Day: December 4, 2024

Еще 12 дюймов снега возможны возле озер Эри и Онтарио до пятницы Ожидается большое количество снега на возвышенностях округов Чаутаукуа и западный Каттараугус В городах […]

Рост рабочих мест в секторе чистой энергетики более чем в два раза превышает общий рост по всему штату и остается в ногу с общенациональными темпами […]

Maimonides Medical Center held its 29th annual Celebration of Light on Dec. 2, bringing together community leaders and parishioners to support local churches in their holiday fundraising and tree-lighting efforts.

Established in 1995, Celebration of Light raises money for churches across Brooklyn and Queens, defraying costs for vibrant Christmas displays. Representatives from 43 churches across the two boroughs gathered at the Borough Park hospital on Monday to mark this year’s event.

The initiative fosters connections between Maimonides’ leadership and the wider community, aiming to bridge faith and service — with an added touch of holiday cheer.

Kenneth D. Gibbs, president and CEO of Maimonides, and Monsignor David Cassato, a hospital trustee and Vicar for Education for the Diocese of Brooklyn, joined parishioners and other leaders in the hospital’s fifth-floor boardroom to celebrate Maimonides’ longstanding tradition of defraying costs for Christmas displays at 33 local parishes.

“Our longtime partnerships with our neighboring faith organizations are essential to our ability to not just treat our patients’ conditions, but to care for them as people,” Gibbs said, “and we are proud to support the work these organizations do to care for our communities throughout the year.”

“For 30 years, Maimonides Medical Center has provided key funding to support Christmas light displays at churches throughout Brooklyn,” said John Quaglione, deputy press secretary for the Diocese of Brooklyn. “During these dark days of winter, may the brightness of these lights once again bring the spirit of Christmas, the message of hope and peace, to the people throughout Brooklyn.”

Attendees also took a moment to remember the late Larry Morrish, a beloved Bay Ridge activist who helped organize the first Celebration of Light.

Brian Long, founder of the Celebration of Light and head of Long and DeLosa Construction Group, recalled the event’s humble beginnings, conceived over tea and crackers at the Visitation Monastery in Bay Ridge alongside Morrish, who died in 2016.

Since then, Celebration of Light has only grown.

“We are grateful that this event is growing each year, with new faith organizations joining us in driving forward our mission to provide healing for our community,” Gibbs said.

AN “EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED” MAN barricaded himself inside his home in Canarsie on Monday evening, alarming neighbors.

The post Canarsie man barricades himself in home appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

A collection of topical political cartoons from various artists curated by the Brooklyn Eagle editorial staff.

The post Cartoon Sketchbook: December 4 appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

Legislators, advocates and even New York’s top judge all agree that the state’s family courts are overburdened and under-resourced. 

What they can’t seem to agree on is how much money is necessary to fix the courts’ myriad issues. 

Advocates say that a key area of reform is to boost the number and cap the cases of family court attorneys, which they estimate would require about $60 million more per year in funding. Last year, the Office of Court Administration successfully procured an additional $20 million for these lawyers in the state budget, but not enough to set a limit on the caseload per lawyer.

A coalition of family court legal service providers will be pushing for the policy change in the lead-up to next year’s state budget.

“This is about us being able to adequately serve our clients and adequately staff the additional court rooms that are being created,” said Liberty Aldrich, the executive director of The Children’s Law Center and a member of the coalition.

New York State Family Courts are responsible for deciding nearly all legal matters involving children and families, ranging from child abuse and neglect to child custody and visitation, to name a few. Despite the vital and personal nature of family court, it contends with a legacy of delays, untenable caseloads and a legacy of dysfunction, according to a litany of reports produced by government and legal organizations over the past few years.

Advocates say that a fundamental change to the court has to start with the caseloads and working conditions of the Attorneys for the Child — often referred to by their acronym AFCs — who handle cases on  behalf of children. AFCs can be in charge of representing up to 150 children simultaneously under state court guidelines, which often translates to an even higher number of cases, considering each child often has several case dockets or court proceedings. 

The National Association of Counsel for Children recommends that family court attorneys who work on cases of abuse or neglect should represent no more than 40 to 60 individual clients at a time.

The governor and court administrators have made strides to reform family court, but have so far stopped short of addressing the state’s cap. Over the summer Gov. Hochul signed a bill into law that added 16 family and civil court judgeships in New York City to address the backlog of cases. The influx of judges will help resolve trial cases, so that they’re not in limbo for months. 

“It does nothing to free up the availability of other counsel who are required to move family court cases forward,” said Aldrich.

Judge Rowan Wilson, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, New York’s top court, shared a sentiment about the need for more and better compensated AFCs in his state of the judiciary this year.

“Those resources will not make a difference unless legal service providers are funded at levels that allow them to attract and retain lawyers to handle matters in family court,” he said.

The $192 million that the Office of Court Administration secured for AFC representation in this year’s budget represents a $20 million increase that will go to both legal service providers like Legal Aid and private attorneys who take assigned cases in family court.

OCA has the jurisdiction to redraft the rules of the Chief Administrator of the Court, which dictate the caseload caps, but as Aldrich herself conceded, it wouldn’t work to do so without the proper funding “because it would just restrict the number of children who get access to counsel without a related increase in the number of attorneys available to accept assignment.” 

OCA did not provide comment on the coalition’s push to change the rule.

The legal services providers have proposed an interim standard that would limit AFCs to 75 dockets rather than pegging the cap to the number of children. The plan they’re pushing would also set a clear course for further caseload reductions in the next two fiscal years. 

The coalition has emphasized the issues in the Family Court system as a glaring example of racial inequity. In New York City, where about 60% of kids are Black and Latino, they account for almost 90% of children in the child welfare system, according to the coalition’s report.

“Child clients are vulnerable,” Aldrich said. “They’re otherwise unrepresented in the courtroom. They are subject to decisions that fundamentally impact their life and life trajectory and wellbeing and safety. And to imagine that those decisions would be made without input from those children, the very people who are the critical subject of almost every family court proceeding, is unimaginable.”

11-YEAR-OLD BROOKLYNITE VINCENT Gagliano on Monday got to experience life as a New York Ranger on the ice at Madison Square Garden.

The post Brooklyn 11-year-old becomes a New York Ranger for a day appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.