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.)