If all plans are finalized by the borough president, one of Brooklyn’s major thoroughfares will become unrecognizable in the coming years as it evolves from an accident-prone access road to a pedestrian-friendly commercial district. A vision plan announced this summer calls for safety, beautification and commercial efforts to make Fourth Avenue more inviting. Long denigrated...
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December 9, 2011September 30, 2019Brooklyn Life
College Grad Returns Home to Pay it Forward
It’s game time on a Saturday afternoon at the Brownsville Recreation Center. Middle schoolers in haphazardly tied pinnies are battling it out on the basketball court under the watchful eyes of black leaders and sports stars painted like graffiti on the gym’s walls. The figures seem to be saying that there are possibilities outside of...
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Live Wire
Book Review: The New Kids
Danika Fears reviews The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, by Brooke Hauser.
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Live Wire
Seven Schools in Brooklyn May Close
The Department of Education released the first half of a list of schools that are scheduled to close due to poor performance, NY1 reported Thursday. Brooklyn leads the closures with seven schools, followed by two schools each in Manhattan and the Bronx, and one in Staten Island. The second half of the list should be...
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Brooklyn Life
Chasing the American Dream at an Immigrant High School in Brooklyn
For most American teenagers the first day of high school is fraught with anxiety. There are, after all, big questions to consider—What should I wear? How will I fit in? Where is my first class? But at the International High School in Prospect Heights, the answers to these questions are even more complicated than usual....
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Live Wire
Military Allows Brooklyn Rabbi to Keep Beard
Menachem Stern, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi from Brooklyn, who was told he couldn’t keep his beard if he became an army chaplain, won his legal battle against the military and will be sworn in on Friday with his facial hair intact, the AP reported. As a member of the Chabad Lubavitch movement of Judaism, Stern,...
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Live Wire
Sopranos Actor Sentenced to House Arrest in Brooklyn
Tony Darrow, 72, whose legal name is Anthony Borgese and is best known for his roles in “Goodfellas” and “The Sopranos,” was sentenced to two years probation and six months of house arrest in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday for conspiracy to commit extortion, amNewYork reported. Read more at amNY.com.
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Live Wire
Occupy Wall Street Repairs Foreclosed Brooklyn Home for Needy Family
After moving into a foreclosed East New York home a day earlier, Occupy Wall Street protestors began tackling the difficult task of repairing the house Wednesday, the New York Times reported. The Brooklyn home is in bad shape with mold, partially knocked down walls and no water or electricity. Construction and architecture experts have been brought in...
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Live Wire
Suspicious Fire in Crown Heights Kills One, Injures Two
An early morning fire in a Crown Heights apartment building left one dead and two injured, the Daily News reported. The deceased, who has not been identified yet, was in his fifties and drank heavily, according to neighbors. A 59 year-old man, who was taken to Kings County Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalationn ,...
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December 8, 2011September 30, 2019Live Wire
Book Review: Unnatural Selection
There are 163 million females missing in Asia. But no one is searching for them. They were victims of sex selection procedures – mostly abortions – in societies that favor sons over daughters. Rose D’souza reviews Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men by Mara Hvistendahl.