The Brooklyn Ink

The editorial and reporting staff of The Brooklyn Ink will be away until next Monday, March 22nd.
Our regular, up-to-the-minute coverage will resume on Monday morning.

The NYPD is reporting a bank robbery at the Sovereign Bank on Washington St. Dumbo. The robbery occurred last week, but the police are just now releasing information what happened. On March 4th, the robber, described as a man in his 30’s with a goatee and a dark jacket, went into the bank and [...]

Earlier this morning, we tweeted about a story the New York Times ran on its august City Room blog about people auditioning for a show called “Brighton Beach,” billed as a sort of Russian version of “Jersey Shore.” Why did we inform you about the Times story? Only because the Ink had run its own [...]

Lost in all of the hubub about Atlantic Yards is the question of who or what will fill the sporting void left in New Jersey by the Nets’ migration to Brooklyn. Well, the Bergen Record has a few suggestions. The Record claims not to really care that the Nets are going, but the slightly hurt [...]

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 units [...]

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 [...]

What could the Atlantic Yards project mean for the future of the neighborhood? Scholars use the past to understand the future in the latest story in our full-day coverage of the Atlantic Yards controversy.

Hundreds of protestors gathered this afternoon to protest the Atlantic Yards building project. Hear the chants, read the signs, mock the bobbleheads – all thanks to our video coverage from outside the event. In case you missed it, catch our live blog as well.

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 Landmark Preservation Commission is putting its foot down. In a sad day for Brooklyn Brownstones, the demolition of 348 Clermont Ave is underway today in Fort Greene, reports Brownstoner. The building was built in 1865, and is described by the New York Landmarks Conservancy as “a classic Italianate brownstone,” which put it on its [...]

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. (They’re [...]

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. Pacific Street, [...]

So, remember how we told you the Atlantic Yards groundbreaking is a big deal? That’s because it’s a big deal. Governor David Paterson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a whole host of Brooklyn bigwigs and even Jay-Z—a part-owner of the future Brooklyn Nets—are slated to be at the ceremony, slated for 1:30 this afternoon.They will be greeted [...]

It has now been confirmed that a man hurt in the Ocean Hill fire last night has died. He was 35. A 40-year-old woman and an 81-year-old man were critically injured in the blaze, which occurred at 732 Decatur St. ABC Eyewitness News is reporting that a 14-year-old boy is under questioning by investigators, who [...]

Good morning! It’s a beautiful (well, maybe “gray” is a better description) day in Brooklyn, and there’s lots going on.
The big news of the day: the massive, and massively controversial, Atlantic Yards project is set to officially begin today, changing the fabric of the borough forever. There’s a ceremonial groundbreaking this afternoon, and protesters are [...]

The beating of a 22-year-old male on Tuesday in Carroll Gardens (on the corner of Luquer Street and Hamilton Avenue) is being investigated as a hate crime by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.

They are urging anyone who may have information regarding this crime to call the 76th Precinct Detective Squad at 718-834-3221 or, you [...]

The prosecution concluded its case today against a Brooklyn man accused of beating his six-month-old dog to death in 2006.
“I think I need help with anger management because I killed my first dog too,” Dudley Ramsey, then 22, told a police officer several hours after his arrest, according to the testimony today of Officer Richard [...]

The New York Post reported that eight  members of the Colombo crime family were charged yesterday in Brooklyn federal court for allegedly offering kickbacks to a foreman at the Ground Zero site.  The kickbacks were to guarantee that Testa Corp, a Boston-based excavating company would subcontract with All Around Trucking, a carting company owned by [...]

Yesterday at approximately 5:45 p.m., in front of 1183 Schenectady Avenue, police responded to a report of a dispute. Upon arrival, they found an 18-year-old man who had been struck in the head with a brick. The victim was brought to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made.

Police are looking for five men who attacked a 22-year-old man last Tuesday morning in Carroll Gardens in what may be considered a hate crime.  The men were screaming anti-gay slurs during the attack, which left the victim with bruises on the back of his head and on his face.  No arrests have been made, [...]

A Brooklyn jury convicted Rabbi Baruch Lebovits on eight counts of sexual abuse yesterday.  A teenage boy testified that the rabbi lured him into his car by offering to let him drive, and then performed oral sex on him, according to the New York Post.

An anesthesiologist at New York Methodist Hospital in Park Slope was charged with leading a pill-trafficking ring along with other doctors. He is free on a $500,000 bail, and more arrests are expected, according to the Daily News.

At about 7:40 last night, gunshots rang out on Stuyvesant Avenue, striking 10-year-old Dalilah Gray in the hand and killing an unidentified 24-year-old man, according to a Daily News report. Details about the nature of the shooting are still unclear and no arrests were made as of late last night

A man brandishing a fake firearm behind Raoul Wallenberg School (P.S. 194) was shot dead by police. Officers from the 61st Precinct responded to a call of a man with a gun at 3:10 p.m.

At least it has at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, where flowers have replaced melted snow

That’s what a Brooklyn school teacher told The Post when asked if she choked and punched a student over a school uniform dispute

Well, at first, it was by proxy (her husband, Jay-Z is from Brooklyn). But on Friday, Borough President Marty Markowitz declared the entertainer a real Brooklynite when she visited Friday

A 40 year-old Korean woman was killed Sunday when an elderly man apparently accidentally accelerated his SUV and backed over six people. The Daily News has the story

The C is not running, the D isn’t running between Herald Square and Pacific Street, there are no trains between 71 Av and Court Sq. Broad St-bound J trains will skip Flushing Av, Lorimer, and Hewes Streets

Cops say the substance was not dangerous, but weren’t sure if Justice Abraham Gerges was being targeted for Atlantic Yards, his current case – steroids – or something else in his 45 years of service.

from the building site at Smith Street and 2nd Place?
Luckily, there were no pedestrians in the way, otherwise, as Joe said, “they would have been sliced in half.”

Brokelyn says there’s been a surge in applicants for Miss Brooklyn beauty pageant at the end of the month. The prize is probably a $1000, and a lot of swag from the sponsors.
[Brokelyn]
[Miss Brooklyn]

Triciann and Jeff Botta of Botta Di Vino has just been handed their licence when Ron and Mary Kyle, owners of the nearby Dry Dock, stormed into the hearing and convinced commissioners to reconsider, over a claim on the Botta Di Vino website.

Five lives were lost in the early morning hours on January 30 in a fire allegedly set by the victims’ neighbor. The Brooklyn Ink has chronicled the aftermath of the devastating Bensonhurst fire on the people whose lives it touched and the community in which it occurred in a five-part series.

Now that the EPA is formally planning a cleanup of the Gowanus canal, officials overseeing the project discussed plans which include getting responsible companies to finance the work, and the digging 450-foot wells to find out just how polluted it is.

Sid’s Hardware has decided life between two big box hardware stories is easier than life in downtown Brooklyn.

This morning, Atlantic Yards judge targeted and Brooklyn Botanical Garden battered in blizzard. Stay tuned for the Ink polling more pols about Paterson, a Turkish Henna Night and a matchmaker.

Councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn tells the Ink that, contrary to public reports, New York’s black leadership will not urge Governor Paterson to resign at a Harlem meeting this evening.

A Brooklynite indicted for stealing the identity of a missing Russian translator has been charged with her murder.

The black political establishment of Harlem is weighing whether to continue supporting embattled Governor David Paterson, a Brooklyn district leader told the Ink earlier today.

A Sheepshead Bay man was splashed with acid after his dog barked at the assailant.
Igor Dubrovinsky, 29, is recovering from second-degree burns at Staten Island University Hospital

The Manhattan-bound C was held up after a woman went into labor at Nostrand Avenue.
The woman made it to a hospital before things got super unhygienic for the city’s newest straphanger

The city’s shelters will lose $315, 000 in funding by June, and another $450, 000 from July.

The Ink’s Jack Mirkinson says students have walked out of classes, backed by professors.

Suspicious Package at 270 Wortman Ave in East New York Brooklyn. The Police are, apparently, still checking it out.

More soon.

From the Gothamist newsmap