18 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 28, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
year in review
MARCH
QUEENS MOURNS LOSS
OF HELEN MARSHALL
Helen Marshall,
the first African-
American ever to
serve as Queens borough
president, died
on March 3 at the age
of 87. Marshall succumbed
to an extended
illness while residing
in California,
according to
Alexandra Rosa, who
served has her chiefof
staff throughout
her 12 years as borough
president. A fi xture
in Queens politics
for nearly 40
years, she served
stints in the Assembly
and City Council
before she was elected
in 2001 as the
18th borough president
in Queens history,
succeeding Claire
Shulman, who was
the fi rst woman ever
to hold the offi ce.
CALL TO CLOSE DANGEROUS LIC
NIGHTCLUB
Located at 31-10 37th Ave., the Aces strip club in Long Island City was the scene
of gang-related shootings and other violence, according to nearby residents. State
Senator Michael Gianaris sent a letter to the State Liquor Authority (SLA) on March
10 asking the agency to deny the club’s cabaret license. Th e club was offi cially shut
down in September.
SPA OWNERS HIT WITH TAX FRAUD
Owners of College Point’s Spa Castle
were hit with tax fraud
charges after allegedly
failing to report millions
of dollars in revenue
to avoid paying
required taxes, prosecutors
announced on
March 22. Steve Chon,
57, his brothers Daniel,
54, and Victor, 50, and
his daughter Stephanie,
29, own and operate the
100,000-square-foot spa
facility located at 131-
10 11th Ave. According
to the charges, the family is accused of
allegedly failing to report
to New York state a total
of over $621,000 in sales
taxes, $610,000 in corporate
taxes, $207,000
in withholding taxes and
$131,000 in Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
surcharge taxes between
2010 and 2013. Within
that same time frame,
prosecutors said, Spa
Castle generated over $22
million per year in revenue.
LITTLE NECK ROBOTICS WIZARDS
Little Neck‘s RoboPandas earned second place in a city robotics fi nal. Aft er hours
of preparation and multiple rounds of competition against hundreds of teams from
the New York area, the group of talented fi ft h-grade students at P.S. 94 in Little
Neck and their coaches took home silver in the FIRST New York City Lego League
Championship on Sunday, March 19. Students Th omas Kang, Elaine Jin, Jiayn Yan,
Fiona Doddo, Lawrence Tom, Josh Fattore, Amanda Jacobus and Bridget O’Connell
worked collaboratively for months through qualifi er and semi-fi nal rounds. Th ey
created a research project and a robot design, constructing their very own robot,
Panda Recruit Ginny.