Brooklyn Boro

From the editor: It’s a long weekend. Read something wonderful.

October 12, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Banks holds a photo from the first time she visited Javon on Aug. 11, 2001 at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane
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I asked six months ago what you wanted from a local news source, and since then we’ve been reading your feedback, taking your calls and reflecting on our own goals as journalists. The responses have been varied, but there are some trend lines: more depth to explain the news, a better reflection of Brooklyn’s diverse communities, and some time spent on the positive things happening in our neighborhoods. (By the way, it’s never too late to tell us what you want to see. Read this post or just email me.)

We’ve put that feedback into action over the last six months, and it’s helped reshape the Eagle and given our reporting greater weight across Brooklyn. We’ve folded it into our regular beats, and we’ve taken some opportunities to slow things down and produce more robust reporting.

Some of those things can easily slide by in the breakneck pace of the daily news cycle. So at the start of a three-day weekend, I figured it’s a good opportunity to point out some of some of the great reporting, writing and photography you may have missed over just the last week. I’d love to show you everything from the last six months, but it’s only a three-day weekend.

Kick back, relax and read something wonderful.

They met as children. Now married, she’s been visiting him in prison for nearly 20 years.

Kaywonda Banks spends nearly every other weekend on a daylong trip to visit her husband, Javon, in prison. Cuts to the state budget means that transportation doesn’t come free — but a bill that’s been kicking around Albany could change that.

Families of those killed by police can request an independent investigation. In Brooklyn, most have not.

After Victoria Davis’ brother was killed by an NYPD officer, no one had told her about the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the independent city agency that investigates accusations of police misconduct. She wasn’t alone.

In the first of a three-part series, we tell Davis’s story and explore the red-tape preventing accountability. In part two, we report a citywide trend in the lack of independent investigation after the NYPD’s use of lethal force. In part three, we look to see how other cities tackle the issue. There’s a podcast wrapping it all up.

After Kaporos: The Bushwick brownstone that serves as a chicken rescue center

In the basement of a Bushwick brownstone, two roommates have set up a chicken triage center. By Monday, they had more than 100 feathered patients.

Where the beach grass grows: How Floyd Bennett Field is fighting future storms

Driving through Floyd Bennett Field, it’s easy to miss the Marian S. Heiskell Nursery. But it’s there: a garden producing New York City’s first line of defense against hurricanes.

Plucking without pretense: The ethos of Orphan Guitars

You won’t find many big, legacy brands like Fender and Gibson at Orphan Guitars, a tiny storefront in Carroll Gardens. Instead, owner Dwight Weeks favors playable, affordable, oddball instruments. The proceeds from the sales go toward music lessons for local kids.

The man behind Brooklyn’s own Fashion Week

While New York Fashion Week’s high-profile, high-priced events dazzle the industry elite across the East River, a smaller, more inclusive affair takes place in Brooklyn.

 

Oh? All done reading? Well, here’s 10 things to do this weekend, and 10 fried chicken sandwiches you should eat.

 


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