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FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com APRIL 17, 2014 • THE COURIER SUN 3 BREWING UP FUN IN QUEENS BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com @aaltamirano28 The city will raise a toast to Queens in the borough’s inaugural beer week starting Friday. Since 2009, more than half of the city’s breweries have opened up in Queens, with a total of seven breweries in the borough, according to Astoria resident Dan Bronson, organizer of the fi rst annual Queens Beer Week. The nine-day event, which begins Friday, April 18, and runs through Sunday, April 27, celebrates the best beers, bars and breweries the borough has to offer. Queens Beer Week will bring together over 60 bars and restaurants for a week of promoting the rapidly growing craft beer scene. Logo Courtesy of Queens Beer Week “We thought it was time that Queens got its own beer week to share its own achievements,” Bronson said. “We thought it was time to have a week of our own.” On Friday, the borough’s newest brewery, Transmitter, will make its debut at Crescent and Vine, located at 25-03 Ditmars Blvd. in Astoria. The offi cial kick-off for Queens Beer week will take place during an open invitation party, 21 years and older and no tickets needed, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Singlecut Beer Smith, at 19-33 37th St. The Taste of Queens party will feature all of the borough’s breweries, local vendors, music, and the debut of the event’s exclusive “Queen of Tarts” ale from Barrier Brewing Company. Queens Beer Week will then continue with a week of more than 40 innovative beer-centric events, spread across the borough, including event pairings of beer, wine, chocolate and music. “It is a great week to go explore the bars and breweries in Queens,” Bronson said. For more info on participating venues and up-to-date notifi cations of events going on during Queens Beer Week, visit www. queensbeerweek.com or follow @ QueensBeerWeek on Twitter. Returning fi reworks could mean big biz for LIC waterfront BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com/@CristabelleT A boom is coming back to the western Queens waterfront this Independence Day. After moving to the Hudson River in 2009, the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks show is returning to the East River this summer, the department store and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday, April 14. The location change is expected to benefi t local businesses along the river that previously saw increased traffi c during the festivities. “It was actually an emptiness that the East River had. It was basically a tradition we had lost for fi ve years,” said Tony Raouf, owner of Riverview Restaurant & Lounge. Located close to Gantry Plaza State Park, a popular fi reworks viewing spot in years past, Riverview is planning on having a celebration with a band this year. Waterfront Crab House, another Long Island City eatery near the East River, on Borden Avenue, used to close the street down during the holiday and hold a fundraiser for children’s cancer before the fi reworks moved. Parking changes and construction no longer make the closure possible, according to Barbara Heden, the restaurant’s manager. “This July Fourth probably won’t be like it used to be, but will bring us business,” she said. Heden expects business will quadruple compared to last year. She also said the newly-created Hunter’s Point South Park, which is located on Center Boulevard between 50th and 54th avenues and did not exist when the fi reworks were formerly on the East River, will help bring in more crowds. Z NYC Hotel, opened in 2011 at 43rd Avenue and 11th Street, is already developing special July Fourth events and programming for the holiday that it will be announcing soon, according to Lisa Gneo, director of sales and marketing. “This will be a great opportunity for many businesses in Long Island City and another way to generate tremendous revenue for our hotel and the community,” she said. The country’s largest pyrotechnic July Fourth display, the fi reworks will be launched from the Brooklyn Bridge for the fi rst time and from barges positioned on the lower East River. Amy Kule, executive producer of Macy’s events, said at the announcement that the move to the East River is not permanent. “I’m sure when there’s something else to celebrate — or a reason to move — we will look to do so,” she said. But the mayor said he would do everything possible “to make the East River location as typical as possible — as frequent as possible.” Queens businesses are gearing up for a profi table July Fourth now that the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks are returning to the East River. Photo courtesy of Macy’s East Elmhurst man busted after child porn found on computer during Best Buy repair BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com/@aaltamirano28 One East Elmhurst man has been slapped with charges of possessing child pornography after bringing his laptop to Best Buy for repair. On April 1, a technician at the electronics store located in Long Island City began working on a laptop that was dropped off by 61-year-old Michael Murray on March 26 to get repaired, according to District Attorney Richard Brown. After turning on and rebooting the computer the technician found the screen saver to contain a slide show of multiple young girls posing provocatively or engaging in sexual acts with adult men, Brown said. Once the worker alerted his supervisor about the images, 15 photographs of young girls were found and the police was called. “This defendant is alleged to have had some very disturbing photographs of children being sexually abused on his computer,” Brown said. “These photographs depict real children who will no doubt be emotionally and physically scarred for the rest of their lives.” The district attorney added that detectives went to Murray’s East Elmhurst home on the morning of Wednesday, April 9, where he allegedly admitted to knowing what was on his screen saver. Murray also allegedly admitted he had been sharing child pornography fi les with other people on the Internet for about fi ve years. Murray has been charged with 15 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. If convicted, Murray could face up to four years in prison.


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