Bronx News Roundup, July 15

It's been a sad week for the Yankees. A funeral is being held today in Baldwin, Long Island for legendary announcer Bob Shepphard, who died Sunday at the age of 99.

Meanwhile, a private service is planned for this weekend for owner George Steinbrenner in Florida.

Here in New York, impromptu tributes to "The Boss" are shaping up at Yankee Stadium for this weekend, as the team returns for a home game tomorrow night.

Espada challenger Gustavo Rivera tripped getting off a bus on the Grand Concourse and landed face first on the sidewalk, City Hall News reports. Ouch! But he's not letting the injuries ruin what was otherwise a good week--he's been endorsed by a major political group and is one rival down now that Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter has ended her campaign. 

Speaking of Pilgrim-Hunter: she's being lauded for her decision to drop out of the race by Rivera and his endorser, Bill Samuels of the New Roosevelt Initiative. The fewer the candidates, the better the chance to oust Espada, they say.

In other election news: Gail Goode, a former Bronx assistant district attorney, submitted her signatures to the Board of Elections yesterday to challenge U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand. Today is the deadline for state primary candidates to get their petitions in if they want to be on the ballot this fall.

Allegations that the principal of John F. Kennedy High School misused school funds was old news to some, who say the Kingsbridge school had a history of misconduct. 

Bronx News Roundup, July 12

There were four shootings in the city on Sunday morning, two in the Bronx.

Seven months later, Glory of Christ Church in Parkchester has reopened after a satanic arsonist, who has yet to be apprehended, torched the place.

The NY Post reports that students at Monroe College are defaulting on their government-backed loans at an unusually high rate.

On BoogieDowner, a Norwood resident calls out people who have misused parking placards in Norwood and Bedord Park.

The family of Albert Hartzog, want the Bronx teenager suspected of murdering him, put to death.Apparently, the teen was upset that Hartzog, who lived the teen's mother, had canceled the cable TV.

Bob Shepphard, the Yankees' legendary public address announcer -- who Reggie Jackson called the "Voice of God" -- died on Sunday at the age of 99.

A doctor with the Bronx's Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine reflects on his program's success making sure HIV-infected mothers don't pass on the virus to their children.

[Note: thanks to intern Samantha Delgado-Perez for compiling these stories and links.]