Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 26

Yup, more snow. A winter storm warning is in effect today until 6 p.m., so bundle up; the weather folks are saying four to eight inches.

President Obama gave his second State of the Union Address last night, one that called for a bipartisan effort to fix the nation's economy and a proposed 5-year spending freeze.

Salon.com has named Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel number three on a list of Congress' "top five biggest aisle hogs"--politicians who stake out an aisle seat before a big speech in hopes of getting a handshake and a few words from the President. Check out this video of the worst offenders through the years:


The family of a 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, one of four victims believed to have been murdered by a serial killer on Long Island, say they received taunting phone calls on the woman's cell phone in the days after she disappeared.

Police are searching for a group of ten men who shot up a Melrose street last night, killing a 21-year-old man.

A Bronx woman pleaded not guilty yesterday to manslaughter charges for hitting and killing a woman with her car in Manhattan in November.

A Lehman College student stuck in Chile during protests there this month became the unofficial spokesman for about 1500 other stranded tourists, and earned himself a certificate of appreciation from the U.S. State Department.

Plans to lay seven miles of pipe from Van Cortlandt Park to Hunts Point have been scrapped by the city due to soaring costs. The plan was part of the ongoing Croton Water Filtration Plant project.

A Bronx couple is facing jail time for animal cruelty charges after nearly 100 emaciated cats were found in their artist's loft in Brooklyn. A neighbor told the Brooklyn paper the two were simply trying to care for the neighborhood's strays.

The widow of a murdered Throgs Neck man gave chilling testimony in court yesterday against her husband's accused killer, an alleged mob man.

A mugger tried to steal the cell phone of former Gov. George Pataki's eldest daughter at the Freeman Street subway stop.

The State Senate's Republican majority gave committee chairmanship roles to Jeff Klein and the other members of his Independent Caucus. Klein will chair the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.

A 17-year-old student at Celia Cruz High School for Music was found dead in the snow on a Harlem street over the weekend. Loved ones of Gregory Willis Jr. say they are baffled by the quiet teenager's mysterious death; autopsy results are pending.

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Lehman Makes Progress on New Science Facility

Dr. Ricardo R. Fernández, Lehman College's president, in front of the new science building. (Photo: L. Hurley)

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, several Bronx politicians, and CUNY officials gathered at Lehman College on Oct. 28 to celebrate the placing of the last beam of steel on the college's new science facility.

The $70 million, 69,000 square-foot building has been under construction since 2008, and is scheduled for completion in 2012.

“In the 21st Century, in order to be strong as a country we have to move forward, and in order to move forward we have to prepare science minds of the future,” said Dr. Mary Papazian, Lehman College's senior vice-president.

“One of our goals is to get more students into the science major and to increase the understanding of science,” said Dr. Ricardo R. Fernández, the college's president.

The building has many "green" characteristics and is expected to be the first CUNY building to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. It will house the biology and chemistry departments, and features include state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms, a conference center, and office space.

Funds for the project have been provided by the New York State Dormitory Authority and the City Council. The building is just the first step in a three-phase effort to create a science campus on Lehman's grounds. The second phase will involve the construction of an even larger science building. The third phase will see Lehman's Gillette Hall renovated.

“Lehman College looks different from when I graduated and that is a good thing,” said Council member and Lehman alum, Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

You can read more about the project here.