Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, January 26, 2022

January 26, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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DOGS ALLEGEDLY SICKENED AT McCARREN PARK DOG RUN: The McCarren Park dog run in Williamsburg has been temporarily closed, following reports about potential cases of leptospirosis. This disease from a bacterial infection has sickened and allegedly caused the deaths of four dogs. City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who represents the McCarren Park area, learned of the reports and has pushed the NYC Parks and Health Departments to implement temporary solutions and renovations to improve dog run drainage, rodent extermination (using techniques safe for dogs), and new rat-resistant garbage cans.

The dog run is expected to remain closed for a week.

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NEW ART IN BUS SHELTERS: The Public Art Fund unveils Global Positioning; A Three-City Exhibition of Artworks by 20 international artists, presented on 320 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City, Chicago and Boston. Global Positioning is an exhibition of new artworks by 20 international artists that reveals our fundamental shared humanity across the boundaries of geography, culture, language, history, and politics. These creative voices span 17 countries across six continents.

The exhibition, which debuts today, Jan. 26, is viewable at several bus shelters in Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Williamsburg, Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay and Homecrest, according to a map from the Public Art Fund.

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CORRECTION: A news item published in yesterday’s edition contained an erroneous start date for the “The Pool” large-scale art installation at The Collision Project—Industry City’s campus-wide arts initiative. “The Pool,” by artist Jen Lewin, will be unveiled this Friday, January 28, and not on March 28, which is the closing date.

“The Pool,” which will be open to the public from 3-9 p.m. daily, was created to allow visitors to enter a world where play and collaborative movement create swirling effects of light and color.

Viewers in action at The Pool, which opens at Industry City here in Brooklyn this Friday, January 28.
Photo courtesy of JR East

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BEWARE COVID TEST SCAMS: The New York State Division of Consumer Protection warns consumers about scammers who exploit the free COVID-19 test government program to steal personal information for unscrupulous purposes. Due to the high demand, scammers may start using techniques that typically arise with a free government event such as: falsely claiming to be online providers of the tests; sending fake emails and texts that contain harmful links designed to steal your personal information; and using robocalls to pitch testing information.

People can order their tests online at COVIDTests.gov, and tests will typically ship within 7-12 days of ordering. This distribution method can spur a wave of scams if consumers are not aware of the right website or where to go to get the test.

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GREENPOINT RESIDENT’S ACADEMIC HONORS: Riley Manion of Greenpoint (11222) was named to the Dean’s List at Hamilton College for the 2021 fall semester. A sophomore and a graduate of Poly Prep Country Day School, Riley carried a course load of four or more graded credits with an average of 3.5 or above to qualify for Dean’s List.

Originally founded in 1793 as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, the college was renamed in 1812 for Alexander Hamilton, one of its trustees and a founding father who was the first Secretary of the Treasury.

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BROOKLYNITE EARNS DEAN’S LIST SPOT: Jenyah A. Cunningham of Brooklyn is among more than 1,650 students named to the University of Scranton’s Dean’s List for the 2021 fall semester. Cunningham is a freshman secondary education-English major in the University’s Panuska College of Professional Studies.

The University of Scranton is a Jesuit university located in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

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IN MEMORIAM: Harvey Gerald Stack, Brooklyn-born patriarch of the family firm that bills itself as the nation’s largest rare coin business, died on Jan. 3 in New York at age 93, reports The New York Times. During his 62 years as his company’s manager of business affairs, Mr. Stack was reputed to have personally conducted more auction sales than anyone else in the industry.

Stack urged Congress “to approve the U.S. Mint’s enormously popular 50 State Quarters Program that honored each state with a commemorative coin in the order in which they ratified the Constitution or were admitted to the union,” writes the Times’ Sam Roberts.

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IPS NEWS: NEW CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION INTRODUCED: Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, (D-12) chair of the Oversight and Reform Committee, and Rep. James Comer, ranking member of the Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2022. This legislation aims to improve the federal government’s cyber defenses following a string of high-profile cyberattacks, including SolarWinds and the Microsoft Exchange Server hack, as well as vulnerabilities discovered in common Apache Log4j software.

The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2022, or FISMA 2022, would accomplish several objectives, such as advance a risk-based cybersecurity posture, and clarify and streamline the roles of the National Cyber Director, the Office of Management and Budget, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Chief Information Security Officer, and other federal entities to more effectively coordinate efforts to mitigate and respond to cyber incidents.

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BROOKLYN JUDGE GRANTS STAY ON MASK MANDATE: Justice Robert J. Miller, an Appellate Division judge in Brooklyn, granted a stay on the mask mandate that had been overturned on Monday, allowing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s rule to take effect again, albeit temporarily. Following Monday’s ruling by Justice Thomas Rademaker, of the State Supreme Court in Nassau County, that requiring masks violated the State Constitution, and the subsequent confusion that ruling caused, Gov. Hochul and State Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion to stay the ruling in an attempt to put it on hold while the state filed a formal appeal. (See story, page 1.)

Judge Miller has scheduled another hearing on the matter for Friday morning.

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BIDEN APPOINTMENT TO HUD: President Joe Biden announced the appointment of former City Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel to serve as HUD Regional Administrator for Region II, serving New York and New Jersey (including offices in Albany and Buffalo). Born and raised in Brownsville, Alicka Ampry-Samuel also served during her time in City Council as that body’s appointed Deputy Leader and Chair of the Public Housing Committee. Her 41^st Council District had the highest concentration of public housing in North America. (See story, page 1.)

She brings prior experience from her time serving on the senior team at the New York City Housing Authority.

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90 PERCENT SOLD: A boutique luxury condominium in Greenpoint has officially reached the 90 percent sold mark, according to The InHouse Group. The eight-residence building called 81 McGuiness still has a single remaining home, Residence 2, a sprawling two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment featuring 1260 square feet of living space and priced at $1.59 million. (See story, page 19.)

The building is slated to welcome its first residents this year.