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By MICHELLE CUMMINGS
Rabbits don’t lay eggs.
This fact and the springtime chill, rain and fog did not deter hundreds of tourists from around the world from flocking to see the Easter bunny Thursday.
To celebrate the upcoming holiday the Rockefeller Center Channel Gardens installed their spring plantings near the center and the bustling crowds between 49th and 50th streets in Midtown
Kids of all ages stood in awe of a 12-foot-tall Easter bunny topiary. Thousands of white lilies were planted at the base of a revolving rabbit made of moss and ivy.
With outstretched arms the bunny exuded a contagious elation while balancing a giant egg made of colorful daisies on its nose.
Head gardener Erik Pauze and his team began to transform the passageway through Rock Center at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The work was complete by the next morning.
“I do this for the surprise,” he said. The pure joy of brightening someone’s day drives Pauze.
Pauze, 50, studied horticulture at Farmingdale State in Long Island. His love affair with plants began as a child while landscaping his French teacher’s yard.
Pauze is also the wizard behind selecting the Norway spruce Christmas tree.
These widely cherished niceties are his humble contributions to world peace, he said.
There is no mention of chocolate, a bunny or eggs in the Bible. The exact origins of the Easter bunny tradition are unknown but they most likely derive from spring rituals where life is renewed and from the noted fecundity of rabbits.
Eggs and rabbits were ancient symbols of fertility and new life.
This all seemed irrelevant to the multicultural throngs of friends and family taking selfies.
“The instillation is intended to delight,” said Pauze.
This gesture of universal optimism is on display through April.
Photo by Michelle Cummings
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By ALAIN GAILLARD
“Please Do Not Deport My Mommy,” said a sign held by the unflappable 10-year-old son of a Guatemalan immigrant mother at a march outside the Trump International Hotel in New York on Thursday.
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” added the boy, Daniel Hernandez to the absent President Donald Trump at a march organized by a coalition of immigration activists and religious leaders who showed solidarity with Aura Hernandez, who has taken sanctuary in the Universalist Society church since March 18 with her United-States born 15-month-old daughter, Camila, to avoid deportation to Guatemala.
“I want to raise my voice because my children, who are the future, cannot do so because they have rights,” Hernandez said after the march, standing at the church podium. “I am no longer quiet; I am going to keep raising my voice so my children can have a future.”
In 2005, Hernandez crossed the United States–Mexico border into Texas. She was soon arrested by border patrol agents. She was released after three days and had a court date written in English that she could not comprehend because she did not speak a word of English. She also claimed that she had been sexually abused during her three days in detention.
Hernandez would later learn in 2013 that she had an active deportation order for failing to appear at a 2005 court date in Texas after being arrested for driving the wrong way on a one-way street.
With the help of a lawyer, she filed for a visa for victims because she claimed to have been sexually assaulted, but the visa was denied because too many years had passed.
According to Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz, Hernandez was fleeing domestic violence in her native country and she thinks her life would be in danger in she goes back to Guatemala. He said that the Coalition plans to bring her case before The New York Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, so Hernandez can return to her normal life.
Churches in the United States have a history of providing sanctuary to undocumented immigrants; they can be effective in protecting immigrants from deportation since agents of the Immigration of Customs and Enforcement (ICE) pursue a policy of not entering churches to seize immigrants except in extreme cases, fearing a strong political backlash if they do.
Immigrant rights activist Ravi Ragbir, who also faces deportation, praised the march and advocated for more such demonstrations saying, “What we did today is to go outside to seek those who want help, to say we are there for you, and you are welcome.”
Photo by Alain Gaillard
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By KURTIS RATTAY For the fourth year participants were scheduled to climb thousands of steps to scale One World Trade for the annual Tower Climb, which honors first responders who died in the line-of-duty on 9/11. The Tower Climb is scheduled for June 3rd, and honors firefighter Stephen Siller and Captain Billy Burke, who died while engaged in a rescue mission when the towers came down. But this year the Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced on Thursday that two honorary starters for the annual Tower Climb—Melissa Feis and Debra Hixon—whose husbands Aaron Feis and Chris Hixon, died saving lives in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida last February. “Right away we said we would like their family members, their widows to be with us,” said foundation spokesman John Hodge. “First responders run towards danger—it’s not the normal human response but that’s what they do—certainly that’s what happened on September 11, and that’s what happened in Parkland, Florida. They were not first responders they were teachers, but they acted like first responders that day.” The foundation also awarded the Hixon and Feis families with a check for $50,000 each, to help with financial burdens following the loss of their husbands. “When a call came out that something was wrong he ran into that building,” Debra Hixon said. “He didn’t have to do that. He tried to disarm the gunman and lost his life doing that because he wanted to save the people around him.” That was also the case for athletic coach Aaron Feis, who “was an ever-present figure” at the high school, Melissa Feis, who wasn’t present at the announcement, said in a statement. Feis held several job titles at the high school to support his family. Typically when a first responder is killed in the line-of-duty, a death benefit is paid to their family. But because Feis and Hixon were teachers acting as first responders, “there’s a good chance that they do not get any kind of special benefit for the actions they took,” Hodge said. The idea for the first Tower Climb came from Michael Burke, brother of Captain Burke who stayed behind with two civilians when there were no working elevators, one of them a quadriplegic in a mechanized wheelchair. Burke was on the 27th floor of Tower One when Tower Two collapsed, and ordered firefighters a few floors down to evacuate. His half-burned rig—Engine 21—is on display at the National September 11 Memorial Museum. The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Tower’s Foundation honors Stephen Siller who carried 60 pounds of gear through Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and was last seen on Vesey and West streets in Lower Manhattan. The foundation organizes the annual Tunnel to Towers 5K, and builds smart homes for the nations most injured military and first responders. Photo by Kurtis Rattay |
By THUY KYAW
The sound of bagpipes echoed around Washington Square Park on a rainy Thursday morning as the city honored one of its bravest.
The New York City Fire Department and New York University hosted a joint memorial service for a Fire Marshal and fallen local airman, who was killed earlier this month along with seven others in a helicopter crash at the Iraq-Syria border.
Christopher Zanetis, known by his nickname Tripp, was deployed by the Air National Guard where he was trained to fly the Air Force combat search and rescue chopper.
“He loved New York, he loved the people and the values,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who attended both the procession through the Park and ceremony at NYU’s Kimmel Center. “He loved New York and New York loved him right back.”
The ceremony, which was named “Celebration of Life” in the memory of Zanetis, started around 10:30 a.m. as his coffin was carried into the park by fellow firefighters for the funeral service.
Firefighters in their uniforms, members in the US air force and friends and family were present to bid final goodbyes to the firefighter-turned-soldier
Zanetis was an NYU alumnus, graduating with honors in political science a decade ago and serving as president of student body.
“As NYU President, I often talk about the types of students we hope to nurture,” said Andrew Hamilton. “Tripp was the perfect example of that.”
The 9/11 attacks, however, made him reconsider his future in politics as they inspired him to join the fire department.
He then moved on to the Air National Guard in 2008 after four years in the fire department, and managed to graduate from Stanford Law School last year while on still active duty.
“Tripp could have been anything in life but he chose to be one of us,” said Firer Commissioner Daniel Nigro.
He had interned with the Office of Legal Affairs at NATO Headquarters in Belgium, and was working as an associate at a New York law firm at the time of his death.
Zanetis is survived by his parents, grandmother, sisters, uncles, nephew, and partner.
By MICHELLE CUMMINGS
A leading expert in adolescent health on Thursday branded violence against children “a hidden public health epidemic” at a two-day conference at Mt. Sinai Hospital focusing on the problem.
“Violence against children, including sexual abuse and exploitation, is a hidden public health epidemic in the United States and around the world,” said Angela Diaz, Director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, “and one that bears a lifetime of burden for its victims, including mental health and substance abuse problems later in life, and the physical effects of repeated or chronic stress,”
The event kicked off the hospital’s 50th anniversary, including some 600 participating scientists policymakers and advocates
According to Diaz 50 percent of teenage girls and 23 percent of teenage boys that the center sees disclose a history of childhood sexual abuse.
“At least 1 billion children experienced violence,” said Howard Taylor, Executive Director of End Violence Against Children.
The conference for convened more than 60 experts in research, prevention and treatment, practitioners and survivors to devise strategies to end child abuse and youth sex trade.
“When we talk about a young person as being resilient, they’re not unaffected,” said one participant. “They effectively compensate and cope with their brain changes.”
Renowned child psychologist Cathy Spatz Widom said the effort to identify and curb violence against kids began with a study in 1986 by Attorney General Janet Reno that compared the incidents of violence with court substantiated cases of neglect. Widom’s research focused on long term outcomes of abuse on cognitive development. following more than 900 people who were victims of child abuse in the 1960s and 1970s.
Back then some experts believed children who suffer abuse were destined to become adults who live a life of crime and violence, and would someday abuse their own children.
“There’s an idea that girls who are abused go on to experience more violence, and boys who are abused are more likely to commit violence,” said Widom. “They’re wrong.”
According to Widom the negative effects of childhood maltreatment are not inevitable.
However, “It’s all really complicated and we still don’t know enough about it,” said Widom.
“The impact of child abuse and childhood neglect extends well into adulthood,” said Diaz. “In a developing child physiological changes in response to stress appear to have a universal and adverse impact on neurological development.”
Annually over 3.4 million cases are referred to child protective agencies in the United States according to the National Children’s Alliance website.
“Neglect represents the vast majority, 75 percent, of cases brought to attention of authorities,” said Widom. “These victims receive scant research attention.”
The Child Abuse and Prevention Center defines neglect as the extreme failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter and medical attention.
The World Childhood Foundation USA and the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center both envision a world where all children are free from violence, sexual abuse and exploitation said Diaz.
“It is our hope this conference will be the impetus for creating a roadmap to end violence against children by 2030 in New York, the United States, and globally,” said Joanna Rubinstein, President and CEO of World Childhood Foundation.
“The impacts cascade throughout victims’ lifetimes, not only affecting them but also their families and society,” she said.
“She said that she saw a black shadow that speaks to her, that mentions her name.”
Thus the testimony of a young woman came to a climax after taking the witness stand Thursday to describe meeting the now-infamous alleged “killer nanny” just hours before the babysitter brutally murdered the two toddlers in her care.
Jennifer Mercedes Reynoso Moya a 19-year-old neighbor of the nanny at the time of the killings recalled her reaction when the defendant, Yoselyn Ortega, described her hallucinations: “I said, ‘Oh my god,’ I said, ‘she’s crazy.’”
Reynoso’s testimony was central to the defense’s case that Ortega is not guilty due to insanity.
With animated hands and furrowed brows, the witness detailed the events of Oct. 25, 2012 via a translator. She had been living with her aunt and was home alone when at around 1:30 pm she heard a knock and opened the door to see Ortega, who was then a complete stranger to her.
Ortega, who lived in the same building as Reynoso, mentioned that she was friends with Reynoso’s aunt and wanted to cook something. After confirming these details with her aunt, Reynoso invited the defendant into the apartment.
Just four hours later, Ortega would fatally and repeatedly stab four-year-old Lucia and two-year-old Leo Krim in the bathtub of their Upper West Side home.
“She looked very odd, very nervous,” Reynoso told the jury.
She detailed how Ortega had gone into the kitchen to make plantains, but kept pacing in and out of the room, making phone calls and acting “weird.”
“She was looking side to side a lot with her eyes, fast,” Reynoso said, gesturing with her index fingers from one side of the room to the other.
She explained that she eventually became so uncomfortable with the defendant’s behavior that she locked herself in her room.
Then, things got scarier for her.
“She knocked on my door and said, ‘I don’t want to be alone, come sit with me in the living room,’” Reynoso recalled.
When Reynoso asked Ortega why she didn’t want to be alone, Ortega confided in her, saying that she was hearing voices and seeing “black shadows.”
“I wanted her to leave because I was so scared,” Reynoso said.
She called her aunt to tell her what had happened, and remembered her aunt simply responding, “Yes, she sees monsters.”
Reynoso’s testimony provided support to the defense’s claim that Ortega had been psychologically unstable prior to the killings.
The prosecution’s cross-examination suggested that the testimony was influenced by the defense’s family and not completely accurate. Assistant DA Courtney Groves focused her questioning on why Reynoso did not report the details about these hallucinations to the psychiatrist who interviewed her or to police officers until a few years after the murder.
The defense also called to the stand members of Ortega’s family—her niece, adoptive brother, and son—to bolster their argument that her mental state had been deteriorating in the months leading to the murders.
All three members recalled that Ortega had been stressed for various reasons: she was moving between the Bronx and Manhattan, she was worried about her son’s school, and she had been fighting with her sister.
“She was always crying, always sad,” recalled Glendalys Garcia, the defendant’s niece, who lived in Dallas, Texas but would receive up to three phone calls a day from the defendant during the months prior to the October 2012 murders.
Garcia remembered visiting the defendant in New York in September 2012 and being shocked that she had lost weight and had bags under her eyes. “She wasn’t herself… normally she’s very cheerful, talking to us,” she said.
However, none of her relatives were aware of any hallucinations or psychosis; they could only recall a “sadness” and that Ortega had complained about severe headaches.
The family members who testified were careful to step around the word “murder,” with her son Jesus Frias even calling the event an “accident.”
By DYLAN CAMPBELL
Mikayla Capers, an 11-year-old girl who was stabbed 16 times in 2014, says she has no doubt that the handcuffed man sitting in front of her was her attacker, but an agreement between the defense and the prosecution Thursday deemed part of her testimony false, putting
her credibility in question.
During the trial at Brooklyn Supreme Court Tuesday, Mikayla confidently pointed to Daniel St. Hubert, the defendant, as the man who attacked her and killed her friend, P.J. Avitto, 6, in the elevator of their East New York housing project on June 1, 2014, stabbing them both over and over.
Mikayla testified that she had identified the defendant in a photograph shown to her by police while in the hospital and recognized him as the man who followed her and P.J. into their building to attack them. The defense argued she’s a liar, but both sides agreed that the photographic identification never happened.
“Mikayla, you’re making it up, using your imagination,” defense attorney Howard Greenberg said to the 11-year-old as she took the stand for a second day after hours of testimony on Tuesday.
During the lumbering cross-examination filled with objections, Greenberg persisted, asking if she was sure she knew the defendant and where she knew him from.
“You’re making it up that a police officer showed you a picture in the hospital, aren’t you?” Greenberg asked, questioning if she saw Hubert on the news.
“That’s not true,” Mikayla quickly replied.
As the testimony went on the 6th grader tucked into herself, chin down, lips pouting and occasionally chewing the end of her jacket but unwavering in her answer that she is not lying.
“Did you see his picture in the hospital four weeks after you got hurt?” Greenberg asked Capers.
“Yes,” Mikayla replied.
“You’re making that up too, aren’t you,” Greenberg persisted.
But Greenberg, an attorney with a high success rate and reputation for being relentless, has been attempting to discredit Mikayla’s testimony from the beginning. He argues his client is not guilty of the charges of second-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and weapon possession.
When Mikayla was excused from the stand and exited the court, both sides filed the stipulation confirming inconsistency in her testimony to the jury.
She’s “delusional,” said Greenberg during lunch break. “The government lost this case today.”
Two additional witnesses took the stand, testifying that they had seen the defendant near the scene of the crime. Shameka Hampton, the woman who found Mikayla’s bloody body and called 911, said she saw Hubert outside the building moments before the attack and later running from the scene.
Angela Roberson, a grandmother who was at the playground when the attack happened, said she saw the defendant running from the building along a path where the knife was later found.
But the defense said that what they witnessed proved nothing. Neither saw the defendant directly enter the building. Neither saw the weapon. But both women on the witness stand made it clear they believed the killer was in the room.
The case bears many resemblances to the current Manhattan trial of Yoselyn Ortega, the nanny accused of stabbing to death two young children of an affluent family on the Upper West Side, including the bloodiness and seeming senselessness of the stabbings and the apparent lack of a clear motive in both cases. The Brooklyn case, involving victims of color in impoverished East New York, has drawn far less media attention.
