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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, July 26, 2022

July 26, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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BOROUGH PRESIDENT ALLOCATES ENTIRE BUDGET FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE SERVICES: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso’s administration has allocated $18.5 million in capital funding to NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island to consolidate and expand access to women’s health services on the hospital’s campus. This funding will allow the South Brooklyn hospital to improve the continuity of care between inpatient and outpatient services.

Mr. Reynoso is the first Borough President to allocate an entire fiscal year’s capital funding to one cause, and within one city organization. His entire $45M budget is being allotted across the three public hospitals in Brooklyn to help improve maternal health care services that will in turn reduce maternal mortality rates of Black pregnant people.

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NEWS MAGAZINE RANKS NYU-LANGONE AS STATE’S TOP HOSPITAL: NYU Langone Health is the top hospital in New York State and No. 3 in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals Honor Roll released today, July 26: These rankings include NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn. The U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll also credits NYU Langone with having the No. 1 Neurology & Neurosurgery department in the country.

Moreover, NYU-Langone Health also made the top five list in 14 other nationally-ranked specialties, including the aforementioned lead ranking in Neurology and Neurosurgery: number 3 in Diabetes & Endocrinology and in Geriatrics; number 4 in Pulmonology & Lung Surgery, and in Orthopedics, and number 5 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery as well as in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery.

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MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL’S GERIATRICS DEPT. RANKS TOP IN ITS CATEGORY: Mount Sinai Medical System, not to be outdone, also released its rankings from the U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals Honor Roll. The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Department of Geriatrics was ranked No. 1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for the third consecutive year. The Mount Sinai Hospital was also listed on the “Honor Roll” of the nation’s top 20 hospitals for the seventh year in a row.

Even though Mount Sinai has locations in Brooklyn, the report did not itemize these particular facilities.

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HOMICIDE CHARGE IN DEATH OF ELDERLY WOMAN: A 51-year-old man has been arrested and charged with homicide in last Saturday’s assault of an elderly woman, now deceased, in East New York. Police have identified the suspect, André Hooper, as the tenant of 77-year-old Elenora Bernard, whom they found bruised and swollen, when responding to a 911 call of a possible assault inside 361 East 45^th St. on July 23.

The Medical Examiner is still investigating the woman’s death, but the defendant’s charge was on Monday afternoon to homicide.

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89 NEW COURT OFFICERS BEING SWORN IN: A class of 89 Court Officer recruits will take the oath of office, later this morning at the Christian Cultural Center, with Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for NYC Courts, Hon. Deborah Kaplan, presiding. The newly-minted officers will join the ranks of the NYS Courts’ 4,000-plus Court Officers and 2,000 non-uniformed peace officers – the second-largest law enforcement agency in the State.

Sixty of the new court officers will be deployed within the five boroughs. The remaining 29 recruits will serve Nassau and Suffolk counties, and Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester Counties.

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COURT SYSTEM’S CASELOAD INCREASES: The New York State Unified Court System has an active caseload of more than 453,000 pending civil, criminal felony and Family Court cases, representing a 15 percent increase compared to the end of February 2020, just prior to the onset of the pandemic. The numbers, which the court system provided to the New York Law Journal this week, reflect up to June 20.

A court spokesperson attributes the larger caseloads to a catching-up, following the slowdown that occurred during the first 18 months of the pandemic.

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INCREASE IN NUMBER OF AMERICANS WHO DISTRUST SCOTUS: A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has found a sharp increase in the percentage of Americans who have expressed “hardly any” confidence in the United States Supreme Court. About two in three Americans, including more than half of Republicans, say they favor term limits or a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices, with 67 percent of Americans supporting a proposal to set a specific number of years that justices serve instead of life terms, including 82 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Republicans. Views are similar about a requirement that justices retire by a specific age.

Although the U.S. Constitution gives federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, life tenure, there have been recent calls for change. The poll was conducted just weeks after the high court issued high-profile rulings on abortion and gun rights.

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FEDERAL COURT ALLOWS HOMEOWNERS’ LAWSUIT TO PROCEED: Three Central Brooklyn homeowners of color who filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the City of New York’s confiscation of their properties as illegal have won yet another victory from the U.S. District Court/Southern District/NY. The suit, filed in early 2019, claims that the City of New York unlawfully targeted and confiscated the private property of Black and Brown homeowners and cooperative shareholders as part of the Housing, Preservation and Development’s Third Party Transfer Program, and that the City seizes the owners’ entire interest and value in their homes and buildings for the TPT Program, often over paltry unpaid water and sewer charges that, in many instances, are equal to only a small percentage of the value of the property.

The Court’s decision means that if the suit succeeds, thousands of real property owners and HDFC shareholders may be able to obtain compensation for the surplus equity value of their confiscated buildings and cooperative apartments.

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QUEST DIAGNOSTICS GETS APPROVAL FOR MONKEYPOX TESTING: The New York State Department of Health has reviewed and approved Quest Diagnostics’ recent application for testing to identify Monkeypox in New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul announced yesterday. The testing, which uses real-time PCR technology to test samples from individuals who are presenting with vesicular rashes or pustules, will further expand New York State’s ample testing capacity and give providers another option when it comes to labs that can process samples and detect Monkeypox virus.

Like other tests available, Quest Diagnostics’ new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test uses swab specimens collected by health care providers, such as primary care physicians, hospitals or urgent care, from patients presenting with an acute generalized pustular or vesicular rash.

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LIGHTSCAPE RETURNS TO BOTANIC GARDEN THIS FALL: If just thinking about autumn events cools you off, then mark those calendars for the return of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Lightscape, the after-dusk, illuminated spectacular that became an instant hit after its debut last winter. Lightscape features a one-mile trail winding through BBG’s 52-acre landscape, animated by over a million lights, color, and music. This year, Lightscape, running from November 16 through January 8, 2023, will feature the iconic Winter Cathedral, larger Fire Garden, a new illuminated trail and new works of art by both local and international artists.

Moreover, visitors will be able to enjoy special events and options including a Family Benefit Night, Anytime Entry tickets, and all-new packages with dinner at Yellow Magnolia Café. More info: www.bbg.org

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HIGHLINE COMMERCE MOVES TO INDUSTRY CITY: Highline Commerce, a New York City-based third-party logistics provider specializing in small e-commerce businesses, has expanded and relocated Industry City, to the 6-million-square-foot creative campus located on the Sunset Park, Brooklyn waterfront. The company, founded in 2020, with a mission of serving as a critical extension to growing small businesses by managing their fulfillment and warehousing needs, will utilize its new 27,000-square-foot space for fulfillment and warehouse operations for its roster of more than 30 small businesses.

Highline Commerce joins a growing roster of tenants with fulfillment operations at Industry City, including Feather and ZZ Driggs, which operate warehousing spaces for direct-to-consumer furniture rentals, Brooklyn Candle, an eco-friendly candle company, and more.

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COUNCIL MEMBER ON YOUR CORNER: City Councilmember Lincoln Restler (D-33/Brooklyn Heights/Downtown Brooklyn) who will be hosting a Council Member On Your Corner constituent meet-up tomorrow, Wednesday, July 27, according to an announcement from Community Board 6. Councilmember Restler invites members of the community to stop by Absolute Coffee, 327 Atlantic Ave. between Smith and Hoyt streets, from 8-9:30 a.m., grab a coffee, and bring any questions or concerns pertaining to District 33.

The next day, July 28, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (D-52/Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill/Gowanus and Park Slope) hosts one of her Java with Jo Anne events, via Zoom. Call for link: at [email protected] or 718-246-4889.

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‘DOMINICANO — HOY, MAÑANA, Y SIEMPRE’: Brooklyn’s Dominican Heritage Celebration takes place this Thursday at Borough Hall (enter via Adams St.) on Thursday, July 28. The event, taking place from 6-9 p.m. will salute and recognize Brooklynites of Dominican heritage in advance of the 40^th Legacy Anniversary of New York’s National Dominican Day Parade coming up in August.

A native of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, Borough President Antonio Reynoso, is the son of Dominican immigrants, and the first Latino to be elected to this office.