Day: July 15, 2026

LOCAL RESIDENTS AND elected officials have expressed concerns after immigration officers brought an injured man to Brookdale Hospital.

The post Community concerns over ICE presence at Brookdale Hospital appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

BROOKLYN RESIDENT CHRISTIANE Butcher won a $3 million scratch-off ticket at a Downtown Brooklyn newsstand this month.

The post Woman wins over $1M on scratch-off ticket appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

KIDS ACROSS THE five boroughs will have increased access to free swim lessons next year, thanks to a $1.5 million allocation.

The post Council announces $1.5M for swim lessons appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

In an “incredible reversal of fortune,” at about 6 p.m. on July 14, the Department of Buildings granted the the South Bushwick Reformed Church’s request for a hold on the demolition of its fire-ravaged building through July 18, giving the church the time it needs to save its historic Fellowship Hall, the Bushwick Historic Preservation Association posted on Instagram.

“Folks, you’re not going to believe this (we can’t believe it ourselves) but in an incredible reversal of fortune, WE JUST SECURED A HOLD ON THE DEMOLITION! This morning, the DOB reached out giving us another chance and this time our submission was accepted. There’s still a whole procedure we must follow but for now we celebrate! Stay tuned for additional updates,” the post reads.

The DOB had previously said demolition of the remains of the historic church at 855-867 Bushwick Ave. would start on Tuesday. By late that afternoon, afternoon, workers had demolished almost everything up to the Fellowship Hall. At 3:30, workers were leaving for the day, and one said demo would probably start Wednesday on Fellowship Hall.

Fellowship Hall is a Greek Revival church addition at 867 Bushwick Ave. with a striking pediment and pilasters that was completed in 1881 as a Sunday school building. Church engineers said it is stable in their June 24 report. The original 1853 church building at 855 Bushwick Avenue, a country-style Greek Revival in white clapboard with its iconic steeple, appeared to be a near total loss. The entire structure was landmarked in 1968.

Since the tragic blaze on Friday, June 19, the church and preservationists have been scrambling to save what is left of the iconic Greek Revival building, raising funds from the public, and negotiating with a developer over an air rights deal, they have said.

On Tuesday, the church “finally put together a team of engineers and contractors, and came up with a plan to stabilize the rectory side of the building in a way that wouldn’t endanger workers on site,” so the DOB approved the hold request this afternoon, said agency spox Andrew Rudansky. The agency has been in nearly “daily communication” with church leadership since the fire, has “gone above and beyond” to advise them, and will closely monitor the stabilization of the remainder of the building to ensure public safety, he added.

On July 14, the same day the DOB hold was approved, FDNY fire marshals said the cause of the fire is “incendiary,” a department spokesperson told Brooklyn Paper’s sister site Brownstoner, meaning they are investigating it as an arson.

The confirmation followed Brownstoner’s report that a security video from a neighbor shows suspicious behavior on church property just before the fire broke out. In the video, which the neighbor shared with investigators, a person can be seen walking back and forth along the northwest side of the church facing Stanhope Street in an area generally not accessed by the public, stopping to look at windows, and coming and going from the direction of Bushwick Avenue. At one point, the figure disappears behind shrubbery near a side door to the church, and a loud noise is heard twice.

Someone on Bushwick Avenue saw a person leaving church property just before the fire, another neighbor said.

Bushwick residents and preservationists have been “heartbroken” by the fire and the loss of the iconic local landmark, many have told Brownstoner. In the days after the church burned, Dina Alfano of the Bushwick Historic Preservation Association said the community is “absolutely devastated” by the destruction given the building’s history and status on the Bushwick thoroughfare.

This story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site Brownstoner.