Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 29

Happy Friday everyone! Breaking news alert: It's cold! According to weather.com, it's about 19 degrees in the Bronx this morning, but should warm up to a balmy 25 sometime this afternoon. As my wife said this morning: "But it looks so nice out."

Anyway, on to the news.

Let the games begin in the 86th Assembly district where embattled incumbent Nelson Castro finds himself up against Democratic party-backed challenger and district leader Hector Ramirez. City Hall reporter Andrew Hawkins starts his story off with: "Nelson Castro is in trouble."

But Castro's not backing down and says there is nothing to the Bronx DA's investigation into charges that he lied under oath while testifying in connection with a voter fraud case in 2008 (when it was discovered that nine voters claimed Castro's apartment as their residence.)

Here's James Fergusson's 2008 story on Castro. Here's the Norwood News' story on Ramirez's challenge.

In other news:

Four bear cubs rescued in Alaska made their debut at the Bronx Zoo.

State Senate Democrats, including Bronx pols Jeff Klein and Pedro Espada, are pressuring Gov. David Paterson to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian Reservations. To demonstrate how this issue affects local commerce, the Daily News reports that Espada had an aide go buy two packs of Newports for $10 (with taxes one pack of smokes in NYC is about $10). The question on smokers' minds: which bodega did they go to?

The Daily News reports that state investigators have found "credible evidence" that a 14-year-old boy was sexually assaulted at Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center.