Update on Heath Ledger Death Coverage

NY Magazine keeps us up-to-date about the Heath Ledger coverage here. Police are no longer touting suicide, according to NY Magazine.

Bruce Ratner's Plastic Surgeon, and More Brooklyn in Brief

- Workers at 340 Court Street seem to have taken the easy way out when transporting bagged asbestos from roof to dumpster. Gowanus Lounge

- Bruce Ratner to marry the plastic surgeon who called Michael Jackson a "nasel cripple." NY Post

- Phillip Anderson and his dog remain holed up at 475 Kent Ave. even though FDNY officials evacuated it on Sunday, citing potentially combustible grain from an illegal matzo factory in the basement. Metro

- Heath Ledger: Why, why why? Huffington Post

- Notorious Brooklyn landlord Joshua Guttman, owner of the explosively flammable Greenpoint Terminal Market, claims he's doing God's work through a $40 million real-estate deal in his native Israel. NYPost (Curbed has some advice: "Sprinklers.")

- CORD says "the RALLY date for our downzoning is January 24th not January 29th." Carroll Gardens Petition

Brooklyn Heights Pipe-Bomb Man Confesses to Painting Swastikas

Sunday morning's discovery of an arsenal of weapons — including pipe bombs, guns and a crossbow — at 58 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights has solving a tantalizing mystery.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, 31-year-old Ivaylo Ivanov has confessed to painting swastikas and writing "Kill Jews" in the neighborhood in September. He'll be hit with dozens of charges for this, on top of his weapons charges.

Ivanov is a Bulgarian immigrant who shared an apartment at 58 Remsen St. with AIDS researcher Dr. Michael Clatts, says the Eagle. More here.

UPDATE: Photo of Ivanov on the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

UPDATE: Ivanov says he is Jewish, and claims he was going to use the bombs to go fishing.

- Explosives and Weapons Found in Brooklyn Heights Apartment

Explosives and Weapons Found in Brooklyn Heights Apartment

Several Remsen Street buildings in Brooklyn Heights were evacuated early Sunday morning after police found explosives and a cache of weapons in an apartment.

A 31-year-old man who lives either on the fourth or third floor of 58 Remsen Street went to Long Island College Hospital at about 12:45 a.m. Sunday morning . He had called 911 and reported that he had shot himself in the hand. When police searched the apartment, they found enough weapons to raise worries of terrorism.

Other report: abc
Comments on Brooklyn Heights Blog

Martin Luther King Day Comes to Brooklyn

The city is coming to Brooklyn to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. At BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), BP Marty Markowitz, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, and Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes are all speaking at the big event.

Soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples and Gary Anglin and the Voices of CCC are performing, and look for the free movie and exhibition.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden celebrates Martin Luther King Day with a performance of spirituals featuring the Great Day Chorale, led by founder and director Louvinia Pointer. Performances are at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Photo of future MLK by dbking, creative commons license

Obama Rally Sunday, Brooklyn Heights

Obama supporters will be signing up volunteers at the War Memorial in Cadman Plaza Park at 2 p.m.

Fired Up and Ready to Go! BarackObama.com

Brooklyn in Brief: Weekend

- It get worse: fetus found in jar in murdered Nixzmary Brown's apartment. Newsday

- Brooklyn's controversial but brilliant chess champion, Bobby Fisher, dies in Iceland of kidney failure. Brooklyn Eagle

- A Red Bull-swilling nanny acts tough at Pierrepont playground in Brooklyn Heights. But correspondents at the I Saw Your Nanny Blog give her the benefit of the doubt. I Saw Your Nanny

- A plan to tear down 10 historic houses at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and replace them with a supermarket has been delayed "indefinitely." Brooklyn Paper

- Our friends at CORD have a list of questions from Carroll Gardens community members who reside near Mr. Stein's proposed project at 360 Smith Street . Sixty-seven questions, actually. Carroll Gardens Petition

- City to sponsor bedbug seminars. Gowanus Lounge

Markowitz to the Aid of Brooklyn Children's Academy Preschool Families

A reader emailed this cell phone photo of one of the many Brooklyn Children's Academy Preschool bus shelter ads "popping up like mushrooms" around Downtown Brooklyn lately.

This particular bus shelter is just steps away from Borough Hall, where Borough President Markowitz said he's contacted the state Attorney General in an effort to help Boerum Hill's "toxic preschool" parents collect, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

The preschool was closed in November after parents dropping off their kids discovered exposed wires, unpainted walls and noxious fumes. This was after the school moved to 25 Dean St. from Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Since then families have been waiting for roughly $70,000 worth of refunds.

The People's Court TV program has apparently been in touch with the elusive director of the school, Andy Lewis, but he rejected the option of having his bookkeeping methods explored on nationwide TV.

'Toxic' Preschool Families Get Help From Brooklyn Borough Hall Brooklyn Eagle

- 'Toxic Boerum Hill Preschool to Reopen, Director Says McBrooklyn
- 'Toxic' Brooklyn School to Reopen? Brooklyn Eagle
- More Trouble at 'Toxic' Preschool in Boerum Hill McBrooklyn
- 'Toxic' Preschool Parents Wonder: Where's the Money? Brooklyn Eagle
- Brooklyn Children's Academy Preschool Nightmares A Child Grows in Brooklyn
- Toxic Preschool in Brooklyn? Brooklyn Eagle
- 'Toxic' Preschool in Boerum Hill? McBrooklyn

Busy Chef Coming to Court Street

The kids at Chowhound aren't thrilled with the food at Busy Chef on Henry Street in the north Heights ("plastic boxes of mediocre-looking food..."), but the owners are expanding anyway to Court Street near Schermerhorn in Downtown Brooklyn.

When Busy Chef opened on Henry Street, we ate the sandwiches and the Caesar salad several times, and found them to be delicious. But then came the change to what appears to be prepackaged airline food, and the taste and quality went drastically downhill. The baked goods are still homemade, however.

(The Brooklyn Heights Blog has had some discussion about the food at the Busy Chef as well.)

Photo by MK Metz

Five Boerum Hill Parcels to Start at $16 Million

Last year they were on the market for $24 million, but the bidding is starting at $16 million for the five linked parcels across the street from the jail on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the owner is willing to sell them together or separately. The auction is on Valentine's day.

More here.

- Real Estate Auction: Sheldon Good & Co.
- More Detail About the Five Big Parcels McBrooklyn
- Atlantic Avenue Development Site Going, Going ... Brownstoner
- Five Atlantic Avenue Properties To Be Sold at Auction... Brooklyn Eagle
- Under Siege III: Breaking on Boerum: Brooklyn Streets, Carroll Gardens
- 5 Atlantic Avenue Development Sites on Market for $24 Million: Brooklyn Eagle
- Yassky, Neighborhood Groups Continue Battling Atlantic Avenue Hotel Plan: Brooklyn Eagle

Photo by MK Metz