Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 9

A video secretly recorded at a Bronx Planned Parenthood clinic is the latest stir-up in a political debate about abortion funding (see our post, and the video, here).

A 14-year-old Wakefield girl is missing, and cops are asking for help. Photo at the link.

Monday is Valentine's Day, so the Bronx Zoo has this quiz to tell you how your courtship style matches up in the animal kingdom (FYI: I got the white-naped crane, whatever that means.)

Speaking of V-Day: Norwood lounge Beso is hosting a singles date auction Friday night, in honor of the upcoming holiday. Proceeds will go to benefit autism research.

Bronx landlords are starting contract negotiation talks with 32BJ SEIU, the union that represents service workers like superintendents, janitors, porters, doormen, elevator operators and garbage collectors.

P.S. 68 in Edenwald is the latest city school to test positive for dangerously high levels of the chemical PCB.

ABC News profiles middle school Soundview Academy.

Loeser's Deli in Kingsbridge made the Daily News' list of the best pastrami spots in New York City. 

P.S. 24 in Riverdale owes the city $20,222 in late lunch fees, according to the Times. The Department of Education says it can no longer afford to absorb the costs of parents who don't pay up for their children's school lunches.

Carlina White, the girl who was kidnapped from a Harlem Hospital 23 years ago and reunited her with Bronx parents last month, has apparently ran off to Georgia after getting in a fight with her biological mother over money.

Plans for a homeless shelter in Claremont are being met with opposition from neighbors.

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Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 3

Happy New Year everyone.  Here's some Bronx news from the last few days:

The Riverdale Press looks back at the year that was in Riverdale and Kingsbridge.

The Times has an article about prostitutes plying their trade near an elementary school in West Farms. It was written by a student at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and was developed from a piece she wrote for Bronx Ink.

State Sen. Jeff Klein has resigned as Democratic deputy minority leader. He claims he was "disgusted" with the conference's actions under John Sampson's leadership. Some Albany insiders, however, say Klein was pushed out. Regardless, Sampson looks likely to hold onto his job.

Parking meter rates in Manhattan and Queens are about to be raised. The new rates won't hit the Bronx until March.

Police have charged an ex-con with attempted murder and other offenses after he allegedly tried to shoot another man following a parking dispute in Harlem on Saturday. The intended target was uninjured, but one of the bullets grazed the head of a 13-year-old boy.

Last Wednesday, a Bronx teen was knocked down and killed after straying onto the Bruckner Expressway. Police say Malik Jenkins, 18, was being chased by a group of young men intent on harming him.

A Bronx grandmother was struck and killed on the Hutchinson River Parkway on Saturday.  Marcia Clarke-Hinton was being driven by her daughter when their car span out. She was hit when she exited the vehicle.
A five-year-old boy from the Bronx who was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident four months ago, has finally been released from hospital.  At the time, doctors feared Joshua Saunders wouldn't survive.

A woman was found murdered in her Longwood apartment last Wednesday.  Police believe her husband was responsible, and are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to call Crime Stoppers.

Alan Grayson, a congressman from Flordia who was raised in the Bronx, is leaving office on Wednesday, and has parting shots for Democratic and Republicans alike.

A hike through Manhattan and the Bronx by way of the sewer system. See here and here.

Michael Benjamin, the now-ex assemblymember, says the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory should have been turned into a mall. He told Crain's: “We can't constantly keep saying no while making unreasonable demands. We need to put out the signal that the Bronx is a good place to do business.” The Crain's article is subscription only, but you can access it by Googling the headline: "New tack needed as Bronx bombs."
(Most Bronx pols say the City Council was right to reject Related Companies mall plan in late 2009. A recent Norwood News editorial makes the same argument.) 

Two blogger claims NIMBYism ("not in my backyard") is motivating those opposing plans to turn the Muller Army Reserve Center into a homeless shelter.  You can read more about the opposition here.

A year ago, The Times profiled a group of Bhutanese refugees living in a University Heights apartment building. Now, many of the families have made the decision to move on. 

The city's Environmental Protection Agency has released new guidelines for schools handling and removing  light fixtures contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In 2009, a Bronx mother filed a lawsuit after high levels of the toxin were found at a Co-op City school. 

More on the ongoing renovation of the Edgar Allan Poe cottage, including plans for a "wacky" visitor center.  You can read the Norwood News' coverage of the renovation here.

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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.