... City politicians converged on Queens Theatre in the Park in December at the 1997 Legislative Review ... a Tribune feature examined a "Silver Lining" after a Queens attorney charged he has a way to outwit insurance companies on auto claims ... the Tribune scooped the media again, by announcing the new owners of Terrace on the Park, and the paper promised a follow-up on the cleanup of the asbestos mess at the facility ...

Changes rocked the NYPD in Queens ... top level transfers brought a new look to brass in the borough ... we got Insp. Jane Perlov in the trade, the first-ever female to head an NYPD detective bureau ... and Santa spoke to the Tribune in an exclusive interview ... where he reminisced about visits to Queens and Christmases past ...

A St. John’s University professor was savagely beaten after leaving classes at the Queens campus...speculation that the prof was assaulted on-campus was nixed when detectives began to piece-together incidents that followed the attack...that trio of brazen bank robbers resurfaced and hit two eastern Queens banks ... and Queens politicians offered their New Year’s Resolutions...

Queens sparkled in the glow of thousands of holiday lights as residents prepared for Christmas and Chanukah ... we welcomed new managing editor Doug Fricke to the Tribune newsroom ... and we joined the rest of the borough to reflect on the best – and the worst of 1997...

We wish all the best to you and yours in ‘98 ... our congratulations to borough grads, new moms and dads, and to Tribune staffers and all who tied the knot ... and we offer our condolences to the families of "Buz" O’Rourke and Tommy Fahey ... they enriched our lives, and are gone too soon... we remember best what we love most ...

See you in ‘98, as we enter a countdown to the new milennium...