FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com january 10, 2013 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3 Crane collapses onto LIC building site Seven suffer minor injuries BY ALEXA ALTMAN lapse from her apartment in the build- [email protected] ing across the street. She said the crane shook as it attempted to lift Seven workers suffered minor inju- loads of metal she believed to be too ries when a crane collapsed at a Long heavy for the device. She grew ner- Island City building site. vous as she watched the beleaguered Around 2:20 p.m. on Wednesday, apparatus. Then, it snapped. January 9, firefighters responded to “Everyone was screaming and run- the incident at Center Boulevard and ning,” she said. THE COURIER/Photo by Maggie Hayes 46th Avenue, where they discovered Sanchez said that following Over 100 community leaders and constituents traveled to Washington D.C. to witness the three workers trapped beneath the the recent collapse of a crane in swearing in of the 113th Congress, including Grace Meng (pictured). fallen crane. According to Deputy Manhattan and the increase in con- From Queens to Congress along with four other workers who lapsing nearby for some time. -The Maspeth-based company thatstruction jobs in Long Island City, shehas been concerned about one colFire Chief Mark Ferran, the trappedindividuals were extricated from thescene and taken to an area hospital, EDITOR’S NOTE: The Courier tagged along on a bus trip to Washington, D. C. suffered non-life-threatening injuries. manufactures the crane, New York as the 113th Congress was sworn in. No civilians were injured in the crash. Crane, declined to comment. Several dozen workers were at the Officials from TF Cornerstone, the BY MAGGIE HAYES first vote for House Speaker, and scene when the crane fell. building’s developer, were on scene [email protected] then be officially sworn in to the According to Ferran, the cause of but denied comment on the incident. new session. the crane collapse is under investi- The building is one of several built It’s five in the morning, and more Hakeem Jeffries, Meng’s former gation by Department of Buildings by TF Cornerstone as part of the than 100 people are gathered out- colleague in the Assembly, was (DOB) engineers. revitalization of the Long Island City side in Flushing, anxiously waiting also sworn in to represent the 8th Diana Sanchez saw the crane col- waterfront. to board buses to our nation’s capi- Congressional District — which tal to watch Grace Meng, the first includes Howard Beach, Ozone Park Asian-American from New York in and Lindenwood. Jeffries cruised to the House of Representatives, to be victory after the Brooklyn-based leg- sworn in to the 113th Congress. islator beat Councilmember Charles The former assemblymember made Barron in a June primary election. history last November when she Incumbent members of Congress was elected to represent the 6th Joseph Crowley of the 14th District, Congressional District. Meeks of the 5th District, and Steve Community leaders and constitu- Israel of the 3rd held onto their ents journeyed to Washington, D.C., positions in the House and were on Thursday, January 3, to see Meng, also sworn into the new session. along with Hakeem Jeffries, Gregory After the swearing in ceremony, Meeks and Steve Israel, become Meng joined her constituents and members of the 113th Congress. spoke about upcoming plans in her “We are very proud today,” said new position. Gun control legisla- Councilmember Peter Koo. “It’s very tion, immigration reform and passing historic. I hope that she will be a the Sandy aid bill are at the forefront. role model and a trailblazer for the “There are a lot of issues that we new generation.” need to work on, and I look forward After the drive to D.C., support- to working with you,” Meng said. ers were able to watch the newly “And you all are the eyes and ears of minted congressmembers cast their our community.” State of the State: flood insurance was not enough, Cuomo said, andOn delayed federal aid, Cuomo called on Congressto stop “playing politics” and give relief to New Yorkand New Jersey residents who desperately need it.The $9.7 billion initially passed Friday, January 4 for Cuomo takes aim at guns, Sandy relief that is too late,” he said. “This has long been estab-“My friends, that $9 billion is just too little andmore had to be done. lished that in the face of a disaster, the federal gov- BY TERENCE M. CULLEN Cuomo’s seven points are: the toughest assault rifle ernment comes in to help.” [email protected] ban in the country; closing a private sale loophole by Cuomo promised the city as a whole would come requiring background checks; banning high-capac- back bigger and better, by remaking homes to last Governor Andrew Cuomo has vowed New York ity magazines; harsher penalties for illegal gun use; and resist future storms, especially in coastal regions. will become the nation’s leader in gun safety laws in keeping guns away from the mentally ill; blocking Raising homes in areas such as Rockaway could pre- wake of recent shootings. direct Internet sales of ammunition in the state; and vent future flooding like that during Sandy’s surge. At his annual State of the State address on January creating a state check on all ammunition purchases. The state also plans on buying parcels of land from 8, Cuomo put forth a seven-point agenda that would While the governor wants to crack down on high- residents who want to relocate to higher-elevated lead to some of the tightest gun regulations in the powered rifles, he clarified any new gun legislation areas. country – particularly aimed at assault weapons and would not harm legal gun owners and would be a This also includes better precautionary measures multi-round ammunition clips. balanced plan. for tunnels and subways. Though this would be “I know that the issue of gun control is hard,” an “This is not taking away people’s guns,” Cuomo costly for the state, Cuomo said he wants to do it energized Cuomo said during his closing remarks. said. It is “about ending the unnecessary risk of high- now to prevent the city from shutting down in the “But we are proposing today common sense mea- capacity assault rifles.” way it did after Sandy. sures. It’s simple: no one hunts with an assault rifle. Relief and moving forward after Sandy dominated “We can rebuild a better society than we had,” he No one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer.” a good portion of Cuomo’s hour-and-a-half address. said.
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