Montefiore Honors George Floyd in Nine-Minute Silent Tribute

By Síle Moloney

On Friday, June 5, 2020, Montefiore University Hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the call for a more equitable and just society, when staff held a nine-minute silent tribute to George Floyd, the unarmed African-American man who was murdered at the hands of police in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. Floyd died of asphyxiation after a White police officer, who has since been charged, pinned him face down on the ground and knelt on his back and neck for nine minutes, even as he pleaded for air and

By Síle Moloney

New Important legislation has been introduced to ensure that contact tracing in relation to COVID-19 achieves its public health goals and is not weaponized against communities of color. State Senator Gustavo Rivera and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, chairs of the Senate and Assembly Health Committees, introduced the bill to ensure confidentiality of contact tracing data and prohibit access by law enforcement and immigration enforcement. Rivera said he was honored to have worked with Neighborhood Defender Services, Center for Community Alternatives, The Bronx Defenders, and the New York Civil Liberties Union in drafting the new bill, based on powerful testimony he

By Síle Moloney

When much of the world was still coping with the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a worrisome, new pediatric condition potentially linked to the coronavirus started to manifest in some children in Europe in April. When the first suspected cases started to present at New York hospitals, swift action was taken by both City and State officials in early May to warn parents of the symptoms, as reported by Norwood News. In a matter of days, by May 9, three children had died, and New York case numbers had quickly risen. The Empire State now accounts for about

By Síle Moloney

On May 19, as reported by Norwood News, The Center for an Urban Future published a study that showed that Norwood was one of the City’s worst-hit areas economically by the pandemic and related shutdown. About a week earlier, on May 11, Jonnel Doris was appointed as the Commissioner for the City’s Small Business Services (SBS) department. Previously, he served as the City’s first Senior Advisor and Director of the Mayor’s Office for Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE). The commissioner gave an interview to Norwood News in which he discussed his agency’s plan to get small businesses

By David Greene

A estimated crowd of 200 people gathered and marched peacefully through the streets of the Bronx on Saturday, May 30 to protest the mistreatment of Black citizens by police, as other weekend protests in Manhattan and Brooklyn took a different turn and resulted in injuries to both protestors and police officers. The Bronx protest was one of many which took place in more than twenty major cities across the nation this week after a viral video, recorded by a bystander on May 25 in Minneapolis, captured African-American, George Floyd, apparently suffocating during an arrest by police. The

Tenants who have been financially impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis may soon no longer have to worry about losing their homes. State Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz passed legislation on May 27, 2020 codifying the statewide eviction moratorium and extending it until the end of the COVID-19 emergency for anyone who has experienced financial hardship during this period. The state legislation represents a compromise between the Assembly and State Senate with the ultimate goal of creating a bill that would be signed into law by the Governor. It is viewed as an essential

By José A. Giralt & Síle Moloney

Nine dental assistants who said they were fired earlier this month by Union Community Health Center (Union) after they were forced to work in a COVID-19 hospital ward protested outside St. Barnabas Hospital on Tuesday, May 25, 2020 to have their jobs reinstated and to receive adequate compensation they say is still owed to them. As reported last week by Norwood News, the assistants, who were transferred from Union to St. Barnabas Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic and reassigned from their usual dental duties to care for COVID-19 patients, cancelled a previously scheduled protest last Friday when the

By Síle Moloney

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed seven pieces of legislation into law on May 27 providing relief for tenants, commercial establishments, and restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new laws support struggling small businesses by imposing limits on third-party food delivery services, extending the suspension of sidewalk cafe fee collection, and protecting commercial tenants from harassment and personal liability. Together, the bills offer sweeping protections for New Yorkers in a time of unprecedented financial insecurity. “New Yorkers have been fighting every day to flatten the curve and get through this pandemic together. Now, it’s time for us to

By David Greene

For about the last 18 years, volunteers across New York State have been placing American flags at the gravestones of thousands of U.S. military members on Memorial Day. Sadly, this year most graves went “un-flagged” because of prevailing social distancing restrictions. In past years, Lynn Radke and Bruce Campbell of Woodlawn Conservancy in the Bronx would organize hundreds of volunteers from groups like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Mellon Bank, and the Washington Grey Cadets for the annual ‘Flagging of the Graves’ at Woodlawn Cemetery. Volunteers would usually set out with maps and flags, and scour the

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Montefiore Honors George Floyd in Nine-Minute Silent Tribute

New Bill to Protect Contact Tracing Data from Law Enforcement

Bronx Pediatrician Seeks to Reassure Parents about COVID-19 Syndrome Affecting Kids

Commissioner Jonnel Doris Talks Small Businesses as Phase I of Reopening Beckons

Bronxites Demonstrate Peacefully as Violence Erupts across the City and Nation

New Permanent Eviction Protection For Tenants Impacted By COVID-19

Dental Assistants Forced to Care for COVID-19 Patients and Later Fired, Protested on May 26

New Law Provides Relief for Tenants, Businesses, and Restaurants During COVID-19 Pandemic