Bronx News Roundup, May 27

The conviction of former Bronx state Senator Efrain Gonzalez--who was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday for siphoning money from a nonprofit--is just the latest in a string of corrupt politicians across the city, the Daily News says.

It's not just hot dogs or cracker jacks at the ballgame anymore--here's a review of the new Yankee stadium's steakhouse.

Police are asking for help to find 13-year-old Stephanie Vasquez, who has been missing since Tuesday. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1 800 577 TIPS (8477).

Two Bronx residents were convicted of murder yesterday in relation to a 2007 shooting at a poker parlor in Manhattan.

More than two dozen alleged gang members were arrested yesterday in the 43rd Precinct, according to the Bronx District Attorney's office. The arrested of the reputed members of the Bloods and the Crips stemmed from a nine-month drug ring investigation.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine was awarded a $10 million grant for diabetes research from the NIH (the Bronx has some of the highest diabetes rates in the city).

A Kingsbridge church sent off supplies to Haiti this week after months of collecting donations.

Construction of the long-awaited South Bronx Greenway--the network of bike paths and walkways intended to connect several waterfront parks--will begin this summer.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 9

Happy Friday, everyone. Let's get to the news as we head into the Columbus Day weekend.

It will be an even-longer extended weekend for the 136 employees of the Stella D'oro cookie factory in Kingsbridge, which closed its doors for the last time yesterday afternoon. The plant had produced cookies in the area for almost 80 years. For more than a year, workers were on strike after refusing to take a significant pay cut. In June, the National Labor Relation's Board ordered the plant to restore workers at their previous pay. The owners responded by selling the company to a snack maker that is moving the company's operation to Ohio.

The Indypendent has some good coverage of the workers' response yesterday. Times' city columnist Jim Dwyer wrote about this earlier this week.

There will be a rally outside of the cookie factory on Boadway at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

On Tuesday, thousands showed up to mourn a Bronx firefighter who was killed fighting a blaze in Yonkers last Friday.

The Bronx Zoo recently opened a new Global Conservation Center.

Gov. Paterson praised the stem cell research being done at the Bronx's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which is the teaching hospital of the Montefiore Medical Center. He called it the "wave of the future."

The Daily News' says the swine flu disporportionally affects blacks and Latinos. The city's vaccination effort kicked off in the Bronx at Montefiore on Tuesday.

A new group in the east Bronx is keeping watch on distressed homes.

Bronx rapper Fat Joe, who just released his ninth solo album on Tuesday, "J.O.S.E 2," said his career goal remains to produce the best hip-hop record of all-time.

Bronx News Roundup: Tuesday, Nov. 18

[See update at the bottom of this post]
It's getting chilly on Bronx streets in more ways than just the temperature.

Early Monday morning in Bedford Park, police discovered a man, described as being in his 30s, shot in the stomach. Medics took him to St. Barnabas, but he was pronounced Dead on Arrival. Police say the investigation is ongoing. The Post has a small blurb about it in its Daily Blotter.

A man has been arrested in connection with a shooting on Morris Avenue (near the Cross Bronx Expressway) that left a 17-year-old girl dead and two other teenagers wounded. Late Sunday night, Brandin Santiago was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

The Daily News picked up the Norwood News' story about how the city's Dept. of Health is going to turn the old Fordham Library into an animal shelter. Here's the Norwood News story about it.

Speaking of the Health Dept., the agency has created a Web site where residents can track rat infestations and how they're being dealt with. Here's the Web site: https://gis.nyc.gov/doh/rip/.
Enjoy.

The city says it was all a big understanding that led them to build a new school on a contaminated site in Mott Haven.

Speaking of Mott Haven contamination, residents in that area are complaining that a toxic sludge is mucking up an abandoned railway.

Fordham University and Albert Einstein Medical School are teaming up to help strengthen their science and medical programs.

And for dessert, Daily New Borough Chief Bob Kappstatter's political gossip column. He says Assemblyman Jose Rivera has the Bronx Democratic party running a budget deficit; District Leader Hector Ramirez, Luis Diaz's hand-picked successor in the 86th Assembly District, says he was betrayed by two lawyers associated with Rivera's County leadership. (Rivera's man, Nelson Castro, ended up winning the seat.) And he gives Councilman Jimmy Vacca a pass for voting in favor of a term limits extension (after he initially opposed it) because he says Vacca received some concessions for his district from the mayor.

[Update, 3:32 p.m. Thanks to Mr. Kappstatter for clearing up this last tidbit, which I misinterpretted earlier. It wasn't that Vacca received any concessions from Mayor Bloomberg for voting in favor of the term limits extension. But he could have lost some valuable goodies for his district if he didn't support the measure. It's a subtle, but substanative difference. The question remains: was it a smart move and what exactly did he protect? I think we'll see how some of this plays out during the fight over the mayor's plan to consolidate neighborhood senior centers. Vacca and others in the Bronx (like Oliver Koppell) who voted for the term limits extension have voiced their opposition to the plan. Will Bloomberg back off or roll right over them?]