Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 30

Happy Halloween eve! On to some pre-Fright Night news links.

More than 100 people showed up yesterday to pay their respects and offer their memories at the funeral of Sadie Mitchell, the 92-year-old Bronx woman, who was tragically killed by a stray bullet while watching TV on Oct. 20. By all accounts a lovely, caring woman, Mitchell's Williamsbridge neighbors called her a pillar of the community and "the grandmother of the block."

On Wednesday, the Bronx DA's office announced that it would be charging Jamal Blair, 18, with the Mitchell's murder.

Deon Taylor, a former NYPD cop who was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb, was honored yesterday by the city. Simpson St. at 163rd St. in Longwood was renamed Police Officer Deon Taylor Way.

The top-seeded Bronx Science girls soccer team pulled out a tough 1-0 win over Susan Wagner HS on Wednesday in the first round of the playoffs. They play Tuesday against Francis Lewis.

A sailor on the USS New York who grew up in the Bronx said coming home on the Navy vessel would be better than "the Yankees winning the World Series."

A principal at the Bronx's Lehman High School is under invetigation by the city's Dept. of Education for allegedly fixing grades.

A Rikers Island guard was charged in Bronx Supreme Court with beating up inmates.

An off-duty cop was charged with running down an elderly woman, who later died, near Broadway and 232nd Street.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 29

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden were in the Bronx yesterday to watch the Yankees game. Beforehand, they visited a veterans center in Kingsbridge Heights.

A four-alarm fire destroyed several businesses on Southern Boulavard in Longwood last night.

In the South Bronx, there are dozens of unfinished condo buildings. The dour economy has forced many developers to abandon projects, or at least put them on hold.

The Bronx teen arrested in connection with the shooting death of 92-year-old Sadie Mitchell in Williambridge on Oct. 20, has been indicted on second-degree murder charges.

Two architecture students from Columbia University have won a design competition in which applicants had to present their vision for the future of the Grand Concourse. There were nearly 200 entries from all over the world. The seven best proposals will be displayed at the Bronx Museum, starting this Sunday.

Tenants living in a 54-unit apartment building on Sedgwick Avenue say they've been without heat and hot water since July.

Worshippers at a mosque on Virginia Avenue are asking the police for a sound permit so they use loud speakers when announcing "adhan," the call to prayer. Some of their non-Muslim neighbors oppose the plan, saying it'll cause unnecessary noise.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 23

Gov. David Paterson wants the New York State Senate to vote on a same-sex marriage bill within the next few weeks during a special session of the legislature to address New York’s budget. Sen. Ruben Diaz has vowed to do whatever it takes to prevent the bill to legalize same-sex marriage from becoming law or getting to the floor of the Senate this year.

We've written about Diaz's opposition before, as well as the attitude of Assemblyman Michael Benjamin.

The man suspected of shooting Sadie Mitchell has been charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded not guilty in Bronx Criminal Court this morning.

A Bronx father is suing NYC Transit after his son was stabbed on a city bus. He says the bus driver did not call for help and abandoned his bleeding son on the street.

English teacher Greg Van Voorhis at the Bronx School of Law and Finance is being investigated by the New York City Department of Education after allegations that he gave students lewd stories to read.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) is adding a pilot Bronx Express program for service between Woodlawn and 149th Street-Grand Concourse. The pilot will begin on Oct. 26. and end on Dec. 11. Express trains will operate every 20 minutes between 7 a.m. and 8:20 a.m.

Bronx resident Rosa N. Rivera pleaded guilty today to aiding and assisting in the presentation of a false individual income tax return for clients and to filing a false individual income tax return.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 22

More on the charitable life and senseless death of Sadie Mitchell, the 92-year-old Williamsbridge woman who killed by a stray bullet on Tuesday evening. This morning, police took a man in for questioning.

The Gotham Gazette takes a long look at Mayor Bloomberg's contribution to city parks these past eight years. In the Bronx, it's a record that's decidedly mixed. On one hand you have record spending, on the other, the ongoing construction of a water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park, and the new Yankee Stadium, projects which gobbled up significant amounts of green space.

Yankees fans' hopes to preserve Gate 2 of the old Yankee Stadium (when the stadium is finally torn down) have hit a snag. The city says doing so would increase costs, and further delay the replacement parks promised to the community.

The Riverdale Press profiles Edward Tom, the successful principal of The Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics, a high school on Fulton Avenue just south of Crotona Park. Tom was featured on CBS back in July.

Last Sunday, a Melrose blogger witnessed - and photographed - what he says was an incident of police brutality on Third Avenue near East 158th Street.