Former Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday after admitting to soliciting nearly $1 million in bribes from various clients with interests in Albany
   Seminerio pleaded guilty to one count of honest services mail fraud in June after the disgraced lawmaker was busted offering local businesses legislative favors in exhange for monthly payments to his consulting firm, Marc Consultants.

   You can’t win them all.
   The decision that everyone has waited months to hear — which of five bidders would be chosen to transform the dilapidated Aqueduct Race Track into a profit-churning racino — has finally been let out of the gate. Last Friday evening, Gov. David Paterson announced that Aqueduct Entertainment Group has been selected to develop a three-floor complex that includes 4,500 video lottery terminals, retail shops, restaurants, a racing museum and even a sustainable rainforest atrium.

   A thoughtful gesture, delivery in progress or simply an attempt at getting rid of old trash?
   It’s anybody’s guess why these four chairs were placed at a bus stop at 89th Street and 155th Avenue in Lindenwood on Jan. 27. One thing’s for sure: folks who expected to stand in the cold waiting for a ride were probably more than pleased to find a place where they could rest their weary feet.

   A puppy, cold and clinging for life, was saved by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Kennedy International Airport on Jan. 23. The pup arrived on a flight from Mexico City and was found within a cargo bay onboard an aircraft at JFK.
   The drop in temperature and the stress of flying can be daunting to even the toughest traveler, CBP warns. But for the pint-sized puppy, it was almost deadly. CBP received a call regarding two puppies that appeared to be dead in a cargo bay at JFK. Three officers responded to assess the situation, only to find one puppy dead and another struggling to survive. The officers administered first aid and warmed the puppy, which was revived.

   Last Thursday at the stroke of midnight police officers from the 102nd and 106th Precincts, along with officers citywide, began a 24-hour crackdown on the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, as part of the Police Department’s focus on traffic infractions linked to death and injury.
   As a result of the crackdown, the 102nd Precinct issued 86 summonses in 24 hours for talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving, according to officials. The number of summonses issued by officers of the 106th Precinct was not available at press time.

   Harry G.’s 17th annual doo-wop fundraising concert at Beach Channel High School in Rockaway Park on Saturday night was a huge success, drawing hundreds of music lovers, including U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
   The concert, which benefits the Susan G. Memorial Scholarship fund at the school, featured 17 acts, including headliners Cleveland Still and the Dubs, Norman Fox and the Rob-Roys, Vito and the Salutations, the Clarions and the Super Girls Group.

   The Chronicle wishes to send its condolences to Frances Scarantino, beloved wife of Robert Foerderer, who died suddenly this week at age 45. Foerderer was a lifelong resident of Howard Beach. He and Scarantino, who is the founder of S.T.A.R.S. Youth Center in Old Howard Beach, were married at the end of September 2009.
    

   Elohim Community Development in Richmond Hill feeds more than 1,000 families each week through their food pantry program, but the agency couldn’t do it without the support of donors like Costco in Nassau County and Boars Head in Brooklyn.
   On Jan. 11 Elohim presented awards to the two companies in recognition of their continuing generosity.

   Two families have been displaced after a two-alarm fire quickly spiraled into a three-alarm emergency early Monday morning at Crossbay and Linden boulevards.
   Firefighters responded to a call at approximately 8 a.m. of a fire on the first and second floors of 135-05 Crossbay Blvd., according to an FDNY spokesman. The two-floor building houses both Studio E Salon and Spa on the first floor and three apartments upstairs. It is still unclear on which floor the blaze, which within a few minutes was elevated from a two- to three-alarm fire, originated, the FDNY said.

   Two Ozone Park educators are in hot water for allegedly turning their classroom into a school of hard knocks.
   Joseph Gullotta, 29, a teacher at PS 65, Raymond York Elementary School, and paraprofessional Abraham Fox, 43, both from Long Island, were arraigned last weekend on child endangerment charges after encouraging two fourth grade students to wrestle out their differences — behind a closed classroom door — while they and a class of bewildered children observed the scene, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

   Education advocates from District 29 who oppose the incorporation of an all-boys middle and high school at IS 59, the Springfield Gardens School, will hold a rally on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. in front of the school, located at 132-55 Ridgedale St. The protest will take place one hour before a public hearing on the topic.
   Eagle Academy for Young Men — which has campuses in Brooklyn and the Bronx — is an all-boys public facility that serves grades 6 through 12. Most of its students come from underprivileged backgrounds and part of the school’s mission is to tackle low graduation rates in high-needs communities by offering programs such as Saturday SAT prep courses and male mentoring.

   A 15-year-old female student at JHS 226, the Virgil I. Grisson School, in South Ozone Park was arrested last Thursday after she, and possibly other students, allegedly struck Principal Sonia Nieves while the administrator was attempting to break up a fight, according to police officials.
   The altercation took place in a classroom, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Margie Feinberg. Nieves sustained injuries and was transported to Booth Memorial Hospital. According to a spokeswoman at the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, she remains at home recovering and disciplinary action is pending.

   He read the news today and, oh boy, Alberto Livecchi may be the luckiest man in Ozone Park.
   When the 34-year-old owner of Alberto’s Music Center on Rockaway Boulevard decided to sell a 1966 used Fender piano he had purchased a year ago from a woman moving out of her Woodhaven home, he never expected it to contain anything more interesting than dust.

   Visitor activity permits for Gateway National Recreation Area are now available at each of the park’s three units.
   At the Jamaica Bay unit of the park, fishing, off-road beach access, kayak and canoe launch and surfing permits will be available. Visitors can purchase these permits at the Ranger Station, Building 135, at the entrance to Floyd Bennett Field, just north of the Marine Parkway Bridge on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Permits will no longer be sold at the Riis Park Bathhouse. The Ranger station is currently open daily, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., but will be closed on Mondays from Feb. 15 through March 31.