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Monday, February 21, 2011

Bronx Weekend News Roundup, Feb. 21 (President's Day edition)

And we're back for a President's Day edition of the news roundup, which will include everything we didn't get to last week as we made a final push for your much-needed support. First, though, a hearty and well-deserved thank you to everyone who contributed during our six-week fund-raising appeal. At last count, you had contributed $4,318 toward making our organization, and everything we do, stronger.

Starting today, we will get back to our daily news roundups, weekly features and our continuing mission to bring you invaluable local information and original reporting. (Important side note: Your ongoing support is still important. If you haven't donated yet or want to donate again in the future, just click on our "Donate" button on the upper-right hand corner of this page.)

OK, that's it, we're moving on! To the news!

Story of the Day: 
The Daily News editorial board was awed by the feat of technology and engineering going on in Van Cortlandt Park that will allow New York City to filter between 10 and 29 percent of its daily water supply, but says that the city should never do this again. The city's Department of Environmental Protection is on the verge of completing the network of tunnels connecting the Croton Water Filtration Plant in VC Park to the Croton Watershed upstate.

There is still work to do -- most notably, the routing and laying of a waste water pipe from the filtration plant to Wards Island -- but this hulking facility and its side projects should be completed by the end of next year. In the end, the project's price tag will be at least triple the original estimate, not to mention the priceless loss of scarce public parkland. It's all too much. We can't do this again, the DN says.We will be happy not to write about this again, BxNN says.

Quick Hits:
One of the saddest stories last week was the death of 11-year-old Russell Smith, who police say was clipped by a Honda CRV as he was crossing the Grand Concourse at E. 183rd Street. It was the same place a 12-year-old girl was killed by a motorist in 2005 and the Concourse remains a danger zone, residents say.

The "last in, first out" law that requires the city to lay off public school teachers based on seniority could lead to serious problems at new successful schools like the Bronx's Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science, which is on pace to graduate 95% of its senior class this year. Some 60% of the school's 47 teachers have less than three years in the classroom. The cuts could also include second-year Bronx teacher, Stany Leblanc.

Ex-Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada spent $1.2 million on a staff and office expenses between April and September last year. His expense total was tops in the state. Not too far behind: the Bronx's Jeff Klein.

A 16-year-old was shot and killed last night on E 184th Street.

"Transformers" actress Megan Fox and "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm are working on their new movie, "Friend with Kids," in the Bronx.

Long-time Bronx DA Dan McCarthy died last week.

We'll let Gothamist sort out the story of the wife of a Bronx precinct commander who lied to police about getting attacked

A Bronx teen who spent three years in Riker's Island before being acquitted of murder charges, is suing the NYPD and the Bronx DA's office for allegedly suppressing evidence that kept him locked up.

Finger prints and a long rap sheet led to the arrest of a Bronx man wanted on rape charges.

Bobby McFerrin's son, Taylor McFerrin, is teaching beat boxing to students at the Lavelle School for the Blind in the north Bronx.

A Bronx jeweler says he went into "survival mode" when he fended off armed robbers in his shop last week.

Two young children were saved on Friday afternoon by firefighters after a blaze broke out in the apartment they were staying in at Concourse House, a transitional home for single mothers. The kids suffered smoke inhalation, but were listed in stable condition.

The Elder Avenue and Saint Lawrence Avenue stations on the 6 train line will be closed for renovations starting Feb. 28.

4 comments:

  1. Good to have some content back! The lack of content last week certainly made me even more aware of the value of BxNN.

    Re: Espada's Big Spending:

    Voters in the 33rd should be proud we turned off Espada's money spigot. I too saw that Klein was not far behind Espada in profligacy. The most amazing thing is, despite the Democrats losing the majority, Klein appears to be spending even more of our tax dollars! See here:

    http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1763-with-14-gone-huntley-tops-list-of-senate-democratsrs-staffer-layoffs.html

    "But not all Democrats have had to cut back. State Sen. Jeff Klein, who is part of the four-member breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, before the transition had 19 staffers and a bi-weekly payroll of $34,600. Now, Klein has two fewer staffers, but his bi-weekly payroll has actually jumped by more than $1,000 a month."

    Can someone ask Mr. Klein: What exactly are all these staffers doing for the people of the Bronx?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why was there no comment from univ neighborhood ford-bed housing Corp about the fire at their headquarters that almost killed two little kids?

    ReplyDelete
  3. You guys missed 2 important stories last week:

    Councilman Cabrerra's introduction of a bill requiring that a Tenants Bill of Rights be posted in every building with 3 or more apartments.

    The death of Monseignor Patrick Boyle - a long time advocate for change in the Bronx.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous--agreed, both very important stories, and they're both covered in this week's issue of the Norwood News, which will be out tomorrow. We'll be posting them on the blog shortly. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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