F. Y. I.: West Side Rail Hopes. West Side Rail Hopes.

Holiday Break. Consider a detour to Long Island City, Queens, one subway stop from Grand Central Station, where there are inviting restaurants.

Urban Studies: The United Nations of Chicken. Halal Live Meat and Poultry Market in Queens was opened to serve the Muslim community, but has unexpectedly come to draw a broad, polyglot clientele.

Dispatches: A Second Chance for Students Left Behind. A recent court decision will give students who made mistakes at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn another try at an education.

Letters to the Editor: Face-Off in Washington Square. Face-Off in washington square, a boy’s education and the art of the story.

Queens Boulevard: On a 12-Lane Road Riders With an Agenda. Cyclists are urging the installation of a protected bike lane on Queens Boulevard.

Park Slope: Field of Deferred Dreams. A park destabilized by construction and closed in 2004 is finally going to reopen.

East Village: Where Fans of the Saints Go Marching In. Since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005, the Saints crowd at Bar None has grown steadily.

Bronx Up Close: Food Fights on Friday, Salvation on Sunday. Surrounded by vending machines and a hallway of lockers, the New Day United Methodist Church held services at the Bronx High School of Science.

Yorkville: Where Plugging in Means Paying Up. Many cafes and coffee shops around the city charge for wireless connections, but rare is the charge for electricity.

The City Visible: Busting Loose Amid Wall Street’s Blues. The bear looms and there is financial disarray downtown. But the beat goes on.

New York Observed: Little Victories. She challenged the dreaded “major capital improvement” — which passes a landlord’s costs for improving rental property to tenants — and she lived to tell the tale.

Cornerville. If intersections are the city at its most intense, the places where the pulse of life quickens and unexpected things happen, New York is the richest city in the world.