Boy Detective of Carroll Gardens; Cobble Hill's Problems with LICH; and More Brooklyn Briefs

#Brooklyn will celebrate Biggie's birthday w/ @barclayscenter concert featuring @iamdiddy https://t.co/49cuLaQL8d pic.twitter.com/o8Sr986yjr

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) March 30, 2016

- Meet the boy detective of Carroll Gardens. [DNAinfo]

- Cobble Hill still awaiting answers from Fortis and NYU about LICH development plans. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- The city on Tuesday bought a seven-acre lot along the Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront for $53 million, to be used for the expansion of the long-promised Bushwick Inlet Park. [Brownstoner]

- A Brooklyn realtor has been arrested for allegedly pocketing deposits on apartments. [Gothamist]

- New York City bridge climbers may soon be faced with up to a year in the slammer. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Karate championship hopes dashed after Bushwick fire destroys dojo. [DNAinfo]

- Meet the guitar repair king of Greenpoint. [Brooklyn Magazine] 

- Join the Prospect Park Alliance for Opening Weekend in Prospect Park on April 2 + 3, with food, festivities and family fun. [Sheepshead Bites]

- New York native's brilliant performance on "Wheel of Fortune" is going viral. [abc7]

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Gowanus-Based Software 'Genius' Stirs Up Controversy

An annotated article as it appeared in News Genius.

 An online tool from the Gowanus-based Genius and a new chief for its News Genius product, ex-Gawker editor Leah Finnegan, have people asking whether strangers should be allowed to annotate online articles.

As Technical.ly Brooklyn reports, the tool is Genius’s Web Annotator, which allows Genius users to highlight sections of articles published in the Internet and offer "context/opinions/reactions/whatever" right in the text.

News Genius editors highlight sections of text they have something to say about and leave comments.

This doesn't sit right with some authors, especially those who write small, private-ish blogs -- like  Ella Dawson,  who writes about living with herpes.

"Seeing your thoughts over my words feels like a violation," she wrote to News Genius.

More here.

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Brooklyn Drag Queens on RuPaul; Pakistani Community Mourns; and More Brooklyn Briefs

PHOTOS: Opening day @LunaParkNYC in #ConeyIsland. @SenSchumer and @BPEricAdams were there https://t.co/Nw6wjDY0IZ pic.twitter.com/E4uvwZ65Px

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) March 28, 2016

- How will the Mayor's zoning changes affect Brooklyn’s residents, historic areas, and transitioning neighborhoods like East New York? [Brownstoner]

- Brooklyn's Pakistani community mourns after Lahore terror attack kills dozens. [CBS]

- A guide to the Brooklyn drag queens on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ this season. [Brokelyn]

- Participatory budgeting takes place this week, and Brooklynites can vote in their neighborhood or at Borough Hall. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Sam Talbot’s passion for food will be on display come summer, when his new venture, Pretty Southern, opens on Bedford Avenue. [Brooklyn Magazine]

- Trump's week of errors and falsehoods. [Politico]


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Serious Fire in Williamsburg Monday Night

U/D Brooklyn: *2 Alarm Fire* Box 125 at 232 Metropolitan Ave 1 fire victim being removed with CPR in progress. pic.twitter.com/MZuKF1iAFh

— NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) March 29, 2016

A two-alarm fire broke out on the first floor of a six-story apartment building at 232 Metropolitan Ave., between Bedford and Driggs avenues in Williamsburg, late Monday night, according to Patch.

Patch reports two persons were injured, while PIX11 reports that six adults and one child were hurt and ferried to local hospitals.

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Cops Save Teen from Bridge Jump; Drunk TED Talks; and More Brooklyn Briefs

6 foreign cities to consider hiding out in if Trump becomes president https://t.co/41E42SWQDN pic.twitter.com/TANRXMtUzg

— Brokelyn (@Brokelyn) March 27, 2016

- NYPD officers save suicidal teen from jumping off Manhattan Bridge. [PIX11]

- BP Eric Adams livid after four cops violently arrest on-duty mailman in Crown Heights. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- This map charts all of NYC's public bathrooms. [Brooklyn Magazine]

- Here's what Montague Street looked like 100 years ago. [Brownstoner]

- Welcome to Drunk TED Talks, the world's premiere source of highly intelligent people talking about weird stuff they care deeply about while extremely drunk (with PowerPoints). [LittlefieldNYC]

- The Northside Festival (music, innovation and film) is coming back on June 6. [Northside]

- So there is a Psychedelic Society of Brooklyn. [Vice]


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Grandma's House Restaurant, Near Barclay's Center, Is Pretty Adorable

Photos by MK Metz

If you like to eat in adorable restaurants, try Grandma's House, the all-American Brooklyn-themed diner at 364 Atlantic Ave., not far from Barclays Center.

The place is decorated with old beer taps, a model train, a vintage dial-style pay phone, Brooklyn Eagle reprints and other comfort decor.

The food will bring you back to the childhood you probably never had but wish you did -- flapjacks, mac n' cheese served in a skillet, meatballs, chicken pot pie, ribs, a bucket of chicken chips, with local fresh produce and a variety of salads. (The salads include an iceberg wedge, of course.) And to drink, a Fox’s U-Bet Brooklyn egg cream.

Not only does Grandma's House use locally-sourced food -- all the decor is American made, including the jukebox.

Some background on Grandma's House:

- Grandma's House, destroyed by Sandy in South Street Seaport, comes to Brooklyn [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Just Opened: Ridiculously Family-friendly Restaurant Grandma’s House [RedTri]


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Pier 6 Developer Tries to Pressure State; DUMBO Apocalypse; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Here's your chance to stroll around DUMBO armed to the teeth, in the middle of an apocalypse. [DumboNYC]

- How de Blasio sold out to an affordable housing trade group, why their business is booming and why many of the units of the "low income" housing the City Council just voted for will be too expensive for current residents of rezoned neighborhoods. [Gothamist]

- Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6 developer says financing could fall through if state doesn’t OK plan soon. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- A Brooklyn traffic agent is accused of posing as a police officer to force prostitutes into providing free sexual services. [Patch]

- Bring your own containers: Prospect Heights resident Sarah Metz has set out to start an eco-friendly supermarket, to be known as The Fillery. [Brownstoner]

-  The insurance agent who admitted to ripping off seniors at his Dyker Heights office jumped off the 69th Street Pier. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- Brooklyn Heights author Helen Simonson discusses her long-awaited second novel, “The Summer Before the War.”  [Brooklyn Eagle]

- 'Saucy' DUMBO moving company ads rile religious Jews in Brooklyn. [Jewish Voice]

- Comedian Joe Pera talks you to sleep in this thoroughly weird bedtime comedy video. [Brokelyn]

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Chris Christie in Brooklyn; Ditmas Park Slasher Caught; and More Brooklyn Briefs

Brooklyn: this man forcibly touched a 20 year old female at the Borough Hall subway station. Any info ? #800577TIPS pic.twitter.com/anuoSwxRaQ

— New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) March 20, 2016

- NJ Gov. Chris Christie spotted in Brooklyn in the Notre Dame locker room during the NCAA tournament. [Twitchy]

- Protesters rally amid allegations of child sex abuse at Brooklyn yeshiva. [Newsweek] via [PIX11]

- Cops have arrested the man who randomly slashed a woman in the neck in Ditmas Park earlier this month. [Daily News]

- Hospital staff are trying to find someone who knows this man before they pull the plug. [Instagram]

- Helen Simonson, Brooklyn Heights author of “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand,” will be reading from her eagerly awaited second novel “The Summer Before the War”  on Tuesday at BookCourt. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- The City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio have reached an agreement on zoning plan — Here’s what it means for Sheepshead Bay. [Sheepshead Bites]

- The heartless man who stole a charity box earlier this week from Bagelsa restaurant in Borough Park has been identified as a 37-year-old Hispanic man with a long criminal history. [JP Updates]

- Offshore wind farms coming soon to NY coast, less than 20 miles from Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Eagle]

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The New Tesla Location Is Opening Friday in Red Hook

Red Hook Tesla. Photo by MK Metz

The new Tesla location opening Friday at 160 Van Brunt St. in Red Hook, Mashable reports.

McBrooklyn took a walk past the new store and service center over the weekend -- everything seems ready to go.

Want to take a vehicle for a spin? From Mashable: " You can take a look at the battery that makes up the entire base of the car and see the two motors that power the all-wheel-drive models. Not only that, but you can test drive a Model S right out of the store..."


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NYPD's 'Stingrays' Can Spy on Your Cell Phone, Track Your Location

Skynet, by Andres Rojas

 Just in case you weren't sure whether or not the government was really able to listen in on all your phone calls and track you everywhere . . .

The NYPD confirmed to the Civil Liberties Union that it indeed owns and operates Stingrays— military-grade surveillance devices that spy on nearby cell phones and that can be used to track location.

In response to an NYCLU FOIL request, the NYPD disclosed it used Stingrays nearly 1,016 times between 2008 and May of 2015.

“If carrying a cell phone means being exposed to military grade surveillance equipment, then the privacy of nearly all New Yorkers is at risk,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, said in a statement. “Considering the NYPD’s troubling history of surveilling innocent people, it must at the very least establish strict privacy policies and obtain warrants prior to using intrusive equipment like Stingrays that can track people’s cell phones.”

Stingrays allow authorities to spy on cell phones in the area by mimicking a cell tower, and allow the police to pinpoint a person’s location and, in some configurations, collect the phone numbers that a person has been texting and calling and intercept the contents of communications. Stingrays also sweep up information from nearby bystander cell phones even when used to target specific phones.

More at NCLU.


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