Mervyn Johnson Murder Brings Grief and Fear to Crown Heights
Crown Heights residents will gather on Thursday evening and Friday morning to mourn the loss of a legendary neighborhood figure, Mervyn Johnson. Johnson, a 68-year-old Trinidadian immigrant, started...
View ArticleNew Historic District Approved in Crown Heights, Brooklyn
On Tuesday, the city's Landmark Preservation Commission approved the creation of a new historic district in Brooklyn's predominantly West Indian-American and Hasidic Jewish neighborhood of Crown...
View ArticleWe May Never Know Who Killed Innocent Bystander: Cops
The NYPD said it may never know whose gun fired the bullet that killed a 56-year-old bystander in Crown Heights Monday night. Denise Gay was shot while sitting on her stoop with her daughter.A...
View ArticleFamily Members of Victim in Crown Heights Shooting Vie to Sue City
The family of a Brooklyn woman who was killed during a police shootout near the West Indian Day Parade route plans to sue the city and police department. But two competing relatives will first have to...
View ArticleA Crown Heights School's Fall From Grace
In 2002, when Joel I. Klein was a first-year schools chancellor and most of the city's eighth graders were failing state tests, a Crown Heights school distinguished itself. That year, every eighth...
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Brooklyn’s Hasidic Art Scene Expands with New Gallery
The Brooklyn art scene is getting another retro infusion — this time from Crown Heights.The throwback references here depict a simpler time, when families were large and lived in the Old World shtetls...
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Foraging for Food Trends in Brooklyn
When I think of foraging, I think of adventurous foodies on their hands and knees in the woods, looking for morels. When Michael Sinatra thinks of foraging, he thinks of day-long walks through a New...
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As Racial Tensions Fade, Memory of Crown Heights Riots Lives on 20 Years Later
Menachem Shagalow was just a thirtysomething recent immigrant from Israel when he stumbled home bloodied from the Crown Heights riots 20 years ago Friday, a violent event that is seared into his memory...
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Bloomberg Blames Illegal Guns for Deadly Shootout Near Parade
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said illegal handguns were to blame for a shootout that killed two — including an innocent bystander — and wounded two police officers just blocks from the route of the West...
View ArticleSuspect Didn't Kill Crown Heights Mother: Cops
A suspect in the shooting death of a Crown Heights woman did not fire the bullet that killed the 56-year-old mother — but it remains unclear where the fatal bullet came from, according to NYPD...
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Niche Market | Passover Judaica
New York is a city of specialists from foodies to academics, laborers to shopkeepers. Every Wednesday, Niche Market will take a peek inside a different specialty store and showcase the city's purists...
View ArticleCrown Heights Rape Case Verges on Collapse
A 36 count indictment accusing four black men of raping and prostituting an Orthodox Jewish girl in Crown Heights is now in question.“Charges against all four will be dropped,” said criminal defense...
View ArticleCharges Dropped in Crown Heights Rape Case
Prosecutors on Tuesday dismissed the case against four black men from Crown Heights accused of raping and prostituting an Orthodox Jewish woman for eight years, starting when she was 13.All charges...
View ArticleAn Alternative Guide to Art in NYC
There is a lot of art and culture to see in New York beyond the museums of the Upper East Side and the galleries of Chelsea. WNYC is exploring several neighborhoods this summer to find some local gems....
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There Are Still Places in New York Where You Can’t Build Highrises
The sales prices of residential real estate in the city, especially Brooklyn is reaching new highs. And Mayor Bill de Blasio has set a dramatic goal of increasing affordable housing over the next...
View ArticleCity Schools Aspire To Up Their 'PROSE'
Teacher Sharon Paradis had her first child seven weeks ago, but despite the challenges of new motherhood, she was eager to get back to the classroom at MS-354, the School of Integrated Learning in...
View ArticleRemembering the Crown Heights Riot 25 Years On
Twenty-five years ago, simmering tensions between the Black and Orthodox Jewish communities in Crown Heights suddenly exploded. On August 19th, 1991, Gavin Cato, the seven year old child of a local...
View Article25 Years After Riots, Community Relationships in Crown Heights Are Complicated
This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of riots that shook Crown Heights for three days. Simmering tensions between the black and Orthodox Jewish communities and the police erupted on Aug. 19, 1991...
View ArticleTime (And Face Painting) Heal Wounds in Crown Heights
Neighbors in Crown Heights, Brooklyn gathered for live music in a park and balloon sculptures on Sunday, 25 years after bitter racial strife divided the community. Donna Love, who is black, took her...
View ArticleDe Blasio's Latest Homeless Plan Faces Obstacles
When Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his latest plan to address the homeless crisis last week, he said the shelter he’s opening in Crown Heights next month is a perfect example of what he’s trying to...
View ArticleOpening Delayed for Homeless Shelter in de Blasio's New Plan
The opening of a homeless shelter in Crown Heights that was scheduled for Wednesday is being delayed. Community residents filed a petition in court Tuesday to block the plan, arguing the neighborhood...
View ArticleJudge Temporarily Bars City from Opening Homeless Shelter
A Brooklyn judge has issued a temporary restraining order barring the city from opening a new homeless shelter in Crown Heights. Crown Heights residents argued that their neighborhood already has too...
View ArticleOnce Again, Judge Bars City From Opening Crown Heights Homeless Shelter
A Brooklyn judge on Tuesday once again blocked the city from opening a new homeless shelter in Crown Heights. The judge extended a preliminary injunction, siding with Crown Heights residents who said...
View ArticleCrown Heights Residents Speak Out Against Another Homeless Shelter
Dozens of Crown Heights residents showed up at a town hall meeting Thursday evening to oppose the opening of a new family shelter in their neighborhood, part of Mayor de Blasio’s plan to open 90 new...
View ArticleJudge Delays Opening of Crown Heights Homeless Shelter — Again
A Brooklyn judge has once again blocked the city from opening a new homeless shelter in Crown Heights. The shelter for 100 senior men was supposed to open last month on Bergen Street, but a group of...
View ArticleBrooklyn Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against the City's Plan to Open Homeless...
A judge has cleared the way for the city to open a homeless shelter in Crown Heights, a decision that has implications for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s homelessness strategy. Crown Heights residents sued the...
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A Fast-Track to Get Artists Teaching in City Classrooms
New York City now has a record number of full-time, certified arts teachers in public schools. But many schools lag behind and a new program at Lincoln Center is trying to address the gap by providing...
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This Week in Politics: An Affordable Housing Fight Gets Political
It's a neighborhood story that has become more and more familiar in the last few years. The city comes up with a plan to redevelop a building or a whole neighborhood, and gets accused of going heavy on...
View ArticleFrom Drug Kingpin to FBI Informant, 'Crown Heights,' A Year Spent Diving...
Roman Caribe and Robert Cea discuss their book Confidential Source 96, the story of a former drug kingpin turned informant for the FBI, ICE and DEA. Nnamdi Asomugha talks about his film “Crown...
View ArticleLeonard Lopate Weekend: Ferguson Ex-Police Chief, Crown Heights, College Insider
The former Police Chief of Ferguson, Mo., Thomas Jackson discusses his perspective on the death of Michael Brown and the aftermath in Ferguson. Executive producer Nnamdi Asomugha with his film, “Crown...
View ArticlePolice Shoot and Kill Black Man Holding Metal Object in Crown Heights, NYPD...
Police shot and killed a black man holding a metal object believed to be a gun in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Wednesday afternoon. Terence Monahan, the NYPD Chief of Department, said three different 911...
View ArticleAttack at YouTube HQ Points to Rise in Workplace Homicides
Here's what you'll find on today's show:— On Tuesday afternoon, a disgruntled blogger forced her way into YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, and fired at employees before committing...
View ArticleOutrage in Crown Heights After Police Kill Mentally Ill Man
Hundreds of mourners in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, voiced outrage Thursday following the fatal police shooting of a mentally ill man. Protesters filled the intersection of Utica Avenue and Montgomery...
View ArticleCrown Heights Residents Voice Frustration, Fear After Police Shooting
The police shooting of 34-year-old Saheed Vassell Wednesday afternoon has left community members in Crown Heights, Brooklyn shaken and angry."The people is scared right now," said a man named Chris,...
View ArticleVideos and 911 Transcripts Reveal Confusion Moments Before Police Kill...
Police on Friday released longer videos and the full transcripts of 911 calls of the moments leading up to the police killing of a mentally ill Crown Heights man earlier this week. Thirty-four-year-old...
View ArticleNYPD Releases Surveillance Footage of Saheed Vassell Shooting
The New York Police Department has released surveillance footage showing police opening fire on 34-year-old Saheed Vassell in Crown Heights last week. During an eight-second period in the video, a...
View ArticleIn a Mental Health Emergency, Will Calling 9-1-1 Save a Life or End it?
On April 4, the NYPD responded to a 9-1-1 call from Crown Heights about a man threatening pedestrians with something that looked like a gun. The man was Saheed Vassell, a bipolar black man well-known...
View ArticleAnger and Sadness at Tense Crown Heights Police-Community Meeting
Emotions ran high at a community meeting between Crown Heights residents and local police officers Thursday evening, in the fallout of the police shooting of a mentally ill man earlier this month....
View ArticlePolice Are Investigating Brooklyn's Second Mass Shooting in Three Months
New York City police investigators are still trying to piece together what unfolded at 74 Utica Avenue on Saturday morning. They say gunfire erupted just before seven, killing four people and injuring...
View ArticleBallot Problems in Brooklyn
WNYC City Hall and politics reporter Brigid Bergin talks about the news that thousands of voters in Brooklyn received ballots in the mail with the wrong voter's name on the inside envelope, including...
View ArticleA New Podcast About The Crown Heights Riot
A new podcast from Pineapple Street Studios takes an in depth look at what became known as the "Crown Heights Riot," which took place 30 years ago in Brooklyn in August of 1991. Love Thy Neighbor,...
View ArticleWhat Have We Learned From the Crown Heights Riot?
Collier Meyersonwas only 6-years old at the time of the Crown Heights Riot, but having grown up with her white, Jewish father and Black mother and living 10 of her adult years in Crown Heights, she’s...
View ArticleCrown Heights Remembered
New York, NY — Ten years ago tomorrow the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights erupted into violence, as the area's black and Jewish residents clashed with the police and each other. WNYC recently...
View Article51 Council Members in 52 Weeks: District 40, Rita Joseph
The majority of the New York City Council members are new and are part of a class that is the most diverse and progressive in city history. This year Brian Lehrer will get to know all 51 members....
View ArticleJan. 6 Hearing Preview; 30 Issues: 'Healthy' Food, Nutrition and Access; 51...
Coming up on today's show:Quinta Jurecic, fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, senior editor at Lawfare and contributing writer at The Atlantic, previews what is likely to be the...
View ArticleWhy Some Young People Carry Guns
We look at the findings of a report that investigates why some teens and young adults in New York City carry guns. The study is by the Center for Justice Innovation based on interviews with more than...
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