Murder Victim’s Mother Threatened by Gang

By DAVID GREENE

One day after burying her 20-year-old daughter in Woodlawn cemetery, a Norwood mother said she has been threatened by gang members, has fled her home of ten years, along with her family, and has gone into hiding at a Bronx hotel. Cynthia Duffy, mother of Delila Vásquez, 20, confirmed her daughter died at Jacobi Medical Center just before midnight on Wednesday, March 17. As reported by Norwood News, she was discovered with a gunshot wound to her head inside a third-floor apartment at 3339 Hull Avenue, near East 209th Street in Norwood at 10:09 p.m. the same night.

By DAVID GREENE

This week, we asked readers their thoughts on life one year on from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I just want this [expletive] to be over with, I just want to go back to school. I just want everything to go back to normal. No, I didn’t think it was that serious when this first started. I thought it would [have been] over by now and it hasn’t – that’s how serious it was, and how many people have died.” Aameenah Islam West Farms “I just came out of the nursing home, and I was with

By DAVID GREENE

A few dozen home care workers held a rally in the Bronx on Friday, March 12, to push for the passage of the “Fair Pay for Home Care Act,” which aims to guarantee workers better conditions. Low wages and poor conditions have been causing a mass exodus from the profession, affecting both elderly and disabled people, who are usually cared for in their homes by such workers. However, due to the shortage, seniors and people with disabilities are increasingly being forced to enter already overburdened nursing homes. The Fair Pay for Home Care Act (S-5374) was introduced on

By DAVID GREENE

At least nine people were injured in Westchester Heights, including several children and one firefighter, after a gas explosion inside a multi-unit residential home shook the building’s foundation and blew out many of the windows and doors. Two of the victims were reported in serious condition. The explosion occurred inside 1522 Paulding Avenue in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx at 3:20 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18. At the scene, FDNY Deputy Chief John Sarrocco issued a brief statement that was later released on Twitter. “We received a call for an explosion,” he said. “Units arrived on scene

By DAVID GREENE

A private home was destroyed after fire broke out in the home which is located on the Yonkers-Bronx border. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries in the blaze. According to a statement released by Deputy Chief Joseph Citrone of the Yonkers Fire Department, the fire was reported at 3.56 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 149 Scott Avenue in Yonkers, on the Wakefield border of the Bronx. According to Citrone’s statement, the two-alarm blaze was “initiated from an electrical outlet that sparked and ignited a mattress.” Firefighters discovered ‘Collyer’s mansion conditions,’ an FDNY term for a cluttered residence according

By DAVID GREENE

A North Bronx grandmother, frustrated that parents aren’t explaining to children why they are being told to wear masks and to wash their hands more frequently, has written a poem/rap and has been distributing copies of it to folks at different sites across the borough in an effort to enhance health education among kids and help them understand why it is important to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Long-time activist and Community Board 12 member, Barbara Gibson, 81, recalled, “As a teacher, I noticed society was not approaching the children and explaining to them what the virus

By DAVID GREENE

As much as six inches of fresh snow fell across the borough, but that didn’t stop Bronxites from continuing with their daily routine of biking, shopping or getting their COVID-19 inoculations amid the ongoing pandemic, as the second major winter snow storm of the season battered the Northeast of the country for most of the day on Sunday, Feb. 7. As reported by Norwood News, on Saturday, Feb. 5, the New York City Emergency Management Department (EMD) issued a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday, Feb. 7, and the National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Warning for New York

By DAVID GREENE & SÍLE MOLONEY

When members of the Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA) held their usual, virtual, monthly meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 6, concerns were raised over the impact of New York Botanical Garden’s (NYBG) plans for two new housing developments at East Bedford Park Boulevard and Webster Avenue, which form part of a 2011 re-zoning plan to revitalize 88 blocks of Webster Avenue. According to Barbara Stronczer, president of BMCA, and as reported by the Norwood News, the $93 million housing and retail project was due to incorporate 188 reduced-income apartments for seniors at 2856 Webster Avenue in 2020. This was to

By DAVID GREENE & SÍLE MOLONEY

A man who got into a dispute with a woman for the second day in a row and who threatened to kill her for not calling him, chased her down the street in Wakefield armed with a large knife before he was shot by police and died. NYPD Chief of Department, Terence Monahan, and other police officials held a press briefing on the evening of the incident, on Thursday, Jan. 21, providing details of the case based on a preliminary investigation. Monahan reported that the incident occurred at East 233rd Street and Barnes Avenue in the Wakefield section of