Author: Becky Bratu (Becky Bratu)

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DOB shuts down Williamsburg loft building

Brownstoner reports that the Department of Buildings shut down a loft building in Williamsburg. The six-story structure at 571 Metropolitan Ave. (at Lorimer) was ordered vacated by the DOB on Thursday, leaving about 40 residents without a place to live. The tenants are suing the owner of the building, which has over 150 violations –...

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Brooklyn man attacked by three pit bulls

A restaurant owner was attacked by three pit bulls when he entered a fenced-in yard in Brooklyn while passing out menus, the Associated Press reports. The man’s daughter told the Daily News that the man had his earlobe chewed off and his legs, arm and head bitten by the 3-year-old dogs in Brooklyn Sunday morning....

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NYPD investigating officers’ crime statistics manipulation

A New York City Police Department commander and three officers are facing internal charges after being accused of manipulating crime stats, NY1 reports. The former commander of Brooklyn’s 81st Precinct, Deputy Inspector Steven Mauriello, is charged with tampering with grand larceny and car theft reports, and with misleading NYPD investigators. A sergeant and two patrolmen...

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83-year-old Brooklyn man escapes plane crash with facial wounds

A single-engine plane trying to make a practice landing crashed onto a Long Island street Sunday morning, killing one passenger and injuring three others, the New York Daily News reports. One of the injured, a Brooklyn man, escaped with only minor facial cuts. William Mancusi, 83, of East New York,  was being treated at Nassau...

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Bed-Stuy woman dies in two-alarm blaze

A massive fire claimed the life of an elderly Brooklyn woman early Sunday, the New York Daily News reports. The woman, whose name has not been released, died at Woodhull Hospital after firefighters pulled her from the burning Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building, Fire Department officials said. Firefighters raced to the Greene Avenue scene after getting a 911...

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Police officer shot in East New York

An NYPD police officer was struck last night during a shootout in the stairwell of a Brooklyn building that began when he and his partners spotted a teenager riding his bike on the sidewalk, the New York Post reports. Officer Richard Ramirez, 29, was hit twice in the leg, but his life was likely saved...

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From Moses to Kingston Avenue: A Torah Story

By Becky Bratu With my knees bent and my hands holding on to the ledge for support, I looked down from the women’s section of the 770 Eastern Parkway synagogue at the ecstatic men below and tried to make sense of their celebration. Downstairs, the men from the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Hasidim were jumping up...

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Still no suspects in the killing of Crown Heights teen

By Becky Bratu Shaneen Anthony sits on the steps of 1190 St. Marks Ave. in Crown Heights and says “hello” to the occasional acquaintance passing by. A piece of cardboard taped to the wrought iron fence before him bears such messages as “We’ll miss you” or “Love you so much, Shandev.” Five days ago Anthony’s...