Good Morning, Brooklyn: Monday, November 8, 2021

November 8, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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VICTORY FOR U.S. ATTORNEY IN BROOKLYN: Federal prosecutors at the U.S. District Court-Eastern District in Brooklyn were handed a major appellate victory on Friday, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated a jury’s conviction of a now-defunct hedge fund executive in a fraud case involving a Texas oil and gas firm, the New York Law Journal reports. In 2019, a federal jury had convicted David Levy, the former co-chief investment officer of Platinum Partners L.P. and the firm’s co-founder, Mark Nordlicht, of securities fraud and two conspiracy charges. In a rare situation for federal juries, the conviction in U.S. v. Levy was overturned.

The case, according to the Second Circuit’s opinion, now gets returned to U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan of the Eastern District of New York for sentencing.

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PROOF OF VACCINATION OR NEGATIVE TEST: NYC Health + Hospitals is updating its visitor policy to continue safeguarding its patients and staff. Effective Monday, November 8, 2021 all hospitals in the NYC Health + Hospitals system will require that visitors to inpatient units have proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test 48 hours prior to their visit.

Necessary exceptions will be made for labor and delivery units, for end-of-life patients, and other patients indicated in the H+H policy.

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NEW START DATE FOR BRIDGE REPAIRS: The NYCDOT Division of Bridges, which was scheduled to begin the replacement of the 17th Ave. Pedestrian Bridge off the Belt Parkway last Monday will now start that work on November 15. The bridge will be closed to pedestrians for start of the demolition, with a new bridge being placed in the existing bridge’s footprint.

A staging area located on either side of the Belt Parkway will serve as a storage facility for the equipment and materials needed for the project. Tree pruning and removal is associated with establishing the area.

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NEW COMPOST CENTER FOR CANARSIE/FLATLANDS: A community compost program may soon be serving the Canarsie and Flatlands neighborhoods. Community Board 18’s November 17 meeting will include a guest presentation with the Lower East Side Ecology Center on the compost program, to operate from 1149 Rockaway Ave., which will be transformed from a vacant lot into an educational compost site.

The community compost program will offer public food scrap drop-off opportunities, free compost giveaways, neighborhood beautification and compost education and events.

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FORT HAMILTON COMMUNITY HOLDS VETERANS DAY CEREMONY: The U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton will host the annual Veterans Day Ceremony for members of its military community on Wednesday, Nov.10, 2021, one day before the federal commemoration of November 11 as Veterans Day. This year’s ceremony is focused on the 20th anniversary of the start of the Global War on Terrorism.

Since 1938 when Congress declared Veterans Day an official holiday, the observance took place on the anniversary of armistice that ended the fighting along the Western Front in World War I on Nov. 11, 1918.

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TALK ON 17^TH CENTURY BREUKELEN: A professor at St. Francis College is one of the speakers for “Diversity, Strife, and Toleration in 17th Century Breukelen,” a free online presentation that the New Amsterdam History Center and the Center for Brooklyn are sponsoring tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 9.-Professor Eric Platt, chair of American Studies at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, who is working on a book on Deborah Moody, often referred to as the “Dangerous Lady,” will discuss the disputes between the Dutch settlers of Breukelen and the English settlement of Gravesend. Registration for the talk, which runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m., can be made via: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversity-strife-and-toleration-in-17th-century-breukelen-online-event-tickets-181028790987

The talk will also have a focus on the Munsee-speaking Lenape inhabitants who preceded the Dutch settlements.

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CITY SUES LANDLORDS OVER VERMIN AND NEGLECT: The City of New York brought lawsuits against two groups of residential building owners for their failure to protect tenants from rat, mice and other vermin infestations. The City Law Department, in coordination with the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, filed the suits on behalf of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the Department of Buildings against building owners Labe Twerski and Manny Stein (a.k.a. Menachem Augustein), as well as each of their associated owners and property managers.

Their involvement comes after these owners repeatedly violated City health and safety codes and ignored Commissioner’s Orders to correct those violations.

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REMEMBERING ROAD TRAFFIC VICTIMS: Transportation Alternatives, the advocacy group for cyclists and pedestrians, urges New Yorkers to join in World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday, Nov. 21. Families for Safe Streets is sponsoring this observance, in which participants will join street safety organizations, community members, faith leaders, elected officials and dignitaries from across the country and globe to remember and call to action.

Leading up to this event will be National Call-in Week for #ZeroTrafficDeaths, Nov. 15-21, in which citizens are encouraged to call their federal officials and urge passage of the Congressional Zero Traffic Deaths Resolution (S. Res. 321, H. Res. 565).

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IN PUBLIC SERVICE: Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. James E. Clyburn, chair of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, commended the Biden Administration on Friday for terminating a federal contract with Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (Emergent) to manufacture coronavirus vaccines. Emergent, which manufactures both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, was investigated this past spring for receiving a multimillion-dollar contract from the Trump Administration to manufacture coronavirus vaccines despite a history of quality control issues.

Reps. Maloney and Clyburn had launched the investigation and in May released the initial findings: that the failure to address serious deficiencies at Emergent’s Bayview facility led to the destruction of millions of doses due to contamination.

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BECOMING ANTI-RACISTS: Community Education Council District 13 (CEC D13) launches their second year of Community Town Halls on Becoming an Anti-Racist District, reports Brooklyn Community Board 2. The Town Halls, which begin tomorrow, Nov. 9, will focus this year on community organizing and leading for change.

Register via https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-e5WUiNsWHqU4GP0LintbZkrDGr0q4qoTpoQ33YOzqchcHg/viewform

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PRIEST AT POWELL FUNERAL SERVED IN BROOKLYN: The Rev. Joshua Walters, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church where the late General Colin Powell and his family attended in McLean, Virginia, has a connection to Brooklyn. Fr. Walters was the seminarian at Grace Church-Brooklyn Heights from 2004-2006.

This past Friday, Fr. Walters was one of the officiating clergy at General Powell’s funeral, where he read from the Gospel of John: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”