The day after an imam and his assistant were gunned down outside of their mosque, the neighborhood of Ozone Park, Queens is fearful for its safety. The community is in great part Muslim, and although the killer’s motives are unknown, many locals see the shooting as a hate crime. “This is a busy intersection filled with people, and the two people killed were the ones in Muslim clothing,” Bazlur Rahman, 49, told the Times. “How is that anything other than targeting?” The crime comes during what another Ozone Park resident describes as the most Muslim-hostile political climate since 9/11. (New York Times)
Halloween is coming early in Hudson Heights this year, as the famed “Pumpkin House” is up for sale. The 1925, two-family building is notable for the way it extends out over the Hudson just north of the George Washington Bridge, and residents across the river have compared the lights in the house at night to a jack-o’-lantern’s grinning face. If you have $5.25 million to spare and want to spend it on a 3,144 square foot home that looks like a giant orange gourd at sunset, 16 Chittenden Avenue might be your best bet. (Gothamist)
A retired NYPD detective shot two of his sons and then took his own life following an argument last night in Bellport. Irvin Noak, 61, was having a party at his home when a heated dispute began between him and his sons, ages 22 and 30. Noak, who worked for the Police Department from 1982-2009, then retrieved a handgun from his bedroom and shot the two men before turning the gun on himself. The brothers remain in critical condition at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center. (New York Post)
A City Council candidate has come under fire from New York politicians over sending an anti-Semitic fundraising email. Earlier this month, real estate broker Thomas Lopez-Pierre sent a blast email with the subject “SAVE HARLEM from Greedy Jewish Landlords,” aimed at incumbent rep Mark Levine, in which he repeatedly referenced anti-Semitic stereotypes. Now, pols including City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Comptroller Scott Stringer have written a letter to Lopez-Pierre demanding that he apologize. The controversial candidate is no stranger to email controversies—his 2013 City Council bid was cut short due to his proclivity for typing out racial slurs. (Daily News)
If you’ve been outside in the past week, a) what are you doing, and b) please get back inside. Yesterday was the hottest August 14 on record in New York City, with temperatures climbing to 94 degrees and a heat index (how hot the humidity makes it feel) of a staggering 112. Heat records weren’t the only ones broken this weekend, however—the city used more electricity over the two days than on any weekend prior. As a result, 30,000 people were left without power as part of the heat emergency. (DNAinfo)
