- A 63-year-old Blue Atlas Cedar tree died in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. It was killed, City parks officials said, by poor handling when tree movers hired by the U.S. Tennis Association uprooted the tree to make room for expansion of the U.S. Tennis Center. At a funeral for the tree, City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern pointed a finger at USTA officials, and promised an “inquest” to verify the cause of the tree’s death. The tree was a gift from the Emperor of Japan, planted in 1964….