Welcome back to the program, ladies and gentlemen of the Bronx and beyond. Lots of news to get to, so let's get to it. To the weather!
Weather: Cloudy and cool this morning, high in the mid-60s, with rain expected overnight and tomorrow morning.
Story of the Day: Bronx Homeless Intake Center Opens
Tomorrow, the city is set to open a new, $65.5 million homeless intake center in Melrose, on East 151st Street in the South Bronx. The new center replaces a former one on the same site, which was shuttered five years ago and criticized for being dirty, dangerous and inadequately staffed. Officials from the Department of Homeless Services say that at the old center, a family could wait up to 20 hours to be processed, while the new site predicts wait times of about 6 hours.
New studies show that homelessness in the city is on the rise, and that last year, 16 percent more families were turned away from the city's shelters than the year before.
Quick Hits:
Members of St. Stephen United Methodist Church, one of four Bronx parishes that was burglarized in recent months, say they're willing to forgive whoever is responsible for the crimes.
Some 32,000 cyclists rode through the streets of the Bronx yesterday, one leg of the annual Five Boro Bike Tour.
An 11-year-old Bronx girl, who was abducted from her home seven months ago and forced to have sex with her captors while being held in an apartment on the Lower East Side, tells her heartbreaking story to the Daily News.
Dramatists are taking their purchase of two Co-Op City storage lockers -- bought at auction after their owners missed monthly payments to keep the space -- to the stage of a Chelsea theater.
New Yorkers keep a bevy of weird--and illegal--animals as pets, according to according to Health Department records obtained by the New York Post. Found in the Bronx: A large Colombian red tail boa constrictor, two ball pythons, a 2-foot-long Australian children’s python, and 11 crowing roosters.
Soccer club South Bronx United has formed the first-ever traveling girls' soccer team to represent the Bronx.
After a string of Bronx bodega robberies, the Bodega Association of the United States is urging deli owners to keep guns on hand for protection.
Bronx prosecutor Jennifer Troiano, who was arrested last summer on a DWI charge after getting into a three-car accident on the Major Deegan Expressway, may have skirted a similar arrest years earlier.
--Compiled by Jeanmarie Evelly
Monday, May 2, 2011
Bronx Weekend News Roundup, Monday, May 2
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Bronx News Roundup, April 28
Weather: A severe weather warning is in effect for today, as intermittent periods of sunshine are disrupted by heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms.
Story of the Day: New Details in Bronx Gay Bashing
Police interview records turned over to defense lawyers in the case of October's bias attack reveal that the men accused--members of a street gang who call themselves the Latin King Goonies--were supposedly extorting one of their victims for protection money, the Daily News reports.
The crew allegedly demanded $2,000 from one of the victims, a 30-year-old man who was reportedly having sex with one of the gang's younger members, and viciously beat and sodomized both men when he couldn't pay up.
Accused ringleader ringleader Idelfonso Mendez and six of his cohorts face multiple hate crime charges, the article says. The men are due back in court next month.
Quick Hits:
Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. is planning a march against same-sex marriage for May 15, the same day as the Bronx Puerto Rican Day parade. The Rev. is presumably preparing to fight a gay-marriage bill that's scheduled for a vote in Albany this spring, which has the support of Gov. Cuomo and a number of other Senate members.
A savvy parking garage owner in Mott Haven fended off two would-be burglars--one wielding a knife--with nothing but an apple. Impressive. Check out the video below.
The owner of the building where the fire took place, before it went into foreclosure, also owned another foreclosed property on nearby 187th Street. That building is also illegally divided in violation of the fire code, the Daily News says.
Northwest Bronx churches are once again being targeted by burglars, police say, after a string of break-ins since late March. A number of other parishes were burglarized this year around Christmas, though the man believed to be responsible for most of the incidents was apprehended a few months ago.
The NYPD ticket-fixing probe, which is being led by the Bronx District Attorney's office, is spreading, with officers from the State Police, Yonkers PD, Port Authority PD and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, believed to be involved.
Soundview's 12th annual Family Day Festival kicks off this weekend.
A struggling food pantry in Kingsbridge Heights is doing all it can to keep feeding the hungry.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 23
A tree that was salvaged from the rubble of the World Trade Center after 9/11, and nursed back to health in Van Cortlandt Park, was once again planted back at Ground Zero. The tree's homecoming coincides with yesterday's passage of a bill that will give health benefits to 9/11 responders.
The NYPD will start using hidden cameras in the interrogation rooms of two police stations, including the 48th Precinct in Tremont.
A group of Franciscan monks from the Bronx are looking to revitalize a rundown neighborhood in Ireland.
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., says things are looking up for Bronx businesses, thanks in part to the work of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp.
A man is being charged with attempted murder after leaving threats on his ex-girlfriend's facebook page and attempting to kidnap her one-year-old daughter near Claremont Park.
The Bronx Zoo will be collecting food and toy donations for underprivileged New Yorkers until the end of the month; those who donate will get one free general admission ticket to the zoo.
A group of Riverdale residents continue their campaign to boycott weekly community newspaper the Riverdale Review.
Nathaniel Linden, the man accused of robbing a handful of Bronx churches since November, told the Daily News he needed the money to feed himself and his pets.
Melissa Petro, the Bronx public school teacher who was removed from her classroom after she posted stories about her sex-worker past on the internet, is profiled in this month's issue of the magazine Marie Claire.
A profile of Dr. Richard Izquierdos, a longtime pediatrician in Hunts Point who opened his own charter school this year.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 22
A four-alarm fire that forced the evacuation of a building on the Grand Concourse yesterday was caused by a burnt batch of Christmas cookies, according to a neighbor.
Bronx teenager Justin Tavarez, 19, who was charged with a hate crime this weekend after a late night scuffle in a diner, told friends he was provoked by the victim, who was taunting him over a girl. Tavarez allegedly smashed a plate over the head of a 42-year-old man while making racial comments, according to police.
John Martinez, the man accused of robbing a number of women in Co-op City and Manhattan while wielding an ice pick, pleaded not guilty yesterday.
The recently indicted Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., submitted paperwork earlier this month to cash in on his $9,000 a year state pension.
A new bill introduced in Congress this week would provide federal funding for the removal of PCBs, a dangerous construction material, from the city's public schools. This summer, tests found elevated levels of the chemical in three schools, including PS 178 in Co-op City.
A Bronx woman was sentenced to 25 years to life yesterday in the Bronx Supreme Court for the 2003 murder of a 91-year-old woman.
A city sanitation worker was struck by a car and killed yesterday while crossing the street in Castle Hill. Angel Roldan, 39, worked with the Sanitation Department for 11 years; he leaves behind a wife and two children.
The suspected Bronx church burglar, who was busted by police last weekend, says he targeted the houses of worship because he was angry over pedophile-priest scandals. Nathaniel Linden, 51, is believed to be responsible for a string of church break-ins over the last month.
More Bronxites, and residents across the city, are opting to worship from their homes instead of a traditional church, according to ABC.
A&P, the supermarket chain which owns Pathmark, Food Emporium and Waldbaum's, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. The future of all these stores is uncertain, though the company says it's refinancing and hopes to turn things around over the next year.
Bronx-born actor Steve Landesberg, known for his role on the long-running sitcom “Barney Miller,” died in Los Angeles Monday from colon cancer. He was 74.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Bronx News Weekend Roundup, Dec. 20
A 51-year-old Bronx man was arrested this weekend in connection to two church burglaries. Nathaniel Linden was caught inside St. Phillip Neri Church on Grand Concourse, and has been charged for another Dec. 13 robbery, though police are still trying to determine if he's responsible for a number of break-ins that took place this month.
Livery cab drivers in the South Bronx and parts of Queens and Brooklyn will receive bullet proof vests from the city, starting today. The move comes after a driver was shot by a passenger in Queens earlier this month.
A number of residents who were forced to evacuate their apartment building earlier this month because of a gas leak and other buildings violations are allowed to return home today.
A first grade teacher from PS 21 was arrested this weekend for driving drunk after she crashed her car near the Grand Concourse.
Manhattan-based nonprofit "Beat the Streets,"is helping a number of Bronx teenagers hone their wrestling skills.
The Bronx Hall of Justice, the criminal courthouse at E. 161st Street, is still suffering from structural problems despite its $421 million construction price tag and the fact that the building is only three years old.
Councilman James Vacca and another Brooklyn rep promised to introduce legislation to counter the Mayor's plan to hike parking meter fees in the outer boroughs. Bloomberg has proposed a 25 cents increase an hour to help close the city's budget gap.
A bill introduced by Bronx State Sen. Jeff Klein, allowing individuals to use a portion of their life insurance money to cover nursing home costs, was signed into law by the Governor last week.
A heroic MTA worker jumped onto the subway tracks and rescued a Bronx man from an oncoming train.
Monsignor Charles Kavanagh, a high-ranking New York priest who formerly led the parish at St. Raymond's Church in Parkchester, was officially dismissed from the clergy after being found guilty of sexually abusing a teenager by a church tribunal on Friday.
Seven South Bronx families got new homes from Habitat for Humanity NYC this weekend.
The MTA will spend $9.75 million next year to equip 426 buses with video surveillance equipment, starting in high crime areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Bronx Crime Watch: Another Church Hit in String of Robberies
A sixth Bronx church was burglarized this weekend, the latest in a string of break-ins targeting churches in the area since the start of November.
Someone broke into an office window at the Church of the Mediator, on West 231st Street and Kingsbridge Avenue, late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, according to senior warden Frank Holsapple and the NYPD.
The thief, or thieves, made off with several recently donated laptop computers and about $800 in cash, money the church was collecting for a Christmas toy drive.
"They hit every church around here, and I guess we were the last stop," Holsapple said, adding that the burglar or burglars wrecked the office that they broke into but were unable to access the rest of the church, as the room was securely locked.
"They went out the way they came in," he said. "It could have been a lot worse."
A police spokeswoman said that they have no description of the perpetrator so far, and the investigation is ongoing.
Other churches that have been hit since early November include Our Lady of Refuge on 194th Street and Briggs Avenue, St. Ann’s Church on Bainbridge Avenue, Kingsbridge Evangelical Lutheran Church on Bailey Avenue, St. John’s Church on Kingsbridge Avenue, and Our Lady of Angels on Claflin Avenue.
"We're still edgy," said Father Antonio Zabala of St. John's Church. "They were able to break in through the window even though it has bars on it. These robbers are really professional crooks, and are really dangerous."
Church leaders say one silver lining has been the public's response as news of the burglaries spread.
"It's been overwhelming," said Father John Jenik of Our Lady of Refuge Church, which lost two laptops, a video camera and $1,300 in cash after a break-in at the end of November.
"We've gotten four laptop computers and over $15,000 in donations," he said.
Jenik says the parish will use the money towards repairing damages from the burglary and for tuition assistance, and to invest in a new alarm system for the church.
"We know how they got in, and it was easy for them," he said. "We have certainly tightened up security around here."
