Bronx News Network

Arrest in Kingsbridge Heights Cab Driver Murder

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Police just announced that 19-year-old Hosny Hernandez has been arrested today and charged with the murder of 48-year-old cab driver Cesar Santos, who was gunned down on June 6 while chasing after two fare beaters in Kingsbridge Heights.Police said they received a tip that led to the arrest of Hernandez, who was identified through surveillance video in surrounding area. The mayor’s office was offering a $10,000 reward, in addition to the $2,000 reward being offered by the NYPD, for information leading to an arrest in this case. Santos, a Dominican immigrant, husband and father of three who lives in North Fordham, near the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road, was shot just outside of Our Lady of Angels Church on Sedgwick Avenue. He died soon after being transported to St. Barnabas Hospital.Police originally said they were looking for two suspects in connection with the crime.

Bronx News Network

State Passes Budget Extender; Bronx's Diaz Sr. Only Dem to Vote Against It

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Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. was the only Democrat to vote against a budget extender resolution that would allow the government to continue paying employees for at least another week while lawmakers work to pass a budget that is now two and a half months overdue.Still, the resolution passed because three Republicans voted for it. Diaz’s fellow amigo in the Senate (and oddly, former bitter enemy), Pedro Espada, Jr., voted for the measure despite earlier threatening to vote against any further budget extenders.Diaz and Espada have both said the extenders include cuts that they don’t agree with. Diaz said he understands that his fellow Democrats are angry, but he also says he has a solution to plugging the budget gap with two bills he has introduced that would seek Canadian prescription drug purchases and stricter assessments of credit card taxes.(Not sure exactly how those would make up the difference, but obviously, his colleagues aren’t jumping all over them.)Still, Diaz is sticking to his guns. “The black Puerto Rican with the funny accent and the kinky hair is showing you how simple it is,” Diaz told the Albany Times-Union.

Government

Can Industry Save A Staten Island Marsh?

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Richmond Terrace, the bumpy former cow path that is the main road along Staten Island’s North Shore, starts at the St. George Ferry Terminal and winds past dozens of storage lots, old factories, transfer stations, high sheet-metal fences and, occasionally, a park. Six miles later, just east of the Goethals Bridge, it reaches its end among heavy trucks and stacked shipping containers at the Howland Hook Marine Terminal.The port, operated on public land by New York Container Terminal, a private company, is one of Staten Island’s largest businesses. The company, officials said, has a $53 million payroll and more than 550 employees, unloading around 400,000 shipping containers a year. But that, company officials and their allies in government say, is not big enough.

Bronx

Vandals Deface LGBT Homeless Shelter For Youth

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Two days after a New York State Senate bill that would have outlawed discrimination against transgender and gender-bending people was defeated in the Senate’s Judiciary Committee a Queens homeless shelter for gay and transgender youth suffered an attack.Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), issued a press release denouncing the vote. “Given the rampant discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming people in New York, AVP believes this bill is critical to protecting the rights of transgender people when seeking employment, housing, credit and using public accommodations,” the statement said in part.All 11 Republicans and one Bronx Democrat, Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr, voted against the bill, the Gender Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). The rest of the Democrats on the committee voted for it. Diaz, Sr., who is a minister according to his online biography, declined to explain his vote to City Limits. “I’m not talking about that.