Free Republic

Across the country, the income gap between blacks and whites remains wide, and nowhere more so than in Manhattan. But just a river away, a very different story is unfolding. In Queens, the median income among black households, nearing $52,000 a year, has surpassed that of whites in 2005, an analysis of new census data shows. No other county in the country with a population over 65,000 can make that claim. The gains among blacks in Queens, the city’s quintessential middle-class borough, were driven largely by the growth of two-parent families and the successes of immigrants from the West Indies....

A man with psychiatric problems attacked a religious statue outside a Queens church with a sword and a shotgun early yesterday, then fired repeatedly at two police officers who responded, critically wounding them, the police said. One of the officers returned fire, wounding the suspect, whom the police identified as Kevin Davy, 25, of Queens, the authorities said. The officers, Dominick Romano, 29, and David Harris, 40, were in critical but stable condition, the police said, and Mr. Davy was in stable condition, at hospitals last night. The bloody shootout outside SS. Joachim and Anne Roman Catholic Church on 105th...