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Community Corner

🌱 Why A Woman May Have Killed + Migrant Crisis + Breaking Bread

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Brooklyn.

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(Patch Media)

Happy February, Brooklyn! Let's get the month started off right with all the most important things to know about what's happening locally. Today's issue includes updates on...

  • New info in Nikki Secondino's case unsealed following Monday trial
  • Brooklynites respond to migrant state of emergency
  • The mayor hopes to 'break bread' and 'build bonds' with new initiative

But first, today's weather:

🌤 Clouds giving way to sun. High: 39 Low: 29.

🏠 If you're a real estate agent in Brooklyn, of course you're looking for a way to stand out from the crowd and attract new clients. We can help you do that with an exclusive sponsorship in the Brooklyn Patch newsletter. Click here to learn more.

Here are the top stories today in Brooklyn:

1. The Brooklyn DA announced new evidence to suggest why an aspiring model may have murdered her father in their own home. Nikki Secondino, 22, has been sent back to Rikers Island where she has been held without bail since Dec. 29. After first blaming the bloodbath on a pair of home intruders, Secondino was accused of murdering her sleeping father in their Bensonhurst home and sending her young sister to the hospital with life-threatening stab wounds. According to the six-count indictment — unsealed during Secondino's hearing on Monday — the accused and her father, Carlo, had an argument over a laptop prior to the killing. Later, as her father slept, Secondino attacked him just before 5:30 a.m., first with a hammer and then a knife, before her sister Liana tried to intervene. Nikki turned the knife on Liana, 19, and gashed her multiple times. Liana's wounds required major surgery, but she is recovering. Prosecutors have assembled a bone-chilling case that supposes the 22 year old wanted her family dead. Should she be convicted, Secondino faces 50 years to life in prison.

NBC New York

2. Mayor Eric Adams has declared a state of emergency in response to the influx of asylum seekers arriving to NYC shore, and Brooklynites from around the borough have stepped up to lend a hand. The city has seen over 17,000 migrants arrive in need to shelter and support, and Adams has been pleading with the state to help the city provide them with necessities. The masses of asylum seekers are in part a result of southern elected officials bussing them north to the Big Apple — more often than not without coordinating with officials at the migrants' destination. In Brooklyn, local elected officials and mutual aid organizations have taken up the mayor's call to action; parents and teachers at P.S. 9 in Prospect Heights are working to provide migrant children the support they need, including a food train for daily warm meals, a "buddy" system for bilingual families to aid in translation, as well as holding toy and clothing drives. Other city leaders who represent various neighborhoods in the borough are also stepping up. Read more at the link.

Brooklyn Paper

3. Hate crimes are on the rise across NYC; Mayor Adams launches 'Breaking Bread, Building Bonds' to push back against these tidal aggressions. On Tuesday, the mayor announced, 'Breaking Bread" (B4), a citywide initiative "to combat the rise in hate crimes in many communities across the city and foster mutual understanding between New York's diverse neighborhoods." The program builds on an initiative that Adams launched as Brooklyn Borough President and aims to organize 1,000 meals citywide, each with 10-12 diverse New Yorkers around the table. "Hate is a virus," Adams said in his announcement, and made it clear that he intends to address it as such. B4 was first launched by then BBP Adams and U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries in January 2020, however COVID-19 soon halted its progress. Adams hopes that reinvigorating B4, and extending it throughout all five boroughs, will be a holistic step in combatting hatred, bias, and discrimination — all often exacerbated by fissures of understanding between social groups.

Caribbean Life

Today in Brooklyn:

  • Public Ice Skating, LeFrak Center at Lakeside, Today @ 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. | Details
  • Exhibition: Death to the Living, Long Live Trash, Brooklyn Museum, Today @ 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. | Details
  • Movie Night: The Velvet Queen, Prospect Park, Today @ 6 p.m. | Details
  • Uncovering Queer History: Blues Bar Riots, Brooklyn Community Pride Center Crown Heights, Today @ 6 p.m. | Details
  • [Free!] Living Room Comedy Show, Postmark Cafe, Today @ 8 p.m. | Details

🐝 Brooklyn Buzz:

  • Patch Star Student shout out! "Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize Star Students, and we're working to tell the stories of these outstanding kids to their neighbors.
    This submission comes from Cheryl Kellam who nominated her son, Brooklyn eighth-grader Nikolas." Learn more about Nikolas at the link! (Brooklyn Patch)
  • ♻️ Crown Heights fills "gaping hole," and follows Bed-Stuy in getting smart compost bins! "At least parts of North Crown Heights have access to over 25 public Smart Composting bins, according to a map on the NYC Compost app, which users need to access the bins." Read more at the link. (Patch)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Wednesday off right! I'll see you back in your inbox tomorrow morning with another update.

— Carlie Houser

About me: I'm a recent grad based in Brooklyn, NY. I love to write, run, read, and find new restaurants and venues around the city.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Brooklyn Daily? Contact me at brooklyn@patch.com

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

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