Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 23

We'll start this week off with the story of an uplifting fundraiser held by Love Gospel Assembly Church, which was gutted in a four-alarm fire in July, at Lehman College on Saturday. The event was attended by Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., who both vowed to help the church rebuild.

Speaking of Espada, the NY Post reports that the Senate Majority Leader failed to disclose campaign spending for at least two food giveaways -- one on Reservoir Avenue and one across the street from St. Brendan's Church in Norwood. A spokesman for Espada said the spending would be disclosed during the next filing period. Espada has racked up tens of thousands of dollars in campaign finance violations over the years.

More than a dozen school workers, including at least two in the Bronx, have been terminated since 2009 for falsifying excuses for missing work.

State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. has spent more than $16,000 to maintain a fleet of seven campaign vehicles that ride around his district, "blaring music" and spread the "Vote for Diaz" message. Diaz says he is a master at "street campaigning." His opponent in the upcoming primary, Charlie Ramos, says he'll be going be going to door-to-door, talking to voters.

A funeral was held for Tashawn Bromfield, the 16-year-old from Connecticut who was killed in the Bronx last weekend.

Preservationists are planning to protest the city's plan to cut down 73 trees on Pelham Parkway. The city says it needs to cut down the trees to install new guardrails and other safety measures.

To culminate HOPE week, the Yankees surprised Bronx sisters Johanna and Melinda Arias.

Cops nabbed a Bronx gunman who fired at them in Williamsbridge on Saturday.

Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 16

This past weekend in the Bronx began where the previous weekend left off -- with violence.

Just after midnight on Friday night, a car pulled up to a group of teenagers in Williamsbridge on Fenton Avenue and opened fire, killing 16-year-old Tashawn Bromfield of Connecticut. Tashawn was in town visiting his father. No one else was injured. Police said Tashawn was not the intended target and that it may have been the result of a gang initiation. More from NY1.

A few hours later, at about 7:15 Saturday morning, more tragedy struck the borough as 19-year-old Kevin Mejia was killed after falling from the roof of a six-story apartment building on University Avenue. Police are treating Mejia's death as an accident, saying the teenager lost his footing. It's unclear what he was doing on the roof of an apartment building blocks away from his own.

On Friday afternoon, a battery exploded at the Longwood Ave. 6-Train station.

Bedbugs are thriving in all the five boroughs, a new poll suggests.

Pedro Espada Jr. may benefit from a crowded 33rd Senate District race this fall.

Scholars worry that the writings of a legendary Yiddish author, Chaim Grade, will be trashed by Bronx bureaucrats. The Bronx Public Administration took the writings after Grade's widow, who lived in the Amalgamated Houses, died in May and left no will.

Now, in some more inspiring, sports-related news, Bronx native and Villanova senior guard Corey Fisher set what appears to be a new street basketball record when he dropped 105 points during a summer league game at Watson Gleason Playground. Former NYC hoops star Howard Garfinkel called Fisher a "pathological scorer."

A team of Bronx high school all-stars beat their Brooklyn counterparts in the Nike World Basketball Festival's Battle of the Boroughs. The Boogie Down takes on either Queens or Manhattan next weekend for the championship.

NBC reports on the Bronx's wildly successful Rocking the Boat youth program.

Here's some more coverage of Justice Sotomayor's visit to Lehman College on Saturday. NY1.