Queens-bound BQE in Brooklyn Heights will be fully closed this weekend, June 1-3

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — THE QUEENS-BOUND BQE will be fully closed for interim repairs from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street starting Saturday, June 1, at 2 a.m. to Monday, June 3, at 4 a.m. “Travelers are strongly encouraged to avoid the BQE during scheduled closures,” NYC DOT said in a statement. The repairs, which build on work conducted in October 2023 and April 2024, focus on new concrete and reinforcing steel bars being added at spans on the Triple Cantilever near Clark Street and Grace Court, as part of near-term work critical to continuing the deteriorating structure’s lifespan until a permanent redesign is envisioned. In addition, the following turns will be restricted: Atlantic Avenue eastbound left turn onto Hicks Street; Atlantic Avenue eastbound left turn onto Clinton Street; and Hicks Street northbound left turn onto Atlantic Avenue. Five ramps leading to the Queens-bound BQE will be closed as well.

“We are approaching the third and final phase of our interim repair work for 2024 on the BQE to preserve its lifespan and keep it in a state of good repair,” NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement.  Full details at brooklyneagle.com.

✰✰✰

Diocese’s first American-born Vietnamese priest will be ordained with 3 others on Saturday

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — FOUR MEN WILL BE ORDAINED AS PRIESTS for the Diocese of Brooklyn on Saturday, one of them the first American-born Vietnamese priest to serve here. Bishop Robert Brennan will preside at the Mass of Ordination on Saturday, June 1, at the 1,500-person capacity co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights. All four ordinands, from different backgrounds, have been serving their transitional diaconate year, and three of them were born on other continents. The Minnesota-born Deacon Randy Thanh Nguyen, 38, settled in Elmhurst, Queens, which is part of the Diocese of Brooklyn. A graduate of Hunter College, he speaks Vietnamese, Spanish and English, and pursued medical studies before hearing a call to the priesthood. Deacon Caetano Moura de Oliveira, 31, was born in Jundiaí, Brazil, into a devout Catholic family who prayed together as a family as well as at Mass. He received his calling during a youth pilgrimage in Brasilia. Deacon Luis Marquez, 38, a native of Colombia who immigrated to the U.S. in 2002, earned a degree in modern languages and taught Spanish before discerning his call. He has expressed special enthusiasm for serving in a diocese rich in various cultures, languages, and communities. Deacon Tobechkwu Jude Offiah, 37, was born in Lagos, the former capital city of Nigeria, and earned a bachelor’s degree in that country. Deacon Offiah entered St. Joseph’s Seminary and College in New York, and he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2022.

The 11 a.m. Ordination Mass will be broadcast live on NET-TV, the cable channel of the Diocese of Brooklyn, as well as livestreamed.

✰✰✰

Reactions to a guilty verdict

Editor’s Note: Several elected officials representing Brooklyn at the Congressional, state and local levels have weighed in about the guilty verdict against former President Donald Trump, that a jury in State Supreme Court-New York County delivered on Thursday, May 30.

TRUMP LOYALISTS CALL FOR INSURRECTION
SAYING REVENGE ‘CANNOT BE FIXED BY VOTING’

NATIONWIDE — MEANWHILE, INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS LOYAL to former President Trump, the first U.S. President ever to be convicted of a crime, have called for violence against the judge and jurors involved in the trial, which ended Thursday with a guilty verdict on all 34 counts, reports Reuters. The news agency reviewed comments on the websites of Trump’s own Truth Social platform, Patriots.Win and the Gateway Pundit. Along the more undemocratic-sounding comments were calls for armed insurrection. “Someone in NY with nothing to lose needs to take care of Merchan,” wrote one commentator on Patriots. A Gateway Pundit poster suggested that liberals be shot, adding, “This cannot be fixed by voting.”

Threats of violence and intimidating rhetoric soared after Trump lost the 2020 election and falsely claimed the vote was stolen. The threats culminated in a riot in the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, on the day that Congress was scheduled to ratify the vote in the Constitutionally-dictated peaceful transfer of power. The ratification was postponed several hours, but was completed.

✰✰✰

REP. MALLIOTAKIS, CONFIDENT OF TRUMP’S SUCCESSFUL APPEAL,
SAYS VOTERS WILL DECIDE THIS FALL

BAY RIDGE/DYKER HEIGHTS — OTHER MORE COOL-HEADED REPUBLICAN LEADERS, including Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, who represents southwestern Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York’s 11th District said she believes the verdict would be overturned in the appeals courts, and said that the voters will send Trump back to the White House. “Today’s verdict is a complete but sadly unsurprising miscarriage of justice, and we knew all along that in the borough of Manhattan, where more than 86% of the population rejected President Trump, that he would not have a fair trial of his peers. This is an unprecedented, sad, and downright scary day for our country, which at its core has the principle of innocent until PROVEN guilty with actual EVIDENCE,” Malliotakis wrote.

Malliotakis, who is Brooklyn’s only Republican member of Congress, added, “I’m confident that upon appeal, these charges will be overturned and come November, voters will see through this charade and the other attempts to block President Trump from retaking the White House.”

✰✰✰

VERNIKOV: ‘THIS IS A DARK TIME FOR OUR NATION’

CITY HALL — CITY COUNCIL MINORITY WHIP INNA VERNIKOV, a Republican representing District 48 (Brighton Beach, West Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gravesend, and parts of Midwood and Sheepshead Bay) issued a brief statement on her X (formerly Twitter) page after 6 p.m. on Thursday. “The American people need to understand that this can happen to anyone — and for most of us this would happen in complete darkness, with no media coverage and no way out.”

Vernikov added, “This is a dark time for our nation.”

✰✰✰

PUBLIC ADVOCATE CAUTIONS AGAINST CELEBRATING,
SAYS JURY HELD TRUMP ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS

CITYWIDE — “THIS GUILTY VERDICT IS A MOMENT FOR JUSTICE, but not celebration,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. “It is the first time that this man, who has had every privilege and no barriers in his entire life, is finally facing some level of accountability. I commend District Attorney Bragg for steadfastly and professionally pursuing that accountability in the face of vicious attacks. In my role as Public Advocate, I have seen far too many wealthy and well-connected people circumvent justice while disenfranchised New Yorkers fall victim to injustice. Donald Trump is not a victim of anything but his own character and wrongdoing, and his victims are innumerable across 91 felony charges and across the country.”

Public Advocate Williams observed, “There will be many who try to defend or excuse Trump – many of the same people notably silent about the five innocent Black teenagers he once condemned to death – but it is clear in this verdict, and in the decade of evidence we’ve all been witness to, that he is entirely unfit to represent anyone.”

✰✰✰

GOVERNOR, MAYOR STEP UP PREPAREDNESS BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

ALBANY — FOCUSING ON NEW YORKERS’ SAFETY in the aftermath of the guilty verdict against former President Donald Trump, Governor Kathy Hochul stated that she prepared for the outcome by directing her “Administration to closely coordinate with local and federal law enforcement and we continue to monitor the situation. We are committed to protecting the safety of all New Yorkers and the integrity of our judicial system.” Gov. Hochul said, “Today’s verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law.”

✰✰✰

ADAMS: ‘WE WILL NOT BE A CITY OF ANY FORM OF LAWLESSNESS’

CITY HALL — LIKEWISE, NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS focused on the city’s preparedness for any backlash from the verdict. “Today, a jury of 12 New Yorkers registered their verdict. Our criminal justice process must be respected. As we await the next steps, New Yorkers should rest assured that the NYPD stands ready to respond to any and all circumstances, including large-scale protests. While peaceful protests and assembly will always be protected, we will not be a city of any form of lawlessness.”

 ✰✰✰

BROOKLYN DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR CALLS TRUMP
‘A THREAT TO THE CORE OF OUR DEMOCRACY’

FLATBUSH — BROOKLYN DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR RODNEYSE BICHOTTE HERMELYN RELEASES the following statement in response to the jury in former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial in New York finding him guilty this afternoon: “For the first time in the history of the United States, a President has been convicted of a crime, nonetheless 34 felony charges. This is a great blemish added to our nation’s history, yet the Brooklyn Democratic Party is pleased to see Donald Trump finally facing tangible consequences for his despicable actions,” she said. “In our Democracy, nobody is above the law, and that includes our former President Trump, whom a jury found guilty of falsifying business records by covering up a payment to an adult film star before the 2016 election. Bichotte Hermelyn cautioned that Trump remains the presumptive Republican nominee even though he still faces several court cases, including one that State Attorney General Letitia James is heading.

“Trump remains an ever-dangerous threat to the core of our democracy and the American people as he tries to run for President again,” said Bichotte Hermelyn.

✰✰✰

CLARK ST. RESIDENTS CHEER GUILTY VERDICT FOR TRUMP

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A CLARK STREET RESIDENT IN BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, who asked that her name be withheld, reacted to the verdict with jubilation. “I went on my terrace and started banging pots and pans to celebrate. I heard other people yelling ‘yay’! Another Clark Street resident said that people were shouting joyously from their terraces.”

✰✰✰

PRESIDENT BIDEN’S SPOKESPERSON SAYS BALLOT BOX
IS KEY TO BLOCKING TRUMP FROM WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL, President Joe Biden’s communications director, Michael Tyler, issued a statement after the verdict. “There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president…A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence — and the American people will reject it this November,” Tyler said.

The President on Thursday had not yet responded to the verdict, as he was observing a memorial on the anniversary of his son Beau’s death. His administration has warned against the perils to democracy of former President Trump’s return to the White House.

✰✰✰

HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER PRAISES RULE OF LAW

CAPITOL HILL — HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES, who also represents Brooklyn Congressional District 8 (stretching from Clinton Hill southeasterly to Marine Park) released a statement late Thursday via the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), saying,  “America is a nation built upon the rule of law. The jury has spoken and carefully rendered a decision. Responsible leadership requires the verdict to be respected.”

Jeffries could potentially become the next Speaker of the House if enough battleground seats flip to the Democrats in November.

✰✰✰

GILLIBRAND: ‘I RESPECT THE JURY’S VERDICT’

NATIONWIDE — U.S. SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND OF NEW YORK, responding on Friday afternoon to the jury’s decision in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, offered a succinct statement: “No one should be above the law. Like every criminal defendant, Mr. Trump had the opportunity to mount a vigorous defense and to be judged by a jury of his peers. I respect the jury’s verdict.” That jury, with seven men and five women, remained anonymous for security reasons. A makeup of the jurors’ backgrounds revealed that several worked in the financial services industry, law and tech. During voire dire, they had expressed an open-mindness and promised to be impartial. Several said they do not closely follow news reports.

Senator Gillibrand’s New York colleague, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, had not yet as of press time commented on the jury’s guilty verdict; his website had not yet posted any updates on the trial.

✰✰✰

Speech-Language-Hearing Association honors Maimonides specialist

BOROUGH PARK — MAIMONIDES HEALTH’S LUIS F. RIQUELME, PH.D., DIRECTOR OF REHABILITATION and Speech-Language Pathology has received the New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s 2024 Honors of the Association Award, the organization’s highest accolade, given to individuals who have distinguished themselves as leaders in the fields of Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology, and/or Communication Sciences and Disorders. The award, which was presented to him recently, highlights Dr. Riquelme’s continued dedication to furthering excellence in these disciplines. Dr. Riquelme, who is widely respected both locally and internationally, has made major contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the areas of swallowing and swallowing disorders (dysphagia).

The Honors of the Association Award was presented at the NYSSLHA Convention in White Plains, in early May.

✰✰✰

Brooklyn man charged for stealing mail carriers’ key, ID theft and more

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A BROOKLYN MAN HAS BEEN CHARGED in a 10-count indictment with robbery of a postal worker, a related firearms offense, mail theft-related offenses, wire fraud, bank fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. The defendant, identified as 45-year-old Alfonso Forney, was scheduled to appear for his initial appearance before United States Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo at federal court in Brooklyn. As part of the robbery and mail theft scheme, the defendant and others throughout 2023 committed gunpoint robberies of United States Postal Service mail carriers to obtain arrow keys, which are universal keys that allow mail carriers to access various postal boxes within a certain geographic area. The defendant and others used the keys to steal mail, including checks from the mail, which were subsequently deposited into the defendant’s bank accounts or otherwise cashed. Then, between January and March of this year, the defendant misrepresented himself as another individual (the “Victim”) to fraudulently gain access to the Victim’s bank accounts. He changed the address on the victim’s driver’s license to his own address, ordered a duplicate of that license and withdrew $245,000 from the victim’s bank account into his own. He also purchased a vehicle in the victim’s name.

If convicted, the defendant faces up to 39 years’ imprisonment.

✰✰✰