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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Friday, August 5, 2022

August 5, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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UPDATE: MISSING GIRL FOUND SAFE: Aunisty (Aunee) Elliott, the 14-year-old reported missing from her home on Prospect Place in Crown Heights, has been found safe.

The 77^th Precinct and Brooklyn Community Board 9 had issued a Missing Child Alert earlier this week.

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CITY PAYS MORE THAN $67.6 MILLION IN POLICE MISCONDUCT LAWSUITS: An analysis released from the Legal Aid Society that the City of New York has paid out more than $67.6 million in lawsuits alleging police misconduct from the start of this year through July 26, an amount that surpasses the $62,093,491 paid out on litigation in all of 2020. One of the largest payouts this period involves New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers Pedro Rodriguez and Pavel N. Kuznetsov, who were sued for leaving a Brooklyn boy paralyzed, according to a lawsuit which settled for $12 million last month.

One of those NYPD officers, Pedro Rodriguez, is still employed at the 72^nd Precinct in Sunset Park, even though he has a long history of substantiated and documented NYPD allegations.

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COMPTROLLER: EAST FLATBUSH LACKS COOLING CENTERS: East Flatbush is the most under-served part of the city by, and in need of cooling infrastructure to help New Yorkers stay healthy during last month’s heat wave, according to a report titled, “Overheated, Underserved,” from the New York City Comptroller’s office. The Comptroller’s office assessed the availability of cooling center sites activated during the heat emergency in conjunction with the heat vulnerability index and population size to identify hotspot neighborhoods and made a series of recommendations to strengthen the city’s preparedness for heat emergencies.

The Comptroller’s office analyzed a snapshot of available cooling center data from the seven-day heat wave that lasted from July 19-25, to identify gaps in service and opportunities to strengthen the city’s response. Because this analysis reflects a snapshot in time, it does not account for changes that may have occurred throughout the week-long heat wave.

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STATE JUDGE RULES FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS IN BUDGET SUIT: Following news reports in which State Supreme Court Judge Lyle E. Frank ruled in favor of teachers and parents fighting the city’s school budget cuts, in a court case that highlighted the violation of procedural steps. City Council, which jumped the gun on voting on the budget before the Department of Education did, can now conduct a new vote.

Laura D. Barbieri, Special Council for Advocates for Justice, said, “…We are gratified that Judge Frank ruled this morning that the City Council can have a revote on the education budget. He was clear that the repeated use of Emergency Declarations by the Chancellor was invalid, and thus the order of votes by the Council and the PEP violated state law.”

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BROOKLYN MAN CHARGED WITH DISTRIBUTING FENTANYL: A Brooklyn man has been charged with distributing fentanyl in the borough, including to a 25-year-old individual who died of a drug-related overdose hours later at his Bay Ridge residence. The defendant, identified as Caleb Apolinaris, also known as “Kappa,” was arrested yesterday and scheduled to appear the same afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry.

An increase in overdose deaths has been driven in large part by fentanyl – a drug that has been described as 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

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LIBRARY LAUNCHES VINYL LENDING LIBRARY: The Brooklyn Public Library launches its new The Vinyl Lending Library, the newest edition to the Library’s musical collections, this coming Tuesday morning, Aug. 9 at a special event. Daisy the Great (Kelley Nicole Dugan and Mina Walker), the Brooklyn-based indie-pop duo behind The Record Player Song, and DJ AG will perform at the Central Library starting at the 11 a.m. launch event, which will feature the new record listening stations.

Complementing the new vinyl collection, which includes 400 selections from a wide variety of genres, BPL will host Aug. Lunch Beats in the lobby of Central Lobby where staff will spin records during the noon hour Aug. 11, 18, and 25; plus, upcoming fall programs on DJing, audio production, sampling, and music coding.

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BASQUIAT EXHIBIT: For the second year, Barclays Center will host an art show featuring more than 100 pieces created by New York City middle and high school students, inspired by Brooklyn-born artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Students created the artwork as part of a Basquiat educational arts program developed in 2021 in partnership between the Brooklyn Nets, the New York City Department of Education and the Fund for Public Schools, and funded by the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation’s Social Justice Fund.

The free-admission gallery will be open to the public on Monday, Aug. 8 and Tuesday, Aug. 9 from 2-6 p.m. with entry through Barclays Center’s main entrance.

GIFTED IN MUSIC AND PHOTOGRAPHY, ORGANIST WINS ‘BEST OF SHOW AT SALMAGUNDI: Gregory D’Agostino, organist and director of music at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral, is also an accomplished photographer whose photo, “Coney Island Snow,” was awarded Best in Show at the highly selective annual Photography Open Exhibition of the Salmagundi Gallery in Manhattan. D’Agostino, who holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Juilliard, had both of his submitted works, including “Fire Island Sunset” selected from among hundreds of entries for the group show of 43 works.

The free exhibition closes today, Friday, Aug. 5 but viewers still have a chance to see it from noon to 6 p.m. at the Rockwell Gallery, Salmagundi Club, Fifth Ave. and 12^th St. or visit his site, www.GregoryImages.com. Dr. D’Agostino also has works on exhibit at Juried Photo Show, “Out Of The Frame,” in Glasgow Scotland, through Aug. 30.