Throggs Neck News: #Pope Watch

Throggs Neck News: #Pope Watch: #Pope Watch Fordham Prepares for #PopeFrancis’ Visit Will Stream Papal Speech By Joana Mercuri Fordham University BR...

#Pope Watch

#Pope Watch

Fordham Prepares for #PopeFrancis’ Visit

Will Stream Papal Speech

By Joana Mercuri

Fordham University

BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- There is just one day until Pope Francis arrives in New York City as part of his visit to the United States, and Fordham is making arrangements to get the University community as involved as possible.

In the days leading up to the pope’s visit, Fordham has been preparing “spiritually and pastorally” in every way it can, said Lito Salazar, SJ, executive director of campus ministry. “We are encouraging daily and Sunday Mass homilists to consider invoking Pope Francis’ words or commenting on his global pastoral ministry whenever relevant to unpacking Scriptures at liturgical celebrations,” Father Lito said.

“In addition, the intentions of the pope and his visit have been and will continue to be in the intercessory prayers of the faithful. The Holy Hour devotion set for Mondays will have the same intention.”

Watch the pope live

The pope’s address to the United Nations, which takes place Friday, Sept. 25 at 8:30 a.m., will also be live streamed from the McGinley lobby at Rose Hill; Lowenstein 2nd floor plaza at Lincoln Center; and Room 228 at Westchester.

In addition, students can enter into a lottery to win a ticket to that evening’s papal Mass at Madison Square Garden. The lottery can be found in the student tab at my.fordham.edu.

Students and community members will also have the opportunity to pray evening vespers along with the pope as he leads evening prayer at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Thursday, Sept 24. Beginning 6:45 p.m., the vespers will be streamed at University Church and Our Lady’s Chapel at Rose Hill and at Blessed Rupert Mayer, SJ Chapel at Lincoln Center.

Community service

On Saturday, Sept. 26, students are invited to participate in a community service project in honor of the pope’s visit. Participants will join Habitat for Humanity’s Pope Francis House in Yonkers to help construct homes.

“Care for the poor and the marginalized is a central theme of Pope Francis’ papacy, and using our gifts and talents to care for the needs of others is something that’s part of Fordham’s identity as a Catholic and Jesuit school,” said Conor O’Kane, director of campus ministry at Rose Hill.

“The pope has an authenticity and spiritual freedom that resonates with our students,” O’Kane said. “His leadership and emphasis on what it means to be a person of faith in the world today is a question that’s relevant to all of our students. So his messages have been animating all that we say and do here [in campus ministry].”

#Pope #Pope Francis #Fordham University #Holy Father 

Throggs Neck News: Stiff Sentence for Viagra Bootlegger

Throggs Neck News: Stiff Sentence for Viagra Bootlegger: Stiff Sentence for Viagra Bootlegger                 BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- They’re the little blue pills – and little yellow...

Stiff Sentence for Viagra Bootlegger

Stiff Sentence for Viagra Bootlegger

               

BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- They’re the little blue pills – and little yellow pills – that are often instantly recognizable. But what a lot of consumers didn’t recognize is that these Viagra and Cialis pills were knock-offs – made from the same or similar ingredients as the real thing, but not manufactured by pharma giants Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

And now, announced Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson, 49-year-old Babou Jobe (pron JOE-bee) has been sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, half of which he paid. Jobe pled guilty on an earlier date to Trademark Counterfeiting in the second degree, a Class E Felony. He was sentenced by Justice Marc Whiten of the Bronx County Criminal Court.

When Jobe was arrested on September 18, 2014, at a store at 6 East 184^th Street in the Fordham section of the Bronx, he had in his possession nearly 14,000 Viagra and Cialis pills in bottles and blister packs, along with a sheaf of Viagra labels. All were counterfeits.

The Viagra pills contained the active ingredient of the real drug, but at less than 15 percent of the advertised dosage and the filler material included vulcanized rubber. Jobe told investigators, “Yeah, I know it’s fake,” admitting that he’d been selling the counterfeits since 2012, making about $1,500 a month.

The packaging for both the Viagra and the Cialis pills was close, but no cigar. Noted one representative of Eli Lilly and Co., the maker of Cialis, the bottles not only had invalid lot numbers, but the coloration and design was off.

Jobe, in taking this plea, also waived his right to appeal and, as a non-US citizen, is subject to deportation to his native Gambia. At his sentencing he stated, “I’m very sorry for what I did and I ask for forgiveness from the Court.”

The case against Jobe was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Peter D’Angelo and Supervising Assistant District Attorney Cristina Park of the Bronx D.A. Arson/Auto/Economic Crime Bureau. Jobe’s arrest resulted from an investigation initiated by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor with assistance from the New York County District Attorney’s Office.

#Viagra #Arrest #Bronx DA

Throggs Neck News: There is a homeless problem

Throggs Neck News: There is a homeless problem: Mayor Finally Admits: There is Homeless Problem City Acknowledges New Homeless Taskforce By David Greene BRONX, NEW YOR...

There is a homeless problem

Mayor Finally Admits:

There is Homeless Problem

City Acknowledges New Homeless Taskforce

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- The half dozen homeless people who sleep on park benches along Jerome Avenue, near East Gun Hill Road in Norwood were unaware when asked about the city's new homeless outreach program, acknowledged by city officials nearly three-weeks after the program quietly began.

The city has so far identified 80 homeless encampments across the five boroughs and has begun to dismantle them, as trained professionals from nine city agencies attempt to assist some of the homeless who have apparently refused the city's invitation at city-run shelters.

The City of New York estimates that 56,000 individuals are currently homeless and being housed in city shelters throughout the five boroughs. An additional 3,000 are living on the city streets and the new program that began on August 17, is seeking to reduce that number.

Jerome Avenue was not identified as an encampment because the closely-knit group has built no structures, and those who sleep there do so in the daytime, when families gather inside of Van Cortlandt Park, when they say they feel safest.

They speak of a need to sleep in the daytime, in order to stay awake at night, so they can protect themselves and each other from attack or theft of the few belongings they still have.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton recently said of the current situation, "The laws have changed in the last 20 years, when I was here the last time (and) the tools I had to work with," adding that panhandling is no longer considered a crime.

The NYPD's Chief of Patrol, Carlos Gomez, explained that when a unit goes to dismantle an encampment, members of the NYPD, EMS, Homeless Services, Sanitation, Parks, Transportation, Housing, Environmental Protection and the city's Legal Department will also be on hand to provide whatever assistance they can.

Gomez added, "Offering outreach and services is the main thrust, the main goal of this plan."

City officials also revealed that since the program was implemented, 161 homeless people were taken off the street and offered shelter and other services. However, only 10 individuals took the city up on its offer--with the rest apparently headed back into the streets.

"Mohammad" a homeless man who has called the park benches along Jerome Avenue home for the last three-months, recalled trying a city shelter, explaining, "I tried the shelter on Third Avenue, but it wasn't safe. And I feel like Norwood has become my home."

Speaking on his weekly radio program on WNYC on September 1, Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the crisis, "Clearly the numbers of folks in shelters shot up after 2011 and have remained very high, they would have gotten a lot higher, but for the efforts of a lot of people in this administration."

A day earlier Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, who was in charge with handling the current homeless crisis, stepped down from her $222,000 a year post to become chairwoman of the Health and Hospitals Corporation, an unpaid position. De Blasio denied Paoli had been demoted, insisting her stepping down was a "personal decision."

Meanwhile, the de Blasio Administration has reached out to local churches and synagogues seeking 500 'Safe Haven' beds that would be incorporated into the city's "Opening Doors" program.  The city currently has more than 680 such beds that have fewer restrictions than a traditional shelter.

The city currently has $19.5 million allocated for the Safe Haven program and an additional $15.7 for the outreach program for the fiscal year 2016.   

#Homeless #deBlasio

BRONX NEWS: Shops Look to KO Deadly Weed

BRONX NEWS: Shops Look to KO Deadly Weed: Shops Look to KO Deadly Weed BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- Elected officials and bodega owners have banned together to KO the sale of synth...