Pierina Sanchez, from The Bronx to the White House and Back

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

Next year, residents of New York City’s 14th District will vote on a new representative. Incumbent Councilman Fernando Cabrera has reached the end of his last term. He has represented the district, which extends from just south of the Cross Bronx Expressway to Kingsbridge Heights in the north, since 2010. In June 2020, Pierina Sanchez, 32, announced her candidacy to replace Cabrera with a focus on improving permanent housing and education, among other issues. “With 70 percent of our residents unable to afford their rents, I want to work to improve that number,” Sanchez said. “I want more

By SÍLE MOLONEY

On Wednesday, July 22, the results of a study carried out by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System, on the use of steroid treatments in COVID-19 patients, was released and published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. It identified the benefits and risks of steroid treatment in COVID-19 patients. The study built upon a larger, earlier British steroid study, called Recovery, involving 6,000 patients. The British study found that the steroid, dexamethasone, reduced deaths from COVID-19 by about one third in patients who were on ventilators, and by about one fifth among patients who needed oxygen

By DAVID GREENE

Having recorded just one homicide during the first six months of 2020, the 52nd precinct has since logged two additional homicides in July, both occurring within a six-day span. This equals the precinct’s homicide record for the same period last year. In the first of the two most recent cases, as initially reported by Norwood News, police were called to 3340 Decatur Avenue between East 209th Street and East Gun Hill Road in the Norwood area of the Bronx at 11.44 p.m. on Monday, July 20. Officials reported that upon arrival, officers discovered a 24-year-old male “unconscious and unresponsive” in

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The Fresh Air Fund, in response to COVID-19, has created Fresh Air Summer Spaces, fun, free and safe play spaces for New York City children, ages five through 13. Fresh Air Summer Spaces provides children the chance to enjoy safe, supervised outdoor summer activities where they can laugh, smile, play and make new friends. Fresh Air staff supervise arts and crafts, interactive games and even dance parties! Summer Spaces would not be possible without the support of the local community. Fresh Air Youth Employment program participants will assist at sites. The Fund is helping to fill the gap

By Síle Moloney

On July 23, the NYPD released body-worn camera footage from two separate police-involved shootings. One incident occurred on May 29, 2020 within the confines of the 40th precinct in the Bronx, serving Port Morris, Mott Haven, and Melrose, and the other incident occurred on May 20, 2020 within the confines of the 26th precinct in Manhattan, serving Columbia University, Riverside Park, Morningside Park, and General Grant National Memorial. Each video includes the evidence available leading up to, as well as during the incidents. The NYPD wrote that the agency was releasing this footage for clear viewing of the totality

By ARIANA CIPRIANI

As New York City’s small businesses transitioned to Phase 3 of the city’s reopening plan earlier this month, restaurants and diners took to the streets and sidewalks for open dining. From now through October, restaurants can offer outdoor seating on the sidewalk and curb lane to customers. With six outdoor dining destinations to choose from in the BID, there are plenty of opportunities to sit back and relax on Jerome Avenue and East Gun Hill Road. Jennifer Tausig is Executive Director of the Jerome Gun Hill BID. “Open dining has provided a much-needed lifeline for our small, locally

By Síle Moloney

On Thursday, July 30, at 2 p.m., an off-duty New York City employee was arrested and charged within the confines of the 23rd precinct in Manhattan, serving East Harlem, or El Barrio, north of East 96th Street. Sofia Ramirez, a 39-year-old female and NYPD School Safety Agent, was charged with possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device. According to Wikipedia, a magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Magazines can be removable (detachable) or integral (internal/fixed) to the firearm. The magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored within it

By AURÉOLE RIBES

Volunteers of America – Greater New York (VOA–GNY) announced on July 13 that it will receive $30 million from the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) over five years to take over the running of two domestic violence shelters in the Bronx starting on Oct. 1. VOA–GNY is an affiliate of VoA, a national, faith-based human services non-profit helping individuals and families in need through social service programs. The two shelters will serve different purposes. The first, Victory I, will be a 120-bed emergency shelter for critical and acute domestic violence situations, and will provide housing to

By David Greene

Television icon and chat show host, Regis Philbin, who grew up in the Bronx, died at the age of 88 on Friday, July 24. A spokesperson for the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Farmington, CT told E! News that the TV and game show legend died from a myocardial infarction (more commonly known as a heart attack) due to coronary artery disease. https://twitter.com/CardinalHayes/status/1287506848254500865?s=20 https://twitter.com/CardinalHayes/status/1287121239190974465?s=20 Born in Manhattan, and raised in the Van Nest section of the Bronx, Philbin attended both Our Lady of Solace and Cardinal Hayes High School, before attending and graduating from Notre Dame. On