The Brooklyn Ink

Brooklyn Rapper, Foxy Brown, Testifies to Grand Jury

The Brooklyn rapper, whose real name is Inga Marchand, took the stand, in an attempt to clear her name. Marchand is being accused by her neighbor of violating a restraining order against her, after Marchand [...]

Talking and Listening Across Crown Heights’ Dividing Line

By Kelly Boyce Monica Parfait, a 16-year-old immigrant from Haiti who attends Paul Robeson High School in Crown Heights, had never met any member of the neighborhood’s large Jewish population until Herb Weitz.  A secular [...]

A Neighborhood’s Weathered Field Gets an Overhaul

By Jennifer Jenkins When the batter popped a fly ball toward right field, Larry Glick, alert and ready in the outfield, was pretty sure he had a handle on it. And on any other diamond [...]

Transit Cuts Strand Brooklyn’s Elderly

By Keith Olsen Rita Pellicano, a lifelong resident of Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, regularly took the B71 bus: to see her doctor, to go shopping on Smith Street, to attend social events. She only had [...]

Working Last Summer, Jobless This One, A Brooklyn Teen Embodies A Citywide Crisis

By Kristofer Ríos Last summer Mahmoud Farraj worked his first job as an assistant engineer at Lutheran Medical Center through the Summer Youth Employment Program. The 15-year-old, who lives in a small Sunset Park apartment [...]

Sidewalk Soccer Becomes An Unlikely Ecuadorian Tradition

By Sharyn Jackson When Christian Alvarez moved to Brooklyn in 1999 at the age of 18, he missed the food, the language and the culture he left behind in Ecuador. His brother Carlos Alvarez, who [...]

Marina Plan Roils the Waters in Sheepshead Bay

By Shlomo Friedman On a scorching day in July, it was easy to see why Misim Fortanov thinks the Breakers development on Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay is the best place to live in Brooklyn.  [...]

Funeral Held in Brownsville for Staten Island Murder-Suicide Victims

A funeral home owner in Brownsville, Brooklyn donated services for the five members of the Jones family who died in a fiery murder-suicide on Staten Island in late July. Police originally thought C.J., a 14 [...]

Aretha Franklin Cancels Brooklyn Shows After Fall

The “Queen of Soul” has canceled her two upcoming shows in Brooklyn following a fall on Sunday that fractured ribs. She was scheduled to perform at Wingate Field on Monday and Asser Levy Park in [...]

Cooking Up Unity in Crown Heights

By Danielle Hester When Betty Bogan opened the front door of her mother’s apartment for 17-year-old Mushky Bruck, the aroma of fried chicken flowing from the kitchen struck Bruck’s nose. As she continued down the [...]