Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, September 20, 2022

JUDGE DEARIE HEARS ARGUMENTS IN TRUMP’S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT CASE: US District Judge Raymond Dearie, the special judge appointed to review documents taken from the former president Donald Trump’s estate in Florida appears to believe the US government’s position that documents marked “secret” were actually classified against the former president’s wishes, the New York Law Journal reports in an article published in National Law on Tuesday journal was printed. Eastern District of New York Judge Dearie, after hearing arguments from both the Justice Department and Mr. Trump’s attorneys today, indicated that the review of the documents could begin as early as Wednesday. 09/21

Judge Dearie, who appeared uninterested in political attacks, also expressed skepticism about Trump’s power and authority to release the documents.

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COMMON LECTURE ON BQE REPAIR: The Department of Transport will make a presentation on Thursday to the communities that will be affected by the planned measures Repairs on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway causing traffic diversion. Congregation member Robert Carroll (AD 44), whose district includes several boroughs, organized this meeting, which is hosted by the Transportation Committees of Ward Committees 7, 12, and 14. The meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at The Parkside Educational Complex, 713 Caton Avenue, will also be the first opportunity for CB14 to hear directly from DOT, as residents on the north end of the precinct, as Caton Avenue and Linden Boulevard are most directly affected.

DOT presented the proposed BQE repair and rerouting plan to Community Boards 2 and 6 in June.

FLATBUSH MAN CONVINCED OF BASEBALL CAP SHOOTING: A Flatbush man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting a 38-year-old baseball father. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez made the announcement yesterday. Defendant Adonis Barnett, 22, shot and killed victim Gerald Cummings, who confronted him about his son’s stolen leather and snakeskin “Don C” Oakland Raiders baseball cap, valued at several hundred dollars.

Barnett was convicted of first-degree manslaughter following a jury trial last April.

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BIG APPLE CONNECT BRINGS MUNICIPAL BROADBAND TO NYCHA: The city launched Big Apple Connect, a pioneering digital equity program which will provide free high-speed Internet and basic cable television to approximately 300,000 New Yorkers living in more than 200 New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) condominiums by the end of 2023. Consists of a high-speed Internet connection at home, including a modem and router; basic cable television service, including cable box and remote control; and WiFi hotspots in public areas selected in consultation with NYCHA.

The program, which was initially piloted in eight public housing developments across the five boroughs, has now expanded to more than 100 developments – at NYCHA’s Langston Hughes Houses in Brownsville.

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STARBUCKS SHAREHOLDERS CONCERNED ABOUT WORKERS’ RIGHTS: City Comptroller Brad Lander announced Monday that New York city Pension funds have submitted a shareholder proposal calling for an independent assessment of Starbucks’ (SBUX) compliance with freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. Workers at hundreds of stores have voted to organize, but Starbucks leadership has publicly opposed union organizing efforts, and regional offices of the NLRB have filed at least 20 grievances against Starbucks.

New York City Retirement Systems owns 1.78 million shares of the company’s stock valued at $155.06 million as of June 30, 2022. The coalition of investors collectively owns more than $163 million in shares.

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Attorney General James: FIXING PUERTO RICO’S INFRASTRUCTURE: Structural problems in Puerto Rico must be corrected to prevent further devastation from hurricanes, he says New York Attorney General Letitia James calls for increased action to support Puerto Rico in the face of Hurricane Fiona. While Attorney General James says she fully supports any relief effort for Puerto Rico — which is a US territory and whose residents are American citizens — “the truth is, band-aids and prayers are not enough. We need to look at the structural issues—both natural and man-made—that have allowed and sustained this continued vulnerability and devastation.”

Attorney General James said action must be taken “to address issues with the power grid, the island’s financial fundamentals and the resources available to communities during these times of crisis.”

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Applications for youth scholarships open: BRIC, a leading multidisciplinary arts and media institution, anchored in Downtown Brooklyn, has opened the application process for the 2022-2023 Youth Media and Youth Curatorial Fellowships. The scholarship is open to undergraduate, junior, or senior (ages 13-19) from New York City who wish to further develop their media creation and curatorial skills. The scholarship includes a stipend for the first time. (Apply before the October 2 deadline via https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScWZFvMYld5GkaU02w4ngZVqrgvwKv4WGOgl_Re7MgDL7RKKg/viewform).

Both grants offer professional insight and hands-on experience, culminating in two public events: Concrete Stories: BRIC Youth Media Festival and the 3rd Annual Youth Contemporary Art Exhibition in Spring 2023, respectively.

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CUNY UPSKILLING PROGRAM ENHANCED: New York City College of Technology and Kingsborough Community College, both in Brooklyn, are among several City University of New York schools participating in the final phase of the successful Upskilling program thanks to nearly $2 million in investment from the New York State Department of Labor, BNY Mellon and JPMorgan Chase to have. The Upskilling program provides accelerated training for New Yorkers to secure jobs or earn course credits that can help them advance their careers in high-demand fields. As part of this second phase of expansion, CUNY plans to offer nearly 50 free, low-cost courses designed and delivered by CUNY adult and continuing education departments across 11 locations in partnership with employers such as NYU Langone and Amazon Web Services.

Courses are in high-growth industries such as healthcare, technology, business operations, and marketing.

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TREE PLANTS SETS A NEW RECORD: The New York City Parks Department using the NYC Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI Quarters), an instrument based on climate and racial justice, has prioritized planting trees in heat-prone neighborhoods. Of the 13,000 new trees planted in fiscal 2022, approximately 3,000 of the new plantings are in heat-prone neighborhoods, including the Brooklyn communities of Seagate, Coney Island, East Flatbush, Bushwick, Crown Heights, Flatlands, Sunset Park.

Parks Department Celebrates Massive Climate Milestone Achieved in Tree Canopy Extension; More trees were planted on city streets in the past fiscal year than in the past five fiscal years, with more than 13,000 planted in fiscal year 22, an 87 percent citywide increase from the previous fiscal year.

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BLUE BLOODS FILM IN BAY RIDGE: Filming for Blue Bloods Season 13 will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, September 21 across multiple streets of Bay Ridge. Local residents and businesses should be aware that scenes will be filmed in an area of ​​93^approx until 96^th streets and 4^th Avenue to Fort Hamilton Parkway. A location on Harbor View Terrace will also be filmed, using the area around Narrows Avenue and Shore Road between 79^th and 83^approx streets.

Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck, is an American police drama television series that follows the fictional Irish Catholic Reagan family who work in law enforcement.

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CELEBRATING GEORGIAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso will be Georgian-American Heritage Celebration at Borough Hall on Thursday 22 September, following a tradition of its predecessors celebrating international cultures. Registration is required via https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=x2_1MoFfIk6pWxXaZlE77wcKb1jRGg1ApY3AOqMKpURDRBU1JOWFZTRVNQMkNIVlFIQ1hPN1E2Ui4u

Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region, at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The country, which belongs to the Kartvelian language group, is located on the Black Sea coast and borders on Russia to the north and northeast, Turkey and Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast.