Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 21

Friends of a gay Bronx soldier who fought for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and died serving in Iraq, visited his grave site on Saturday, shortly after the Senate voted to repeal the controversial policy.

Beleaguered State Sen. Pedro Espada and his son, Pedro G. Espada, could be hit with more indictments in the coming months, according to the Daily News' Bob Kappstatter in his weekly column.

A Bronx teenager has been charged with a felony hate crime. Police say Justin Tavarez, who's a student at Skidmore College in upstate New York, took offense when he saw a white man dining with a black man and smashed a plate over the white man's head.

The man accused of using an ice-pick to threaten and rob several women in the Bronx and Manhattan, carried out the muggings so he could buy Christmas presents for his family, his cousin says. 

Councilman Jimmy Vacca, chair of the Transportation committee, says too many cyclists don't obey traffic laws.

Every year, Bronx resident Milagros Guzman decorates a Christmas tree she calls the "Tree of Angels," to remember victims of homicide, including her own daughter, Jessica, who was murdered in 1990. 

More on the arrest of Nathaniel Linden, the man police suspect of robbing at least two Bronx churches.

Plans are in the works to clean up a contaminated lot by the Major Deegan Expressway at 135th Street, and build a 80-90 room hotel. 

Tenants of 1204 Shakespeare Ave. are being allowed to return home in time for the holidays.  Many of the apartments were evacuated earlier this month after the Department of Buildings found that the building's emergency exits were blocked. 

The legendary Morris Park Boxing Club reopened yesterday, a year after it was almost completely destroyed by a fire. 

Last Thursday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. appeared on NY1's "Inside City Hall."  Topics for discussion included the Kingsbridge Armory and the Muller Army Reserve Center. Here's the clip.

Yesterday, NYPD Detective Robert Salerno gave out Christmas presents at Lincoln Hospital, the same hospital where he was treated earlier this year after being shot in the line of duty.

Billy Wharton, a writer and activist who edits the Socialist WebZine, was on jury duty recently at the Bronx County Hall of Justice. During his lunch break, he sat in on a few trials and then wrote about his experience for the Examiner website.

Veterinarians at Yonkers' Animal Specialty Center are hoping to reunite an injured Rottweiler with its owner.  The dog was found on a Bronx street two weeks ago, bleeding and limping.

Ed. note: Start a discussion about any of these stories, or anything else you want to talk about, in our forum. Highlight problems in your neighborhood with our SeeClickFix feature. And find out what's happening in our constantly-updated events calendar.

Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 24

Two construction companies responsible for some of the state's largest public-works projects, among them the Croton Water Filtration Plant in Van Cortlandt Park, are under federal investigation. The feds suspect the contractors evaded laws that they hire a certain percentage of subcontrators owned by minorities or women. The long-delayed and massively over-budget water plant (photos here), is one of the most controversial construction projects in Bronx history. Click here for some background.

Cathleen Black, Mayor Bloomberg's Schools chancellor pick, suffered a set back yesterday when the state's education commissioner, David M. Steiner, expressed doubts about her readiness for the job.

Co-op City's board of directors have voted to remove a board member from one of the complex's coveted townhouses. Leticia Morales was improperly bumped up to the top of the waiting list, the board determined.

A pregnant Bronx teen is suing the city and the NYPD. Stephanie Badillo claims she was handcuffed and strip-searched by cops who mistook her for a drug dealer.

An off-duty Bronx cop who was arrested for drink-driving on Monday, repeatedly smashed his car into the back of a pick-up truck.

Fifteen corrections officers were injured after a fight broke out at Rikers Island.

Aaron Davis, a former owner of the Morris Park Boxing Club, talks about boxing, his old club (which burnt down last year), and the new one he's opened near Westchester Square.  The story and audio slide-show is by Graham Kates, a former Norwood News intern and author of the BxNN's The Yankees, Unobstructed column. 

Thanksgiving is the busiest time of the year for workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market, the largest wholesale food distributor in the country. (On a separate note, the market's future remains uncertain, with businesses threatening to move to a cheaper site in New Jersey.)

Immigrants in the Bronx are getting in the holiday spirit.

A Bronx-based trash collecting company says chef Gordan Ramsey owes it $25,000.

And finally, a tour of JFK's childhood home in Riverdale.

Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 24

On Tuesday, a fire destroyed Morris Park Boxing Club. Two days later, one of the men who ran it (a one-time W.B.A welterweight title holder) and his stable of young fighters, found a temporary place to train.

In an editorial, the Daily News ridicules Ruben Diaz Jr. and the City Council for nixing Related Companies' Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment proposal. The pols "stupidly killed employment for thousands" and "don't have a clue" what to do next, the News argues.

The Village Voice's Tom Robbins has mixed feelings about the Council's no vote. He writes: "It's just our luck that the first time the City Council actually musters the courage to face down Mike Bloomberg, it's to kill a plan that—whatever its flaws—would have put hard-pressed New Yorkers back to work."

Five stations on the Pelham 6 Line now have countdown clocks, informing straphangers of when the next train will arrive.

A Bronx priest has been making waves as a fashion designer. 

NY Post columnist John Crudele's "Man of the Year" is a 28-year-old veteran from the Bronx who overcame a tough childhood and homelessness - not to mention stints in Iraq and Afghanistan - to land a job as a nursing assistant at James J. Peters VA Hospital on Kingsbridge Road.

Another veteran, homeless since January, has found an apartment in University Heights for him and his family, thanks for the Jericho Project. 

An arsonist has been terrorizing an apartment complex in Marble Hill. 

Police are looking for two men who robbed a jewelry store in Morris Park on Tuesday afternoon.