Good Morning, Brooklyn: Thursday, August 18, 2022

August 18, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

HOSPITAL PROGRAM PROVES EARLIER DETECTION OF COVID: Wastewater data can detect COVID and flu 10 to 14 days before those results are seen clinically at the hospital, thanks to new technology that the NYC Health and Hospitals system is using. Launched in February, the new Biosurveillance Program, which tests wastewater for infectious diseases, has successfully predicted changes in COVID and flu rates 10 to 14 days before those results are seen clinically at the hospital. The program will be brought online at all 11 hospitals, including the three locations in Brooklyn, in the coming weeks.

Starting next week, the program will expand to include testing for polio and monkeypox.

✰✰✰

IMMEDIATE TREATMENT FOR COVID-POSITIVE PATIENTS: New Yorkers who test positive for COVID can now immediately receive the treatment medication Paxlovid. The NYC Test & Treat Corps announced yesterday that its first-in-the-nation mobile Test to Treat program has prescribed Paxlovid to over one thousand New Yorkers who received their prescriptions immediately after testing positive for COVID-19. Moreover, 30 mobile Test to Treat units now distribute Paxlovid on site, further expediting New Yorkers’ connection to life-saving treatment.

There are several Partner Mobile/Tent Testing sites testing and prescription sites around Brooklyn, including a number in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and from Bay Ridge to Sheepshead Bay.

✰✰✰

MTA LAUNCHES REVAMPED TRAINTIME APP: Nearly 50,000 New Yorkers have downloaded the MTA’s new TrainTime one-stop app within the first 15 hours of its launch on Wednesday. This totally revamped app for commuter rail passengers replaces MTA eTix and adds the functionality of previously separate TrainTime apps for Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad, thus merging ticket purchasing, trip planning, real-time train location data.

Making the app easier and more inviting to use, TrainTime allows users to log in using their Apple ID, Google account, or a text message, and to purchase tickets using Apple Pay, adding features that are already popular with MTA app users, including seat availability tracking and in-app chat with customer service.

✰✰✰

FUND CREATED FOR MIGRANTS: Hispanic Federation has created an initial $100,000 fund for community-based organizations that are working on the frontlines and supporting migrants, particularly those who have found themselves on buses from Texas to New York City within the past week. This fund will help community-based organizations to continue providing shelter, food, clothing, medical care, transportation and more to migrants arriving in New York.

Hispanic Federation also supports direct legal representation to the most vulnerable immigrants across the country, including New York through its Caminos de Esperanza Initiative. With a ballooning backlog of immigration cases, Caminos de Esperanza provides support to twelve non-profit immigration organizations to meet the escalating demand for legal aid.

✰✰✰

SUCCESSFUL YOUTH GUN VIOLENCE SUMMIT: GodSquad/67^th Precinct Council’s recent annual Youth Gun Violence Summit was a huge success, with more than 15 organizations partnering as vendors and providing resources to the residents. The Summit began with a tournament playoff game featuring Team GodSquad vs Dream Team XMen. Later a group of outstanding youth who led the panel discussion. GodSquad also held weekly Clergy Walks on August 9 and 16.

Elected officials supporting the GodSquad and NYPD for the summit were Congressmember Yvette Clarke (D-9^th District/East Flatbush, and Assemblymember Monique Chandler-Waterman (D-58/East Flatbush).

✰✰✰

RESTLER HOLDS SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE AT GREENMARKET: The Borough Hall Greenmarket will also become a school supply drive site this Saturday, August 20, thanks to advocacy from City Councilmember Lincoln Restler (D-33^rd District/Downtown Brooklyn.) Restler’s staff will collect school supplies for youth in NYCHA homes across his district, particularly requested items: backpacks, pencils, erasers, folders, composition notebooks, colored pencils, crayons, markers, index cards, dividers, binders and rulers.

Donations will be accepted at Borough Hall Greenmarket this Saturday, August 20 from 9 a.m. to noon; or drop them at Councilmember Restler’s office at 410 Atlantic Ave., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday by early September.

✰✰✰

SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE IN NEW UTRECHT: Another backpack and supply giveaway for low-income children will take place a week from Saturday, on August 27, in southwest Brooklyn. The organization Reaching-Out Community Services will be distributing more than 600 backpacks with school supplies to children in need at 7708 New Utrecht Avenue, starting at noon.

Sponsors include the Guru Krupa Foundation, the Rotary Club of Verrazano, J.L. Hvac Inc., staff of Connors and Sullivan Attorneys at Law, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, Environment Project, the Office of Schulman Lobel, the Office of Councilmember Justin Brannan and the Office of Senator Andrew Gounardes.

✰✰✰

VENDORS SOUGHT FOR NEW URBANSPACE HOLIDAY MARKET: Urbanspace is bringing its newest holiday market to Borough Hall from November 28 – December 26, thanks to a collaboration between the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, and local elected officials. Urbanspace has expressed a commitment to partnering with Brooklyn-based businesses and community organizations to curate a Brooklyn-centric market mix.

Brooklyn-based artisans, food and beverage operator, and vintage and antique collectors selling one-of-a-kind pieces are invited to apply. Apply via the website (www.urbanspacenyc.com). Deadline is Friday, August 26 at 5 p.m.

✰✰✰

IN MEMORIAM, ANDREW J. MALONEY, FORMER US ATTORNEY: The law and court community mourns the death of former U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Maloney, who died on Monday, August 15, according to an obituary published in the New York Times. A Brooklyn native, Maloney attended Fordham Law School at night, and later devoted the bulk of his career as a federal prosecutor in the federal court system, serving the Southern District-New York (Manhattan, Bronx and Hudson Valley counties) and the Eastern District NY Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island.) He was appointed originally by then-President Ronald Reagan to serve as the 33^rd U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn where he successfully tried the case that sent notorious mafia gangster, John Gotti to prison. He successfully mentored a generation of law enforcement officials and trial lawyers.

The Eastern District of New York, in its memoriam note released late yesterday, described Maloney as having “a passion for doing justice, a toughness honed as a boxer at West Point and Army Ranger, and supreme confidence in his prosecutors that resulted in amazing work during his tenure. Andy was an extraordinary trial lawyer, mentor, role model, and leader by example.”