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The first time I met Laura Deckelman was on a ferry, which, if you know anything about Laura Deckelman, is fitting. Back in 2014, I had only been working at The Wave for a few weeks, and I was invited to take a ride on the then-Rockaway ferry by Seastreak President Jim Barker. It was a “simple meet and greet” to inform the public of some of the details of what expanded service could entail. We got stuck on a sand bar, got inconvenienced for an hour or so, the FDNY “rescued us,” and I met Laura. She told me...

Girls at Pinewood Derby: The new face of Boy Scouting

With just four minutes and a series of well-tied knots, Michael McDonnell saved himself and his Belle Harbor neighbors the night Hurricane Sandy hit. The experienced fisherman and surfer from the Rockaways fashioned a lifeline from electrical wire and twine to ferry a half-dozen people to safety from raging waters and fire. “You are only as good as the knots you make,” he said. Now McDonnell is hoping to take his experience to youngsters and others to help them figure out what to do if they have only minutes to evacuate their home — as he and others in the...

The damage done. (MTA/Flickr) The Broad Channel A-train crossing is at right. (Bing Maps) The Rockaways have been one of the hardest hit areas of the city following Superstorm Sandy, with lives lost, houses destroyed, crime on the streets. It has also been a remarkably resilient place, with diehard New Yorkers beginning the daunting work of rebuilding. It will be a long time before the Rockaways returns to normal, though, and it turns out that goes for subway service to the area, too.At a press briefing Thursday night, MTA chief Joe Lhota said it would be some time before A-train...

(CNN) -- After a six-week operation dubbed "Extra Sugar," police determined that a New Jersey donut shop employee was offering more than coffee and sweets to her customers and arrested her on a prostitution-related charge, police said Tuesday. Melissa Redmond, an overnight worker at a Dunkin' Donuts shop on U.S. Route 46 in Rockaway, was arrested because she was offering sexual services for money, according to Detective Sgt. Kyle Schwarzmann of the Rockaway Borough Police Department. The original anonymous tip came in early June and police started surveillance on Redmond, 29, soon after, according to Schwarzmann.

New York officials are trying to determine if a dead thesher shark discovered on a Queens beach Sunday morning is the same fish that caused a minor panic among swimmers and sunbathers when it swam to shore, MyFoxNY reported. Swimmers and sunbathers at Rockaway Beach, N.Y., were enjoying a peaceful day of sun and sand Saturday when the tell-tale sign of a dorsal fin slicing through the waves sparked a panic. The fin belonged to a 7-foot thresher shark that was caught in the surf, seemingly determined to swim onto the shore instead of back out to sea. Fear soon...

Report: Co-Pilot Over-Stressed Rudder Federal safety officials say pilot error caused a 2001 American Airlines crash that killed 265 people. The National Transportation Safety Board said the copilot of Flight 587 moved the rudder back and forth several times, putting so much stress on the tail that it snapped off. The plane plummeted into a New York neighborhood shortly after takeoff. An NTSB investigator said the copilot's reaction to turbulence was "unnecessary and aggressive." He also said the airline improperly trained its pilots to use the plane's rudder to recover from upsets. The jet's rudder control system is sensitive at...