Welcome to Friday's Bronx news roundup. Let's get down to business, starting with the scorched earth we are all living through here in the Boogie Down and elsewhere around the country.
Weather: The National Weather Service says temperatures could reach 104 this afternoon and have issued an Excessive Heat warning. (My question: is there an Egregious Heat warning?) Tomorrow it is supposed cool down to a high of 100. We won't see any real relief until Monday when temperatures are expected to drop down into the relatively frigid low-80s!
Story of the Day: Bronx Cop Penalized for Ticket Fixing
The Bronx ticket-fixing scandal has claimed its first victim. (Unless, of course, you factor in the criminal cases that blew up in the face of prosecutors who were relying on testimony from cops implicated in the scandal.) Gregory Manning, a former financial secretary with the Patrolman's Benevolent Association, pleaded guilty yesterday to departmental charges at the NYPD Advocate's Office. Manning, who had testified three times in front of a grand jury called to investigate dozens of cops implicated in ticket fixing, was docked 40 days vacation, suspended for five days and issued a $500 fine for his transgressions. Manning had already filed retirement paper work, but the NYPD would not process it because the veteran cop was involved in the ongoing grand jury investigation. This could be a path others implicated in the scandal who want to retire might take as well.
Quick Hits:
Rev. Carmen Hernandez, an outspoken advocate for gay rights and LGBT justice, and her partner Dorris de Armas, a grandmother, will be one of 98 couples getting married in the Bronx on Sunday, the first day gay marriage will be allowed in New York. (764 couples are scheduled to tie the knot in the five boroughs Sunday, the most ever on a single day in NYC history.) In an interview, Hernandez talks about her love for de Armas, her homophobic mother and her decision to come out to her congregation at age 30.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Bronx News Roundup, Friday, July 22
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Bronx News Roundup, Wednesday, July 20
Quickie roundup today.
Weather: Prepare yourselves. Today's high in the low-90s is nothing compared to what's coming. The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Watch warning starting tomorrow afternoon as "a large dome of high pressure" moves from the middle of the country to our neck of the woods.
Story of the Day: Pugilists Collide in Bronx Produce Market
Bunch of press today about the upcoming Saturday night boxing match/cancer fundraiser at Hunts Point market, including this story about Livingstone Joseph, a Bronx boxer from the Virgin Islands who has lost an aunt and uncle to cancer. More on the event here and here.
Quick Hits:
James Schlau, a registered sex offender, was sentenced to 60 years for violently sexually assaulting three Bronx prostitutes last year.
Italian-American academic Dr. Joseph Scelsa of Morris Park was named the grand marshal from this year's Bronx Columbus Day Parade, which is scheduled for Oct. 9.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Bronx News Roundup, May 5
Happy Cinco de Mayo! And sorry for the late round up. Lots going on today.
Weather: Mostly sunny today with a few clouds with temperatures in the high 50's.
Story of the Day:
Bronx Museum is currently featuring an exhibit called Stargazers, which features work by Elizabeth Catlett. The exhibit celebrates the struggles and the beauty of African American and working-class Mexican women. In honor of Mother's Day and Catlett's 96th birthay, her son Francisco Mora Catlett, a musician and his band will be playing two free sets at the Museum this Friday.
Quick Hits:
Joe DeGuardia,longtime fight promoter and head of STAR Boxing hopes to turn the Paradise Theater located on the Grand Concourse and E. 187th St. into a boxing venue. He claims that the Bronx has all the elements for a big-time fight scene: homegrown talent, a splendid venue in the Paradise, and a built-in fan base.
87 year old Nancy Lynch spoke today at Lehman College about her experience in the Navy during World War II. Lynch enlisted WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service)and attending service training at what is now the campus of Lehman College.
Controversy continues to spread in the case of Bronx assistant DA, Jennifer Troiano, who has been charged with drunken driving and is still prosecuting 75 cases. "She should be fired outright. Anyone else would have been dismissed from their job a long time ago," a police source said.
Some residents at the Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation & Care Center believe they are not being treated properly. Two residents have taken matters into their own hands and started recording what they consider troubling incidents at the facility.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
One Title Lost, Two Found For Down But Not Out Boxer
By David Greene
Like the roller-coaster life he has lived until now, former middleweight boxing champion Iran "The Blade" Barkley, who recently regained one lost title belt, has now learned he will be getting a second belt--19 years after defeating Thomas "The Hit-Man" Hearns.
Barkley, 50, lost his first belt, the WBC Middleweight Championship belt he'd won from Hearns with Ring Magazine's "Upset of The Year" performance in 1988, back in October when a relative changed the locks to the family home at the Patterson Houses on Third Avenue.
The fighter would get a box of his possessions, minus the coveted belt. Barkley recalled, "I had it where I kept it." He reported the theft of the missing belt on October 28, and the NYPD released a photo of the belt to media outlets on December 8.
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| Barkley's Middleweight belt was recovered recently after it was sold to a sports memorabilia dealer. (Photo by David Greene) |
Barkley now says, "I don't have anything to say, it's a new year now and I'm just going to go on with my life, and I'm going to look forward to something new and better."
"Winning the belt was a great feeling," Barkley says of his first title, now holding his prized green belt with both hands, with Hearns' name written on it in magic marker. He continued, "Knowing that there was a lot of people, believing that I couldn't do it."
Friday, June 18, 2010
Bronx News Roundup, June 18
Bronx teens Rashawn Birthwright, 17, and Javon Maldonado, 17, were stabbed to death yesterday in two unrelated incidents. Maldonado died on the doorstep of the NYPD's 41st Precinct station house in Hunts Point hours after Birthwright was stabbed on Gunther Avenue and died at Jacobi Medical Center. The Daily News has the story.
12-year-old Bronx twins Jason and Corey Grant have started a Facebook-page campaign to persuade LeBron James to play for the New York Knicks. In four days, the site has tracked one million votes in support of LeBron's switch.
After giving birth three times with the help of Bronx midwives, New York state assemblywoman Amy Paulin is seeking to pass a bill that will afford other women a similar, though safer, experience. The bill would repeal the requirement that midwives have a “written practice agreement” with a doctor or hospital, thus allowing them to travel and still have access to doctors and medical facilities.
"Reflections of a Heart," a play about black soldiers who fought in World War II, depicts Isaac Woodard Jr.'s experience in the post-war Bronx. Read the full review here.
The Parks Department and the Bronx River Alliance is inviting New Yorkers to paddle down the Bronx River with their dads this Sunday during the Father's Day Paddle. Participants will canoe through Bronx River Forest, the Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo. Find out more here. [The event appears to be sold out, but you can sign up for the waiting list.]
Former boxing champ Juan La Porte will bring fighters from his Bronx gym to an amateur boxing card hosted by Billy Costello. Now battling lung cancer, Costello continues to spotlight NYC fighters and host matches on NYC turf.
Obama has chosen Rev. Susan Johnson Cook, the senior pastor of Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in New York and executive director of the Multi-Ethnic Center Inc., for the position of ambassador for international religious freedom. The Catholic Review has the full story.
Bronx resident Edda Lopez-Lennards was featured in the Daily News this morning for her housing struggle involving the Bank of America. Read Norwood News' coverage here.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the premiere episode of Comedy Central's 'Portable Lounge,' a roaming online talk show featuring rising comedians, will take place in the Bronx. Here's more on this show.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Bronx News Roundup, March 5
The Bronx may get a lovin' spoonful of springtime this weekend. Forecast calls for sunny days with highs in the 50s. Of course, there is always the chance that it will snow again and I'll have wet socks for another week.
Some Bronx news:
The John F. Kennedy girls basketball team will be competing in the city finals this Saturday at 11am at Madison Square Garden. The Lady Knights beat out the #7 seed, Manhattan Central, in a semifinals game earlier this week to reach the finals for the first time since 2007. J.F.K will be playing the #1 seed Murry Bergtraum for the title.
Some Bronx seniors are speaking out against the MTA's decision to cut the Bx14. Many seniors rely on the Bx14 to get around. A large portion of middle school students also rely on the Bx14 to get to and from school at Villa Maria Academy.
Montefiore Medical Center recently developed a hand held device that may help prevent migranes.
More of a city-wide story here. The City Room blog at the Times talks about some new traffic signals that have been installed around the city.
Boxing comes back to the Bronx. Migul Cotto and Yuri Foreman will compete to see who can punch each other in the head the hardest at the new Yankee Stadium in June.
A woman, recently appointed "rabba" (a feminized version of rabbi) of a Bronx synagogue, is creating a stir amongst Jewish Orthodox authorities.
Here's a slideshow giving an update of the old Yankee Stadium demolition process. Is it just me, or does the stadium looks like a perfect location for future Snake Plissken adventures?
