Bronx News Roundup, March 16

The owner of the Old Bronx Courthouse in Melrose is looking for a tenant to take over the building, which has been vacant since the 1970s. Click here for some ideas (food market, Apple store, etc.) previously put forward by a Melrose blogger and his readers. And here's some terrific photos of the building's rarely seen interior.

New Yorkers can now sign-up to receive e-mail notifications when a registered sex offender moves into their zip code. Sen. Jeff Klein sponsored the legislation that made this possible.

This isn't Bronx news per-se, but it's an interesting look at how South Asians and other growing immigrants groups with political aspirations are looking to shake-up the status-quo. While Latino politicians are omnipresent in the Bronx, few are in a position to seek citywide office, laments Herman Badillo, the former congressman and Bronx borough president. Badillo says Adolfo Carrion had his chance but blew it by taking a job in Washington where he's been "lost in the bureaucracy of the White House."

An NYPD sergeant who works for a housing precinct in the Bronx has pled guilty to assault and drunk-driving after knocking down and injuring a man in the Upper East Side last summer. Joseph Spiekerman will lose his job and police pension, perform 500 hours of community service, and pay a $15,000 fine. But he's managed to avoid significant jail-time.

A Bronx narcotics detective could be in hot water after an accused drug dealer's lawyer used footage from a surveillance camera to prove the cop lied about seeing his client sell crack cocaine. Another example, perhaps, of how video and other technology is catching out dishonest cops.

Assemblyman Michael Benjamin has his eye on Congressman Jose Serrano's job.

Daily News columnist Patrice O'Shaughnessy names some of the Bronxites she admires.

Hiram Monserrate, the former state senator and close friend of senators Ruben Diaz, Sr. and Pedro Espada Jr., is running in a special election today for his old seat. Monserrate was ousted from the Senate by his colleagues last month after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. Diaz said yesterday that he'd spend today in Queens campaigning for Monserrate.

The annual Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ) Water Conference and Membership Meeting will take place tomorrow afternoon at Manhattan College. The focus is on the Harlem River's water quality.

In case you missed it, Bronx-based boxer Joshua Clottey lost his title bout against pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao at the weekend.

Lastly, Shana, a male gorilla who used to reside at the Bronx Zoo, came within a whisker of escaping his enclosure yesterday, at his new home in Calgary.  A zoo keeper has been suspended.