New York City briefs

Queens, Brooklyn

bus service expands

New bus service for Queens and Brooklyn will begin early next week, the MTA said Thursday.

The routes were funded by a $29 million investment the MTA made last summer, after the agency cut service in 2010 to close a deficit.

Starting Sunday, the Q70 Limited will run between LaGuardia Airport and transit hubs at Woodside and 61st Street for the No. 7 subway line and Long Island Rail Road stations and at the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue stop for No. 7 line. The new Q70 bus will be in service 24 hours, all week. The Q33, which currently loops around LaGuardia Airport and back to Jackson Heights, will now end at 95th Street at Ditmars Boulevard to primarily bring residents to nearby transit hubs

Brooklyn, meanwhile, will get two new routes. The B32 on Sunday will start running from the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza through Greenpoint to the Court Square-23rd Street stop in Long Island City, Queens. The B67, which takes riders from Kensington to downtown Brooklyn, will extend to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Monday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays to serve the Tech Triangle.

-- amNEWYORKThree Wal-Mart protesters charged

Three people participating in a Manhattan protest against Wal-Mart were taken into police custody yesterday, officials said.

About 20 employees, former employees and supporters gathered yesterday outside a Manhattan building where a member of the company's board of directors has an office. They delivered a petition calling for improved working conditions and reinstatement of workers they say were fired for engaging in labor activities.

Police said one man and two women were charged with disorderly conduct for blocking the entrance to the building and trespassing.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is based in Bentonville, Ark. It calls the New York protest "a show" put on by union activists from other states. It says in a statement the "vast majority" of its workers don't share the opinions of the protesters.

-- AP