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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, January 18, 2022

January 18, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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Judy Phillips
Photo courtesy of US Attorney’s Office United States Attorney’s Office in Hawaii

U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE APPOINTMENT OF JUDY PHILLIPS:  Eastern District of New York alumna Judy Phillips, the former Acting United States Attorney and First Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Hawaii, is returning today to the Office as Executive Assistant United States Attorney. A career prosecutor with more than 30 years of experience in the King’s County District Attorney’s Office, the Eastern District of New York and the District of Hawaii, Ms. Phillips became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in this district in 1997 and served in the General Crimes, Narcotics and Violent Crimes sections of the Office until she was appointed Chief of Intake and Arraignment in 2003.

During her career in this Office, Ms. Phillips successfully investigated and tried a number of significant violent gang and narcotics cases, including cases involving organized crime and Asian gangs.

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Joseph Marutollo. Photo courtesy of United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York

US ATTORNEY’S OFFICE CIVIL DIVISION HEAD: Joseph Marutollo has been appointed Chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, after having joined the Brooklyn Office in 2015. During this time, he has handled a wide range of affirmative and defensive civil actions in diverse subject areas. Later, as Acting Chief of the Civil Division, he worked with senior management in the Civil Division and the Office to help create the Civil Rights Team and the Environmental Justice Team.

These teams of experienced Civil Division AUSAs are assigned to investigate systemic discrimination in the City of New York and on Long Island and to address disproportionate health, environmental, economic and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities.

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Kristin Mace
Photo courtesy of United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York

US ATTORNEY’S OFFICE CRIMINAL DIVISION HEAD: Kristin Mace has been appointed Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, based in Brooklyn. Since joining the Office in 2011, Ms. Mace has worked on a number of significant investigations and prosecutions, primarily in the areas of organized crime, gangs, and racketeering. In April 2019, Kristin became Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and, in June 2021, began serving as the Acting Chief of the Criminal Division.

Kristin has received the Henry L. Stimson Medal for integrity, fair play, and superior commitment to the public good; the Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Achievements in the FIFA Corruption Investigation; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Criminal Division’s Prosecutor of the Year Award.

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HELP FOR THOSE FACING EVICTION: As the NY State Eviction Moratorium closed on January 15th, NYC launched a campaign to inform tenants about their rights and connect them to critical resources. The city wants every New Yorker to know that lockouts are illegal, legal services are free and available regardless of immigration status, with nonprofit legal services organizations from across the five boroughs providing counsel on a pro bono-basis. New Yorkers in need of rent relief are urged to apply for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) through the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (https://www1.nyc.gov/content/tenantprotection/pages/covid19-home-quarantine).

Beginning this week, the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit (PEU) will be conducting direct outreach to tenants at risk of eviction to inform them of their rights and connect them to support.

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COLLEGE & CAREER LAB: Current 7th and 8th graders who attend school in New York City may be interested in New York University’s College & Career Lab (CCL) an exciting, free, non-credit summer and year-long Exploratory Stage for rising 8th and 9th graders. As part of the lab, students participate in college-level introductory courses, engage in interactive activities and games, and practice skill-building exercises designed to discover their passions. Registration is open for the upcoming spring 2022, information sessions offered on March 1; visit https://connect.nyu.edu/register/?id=bf0db2d1-e644-4763-a8ba-c48ddf83161f.

Students in the lab are grouped with CCL advisors who facilitate college and career exploration, mentorship, and continued soft-skill development throughout the summer and subsequent academic year.

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HEALTH CARE OPEN ENROLLMENT ENDS SOON: January 31st is the last opportunity New Yorkers have to enroll in health care after an unprecedented Open Enrollment Period spanning nearly two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, MetroPlus Health Plan, and community-based partners will host a Day of Action on Wednesday, January 19 to raise awareness about this upcoming health care deadline, offering peer-to-peer text and phone banks, a paid ad campaign, and an organic social media push.

New Yorkers are encouraged to connect with a Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit (PEU) GetCoveredNYC Specialist to ensure that they have health coverage going into the New Year.

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WINNING TAKE 5 LOTTERY TICKET: A store near Kings County Medical Center sold a top-prize winning ticket for the January 13 Take 5 Evening drawing with the New York Lottery. The ticket, worth $40,723.50, was purchased at Lucky Stop & Shop, at 549 New York Avenue.

Take 5 players with midday and evening draws on the same ticket are urged to check their numbers at nylottery.ny.gov to determine if they have the winning numbers for the corresponding midday or evening drawing. 

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CB1 TO DISCUSS NEW HOUSING IN WILLIAMSBURG: Community Board 1’s Land Use, ULURP & Landmarks Committee will consider development near Broadway Triangle (Application No. C 220209 HAK) during a virtual public hearing and meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 1. This public application by the Dept. of Housing, Preservation & Development requests a UDAAP designation and disposition of city-owned property to facilitate the development of a new nine-story rental residential building with approximately 29 units of affordable housing at 29-31 Bartlett Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

According to HPD, the UDAAP Tax Incentive is an exemption for “rehabilitating housing or building new housing on land that used to be owned by the city and has been designated by the City Council as an area in need of urban renewal.”

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MILESTONE: PIONEER IN JUDICIARY ETHICS: The New York Law Journal reports that Gerald Stern, who served as the first head of the agency tasked with policing New York’s judiciary, has died at age 86, after battling cancer. A Brooklyn College alumnus who was raised in Brooklyn’s Seagate neighborhood, Stern gained a reputation as an icon of ethics enforcement as the first administrator for the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which the state legislature had originally established as a temporary entity.

The Law Journal reported that Stern “fostered a passion for fighting for the underdog…Under Stern’s leadership of the SCLJ, a brighter light was cast on judges’ conduct in New York, both in and outside of the courtroom.”

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MILESTONE: INFIELDER AND VIOLINIST: EDDIE BASINSKI, 99. Eddie Basinski, a musician and player with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pirates, once surprised Dodgers General Manager Leo Durocher by performing Strauss waltzes in the team clubhouse. Before starting his major league baseball career in 1944, initially as a shortstop, Basinski was already a classically-trained violinist, writes New York Times obituary writer Richard Goldstein.

Before his death, Basinski had been the second-oldest former major leaguer.

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IPS NEWS: ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FACEBOOK: New York Attorney General Letitia James led a bipartisan coalition of 48 attorneys general from around the nation in continuing the fight to end what they allege is Facebook’s illegal efforts to stifle competition and protect its monopoly power. The coalition filed an appeal brief on Friday, arguing that the district court’s ruling dismissing the states’ case was in error, on the grounds that it is wrong to dismiss their case as time-barred, and that the district court made additional legal and factual errors.

The only states not listed as participants were South Carolina and South Dakota.

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