Author: Jack Mirkinson (Jack Mirkinson)

When Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (pictured left) proposed banning salt from all New York restaurants a few days ago—with a $1,000 penalty for violators—it raised eyebrows around the world, and drew an irate response from local chefs and food folk throughout the city. (“Anybody who wants to taste food with no salt, go to a...

Earlier this morning, we told you that Community Board 6, which has jurisdiction in Gowanus, rejected the request from the Summit Academy Charter School to relocate to a site in the neighborhood. The vote was 20-12, and many board members professed their vehement opposition to the idea. But read to the bottom of that story...

More items, only some of them related to Atlantic Yards… —Mayor Bloomberg announced that he has secured a commitment from Forest City Ratner to ensure that half of the housing units in the first tower at Atlantic Yards are affordable. What that means in terms of hard numbers is not entirely clear yet—Bloomberg said that...

This is pretty old, but when we saw it this morning we couldn’t resist. As you may know, Beyoncé, the singer/diva/Jay-Z wife/deliverer of fabulousness, was in Brooklyn last week to open a cosmetology center at the Phoenix House treatment facility in DUMBO. All well and good. But here is what borough president Marty Markowitz said...

Good morning! They say it’s going to rain today, but that’s not going to dampen our spirits, or our solemn oath to you, the reader. In that spirit, here are some big interesting things going on: First, let’s get it out of the way: Atlantic Yards. It’s a big deal, and it happened, and boy,...

Did you miss our in-depth live blog that brought you scene after great scene of the tumultuous, epoch-shifting groundbreaking ceremony for the Atlantic Yards project today? Then we are going to make sure you read it! Click on the link below and see how we covered a pivotal moment in Brooklyn history. We’ve got on-the-ground...

The man killed in the Ocean Hill fire last night has been formally identified, the Daily News reports. He was 35-year-old Eddie Ortiz. The two other victims have been identified as Paco Ortiz, 81, and Nydia Ortiz, 40. They are in stable condition at Interfaith Hospital. The News says that a 14-year-old boy told police...

Our own Yepoka Yeepo has gotten inside the invite-only tent (yes, “invite-only”—we thought this was a big celebration, but they don’t want everybody to come) and sends us these iPhone snapshots. From the looks of it, it’s a swanky affair. UPDATE: YOU CAN FIND MANY MORE PICTURES FROM THE SCENE AT OUR LIVE BLOG.

A couple more Atlantic Yards-related items (that’s right, we’re sort of obsessed): Barclays Center, the arena where the Nets will play, has a swanky Web site celebrating the arena’s eventual arrival in Brooklyn. It has Jay-Z on it and everything. Today, it’s been fitted out with a clock to count down to the official groundbreaking....

By Jack Mirkinson Our own Vinnie Rotondaro is at the Atlantic Yards site and is sending us frequent updates: 10 AM: There is already a police presence consisting of two squad cars and five police officers along Atlantic Ave. near 4th Ave. Industrial CAT shovels are busy digging into the earth at the construction site....