What’s News, Breaking: Thursday, March 21, 2024

March 21, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CLARKE URGES AID FOR MAURITANIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS

WASHINGTON — U.S. REP. YVETTE CLARKE LED HOUSE COLLEAGUES IN SIGNING A letter to DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas and Deputy Director of ICE Patrick Lechleitner this week expressing “deep concern” over the treatment of asylum seekers from the north African country of Mauritania by immigration officials; for such people, the letter calls for a moratorium on deportations, release from custody, translation assistance, and detailed information about currently detained Mauritanians. The agency is mistreating those who speak rare languages, according to the letter, which cites reports of “ICE officers intimidating and forcing people to sign paperwork they do not understand,” and “people being ordered removed because ICE provides no language services in detention, denying them the opportunity to complete their asylum application forms, which must be submitted in English.”

Mauritania has a notoriously troubled human rights record: while the country was the last in the world to formally ban slavery in 1981, advocates say that its practice continues largely unimpeded, with estimates of hundreds of thousands of people thought to be enslaved along racial lines; asylum seekers from Mauritania were the largest group of African migrants who arrived at the southern border last year, according to the letter.

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MAN SHOT WITH OWN GUN ON ‘A’ TRAIN WILL BE CHARGED, IF HE SURVIVES

DOWNTOWN — THE 36-YEAR-OLD MAN SHOT IN THE HEAD WITH HIS OWN GUN after he started a fight on the A train in Downtown Brooklyn last week will be charged with criminal possession of a weapon if he survives, police told abc7ny. He remains hospitalized at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in critical but stable condition. The incident took place at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station. A woman who stabbed the 36-year-old in the back before her acquaintance shot him is still being sought for questioning. Detectives only know her nickname, “Unique.”

Once she is found and questioned, the district attorney’s office will determine whether charges will be pressed. The 32-year-old shooter was not charged; prosecutors cited self-defense.

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CROWN HEIGHTS — THE NATIONAL BLACK WRITERS’ CONFERENCE RETURNED TO Brooklyn for its 17th year this week at Medgar Evers College, reports News 12, featuring discussions on issues like systemic racism, the impact of social media, and social and environmental justice, as well as on the role of Black writers in educating and leading the Black community and the public. Hundreds turned out on Wednesday evening for the first day of the conference to celebrate Black authors at a talk hosted by Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin and Vanderbilt University professor Michael Eric Dyson on the theme “All That We Carry: Where do we go from here?”. The conference will continue through Saturday at Medgar Evers’ Center for Black Literature.

Griffin and Johnson told News 12 they were honored to be asked to speak; Dyson added, “Teaching is important. To center the ability to engage young people in expanding their minds, in thinking thoughts about issues they are not ordinarily asked to consider — that’s what a Black writer’s job is.”

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2 INJURED BY FALLING CHUNK OF BED-STUY BUILDING

BED-STUY — TWO CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WERE INJURED ON A BED-STUY worksite on Tuesday after a 20-foot piece of a building’s decorative parapet molding detached from its roof and crashed through layers of scaffolding, reports CBS News. The victims were trapped on the building’s fire escape under debris for several minutes and were transported to Kings County Hospital in serious condition, according to witnesses and the FDNY. The 4-story building was the subject of a February complaint to the Department of Buildings that alleged unpermitted work was taking place by unlicensed workers; the DOB is now investigating the site.

Construction worker injuries and deaths have risen in Brooklyn, according to a recent report by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, especially among non-union workers; last month, worker Juan Ildefonso Tamay Ganzhi was killed in a partial building collapse in Bed-Stuy at a worksite that had received multiple stop-work orders.

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ACTOR ELLIOT PAGE TO PRODUCE VR EXPERIENCE ON LGBTQ BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ACTOR ELLIOT PAGE (“JUNO,” “THE UMBRELLA Academy,”) is set to produce a virtual-reality adaptation of the 2019 historiography “When Brooklyn Was Queer,” which explores the untold stories of LGBTQ Brooklynites throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, reports Variety. Production on the adaptation, which will be directed by Brooklyn Emmy-winning director Yasmin Elayat, is set to begin later this year; the finished interactive experience will be viewable through devices like Meta’s Quest headset.

“When Brooklyn Was Queer,” by author Hugh Ryan, is a 2019 New York Times Editor’s Pick, and was inspired by Ryan’s difficulty in finding information about the borough’s rich but underground queer history, according to the author in a walking tour with New York Magazine through Brooklyn’s one-time LGBTQ hotspots, such as the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Park Slope and Coney Island.

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BROOKLYN DIOCESE:‘RECONCILIATION MONDAY’
A TIME TO PREPARE ONE’S HEART FOR EASTER

BOROUGHWIDE — CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN BROOKLYN AND QUEENS WILL BE OPEN THIS COMING MONDAY, MARCH 25, FOR the faithful to receive the SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION during Holy Week. Bishop Robert Brennan, Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, is inviting Catholics throughout Brooklyn and Queens to take part in Reconciliation Monday, which is customarily held the day after Palm Sunday, which begins Holy Week. Most parishes in the diocese will have a priest available to hear confessions from 2-4 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m. that day. “Reconciliation Monday is an opportunity to experience the healing power of our Lord. Let us prepare ourselves to celebrate Easter with a clean heart, free of the burden of our sins,” said Bishop Brennan. Readers go online for a complete listing of parishes.

Holy Week commemorates the events in the Gospels, which Catholics believe reconcile God and humans to each other, and give victory over sin and death.

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TO ENFORCE SAFE CLEANUPS IN GOWANUS

GOWANUS — EPA INSPECTOR GENERAL SEAN W. O’DONNELL ON THURSDAY, MARCH 21, ISSUED A SCATHING REPORT THAT EXCORIATES both the city of New York and the EPA Region 2 on how they have handled environmental issues that led to soaring costs and increased health risks in Gowanus. Declaring that “the EPA needs to strengthen its enforcement and actively supervise construction efforts to ensure this project is completed without further financial losses or environmental contamination,” O’Donnell in his report notes that the community coalition Voice of Gowanus (VoG) had registered a complaint that initiated an audit and investigation. The report validates VoG’s grave concerns about EPA Region 2’s failure to take proper enforcement actions against the City and State of New York to ensure a comprehensive clean-up of the Gowanus area in a manner protective of human health and the environment.

The report shows that the project cost has ballooned to over $1 billion — a more than 1,300% increase from the original estimate of $78 million — and that the project is more than six and a half years behind schedule, with additional delays likely.

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CITY HOSPITAL SYSTEM, MAYOR COMPLETE
ROLLOUT OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE PROGRAM

CITYWIDE — THE NATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED LIFESTYLE MEDICINE PROGRAM, which NYC Health + Hospitals and Mayor Eric Adams launched five years ago, completed its expansion on Thursday, March 21, with a new facility opening in the South Bronx. The program, which Mayor Adams helped launch in 2019 after making personal testimonials about his own health turnaround, is now active at seven sites across the five boroughs, with six locations previously launched, including two in Brooklyn: NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull and NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County. The Lifestyle Medicine Program’s team supports patients in making evidence-based lifestyle changes, including a healthful plant-based diet, increased physical activity, improved sleep habits, stress reduction, avoidance of substance use, and stronger social connections. Adults living with prediabetes, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or health concerns related to excess weight are eligible to enroll.

Together, the program’s seven sites will serve approximately 4,000 patients each year, providing them with tools and support to prevent and manage common chronic conditions.

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NEW YORK YIMBY: PERMITS FILED FOR SKYSCRAPER
AT 205 MONTAGUE, CURRENTLY TD BANK BUILDING

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — PERMITS HAVE BEEN FILED FOR A 47-STORY MIXED-USE SKYSCRAPER AT 205 MONTAGUE STREET, at the intersection where Cadman Plaza West joins Court St., and across the street from a major transit hub, reports the real estate news website New York YIMBY. The proposed building is one block outside the eastern boundary of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District which limits the heights of new buildings. Jonathan Landau of Landau Development Corp. is listed as the owner behind the applications, although PropertyShark indicates a different party has owned the multi-parcelled building since January 2013. The proposed 672-foot-tall development will yield 529,597 square feet, portions of which are designated for residential space and commercial space. The concrete-based structure will also have multiple cellar levels and 100 enclosed parking spaces.

One commenter on the YIMBY story pondered, “Previous media coverage of this nascent project suggested the development team was considering the reuse of the old bank building as the base of a new tower. Any clue whether this is still an option?”

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NY ATTORNEY GENERAL OPENS ELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE AS EARLY VOTING BEGINS

STATEWIDE — VOTERS ENCOUNTERING ANY OBSTACLES IN CASTING THEIR BALLOTS DURING THE PRIMARY ELECTION PERIOD have recourse, NY Attorney General said on Thursday, March 21. The Office of the Attorney General is making its Election Protection Hotline available for the April 2, 2024, presidential primary election and during New York’s early voting period, which runs from this Saturday, March 23 through March 30. The hotline will be available to troubleshoot and resolve a range of issues encountered by voters, encompassing absentee ballot, early mail ballot, or in-person voting at polling places. A guide addressing frequently asked questions is also currently available. Written requests for assistance may be submitted at any time through the online complaint form or the OAG phone hotline at (866) 390-2992.

The OAG has also taken legal action to protect against voter registration purges and to ensure that voters have adequate and equitable access to vote early as required by law.

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JUSTICE DEPT., USING ANTITRUST LAWS, SUES
APPLE OVER TECH DESIGN MONOPOLY

NATIONWIDE — THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS SUING THE TECH GIANT APPLE OVER WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DEEMS AN ILLEGAL MONOPOLY ON SMARTPHONES that blocks competitors from developing software, the Associated Press and other news agencies announced on Thursday. The lawsuit, which the DOJ filed in federal court in New Jersey, accuses Apple of exerting monopoly power in the smartphone market, particularly with its iPhone series, to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.” The suit centers around Apple’s engineering a “walled garden” of software and hardware, that allows customers ease of use. Apple defends its software on the grounds that it provides an indispensable and popular layer of security for the personal information stored on phones.

Apple also claims that its security feature distinguishes its products from Apple’s main competitor, Google’s Android software, which is less restrictive and licensed out to more manufacturers.

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NEW CONTRACT WILL KEEP HOSPITAL SYSTEM IN AETNA’S NETWORK, SAVING COVERAGE FOR MANY NEW YORKERS

CITYWIDE — AETNA-SUBSCRIBER PATIENTS USING THE NEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN HEALTH SYSTEM, WHICH INCLUDES A HOSPITAL IN PARK SLOPE, will be able to keep their health care coverage, now that an agreement has been reached, reports Gothamist. The New York-Presbyterian health system reached a deal with insurer Aetna just days before the contract expiration deadline — thus preventing an expected loss of coverage starting on April 1 for tens of thousands of patients who use the network’s hospitals, which include NewYork-Presbyterian/Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, and keeping the hospitals, physicians and clinics in the network. The health system had threatened to sever its ties with Aetna, alleging that the insurance had “presented an unreasonable offer” and it sent letters to patients, asking them even to discuss other insurance options with their employers.

Neither NewYork-Presbyterian nor Aetna had shared with Gothamist additional information on the contract’s terms as of press time.

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‘PORTABLE’ FRENCH BULLDOGS MOST POPULAR BREED IN AMERICA

NATIONWIDE — FRENCH BULLDOGS, LONG POPULAR IN NYC, are also top dogs nationwide, according to American Kennel Club’s 2023 registration statistics. AKC called Frenchies playful, adaptable, even-tempered — and important for city dwellers, portable. The breed, with its squashed mug and large “bat ears,” made number one for the second year in a row, even beating out the lovable Labrador Retriever, which came in second. “The French Bulldog’s surge in popularity shows no signs of slowing down,” said AKC Executive Secretary Gina DiNardo. But that doesn’t mean they’re for everyone … It’s extremely important to do your research.”

Good to know: The breed tends to have airway problems, which can lead to snorting, “reverse sneezing” and other breathing issues.

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GOLDMAN LEADS EFFORT TO ENSURE ACCESS TO MEDICAL ABORTION DRUG

STATEWIDE — A WEEK BEFORE THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IS SET TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON RESTRICTING ACCESS TO THE ABORTION MEDICATION mifepristone via telemedicine, Rep. Daniel Goldman (NY -10) on Monday convened a roundtable with New York state and city officials and women’s health advocates to strategize. The decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine will impact health care for millions of women, both in New York and nationwide, Goldman said. “The FDA’s medical and scientific experts approved mifepristone, and they should decide what medications are available to women, not politicians or the courts,” said Kirsten Moore, Director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project.

During the roundtable, officials also announced that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s team had signed an order to ensure that pharmacists are able to dispense self-administered hormonal birth control without a prescription.

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PUBLIC INVITED TO COMMENT ON GOWANUS CANAL DAMAGE & RESTORATION PLAN

GOWANUS — THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO COMMENT ON A FEDERAL PLAN to assess the historic damage caused to the Gowanus Canal’s natural resources by hazardous industrial substances and oil, identify restoration opportunities, and seek compensation from those responsible for the damage. Designated a Superfund Site, the canal’s notoriously polluted water, shoreline, recreation and biota — including fish, birds and water-dependent mammals — will be included in the assessment.

The canal’s federal trustees, which include DEC, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA, said on Wednesday that the public can read the Draft Assessment Plan for Gowanus Canal online or at Brooklyn Public Library’s Park Slope branch at 431 6th Ave., and will accept comments at [email protected] through April 15, 2024.

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‘LICH’ BILL WOULD REQUIRE PUBLIC NOTICE IN HOSPITAL SHUTDOWNS

ALBANY — STATE SEN. GUSTAVO RIVERA (SD-33) and ASSEMBLYMEMBER JO ANNE SIMON (AD-52) with other state lawmakers on Wednesday announced the introduction of legislation that would require public notice and community engagement when a hospital seeks to either close entirely or close a unit that provides emergency, maternity, mental health or substance use care. The legislation would also strengthen state review of the proposed closings. The bill is called the Local Input in Community Healthcare Act (LICH Act) in response to the closing of Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital, a 20-building complex in Simon’s district, which was sold to a developer amid years of protests and lawsuits.

“It’s outrageous that hospitals close with virtually no public notice, engagement or state oversight,” Simon said in a statement. “The public ought to know before — not after — their local hospital is shuttered. When SUNY Downstate closed Long Island College Hospital in 2013, the health department didn’t notify or seek input from the communities that LICH had served for 156 years.”

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CITY: DELINQUENT CUSTOMERS MUST MAKE PAYMENT PLANS WITHIN 2 WEEKS TO AVOID WATER SERVICE SHUTOFFS

CITYWIDE — NEW YORKERS WHO DID NOT AVAIL THEMSELVES OF A WATER BILL AMNESTY OR PAYMENT PLAN FOR DELINQUENT BILL PAYMENTS now face shutoffs, Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala announced on Wednesday, March 20. The city has initiated the next phase of its expanded collection enforcement actions against approximately 2,400 chronically delinquent water service accounts that owe the city a total of $102 million. As part of the effort, DEP will send out “Water Shutoff Notices” to these customers, informing them that water service to their property could be shut off unless the entire owed amount is paid or they enter into a payment agreement within the next 15 days.

This enforcement action is targeted towards commercial properties, including hotels, office buildings, and retail spaces, as well as one-to-three-family homes that have not responded to any of DEP’s extensive outreach efforts over the past year.

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MEDICAL EXAMINER RULES TODDLER DIED FROM DROWNING AND BEATING

EAST FLATBUSH — THE AUTOPSY OF A THREE-YEAR-OLD-BOY WHO WAS KILLED ON SUNDAY REVEALED that he had been drowned and beaten, with the city Medical Examiner determining that blunt-force head injuries was a contributing factor, reports ABC Eyewitness News. First responders arriving at the child’s East Flatbush address of 770 New York Ave. on Sunday night, March 17, found him unconscious and unresponsive; they rushed him to NYC Health and Hospitals/Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Police have identified the victim as Denim Brown, age 3. Police on Monday, March 18, arrested 29-year-old Kevin James, also of 770 New York Avenue in East Flatbush (which was incorrectly identified in the ABC-7 report as being in Crown Heights).

The suspect is being charged with murder, assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child.

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SUNY GETS $32M TO EXPAND WORKFORCE TRAINING FOR PERSONS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

STATEWIDE — GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL HAS MADE A $32 MILLION INVESTMENT TO THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK’s DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL MICROCREDENTIAL PROGRAM to help people with developmental disabilities obtain workforce training. The funding will allow SUNY to expand the program on campuses where it already exists and add programs at additional campuses to help grow the Direct Support Professional workforce in New York State and support New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. SUNY anticipates supporting up to 6,000 students by 2030 through this expansion.

SUNY is working in partnership with the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). So far, the programs have been available only at upstate SUNY schools, including Jamestown, Oneonta and Orange County Community College.

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STATE SENATOR MYRIE CALLS FOR STUDY TO EXPLORE FEASIBILITY OF YEAR-ROUND AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM

FLATBUSH AND ALBANY — UNIVERSAL AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM MUST BE PRIORITIZED IN THIS YEAR’S STATE BUDGET, urged State Senator Zellnor Myrie (D-20/Central Brooklyn) who has introduced legislation directing the Office of Children and Family Services to conduct a study on the issue. Sen. Myrie on Wednesday, March 20, joined colleagues and advocates to urge that this year’s state budget include a pathway toward universal afterschool programming. The Senate’s one-house budget resolution calls for the State to explore universal afterschool coverage. The bill (S-8836), now assigned to the State Senate’s Children and Families Committee, calls for this study to study the feasibility of providing the program year-round, factoring in costs of facility, transportation, labor and security; and to examine the current structures in place for out-of-school programs and ways to more effectively resolve their cost burdens.

Myrie’s office has found that fewer than half of NYC public schools offer free, city-funded after school programs, and hundreds of thousands of students are on waiting lists for available slots. The alternative of child care is unaffordable for many families.

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TRADE-SECRET PIRATE ARRESTED AND CHARGED; VICTIM IS U.S.-BASED ELECTRIC VEHICLE FIRM

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — OWNERS OF A CHINA-BASED COMPANY HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO SEND TRADE SECRETS belonging to a leading U.S.-based electric vehicle company, according to a complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday, March 19. The complaint charges Klaus Pflugbeil, a resident of the People’s Republic of China and Canadian national, and Yilong Shao, a Chinese national, with conspiring to send trade secrets that belonged to a leading U.S.-based electric vehicle company. Pflugbeil and Shao are operators of a PRC-based business that sold technology used for the manufacture of batteries, including those built into electric vehicles. The defendants built their business using Victim Company-1’s sensitive and proprietary information and even marketed their business as a replacement for Victim Company-1’s products.

Shao is still at large, but Pflugbeil was arrested Tuesday morning after he sent multiple Victim Company-1 trade secrets to — and was traveling to meet with — a prospective business contact who was actually a law enforcement undercover agent.

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COLLAPSE IN HOME DEPOT PARKING LOT

SUNSET PARK — A SMALL SECTION OF THE SUNSET PARK HOME DEPOT’S PARKING lot collapsed onto a lower floor of the building on Wednesday morning, reports CBS News. Photos of the scene show a roughly 10-foot by 2-foot hole in the garage’s floor surrounded by tire marks and fencing. No injuries were reported from the collapse into the store’s garden center, and the Department of Buildings was notified. The says it is investigating the incident.

“We have engineers and general contractors onsite assessing the area and determining the next steps,” Home Depot stated.

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LIBRARY TO HOST EXHIBITION FROM INCARCERATED ARTIST

BED-STUY — THE BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY’S MACON LIBRARY on Thursday will host the opening of an art exhibition by incarcerated Brooklyn painter Corey Arthur in honor of Women’s History Month. The exhibition, titled “Save the Flower,” is a series of portraits dedicated to inspirational women in the artist’s life. Arthur has been in prison since 1997 after being controversially convicted at the age of 19 for the high-profile murder of Jonathan Levin, his former English teacher and the son of then-Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin. While Arthur maintains his innocence, he credits feminism for his resilience and growth while behind bars: “There are seven women in my life who healed me without breaking my bones and locking me in cages… These women achieved in a few years what our current prison system could not do in over the quarter century I’ve been a prisoner.”

The opening will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, at the Macon Library’s African American Heritage Center.

Artist Corey Arthur poses with two portraits from his upcoming exhibition, “Save the Flower.”

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RED HOOK INITIATIVE GETS $1M GRANT

RED HOOK — THE RED HOOK INITIATIVE ON WEDNESDAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS been selected from more than 6,000 applicants to receive a $1 million grant from Yield Giving to support its work with Red Hook youth. The Initiative partners with community members and leaders to offer work experiences, volunteer opportunities and internships to teens and young adults in the NYCHA Red Hook Houses in order to foster independence, resilience and workforce readiness. Since 2014, the group “has reinvested over $1 million annually into the Red Hook community” through direct payments for these opportunities, helping to support the local economy, according to a press release.

RHI also distributes emergency aid to families in need, as well as assisting in community projects, such as the group’s response to COVID-19 and its coordination of volunteer efforts after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

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BROOKLYN ‘NIGHT IN THE LIBRARY’ DRAWS SCIENTISTS, ACTIVISTS, ARTISTS, THERAPY DOGS

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY’S CENTRAL BRANCH HOSTED its eighth annual Night in the Library over the weekend, keeping the doors open from 7 p.m. Saturday evening to 2 a.m. Sunday morning. A crowd of more than 4,000 packed the library to hear thinkers, scientists, writers, activists and artists in a marathon of performances, debates, music and talks, all addressing the theme, “Out of Darkness.” Filmmaker and political organizer Astra Taylor delivered the keynote, Brooklyn Roasting Company provided java, and therapy dogs from the Good Dog Foundation provided undiluted joy.

“It seemed nearly all of Brooklyn came through our doors for Night in the Library,” said László Jakab Orsós, BPL’s VP for Arts and Culture.