Brooklyn Today: March 7, 2012

March 7, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Good morning. Today is the 67th day of the year. It is the birth anniversary (1849) of Luther Burbank, American naturalist and author. Burbank developed many new varieties of flowers, fruits, vegetables and trees.

Well-known people who were born today include media executive Michael Eisner, actress Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, Runaway Jury, About a Boy), singer Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band, former auto racer Janet Guthrie and opera singer Denyse Graves.

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Tonight between 7 and 9 p.m., Kevin Young will read from his book of essays, The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness, at the powerHouse Arena, 37 Main St., DUMBO. Young’s book illustrates the African-American tradition of telling tall tales. Young is the author of seven collections of poetry and a professor at Emory University.

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New York state has suspended the license of a Brooklyn driving school linked to a bus crash that killed four people in Virginia, according to the New York Post. The Hong Kong-born owners of the N&Y Professional Service Line school are also charged with fraud for what prosecutors say was getting commercial driver’s licenses for people without the necessary skills.

Carroll Gardens Patch says that the 78th Precinct has been charged with policing the new Barclays Center. Although the arena is technically located within the 88th Precinct’s borders, it is a half-mile away from that precinct’s station house in Clinton Hill, while only a block away from the 78th Precinct’s station house on Sixth Avenue in Park Slope.

According to Cobble Hill Blog, nine-time Grammy Award-winner and Cobble Hill resident Norah Jones is about to release a new CD, Little Broken Hearts. Jones moved to her home on Amity Street in 2009 and antagonized many neighbors with a request to cut 10 windows into the side of her home. Residents of a neighboring condo building complained that she would be able to see into their backyard from close quarters. Eventually, the number of windows was downsized to seven.