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:

✰✰✰

ALLEGATIONS CITY HALL TRIED TO STEER MIGRANT CONTRACT TO BO DIETL

MARINE PARK — CITY HALL SOURCES ARE ALLEGING THAT AN AIDE TO MAYOR Adams may have improperly influenced the selection process for service providers at the controversial Floyd Bennett Field migrant tent camp, reports Politico. Advisor Tim Pearson is said to have attempted to steer a lucrative contract to provide security services to celebrity ex-cop Bo Dietl, a longtime friend and fundraiser of the mayor’s. The Department of Citywide Administrative Services in September of last year sought authorization for a Texas-based company, Industrial Tent Systems, to manage the site after a public bidding process, but multiple people involved in the decision told Politico that Pearson refused to approve the contract while promoting Dietl’s firm instead. The contract was, after weeks of delay in October, ultimately awarded to a third company, Garner Environmental Services, and an unrelated security subcontractor, Arrow Security.

Pearson in October made headlines after getting into a fight with Arrow Security staff at a Midtown shelter; his role within city government is unclear, although the mayor has described him as “one of my knights of the roundtable,” saying Pearson focuses on cutting costs. 

✰✰✰

COUNCIL HEARING ON ‘MANIPULATION’ OF HOMELESS STATS

CIVIC CENTER — THE CITY COUNCIL HELD AN OVERSIGHT HEARING on Friday investigating potentially manipulated data submitted to the city by the Department of Social Services on the Monthly Eligibility Rate, which tracks the number of homeless residents who qualify for shelter and other services. The hearing was called in response to a bombshell January report from the Department of Investigations alleging “evidence of efforts to downplay … the city’s homelessness crisis” that had impacted the city’s understanding of homelessness for years. Councilmember Shahana Hanif, at the meeting, also introduced legislation that would ban the city’s controversial time limits on shelter stays for individuals and families, established last year by Mayor Adams in response to the ongoing migrant crisis, while Councilmember Sandy Nurse introduced legislation that would compel the city to submit quarterly reports on homelessness data.

A recording of the hearing is available online on the City Council’s website. 

✰✰✰

ASSEMBLYMEMBER SIMON HOSTS ONE-ON-ONES
WITH NYC CITY DEPT. OF BUILDINGS

CARROLL GARDENS — CONSTITUENTS OF ASSEMBLYMEMBR JO ANNE SIMON (D-52nd A.D.) WILL BE ABLE TO SPEAK WITH DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS REPRESENTATIVES at her Smith St. District office this Tuesday, March 5. Assemblymember Simon is hosting the NYC DOB staff, with the opportunity to speak one-on-one with a DOB representative regarding questions or concerns on work permits, building code violations, and other issues. Appointments are required either by phone at 718-246-4889 or online form. Staff from Simon’s office will reach out to confirm appointment times.

There are open slots available as of press time from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

✰✰✰

ADAMS SAYS ‘NO INDICATION’ HE IS FBI TARGET, DESPITE MULTIPLE RAIDS 

CITY HALL — IN AN INTERVIEW ON FOX5’S “Good Day New York” on Friday, Mayor Eric Adams told interviewer Rosanna Scotto that he has “not received any indication” that he is a target of an FBI investigation, despite three of his former aides being raided by the feds and another probe by the NYC Department of Investigation. He also said the raids and investigations would not distract him from his job. This comes a day after the Bronx home of Winnie Greco, a longtime fundraiser for Adams and his director of Asian Affairs, was raided by the FBI.

“That’s why I coined that phrase ‘stay focused, no distractions and grind.’ That’s what New Yorkers want me to do. I’m not going to pick trash off the streets or keep our city safe or build housing if I’m going to be distracted,” Adams told Scotto.

✰✰✰

BILL WOULD FUND PROTECTION
OF POLICE K-9 UNITS IN NY STATE 

ALBANY —  LEGISLATION TO SAFEGUARD POLICE DOGS, ALSO KNOWN AS K-9 OFFICERS, has been introduced to the New York State legislature, with Brooklyn Assemblymember William Colton (D-47) as the main sponsor. The bill, indexed as A01764 (with a similar bill in the State Senate), “Establishes the police canine vest fund to be used for the purpose of purchasing, maintaining, repairing and replacing soft body ballistic armor vests and other protective equipment for state police and municipal department police canines utilized in the performance of police duties, as well as the purchasing and training of such police canines.” The foundation established in Colton’s bill would help both state and municipal police departments, some with limited budgets, to maintain, repair and replace the equipment to protect these K-9s, who are often dispatched into dangerous situations.

Untrained police dogs are each valued at between $3,000 and $35,000; trained ones can be worth $70,000 or more. Training a dog can take four to six months.

✰✰✰

REVAMPED JOHN J. CARTY PARK IN BAY RIDGE IS BACK, INCLUDING SPIFFED-UP WHALE

BAY RIDGE — IN 2020, NYC PARKS LAUNCHED A VIRTUAL PLANNING MEETING TO RECONSTRUCT LONG-NEGLECTED JOHN J. CARTY PARK. On Friday, the revamped park reopened, Councilmember Justin Brannan announced via a joyous email. “The new and improved and fully renovated J.J. Carty Playground (and the whale) are back TODAY! Go check it out!!” he wrote. The park —  located between 94th and 101st Streets and Fort Hamilton Parkway — includes handball, basketball, tennis and pickleball courts, fitness and playground equipment. A formerly shabby whale mascot has been spiffed up and repainted.

When John J. Carty died of a heart attack in December 1970, then-Mayor Beame said, “He would probably have been selected by his fellow professionals in government as one of the greatest urban experts and public servants in the history of this city,” according to the Parks Department.

✰✰✰

MTA EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH OPERATING BROTHEL OUT OF GREENPOINT APARTMENT

DOWNTOWN — AN MTA EMPLOYEE WAS CHARGED ON FRIDAY for allegedly running a bustling brothel out of his Greenpoint apartment, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced in a release. David Blakis, 46, was arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. Evidence included surveillance video and visits by undercover agents, who paid for services but then exited. A raid found Blakis sitting on a couch in his living room with a customer, an undressed woman inside of a bedroom with a man, and a second woman trying to escape on the fire escape. Investigators also recovered approximately $5,000 cash, chica (prostitution advertising) cards, and a 2023 calendar with women’s names on various dates.

Blakis, a structural maintainer with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is currently suspended. He was ordered to return to court on May 8, 2024.

✰✰✰

LANDER: ADAMS’ BUDGET CUTS TO LIBRARIES, CUNY & MORE ‘TROUBLING’ & SHORTSIGHTED

CITYWIDE — IN AN ANALYSIS OF MAYOR ADAMS’ PRELIMINARY BUDGET, Comptroller Brad Lander found what he called “shortsighted cuts” to vital city services and programs like libraries, CUNY, and other important programs. Despite the cancellation of the third round of Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) this year, cuts put into place last autumn have not been restored, leading to significant declines in service for very little actual savings, Lander said in a statement Friday. The 5% cut in the operating subsidy given to library systems, for example, “saves the city a meager $24 million — yet will have impacts for years to come,” he said.

Cuts to Brooklyn Public Library amount to more than $7 million in 2024, and almost $12 million each year thereafter through 2027, resulting in the loss of Sunday hours and cutbacks on book checkouts. Cuts to CUNY from 2024-2026 equal $41 annually, resulting in the loss of faculty and course offerings.

✰✰✰

STATE COMPTROLLER ISSUES TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
OF FUNDING SALES IN MUNICIPAL BOND MARKET 

STATEWIDE — A TENTATIVE SCHEDULE HAS BEEN RELEASED FROM STATE COMPTROLLER THOMAS P. DINAPOLI FOR THE PLANNED BOND SALES for New York City, NY State, and their major public authorities for March and April. The tentative schedule includes $8.86 billion of new money and refunding debt sales. The $7.81 billion is scheduled for March — $4.35 billion of which is for new money purposes and $3.46 billion of which is for refunding and reoffering purposes; and the $1.05 billion scheduled for April — $417 million of which is for new money purposes and $631 million of which is for refunding purposes. The schedule is released by the committee to assist participants in the municipal bond market, and is contingent upon execution of all project approvals required by law.

The prospective calendar includes anticipated bond sales by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the Environmental Facilities Corporation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York City Housing Development Corporation, the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority, the New York State Housing Finance Agency, and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.

✰✰✰

ST. DOMINIC’S OUTREACH MARKS A DECADE OF
FEEDING AND CLOTHING THE NEEDY IN BROOKLYN

BENSONHURST — ST. ATHANASIUS-ST. DOMINIC’S PARISH, AND ITS PASTOR, Father Michael Lynch on Wednesday, Feb. 28, celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the St. Dominic’s Outreach Program, which held its first event on that date in 2014. Now, on the third Wednesday of every month, the parish hall turns into “Hope’s Kitchen,” founded five years ago this month, and a component of St. Dominic’s outreach that offers meals for approximately 60 people. The program, funded through donations and with the support of the parish. is dedicated to helping persons in need, including homeless men and women. During its ten years of service, the St. Dominic’s Outreach program has provided hot meals, regular showers, clothing, coats, hats, socks and shoes, birthday and Christmas celebrations, and has purchased a van for mobile meal delivery.

“The work of St. Dominic’s Outreach is the work of Jesus; we are engaged in the Corporal Works of Mercy, 10 years of outreach is 10 years of ‘loving those in need,” said Father Michael Lynch.

✰✰✰

SERVICE MARKS 30 YEARS SINCE TERROR KILLING OF TEEN ON BROOKLYN BRIDGE

BROOKLYN BRIDGE — A MEMORIAL SERVICE IS SET FOR NOON ON FRIDAY to mark the 30-year anniversary of the terrorist murder of a Jewish teen riding in a yeshiva van on a ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge. On March 1, 1994, Ari Halberstam, 16, was in the van with 14 other Jewish Orthodox students headed towards Brooklyn when Rashid Baz, in a Chevrolet Caprice, sprayed the vehicle with submachine gun fire while shouting “Kill the Jews” in Arabic. Police later arrested Baz at his home in Sunset Park, CBS reported. The ramp to the bridge was renamed the Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp.

Ari’s mother, Brooklyn resident Devorah Halberstam, advocated for the passage of Ari’s Law, an interstate gun trafficking law, and other efforts to combat terrorism, and has been honored by the FBI. She will speak at the memorial along with city officials. The event will be live-streamed at nyc.gov.

✰✰✰

FIREFIGHTERS TO RALLY AGAINST CONGESTION PRICING;
DEMANDING EXEMPTION FOR EQUIPMENT TRANSPORT

LOWER MANHATTAN/CITYWIDE — HUNDREDS OF FDNY FIREFIGHTERS PLANNED TO CONVERGE ON MTA HEADQUARTERS Friday morning, March 1, for a major rally protesting Congestion Pricing. They also held a press conference before testifying at one of several MTA hearings that have been held this week. They are expected to point out that congestion pricing will negatively impact thousands of New York City firefighters and fire officers in their ability to transport required heavy lifesaving gear to and from firehouses within the zone. The firefighters warn also that the MTA’s failure to provide toll exemptions to firefighters will endanger both them and the citizens who take public transportation, adding that traffic volume increases immediately outside the congestion zone will increase response time in those surrounding areas.

The 60-plus pounds of emergency equipment that firefighters must transport daily between work locations would be prohibitive on mass transit, particularly in terms of space.

✰✰✰

POLICE MISCONDUCT LAWSUITS COST
NY TAXPAYERS $114.5M IN 2023

CITYWIDE — NYPD MISCONDUCT, AND THE LAWSUITS RESULTING FROM IT, COST TAXPAYERS NEARLY $115 MILLION IN 2023, according to an analysis that the Legal Aid Society released on Thursday, Feb. 29. The analysis discloses that the City of New York paid out $114,586,723 million in lawsuits alleging police misconduct for 2023. While one city Law Department spokesperson, Nicolas Paolucci, told the Daily News that wrongful (reversed) convictions drove the spike in payouts, civil rights attorney Joel Berger — who worked for the Law Department in the past, instead blames the increased cost on a spike in police misconduct. And, some of the misconduct is violent, points out Jennvine Wong, an attorney with the Cop Accountability Project at The Legal Aid Society.

“These payouts, which now total more than half a billion dollars since 2018, are indicative of a system that both refuses and fails to hold offending officers accountable,” Wong said.

✰✰✰

SCHOOL EMPLOYEE ARRESTED IN WILLIAMSBURG FOR ENDANGERING WELFARE OF A CHILD

WILLIAMSBURG — AN OFF-DUTY EMPLOYEE OF THE NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION was arrested at 12:32 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, within the confines of the 90th Precinct, which includes Williamsburg. Douglass James, 40, was charged with unlawful publication of an intimate image, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful disclosure of an intimate image, according to a police report.

No further information was available at press time.

✰✰✰

‘C’ TRAIN CONDUCTOR SLASHED IN NECK, 34 STITCHES CLOSE ‘GAPING’ WOUND

BEDFORD STUYVESANT — A NYC TRANSIT CONDUCTOR WAS SLASHED IN THE NECK when put his head out of the window to make routine observations early Thursday morning, TWU Local 100 Union President Richard Davis said in a statement. Alton Scott, 59, a conductor with 24 years of service, was attacked at about 3:40 a.m. at the Rockaway Avenue/Fulton Street subway platform on the A/C-line. He was transported to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center where he received 34 stitches to close a gaping wound, Davis said.

According to NBC, MTA officials expected to hold a press conference later on Thursday.

✰✰✰

COPS ARREST BK WOMAN WHO SMASHED SUBWAY MUSICIAN IN HEAD WITH BOTTLE

MANHATTAN — POLICE ARRESTED A WOMAN WHO WALKED UP TO A CELLIST passionately playing in the mezzanine of the 34th Street/Herald Square subway station on Feb. 13 and smashed him in the head with a metal bottle. Amira Hunter, 23, of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, was arrested late Wednesday night and charged with assault. The capture followed a two-week manhunt.

Musician Iain Forrest, who uses the stage name Eyeglasses, posted a video of the attack on his Instagram, saying, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

✰✰✰

FIRST LEGAL CANNABIS SHOP OWNED BY BLACK WOMAN OPENS IN BROOKLYN

PARK SLOPE — NUMEROUS OFFICIALS AND COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS CELEBRATED THE OPENING of a legal cannabis shop in Park Slope on Thursday, Feb. 29. Matawana, at 533 5th Ave., is the first legal dispensary in the borough to be owned by a Black woman, Leeann Mata. Four of her five brothers had been arrested on cannabis charges during the stop-and-frisk era, Mata said. “Draconian prohibition laws cost my family almost everything. But, the plant itself is a healing herb.” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-10) said, “I’m proud to see Brooklyn’s first Black woman-owned dispensary open in the heart of my district. With the opening of Matawana, Leeann Mata is making history.”

Matawana brings to five the number of legal weed shops currently operating in Brooklyn. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams both promised to crack down on the hundreds — if not thousands — of illicit storefronts threatening legal businesses.

✰✰✰

BOYCOTT DELAYS A/C SERVICE THURSDAY FOLLOWING CONDUCTOR SLASHING

BROOKLYN — SUBWAY SERVICE ON THE A/C LINE RAN WITH SEVERE DELAYS THURSDAY MORNING as train crews launched a boycott following the vicious slashing of a subway conductor, Crain’s reports. The boycott came after a conductor on a Brooklyn C train was slashed in the neck, requiring 34 stitches. Alton Scott, 59, a conductor with 24 years of service, was attacked at about 3:40 a.m. at the Rockaway Avenue/Fulton Street subway platform on the A/C-line. So far this year, seven transit workers have been assaulted, Crain’s reports.

At 2:48 p.m. Thursday, MTA’s website stated that C trains were running with delays “after we removed a train with a mechanical problem from service earlier in Manhattan,” and A trains were delayed “while we conduct track maintenance at Far Rockaway-Mott Av.”

✰✰✰

MAN WHO SHOT NEIGHBOR WHILE WEARING HALLOWEEN MASK SENTENCED TO 17 YEARS 

DOWNTOWN — A BROOKLYN MAN WEARING A HALLOWEEN MASK who walked into his neighbor’s apartment and killed him in his bed has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Thursday. Gregory Spears, 43, pled guilty to manslaughter after the bizarre killing of Angel Medina, 62, in the Langston Hughes Houses in Brownsville, where they both lived on the 14th floor. On May 19, 2020, at  2:40 p.m., Spears knocked on the door of the victim’s apartment, where his own wife was visiting the victim’s wife. Recognizing him despite the Halloween mask, the victim’s wife let him in. He then went into the bedroom, took off the mask, shot the victim multiple times and fled the apartment.

Spears was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo.

✰✰✰

DINAPOLI: NYC’S BUDGET OUTLOOK IMPROVES BUT SCHOOLS, SOCIAL SERVICES STILL NEED MONEY 

CITYWIDE — NEW YORK CITY’S BUDGET OUTLOOK HAS IMPROVED, BUT the city will need to identify ways to fund education and social services in the future, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli says in his analysis of the latest financial plan. The city’s Preliminary FY 2025 budget and January Financial Plan enabled the city to increase current-year spending to $115.8 billion (adjusted for prepayments), close its $7.1 billion FY 2025 budget gap, and reduce its out-year gaps. However, DiNapoli’s report anticipates unfunded Department of Education risks will rise to nearly $1.9 billion by Fiscal Year 2028, and points out that the city does not address how it will support $92 million in funding for its free 3-K program, nor does it include funding to reduce class size.

Cash and rental assistance enrollment is likely to remain higher than pre-pandemic levels in the near future. Furthermore, the expansion of the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) housing voucher program could result in costs of $11.4 billion cumulatively over the next four fiscal year cycles.

✰✰✰

IN MEMORIAM: BROOKLYN-BORN COMEDIAN RICHARD LEWIS, 76, CO-STARRED IN ‘CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM’

PROSPECT HEIGHTS TO L.A. — THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD HAS LOST BROOKLYN-BORN COMEDIAN RICHARD LEWIS, WHO DIED UNEXPECTEDLY AT AGE 76 on Tuesday, Feb. 27, in Los Angeles. Lewis, who gained fame for his dark and acerbic humor during the 1970s and 1980s, is best known as a co-star of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” a series that just ended after its 12th season. Although his official cause of death was listed as a heart attack, Lewis last April had said he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Richard Lewis was born on June 29, 1947, at the old Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn (555 Prospect Place in Prospect Heights — before its merger with nearby St. John’s Hospital at Washington Avenue and St. John’s Place). Another future comedian, with whom Lewis was linked, Larry David, also was born at Jewish Hospital just three days later, according to Lewis’ New York Times obituary.

A bitter hatred of each other early in their lives transformed into a strong friendship between Richard Lewis and Larry David in their adult years.

✰✰✰

REP. VELÁZQUEZ AMONG THOSE PUSHING FOR PERMANENCY OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING RISK-SHARING PROGRAM

NATIONWIDE — THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ON THURSDAY, FEB. 29, INDEFINITELY EXTENDED THE FEDERAL FINANCING BANK’S RISK-SHARING PROGRAM, which has helped state agencies finance 42,000 homes since its inception in 2015, including almost a quarter of these — 10,000 — in New York alone, reports The Real Deal. The Obama-era program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing to housing finance agencies, or HFAs, that fills a gap when the private market cannot. President Joe Biden in September 2021 revived the program for three years after the Trump administration had allowed it to lapse at the end of 2018. Although the program was scheduled to stop accepting applications in September, housing leaders and Congressional Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Nydia Velázquez (D-07) of Brooklyn/Queens, Rep. Ritchie Torres (South Bronx) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), have led the fight to extend it, officially asking for risk-sharing to become permanent.

“Since the program’s resumption by the Biden administration, FFB Risk-Sharing has supported nearly $2 billion in FHA-insured loans that have helped create or preserve more than 12,000 units of affordable housing,” said Rep. Velázquez, who said the federal government must still do more.

 ✰✰✰

NY ATTORNEY GENERAL OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO  PROLONGED AT&T SERVICE OUTAGE

NATIONWIDE — LAST WEEK’S AT&T SERVICE OUTAGE is now under investigation from NY Attorney General Letitia James’ office, she announced on Thursday, Feb. 29. For about 12 hours on Thursday, Feb. 22, consumers in New York and across the nation had no connection, leaving them unable to access emergency services, conduct business or contact family members. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) will be investigating the causes of, and AT&T’s response to, the service disruption, and is encouraging all affected New Yorkers to file complaints online. “Nationwide outages are not just an inconvenience, they can be dangerous, and it’s critical that we protect consumers when an outage occurs,” said Attorney General James.

AT&T on Friday, Feb. 23, sought to assure customers that the outage was not caused by a cyberattack but rather by a coding error during a planned software update, according to the telecommunications company’s website, which also announced customers would be refunded for the outage period.

✰✰✰

NEW CONGRESSIONAL BILL WOULD PROTECT ABUSED-PARTNERS’ FINANCIAL SAFETY 

NATIONWIDE — SURVIVORS OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE would be protected from economic abuse in legislation that U.S. Reps. Nydia Velazquez (D-07/Brooklyn and Queens) and Tina Smith (D-MN) are introducing. Their bill, the Survivor Financial Safety and Inclusion Working Group Act, aims to increase support for survivors of intimate partner violence within the financial system. It would create an interagency working group composed of the federal financial regulators and relevant stakeholders, including a representative of historically underserved communities. The working group would be tasked with collecting data on the impacts of the economic abuse of survivors carried out through regulated financial institutions.

This working group would also provide recommendations on how Congress and federal regulators can help financial institutions improve existing products and services and launch new ones to meet survivors’ financial and safety needs. 

✰✰✰

 CITY COUNCILMEMBER HANIF: BOYCOTT IFTARS UNLESS HOSTS SUPPORT ISRAELI-HAMAS CEASE-FIRE

PARK SLOPE AND CITY HALL — CITY COUNCILWOMAN SHAHANA HANIF (D-39), A LEADER OF THE COUNCIL’S PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS, HAS CALLED FOR A BOYCOTT OF ANY IFTARS OR OTHER RAMADAN EVENTS that Mayor Eric Adams plans hosts next month, reports the Daily News. Ramadan this year lasts from March 10 to April 9 and is a time of sunrise-to-sunset fasting as well as spiritual and emotional discipline. Hanif — City Council’s only female Muslim — is calling for fellow Muslims to boycott Mayor Adams’ customary Iftars until he commits to supporting a cease-fire in the Israeli-Hamas war that many people view as genocide. Speaking during a rally outside City Hall on Feb. 28, Hanif also urged mosques in the city to bar any of her Council colleagues from attending Ramadan prayer services unless they publicly support a ceasefire.

Hanif made the boycott demand during a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday, denouncing what she calls an inconsistent message from the mayor and other local Democrats relating to the rising civilian death toll of Palestinians.

✰✰✰

SEN. GILLIBRAND PRAISES RESULTS FROM ANTI-GUN TRAFFICKING LAW 

NATIONWIDE — AFTER LAW ENFORCEMENT SEIZED MORE THAN 2,000 ILLEGAL GUNS UNDER THE ANTI-GUN TRAFFICKING STATUTE IN THE BIPARTISAN SAFER COMMUNITIES ACT, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Thursday, Feb. 29, praised the anti-gun trafficking provision for which she fought. Last December (2023), Gillibrand unveiled her first-of-its-kind report analyzing the initial successes of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA)’s anti-gun trafficking section and mental health funding distribution. The original report highlighted the number of guns that have been seized by law enforcement and the number of defendants that have been charged under BSCA’s gun trafficking provision. “I am proud that in less than two years, law enforcement has used the anti-gun trafficking provision that I included in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to take over 2,000 illegal guns off our streets and charge hundreds of suspected traffickers,” said Gillibrand.

Gillibrand initiated the legislation after the 2009 shooting death of Nyasia Pryear-Yard, a 17-year-old Nazareth Regional High School honors student and Brooklynite who was hit by a stray bullet while at a dance party with friends.

✰✰✰

G’POINT RAMEN RESTAURANT SUES WEGMANS OVER FISH MARKET

GREENPOINT — THE OWNER OF LOCAL JAPANESE RESTAURANT OKONOMI AND YUJI RAMEN HAS FILED SUIT against grocery chain Wegmans over what he says is a breach of contract, Greenpointers reports. Restaurateur Yuji Haraguchi told Greenpointers that Wegmans in August of last year asked to collaborate on a traditional Japanese fish market concept, drawing on Haraguchi’s experience running the local Osakana fish market chain. Haraguchi says he signed agreements with Wegmans, shared trade secrets, gave tours and even hosted employees at one of Osakana’s sushi classes — but in October, Wegmans opened a fish market at its Astor Place store under the name Sakanaya without informing Haraguchi, before in November abruptly cutting ties.

Haraguchi told Greenpointers that he wants to reach a settlement and move on, adding that community support has been overwhelmingly positive. Wegmans in a statement said the lawsuit was without merit. 

✰✰✰

DOG CAFE SAVED BY FUNDRAISER

WILLIAMSBURG — POPULAR LOCAL DOG-FRIENDLY CAFE BORIS AND HORTON WILL REMAIN OPEN for the time being after raising over $250,000 in under a week to pay for operating expenses, the Brooklyn Paper reports. The owners had originally notified fans on social media that the cafe’s two locations, in Williamsburg and the East Village, would have to shutter by Monday, Feb. 26, without a big infusion of cash. Boris and Horton’s Williamsburg outpost is new to the community, opening its doors in June of last year, but has quickly become a community favorite, hosting events like a viewing of the Puppy Bowl last month. Customers were shocked by the news that the cafe had been struggling but offered an outpouring of support to father and daughter owners Logan Mikhly and Coppy Holzman, who told the New York Post that the money was urgently needed for health code fixes at the East Village location.

Both locations are temporarily closed, but will reportedly reopen soon following the success of the crowdfunding campaign.

✰✰✰

17 INJURED IN DRUNK DRIVER CRASH WITH BUS

NEW LOTS — SEVENTEEN PEOPLE WERE INJURED IN A TUESDAY AFTERNOON TRAFFIC ACCIDENT at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Livonia avenues, reports Gothamist, with no fatalities or serious wounds. Eleven of the injured were transported to local hospitals for evaluation, while six refused medical attention. The Daily News reports that the “chain-reaction” crash began when an allegedly drunk driver in a Lexus SUV made a turn and hit a Honda minivan. The SUV then hit multiple parked cars, while a city bus sideswiped the other vehicles involved in the crash.

The driver of the Lexus is reportedly in custody at Brookdale Hospital, with charges pending. 

✰✰✰

CANARSIE MAN CHARGED WITH RUNNING DOWN  PEDESTRIAN WHILE DRIVING DRUNK

DOWNTOWN — A CANARSIE MAN HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER after he allegedly drove drunk and struck a 68-year-old pedestrian crossing the street, killing him. Gary Turner, 47, was arraigned Wednesday before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dale Fong-Frederick. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a release that on Jan. 31, 2024, at approximately 6:45 p.m., the defendant was driving a 2017 Dodge Caravan westbound on Glenwood Road when he struck Luis Garcia, 68, in the crosswalk at the intersection of East 105th Street, throwing him onto the ground. Police allegedly observed that Turner had slurred speech, red eyes and an odor of alcohol on his breath. A breathalyzer test showed he had a blood alcohol level of .132, greater than the legal limit of .08.

Bail was set at $150.00 cash or $300.00 bond. Turner was ordered to return to court on April 16.

Leave a Comment

---

Related Articles

Our world in photos: April 26

April 27 | Brooklyn Eagle Staff

New York Court of Appeals overturns Weinstein conviction, citing misuse of prior bad acts

April 26 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Rikers replacement plan stumbles: Borough-based jails delayed and over budget

April 26 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

New York boosts funding for mental health courts in latest state budget

April 26 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Leave a Comment

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Email (will not be published) (required)

Website

Comment