Brooklyn headlines: February 22, 2013

Suit seeks to block LICH closure

The State University of New York this week filed a formal plan to close Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. That action was quickly followed by a judge's order temporarily restraining SUNY's action. The order issued by Judge Betsy Barros bars SUNY from taking any steps to close LICH, pending further hearings, WNYC reported. The New York State Nurses Association and Local 1199 SIEU told NY1 that a judge would hear arguments in the case on March 7. More at Brooklyn Eagle.

Windsor Terrace wins supermarket standoff

A new, smaller Key Food will open in the Prospect Avenue space where a beloved Key Food closed last summer, marking a huge win for Windsor Terrace activists who threatened to boycott the incoming drugstore tenant if their grocery needs went unmet, reports Brooklyn Paper. The pharmacy chain Walgreens announced it will share a section of the former Key Food space at the corner of 11th Avenue with a grocery outpost following months of petitions, rallies, and meetings by angry neighbors who raged against the prospect of living in a supermarket-less “food desert.”

Nadler stance on faith funding draws protest

Representative Jerrold Nadler is facing some criticism from Jewish groups today over his stance on the recent Congressional legislation that allowed for FEMA money to be spent on the repair and rebuilding of synagogues, churches and other religious houses of worship damaged by Superstorm Sandy, according to an editorial by the Jewish Press. Sheepshead Bites reported that the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve the use of federal funds to help Sandy-stricken houses of worship of all faiths. The passing of the act is likely to face some friction in the Senate and the courts as it brings up important questions regarding separation of church and state. Nadler was a vocal leader of the opposition to this bill, arguing that the use of taxpayer money to fund the reconstruction of religious buildings was unconstitutional. His stance did not go unnoticed by the Jewish Press, arguing that the legislation made “common sense.”

Key voting rights case eyed

“One of the most important cases facing this generation will be Shelby County v Holder, which will be heard before the Supreme Court on February 27th,” said Janai Nelson, Assistant Professor at St. John’s University School of Law and the Assistant Director of the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development, at a recent Medgar Evers College Black History Month Forum on voting rights and the dangers faced today. More from the event at Our Time Press.

Car flips, reader photographs

A driver was taken into custody by police after plowing into another vehicle and flipping her car causing it to flip on Highlawn Avenue near Stillwell Avenue, a reader tells Bensonhurst Bean. The reader sent and said that the accident happened around 2:15 p.m., around the same time P.S. 97, located one block away, was dismissed. Luckily, the reader noted, no children were hurt. “Never seen a car crash like this,” the neighbor wrote. “Everyone survived but it looks like a scene from a movie.”