Youth Group & Community Rally Calling to Free Schools from Policing

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Sistas and Brothas United (SBU), the youth organizing arm of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, a 46-year-old organization of students, parents, clergy and community members across the Bronx are organizing a rally to take action against school policing, and what the organization says are all the practices and policies that criminalize young people in schools. For the last two decades SBU has been working to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, organizing to eradicate suspensions, arrests, metal detectors, and school safety agents in schools that the organization says pushes young people out of school and into the prison system.

By DAVID GREENE

The NYPD is asking for the public’s help in locating an elderly man with dementia and Alzheimers who was reported missing in the 47th precinct. Winston Corrian, described as a 77-year-old Black man, disappeared after leaving his home at 1332 East 224 Street in the Baychester section of the Bronx, and was last seen at East 224 Street and Schiefelin Avenue in Edenwald at approximately 11 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 17. Corrian is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, and was last seen wearing a burgundy T-shirt, grey shorts, a black hat and black sandals. Anyone

By SÍLE MOLONEY

As part of a set of legislative election reforms to address voting problems that arose in the June 23 primary election, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed bill S8015D into law on Aug. 20 which will temporarily expand New York voters’ ability to vote by mail in upcoming elections, including the presidential election in November, and other elections taking place in 2021. The new law temporarily alters the definition of “illness” with respect to absentee voting eligibility to include “risk of contracting or spreading a disease that may cause illness to the voter, or to other members of the public,” such

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

On Aug. 14, in the Parkchester section of the Bronx, associates from Montefiore Westchester Square Campus were joined by State Sen. Luis Sepulveda, Assembly Member Michael Benedetto, and Council Member Mark Gjonaj to distribute masks, hand sanitizers, and lunch to the local community at their Raymond’s Avenue location. Lunch was provided by Montefiore cafeteria staff, and information on the importance of going to the ER for health emergencies was distributed to those in attendance, including information about how the staff at Montefiore are keeping Westchester Square COVID safe for their community. Thank you to our healthcare heroes at @MontefioreNYC

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York State legislature will hold a virtual hearing on the impact of Tropical Storm Isaias on New York State on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. On Aug. 4, the storm hit New York with heavy rain, tornadoes and winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour. Isaias left hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without power across New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland, the Hudson Valley and other areas of the state within the service territories of PSEG-Long Island, Con Edison, Orange and Rockland, National Grid, Central Hudson, New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) and other

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Life isn’t easy. Just ask Jose Ramon, a 54-year-old Parkchester resident who was diagnosed with ALS in January of this year. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. The condition is often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the baseball player who was diagnosed with it. On Saturday, July 25, as part of a wider fundraising initiative spearheaded by the ALS Association, Greater New York Chapter, Ramon, supported by a group of friends and supporters completed a “Walk from Home”

By DAVID GREENE

On August 18, the NYPD released body-worn camera footage of an incident involving the death of a person while in police custody that occurred on June 4, 2020 in the confines of the 9th precinct in Manhattan. According to the NYPD, the video includes available evidence leading up to, as well as during the incident. The NYPD released the video for clear viewing of the totality of the incident. All NYPD patrol officers are equipped with body-worn cameras. According to the agency, the benefits of cameras are clear: transparency into police activity, de-escalation of police encounters and accountability

By DAVID GREENE

A guilty plea and a 20-year sentence in a 21-year-old, cold case murder has brought closure to the close-knit family of Elsa Grullon who was killed in the Highbridge section of the Bronx on May, 27, 1999. On Aug. 11, 2020 at Bronx Criminal Court, during the age of social-distancing amid a global pandemic, family members of Grullon finally witnessed justice being served for a crime committed at the end of the last century. Grullon, 56, was discovered over two decades ago by a family member inside her home at 825 Gerard Avenue in the South Bronx. An autopsy

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

A crew of five City lifeguards rescued a Bronx man who collapsed in knee-deep water at Orchard Beach on July 29. “We saw him wade out and suddenly he collapsed face down into the water,” said lifeguard supervisor Neil Veloz. “When we reached him and pulled him out, he had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.” Lifeguards, Andriy Kapys and Arlene Suvana, pulled the victim, Joachin Rosado, 33, from the water. Immediately, additional lifeguards, Julio Benjamin and Troy Washington, began CPR to resuscitate Rosado. However, Veloz said when they used a defibrillator, he had no shockable heart rhythm. The