Caroling After a Stroke: “Montefiore Melodies” Sing Again

By DAVID GREENE

Members of ‘Montefiore Melodies’ rehearse a rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock” as they prepare to sing with patients during the holiday season at Montefiore Medical Center, located on East 210th Street in Norwood on Friday, December 2, 2022. Video courtesy of David Greene via YouTube. Bronx choir, “Montefiore Melodies,” brought together, in person, people who are recovering from strokes and other neurological disorders for the first time in two years on Friday, Dec. 2, at Montefiore Medical Center to sing songs of holiday cheer. The afternoon event kicked off the holiday season and took place outside Montefiore Moses Campus

By SÍLE MOLONEY

A 29-year-old man has died and three other men are wounded but are in stable condition following a multiple shooting in the Crotona section of The Bronx, police said. According to the NYPD, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 6.36 p.m., officers from the 48th Precinct responded to a 911 call regarding a group of people who had been shot at East Tremont Avenue and Southern Boulevard. “Upon arrival, police discovered four individuals shot,” a police spokesperson said. “Victim #1, a 28-year-old male, was shot in the chest and transported to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

By SÍLE MOLONEY

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced on Friday, Dec. 23, that over $256 million in federal funding was secured to upgrade the New York City Subway and Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) systems, improving accessibility to meet or exceed new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) construction standards. Representatives for the Democratic senators said the two grants will provide more than a quarter of a billion dollars for accessibility improvements through the Federal Transit Administration’s All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP), created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed last year and supported by both Schumer

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced on Dec. 12 that Bronx man, Ralph Berry, was sentenced to life in prison for the June 2000 fatal shooting in The Bronx of innocent bystander, Caprice Jones. Jones was left paralyzed from the shooting and died from his injuries 10 years later in November 2010. Berry was convicted following a jury trial on September 30, 2021, before then-U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan. Judge Nathan, now a U.S. circuit judge, sitting by designation in Manhattan federal court, imposed the sentence. Reacting to the announcement, Williams said,

By DAVID GREENE

As the year draws to a close, we are continuing to publish some of the stories we couldn’t get to earlier this year [due to staff shortages]. An 18-wheel tractor-trailer knocked over a street sign on the border of Fordham Manor and University Heights after its rear wheels got caught on a relatively new pair of street bollards, two-foot-high plastic barricades designed to protect pedestrians on a traffic island and slow down city traffic. The NYPD reported the incident was the second such crash to have occurred at that particular location in less than 8 hours. An unnamed

By DAVID GREENE

As the year draws to a close, we’re continuing to publish some of the stories we couldn’t get to earlier this year. Dozens of parishioners from St. Philip Neri Church in Bedford Park joined together in celebration of the ‘Lord of the Miracles’ with a procession along the Grand Concourse on Sunday, Nov. 6. Gianmarco Ramirez is president of the “Hermandad del Señor de Los Milagros del Bronx” [The Bronx Fraternity of the Lord of the Miracles], the group which organized the procession. He explained that central to the procession was the carrying of an image of Jesus

By SÍLE MOLONEY

A 76-year-old man has died following a fatal, residential fire in the Norwood section of The Bronx, police said. According to the NYPD, on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at approximately 10.22 p.m., police responded to a 911 call of a residential fire inside 3540 Rochambeau Avenue, in Apartment #2G. “Upon arrival and extinguishment of the fire by FDNY personnel, officers observed a 76-year-old aided male, unconscious and unresponsive, with severe fire exposure,” an NYPD spokesperson said. On-scene EMS pronounced the man deceased at the scene, police said. A 76-year-old man has died following a fatal, residential fire in the

By SÍLE MOLONEY

A 29-year-old man has died following a fatal shooting in the Van Nest section of The Bronx, police said. An NYPD spokesperson said that on Monday, Dec. 26, at 9.08 p.m., officers responded to a 911 call regarding a man who had been shot at Van Nest Avenue and Melville Street. “Upon arrival, police discovered a 29-year-old male shot in the chest,” the spokesperson said. “EMS transported the victim to New York Health and Hospitals/Jacobi where he was pronounced deceased.” Police said there are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing. On Dec. 27, the Bureau

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The NYPD is asking for the public’s assistance identifying the person seen in the attached photo who is sought regarding an assault that occurred in University Heights. It was reported to police that on Saturday, Dec. 17, at around 4 a.m., in the vicinity of West Fordham Road and the Major Deegan Expressway, a 30-year-old man was involved in a vehicle collision with an unidentified person. “A dispute followed the collision at which point the unidentified individual discharged a firearm, striking the victim in the right leg,” an NYPD spokesperson said. “EMS responded to the location and