24 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 30, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM Con ed bills are going up starting 4/1 BY EMILY DAVENPORT [email protected]/@QNS In less than one week, New Yorkers can expect to see a jump in their utility bills, thanks to the Public Service Commission (PSC). Th e PSC’s plan, which was approved back in January, is set to increase electricity rates by hundreds of millions of dollars annually for Con Edison customers over the next 12 years. Th ese rate increases are set to take eff ect on Saturday, April 1. Th e rate increases are to be used to bail out aging nuclear power plants that are operating in upstate New York. Th e bailout was announced by PSC as part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Reforming the Energy Vision, which is calling for 50 percent of New York’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2030. Th e plan has not been received well by the state Assembly. According to state Senator Tony Avella, the plan that the PSC initially off ered estimated that the cost of the bailout would only be tens of millions of dollars. However, that number spiked over the summer to at least $2.8 billion. “I am in total support of the governor’s goal to reduce, if not eliminate, the use of fossil fuels in New York. However, I am opposed to the way this program is being rolled out by PSC,” Avella said. “Taxpayers are being asked to bail out power plants in the form of billions of dollars yet we aren’t even sure how our money will be spent or what other options we have.” Avella is sponsoring legislation that would force the state regulators to put the PSC’s plan on hold so they can thoroughly review the deal and give an opportunity for the public to voice their opinions about the issue. “I urge my fellow New Yorkers to contact the governor and let him know that they fi nd the PSC’s plan unfair and poorly thought out,” Avella added. “It is unreasonable that the PSC is taxing residents across the state to keep open failing power plants that might not even help reach our goal of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030.” Duo tried to smuggle heroin through JFK in a dog crate: cops BY ROBERT POZARYCKI [email protected]/@robbpoz Police have charged a pair of men who allegedly picked up a dog and a million dollars of heroin hidden inside the dog’s crate from a cargo terminal at JFK Airport last weekend, prosecutors announced on Monday. Samuel Seabrooks, 35, of the Bronx and Carlos Betancourt-Morales, 27, of Carmel, NY face fi rst-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree conspiracy charges aft er police found 10 kilos (more than 22 pounds) of heroin concealed in the dog crate they obtained — along with an Avi Labrador — shipped to JFK from Puerto Rico on March 24. “It’s alleged that man’s best friend was used in an attempt to smuggle drugs into the city, but great police work led to the seizure,” Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said. Law enforcement sources said the trouble began at 6 p.m. on March 24, when Seabrooks and Betancourt- Morales allegedly met up an an IHOP restaurant in the Bronx. Aft er a short meeting, they traveled in separate vehicles to the American Airlines Priority Parcel Services station at JFK Airport. When they arrived there at 7 p.m., prosecutors said, the two men conversed briefly, then Betancourt- Morales went into the cargo building. He then allegedly signed an American Airlines cargo air waybill receipt to pick up a crate containing an Avi Labrador mix dog; the crate was weighed at approximately 86 pounds. Police stopped Betancourt-Morales aft er he was observed wheeling the dog crate on a cart on his way out of the building. Law enforcement agents obtained and then executed a search warrant of the crate on March 25, in which they detected that the crate had a false bottom. Th ey opened the bottom and allegedly found inside of it 10 bricks of heroin, packed tightly in dark and clear plastic wrap, containing stamps with the Nike swoosh logo and a fi ve-pointed star. Both Seabrooks and Betancourt- Morales were arraigned on Sunday night, March 26, and ordered held on $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash, Brown said. Th ey are scheduled to return to court on April 10 and face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted. 8 men cuff ed in Roosevelt Ave. sex sale sting BY ANGELA MATUA [email protected]/@ AngelaMatua Police arrested eight men last weekend for soliciting a prostitute on Roosevelt Avenue, an area that has experienced this quality of-life issue for years. Th e operation was conducted just aft er 11 p.m. on March 24 in Corona, according to a spokesperson for the NYPD. Th e Conditions Unit of the 110th Precinct found that the men were paying between $50 and $500 for a variety of services. Th e men all ranged in age – the youngest perpetrator was 25 years old and the oldest was 44 years old. Each man was charged with soliciting a prostitute. Th e names and ages of the men charged are as follows: Mora Cruz, 25, Guy Bandenay, 44, German Gonzalez, 29, Santos Perez, 36, Alvaro Sanches, 39, Carlos Quituizaca, 28, Jonathan Bautista, 22, and Ismael Flores, 26. Detective Janine Rivera of the 110th Precinct Photo via Flickr Creative Commons/Joe Shlabotnik Community Aff airs Unit said offi cers try to conduct these operations monthly to address the issue. Senator Jose Peralta, who has jurisdiction over parts of Corona, has called for the creation of a 11-member Commission on Roosevelt Avenue to help clean up the area.
QC03302017
To see the actual publication please follow the link above