Bronx News Roundup, Thursday, June 30

Ladies and gentlemen of the Bronx and beyond, welcome to the last Bronx News Roundup of June. Here's to a lovely Independence Day weekend and a fantastic July. Now, to the news!

Weather: Absolutely gorgeous, high in the low- to mid-80s, nice little breeze to cool the sweat beads on the back of your neck. No complaints here. Tomorrow, there's a slight chance of isolate thunderstorms in the afternoon, but we doubt it.

Story of the Day: Report Says Father's Rage Led to Bronx Football Star's Death
Yesterday, we linked to the brain-twisting and tragic story of Truman High School football star Isayah Muller, who was stabbed to death in a Bedford Park parking lot just hours after his graduation ceremony at Lehman College. Today, more details have emerged. According to the NY Post, after a post-graduation meal on City Island, Isayah's father, Andre Muller, became enraged when he couldn't locate an expensive bottle of cologne in his car. After dropping off Isayah's grandmother, the father drove back to the parking lot where the family had dropped off the car during the ceremony and angrily confronted two attendants who were on duty. A brawl ensued, with one of the attendants wielding a machete and the other a makeshift knife, both weapons were apparently on hand for protection. (You know, in case an enraged man accuses you of stealing expensive cologne and you need to shank somebody.) Isayah went to help his father and was stabbed by one of the attendants, once, in the heart. He was pronounced dead a short time later at St. Barnabas Hospital. Muller was charged with assault yesterday and was released after pleading not guilty. Neither of the attendants have been charged with a crime.

Quick Hits:

Bronx News Roundup, Friday, June 17

Happy Friday folks and welcome to our Friday edition of the Bronx News Roundup. Let's get to the news!

Weather: Cooler, periodic bouts of rainfall, high in the upper 70s. Should be nice most of the day Saturday, then rain is expected to return Saturday night and into Sunday.

Story of the Day: So, Who Owns The Land Near Lehman HS?
The Bronx is on the front page of today' edition of the NY Times (and it has nothing to do with Pedro Espada or hate crimes!) with a story about the protracted football field at Herbert H. Lehman High School. The field is 80 yards long, too short for regulation football, soccer or lacrosse games. It forces the school to struggle with scheduling all of its home games in these sports on other schools' fields. The DOE's School Construction Authority is in the middle of a $5 million renovation of the field, but is not planning on expanding it so Lehman's celebrated football squad, one of the best in the city, can play home games on campus. The DOE says they couldn't expand the field because the land would need to be acquired from the Army Corps of Engineers and the agency had no interest (or resources, they say) to purchase it. But the Army Corps says it doesn't own the land and has no clue how that idea was implanted as fact in the collective minds of the DOE. So, again, we ask, who owns the land? And why didn't the city take the time to give Lehman an extra 20 yards of field?

Quick Hits (click Read More for the rest of the Roundup):

Bronx News Roundup, Sept. 28

Police are hunting for a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a man on the Cross Bronx Expressway this morning.

A funeral service will be held Friday for the six members of a Bronx church who died earlier this month when their van crashed on the New York State Thruway.

A Bronx motorcyclist was killed on the Taconic State Parkway on Sunday.

Lehman High School's football team is one of the best in the city, but it can never play at home because its field is 20-yards short of the regulation size.

In Riverdale last night, a man traveling on a city bus squirted a mystery chemical into the driver's face.

There were few surprises at last week's Bronx Democratic County Committee Convention, unlike the 2008 event, where there were fireworks, so to speak.

In 2003, 91-year-old Nelli Hocutt was brutally murdered in her Williamsbridge home.  The trial of one of her accused killers began yesterday in Bronx Supreme Court.

Here's The Times' coverage of the borough's new “Peace in Our Streets” initiative, which was officially launched at a church on White Plains Road on Saturday.  We had a post about this yesterday.

Lawyers defending the four men accused of trying to blow up two Riverdale synagogues are asking the judge to throw out the case. The government's star witness (an FBI informant) lied repeatedly on the stand, the defense claims.

The MTA is hoping to speed up traffic on the Henry Hudson Bridge by removing toll gates and cash lanes. This doesn't mean the bridge will be free.  The new lanes will either be E-ZPass or set up for video tolling, with a camera catching a driver's license plate.

The PS 70 teacher who was reassigned after writing about her past as a stripper and prostitute, also talked about her exploits at open-mic events.  

Bronx News Roundup, April 29

Yesterday, the attorney general's office filed another civil suit against embattled State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr.  Espada and one of his sons set up a sham training program in order to pay janitors as little as $1.70 an hour, the office alleges.  Espada claims (as he did last week) that Andrew Cuomo is bullying him. More here.

Despite claiming to be a strong advocate for tenants' rights, Espada has deep ties to the the real estate industry, which - through campaign contributions - has helped shape his agenda as chair of the Senate's housing committee, argues the Village Voice's Tom Robbins.

An assistant principal at Bronx Science habitually harassed teachers under her, often reducing them to tears, an independent report has found. But Rosemary Jahoda will likely keep her job after the Department of Education dismissed most of the reports findings.

The first ever Bronx Food Summit is being held next Monday at Hostos Community College.

A new City Council bill could force the NYPD to publish traffic accidents and summonses statistics online. 

A 20-year-old Bronx man has been charged with attempted murder following a night of violence in Midtown in Easter Day. Police say Rayvon Guice fired his gun into a group of people, injuring two men. 

In a lawsuit, a former waitress at the Lobster Box in City Island says was sexually harassed by her supervisor, and fired when she complained.

A new playground has opened in Parkchester.

Students and teachers at Herbert Lehman High School, a 4,500-student school in the east Bronx, have been told that permanent metal detectors are to be installed, following several recent fights and an uptick in gang activity.

Yesterday, Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.'s Kingbridge Armory task force toured the mammoth building.

Charlie Ramos of the group "Bronx for Change" is after State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.'s seat.  More on Ramos here and here.

City comptroller John Liu has created a task force to examine how developers deliver community benefit agreements.  Among the aims: more transparency.

Fernando Aquino, a political consultant who often works with Bronx politicians and wannabe Bronx politicians, was interviewed recently on the Perez Notes radio show.

A former Bronx police officer talks about his new(ish) career as an arborist at the New York Botanical Garden.

Coqui Mexicano, a restaurant in Melrose, won't close after all.  [via BoogieDowner]