Brooklyn Today: Should elderly inmates receive parole?

April 30, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

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THE LEDE: Good morning! Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Monday that he supports a bill that would establish parole opportunities for older convicts who have served 15 years or more of their original sentence. The legislation faces criticism because it would offer the chance of parole to violent offenders, including serial killers and rapists.

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THE RUNDOWN

~ BARGES AND BREWERIES: SOFAR SOUNDS HOSTS SECRET CONCERTS IN BROOKLYN’S MOST UNIQUE LOCATIONS: From the Waterfront Barge Museum in Red Hook to the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library, concert series Sofar Sounds is redefining live music events with secret performances in offbeat locations.

~ BAY RIDGE VICTORIAN MANSION DEMOLISHED DESPITE PRESERVATIONIST OUTCRY: The neighborhood’s dwindling number of Victorian houses is a matter of deep concern to preservationists. “The wood-frame, turn-of-the-century houses which contribute to the character of Bay Ridge are beginning to vanish,” said Kelly Carroll of the Historic District Council.

~ A BILL TO INCREASE PAROLE FOR ‘ELDER’ INMATES NOW HAS THE BROOKLYN DA’S SUPPORT: “We believe every human that’s incarcerated is redeemable,” said Jose Saldana, who spent 38 years in prison for attempted murder and was released on parole just over a year ago.

~ RUMORS OF CLARK STREET SUBWAY STATION CLOSURE HAVE BROOKLYN HEIGHTS BUSINESSES ON EDGE: While NYC Transit employees have been speculating about the MTA’s plans for a year-long shutdown to repair the station’s three ailing elevators, the agency is not sharing this information with the businesses that depend on the station’s subway commuters to make a living.

~ TWO-WAY BRIDGE TOLL WOULD BRING $10-15 MILLION TO MTA, POLS SAY: “Staten Island and South Brooklyn have been used as a cheap thoroughfare for far too long,” U.S. Rep. Max Rose said.

~ SYNAGOGUE BURGLAR DRAPED IN JEWISH PRAYER SHAWL STEALS $2,000: The man broke into the Yeshiva Ohel Torah Synagogue near 63rd Street and 17th Avenue through a side window and swiped the cash from the place of worship before fleeing the scene, according to police.

MORE BROOKLYN NEWS

~ Human remains are found near the Brooklyn side of the Verrazzano Bridge. (Brooklyn Reporter)

~ Developers buy an empty Bushwick lot for $11.4 million. (Patch)

~ A Philadelphia police officer is arrested after fighting over a small dog in Brooklyn. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

STAFF PICKS

~ READ: On May 6, President Donald Trump’s disgraced former lawyer Michael Cohen will go to jail. Here’s a look inside his final days of freedom. (The New Yorker)

~ EAT: Here are the five best burritos in New York City, including two in Brooklyn. (Thrillist)

~ LAUGH: Paul Manafort writes a letter to Bernie Sanders. (The Week)

~ LIVE: “How your strengths can sometimes become weaknesses” (NYT)

WHAT’S HAPPENING

6:30PM — All That You Leave Behind: Erin Lee Carr with Ta-Nehisi Coatesat NYPL. Details.

6:30PM — City of Dreams: Immigrant Life in 19th-Century New York at American Folk Art Museum. Details.

6:30PM — Min Jin Lee at BAM Peter Jay Sharp Building. Details.

THE WRAP

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1941, the Eagle reported, “Steeplechase Park, the oldest and largest amusement park in Coney Island, will begin its 45th season. … Founded in 1896, the giant fun center is expected to have its greatest season as the park has acquired the gem of the late World’s Fair midway, the parachute jump.”

IMPRINT
American model Bella Hadid is spray-painted gold on the June cover of Vogue Japan Beauty.

ROYAL WATCH
A royal family Instagram post inadvertently led many people to believe Meghan Markle’s baby had been born. (Cosmopolitan)

SPORTS
“The Islanders’ best hope against the Hurricanes is a war of attrition” (Deadspin)

BIRTHDAYS

Happy birthday to Dianna Agron, Jane Campion, Kirsten Dunst, Anthony Foxx, Gal Gadot, Johnny Galecki, Stephen Harper, Sam Heughan, Perry King, Cloris Leachman, Kunal Nayyar, Willie Nelson, Adrian Pasdar, Isiah Thomas and Burt Young!

Brooklyn Today’s editor is Scott Enman. Contact him at scott@brooklyneagle.com.