Bronx News Roundup, Thursday, March 24

Weather: Welcome to spring! Call me crazy, but doesn't spring in the Bronx look and feel -- the snow, the biting cold -- a whole lot like winter? Temperatures will remain in the low 40s today, but skies should clear up this afternoon. 

Story of the Day: Husband Pleads Not Guilty to Murder Charge
Throgs Neck resident Eddy Coello, the former NYPD housing cop whose wife's strangled body was found in Westchester County woods last week, pleaded not guilty to murder charges at Bronx Criminal Court yesterday. Prosecutors said evidence linking Coello to the murder of his wife, Tina Adovasio, is overwhelming and includes Coello's own statements. Bronx DA Edward Talty: "We have video surveillance, forensic evidence and statements from the defendant's own mouth that the night of March 11 and morning of March 12, after strangling her, he carried her dead body, put it in his car and dumped her in Westchester County."


Quick Hits:
Kappy talks redistricting rumors that are ruffling Congressman Charlie Rangel; a scuffle between Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz and former Council candidate Tony Cassino about a proposed ice rink in Van Cortlandt Park; says they should given ex-Mayor Ed Koch's name to a bridge in the Bronx -- where he was born -- not the Queensboro Bridge, which the Council voted to do yesterday.

The Bronx Museum will host a Negro League baseball exhibit from March 31 through April 6. On April 2, former Negro League star Jim Robinson will sign autographs, along with former Yankee Bill White, at Stan's Sportsworld on River Avenue.

Bronx Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera introduced a bill that would require medical care providers to scan the palms of their patients before offering them services. Rivera says the $20 million cost of implementing the technology would save the state "billions" in fraud problems.

A state committeeman wants signs leading to the Bronx to say: "The Bronx: The Birthplace of Hip Hop."

Michelle Parris, a recent Stanford law school graduate from Queens, is doing a fellowship at Bronx Defenders.

Middle Eastern and West African Bronxites talk about the turmoil in the region and the antics of embattled Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy.

Homeowners in the Bronx and other outer boroughs continue to struggle paying their mortgages. Advocates say they need government help.

State Democratic say it will be difficult to get rent regulations extended in through the budget process. (Side note: Affordable housing advocates and elected officials who are pushing for the extension of rent regulations will be rallying tonight at the Bronx Library Center, on Kingsbridge Road, at 6:30 p.m.)

Bronx News Roundup, March 23

Weather: Snow, then rain, maybe a little more snow, rain, a little sleet thrown in for good measure, more rain.

Story of the Day: Friends Wrongly Thought They Pulled a Fast One
Busted! Last summer in Highbridge, police say a group of eights friends came up with a money-making scam. In the middle of the night, they piled into three cars, drove around searching for a secluded block and then coordinated a fender bender. Though there wasn't much damage, police said all eight claimed injuries to the insurance companies. Skeptical invesigators eventually found videotape of the allegedly staged crash and discovered that the group of eight were all pals. The Daily News has video of crash released by the NYPD:


Quick Hits:
Last few hits have been filled with crime and gore. A little relief today. 

The First Lady of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, will deliver the 42nd annual Lehman Lecture at Lehman College's Lovinger Theater. Not able to make it to Bedford Park this morning. No problem.Watch live on the school's website.

More on the arrest of Eddy Coello, who was charged with murdering his wife, Tina Adovasio, on the day of her funeral.

A Massey Knackal broker, David Simone, is starting his own real estate brokerage firm focusing on the Bronx and Northern Manhattan.

Here's a fun fact: A breakdown of New York City school names reveals that "Bronx" appears in 65 names, the most appearances of any borough, by far.

DN columnist Michael Daly rails against Bronx Council member Fernando Cabrera for his residency flap.  

Montefiore Medical Center will announce a campus-wide no smoking policy today.

For all you science geeks out there, this website breaks down the new technology being used at the Croton Water Filtration Plant that is taking shape in Van Cortlandt Park. [Link fixed]

Bronx hip hop duo Camp Lo are teaming up with producer Pete Rock on a new album titled, "80 blocks from Tiffany's," a shout out to the recently released documentary about 1970s Bronx street life.

Bronx News Roundup, March 22

Our apologies for the late roundup today, but we're hard at work on production of this week's Norwood News, which hits the streets tomorrow.

Weather: Don't be fooled by this morning's sunshine and mild temps. The weather folks are calling for a mix of rain and--ugh!--snow later tonight, with more snow expected tomorrow. Sorry.

Story of the Day: Ex-Cop Arrested in Murdered Mom Case
Eddy Coello, the former cop whose wife, Tina Adovasio, was found dead in the woods in Westchester last week, was arrested today and brought to the Bronx's 45th Precinct. Coello supposedly had a history of domestic violence against his partners and had been named a "person of interest" in the case. The funeral for Adovasio, a 40-year-old nurse and mother of three, took place earlier today.

Quick Hits:

The Bronx's own Assemblyman Peter Rivera is one of several lawmakers looking to ban the psychedelic herb salvia.

Police have identified the body of the 400-pound man, found stuffed in a suitcase this weekend at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses in Soundview, as 52-year-old Angel Rondon.

A Bronx woman has been accused of encouraging her 11-year-old son to lift wallets and shoplift. The two were caught stealing by security cameras at at least two locations.

Two tax preparers in the Bronx were busted for filing fraudulent documents for clients. 

A pastor accused of raping a then-12-year-old member of his church rejected a plea deal in Bronx Supreme Court yesterday. Michael Clare will go to trial and could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Former Giants player Lawrence Taylor was sentenced to six years' probation today after pleading guilty in January to sexual misconduct for allegedly paying a Bronx teenager for sex.

A group of students from Bronx High School of Science are one of just a few all-girl teams to compete at the FIRST Robotics Competition.

Bronx News Roundup, March 18

Hopefully you are reading this on a laptop or iPad/Phone in Van Cortlandt or Crotona or Soundview or Pelham Bay or Roberto Clemente or Williamsbridge Oval or any one of the Bronx's many parks. And if you're not, hopefully you'll get to one later today as temperatures will soar into the 70s! Less warm over the weekend, but it will still remain jarringly comfortable.  

To the news!

Story of the Day: Spotlight on Ex-Cop Husband of Dead Bronx Mom
Yesterday morning, Eddy Coello, a former NYPD housing cop, walked unprompted into the 45th Precinct with his lawyer to talk with police one day after the dead body of his wife, Tina Adovasio, was discovered in a wooded area in Westchester County. Medical examiners said Adovasio died from asphyxiation. Coello, who has a history of domestic violence, refused to give police a DNA sample and walked out of the precinct 24 minutes later. At this point, police are saying he is the only "person of interest" in this case. A former girlfriend told the Daily News Coello was volatile and prone to violent outbursts. As police continued to gather evidence from Coello's car and the Throgs Neck home he shared with Adovasio and her four children, Adovasio's lawyer told the Post the case was "plodding toward an inevitable conclusion."

Quick Hits:
Here's our story on the decision to close the Oak Point post office. 

The state revoked the license of Ophadell Williams, the driver of the Chinatown tour bus that crashed on I-95 in the Bronx, killing 15 passengers and leaving six others in critical condition. Transportation officials and state police are also clamping down on other tour bus drivers.

On "Match Day," some 200 medical students at the Bronx's Albert Einstein College of Medicine found out where they will be going to be resident physicians. Many are surprisingly choosing the lower-paying family medicine route. Students will disperse throughout the country, but one, who will stay in the Bronx at Montefiore Medical Center and pursue family medicine, said, “This country needs more primary care doctors. It’s the best way to deliver care, in terms of prevention, in terms of long-term follow-up, patient satisfaction, and reducing cost."

A new exhibition at the Lehman College art gallery is highlighting the resurgence of so-called "fiber arts" -- knitting, weaving, embroidery, that type of thing. 

Woodlawn Cemetery and the union representing its workers have reached a tentative agreement that would increase wages and lead to the cemetery cutting only 12 staffers, down from the original 23.

Bronx/Harlem State Senator Jose M. Serrano says he's much more excited about the new Puerto Rican and Latino caucus than he was last year, when it included Pedro Espada Jr. (ousted by voters, facing criminal charges) and Hiram Monserrate (ousted by the senate after being convicted of beating his girlfriend). The new caucus includes Bronx reps Serrano, Ruben Diaz Sr., Gustavo Rivera, Adriano Espaillat as well as Martin Milave Dilan (Brooklyn) and Jose Peralta (Queens).

Many Bronx tenants continue to benefit from oil donations given out by Citgo, the oil company controlled by Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan government.

Check out all the planned work-related service changes on Bronx subway lines this weekend. Every line in the borough will be affected.

The Riverdale Press unmasks the "phantom painters" behind the giant shamrock painted every St. Patrick's Day on W. 238th Street and Review Place.