Month: <span>October 2010</span>

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Brooklyn Mom Pleads Not Guilty in Child Starvation Case

Carlotta Brett-Pierce, the Brooklyn mother whose four-year-old daughter weighed 18 pounds at the time of her death, pleaded not guilty to assault charges at the New York State Supreme courthouse today. Her daughter Marchella was found dead in September. Prosecutors say Brett-Pierce had abused the child, tying her to a bed and beating her with...

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‘Rent Is Too Damn High’ Candidate Immortalized with Action Figure

Jimmy McMillan, a fringe candidate for governor from the ‘Rent Is Too Damn High’ party, has been given his own action figure. A Connecticut company is selling 12-inch tall dolls modeled after the eccentric Brooklyn politician, according to NY1. The action figure is capable of repeating McMillan’s signature catchphrase: “The Rent Is Too Damn High.”

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Williamsburg Whistle Blower Suing DOE for $15M

Brian Ross, a gym teacher at PS 132 in Williamsburg, is suing the city’s Department of Education for $15 million, claiming he was discriminated against after filing an OSHA complaint. The complaint alleged that the building designated for the school’s temporary gym was unusable, with mold, peeling paint, and rodents, according to the Post. Ross...

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Clinton Endorses Cuomo at Brooklyn Rally

By Camilo Smith It’s not as if Andrew Cuomo needed the political rock star brilliance of his former boss, Bill Clinton, to lead him into next week’s gubernatorial election. Cuomo already enjoys a double-digit lead over his Tea Party-backed rival, Carl Paladino. The packed auditorium at New York City Technical College in Downtown Brooklyn on...

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Passion and Beauty, Even at a Sewage Plant

By Miranda Neubauer The leaves that make autumn such a pleasant sight for many New Yorkers have the exact opposite effect for Jim Pynn. “It’s a horror,” he says. The reason:  He’s the plant superintendent for the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant and it’s his job to clean out the tons of leaves that come...

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Bensonhurst Food Pantry Reaches Out to Neighboring Communities

By Alysia Santo Thomas Neve’s storefront is almost always full of people, yet being busy is not enough to keep him open. Neve is the founder of Reaching Out Community Services in Bensonhurst, the only client choice food pantry or “supermarket style” operation in southwest Brooklyn, and one of only four client choice pantries in...

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CUNY Center Boosts Brooklyn Science Industry

By Michael Del Castillo CUNY’s Medgar Evers College has opened a new $247 million School of Science, Health and Technology building on the former site of a sanitation garage. The building, known as Academic Building I, expands the college’s growing campus and is a milestone in Brooklyn’s transformation into a center for scientific learning and...

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Crown Heights Residents Reject Pawn Shop

By Alexandra Alper The hit reality TV series, “Pawn Stars,” opens with images of an antique watch, a sword, and a dramatic shot of three men in black. The show, which premiered last year on the History Channel, has done much to legitimize and even glamorize a business once seen as a front for robbers...

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Schools’ Progress Reports Mean Little to Parents

By Miranda Neubauer Greenpoint elementary schools have received uneven grades in progress reports released earlier this month by the Department of Education. The three Greenpoint public elementary school schools have gone from having straight As last year to only one A, to P.S. 31, a B to P.S. 34 and a C to P.S. 110....