State Museum Commemorates 9/11 with Virtual Tour and Window Display

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York State Museum, located in Albany, has begun programming to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. On Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, the museum’s senior historian and curator of the World Trade Center Collections, Aaron Noble, provided a gallery tour of World Trade Center: Rescue, Recovery, Response to commemorate the anniversary. A video of the program is available on the museum’s web page, as well as on the museum’s YouTube page. Additionally, since Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, a display of World Trade Center artifacts has been added to the Windows on

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Attorney General James has secured refunds for New Yorkers who purchased gift cards that expired earlier than legally permitted. The court order resolves a lawsuit filed earlier this year in Erie County against gift card company “Simply Certificates,” which profited by selling gift cards to consumers with illegal expiration dates. Some New Yorkers purchased gift cards from Simply Certificates that expired one year from the purchase date, which is in violation of New York State law. The law requires a 5-year period before a gift card can expire. “At a time when so many are hurting financially

By SÍLE MOLONEY

With only 22 days left until the conclusion of the 2020 census, following President Trump’s move to cut it short by one month, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, NYC Census 2020 announced the third contestants in the “NYC Census Subway Series,” to mobilize New Yorkers to self-respond immediately. NYC Census 2020 Field Director Kathleen Daniel released the following statement about the series. “Our Census Subway Series has unleashed the power of neighborhood pride in bringing out the census count, and we’re thrilled to bring the competition to the Boogie Down Bronx. For the third week of our Census Subway

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The NYPD is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying a male individual wanted in connection with a forcible touching incident which occurred in the 52nd Precinct. On Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at approximately 3.15 p.m., in the vicinity of East 197th Street and Decatur Avenue in the Bronx, a 33-year-old female victim was entering the rear of her apartment building when an unidentified male approached from behind and grabbed the victim’s buttocks. The individual then fled on foot in an unknown direction. The victim sustained no injury. Anyone with information with regards to this incident is asked

Crime File: Another Heroin Death in the Bronx

By SÍLE MOLONEY

On Sept. 10, the MTA announced that crews will replace track switches and perform an array of other improvement projects on the lines beginning on Oct. 9, which will lead to improved reliability and better service throughout the lines in Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. The work will require three weekends with selected service in Manhattan and Brooklyn, which will be supplemented by free shuttle buses and alternate subway service. Replacing track switches north of Atlantic Av-Barclays Center will allow the lines to move safely between the local and express tracks while providing operational flexibility, reducing delays and improving reliability.

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

Bronx poet and spoken word artist, Lorraine Currelley, has nurtured a life-long love of the written word, and actively shares that passion with as many people as possible. As executive director of both the Bronx Book Fair and the Poets Network & Exchange, she is leading a group of fellow word lovers on a mission to expand literacy in the borough, provide workshops for writers, and promote storytelling by underrepresented groups in the literary world. “I’m about change,” Currelley said. “I’m about growth.” In May, she was appointed State of New York Bronx Beat Poet Laureate for 2020-2022

By SÍLE MOLONEY

When Elizabeth Quaranta began fundraising two years ago with Friends of Mosholu Parkland (FOMP) for a community mural in Azalea Garden, she had no idea that fundraising would turn out to be the easier part of the project. The volunteer community association’s plan was to paint a mural on the park-facing side of the wall behind Azalea garden, adjacent to Mosholu Parkway subway station, located at Mosholu Parkway and Jerome Avenue. Their objective was to beautify a leafy corner of Mosholu Parkland, loved and frequented by the elderly, the homeless, veterans, and local residents, some of whom live

By DAVID GREENE

Everyone’s got to eat. When the pandemic hit the United States in March, it came as no surprise to the owners of Foodtown supermarkets that their business would be deemed essential, but they also knew that they would have to adapt to “a new normal” in order to maintain a safe operating environment for both their staff, and their customers. They did their research, acted on their plan and little did they know, it would subsequently become nationally recognized, and is now an online model for similar businesses. Noah Katz is the co-president of PSK Supermarkets which owns

By ANTHONY RIVIECCIO

By the time you read this, school will have started; many, now virtually. At CUNY, this fall semester, I am teaching Retirement Planning. In our temporary “new world,” this should be a very interesting topic this semester. But let’s start with a very simple premise. What is Retirement Planning? For many, it is the objective of achieving financial security and independence. While we all, I am sure, want to achieve a desired financial lifestyle – what many do not understand is that to achieve that future financial independence, one has to be willing to forego a certain sum