Good Morning, Brooklyn: Friday, November 19, 2021

November 19, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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NEW SCHOLARSHIPS TO INCENTIVIZE NURSES: The Nurses For Our Future Scholarship, a program of the State University of New York and City University of New York, will cover tuition for 1,000 new health care workers to get RN nursing degrees at SUNY and CUNY. Governor Kathy Hochul announced at a breakfast with the Association for a Better New York. The scholarship program, which comes in an effort to help address the shortage in health care and lack of workers in hospitals around the state, is designed to recruit and retrain nursing and health care professionals, offering nursing program admission to either SUNY or CUNY, and with the flexibility of completing on a varying schedule, either part-time or full-time.

Moreover, the New York State Department of Labor will help market these new opportunities to existing and unemployed workers, including opportunities available through regional SUNY Educational Opportunity Centers for entry-level nurse certifications in high demand including Certified Nursing Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse and Nursing Home Aide.

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COMEDIAN TRACY MORGAN FEEDS COMMUNITY: Brooklyn’s own actor and comedian, Tracy Morgan returned to his home neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant last weekend to make sure local families in the community have full tables for this Thanksgiving. Partnering with the Food Bank For New York City at the Sumner Houses in Brooklyn, the SNL and 30 Rock Alum helped distribute food —which included turkey with all the fixings —for approximately 500 households.

Morgan has worked with the Food Bank For New York City for the past year, and assisted with distributions in all five boroughs this past summer in honor of Father’s Day.

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CORRECTION OFFICERS’ SICKOUT: New data released by the federal monitor in the wake of Nunez v. City of New York, a class action lawsuit that the Legal Aid Society initiated in 2014 to challenge systemic brutality in the prisons, shows that the City has failed to persuade uniformed correction officers to end their sickout that is causing a humanitarian crisis in the jails. According to the report, roughly 29 percent (2,351) of uniformed officers were reportedly unavailable to work as of the most recent data on Nov. 3, 2021, which has paralyzed the Department’s ability to care for and keep safe the New Yorkers in its custody. At least 1,515 officers were out on reported “sick leave”— nearly a fifth of uniformed staff.

Moreover, in successive emergency orders dated Sept. 15 and Nov. 1, of this year, Mayor de Blasio ordered immediate actions to curb the correction officers’ refusal to work, and granted them a special exemption from the Mayor’s vaccine mandate for all city workers, and an extension until Dec. 1 to comply with that mandate.

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GRAND OPENING OF CACCI HEADQUARTERS: The memory of pioneering business leader, Dr. Roy A. Hastick was honored this week at the grand opening of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) headquarters. Dr. Hastick, who died of COVID-19 in April 2020, just a month short of his 70^th birthday, had founded CACCI in 1985, and was widely-respected as a visionary and strong advocate for building CACCI office space near a bustling market to help Caribbean American vendors and small business owners with development, trade, and investment opportunities between the United States and the Caribbean.

In addition to CACCI headquarters, the building will house Caton Market, featuring upgraded amenities for the Market’s existing small business owners, expanded space for food vendors including a bar, café, and commercial kitchen, as well as flexible classroom space for business trainings and workshops for the community.

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Thomas Marzetta, director of NYU WIRELESS.
Theodore Rappaport, professor of electrical engineering.
Photos courtesy of NYU Tandon

Theodore Rappaport, professor of electrical engineering.
Photos courtesy of NYU Tandon

TANDON RESEARCHERS NAMED TO PRESTIGIOUS LIST: NYU Tandon School Of Engineering Researchers Thomas Marzetta, director of NYU WIRELESS, and Theodore “Ted” S. Rappaport, who is the David Lee/Ernst Weber Chaired Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are among 24 New York University professors named to Clarivate Analytics’ 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list. The annual list identifies researchers who have demonstrated significant influence in their fields, ranging from biology and engineering to economics and public health. The scientists chosen from around the world have published papers that rank in the top one percent by citations in their fields over the past decade in Clarivate’s Web of Science citation index.

Marzetta and Rappaport, both recipients of the Radio Club of America’s prestigious Armstrong Award, are not new to the rankings: they were named to Clarivate’s list in 2019 and 2020. Another NYU WIRELESS researcher, Elza Erkip, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NYU Tandon, earned the distinction as well for her prescient work on information theory applied to wireless networks.

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70 NEW PARAMEDICS FOR NEW YORK CITY: FDNY Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro presided over a graduation ceremony for paramedics yesterday at the Christian Cultural Center. The 70 graduating paramedics, who will be assigned to units throughout New York City, have trained for 9 months at the EMS Academy, at hospitals on clinical internships, and in field rotations, in order to provide the highest level of pre-hospital care. Their extensive training expands on their previous level of certification to include anatomy and physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology, as well as many critical lifesaving skills, such as: intravenous therapy and medication administration; EKG monitoring and cardiac rhythm interpretation; and advanced airway management.

The ceremony was livestreamed and is available on the Department’s website, www.nyc.gov/FDNY.

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IPS NEWS: FIGHTING GUN VIOLENCE WITH RESEARCH :A new law signed today fights the ongoing gun violence crisis through the creation of a state Firearm Violence Research Institute. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signed the set of bills, S.2981/A.7302, whose main State Senate and Assembly sponsors were Sen. Roxanne Persaud (D-19) and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (AD-52). The new institute will examine gun violence using scientific research methods, as has been done to better understand other major health and social concerns, such as motor vehicle accidents, cancer, heart disease and tobacco research.

Accompanying legislation S.5952/A.2111 creates a mechanism to allow taxpayer gifts to support the institute’s work.

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IPS NEWS: PROTECTING BUSINESSES FROM PREDATORY LENDING: A new bill that Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, chair of the House Small Business Committee, and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced on Thursday, the bicameral Small Business Lending Disclosure Act, aims to protect small business borrowers from predatory lenders and loans carrying unfair terms and conditions. The bill would also ensure safeguards already required in consumer lending, through the Truth in Lending Act, and it would bolster the role of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in policing small business lending and bring enhanced transparency to small commercial loans.

Under Velázquez’s bill, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) would be granted the same oversight authority with respect to small business financing as the agency has with respect to consumer financial products and services. Moreover, small business lenders would need to make additional information readily available to borrowers including: the annual percentage rate; financing charges for loans; loan terms; payment amounts and collateral requirements.

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IPS NEWS: RESCUE PLAN FUNDS RECRUITMENT DRIVE: The New York Office for People with Developmental Disabilities will provide over $1.5 billion in one-time American Rescue Plan Act funding to support recruitment efforts, retention incentives and vaccination bonuses for professionals who provide direct support for people with developmental disabilities. The financing aims to address workforce shortages in this field, Gov. Kathy Hochul explained in her announcement on Thursday.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has conveyed partial approval of the plan as it relates to the workforce. Most immediately, it sets up a “Heroes Fund,” which will provide incentive payments to those DSPs who worked during the unprecedented pandemic with additional payments for those who received the COVID vaccine.

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THANKSGIVING PIE DRIVE: The Brooklyn Heights Synagogue is holding a Thanksgiving pie drive today through the weekend to benefit the food pantry of its social service partner CAMBA. Members of the community are invited to drop store-bought pies that don’t need refrigeration, in accordance with NYC Health Department rules. Drop-off times are 9:30 a.m. to noon today, and 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow (Saturday, November 20) and Sunday.

The pies will later be distributed to people in need. Later this month, the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue will sponsor a coat drive; and its pre-school will hold a toy drive.

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Alphonse and Gabriella Catanese. Alphonse Catanese donated 700 turkeys continuing an over six-year tradition of donating turkeys in honor of their parents, Al and Maria Catanese.
Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens

CATHOLIC CHARITIES DISTRIBUTES TURKEYS: Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens distributed 825 turkeys to struggling families at St. Francis of Assisi – St. Blaise Parish in Brooklyn on Tuesday, November 16. Catholic Charities distributed 1,400 frozen turkeys at 2 Pop-Up food pantries and a Thanksgiving turkey distribution to date.

The distribution of the turkeys will continue Thursday, November 18, followed by Monday, November 22 in Queens.