Bronx Parks Preservation Grant
The Bronx River Alliance, along with the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo, is getting extra help preserving the woodsy Bronx Parks forest through an in-kind grant by the Natural Areas Conservancy (NAC) nonprofit. NAC will offer consulting on forest management, expert knowledge, materials, training and long-term planning. Maggie Scott Greenfield, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance said the group will work in “harmonious partnership to protect, improve and restore the Bronx River corridor.” An NAC report found that the city’s forests are exposed to many threats including invasive plants, dumping, and unauthorized trails. They have also determined that the city’s natural areas are in need of public investments for the next 25 years.

Norwood Trees Cut
It has been said that the city Department of Parks has been cutting and trimming down dead trees in the Norwood area. A foreign bacteria has apparently been killing the trees in the neighborhood. “They choke the life out of these trees, so in order for them to not fall over people, property and cars, they have to tear them down,” said Kenny Agosto, deputy chief of staff to state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, who spoke at the latest Bedford Mosholu Community Association meeting on April 3.

Attorney Questions 5-2 Tactics
More cases involving questionable police tactics at the 52nd Precinct have cropped up. As first reported by the New York Daily News, there were several instances where the version of an officer’s legal standing to make an arrest conflicted with video surveillance, while another instance involved plainclothes officers entering a home to make a gun arrest without a warrant. A spokeswoman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, which dropped a prior case against Five-Two cops engaged in alleged questionable police tactics, did not respond to the Daily News’ request for comment.

Bronx Dems Back Williams
The Bronx Democratic Party endorsed New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who plans to run for the seat once again in the June primary. Williams was elected in February in a special election, filling the seat vacated by now New York Attorney General Letitia James. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who was at the endorsement, finds the election system “flawed” since Williams has to run just a few months after winning the seat. “[The] fact that he has to go out to collect petitions, put together another campaign after New York has already said that we want him, I think that is a travesty of the system and it should be changed,” Diaz said. Williams said, “I have tried my best to really live by elected official experience as advocating for the people even if it was not politically popular at that moment in time. I am proud to be here in the Bronx and to make sure that the people in the Bronx and their voices are heard.”

Child Porn Charges for Fordham Teacher
A Theodore Roosevelt High School teacher was charged by the NYPD and federal authorities for possessing child porn. On April 3, law enforcement officers conducted a search warrant at teacher Jonathan Schweitzer’s apartment and took his laptop computer, which had many files containing child pornography. Schweitzer has been a teacher for more than a decade. He has been charged with one count of distribution and receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. These charges carry a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.