SCOOP DU JOUR_Weather. News. Stuff to Do.

Secrets_2

BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

CITY NEWS: City is revamping its high school math curriculum, which will mean big changes in the way that math is taught in New York City high schools.

_Jesse Jackson joined Plaza Hotel  employees in a rally to protest loss of jobs if hotel is turned into a condo. The city’s landmark preservation is scheduled to have hearings about preserving the Plaza’s famous interiors soon. The decision won’t stop the renovation but it might make it difficult for Elad Properties, which is spending $300 million, to go forward with the project. Read all about it at NY1

_Public schools to hand out a physical fitness report cards in an effort to stem childhood obesity. Read all about it at NY1

_Yesterday, Bill Clinton left hospital just four days after surgery.Read all about it at NY1

_Tolls rise on all MTA bridges and tunnels: tolls on the Triborough, Whitestone, the Throgs Neck and the Queen’s  Mid-town and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels have gone up 50 cents from $4.0 to $4.50. Read all about it at NY1

_From WNYC RadioThe city has a new weapon in its never-ending battle against rats a federally funded institute to teach the craft of rodent eradication. Plans for the Rodent Integrated Pest Control Academy were announced at a hearing before the City Council’s health committee yesterday. The academy will train exterminators from the Health Department and other city agencies. A three-year, 600-thousand dollar grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will fund the school. Among the skills to be taught will be the proper placement of rat poison which one health official says has to be inserted deep inside rat holes otherwise the rats "will throw the bait back out." Those rats!

BROOKLYN BEAT:   The MTA is suing the owner of F-Line, a small corner bagel shop on Smith and Ninth Street just underneath the F-train. Faried Assad, the owner, spent over $1000. on the MTA’s own website buying subway memorabelia to decorate the store. Assad received a Cease and Desist letter from the MTA that informed him that the F-train logo is a registered trademark. The letter gave him until March 16th to respond. Assad told a NY1 reporter: "I told him, I said, ‘You know what, we’re from Brooklyn. We’re born and raised here, man. We’ve been using the train forever. And us, as Brooklynites, you know, we should have a little bit of fringe benefits, you know?’ I told him, Give us a break over here." Love it!

_An alleged drunk driver flipped over the median on the Belt Parkway and killed another driver at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning. The driver was arrested and charged with DWI. Read all about it at NY1

_Brooklyn Democratic leader faces corruption charges. Read all about it at NY1

_OTBKB Scoop: An underground electrical fire had residents of First Street between Eighth Avenue and the Park out on the street at 11 p.m. Saturday night. It sounded like loud drumming, but it was the smokey underground fire that was causing lights to flicker in many residences. Squad 1 and other local fire houses were on the scene within minutes of being called by OTBKB.

_Two former NYPD cops face extradition on mob activities. They were ordered Friday night back from Las Vegas to Brooklyn. Read all about it at Brooklyn Bomb Shelter

IT’S TUESDAY: "Fifty Years After the Brooklyn Eagle: How City Papers Cover Brooklyn," A FORUM AT BROOKLYN COLLEGE. In the Woody Tanger Auditorium, Brooklyn College Library. 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternnon.

_At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, "Play Without Words" a DANCE-THEATER PIECE by Matthew Bourne. Starts March 15th through the 29th. 

_Learn how to MAKE A SCRAP BOOK using tools and techniques created just for this art form. 7 pm. Lion in the Sun Invitation Studio. 463 Fourth Street. Free.

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  The SECOND GRADE ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place. The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all month.

THIS SOUNDS COOL: BROOKLYN FREE SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE on Saturday March 19th From 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the school: 260 16th Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. Writes school director, Alan Berger: "See first hand the only school in New York City where students self direct their own learning and have an equal say in running the school. brooklynfreeschool@msn.com

_Music for Aardvarks founder, David Winestone sings ultra urban kid’s music at PS 58 on Carroll Street between Smith and Court Streets. Saturday 3/19 at 3 p.m. $10. per person. Children under 2 free. Hear MFA classics like: "City Kid," "Bagel," "I was Walking with my Mom Down Avenue A."

_It’s bagpipe time. BROOKLYN IRISH AMERICAN PARADE is Sunday. Parade starts at 1 p.m. at PPW and
15th Street. Marches down 15th Street to 7th Avenue and down 7th to Union Street and back over to
PPW.

_Composer and Park Slope resident, Louis Rosen and vocalist Capathia Jenkins perform a SONG CYCLE based on the work of Maya Angelou. This Sunday at Joe’s Club at 6 p.m. (see Hand-Picked below).

NEW SNEAKERS:
On Saturday March 19th: THE BROOKLYN HALF-MARATHON starts on the Coney Island boardwalk  at 8 a.m. Run or come cheer your friends and neighbors.

Here’s the 13.1 mile course for the Brooklyn-Half: Start on the Coney Island Boardwalk at West Second
Street. Head west on the boardwalk to a turnaround at 36th Street, and
then return east. Exit the boardwalk at West 10th Street and continue
east on Surf Avenue. Turn left/north onto Ocean Parkway to Prospect
Expressway to Park Circle. Enter Prospect Park at Park Circle and head
east on South Lake Drive. Continue around the northern end of the park,
returning south on West Drive. Turn left/east onto Hill Drive and
left/north onto East Drive. Turn left/west on Central Drive to the
finish.

If you’re not familiar with the names of the roads in the park, check the map at www.prospectpark.org

<>

 
HEAR/SAY: "I always loved running…it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."   – Jesse Owens