Weberman Sentence Reduced; Catching Gangstas with Facebook; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Rabbi Nechemya Weberman's 103-year sentence for his sexual abuse of a young Hasidic girl has been automatically reduced to 50 years. Failed Messiah

- How the Postal Service ending Saturday mail delivery will affect Brooklynites. Brooklyn Eagle 

-  The MTA has released an interactive subway map that allows users to zoom, drag and drop. Carroll Gardens Patch

- The tide has turned against opponents of the Justice in Palestine event tonight at Brooklyn College. Mayor Bloomberg denounced threats to college funding over the event. Mondoweiss

- How to game the salad bar at Foragers in DUMBO. Brooklyn Magazine

- Crime fighters in Brooklyn are using social media to catch dumb gangsters. NY Daily News

- Cuomo budget "raids" $20 million from the MTA. Streetsblog

- Artist uses Gowanus Canal sludge as paint.  Brooklyn Paper  

- Here's how the city plans to spend its $1.8B chunk of Sandy aid. Brooklyn Eagle 

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Helicopter Buzzing Brooklyn Heights at 2:30 Thursday Morning

If you were awakened by a low-flying helicopter over Brooklyn Heights from about 2:15 - 2:35 a.m., here's what we heard on the police scanner.

Police Aviation: "We're flying over rooftops and fire escapes."

"A male on a fire escape trying to gain entry. Stay vigilant."

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Brooklyn's LICH Is Closing -- UPDATED

Photo: MK Metz

UPDATE: The New York Times, the Post and the Brooklyn Eagle are all reporting that the SUNY Board of Trustees has decided to close Long Island College Hospital -- LICH -- even before Thursday's sham hearing.

Hospital staffers were told late Tuesday.

SUNY's Board of Trustees were scheduled to hold a special hearing on Thursday afternoon regarding the fate of LICH, with a public comment period starting around 3:30 p.m.

The hearing is obviously a sham -- since the decision was made months ago, the Brooklyn Eagle reports.

Roy Sloane, president of the Cobble Hill Association, told the Eagle on Tuesday, “I don’t think anybody’s being fooled,” he said. “It’s a mockery of the public process.”

And that about sums it up.

Past posts:
- Will LICH Be Taken Private? Cuomo's Budget Calls for Brooklyn's First 'For-Profit' Hospital 
- Brooklyn's LICH On the Verge of Closing - Endowment Drained?
- Unexpected: Head of Brooklyn's LICH Stepping Down
- LICH Is Now UHBLICH
- Donald and Mildred: We're Sorry About Losing All Your Money, and the Hospital, Too
- Gov. Paterson Announced LICH /SUNY Deal in Brooklyn Today 
- Insurance Trouble at Brooklyn's LICH 
- Petition to Save LICH
- Sucking Long Island Collage Hospital Dry?
- Long Island College Hospital In Big Trouble

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Will LICH Be Taken Private? Cuomo's Budget Calls for Brooklyn's First 'For-Profit' Hospital

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recently unveiled budget proposal includes something never before allowed in New York State -- two for-profit hospitals.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, one of the hospitals would be located in Brooklyn, and one elsewhere in the state. They would be operated on a pilot program basis.

Nurses affiliated with LICH and Interfaith told the Eagle they are worried this could be a million-dollar giveaway to private interests.

Assemblywoman Joan Millman told the Eagle, "The concept is a troubling one."

The story of LICH is already one of broken promises and looted coffers. There's no word yet which Brooklyn hospital will go for-profit. But the law is written in such a way it narrows the field to those affiliated with an approved academic medical institution -- which includes LICH.

Past posts:
- Brooklyn's LICH On the Verge of Closing - Endowment Drained?
- Unexpected: Head of Brooklyn's LICH Stepping Down
- LICH Is Now UHBLICH
- Donald and Mildred: We're Sorry About Losing All Your Money, and the Hospital, Too
- Gov. Paterson Announced LICH /SUNY Deal in Brooklyn Today 
- Insurance Trouble at Brooklyn's LICH 
- Petition to Save LICH
- Sucking Long Island Collage Hospital Dry?
- Long Island College Hospital In Big Trouble

Photo courtesy Google Maps

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Atlantic Center's Ceiling; Koch and the 'Brooklyn Machine'; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Brooklyn "investment" sales jump 50 percent. TRD 

- Guess what's on the ceiling of the Atlantic Center Mall? WYDNKBYANM

- Some subway stations are getting so packed, the MTA may one day begin shutting down entrances. Gothamist . . . And a follow up regarding the Bedford L station. Brooklyn 11211

- If UPS delivers your 30 lbs of marijuana to the wrong address, this is exactly what you shouldn't do. NY Daily News

- “It was the ‘Brooklyn machine’ that helped get Koch elected,” says Frank Seddio. Brooklyn Eagle 

- Caught on video: Sicko rapes woman in alley near Brooklyn College. NY Daily News

- Three-acre sports complex heads to Coney Island. TRD 

- Subway Sleuths at the NY Transit Museum -- after-school activities for kids on the autism spectrum, ages 7 – 12. A Child Grows 


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Super Bowl Blackout: UPDATE: It's the Ravens 34 -31

Dan McQuade

In case you're not following Super Bowl 2013, the power went off at the New Orleans Superdome, bringing the game to  a standstill.

Hey, in Brooklyn we know how to deal with power surges.

Unplug your microwaves, New Orleans!

UPDATE: It worked! Lights are back -- the sponsors must be going crazy.  34 35 minutes of commercials they could have sold while lights were out.

Question: Those Super Bowl voodoo ads have anything to do with this?

Question 2: Did the blackout change the momentum? 28 -23.  Ravens 31 - 23 34 - 29 34 - 31

Twitter going crazy.

Check out this amazing photo of the Super Bowl Blackout.

Funniest Tweets of the Super Bowl Blackout.

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Last Minute Super Bowl 2013 Bars in Brooklyn

CBS

It's Super Bowl Sunday in Brooklyn (OK, technically they're playing in New Orleans) and all of a sudden you have an overwhelming urge to watch the San Francisco 49ers face off against the Baltimore Ravens.

Did you forget to make plans? It's not too late: Here are a few a last minute places in Brooklyn to eat, drink and catch that Super Bowl Fever XLVII (What time does the Super Bowl start? 6:30 p.m.):

- In Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bowl will be showing Super Bowl XLVII on all of their big screens with full game audio.  Brooklyn Winery is blasting the game on a 116" screen and surround sound. Many more Williamsburg venues are listed on Brokelyn (also checkout the action at the Warsaw in Greenpoint, with a cinema-size main screen and four projectors.)

- In Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, hit the Brazen Head on Atlantic; Buschenschank at 320 Court. It's all-you-can-eat at Angry Wades on Smith Street (technically in Boerum Hill). More Super Bowl venues, including in Red Hook, listed at Carroll Gardens Patch.

- In Gowanus, the Bell House will be showing the action on their big screen and serving sandwiches from Urban Rustic (their website is down but more details here).

- Are you in Ditmas Park? Ditmas Park Patch has a list of several neighborhood joints perfect for bowl-watching.

- Brooklyn Magazine has gathered an eclectic list of Super Bowl party spots from Red Hook to Fort Greene, including Woodwork in Prospect Heights.

- Want to watch the Super Bowl really cheap (or even free?)? Serious Eats has put together a list of the cheapest venues -- with $5 drafts, $3 shots, free halftime wings and pizza. Outstanding pick: The Waterstone Grill in DUMBO at 79 Pearl Street: Five televisions, and all-you-can eat wings, barbecue pork sliders, Stella draft, and bottles of Bud for $25.

- We haven't tried it yet, but in Brooklyn Heights, the Park Plaza Diner (220 Cadman Plaza West at Pineapple Walk) is advertising a Super Bowl shindig at the newly-renovated sports bar.

- Are you looking for gay-friendly bars with Super Bowl parties? It's amazing how many there are in Brooklyn! See Yelp for details.

- Are you working, on the go, or just don't have time to run out to a bar? You can enjoy the game virtually anyway -- watch the Super Bowl 2013 live stream on CBS for free.


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Another Brooklyn Rabbi Arrested for Sex Abuse

An ultra-orthodox rabbi who lives on Bedford Avenue was set to be arraigned last night after he was arrested on charges that he allegedly sexually abused three boys between the ages of 14 and 16, according to The Local.

Yoel Malik, a 33-year-old rabbi from a prominent family of Satmar hasidim, was arrested  in Brooklyn on 28 counts of sexually abusing the boys, reports Failed Messiah.

Malik was a rabbi at a religious school in Borough Park, the Brooklyn Eagle reports.The school has been "closed amid financial disputes with the family that runs it and has been described as a small, private establishment for at-risk kids."

About ten days ago Nechemya Weberman, a Hasidic "counselor" was sentenced to 103 years in Brooklyn for sexually abusing a young Williamsburg girl for years.

Graphic based on photo by Ernst Moeksis

Previous:

- More Brooklyn Victims of Child Abuser Nechemya Weberman Alleged

- Accused Rapist Nechemya Weberman Goes to Trial in Brooklyn

 

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A 3,500-Pound Great White Shark Is Swimming Up the Coast Like 1,000 Miles is Nothing

Photo:Shark Tracker

A 16-foot, 3,500-pound great white shark is swimming in northern waters after spending weeks off the Southeast coast, the NY Times reports.

Given a name by scientists, "Mary Lee" -- who weighs the same as a Ford Mustang -- was swimming off Jacksonville Beach, Fla., several weeks ago. (The photo above is actually Mary Lee. The great white to the left is from a Stanford study: "Great White Sharks More Endangered Than Tigers."

Other names are Carcharodon carcharias, and white death.

On Thursday, she was off Long Island, N.Y.

According to Shark Tracker, last night she was spotted off Cape Cod.

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Buy Southern Brooklyn? BBP Ped Bridge; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- You can pretty much own southern Brooklyn for $124 million. Sheepshead Bites

- Brew-ha-ha over Brooklyn College forum to end Israeli apartheid and the "illegal occupation of Palestine.” Brooklyn Eagle 

- Walkways are installed on the pedestrian bridge to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Brownstoner

- The most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn is now. . . Boreum Hill!  Brokelyn

- Who voted against Sandy funding? City Limits

- Property taxes too high? Gentile tells you how to beat them back down. Brooklyn Eagle    

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