Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 2

The Bronx Zoo is at the forefront of an effort to save a species of toad, whose natural habitat was destroyed when a river in Tanzania was dammed.

Police are hunting a group of gypsies suspected of burglarizing at least ten homes in the Bronx and Queens these past few months. The group preys on the elderly, police say, may be responsible for other break-ins in other states.

Yesterday, students at St. Raymond's Elementary School in Parkchester presented New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan with a $15,407 check. The money will go to Haiti.

A building manager, found guilty last year of criminally negligent homicide in the "Black Sunday” fire, will have to wait another week to find out if his conviction will stand. Cesar Rios could go free after a juror on the trial admitted that she e-mailed and tried to "Facebook" a witness.

State Sen. Pedro Espada and his lawyers have accused Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of launching a smear campaign against him.

The future of City Island's only FDNY fire company, Ladder 53, is once again in doubt. Last week, Mayor Bloomberg's 2011 fiscal year budget called for the shuttering of 20 fire companies, and which names and numbers weren't given, Ladder 53 - the quietest unit in the city - is likely on the list.

Blogging in the Huffington Post, a Hofstra University professor has some words of wisdom for University Heights Secondary School students, whose school is in danger of being kicked off Bronx Community College's campus. Here's another post by the same author criticizing BCC's decision (he’s friends with a teacher at the school), and here's an article that appeared the Mount Hope Monitor, concerning opposition to the eviction.

A trauma surgeon at St. Barnabas Hospital, who travelled to his native Haiti the day after the earthquake to help out, recalls his heart-wrenching experiences.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been wooing Bronx Democrats.

More on the 16th Congressional District's status as the nation's hungriest place.

All eyes on Leroy Comrie as he takes over Land Use Committee, at a time when the City Council is beginning to take strong stands on development projects, as it did with the Kingsbridge Armory.