FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 28, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 15
2017 year in review
JANUARY
CUOMO AND BERNIE IN LIC
Governor Andrew Cuomo and
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
announced a plan in Long Island City
on Jan. 3 to introduce tuition-free state
and city college. Th e plan, called the
Excelsior Scholarship, which would
provide students who are attending
two-year and four-year college programs
in New York state and New York
City, and whose families earn $125,000
or less, a tuition-free education. Th e
plan was implemented this fall and the
new initiative will be fully phased in
over three years.
AUDREY PHEFFER NAMED PERSON
OF THE YEAR
Th e Courier named Queens County Clerk Audrey Pheff er “Person of the Year.”
Pheff er was a determined civic activist for years before serving as assemblywoman
for the 23rd District for years. Born in Brooklyn, she moved to the Rockaways as a
child and later earned a degree at Queens College. Pheff er succeeded the late Gloria
D’Amico in 2011 as Queens County Clerk.
QUEENS ATTENDS WOMEN’S MARCH ON NYC
Th e Women’s March on NYC took
place on Jan. 21 in Manhattan, and
Queens was well represented among the
more than 400,000 people who marched
through the streets, joining similar rallies
across the globe. Th e march, organized
to prompt “civil rights for every
human regardless of gender, race, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, disability, religion
or creed,” according to its website,
was a sister march to the main event in
Washington, D.C.
POPULAR BAYSIDE CONVENIENCE
STORE SUDDENLY CLOSES
Th e Bay Village Mini Mart convenience store — located at 205-11 35th Ave. and
known simply to residents as the “Mini Mart” — served customers for the fi nal time
on Sunday, Jan. 22. Residents who asked management why the store was suddenly
closing were told that owners could no longer aff ord to pay the rent. It has since been
replaced with the Bayside Farm Market, which offi cially opened on Nov. 6.