A homeless Bronx teenager charged with killing her newborn child, and the woman who took in the teen is devastated. The Daily News reports that Esther Pastrana, 17, had been kicked out of a friend's Manhattan home, where a neighbor, who saw Pastrana "weeping in the hallway," called Lysdell Ocasio. Ocasio (pictured), who readily agreed to house the teen, repeatedly asked Pastrana if she was pregnant, but she denied it. On Saturday, Ocasio's husband found......

NY1 reports that Bronx apartment building 1520 Sedgwick Avenue was sold to a new owner. The address is known as the "Birthplace of Hip-Hop" because DJ Kool Herc first "introduced extended break beats" in the apartment building's rec room back in 1973. Tenants had been trying to preserve its Mitchell-Lama status and keep it affordable by buying it themselves, but the landlord chose developer Mark Karasick to buy the building. Last week, Housing Preservation Department......

Yesterday morning, a man fatally shot his pregnant wife at a Bronx homeless shelter on Walton Avenue. The Daily News reports that Imanie Evan-Sawyer, 7 months pregnant, was trying to protect her 15-year-old son when husband Michael Sawyer was aiming his gun. Sawyer hit his wife as the teen ran across the street to the Bronx Supreme Court, yelling, "He has my mommy hostage! He's going to shoot my mom!" After shooting Evan-Sawyer, Sawyer shot......

Don't think for a second that Margaret Arrighi, head of the Bronx Business Alliance, lives in New York City—to her it's the Serengeti, and the traffic agents are the bloodthirsty predators: "They wait for you to park. They come up from behind, like a tiger waiting for its prey. They snap the machine and the ticket has begun to be written. Instead of tapping on the window, instead of asking you to move, they say,......

A Chinese food delivery man who was shot in the head while delivering an order in the Bronx is expected to survive, but lawmakers are demanding justice. City Councilman Larry Seabrook said, "Someone knows [the shooting suspects], and they need to give them up," while City Councilman John Liu said, "Not again. Not another vicious attack against a hard-working individual supporting his family while on the job serving the community." The Daily News reported that......

An unidentified homeless man got sent on a Dickensian misadventure last December after he made the mistake of knocking on the door of NYPD counterterrorism czar Richard Falkenrath (pictured) to ask for a glass of water. Like other czars, Falkenrath is not known for his compassion, and he promptly alerted the local constabulary to the parched roustabout's presence in his Bronx neighborhood. Cops questioned the man and released him, but officers in the NYPD's intelligence......

The suspect who allegedly struck Pelagio De La Cruz seven times in the head with a bat during a late-night robbery in the Bronx has turned himself over to police. Jamal Roman, 26, was arrested yesterday after being identified by his accomplice, 20-year-old Gavin Scott, who surrendered earlier, accompanied by his grandmother. Scott was captured on a surveillance video rifling through De La Cruz's pockets after Roman allegedly beat the victim outside a University Heights......

Poor 5-year-old Jaeden Vasquez. Even though he lives across the street from P.S. 111, someone put him on a school bus and the driver kicked him off at the last stop. The Daily News reports that the boy attends an after-school program next door in the Bronx--kids line up for the program or buses--but someone put him on a bus. Though the Department of Education says young children should not be let "off the bus......

One suspect has turned himself in to police in the Bronx in connection with the brutal beating of Pelagio De La Cruz, a Boston-area radio talk show host who was visiting his children in University Heights. Police say relatives convinced 20-year-old Gavin Scott to turn himself over to police last night after a widely-circulated surveillance tape showed an unidentified assailant who accompanied Scott savagely beating De La Cruz seven times with a bat outside his......

Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, headed to the Bronx yesterday to donate $1 million in vegan food products to the children of Hunts Point. While more than a few Bronx residents didn't really know who she is (when the Daily News showed her photo around, there were "blank faces" or "She looks Mexican, but I don't know her"), others were simply appreciate of her efforts. Tiana Cora, 13 told the News, "She......

A young couple in the Bronx died yesterday when they fell off a roof and plummeted six stories where their bodies landed entwined together in the courtyard below. Both police as well as friends and family of Michael Rodriguez, 21, and Melissa Lopez, 19 believe that their death was an accident and not a suicide. But it is unclear exactly why the couple was on the roof of the Parkchester building at 4:30 a.m., miles......

The NYPD released really disturbing surveillance footage showing two men beating a man outside a Bronx apartment building. According to the NY Post, the victim is Pelagio de La Cruz, a Boston-area radio talk show host on WESX who was visiting his children in University Heights. He was returning to their apartment building around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, after having a few drinks at a nearby restaurant.As de la Cruz stood at the door of......

The police suspect 32-year-old Bronx resident, Julio Rolando Flores, has killed and dismembered his 28-year-old ex-girlfriend, The NY Times reports. The details get more gruesome, however, as her body parts were placed in tupperware containers and entombed in concrete at a construction site in Teaneck, New Jersey, where authorities found the man covered in cement yesterday. Earlier in the day the family of the girl, Jaritza Calderone, received a call from Flores saying they would......

The police are looking for two men who may have been involved in the stabbing of a livery cab driver late last night. Apparently the driver crashed his car on Hering Avenue near Burke in the Bronx, and witnesses saw two men running from the car. The driver was reportedly stabbed in the stomach and chest, and WABC 7 reports a trained EMT was lives nearby went to the scene. She said, "I applied pressure......

The experimental Bx12 Select Bus Service that runs between upper Manhattan and the Bronx has been a big hit according to New York City Transit, with a trip from end to end on the route taking an average 12 minutes less time than before. (One transportation advocate says her average 65 minute commute has been cut to 48 minutes.) You'll recall that the route now features more buses (up to ten more during peak hours)......

Hart Island is one of those places in New York that many won't ever see. Part of the Bronx, it's currently uninhabited, but in the past has been used as a prisoner of war camp, a missile base and has housed a prison and a women's asylum. Richard Nickel Jr. of The Kingston Lounge recently snuck on to the patrolled island (for five hours starting at the creepy hour of 4 a.m.), a risk since......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg and other city officials unveiled the newly renovated access path between Highbridge Park and the High Bridge in Manhattan. The $4.2 million project (which included a new pathway and restored iron stairway between the bridge and a water tower) is part of a $60 million plan to restore the High Bridge as part of Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative. The Mayor said, "I’d like to think that the High Bridge will do for uptown......

35-year-old Marlon Smith, who was allegedly beaten, pistol whipped and maced by two off-duty female cops during a road rage incident in the Bronx on August 15th, says he's suing the city for $25 million. According to a witness, the altercation was sparked when Kollen Robinson, 24, and Michelle Anglin, 37, yelled at Smith to close his car door so they could pass by in Robinson's SUV. An exchange of insults quickly became physical, with......

It's been a heartbreaking week for Rafael Sanz. His pregnant wife, traffic agent Donnette Sanz, was hit by an out-of-control van and was pinned under a school bus on a Bronx street. She died, but doctors delivered their 2-months premature baby boy. Unfortunately, the baby lost his fight a week later and Sanz told the Daily News that doctors weren't optimistic, so he took the baby off the respirator "to end his pain." Donnette Sanz's......

Rafael Sanz lost his wife last week, and yesterday, he lost his newborn son: Baby Sean Michael Justin Sanz, born two months premature after his mother was hit by an out-of-control van on August 14, died around 1 p.m. Mayor Bloomberg said, "Our hearts and prayers go out to the child's father, Rafael Sanz, and to all those who loved Donnette and her son. Their already heavy burden of grief has been terribly compounded." Rafael......

The Daily News visited the premature baby of the traffic agent killed by an out-of-control van last week. Sean Michael Justin Sanz was born 2 months premature, "but doctors say he's a fighter and is expected to live." The father, Rafael Sanz, is mourning his wife Donnette's sudden death, "She was looking forward to the birth so much. That's all she would talk about was her son." But he reflected on how an estimated 30......

Co-Op City, the massive co-op housing development (reportedly the largest in the world) in the Bronx, lost power over night. Con Ed says power was out at eight building and has been restored to six of them, and the other two buildings, per WCBS 880, "are being worked on and won't be back on until Saturday morning." Initially there was a fire, but that has been put out. Con Ed would also like you to......

On Tuesday night, a pair of siblings were abducted when a carjacker stole the livery cab they were in. The cab driver had been helping their mother unload some packages when a man took off in the cab on Tinton Avenue in the Bronx. NY1 reports the 4-year-old boy was "dropped off about a block away at 166th Street and Tinton Avenue and was able to walk home" while his 7-year-old sister was dropped off......

Thieves eying electronics in cars better think twice: WNBC reports that the police arrested three men who broke into a "bait car"--a vehicle that had a laptop, GPS, and cell phone. Apparently the men, who were charged with grand larceny, criminal mischief and auto stripping, used a rock to break into the car. The Bronx DA's office says the sting was on Southern Boulevard (near Fordham and the NY Botanical Garden), where many break-ins have......

Two female NYPD cops did some serious damage to a Bronx man early Friday night, allegedly pistol whipping him during a road rage incident. Michelle Anglin, 37, and Koleen Robinson, 24, were off-duty when they became enraged at 35-year-old Marlon Smith for leaving the driver’s door of his Suburban open, almost scraping Robinson's SUV, the Daily News reports. F bombs and A bombs were promptly fired at Smith by the cops. When he responded with......

Rafael Sanz experienced what had to be the most intensely emotional day in his life yesterday after his pregnant wife was struck and killed by a van. Dr. Lynn Kempt at St. Barnabas Hospital told the Daily News, "You know that song, 'New York Minute?' I had to tell this poor man that his wife was dead, and then I walked him down to show him his son." The family of Donnette Sanz was about......

An awful tragedy unfolded in the Bronx yesterday afternoon: A 33-year-old traffic agent was crossing 188th Street at Webster Avenue when a "runaway van" hit her. Donnette Sanz was propelled into the path of a school bus, and she was pinned underneath. A witness told NY1, "The van had hit the lady first, she flipped over. And the bus had got in the way, and hit her and ran her over." About thirty people rushed......

A 20-year-old was killed while a 13-year-old was wounded during a shooting in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. People heard gunfire outside of 730 East 165th Street around 11:30 p.m.; a man told WCBS 2, "I'm on my way home and I hear a boom, boom, boom. It's not a common thing, but we're used to being careful." When police arrived, they found the two people shot. The 20-year-old was shot in the head......

Last night around 10 p.m., a fire broke out in a row of stores in East Tremont and grew to be a huge five-alarm blaze. More than 200 firefighters worked to put it out by 1 a.m. No civilians were hurt, but a few firefighters were injured. It's unclear what caused the fire.......

It's been over a year since the NY Times revisited the "Birthplace of Hip-Hop" and noted that the owners of the building were pondering opting out of the Mitchell-Lama program, enabling them to sell the building or charge higher rents on the open market. Now the Times notes that even after a year of protests and raising awareness, the building may not be saved (as some thought it would be back in March). The owners......