What’s News, Breaking: Tuesday, February 28, 2023

February 28, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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PUBLIC ART FUND PRESENTS BUS SHELTER EXHIBIT OF PHOTOGRAPHS BY ETHIOPIAN ARTIST

CITYWIDE — Commuters will be able to view a photo exhibit while waiting for their bus. The Public Art Fund debuts “This is where I am,” an exhibition of 12 new photographs by Aïda Muluneh on over 330 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York, Boston and Chicago and overseas and in the Côte d’Ivoire capital city of Abidjan. The exhibition marks both the artist’s first public art exhibition in Côte d’Ivoire and the first time that Public Art Fund presents artwork on the African continent, expanding the organization’s partnership with JCDecaux beyond the United States.

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Muluneh’s art focuses on her cultural heritage as a way to explore themes of history, politics, sense of place and other pressing issues such as the climate crisis.

Artwork by Aïda Muluneh; a part of exhibit “Aïda Muluneh: This is where I am,” presented by Public Art Fund on over 330 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City, Chicago, and Boston in the United States, and Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire on view from March 1 – May 21. Photo: Nicholas Knight, Courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.

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WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH SERIES EXAMINES STRUGGLE FOR GENDER EQUALITY

GRAND ARMY PLAZA — Women and Justice is the theme of a two-part Talk at the Center for Brooklyn History during March, Women’s History Month. Two virtual programs will explore the struggle for gender equality and racial justice, with moderator Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, 2020 MacArthur Fellow and author of the critically acclaimed book THICK: And Other Essays. The first program, on Wednesday, March 8, will offer historical context to this five-decade battle for gender equity; while Part 2, on Sunday, March 12, will examine the current fight for gender equity looks like today and the paths that might transform the future.

The Ms. Foundation for Women is co-presenting this series in honor of its 50th anniversary.

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TRANSIT ALERT: L TRAIN SUSPENSION IN BROOKLYN

CITYWIDE — Notify NYC has sent alerts to commuters depending on the L train in Brooklyn that, because of a smoke condition, service is suspended in both directions between Canarsie – Rockaway Pkwy and Broadway Junction. Commuters using this subway line should plan alternate routes and allow for additional travel time.

The notification was issued just before 4 p.m. and the evening rush hour on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

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BROOKLYN CONGRESSMEMBER OFFERS AMENDMENT CRIMINALIZING VIOLATIONS OF HATCH ACT

WASHINGTON, DC — A bill named for a Trump-administration special adviser would make willful violation of the Hatch Act a felony punishable by up to a two-year prison sentence. U.S. Rep. Congressmember Dan Goldman (D-10th District/western Brooklyn) on Tuesday, Feb. 28, offered the Kellyanne Conway Amendment during a Committee meeting on Oversight and Accountability, to counter House Resolution (H.R.) 140, a Republican bill which aims to stop the federal government from censoring protected speech under the First Amendment — even though such conduct is already prohibited by law. The Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees (other than the President and Vice President) from engaging in certain forms of political activity, including partisan political campaigning, is not currently a crime.

Former White House Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway was found to have violated the act so often during her government employment that the Office of Special Counsel recommended in 2019 that she be fired from federal service for being a “repeat offender.”

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NYCLU DIRECTOR: MAYOR ADAMS MUST UPHOLD HIS OATH TO HONOR THE CONSTITUTION

CITYWIDE — The New York Civil Liberties Union’s longtime Executive Director Donna Lieberman, also responded to Mayor Adams’ statements about religion, as well as remarks made by his chief advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin that, “In government, many times, it is said that one has to separate church from state … We have an administration that doesn’t believe in that,” Lieberman stated, “We are a nation and a city of many faiths and no faith. In order for our government to truly represent us, it must not favor any belief over another, including non-belief.” Adding that the mayor has taken oaths of office to uphold the Constitution, Lieberman added, “It is odd that Mayor Adams would need a refresher on the First Amendment…The very opening passage of the Bill of Rights makes clear that church and state must be separate.”

Lieberman said, “On matters of faith, the mayor is entitled to his own beliefs. On the Constitution, he must uphold his oath.”

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DECLARING SERVANTHOOD TO GOD, MAYOR ANNOUNCES ‘BREAKING BREAD, BUILDING BONDS’ DINNERS

CITYWIDE — Mayor Eric Adams is receiving pushback in the news and social media for comments he made during the annual interfaith breakfast on Tuesday morning, Feb. 28, that seemed to blur the Constitutional separation of church and state. The mayor’s exact statement, excerpted from his full speech —according to the transcript on the nyc.gov webpage — was, “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body, church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.”

Explaining that his own faith in God governs his daily thoughts and actions, Mayor Adams announced his “Breaking Bread, Building Bonds” dinners for New Yorkers of different ethnic and religious traditions to share the backgrounds behind their food, attire and beliefs.

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COUNCIL HOLDS HEARING ON ‘APPEARANCE DISCRIMINATION’

CIVIC CENTER — On Tuesday, the City Council’s Committee on Civil and Human Rights and Committee on State and Federal Legislation will hold a joint oversight hearing on national and local efforts to end appearance-based discrimination, or discriminatory treatment based solely on a person’s physical characteristics. The Committees will also consider bills that would ban employment discrimination based on tattoos, and that would prohibit discrimination of someone’s access to employment, housing and public accommodations due to their height or weight.

The meeting was set to take place on Tuesday at 10 a.m. in City Hall’s Committee Room; a recording of the meeting will be available online on the Council’s website.

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FDNY CHIEFS ANNOUNCE LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY

CITYWIDE — A group of FDNY chiefs has filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn court against FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, claiming that the Eric Adams appointee, who last year became the first woman to lead the department, has been engaged in a pattern of retaliatory behavior against her top personnel for raising safety concerns, firing and demoting them without cause. The chiefs are also asking a judge to temporarily overrule Kavanagh and reinstate them in their former roles, in order to protect public safety by keeping experienced chiefs in their positions while the two sides battle it out in court.

“These are some of the same firefighters who put their own lives at risk on September 11 and on countless other occasions to uphold their oath to protect New Yorkers from lethal fires. To remove these experienced officials from their essential safety functions puts lives at risk and is simply a gross misjudgment and dereliction of duty by the Commissioner,” stated attorney for the firefighters Jim Walden, who supported Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital pro bono in the years-long fight to keep its doors open.

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STUDY FINDS LINK BETWEEN ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER AND HEART ATTACKS

NATIONWIDE — A new study published in the journal Nature on Monday appears to show that the artificial sweetener erythritol increases the risk of heart attacks, blood clots and strokes in people that consume it who are already at risk for such events, reports CBS News. The researchers say that their study was initially designed to look for any chemicals that might predict heart problems, and discovered by accident that subjects consuming high amounts of erythritol were experiencing higher rates of heart-related health issues, which led them to observe that the sweetener appeared to be provoking “enhanced thrombosis,” or blood clotting.

“If your blood level of erythritol was in the top 25% compared to the bottom 25%, there was about a two-fold higher risk for heart attack and stroke. It’s on par with the strongest of cardiac risk factors, like diabetes,” study lead author Dr. Stanley Hazen told CBS.

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RETIRED NYPD OFFICER DIES IN CROWN HEIGHTS FIRE

CROWN HEIGHTS — A retired NYPD officer passed away in a fire in Crown Heights on Monday, reports the New York Daily News. Joseph Newkirk, 76, was discovered deceased in the kitchen of his apartment after a fire broke out in the unit above his that took 60 firefighters to bring under control, according to his family and emergency responders at the scene.

FDNY officials are investigating the cause of the fire, according to the Daily News.

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CARROLL GARDENS PIZZERIA SHUTS DOORS

CARROLL GARDENS — A beloved local pizza restaurant has closed its doors in Carroll Gardens after more than 50 years, reports BK Mag, as Sal’s Pizzeria on Court Street served its last slice on Sunday. This marks the second closure of a classic Brooklyn pizzeria in less than a month, after the shuttering of Bushwick staple Lenny’s earlier in February for similar reasons — longtime owners wanting to move on.

“It’s just the age, and like I said, I’ve been here since I was a kid and I just want to do something a little different with my life than make pizzas ’til the very end,” John Esposito, whose parents founded the restaurant in 1970, told News 12, crediting the Carroll Gardens community with supporting the establishment for so many years.

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LIRR RIDERS UPSET BY ATLANTIC TERMINAL SCHEDULE CHANGES

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Only two days into the new LIRR schedule changes, passengers at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal station are unhappy with the railroad’s decision to have nearly all through-travelers between Brooklyn and Long Island transfer to a shuttle service at Jamaica. The schedule changes are intended to reduce commute times and increase service up to 40% by streamlining routes, but these benefits have not appeased riders so far, according to amNY, who spoke to Brooklyn passengers whose reactions ranged from “a lot different, and a little confusing” to “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

MTA CEO Janno Lieber on Sunday appeared to dismiss these concerns, telling amNY “New Yorkers know how to switch trains, they just need some time to get accommodated to the new arrangement. I’m very optimistic.”

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EXPRESS FERRY SERVICE BETWEEN SOUTHERN BROOKLYN AND MANHATTAN

BAY RIDGE — The NYC Ferry will be testing a new pilot program next month intended to provide faster service between southern Brooklyn and Wall Street, reports News 12. The pilot program will see one less ferry during morning rush hour but will make the service “more time-competitive” for commuters by skipping stops on the new express routes.

Ferries starting in Bay Ridge will stop at Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn Bridge Park and finally Wall Street; while ferries starting in Sunset Park and at the Brooklyn Army Terminal will stop at Governor’s Island, Red Hook and lower Manhattan.

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HEARING TESTS FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN

SUNSET PARK — Children of immigrant families in Sunset Park will be able to get their hearing screened, thanks to an outreach event in which NYU Langone Medical Center’s Hearing Loss & Screening Program has partnered with Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica. All trained screeners from other partner community organizations have been invited to help conduct the screenings being offered on Wednesday, March 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., hosted at the church on 5th Avenue and 59th St. The event aims to screen 100 community members from the Chinese, Spanish, Arab, Caribbean, and Bengali-speaking communities in Brooklyn.

“It’s critical to know whether a young child has hearing loss,” says pediatric otolaryngologist Marie T. Homsi, MD, a lead investigator for the program. “It affects their development and their school performance.”

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COMMUNITY WALK-THROUGH OF KINGSBORO PSYCHIATRIC CENTER POSTPONED

EAST FLATBUSH — The impending snowstorm has postponed a Community Walk-Through of the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in East Flatbush that was scheduled for Tuesday morning, Feb. 28. Brooklyn Community Board 9 and the non-profit Breaking Ground teamed up for the walk-through, whose purpose is to “gain an understanding of future facility operations,” according to a digital flier announcing the postponement. A new date has not yet been announced.

Breaking Ground is a non-profit focused on providing services and housing for vulnerable New Yorkers.

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NEW BILL WOULD TAX NON-ESSENTIAL CHOPPER FLIGHTS

CITYWIDE — A new bill that Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D/WF-44/Park Slope to Midwood) has introduced into state legislature would tax non-essential helicopter flights in New York City. This bill would impose both a carbon emissions tax (based on the Federal EPA “social cost of carbon” standard) and a noise tax (per seat ticket or per flight), and would also require both taxes be itemized on passenger receipts.

Initial estimates suggest approximately $17.5 million could be generated in taxes in the first full year after the bill becomes law.

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MAIMONIDES DOCTOR LEADS ANNUAL BREAST CANCER CONFERENCE

Dr. Patrick Borgen, Chair of the Department of Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center and head of the Maimonides Breast Center. Photo: Maimonides Medical Center.

BOROUGH PARK — Dr. Patrick Borgen of Maimonides Medical Center this week will kick off the 40th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference, which runs from March 2-5, at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. The conference brings together the country’s top surgical, medical, and radiation oncologists, as well as geneticists, pathologists, radiologists, and supportive care specialists over four jam-packed days of seminars focusing on implementing genomic and molecular information to tailor treatment planning for individual patients with breast cancer; integrating evidence-based surgical and radiation approaches into multidisciplinary treatment plans to individualize care; and individualizing systemic therapy for patients with early-stage or advanced/metastatic breast cancer based on emerging data from clinical trials and evolving expert guidelines.

Celebrating his 10th year as the conference Chair, Dr. Borgen has brought new and innovative breast cancer treatments to his own patients at Maimonides, and to hospitals and providers across the country.

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GUILTY PLEA IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD AND ID THEFT

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A Nigerian national pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court on Monday, Feb. 27, to multi-million dollar fraud schemes and money laundering. Joseph Modile pleaded guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes Jr. to charges of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. In a related scheme charged in the Eastern District of New York, in May 2018, Modile and others engaged in a separate business email compromise scheme, using fraudulent emails and telephone calls to steal approximately $10.2 million from a victim company based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

When sentenced, Modile faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the fraud counts and the money laundering count and a consecutive sentence of two years’ imprisonment for the aggravated identity theft count. Upon completion of his sentence, Modile faces deportation from the United States.

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PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED LINDEN ST. HISTORIC DISTRICT

BUSHWICK — The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission convenes a public hearing on the proposed Linden Street Historic District in Bushwick on Tuesday, Feb. 28, both in-person and virtually. The proposed Linden Street Historic District is a remarkably intact group of 32 brick and brownstone row houses built between 1885 and 1901 when this area of Bushwick became more intensively urbanized. Designed by several Brooklyn architects, these distinctive row houses represent a variety of late-19th-century styles resulting in a cohesive historic streetscape with a strong sense of place.

The hearing will be live-streamed on the agency’s YouTube channel. For more information on LPC virtual public hearings and how to submit written testimony or otherwise participate, readers can visit the LPC hearings webpage. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/lpc/hearings/hearings.page

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THIEVES STEAL BOY’S SCOOTER IN CROWN HEIGHTS

CROWN HEIGHTS — On the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 20, a 13-year-old boy was approached by a group of unknown older individuals while walking with his scooter in Crown Heights. One of the individuals displayed a kitchen knife with a black handle, then proceeded to forcibly remove the victim’s scooter and fled on it in an unknown direction; fortunately, no injuries were reported.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782); or, log onto the Crime Stoppers website or Tweet @NYPDTips.

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HOCHUL, SCHUMER CELEBRATE GRAND CENTRAL LIRR OPENING, NEW SCHEDULES

ATLANTIC TERMINAL — Governor Kathy Hochul, Sen. Chuck Schumer and MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, along with federal and local elected officials, on Sunday, celebrated the official opening of the new Grand Central Madison LIRR terminal, with full LIRR service to begin Monday, Feb. 27. In conjunction with the opening of the new terminal, the MTA is also introducing new LIRR schedules, featuring more than 500 additional station stops in Brooklyn and Queens and, during the peak period, an LIRR train into Penn Station or Grand Central every 3 to 6 minutes and service to Atlantic Terminal approximately every 12 minutes.

The controversial schedule changes will see more frequent trains between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal, running every 12 minutes at peak times and 20 minutes at other times, but commuters will now have to swap trains at Jamaica for service between Long Island and Brooklyn.

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MYSTERIOUS GROUP SPENDS BIG BUCKS TO ATTACK MAIMONIDES

BOROUGH PARK — The Save Maimonides campaign, which pays for protesters and ad campaigns to criticize struggling Maimonides Medical Center and has drawn the ire of both hospital management and nurses’ groups, may be funded by a nursing-home tycoon attempting to stage a hostile takeover for financial gain, according to hospital leaders who spoke to the New York Times. Campaign representatives denied the claim, saying Maimonides’ management was deflecting responsibility for the hospital’s troubles but refused to reveal their donor lists to the Times, citing fears of possible retaliation from hospital workers towards patients.

Both hospital leaders and campaign spokespeople told the Times that they wanted Maimonides to merge with health care system Northwell Health, but the potential merger is held back by the hospital’s shaky finances, which are largely the result of its patient base — Medicare and Medicaid recipients, who do not generate as much money as other patients.

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EDITOR’S BOOK DEBUT SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON BROOKLYN HEIGHTS

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — High-powered book editor Jenny Jackson of Alfred A. Knopf, responsible for “Crazy Rich Asians” and other hits, is making her first foray into writing with a look at Brooklyn Heights in her debut novel “Pineapple Street,” according to the New York Times. The book follows the antics of an ultra-wealthy Heights family grappling with class, money and love in a time of social strife, in what Kirkus Reviews called a “remarkably enjoyable visit with the annoying 1%, as close to crazy rich WASPs as WASPs can get.”

“Pineapple Street” comes out on March 7, and has already been optioned for a TV adaptation.

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MODULAR TOILETS COMING TO NYC PARKS, IRVING SQ. PARK IN BUSHWICK

BUSHWICK — The Parks Department will be installing five prefabricated bathroom units, called “Portland Loos,” in parks across the five boroughs, reports The City, with one proposed location being in Bushwick’s Irving Square Park. “This is a pilot to determine the feasibility of using this model in the future as an economical solution to building bathrooms in parks,” said Parks Department spokeswoman Meghan Lalor, with a total estimated price tag of $5.3 million — a steal compared to traditional “comfort station” bathrooms, the cost of which skyrocketed to nearly $3.6 million each prior to the pandemic.

Much of the cost of building park bathrooms comes from the expense of running electricity and water to the structures from existing utility lines, according to the city.

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BROOKLYN SENIOR NABBED FOR SLASHING COP CAR TIRES IN QUEENS

BUSHWICK — On the morning of Friday, Feb. 24, an unknown man approached seven NYPD vehicles parked outside the 112 Precinct Station House in Queens and punctured the vehicles’ tires, then fled in a beige SUV. After a short investigation, Bushwick senior Jose Patino, 74, was arrested and charged on Sunday, Feb. 26, with criminal mischief for the tire puncturing.

Police say the investigation is still ongoing.

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NYC DOT MISSPELLS JACKIE ROBINSON HIGHWAY SIGN

QUEENS — The city Department of Transportation has egg on its face after commuters noticed an embarrassing spelling error in a new highway sign for the Jackie Robinson Parkway in Queens, which memorializes the Brooklyn Dodgers’ baseball great who helped break racial barriers for black players, reports the New York Post. The sign, which reads “Jakie Robinson Parkway,” will be corrected ASAP, according to city officials.

Another memorial to Robinson was restored in late 2020 after activism from the Brooklyn Heights Association — a plaque on the Montague Street T.D. Bank branch commemorating the location of the Dodgers’ former front office, where Robinson signed his first major league contract.