Machka, a four-year-old Anatolian Shepherd who calls Sunnyside home, was elected dog mayor of New York City last week, making her the first furry executive from the World’s Borough.

A 36-year-old man died on Rikers Island on Tuesday, marking the ninth time someone has died in Department of Correction custody this year.

Queens State Senator Kristen Gonzalez on legislating the AI boom in New York State

A cybersecurity attack continued to plague Queens libraries on Monday, even as some services came back online over the weekend.

The former executive director of the Board of Correction and current nominee for the oversight body told lawmakers on Monday that the city should come up with some backup plans to close Rikers Island in case it is unable to lower the jail’s population to a size that will fit in the borough-based jails.

Here are six takeaways from Queens’ Election Day.

A Queens man admitted to stealing the home of an elderly, bedridden woman suffering from dementia, and is now the first person to be convicted under the state’s new criminal deed theft law.

Over 70 criminal justice, social justice and legal organizations this week called on the mayor to shift at least $35 million in the city’s budget to fund new crime prevention, diversion, and reentry programs as the city prepares to release its updated spending plan later this month.

Jonathan David Rinaldi, the perennial Queens political candidate facing fraud charges for AI and computer-generated campaign ads, wants his case moved out of the borough.

Over a dozen city councilmembers this week called on Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz to drop the felony charges her office has brought against Jabez Chakraborty, the 22-year-old who was shot by police in his family’s home while experiencing a mental health crisis in January.

“In my practice, I have seen how a decision made in a moment can change the course of a young person’s life. “

“Community-based alternatives to incarceration and post-release reentry programs are proving every day that public safety and decarceration are not competing goals.”

“Families are being presented with a false choice: Send your children to a brand-new, $92 million facility, or continue using an aging building that has been allowed to deteriorate.”

“With the mayoral elections coming up, it's important that we seek out representatives who will do right by their constituents and abolish Rikers once and for all. “

The Oklahoma-based Williams Transco company is proposing a pipeline through lower Hudson Harbor again. New York first rejected this pipeline in 2020, and now we must do it again. What’s good for a Tulsa gas company is terrible for Queens’ health and our wallets.

“For a corporate center that hosts more than a thousand employees every day — including staff at the Department of Corrections, Skanska, numerous firms and the headquarters of the Queens Chamber of Commerce — this change is more than an inconvenience. It is a step backward for our borough’s economy.”