Weather: Welcome to spring! Call me crazy, but doesn’t spring in the Bronx look and feel – the snow, the biting cold – a whole lot like winter? Temperatures will remain in the low 40s today, but skies should clear up this afternoon.
On March 23, Congressman Jos
On Tuesday, Fordham High School for the Arts students gathered for the start of the 3rd Annual NYC August Wilson Monologue Competition hosted by Learning through an Expanded Arts Program (LeAp).Participating students chose a two to three-minute monologue from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson to perform. Wilson is best known for his 10-play depiction of the African-American experience, called the “Pittsburgh Cycle.”The winners!Three winners were Chasity Tuck, John Reyes, and Shantal Melendez. Vianca Peguero was selected as an alternate.The winning trio will compete in the NYC Competition against students from Curtis High School (Staten Island), Hillcrest High School (Queens), Repertory High School for Theatre Arts (Manhattan) and Brooklyn Theatre Arts High School (Brooklyn) on April 12.Winners from the citywide competition will then advance to the National Competition on May 9, at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway, where they will compete against students from Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, Seattle and Atlanta.In a press release, LeAp said its goal is to not only introduce hundreds of students to one of America’s greatest playwrights, but also to see “that August Wilson will live through our education system in the same manner and reverence as the works of William Shakespeare.”
The “Battle for the Bronx” skate boarding competition (above is a clip from last year’s competition) returns this spring, but to a new location: the River Avenue Skate Park Plaza. The third annual BFTB will be the first of its kind at the new skate plaza, which opened in August 2010.Last year, the event was held at the skate park in Bronx Park East.Maloof Money Cup, 5Boro and Indigenous Skate Shop are hosting this year’s competition. The event, scheduled for Saturday, May 21, will feature a jam-style contest (a more relaxed, group setting where competitors try out new tricks), product toss (prize giveaway) and other festivities. Spectators are invited to come out and witness local skaters showcase their skills. “With over 200 competitors from the tri-state and beyond expected, the 2011 “Battle for the Bronx” promises to be an event you don’t want to miss,” said Bert Correa, the “Battle for the Bronx” event organizer, in a press release.
The interactive map below, provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, charts the population change in New York. According to Census data collected last year, the Bronx gained 52,458 people over the last 10 years to bring the borough’s population total up to 1,385,108, an increase of 3.9 percent. The Bronx’s growth outpaced that of Queens (+0.1%), Brooklyn (+2.1%) and Manhattan (+3.2%). (Totals for Staten Island weren’t readily available.) New York City as a whole saw an increase of 2.1 percent to put the total number of Big Apple residents at 8,175,133.In reaction to the report, Bronx Congressman Jose E. Serrano said he thinks – no, he’s “certain” – the Bronx population wasn’t completely accounted for due to the fears and non-participation of the borough’s many undocumented residents. In a press release, Serrano said: “I am pleased to see that New York City is growing including a healthy increase in the numbers of people in the Bronx.
Weather: Snow, then rain, maybe a little more snow, rain, a little sleet thrown in for good measure, more rain. Story of the Day: Friends Wrongly Thought They Pulled a Fast OneBusted! Last summer in Highbridge, police say a group of eights friends came up with a money-making scam. In the middle of the night, they piled into three cars, drove around searching for a secluded block and then coordinated a fender bender. Though there wasn’t much damage, police said all eight claimed injuries to the insurance companies.
A view of the Harlem River waterfront where Regatta Park is supposed to be created. (Adi Talwar)Editor’s note and update: This story appears in the latest edition of the Norwood News, which hits streets today. The update is that Parks Department spokesperson Jesslyn Moser told me today that the agency is, in fact, going to go ahead with a scoping for Regatta Park. Previously, Moser had said a decision had not been made on whether to hold a scoping. The decision to hold a scoping is news because Councilman Fernando Cabrera had requested a scoping in December, but Parks has not responded.
Our apologies for the late roundup today, but we’re hard at work on production of this week’s Norwood News, which hits the streets tomorrow.Weather: Don’t be fooled by this morning’s sunshine and mild temps. The weather folks are calling for a mix of rain and-ugh!-snow later tonight, with more snow expected tomorrow. Sorry.Story of the Day: Ex-Cop Arrested in Murdered Mom CaseEddy Coello, the former cop whose wife, Tina Adovasio, was found dead in the woods in Westchester last week, was arrested today and brought to the Bronx’s 45th Precinct. Coello supposedly had a history of domestic violence against his partners and had been named a “person of interest” in the case. The funeral for Adovasio, a 40-year-old nurse and mother of three, took place earlier today.Quick Hits:The Bronx’s own Assemblyman Peter Rivera is one of several lawmakers looking to ban the psychedelic herb salvia.Police have identified the body of the 400-pound man, found stuffed in a suitcase this weekend at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses in Soundview, as 52-year-old Angel Rondon.A Bronx woman has been accused of encouraging her 11-year-old son to lift wallets and shoplift.
Weather: straight ugly. Sn-rain is thankfully supposed to stop by the afternoon.To the news!Story of the Day: Bronxite The Real Baby BiggieThe afro-puffed baby posing in his diaper on the cover of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G.’s seminal “Ready to Die” album is a Bronxite. Keithroy Yearwood, 18, now a high school senior, says he was chosen for the shoot after a casting call by a modeling agency hired by Sean “P-Diddy or Puff Daddy or just plain Diddy” Combs’ recording label, Bad Boy Records. Combs’ office couldn’t confirm this, but Yearwood’s baby pictures appear to cement his claim. The album has sold more than 3.3 million copies, but Yearwood says he only received about $150 for two hours of modeling work.
Cabrera at his Kingsbridge Heights apartment in 2009. (File photo)An article in today’s Daily News, one in a series the paper is running that chronicles the misdeeds of City Council members, reports that Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera claimed a home he owns in Westchester County as his “primary residence” on tax forms. The move scored Cabrera a $1,513 tax break via a property tax credit known as School Tax Relief, according to the article, which names three other council members from other boroughs as having done the same.Although Cabrera himself would not comment about the finding, his office confirmed its accuracy. Cabrera’s camp told us the listing of the Westchester property as his primary residence was an “honest oversight” and that Cabrera did not know the tax relief credit would be automatically renewed each year. They said the councilman is in the process of paying the money back and that he does, indeed, live in his Bronx district, as required by law. They couldn’t say who lived in the Westchester home.
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