FREE CONCERTS IN THE PARK

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The final concert, “More Jazz Classics,” featuring music from the Valerie Capers Quartet, will take place this Friday, August 9th.

This band features the classic sounds of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, George Gershwin, and more. I urge all residents to come out for this last concert until next summer.

If you plan on attending, please enter the park at Middletown Road and Stadium Avenue and be sure to bring your beach chair or blanket.

Should it rain, the location of the concert will change to International Caterers, which is located not too far at 3243 Ampere Avenue.

MLB vs STEROIDS

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NY Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez who was a 14-time All-Star and three-time Most Valuable Player Award winner, was not so popular on the baseball diamond in Chicago yesterday.

He has been suspended by Major League Baseball through the remainder of the 2013 season, beginning Thursday, and all of the 2014 season for violations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and the Basic Agreement.

The one time baseball slugger said, "I'm fighting for my life," Rodriguez said Monday. "I have to defend myself. If I don't defend myself, no one else will."

ASSORTED INTERESTING EVENTS

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Event: McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute (SRI) on Immigration Reform
When: August 5, 2013 (deadline)
Where: University of Texas at El Paso

CI BRIDGE CONTRVERSY CONTINUES

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A form petition by local resident Carl Lundgren, who is the Green Party candidate for Bronx Borough President has been making the rounds. The letter is asking that the bridge contract be revoked.

It states that the process, or lack thereof, by which this contract was approved is problematic. The residents of City Island were not involved in the process and had no say in the design nor were community hearings held to address their concerns.

Geneith Turnbull, Deputy Comptroller for Contracts

Charles Odiase, Executive Director

BASEBALL BEEN VERY VERY BAD FOR THEM

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The Associated Press reports that 12 players have already accepted 50-game drug suspensions from the league.

The players reportedly include:

Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers outfielder
Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers shortstop
Antonio Bastardo, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher
Jordany Valdespin, New York Mets outfielder
Evereth Cabrera, San Diego Padres shortstop
Jordan Norberto, free agent pitcher
Francisco Cervelli, New York Yankees catcher
Jesus Montero, Seattle Mariners catcher
Cesar Puello, New York Mets outfielder

SHAPE UP NYC

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Shaping Up has never been this easy. Shape Up NYC offers free fitness classes every week at dozens of locations across the five boroughs.

Shape Up NYC classes are taught by expert fitness instructors who know how to make fitness fun. Class offerings are varied and include aerobics, yoga, pilates and zumba.

Shape Up NYC is a FREE program. You do not need to be a member of a recreation center in order to attend a class, though you must bring a lock for classes held at recreation centers.

This Week in Her and History

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This Week in History, Aug 4 - Aug 10

Aug 04, 1944
Anne Frank captured. Acting on tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi Gestapo captures 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The Franks had taken shelter there in 1942 out of fear of deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. They occupied the small space with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man, and were aided by Christian friends, who brought them food and supplies. Anne spent much of her time in the "secret annex" working on her diary. The diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo that discovered the hiding place, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps.

Aug 05, 2002
Divers recover U.S.S. Monitor turret. On this day in 2002, the rusty iron gun turret of the U.S.S. Monitor broke from the water and into the daylight for the first time in 140 years. The ironclad warship was raised from the floor of the Atlantic, where it had rested since it went down in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, during the Civil War. Divers had been working for six weeks to bring it to the surface.

Aug 06, 1945
American bomber drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima. On this day in 1945, at 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world's first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. U.S. President Harry S. Truman, discouraged by the Japanese response to the Potsdam Conference's demand for unconditional surrender, made the decision to use the atom bomb to end the war in order to prevent what he predicted would be a much greater loss of life were the United States to invade the Japanese mainland. And so on August 5, while a "conventional" bombing of Japan was underway, "Little Boy," (the nickname for one of two atom bombs available for use against Japan), was loaded onto Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets' plane on Tinian Island in the Marianas. Tibbets' B-29, named the Enola Gay after his mother, left the island at 2:45 a.m. on August 6. Five and a half hours later, "Little Boy" was dropped, exploding 1,900 feet over a hospital and unleashing the equivalent of 12,500 tons of TNT. The bomb had several inscriptions scribbled on its shell, one of which read "Greetings to the Emperor from the men of the Indianapolis" (the ship that transported the bomb to the Marianas).

Aug 07, 1947
Wood raft makes 4,300-mile voyage. On this day in 1947, Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 4,300-mile, 101-day journey from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago, near Tahiti. Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theory that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on ocean currents.

Aug 08, 1974
Nixon resigns. In an evening televised address, President Richard M. Nixon announces his intention to become the first president in American history to resign. With impeachment proceedings underway against him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was finally bowing to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White House. "By taking this action," he said in a solemn address from the Oval Office, "I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."

Aug 09, 1974
Unusual succession makes Ford president. In accordance with his statement of resignation the previous evening, Richard M. Nixon officially ends his term as the 37th president of the United States at noon. Before departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn, he smiled farewell and enigmatically raised his arms in a victory or peace salute. The helicopter door was then closed, and the Nixon family began their journey home to San Clemente, California. Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign from office.

PEACOCK NEWS LOSING IT'S LUSTER?

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For NBC's bosses the task of turning around the embattled network is getting tougher by the day.

In the news ratings, Diane S has beat Brian W among viewers 25-to-54 years old, the most important category for advertisers on news. “World News” won by a narrow margin of 38,000 viewers. ABC drew 1.917 million viewers, compared with 1.879 million at NBC.

In an earlier blow NBC canceled “Rock Center With Brian Williams,” the 2-year-old attempt at a modern news-magazine that struggled to keep up in the ratings.

NY Congressional Watch

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US Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens, the Bronx), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, released the statement below following consideration of H.R. 2009, the Republicans’ 40th attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act:

“This bill makes it clear, once again, that Republicans have no vision for America. They have no solutions for creating jobs, strengthening our economy or improving life for middle-class Americans. Instead, for the 40th time they are attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Enough is enough – the political gamesmanship needs to stop.

NYC Summer Streets 2013

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On three consecutive Saturdays in August (3,10 and 17), seven miles of NYC streets will be opened for hundreds of thousands of people to play, walk, cycle and run between 7 am and 1 pm. Over the past two summers, the Urban Art Program has presented a number of fun, exciting and interactive temporary art interventions along the Summer Streets route. This summer, one of the signature projects is Voice Tunnel at the Park Avenue Tunnel.