Brooklyn Today: May 17, 2012

May 17, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

Good morning. Today is the 138th day of the year. On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Brown v. Board of Education decision, ruled unanimously that segregation of public schools solely on the basis of race denied black children equal education opportunity. “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” the court ruled.

Well-known people who were born today include former boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, U.S. Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), actress Nikki Reed (“Thirteen,” “Twilight”) and Hall of Fame soccer player Mia Hamm.

* * *

This afternoon from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Borough Hall, Borough President Marty Markowitz and Turkish Consul General M. Levent Biligen will host an evening of food and entertainment at Borough Hall’s annual Turkish Cultural Celebration. Entertainment will be provided by the Ottoman Military Band, the Ankara Greater Municipality Folk Dance Group and the New York Gypsy All-Stars.

* * *

On Tuesday evening at Flatbush Avenue and East 36th Street, police responded to a 911 call and discovered an 18-year-old man unconscious with a gunshot wound to his head. An EMS that responded to the scene pronounced him dead. The deceased was identified yesterday as Tyreck Wheeler of 1656 Brooklyn Ave.

According to the Daily News, the streets of the Hasidic section of Williamsburg are plastered with leaflets urging support for a rabbi who is accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl. Some of the signs made the young woman’s complaint out to be a danger similar to a rocket attack. Behind the leaflets are the conviction that it’s wrong to bring civil authorities into the highly religious community’s affairs.

The MTA has updated subway maps on its website by renaming the Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street subway complex “Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center.” The New York Post says the name change is part of a naming-rights deal between the MTA and Barclays Center that was approved in 2009 and was reported in the Eagle at the time. Print maps and station signs won’t be updated until the summer, says the Post. What happened to Pacific Street, which is directly south of Atlantic Avenue? Well, the street’s still there!