Freedom Youth NYC Calls Out Silence on Sex Trafficking

By SÍLE MOLONEY

It was not the high-profile nature of Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest for various, alleged sex trafficking crimes on July 2 that shocked the world. After all, we’d grown accustomed to seeing various photo evidence, interviews with her accusers, and documentaries purporting to describe her relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein. More unsettling to some people, perhaps, was realizing just how ordinary the former girlfriend and alleged co-conspirator was. She is described invariably as funny, intelligent and charming. She may well be all of those things, and of course Maxwell denies all charges against her, but some would say that therein

By DAVID GREENE

After being shut for several months during the global coronavirus pandemic, the staff of the Dominguez Expert Martial Arts School on East 204th Street have restarted Tae Kwon Do classes. More than a dozen young students were taken outside of the Norwood school, for their first resumed Tae Kwon Do class since the shutdown, ensuring adequate social distancing and more access to fresh air. The youngsters were spotted on the open field of Mosholu Parkway at Bainbridge Avenue, throwing punches and kicks on Friday, July 24. According to Wikipedia, Taekwondo, Tae Kwon Do or Taekwon-Do is a Korean

By DAVID GREENE

In a pre-dawn raid on July 22, City officials reported that members of the NYPD moved in on the fifty or so remaining demonstrators who were part of the larger group of protestors to have occupied City Hall Park since June 23, and removed them from the area. As reported previously by Norwood News, the demonstrators vowed not to leave until the NYPD’s budget was slashed. On June 30, the much-anticipated vote on the revised $88.2 billion City budget was presented and passed by 32 votes to 17 in the City Council. Local elected Bronx councilmen Fernando Cabrera,

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