Bronx News Network

We Need Your Support for 2011!

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We have exactly one week left of our campaign and we’re really hoping that all of our readers will donate. The Bronx News Network depends on the support of our donors, and we would not exist without your crucial support. But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s Alina Rodriguez, a recent graduate of SUNY Purchase, a former BxNN intern, and an aspiring journalist.Alina Rodriguez for BxNN from Bronx News Network on Vimeo.And here’s Andrew Boryga, a graduate of our Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative, a sophomore at Cornell University, and writer for The New York Times. Andrew Boryga for BxNN from Bronx News Network on Vimeo.Click on the donate button at the top right corner and help us continue our programs in 2011!

Bronx News Network

Bronx Borough President Calls for Immediate Action on PCBs

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Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. sent a letter this week to Dennis Walcott, Bloomberg’s deputy mayor for education and community development addressing the results of a recent test conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency on PS 68 in the northeast Bronx that showed high levels of PCB contamination.In his letter, Borough President Diaz calls for immediate action to remedy the situation at PS 68 and an investigation of possible PCB contamination in all public schools within the next 18 months.PCB or Polychlorinated Biphenyls is a tasteless, odorless, organic compound whose production was banned by the United States Congress in 1979. Some of the effects to exposure from PCB may include headaches, coughs, skin sores, irregular mentstrual cycles, fatigue and rashes. Some studies have even linked PCB to certain kinds of cancer. “PCBs are a serious threat to the health of both our children and the teachers, custodians and other staff that go to work every day in our public schools. The City must protect the health of these individuals, children and adults alike, and begin the immediate testing of all school buildings that may be at risk of PCB contamination.

Bronx News Network

Mayor Bloomberg Launches WAKE UP! NYC CAMPAIGN to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy in City Schools

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Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today launched the City’s first multimedia campaign to reduce truancy and chronic absenteeism in City schools. The campaign, called WakeUp! NYC was developed by the Mayor’s Interagency Task Force on Truancy and Chronic Absenteeism, led by John Feinblatt, the Mayor’s Chief Policy Advisor. “Through WakeUp! NYC we’re putting on a full-court press, using mass media and digital media to drive home the point that every student should be in school every day,” said Mayor Bloomberg.

Bronx News Network

MS 80 Student Still Missing After Two Months

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By Rachel SanderJocelyn Thomas, a 12-year-old student at MS 80 in Norwood, remains missing after two months of searching by police say was last seen on the morning of November 30, 2010. The 12 year old disappeared from M.S. 80 located at 190 East Mosholu Parkway South. The Deputy Commissioner for Public Inquiry confirmed on February 8th that she is still missing. Jocelyn’s grandmother, Mary Thomas, told the Bronx Times in January “I find the lack of urgency in trying to find out what happened very disconcerting.” She adds “It seems like we have become a society where children are not important anymore, whether she ran away or went missing, or has been abducted, she is still just 12 years old.” However, not all of society has forgotten. There are some community members who have not given up hope.

Bronx

Bronx Planned Parenthood in Undercover Video

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The Bronx branch of Planned Parenthood was the latest site of an anti-abortion group’s undercover video campaign, where actors have been secretly filming workers and physicians at clinics in several states.In the video (which you can watch above) a man and a woman, apparently posing as a pimp and a prostitute, enter the clinic on E. 149th Street and ask about obtaining abortion services and STD screenings for under-age girls, and mention that they’re in “sex work.”A staffer and a physician then tell the actors that all appointments and treatments at the clinic are confidential, regardless of the patient’s age.The videos (the Bronx footage was the sixth put up on YouTube) come as some politicians and pro-life groups are pushing Congress to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.Live Action, the group that made the video, says it’s proof that the organization, a national nonprofit that provides gynecological, birth control and abortion services, failed to report sex trafficking practices.Planned Parenthood released a statement in response that called the videos “doctored” and “dishonest,” and said that both workers at the Bronx clinic say they did not hear the word “sex work.””Our staff responded professionally to questions, discussed these encounters with management, and provided a report to the FBI,” the press release states. What do you think? Does Live Action have a point, or are these videos set up to entrap? Share your thoughts with us via the comments section.

Bronx News Network

Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 9

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A video secretly recorded at a Bronx Planned Parenthood clinic is the latest stir-up in a political debate about abortion funding (see our post, and the video, here).A 14-year-old Wakefield girl is missing, and cops are asking for help. Photo at the link.Monday is Valentine’s Day, so

Bronx News Network

HDC, HPD, Jackson Development And Partners Open New Affordable Housing Units

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The New York City Housing Development Corporation, The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, The Jackson Development Group, Joy Construction celebrated the opening of Decatur Terrace, a 122 unit affordable development in the Bedford Park/Norwood area of the Bronx. Decatur Terrace will be open to tenants earning no more than 80% of the Area Median Income approximately $63,000. and capped at people who earn 100% of the AMI approximately $79,000. The development falls under Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan whose stated goal is build affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by 2014.

Bronx News Network

He's Back! Espada Plans Rally at Soundview Clinic

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Former State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. is enlisting the help of some old amigos to publicly combat charges that he embezzled more than $500,000 from the nonprofit network of health care clinics he founded and continues to run. Espada’s holding a rally tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in front of Soundview Health Center, 731 White Plains Road.With him, according to a press release that describes the event as a “unity press conference,” will be Espada’s former nemesis turned number one supporter in the state senate, Ruben Diaz Sr. (we received the release from his communications person), as well as Assemblyman Marcos Crespo and Bishop Fernando Rodriguez of the Latin American Chaplain’s Association, plus a whole bunch of other folks. Espada is also facing civil charges from the Attorney General’s office that he bilked another $14 million from Soundview.Here’s the meat of the release: “State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, Bishop Fernando Rodriguez, president of the Latin American Chaplains Association, Pedro Espada, Jr., patients, clergy and civic leaders, other elected officials,and medical staff and health vendors will hold a unity press conference and rally in support of the Soundview Healthcare Network, emphasizing the importance of the network’s four medical facilities to the health care of tens of thousands of Bronx residents, families, children and senior citizens.”

Bronx News Network

What's Bronx News Network Worth to You? (Updated)

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We have two weeks left in our annual appeal, and while we are glad to have reached a quarter of our goal, which is $10,000, we’re a long way from the finish line.To be honest, we haven’t seen enough support from readers and fans of this blog. There are about 700 unique visitors to this site very day (that number is steadily growing). But only a tiny fraction have contributed. If each unique visitor to this site kicked in $10 we’d be all done with our appeal. Why do we need this money?