Weather: Finally, a full day of sunshine and blue clouds, with a high of 82 degrees this afternoon.
Story of the Day: Ticket-Fixing Scandal Could Foil Another Court Case
The arresting officer in a drunken-driving case admitted on the stand in Bronx Supreme Court yesterday that she's fixed tickets for family members and friends, the second time such testimony has been brought up in cases unrelated to the ongoing NYPD scandal. Officer Julissa Goris was questioned in the trial of defendant Stephen Lopresti, a lawyer accused of driving under the influence and crashing his car on the Grand Concourse in 2006. Last week, a man on trial for a murder in Mott Haven was acquitted after defense lawyers painted his arresting officers as corrupt and unreliable due to their ticket-fixing histories.
Meanwhile, celebrities Derek Jeter, late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z are among those who have had traffic tickets taken care of. The grand jury hearing of the case will likely last through June, the Daily News reports.
Quick Hits:
Supporters of the controversial living wage bill, sponsored by two Bronx Council members and backed by a large coalition of local groups, are looking to amend the legislation in the hopes of winning over some critics. The bill currently has the votes of 30 City Council members but needs 34 to override Mayor Bloomberg's likely veto (see our recent coverage here.)
From Kappstatter's column: BP Diaz and City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo are at odds over the Borough President's choice for the city Planning Commission, Community Board 2 chair Orlando Marin. Arroyo supposedly has a personal vendetta against Marin and is trying to block the nomination, Kappy writes.
Bronx High School of Science and Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School, long considered the top public schools in the city, enroll startlingly small numbers of African-American students. Students of color now make up about 2 percent of the population at both schools, compared to 10 percent in 1971.
A 19-year-old Riverdale man is suing the NYPD, saying he was wrongfully accused of smashing a rock through a car window. Student Bryant Dale says he was held by police for 40 hours and dragged through months of litigation for the crime, even after the real culprit came forward and confessed.
The "Battle of Bronx" skateboarding competition took place this weekend at River Avenue Skate Park.
Bronx residents and City Councilman Fernando Cabrera are fighting cuts to the city's childcare subsidies, which would take a hit should Mayor Bloomberg's budget pass.
John Alberquerque, a 19-year-old Bronx resident, shares his story of coming out as gay with the New York Times in this audio slideshow feature.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Bronx News Roundup, May 25
Monday, March 7, 2011
Bronx Weekend News Roundup, March 7
Welcome back to the program. Lots of wind today in the Bronx will cool off temperatures reaching into the 40s. But was that snow I saw earlier today? Quick note: The Bronx Sports Column will make a special Monday appearance today. Bronx Foodie will return on Friday. To the news!
Story of the Day:
Continuing last week's trend of horrific Bronx stories involving vehicles and violence, police say a cab driver mowed down two former passengers who had asked the cabbie to take them to the Bronx. Early Sunday morning, according to police and witnesses, four men jumped into a cab and told the driver to take them to the Bronx. The cabdriver, Mohammad Azam, refused to drive them to the northern borough and instead suggested they stop at a nearby precinct to ask police if he was indeed obligated to take them to the Bronx. Police told him it was illegal for him to refuse the fare. Then, according to witnesses and the victims, Azam jumped into the cab and hit at least two of his Bronx-bound passengers.
One of the victims, 22-year-old Anthony Loreto, Jr., suffered a fractured skull and a broken leg and was put into a medically-induced coma. Loreto jumped onto the hood of the cab before being flung off by the driver, his father told reporters. Police charged Azam with vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident.
Quick Hits:
Flooding closed the Bronx River Parkway this morning.
Bronxite Joseph Meldish, 55, who authorities say was involved with more than 40 murders associated with his own crew and two other mafia families and "definitely ruled [Throgs Neck] with a lot of intimidation throughout the years," was convicted recently and could face life in prison.
Bronx judges are frustrated by gossiping jurors. Court officers are frustrated with defendants wearing their pants too low. (My mom would agree.)
John Concannon, a Bronx-born journalist who served as public relations director for the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade for two decades, died on March 3 at the age of 86.
Oscar Fuller, the Queens man charged with beating a Bronx woman into a coma last week defended his actions to the media over the weekend, saying he only hit the woman, Lana Rosa, once and that he was only acting in self-defense after Rosa attacked him over a parking spot. Rosa remains in a coma.
Crain's reports that City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo pressured housing officials to choose a management company that contributes heavily to her campaign to take over a South Bronx apartment building.
We missed this from last week: a new poll says the South Bronx has the city's highest hunger rate.
The College of Mt. St. Vincent in Riverdale is a pipeline for teachers at Belmont's PS 205.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Arroyo kin admits embezzlement
The head of a Bronx non-profit has admitted that he embezzled $115,000 intended to help low-income tenants and funneled some of the money to Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, his grandmother, and Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, his aunt.
Richard Izquierdo Arroyo, pleaded guilty in federal court on March 12, and faces a 10-year prison sentence.
Arroyo, who was indicted in June for stealing from SBCC Management Corp., a housing agency he headed, spent $20,000 of the embezzled funds to pay for a trip to Puerto Rico for the assemblywoman and councilwoman, to pay the salaries of interns in their legislative offices and their political club, to make contributions to their campaigns and to buy new flooring for the assemblywoman’s office, according to the indictment.
Read all about it in the Mott Haven Herald.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 12
Lots to get to today. Here's some Bronx stories to get your day started.
NY Times reporter Sam Dolnick takes a walk around the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx and mulls the Armory, stops at the Tibbet Diner, Van Cortlandt Museum, the Bronx Ale House (site of the upcoming BxNN bash on Feb. 25. RSVP now!) and other local spots. Nice little multimedia slide show comes with the story.
Times Columnist Clyde Haberman goes off on "Bagel Larry" Seabrook and the scandal-plagued state of the City Council, which coincidentally voted to extend their term limits last fall. (I think we need to put this to a vote: should it be "Bagel Larry" or "Cash and Carry Larry"?) More on Bagel-nomics here.
Speaking of Bagel Larry (we'll go with this one for brevity purposes), Seabrook didn't show up to work yesterday, leaving his colleague, Maria del Carmen Arroyo, who remains under a cloud of suspicion, to fend off reporters' questions.In the same story, The Daily News also says that Assembly members Peter Rivera and Carmen Arroyo (Maria's mom) are also under being investigated.
More on the Bronx's new golf course in Ferry Point.
Bronx Rep Eliot Engel calls Washington, DC's reaction to the recent snow storm "wimpy."
Bronx hip-hop legend Afrika Bambaataa is working with a social networking site that promotes dialogue between people who speak different languages.
The Department of Homeless Services is changing its policies after a 17-year-old high school student was stuck in a Bronx intake center and missed her Regents graduation exam.
And finally, pessimistic Yankee blogophiles are already conjuring up ways in which the World Series Champion Bronx Bombers' upcoming season could fall apart. (Hint: it may something to with Kate Hudson and/or Cameron Diaz.)
Happy Valentine's Weekend!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
After Seabrook, is Arroyo Next?
With the indicted Larry Seabrook a no-show at today's City Council session, reporters covering City Hall and the slush-fund scandal found someone else to question: Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo.
Not that she was talking. According to the Daily News' Elizabeth Benjamin, Arroyo had nothing to say as she walked through security.
The councilwoman's nephew, you may recall, was charged last year with stealing $200,000 in public money. Some observers believe the same investigation could eventually bring down Arroyo and her mother, Assemblywoman Carmen E. Arroyo.
Seabrook, meanwhile, resigned this afternoon as chairman of the Civil Rights Committee.
