Bronx News Roundup, Sept. 15

Away from politics and Primary Day, here's the rest of today's Bronx news:

With Fashion Week upon us, The Times has a story about the designers Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, both of whom - by an amazing coincidence - grew in Norwood within a few blocks of each other.

More on Jimmy Grove, the Harlem resident who won $168 million in a convenience store on Fordham Road.

Five men, including two from the Bronx, have been charged with gang-raping an 18-year-old Hofstra University student.

At a recent "town-hall" healthcare meeting in Parkchester, Congressman Joseph Crowley refused to accept questions from the floor, instead insisting that he talk with constituents one-on-one.

Livery cab drivers working out of the Bronx gathered in Highbridge yesterday, to air their concerns about a recent spate of passenger-on-driver murders.

This spring, the Uzi-wielding drug dealer who shot dead a Bronx assistant district attorney in 1990, was unreleased on parole. State parole officials and the Bronx DA's Office have launched probes into how this was allowed to happen.

Bronx News Round-up, Sept. 10

Welcome to Monday, hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Here' some links to news stories that should get you going and informed this week.

The big story over the weekend was a bloody shootout on Friday night between an undercover transit policewoman and "a parolee with an extensive criminal record" on the 4 train at the 176th Street stop. The story in the Times is kind of convoluted, but basically it appears the "parolee" put a female officer in a headlock when she and two other cops tried to escort him off the train for violating transit rules. The suspect then started shooting at the two other officers, who returned fire, with 13 shots, and killed the gunman.

The female officer was shot three times, but is in stable condition. It's unclear whether the female officer was the victim of friendly fire or was hit by the now-deceased gunman.

More tragic news came last night/early this morning, when a fire took the life of an unidentified 22-year-old woman in Williamsbridge. The woman was sleeping on the second floor of a small two-story house on East 224th Street. Two other residents were injured and taken to the hospital. NY1 reported that more than 100 firefighters showed up to fight the blaze and that three of them were injured.

Bunch of stories out today about how bank branches are popping up all over New York City, except for in the city's poorest neighborhoods. From 2000 to 2006, 168 banks branches opened citywide. Of those, only 24 opened in the Bronx, according to a report released by Queens and Brooklyn Congressman Anthony Weiner and Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James.

The report also said the banks were concentrated in wealthy neighborhoods. In Murray Hill there a bank for every 1,500 people, while in Tremont, here in the Bronx, there is one for every 69,000 people.

Weiner and James pointed out that the disparity means people in poorer neighborhoods are forced to cash paychecks at rip-off check cashing shops (which are not surprisingly more prevalent in those poorer areas) and also that people in places like Tremont will “have less take-home pay, are less able to accumulate long-term and emergency savings (making them more vulnerable to high-interest loans), and have a harder time establishing credit or qualifying for a loan.”

Here's links to the stories on the Times blog, The Post, and the Daily News

And also, while we're talking about money, here's a story int the Daily News about Bronx boy turned international fashion icon, Ralph Lauren, who was born Ralph Lifshitz. He celebrated his 40th year in fashion on Saturday night in Central Park.

Congrats Ralph! Don't forgot about us!