This week's Riverdale Review and Bronx Press

Here are the stories in this week's issue (September 6 -12) of the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press.

Chris Lighty's body is removed from the crime scene

* Suicide of rap mogul shocks Riverdale neighbors > Chris Lighty, the influential hip-hop music mogul who fatally shot himself at his $1 million-plus Riverdale home, kept such a low profile in the neighborhood that many locals were unaware of his celebrity status. 
* New draft city council district will look a lot like the old city council district > City Council District 11 is set to gain small parts of Woodlawn and Williamsbridge, and lose tiny sections of Bedford Park and Kingsbridge Heights under preliminary draft maps released by the New York City Districting Commission.
* MTA removes trash cans in new cleanup effort > A pilot program championed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to remove trash cans from subway stations has expanded to The Bronx. Authorities announced all means of garbage disposal were removed from two Bronx stations--the 238th Street No. 1 and the East 143rd Street No. 6 platforms--on September 2
* Slow zone unrolls, very slowly > Speed bumps will be added to certain Riverdale streets by November as part of a staggered implementation of the city's Neighborhood Slow Zone program. Department of Transportation officials have confirmed they are currently evaluating streets for possible future speed bumps near P.S. 24 and M.S/H.S 141 in a bid to improve pedestrian safety. It is unknown how many speed bumps are being considered or where they will be located.
* Man injured in North Riverdale shooting > Police are on the hunt for two suspects who struck and injured a man during a possibly drug-related shooting in North Riverdale. Investigators said two men approached Edwin Figueroa, 31, outside his 6687 Broadway apartment just before 7:50 p.m on Friday, August 31.
* Horace Mann alumni return diplomas over sex abuse scandal > Fresh from organizing diploma returns, the Horace Mann Action Coalition now plans to organize forums to discuss child abuse in schools and is considering creating a fund to be held in escrow until the school does the right thing.
* Former Hebrew Institute rabbi reaches new milestone in New Orleans > Life hasn't been easy lately in The Big Easy, but former Riverdale rabbi Uri Topolosky managed to accomplish his mission there in the lingering wake of Hurricane Katrina. He left his post as assistant rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in 2007 and headed down to New Orleans with his wife, Dahlia, a psychologist, and their two sons to rebuild Congregation Beth Israel and serve as its spiritual leader.

The fire at 5213 Broadway

* Manhattan College hires two locals > The commute to work will now be very brief for Dr. Joe Cutbirth and Dr. Val Kolesnikov, two new Riverdale residents who have joined the faculty at Manhattan College this semester. 
* Blaze engulfs Marble Hill  discount store > A severe two-alarm fire engulfed a local discount store early Tuesday morning, officials said. The blaze started at 2:48 a.m. at EZ 99 Cent Store, a single-story commercial building at 5213 Broadway in Marble Hill, an FDNY spokesman said. Officials said more than 100 firefighters from 25 units fought to control the blaze and eventually extinguished it by 3:57 a.m. There were no fatalities or injuries. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

Also, in the Bronx Press:
* As Naomi Rivera probes grow, Mark Gjonaj becomes frontrunner in hot Assembly seat > At least five government agencies have launched investigations into Bronx Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera following allegations she used taxpayer funds as her personal expense account and awarded cushy jobs to two lovers.

BREAKING NEWS: Hip-hop mogul, Chris Lighty, dead at 44

By MIAWLING LAM

Influential hip-hop music mogul Chris Lighty fatally shot himself inside his South Riverdale townhouse on Thursday.
Police said Lighty, 44, fired a single shot to his head from a .9mm black handgun after an altercation with his ex-wife, Veronica, around 11:33 a.m. at his 670 West 232nd Street home.
The medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death, but it is understood the gunshot wound was self-inflicted.Commanding officer of the 50th Precinct Captain Kevin Burke said Lighty was pronounced dead at the scene.“He was going through a divorce and was in the process of moving out. He had a U-Haul truck in the front,” he told The Riverdale Review and Bronx Press Review.

The scene just before the medical examiner's office
removed the body from the scene

“Words were exchanged and he went out in the backyard and shot himself once.”

Lighty, who grew up in the Soundview section of The Bronx, is credited with bringing hip-hop to mainstream audiences and for discovering a number of leading rappers.

The Bronx native, who was reportedly worth $30 million, got his start in the industry by schlepping records for DJ Red Alert in the 1980s and by working under Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen at Rush Management.

He founded his own company, Violator Management, and eventually merged it with Primary Wave Talent Management to form Primary Violator Management last fall.

At the time of his death, he was the chief operating officer of Primary Violator—a management company and record label whose roster include artists such as 50 Cent, Sean “Diddy” Combs, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey.

A slew of musicians and industry professionals took to Twitter to express their condolences including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Pete Wentz, Scooter Braun, Fat Joe and Omar Epps.

Popular rapper and recent Bronx Walk of Fame inductee Fat Joe paid tribute to Lighty and said he “would be dead or in jail for a hundreds years” if Lighty hadn’t signed him to his in the early 1990s.

“Many years ago, I was a young kid in the Bronx selling drugs and I had a dream of becoming a rapper,” he said in a phone interview. “He saw the talent in me, and signed me. He birthed me, and my career. I’m mature enough to understand that he saved me and my family.”

Fat Joe said he last spoke to Lighty two months ago during an event in Miami. The “Lean Back” and “What’s Luv?” artist said the pair joked around and had a brief heart-to-heart.

During their exchange, Fat Joe said Lighty gave no indication that he was depressed or going through a rough patch.

“He was telling me how proud he was of me and that I was doing really well,” he said.

“He was a beautiful, handsome and lovely person. He was a legend. This is shocking. Nobody can believe it.”

More than a dozen of Lighty’s family and friends gathered outside his Riverdale home on Thursday afternoon. They even used flattened cardboard boxes and a large white sheet as shields when the medical examiner’s office removed the body from the scene.

According to Forbes, Lighty was extremely selective about whom he worked with, but he was extremely dedicated to those he selected.
“I only work with artists I love, people I’d leave my vacation for or get out of bed at 3 a.m. to clean up a mess for,” he reportedly told the publication in 2006.