Bronx News Roundoup, March 3

Here's some news on this nasty, slushy morning in the Bronx.

The Voice's Tom Robbins, one of the best Bronx dirt digging journalists in New York, explores the frustrating ongoing effort to get a permanent ice skating rink placed somewhere in the Bronx. This winter a temporary rink was set up at the Concourse Plaza hotel near Yankee Stadium. Robbins says the rink should be a great venture funded by the Yankee Community Benefits fund, but the fund has been mismanaged and doesn't seem accessible by anyone but political insiders.

The former head of the SBCC Management Corp., Margarita Villegas, a nonprofit that runs low-income apartment buildings in the South Bronx, pleaded guilty to stealing $50,000 from the organization. Prosecutors accused Villegas of using some of the taxpayer funds received by SBCC for the political and decorating purposes of Bronx Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo and her daughter, Bronx Council member Maria Carmen del Arroyo. Villegas' lawyer insists Villegas did not dish any dirt on the Arroyos.

The Times has more on the domestic violence scandal that originated in the Bronx and is threatening to unseat Gov. Paterson. A state worker who is a friend of Paterson says the governor asked her to reach out to a Bronx woman who was accusing one of his top aides of domestic violence and tell her to drop her case. Paterson denies any wrongdoing or attempt to influence the case.

Police are looking for a missing Scarsdale doctor whose car was found in the Bronx, near the NYPD's Rodmans Neck shooting range.

The founder of a health organization in the South Bronx says black history month was underscored by a slew of bad news for minorities.

This isn't a specifically Bronx story, but the Times has an overview story on the city's economic and job situation and future prospects. Apparently, it's a little more cheery than officials and analysts expected a year ago.