas of what to do with your colorful gourds to extend their life and add them back into the closed loop of organics recycling! Smash them at our PUMPKIN SMASH event at Lou Lodati Park in LIC on Sat,11/5! You smash them and NYC Compost Project will turn them into compost. Register at link in bio or pumpkinsmash2022.eventbrite.com Make sweet pies and hearty soups! Scoop out and roast the seeds to eat. Make pumpkins into dog treats! Donate them to your local animal sanctuary!" (Queens Botanical Garden via Facebook)
• 🤯 1 million pounds of waste: "THE FIRST PRELIMINARY RESULTS ARE IN on the nation's largest Curbside Composting program #InQueens, and in just the first two weeks, we've diverted more than 1 MILLION POUNDS of food scraps and yard waste from landfills." (NYC Sanitation via Twitter)
• 🎟 Upcoming Jobs Recruitment and Veterans Resource Fair: "Join us at our Jobs Recruitment and Veterans Resource Fair on Thursday at Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities Inc. We'll have dozens of employers looking to hire Queens residents, and multiple city agencies ready to assist our veterans if they need it. RSVP: http://queensbp.org/rsvp" (Queens Borough President Donovan Richards via Twitter)
• ✏️ School tours and workshops now available: "🍎Registration for school tours and workshops is now open! We're so excited to welcome back K-12 school groups by appointment, Monday through Friday, 10:00am - 12:00pm. Our guided tours and workshops are led by experienced Teaching Artists, connecting our permanent collection and rotating contemporary exhibitions to our workshop curriculum and themes..." (Queens Museum via Facebook)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Wednesday! See you all tomorrow morning for your next update.

— Emma Radu Fighera

About me: Emma Radu Fighera is a reporter born and raised in Queens, New York. She studied Literature and Studio Art at Hamilton College, where she helped run the only daily publication on campus, The Daily Bull newsletter. This past spring she earned her M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Queens Daily? Contact me at queens@patch.com