Subscribe to our newsletters

Brooklyn Today — Daily Top News in Brooklyn

Bluedot Living Brooklyn — Simple, Smart, Sustainable Stories

Good Food Brooklyn — People Who Make It Happen

Daily Bulletin — Legal & Courthouse News

BKLYN Live — Performance, Arts & Culture

Brooklyn Space — For Living, Working, Investing

Leave this field empty if you're human:

✰✰✰

ROLEX WATCH STOLEN FROM HEIGHTS UPS STORE

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A PACKAGE CONTAINING A ROLEX SUBMARINER WATCH WORTH $9,500 was allegedly stolen from a UPS store in Brooklyn Heights in December by an employee, reports the Brooklyn Paper. Police say the victim sold the watch on eBay and dispatched it from the shipping company’s Montague Street outpost on Dec. 22; after the package’s online tracking code failed to work, he reported the incident to police — who together with store management discovered that the employee who had taken his order was captured on video sneaking out of the store with the watch.

Police say the investigation is ongoing; a spokesperson for UPS told the Brooklyn Paper that the company was working to aid the victim.

✰✰✰

MONTAGUE ST BID ANNUAL MEETING

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — THE MONTAGUE STREET BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT is set to hold its annual meeting this month, featuring as a special guest speaker Martha Foley from the Brooklyn Women’s Exchange, a historian and archivist. The BID represents over 100 businesses along Brooklyn Heights’ main shopping corridor and advocates for commerce-friendly policies and neighborhood improvements; the meeting will be held at 129 Montague Street on Feb. 29.

Attendees will also be able to join remotely on Zoom; more information forthcoming closer to the date.

✰✰✰

PARK SLOPE PIANO TEACHER SENTENCED FOR SEXUALLY ABUSING YOUNG STUDENT

DOWNTOWN — A BROOKLYN MAN WHO SEXUALLY ABUSED A YOUNG PIANO STUDENT FOR TWO YEARS has been sentenced to seven years in prison, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Thursday. John Stewart Russell, 62, of Park Slope, was sentenced Thursday by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice John Hecht to seven years in prison and 10 years post-release supervision. He must register as a sex offender upon his release. In November 2016, Russell began giving the child piano lessons and started abusing her when he was alone with her.

“After starting a friendship with this family, he sexually abused the child beginning when she was just 9 years old. I hope today’s sentence brings some closure to the victim and her family and I remain steadfast in my commitment to protecting our children,” Gonzalez said in a statement. 

✰✰✰

FCC PROPOSES THAT AI VOICE TECHNOLOGY
USED IN ROBOCALLS BE DECLARED ILLEGAL

BROOKLYN AND WASHINGTON, DC — FOLLOWING A PROPOSAL FROM THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION’S CHAIR Jessica Rosenworcel that her agency recognizes calls made with AI-generated voices as “artificial” voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Brooklyn Congressmember Yvette D. Clarke (D-09) praised the move. The proposal would designate voice cloning technology used in common robocall scams targeting consumers as illegal. The rise of these types of calls has escalated during the last few years, now that the technology can deceive consumers with misinformation by imitating the voices of celebrities, political candidates and close family members. The FCC will provide new tools to State Attorneys General across the country to pursue those perpetrating robocalls and hold them accountable under the law.

Rep. Clarke said, “As we stand on the precipice of a new technological age, empowered by AI tools, it’s clear that the federal government must do more to protect consumers from the inherent dangers posed by bad actors’ use of voice cloning technology.”

✰✰✰

COURT STREET BAGELS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

COBBLE HILL — FOLLOWING DAYS OF SWIRLING ONLINE RUMORS OVER the averted closure of longtime Cobble Hill mainstay Court Street Bagels, Eater NY reports that the store’s new owner is Adam Alsoora of nearby Smith Street Bagels. Mystery still remains, however, surrounding the details of the change in hands: founder Peter Eulo abruptly announced last week that Court Street Bagels would be closing for good on Sunday after losing its lease, and expressed shock that the business remained open this week, with the same employees and branding. NYC Bagel Tours reports that after struggling with a rent increase set by landlord Conway Capital in 2021, Eulo last year agreed to turn over the keys in exchange for the debt’s forgiveness; Conway then inked a deal with Alsoora to take the store over — apparently without informing Eulo, who wrote on X (Twitter) that he had “no idea” who the new owners were, leaving Alsoora, who had wanted “minimal disruptions,” puzzled in turn.

Posts variously alleging the store was closing due to a crime problem, moving to Hoboken and remaining open under Eulo’s family were all revealed to be false; Alsoora says he plans to lower prices and upgrade ingredients but will leave Court Street Bagels largely unchanged.

✰✰✰

U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL HONORS COHORT
FROM FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM IN BROOKLYN 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL Merrick B. Garland honored several staff members of the U.S. District Court/Eastern District of New York at the Attorney General’s Awards Ceremony this week. Honorees included 14 Assistant United States Attorneys, two paralegal specialists, a Special Agent and two former AUSAs for their extraordinary public service at the 70th and 71st Attorney General’s Awards Ceremony, held in Washington. This year’s program honors individuals across the department and partners at the federal, state, local and tribal levels for their selfless efforts in protecting national security and civil rights, addressing an increase in violent crime, and prosecuting gangs and those who traffick dangerous narcotics and human beings. The awards also recognize employees whose ideas and efforts save taxpayer dollars and help the government operate more effectively and efficiently.

Recipients from both 2022 and 2023 were selected from a group of more than 800 nominees.

✰✰✰

NEW BILL WOULD HELP VICTIMS SUE PFAS MAKERS
AND OBTAIN SCREENINGS FOR ILLNESSES

NATIONWIDE — NEW LEGISLATION THAT U.S. SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY) HAS INTRODUCED AIMS to make it easier for victims of significant PFAS contamination to sue PFAS manufacturers and to be awarded medical monitoring for early detection and treatment of related diseases. During a video press conference on Thursday, Feb. 1, Sen. Gillibrand introduced her PFAS Accountability Act, which specifically would establish a cause of action against manufacturers, under the Toxic Substances Control Act, for those who have been significantly exposed to PFAS; facilitate courts’ ability to award medical monitoring for victims of significant PFAS exposure; and allow courts to order PFAS safety research and incentivize the industry to fund such research.

PFAS chemicals are contaminants found in a wide variety of consumer products, various industrial applications and firefighting foam that have been linked to an array of health problems, including developmental delays; changes in liver, immune system and thyroid function; and an increased risk of some cancers. 

 ✰✰✰

ICONIC DUMBO INFRASTRUCTURE IS BACKDROP FOR PROJECTED VIDEO ARTWORKS

DUMBO — THE MANHATTAN BRIDGE AND THE BQE SERVE AS THE CANVASES for the projected video artworks of The Dumbo Projection Project. Projections are now running from Thursdays to Saturdays from dusk to 10 p.m. on both the Pearl Street and Adams Street sides of the bridge, and along the BQE in Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park. The current projection is Natural Possibilities, translating innermost musings and projected desires into abstract digitizations (through Feb. 10), followed by works following New Yorkers as they shop, walk, chew gum and buy flowers (Feb. 15 to March 18); and surrealist animated stories, including Nancy Sepe’s The Acorns’ Big Adventure (March 21 to April 12).

“The scale is exciting and the community will be delighted with the remarkable breadth of work to brighten the dark days of winter,” Alexandria Sica, President of the Dumbo Improvement District, said in a statement on Thursday.

✰✰✰

NYU TANDON’S C2SMARTER CENTER WORKS
TO IMPROVE EMERGENCY RESPONSE TIMES 

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — IMPROVING AND REDEFINING AMBULANCE AND FIRE EMERGENCY RESPONSE TIMES is the focus of a research project at NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s C2SMARTER transportation center. A team that Joseph Chow and Jingqin (Jannie) Gao are leading at C2SMARTER has created a virtual environment model of neighborhood traffic patterns, as part of a pioneering yearlong project. The virtual environment will enable C2SMARTER and FDNY researchers to understand the root causes of emergency response delays and test potential solutions before attempting them on actual streets. The simulation overcomes shortcomings of traditional methods for evaluating potential emergency-response improvements, such as infrastructure modifications, fleet enhancements and alternative routing, that are costly and disruptive to do in the real world.

The team is addressing the factors in delays that often cost crucial minutes or seconds in dense urban environments like NYC, where there are obstacles such as snarled traffic, narrowed roads and construction-related street closures.

✰✰✰

NEW TECHNOLOGY WILL SENSE
PATHOGENS IN INDOOR AIR

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — TECHNOLOGY TO DETECT VIRUSES, POLLUTANTS AND OTHER POTENTIALLY DEADLY AIRBORNE THREATS is being developed at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. A research team that Tandon professors Elisa Riedo and Davood Shahrjerdi are leading is in the process of developing sensors to detect pathogens in the air in places where they are installed, alerting the public to potentially deadly airborne threats — in schools, buses and other indoor spaces. The team has been working since 2022 with Mirimus, a Flatbush-based biotech company, to develop a wearable electronic device that detects the presence of a virus in the wearer. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, they developed an affordable, non-invasive testing methodology. The test, SalivaClear, was one of the winners of the XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing competition.

Elisa Riedo, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Davood Shahrjerdi, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Giuseppe Maria de Peppo, Director of Internal Research at Mirimus, Inc., lead the project.

✰✰✰

HOCHUL INAUGURATES FIRST-EVER OPEN GANGWAY SUBWAY CARS IN NYC

MANHATTAN/BROOKLYN — GOV. KATHY HOCHUL AND MTA OFFICIALS INAUGURATED THE ROLLOUT of open gangway subway cars on Thursday, with a ride on the C line, running between Washington Heights and East New York. “Today, many of our riders are going to have a chance to experience what they call the open gangway car. Now, what’s that? You don’t know it because this will be the first time ever these cars have been deployed in North America … You can actually move seamlessly from one car to the other. Think about that. You’re not trapped. If you want to have a different experience, you can get up and move around,” Hochul said.

Open gangway cars also close the dangerous gap where people sometimes fall through, have wider doors, aiding wheelchair accessibility, and have security cameras already built in, Hochul said.

✰✰✰

CITY, GENSPACE LAUNCH  BIOTECH
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

SUNSET PARK — A NEW AND GROUNDBREAKING BIOTECH WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM was launched on Thursday, Feb. 1,  thanks to a partnership with the NYC Economic Development Corporation and Genspace, the world’s first community biology lab. Named “Break into Biotech in New York City,” this pilot program will offer access to hands-on training, networking, mentorship and career development opportunities necessary to break into New York City’s rapidly growing biotechnology sector. The community biology laboratory provides supplies and equipment including microscopes, centrifuges, DNA sequencing and protein gel electrophoresis equipment, along with space for educational classes and STEM programming for students.

The program will be open to New Yorkers pursuing employment in the life sciences ecosystem, even if they don’t have backgrounds in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

✰✰✰

NYC UNVEILS NEW GARBAGE TRUCK AS PART OF ‘FUTURE OF TRASH’ STRATEGY

CITYWIDE — THE ADAMS ADMINISTRATION UNVEILED A PROTOTYPE OF AN AUTOMATIC, SIDE-LOADING GARBAGE TRUCK on Thursday, part of a strategy leading to the goal of 100% trash containerization in NYC. DSNY’s 2023 “Future of Trash” report found that this type of truck is needed to service the on-street containers that high-density buildings will use to containerize their trash. The truck will also allow for substantially faster collection. The development of the prototype — which took place in Torino, Italy, Hicksville and Brooklyn — will be followed by “substantial testing and training,” according to a City Hall release.

Next year, Manhattan’s CB9 will be the first district with 100% of its trash containerized and serviced, the city said. The district is currently home to a containerization pilot on ten blocks. Rat sighting complaints in the zone dropped by 68% compared to the same period the prior year.

✰✰✰

NY ATTORNEY GENERAL JOINS 22 OTHERS
IN FIGHT TO PROTECT DACA PROGRAM

ALBANY AND NATIONWIDE — NY ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES IS C0-LEADING A MULTISTATE COALITION of 23 attorneys general against Texas’ ongoing push to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The coalition’s amicus brief filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit urges the court to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas’ decision that the DACA program is unauthorized by law, asserting in part of its argument that the district court erred in deciding to vacate DACA in its entirety rather than severing any portions deemed unlawful.

The DACA program, which has allowed over 800,000 recipients to live, study and work across the United States free from the fear of being forcibly separated from their families and communities, also plays a vital role in supporting the economies at the national, state, and local levels. DACA recipients and their households are estimated to contribute approximately $9.5 billion in federal, state and local taxes each year.

✰✰✰

GEOTHERMAL-POWERED 1515 SURF LAUNCHES LEASING IN CONEY ISLAND

CONEY ISLAND — LEASING HAS LAUNCHED AT 1515 SURF, a new 463-unit waterfront residential complex in Coney Island. The project is 100% electric and represents the largest geothermal system built in New York City, real estate development firm LCOR announced Thursday. The development’s two towers stand at 26- and 16-stories and feature a mix of one- and two-bedroom units as well as penthouses, with 324 market-rate units and 139 affordable. The lottery for the affordable units launched on Jan. 12 and will run through March 20. Designed by Studio V Architecture, 1515 Surf includes 10,600 square feet of ground floor retail space and is loaded with amenities, including a heated pool, private garden, fitness center, indoor basketball and handball court, children’s playroom, tenant co-working spaces and off-street parking.

The project’s geothermal system will provide heating and cooling plus hot water, and will reduce carbon emissions by more than 60% compared to conventional heating and cooling systems.

✰✰✰

MAN KILLED IN HAIL OF BULLETS AT CROWN HEIGHTS INTERSECTION

CROWN HEIGHTS — A 23-YEAR-OLD MAN WAS SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES while he was standing at the intersection of Union Street and Utica Avenue in Crown Heights on Wednesday at roughly 6:19 p.m., according to the police. The victim was transported by EMS to NYC Health and Hospitals/Kings County, where he was pronounced deceased. Police are withholding the release of the man’s identity pending family notification. A witness told the Daily News that the shooter fired off about 10 rounds, hitting the man multiple times in the chest. The victim staggered from the sidewalk to the crosswalk and then collapsed.

A source told the News that cops are investigating the possibility that the shooting is connected to another one on Tuesday just around the corner, which left a 21-year-old man dead. No arrests have been made so far in either case.

✰✰✰

COPS SEEK CROOKS WHO STOLE BOY’S COAT IN BK SUBWAY STATION

MIDWOOD — POLICE ARE LOOKING FOR THE CROOKS WHO STOLE A 15-YEAR-OLD’S COAT on the southbound Q train platform at the Newkirk Plaza train station at roughly 3:13 p.m. on Friday,  Jan. 5. The boy was approached by two unknown males who simulated possession of a knife and forcibly removed the victim’s jacket, which was valued at $300, then fled the station on foot. The victim was uninjured. The first suspect is roughly  5’6” tall with a medium build, last seen wearing a black hat, black mask, black varsity jacket with a black hooded sweatshirt underneath and blue jeans. He was carrying a red book bag. The second individual is roughly 5’6” tall with a medium build, last seen wearing a blue mask, black hooded jacket with a fur hood and a black hooded sweatshirt underneath, and black sweatpants.

Anyone with information NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), or by visiting Crime Stoppers online.

✰✰✰

OVERNIGHT LANE CLOSURE ON BQE THIS SATURDAY A.M., FEB. 3

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — REPAIR WORK REQUIRING SINGLE-LANE CLOSURE OF THE QUEENS-BOUND BROOKLYN-QUEENS EXPRESSWAY, originally scheduled for the early morning hours of Saturday, Jan. 27, has been rescheduled to the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 3. One lane in the Queens-bound direction will be closed from Grace Court to Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights from midnight to 5 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3. The closure will allow DOT access into the MTA chamber that houses the fan plant in order to carry out crucial column and beam repairs. At least one lane will still be available, according to DOT community contact Anita Navalurkar.

DOT contractors will be repairing spalled concrete with exposed and broken rebar on the interior of the chamber.

✰✰✰

COLTON: CITY LAGS IN MAKING SCHOOLS ADA-ACCESSIBLE

BATH BEACH TO GRAVESEND — ASSEMBLYMAN WILLIAM COLTON (D-47) IS URGING THE CITY TO SPEED UP THE ACCESSIBILITY of public schools for students with disabilities. Colton, who represents Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Dyker Heights, charges that the city continues to lag in progress in this area, with just 31.1% of the city’s public schools fully accessible as of August 2023, some 34 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. In District 21, which includes a large portion of the area that Assemblyman Colton represents, only 22.5% of public schools operated by the city’s Department of Education (DOE) meet an accessibility benchmark, according to Advocates for Children.

Not all of the city’s 1,587 public school locations (including early childhood sites, annexes and some specialized programs) have accessibility status available, according to Advocates for Children; this is another problem for families trying to decide where to send their children.

✰✰✰

BISHOP BRENNAN ‘FASCINATED’ BY ROBOTICS PROGRAM AT BAY RIDGE CATHOLIC ACADEMY

BAY RIDGE — BAY RIDGE CATHOLIC ACADEMY GOT A SPECIAL VISIT ON WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31, FROM BISHOP ROBERT BRENNAN of the Diocese of Brooklyn, who expressed particular fascination with the school’s robotic program. Bishop Brennan, who has been visiting the diocese’s academic institutions as part of the 50th Anniversary of Catholic Schools Week, greeted students and families as they arrived, spent time with seventh-grade students in the STEM Lab and read stories to the kindergarteners. “I got to see some really exciting things happening at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, and the students had some great questions for me,” he said.

Bishop Brennan also said, “I am very proud of our Catholic schools that strive to develop the whole person. We teach more than math, art, science, and technology. Our schools teach our faith, to form people of the community who know the love of God.”

 

 ✰✰✰

DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO FAILING TO MAINTAIN ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING MEASURES FOR PROFIT

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE DIANE GUJARATI ON WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31, PRESIDED AT THE GUILTY PLEA of an individual who failed to maintain an anti-money laundering program, in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, as part of a scheme to bring lucrative and high-risk international financial business to a small, unsophisticated credit union. Court filings show that from 2014 to 2016, defendant Gyanendra Asre devised a scheme to bring more than $1 billion in lucrative and high-risk international financial business lines such as international currency trading to small, unsophisticated financial institutions. Asre trained in anti-money laundering compliance and procedures, and represented his expertise and knowledge of high-risk transactions, persuading the New York State Employees Federal Credit Union (NYSEFCU), a small financial institution with a volunteer board that primarily served New York state public employees, to allow Asre to conduct high-risk transactions through that entity.

When sentenced, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

✰✰✰

REP. MALLIOTAKIS DEMANDS DEPORTATION OF MIGRANTS WHO ATTACKED NYPD OFFICERS

BAY RIDGE — BROOKLYN CONGRESSWOMAN NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-11) ON WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31, CALLED FOR THE IMMEDIATE DEPORTATION of those who were caught on camera assaulting two NYPD officers on Saturday night, collectively referring to them as migrants. “The video released last night capturing the assault of two NYPD officers by a group of illegal migrants in Times Square is infuriating and a horrifying example of why Mayor Adams needs to stop misinterpreting ‘Right to Shelter’ and put an end to our city’s migrant crisis once and for all… Accusing the city of “refusing to cooperate with federal detainer and deportation requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Malliotakis said, “Republicans, Democrats & Independents should, at the very least, be able to agree that migrants who assault our police or commit crimes in our country should be deported immediately and have any future immigration application denied.”

Rep. Malliotakis did not mention in her statement that two of the men involved in Saturday’s assault reside in Brooklyn; one has a Jefferson St. address, and the other is staying at a men’s shelter on Marcus Garvey Blvd.

✰✰✰

CATHOLIC STEM STUDENTS WILL HOLD ‘BALLOON AND MARSHMALLOW OLYMPICS’

BAY RIDGE — ANOTHER BAY RIDGE CATHOLIC SCHOOL WILL BE DEMONSTRATING ITS ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE STEM PROGRAM on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 1, with its Balloon & Marshmallow Olympics. As part of Catholic Schools Week, students in the sixth to eighth grades’ Science, Technology, Engineering, Math program will propel balloon-powered cars and compete with marshmallow buildings to win medals. Teams of four or five students will work together on these projects, as well as on speed-editing videos, and more to score points and win medals.

Catholic Schools Week represents an opportunity for students at the Catholic Schools of Brooklyn and Queens to celebrate, give back to their communities and learn in new ways.

✰✰✰

MAYOR INVESTS $1.5M IN FAITH LEADERS’ GROUPS TO DETER GUN VIOLENCE 

BROOKLYN AND CITYWIDE — THE EAST FLATBUSH-BASED GODSQUAD (67th Precinct Clergy Council) is praising a $1.5 million investment in faith leaders’ work to end gun violence and support victims, survivors and their families. The award, which Mayor Adams announced at an interfaith breakfast on Wednesday, Jan. 31, will be administered through the Citywide Clergy Collective (C3) in all five boroughs to serve the community in anti-gun violence work through a three-pronged approach: Street-Level Engagement, Victim Support Services and Precinct Engagement. The Clergy Collective (C3) aims to be proactive by providing engaging activities, information and training to deter further violence in our communities. The Collective will coordinate with the Department of Youth and Community Development Office of Neighborhood Safety, Office of Faith-based and Community Partnerships, NYC Police Department and other law enforcement, social service agencies and violence interrupter organizations.

GodSquad was founded in 2010 to work with the NYPD’s 67th Precinct to fight gun violence and address the high murder rate in East Flatbush. Pastor Gilford Monrose, GodSquad’s Founding President, is now the city’s director of Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships.

 ✰✰✰

WOMAN SETS NEIGHBOR ON FIRE AFTER ARGUMENT

BROWNSVILLE — POLICE SAY A BROWNSVILLE WOMAN INTENTIONALLY SET HER NEIGHBOR ON FIRE on Monday after an argument over a debt turned ugly, reports the Daily News. According to the NYPD, Denise Wiley, age 62, confronted her 73-year-old downstairs neighbor seeking repayment, but was told he did not have the money available; Wiley then allegedly became enraged, poured gasoline on the man’s face, and then lit a match.

The victim was taken to Staten Island University Hospital’s burn center for treatment, while Wiley was taken into custody by police on Monday and charged with attempted murder, and is being held on $500,000 bail.

✰✰✰

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE TO EXPAND AT CITY POINT

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — MOVIE THEATER/RESTAURANT CHAIN ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE this week announced that its branch at City Point Mall in Downtown Brooklyn will be expanding in 2024, adding five new screens to its current operation; Alamo also plans to install new reclining seats and upgraded projectors. The theater will close temporarily on Feb. 5 and 6 for construction, then reopen on Feb. 7 with a limited menu through the 13th.

The theater’s expansion was first announced in 2019 and planned for 2020 — but NYC theaters were hit hard that year by pandemic restrictions, with state-ordered closures between March 2020 and February 2021; the nearby Regal UA multiplex on Court Street ultimately shuttered in early 2022.

✰✰✰

LIDL STORE COMING TO DOWNTOWN BK

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — GERMAN SUPERMARKET CHAIN LIDL IS CONTINUING ITS EXPANSION into North America with a new outpost planned for Fulton Mall, reports Patch, recently signing a long-term lease for a 30,000-square-foot space on Albee Square currently occupied by Express Factory Outlet. The new Lidl is set to open in 2025, and will join two other new locations scheduled to open in Crown Heights and Park Slope in late 2024, as well as existing locations in Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island.

“Our reception in Manhattan and Queens has been outstanding. We appreciate the enthusiasm for Lidl throughout New York City and look forward to offering our award-winning products to customers in Brooklyn,” Lidl Senior Director of Real Estate Or Raitses wrote in a statement.

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN RESIDENTS ARRESTED AS PART OF MOB THAT ATTACKED COPS

MIDTOWN — POLICE HAVE RELEASED THE NAMES OF TWO BROOKLYN MEN ARRESTED AS PART OF A MOB that attacked two police officers on Saturday, Jan. 27, in Manhattan on West 42nd Street at about 10:30 p.m. Yorman Reveron, 24, a resident of Jefferson Street in Bushwick, and Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, residing in a men’s shelter on Marcus Garvey Boulevard, were arrested Saturday night. Also arrested were Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, a resident of a mobile home park in Columbus, Mississippi; Wilson Juarez, 21, residing in a migrant shelter in College Point, Queens; and Jhoan Boada, 22, homeless.

Multiple men repeatedly kicked and punched the officers in the head and body after they tried to make an arrest, video shows. All the men except Boada were charged with Assault on a Police Officer, Gang Assault, Obstructing Governmental Administration and Disorderly Conduct. Boada was charged with Attempted Assault on a Police Officer and Gang Assault.

✰✰✰

PRESIDENT BIDEN APPROVES NY’S REQUEST FOR MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATION AND FUNDING

STATEWIDE — PRESIDENT BIDEN HAS APPROVED NEW YORK GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL’S REQUEST FOR A MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATION TO PROVIDE FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO DOWNSTATE COMMUNITIES impacted by heavy rain and flooding in September. The governor, announcing the approval on Wednesday, Jan. 31, said that the declaration allows for federal assistance to support recovery and reconstruction efforts in Kings, Nassau and Westchester Counties, including assistance for debris removal, emergency protective measures and repairs to public buildings and infrastructure. More than eight inches of rain fell in parts of Brooklyn, and more than six inches of rain fell in parts of Nassau and Westchester counties during 24 hours on Sept. 29, 2023, with Governor Hochul declaring a State of Emergency for the entire city, Long Island and the Mid-Hudson Region that same day.

Besides Gov. Hochul, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) also stated, “I fought to secure this approval and bring home the federal resources urgently needed to start recovering from this devastating storm, and today, those resources were made available.

Leave a Comment

---

Related Articles

Our world in photos: May 2

May 2 | Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Man indicted after woman’s jaw shattered in unprovoked street assault in Crown Heights

May 2 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Sweeping crackdown on central New York gun trafficking nets major arrests

May 2 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

NY officials claw back $6.3M stolen from charities by rogue lawyer and advisor

May 2 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Leave a Comment

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Email (will not be published) (required)

Website

Comment