Gotham City Panthers Founder Aims to Uplift Local Youth Through Basketball

By JULIAN NAZAR

51-year-old Eric King has observed that the parks near Fordham Manor aren’t as busy as they used to be. “When I was young, it was a different era,” King said. “The kids were outside playing freeze tag. People were playing basketball on the basketball courts.” Nowadays, he sees kids walking down the street, cell phone in hand, texting. “Everyone in this computer age is comatose,” King said. “They are walking, living robots. The energy is not there to the level it was back in my time.” To address this issue, in December 2020, King launched an amateur, youth

By DAVID GREENE

A partial exterior wall collapse that occurred in early March at Tracey Towers has prompted management to erect a sidewalk shed to protect residents and pedestrians, and New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has issued a partial stop work order, shutting the adjacent Tracey Towers playground that had re-opened in 2015 after an infusion of $200,000 in City Council funds. On March 10, a resident contacted Norwood News saying the building’s management, RY Management Co. Inc, had told residents strong winds had brought down the wall. A visit the following day to the massive dual-tower complex, located opposite

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that the former superintendent of an apartment building in Yonkers was sentenced to State prison for assaulting a female tenant with an axe. Anan Badan, 59, of Yonkers, was sentenced on April 28, to three years in State prison, with three years of post-release supervision. A jury convicted Badan after trial of assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, both felonies. According to the investigation, on Nov. 2, 2020, at approximately 9:45 p.m., Badan confronted the tenant at her apartment about a

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York Lottery announced one top-prize winning ticket was sold for the April 26 TAKE 5 drawing. The ticket, worth $38,443.50, was purchased at the 7-Eleven store 33318C, located at 3220 Westchester Avenue in the Pelham Bay section of The Bronx. In addition, The New York Lottery announced one top-prize winning ticket was sold for the April 13 TAKE 5 EVENING drawing. The ticket, worth $40,287.50, was purchased at Soundview 99 Cents Plus Inc., located at 253-263 Soundview Avenue in the Clason Point section of The Bronx. Last February, The New York Lottery announced that one top-prize winning ticket was sold for the February

By SÍLE MOLONEY

New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) will be celebrating National Small Business Week in each of the City’s five boroughs, with a scheduled Bronx stop in Little Yemen. Each day of the week which runs from Monday, May 2, to Friday, May 6, will feature events to raise awareness about the many resources and services the agency offers to small businesses, to encourage New Yorkers to shop local, and to celebrate the reopening of the City’s small businesses as economic recovery efforts ramp up. According to SBS officials, the week-long celebration will also recognize the City’s

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Wednesday, April 27, that a Bronx woman and her boyfriend were charged with murder and manslaughter in the context of the June 2021 death of the woman’s eight-year-old, autistic son. According to the investigation, the defendants, Sharay Barney, 30, of East 166th Street in Morrisania, who was the biological mother of the child, and Michael Ransom, 33, of the same address and who was the child’s stepfather, were the sole caretakers of Joseph Barney, 8, a child who was autistic and non-verbal. On June 1, 2021, Joseph was found

By DAVID GREENE

For the first time since 2019, before a once-in-a-century pandemic put a stop to most large gatherings, several hundred children and their parents gathered at the Williamsbridge Oval in Norwood for the Parks department’s 5th Annual Spring Easter Egg Hunt. Held opposite the Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, located at 3225 Reservoir Oval East, on Saturday, April 16, youngsters enjoyed an egg hunt as well as games, arts and crafts and face-painting. A dozen or more businesses and organizations were on hand on the day, passing out free information. DJ Rob, provided by Montefiore Hospital, was at the turntables

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The Family Wellness Suite at Tremont Neighborhood Health Action Center reopened for in-person services on Wednesday, April 13, having been closed amid the pandemic during which time it provided virtual services only. The reopening coincided with the beginning of Black Maternal Health Week as well as the reopening of in-person services at the City’s other wellness centers which are located in East Harlem and Brownsville, Brooklyn. Tremont Neighborhood Health Action Center, located at 1826 Arthur Avenue in Tremont, provides mothers and their families with a safe, welcoming, and supportive space where they can participate in a range of

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The NYPD have made an arrest following a hit & run incident in Wakefield that left a 49-year-old man with critical injuries. It was reported to police that on Friday, April 22, at 8.15 a.m., the person arrested allegedly stole a white 2002 Mitsubishi flatbed truck that had been parked in front of a lumber yard located at 4527 White Plains Road. At 8.17 a.m., as the vehicle was traveling northbound on White Plains Road, it struck a 49-year-old man who had been standing beside his vehicle, a grey Chevy Silverado pick-up truck. The