Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 28

Just a few Bronx news stories to get you caught up on this snow piled Friday afternoon.

A very important cautionary tale from yesterday. Two young Bronx girls collapsed from carbon monoxide poisoning after their mother left them in her running car while she dug it out of the snow. Problem was, fire officials said, the mom neglected to clean the tailpipe, causing carbon monoxide to flood the interior of the car. Both kids are in stable condition and are expected to be fine.

But let this be a stern reminder to all parents digging their cars out of this massive snow build-up: CLEAN THE TAILPIPE FIRST!

More on the death of former Bronx State Senator Guy Velella who died yesterday: Times,  Wall Street Journal, NY1 and WNYC. 

Bronx-born director Rashaad Ernesto Green recounts his experience showing his new Bronx-based movie "Gun Hill Road" at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. At the end of the week, the movie was picked up by a startup distributor.

Upstate local governments are combining forces to clean up the Bronx River before the water even gets to the Bronx.

Enjoy the weekend.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 27

Former Bronx State Sen. Guy Velella died this morning after a battle with cancer; he was 66 years old. Velella served in Albany for decades before a bribery scandal ended his political career.

The New York Times' David Gonzalez on the history of the cross country course at Van Cortlandt Park--a "legendary"and grueling trail for distance runners.

The first Montesorri public charter school to open in New York City will be in the Bronx this fall, in Mott Haven. The schools are known for their unique, hands-on learning techniques.

Parking tickets are becoming a major expense for business owners in the city. One Bronx trucking company spent $450,000 in parking tickets and legal fees last year, according to the News.

Bronx Museum of the Arts has an exhibit this winter and spring featuring the works of early African-American artist Elizabeth Catlett and her influence on later generations of artists.


Police are looking for the suspect in a robbery that took place last month on Southern Boulevard in Morrisania. Video at the cut.

A Bronx man shot to death at a bar in Throgs Neck during a mob hit in 1999 may have been killed in retribution for his own role in a gang murder, his brother told investigators.

Predictions that a gentrifying Mott Haven would make the neighborhood the next Williamsburg were a little premature, amNY says.

The Bluestone Group is looking to sell the debt on a portfolio of six deteriorated Bronx buildings, which the company bought just last spring.

Speaking of Mott Haven: a husband and wife team there started up their own vegan cookie business, with help from the BOEDC.

Coyote sightings, apparantly, are not that unusual in Riverdale these days. A tips from experts: leave them alone.

The Bronx will finally get its own ice skating rink next year at Van Cortlandt Park.

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Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 12

The NYPD detective who struck and killed a 67-year-old woman on Kingsbridge Avenue on Oct. 30, and then failed a sobriety test, has a history of alcohol abuse.

The Bronx Democratic machine demonstrated its power on Nov. 3, by helping mayoral candidate Bill Thompson secure 61 percent of the borough's vote.

Start Strong Bronx, a new youth program sponsored by Bronx Lebanon Hospital, is teaching teenagers how to form healthy relationships. (We'll have more about Start Strong Bronx in the next issue of Bronx Youth Heard, the BxNN's youth-written newspaper.)

In an editorial, The Times examines New York's electoral districts, and blames gerrymandering politicians - including the disgraced Guy Velella, a former Bronx state senator - for creating something that resembles a highly confusing jigsaw puzzle.

An elderly Riverdale man of Jewish and German origin recalls how he escaped Germany for the United States on the eve of World War II, only to return to Europe in 1943 to help the Allies win the war.