Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) - Pick Me Up, Put Me On Opens September 22nd!

 

Bronx River Art Center is pleased to present

Pick Me Up, Put Me On

Curated by Jordan Horton

September 22 - October 28, 2023

Opening Reception: September 22nd 6-8pm

Artist Talk: October 28th 5pm

RSVP for Opening Reception

Pick Me Up, Put Me On is a visual conversation between Estelle Maisonett and Oscar Morel, two Bronx-born artists who exemplify the enduring resonance of collage through themes of community, identity, and place. Their works celebrate everyday scenery, familiar objects, and subjects deeply personal to the artists yet resonant with a broader shared experience that transcends borough bounds. While Maisonett and Morel work in different stylistic manners, the Bronx can be noted as a foundational inspiration origin. The community harbored there weaves its way through their artistic practice, manifesting as a common thread that binds their work together. Pick Me Up, Put Me On invites us to transcend boundaries, explore the intricate tapestry of community, and celebrate the many dimensions of home.

Please join us on Friday September 22nd for a wine and cheese reception from 6PM to 8PM.

Photo: Estelle Maisonett

Photo: Oscar Morel

About the artists:

Oscar Morel

Born 1997, Bronx, New York

Lives and works in the Bronx, New York

Oscar Morel was born in the Bronx in 1997. Morel received his BA from DePauw University in 2019, focusing on Studio Art and Computer Science. He later received his MFA from Boston University in 2022. Using everyday materials collected from home and sourced from his local community, Morel is a figurative collage artist who offers glimpses into Afro-surreal storytelling. Morel reimagines personal experiences and creates self-agency by intentionally altering moments, amalgamating materials, and referencing art history to control the narrative of the community, its cultural richness, and systemic inequalities.

As a Dominican child of immigrants, Morel explores the loss of agency in one's history and the absorption of surroundings to adapt to unknown spaces. Morel builds upon its figurative properties, with abstraction in mind, manifesting themselves the longer it is observed. Fragments of the medium, iconographic textiles, shapes, and symbols begin to find meaning in their placement in the narrative. Morel's work expresses a deep need for a contextualized meaning in a world bombarded with absurd information without clarity.

Estelle Maisonett

Born 1991, Bronx, New York

Lives and works in Queens, New York

Estelle Maisonett is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Her work is an investigation of how personal and socio-cultural relationships to objects and materials inform preconceived notions of identity. With a practice spanning photography, printmaking, sculpture, painting, and video, Maisonett’s life-size collages explore how fragments of cultures locally and abroad have historically composited Latinx identity.

Maisonett received her MFA in Painting and Printmaking at the Yale School of Art in 2023 and her BFA from SUNY Purchase College in 2013. She is an arts community worker and educator who has worked with the Parsons School of Design, NYU, New York City Housing Authority, Department of Education NYC Schools, Bronx Children’s Museum, and additional community spaces in New York City. She was a recipient of the Latinx AIR Fellowship at NYU (2023), Quinn Emanuel Residency (2023), the Barry Cohen Scholarship (2023), the Alice Kimball Travel Grant

Fellowship (2022), the NewWave Artist-in-Residence (2021), the Artist in the MarketPlace Fellow at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (2018), the BronxArtSpace Artist in Residence (2018). Estelle has exhibited at The Bronx Museum of Art, Chashama, Field Projects, Bronx Art Space, El Barrio ArtSpace at PS109, Latchkey, Longwood Art Gallery, The Andrew Freedman Home, Hostos College, and The School of Visual Arts, amongst others.

About the Curator

Jordan Horton

Born 1996, Newark, NJ

Lives and works in Newark, NJ

Jordan Horton is a curator and art historian deeply invested in working closely with living artists and institutional critique. Horton’s interests center on the internet as a geographical space with special considerations of sonic and digital aesthetics, virtual subculture spaces, and translations of internet-based communication systems into everyday life. Additionally, Jordan is interested in performance art, dance, and film.

Jordan received their MA in the History of Art at Williams College/ The Clark Art Institute in 2023 and a BA in Art History at DePauw University in 2019. During their time at Williams, Horton was a Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Williams College Museum of Art. As a Fellow, they have curated exhibitions utilizing the permanent collection, such as Sweaty Concepts (2021) and Remixing the Hall (ongoing). They have also worked with living artists for shows such as Frantz Zéphirin: Selected Works( 2022), Beatriz Cortez: The Portals (2023), and Mirrored Interiors: Films by Cecilia Aldarondo (2023).

Community and accessibility lie at the center of Horton’s curatorial practice. Jordan sees curation as an act of care for the art, artists, and all who encounter it. Because of this, they believe additional exhibition programming and various forms of interpretation are critical for viewers to experience art to the fullest. 

GALLERY HOURS:

Tuesday - Friday: 2:30 - 6 PM

Saturday: 12 - 5 PM

Gallery hours are only in effect during the exhibition dates.

Two Charged With Federal Narcotics Offenses Resulting In Death In Connection With The Poisoning Of Four Children At A Bronx Daycare

 

The Defendants Stored Distribution Quantities of Fentanyl and Narcotics Packaging Equipment in the Daycare, Including a Kilogram of Fentanyl on Top of Children’s Playmats

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Lisa O. Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, Frank A. Tarentino III, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and Edward A. Caban, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced today the unsealing of a criminal Complaint in Manha ttan federal court charging GREI MENDEZ and CARLISTO ACEVEDO BRITO with narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death in connection with the poisoning of four children under the age of three, one of whom died, at a daycare facility in the Bronx.  MENDEZ and ACEVEDO BRITO are both in custody and will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer E. Willis. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Parents entrusted Grei Mendez with the care of their children.  As alleged, instead of diligently safeguarding the well-being of those children, she and her co-conspirators put them directly in harm’s way, running a narcotics operation and storing deadly fentanyl out of the very space in which the children ate, slept, and played.  The disregard shown by Mendez and her co-conspirators for the lives of the children under her care is simply staggering.” 

Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said: “The charges announced today are the tragic result of fentanyl poisoning more innocent Americans, this time young children.  The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable anyone who plays a part in the supply-and-delivery chain that is flooding fentanyl into our communities.  We will not rest in our efforts to protect the vulnerable.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino III said: “Tragedy doesn’t begin to describe the events that took place at Divino Niño Daycare.  This death and drug poisonings are every parent’s worst nightmare and clearly define the danger fentanyl poses to every New Yorker.  Fentanyl kills indiscriminately, and the defendants’ callous and irresponsible disregard to safety led to two of the most heinous acts imaginable, causing the death of a child and poisoning three other children.  These crimes are unacceptable.  I commend the work of the investigators from the DEA and NYPD and our partners at the Southern District of New York who work tirelessly every single day to stop drug poisonings from taking too many lives too soon.” 

NYPD Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban said: “This case reflects every parent’s worst nightmare.  These alleged drug traffickers brazenly went about their illicit business in one of the most ill-conceived locations imaginable, but they will be held accountable.  I thank the dedicated investigators of the NYPD and the DEA, and everyone involved at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, for their efforts to secure justice for the most vulnerable New Yorkers among us – our children.” 

As alleged in the Complaint:[1]

From at least in or about July 2023 through at least in or about September 2023, GREI MENDEZ and CARLISTO ACEVEDO BRITO and others conspired to distribute fentanyl, including at a children’s daycare center in the Bronx (the “Daycare”).  There, despite the daily presence of young children, the defendants maintained large quantities of fentanyl, including a kilogram of fentanyl stored on top of children’s playmats.  In addition, the defendants maintained in the Daycare items purpose-built for the distribution of large quantities of narcotics, including three so-called “kilo presses,” which are designed for the recompression of drugs in powder form commonly used by narcotics traffickers at “mills” or other locations where narcotic drugs are broken down, combined with fillers, and portioned for sale.  The narcotics and one of the kilo presses recovered are pictured below.   

As a consequence of the defendants’ drug conspiracy, on or about September 15, 2023, at the Daycare, four children, who were all under three years of age, appear to have experienced the effects of poisoning from exposure to fentanyl. 

Prior to the arrival of emergency personnel at the Daycare on that date, MENDEZ, in concert with an unnamed co-conspirator (“CC-1”) removed evidence from the Daycare.  In particular, immediately before MENDEZ called 911 to summon medical assistance for the children, she called CC-1.  CC-1 then arrived at the Daycare, stayed for approximately two minutes, and then exited out a back alleyway carrying two full shopping bags — all while the children were unresponsive and awaiting medical assistance.  Three of the children were hospitalized with serious injuries.  The fourth child, a one-year-old boy, died.

ACEVEDO BRITO resided in a bedroom located within the Daycare and is the cousin of CC-1.  One of the kilo presses found at the Daycare was located in the closet inside ACEVEDO BRITO’s bedroom.  Additionally, a search of ACEVEDO BRITO’s phone revealed numerous messages suggestive of his involvement in narcotics trafficking.

MENDEZ, 36, and ACEVEDO BRITO, 41, both of the Bronx, New York, are each charged in Count One with conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and in Count Two with narcotics distribution resulting in death.  Both Count One and Count Two carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.    

The statutory minimum and maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge. 

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA, the NYPD, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) New York Strike Force, the SDNY Digital Forensic Unit, and the Complex Analytical and Social Media Enhancement Team at the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.  Mr. Williams also thanked the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office for its coordination on this case. 

The OCDETF New York Strike Force is a crime-fighting unit comprising federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies supported by OCDETF and the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.  The Strike Force is affiliated with the DEA’s New York Division and includes agents and officers of the DEA; NYPD; New York State Police; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; New York National Guard; U.S. Coast Guard; New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision; Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office; Fort Lee Police Department; Palisades Interstate Parkway Police; Teaneck Police Department; Hillsdale Police Department; Closter Police Department; Northvale Police Department; River Vale Police Department; Englewood Police Department; Saddle River Police Department; Bergen County Sheriff’s Department; Hawthorne Police Department; and Hackensack Police Department. 

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon C. Thompson and Maggie Lynaugh are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact descried therein should be treated as an allegation.  

MAYOR ADAMS, OLR COMMISSIONER CAMPION ANNOUNCE CONTRACT WITH CWA TO PROVIDE FAIR WAGE INCREASES, WORK FLEXIBILITY TO MORE THAN 8,000 CITY EMPLOYEES

 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Office of Labor Relations (OLR) Commissioner Renee Campion today announced a tentative five-plus year contract agreement with the Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1180, representing approximately 8,200 employees representing a variety of roles across city government. 

  

The contract is retroactive, beginning on December 13, 2021, and expires on June 12, 2027. It provides for wage increases of 3 percent annually through 2024 and 3.25 percent in 2025, consistent with the civilian pattern set by the contract with District Council 37 (DC 37). The contract also provides for a $3,000 ratification bonus that will be paid out to all members who are in active service as of the ratification date.  

  

“Ensuring the hardworking members of CWA Local 1180 get fair wages and benefits is critical to recruiting and retaining top talent within our city’s workforce, and ensuring we continue to ‘Get Stuff Done’ for New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams. “As this contract remains consistent with the contracts of many of the other unions we’ve settled with this past year, we were able to budget these overdue wage increases in this year’s Adopted Budget. I thank OLR Commissioner Renee Campion and CWA Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton for their hard work to reach this agreement.” 

  

“Since I started as chief counsel less than two months ago, we have reached two significant agreements,” said City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg. “It is a testament to Mayor Adams’ commitment to the working people of this city and to Commissioner Campion and her team’s dogged efforts.” 

  

“This administration will always put working people first, and we are proud to have reached an agreement with CWA Local 1180 that is fair to both our workers and the taxpayers,” said OLR Commissioner Campion. “I am also pleased to report that with this contract, the city has now settled 84 percent of all represented groups for the current round of bargaining. Thank you to CWA Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton for your partnership in negotiating this agreement, and Chief Counsel Zornberg and Mayor Adams for your steadfast support.” 

  

“Local 1180 members are part of the essential city workforce that provides services to all New Yorkers who count on us every day to make sure they have what they need,” said CWA Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton. “I am pleased we all worked together to negotiate in good faith to bring our contract to conclusion.” 

  

The total cost of the agreement through Fiscal Year 2027 is $379 million, which is wholly funded by money already set aside in the Labor Reserve. The tentative agreement also includes: 

  

•   Flexible Work Committee: The parties have agreed to establish a committee to develop a flexible work pilot, which includes remote work and potential hybrid schedules, consistent with the DC 37 contract agreement.  
•    Increased Welfare Fund Contributions: The parties agreed to increase the contribution to the union’s welfare fund by $167 per year per active and retired employee to assist with the cost of supplemental benefits. 
•     Supplemental Payments: The parties agreed to expand the number of CWA titles that are eligible to receive existing contractual payments, such as experience differentials, longevity, recurring increment payments, and annuity contributions. 

  

CWA members will receive the following compounded and retroactive wage increases across the life of the contract: 

•    December 13, 2021: 3.00 percent  
•    December 13, 2022: 3.00 percent 
•    December 13, 2023: 3.00 percent 
•    December 13, 2024: 3.00 percent 
•    December 13, 2025: 3.25 percent 

Two Individuals, Including A Former Pharmaceutical Executive, Plead Guilty To Participating In Insider Trading Scheme Surrounding Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ Acquisition Of Portola Pharmaceuticals

 

Joseph Dupont Misappropriated Deal Information from Alexion, Where He Was a Vice President, and Provided that Information to a Childhood Friend, Who, in Turn, Shared the Information with Slava Kaplan, Who Used It to Trade and to Tip Others

 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that, on September 15, 2023, JOSEPH DUPONT pled guilty to one count of securities fraud, and earlier today, SLAVA KAPLAN, a/k/a “Stanley Kaplan,” pled guilty to one count of securities fraud, both in connection with their participation in an insider trading scheme surrounding the announcement of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s acquisition of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  DUPONT and KAPLAN were arrested in June of this year and pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Dupont admitted in court that he gave his friend sensitive information that Dupont had misappropriated from his employer at the time so that his friend could profit.  And Kaplan admitted in court both that he made profitable trades based on information that he knew was provided to him for an illegitimate purpose, and that he passed that information along to others.  These convictions reflect my Office’s ongoing commitment to ensuring fairness in the stock market.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment and statements made in public court proceedings:

In 2020, DUPONT, KAPLAN, and others engaged in an insider trading scheme surrounding the announcement of Alexion’s acquisition of Portola.  DUPONT was a vice president at Alexion and, on January 31, 2020, was informed of Alexion’s upcoming acquisition of Portola.  Before that acquisition was publicly announced, in April 2020, DUPONT provided material nonpublic information (“MNPI”) that he misappropriated from Alexion about the acquisition to a friend so that the friend could use the information to trade profitably in securities.

In turn, DUPONT’s friend provided KAPLAN, who was also known to DUPONT, the MNPI about Portola’s pending acquisition, both so that KAPLAN could trade in advance of the acquisition and so that KAPLAN would assist DUPONT’s friend in formulating trading strategies to maximize DUPONT’s friend’s own trading profits.  KAPLAN further shared MNPI about the upcoming acquisition with a family member and a friend and colleague.  After Alexion’s acquisition of Portola was publicly announced on the morning of May 5, 2020, causing Portola’s stock price to increase significantly, KAPLAN and others who had purchased shares and options based on DUPONT’s inside information sold their shares of Portola and call options for Portola stock, reaping millions of dollars of illegally obtained trading profits.

DUPONT, 44, of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and KAPLAN, 45, of Hopewell Junction, New York, each pled guilty to one count of securities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  

The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.  DUPONT and KAPLAN are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Woods on January 5, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Mr. Williams also thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has filed a parallel civil action.

Governor Hochul Announces Nearly $38 Million in Federal Funding to Strengthen Security for Nonprofits Facing High Risks of Terrorism

 

Funding Will Help Nonprofit Organizations Strengthen Facility Security and Overall Preparedness

 Governor Kathy Hochul today announced $37.9 million in federal funding to support the efforts of 195 nonprofit organizations facing an increased risk of terrorist or other extremist attack to strengthen the security of their facilities, as well as enhance their overall preparedness. This funding, provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through its Nonprofit Security Grant Program, is being allocated to New York through two separate awards - $33.3 million for organizations within the New York City Metro Area and $4.7 million for organizations throughout the rest of the State. The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services manages these programs in close coordination with local stakeholders.

“The Nonprofit Security Grant Program is a critical part of our strategy to thwart domestic terrorism in New York State,” Governor Hochul said. “No matter where we gather, we have the right to peaceful and respectful assembly without fear of violence or vitriol. This effort requires no less than the full partnership of those who are involved in creating a safer environment for all those who live, work and visit our great state.”

New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said, “This critical funding helps non-profits across the state bolster their infrastructure and train for security-based scenarios to deter acts of terrorism and hate crimes. We’re working with our partners across all levels of government to ensure this program continues to make New York a safer place for all.”

Nationwide, a total of $305 million is being provided through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in FY2023. Of this amount, $152.5 million in funding was made available to nonprofit organizations located within one of the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) designated high-risk urban areas. The remaining $152.5 million was reserved for jurisdictions outside of the UASI-designated areas.

Allowable costs include planning such as security risk management, continuity of operations, and response plans; equipment, including physical security enhancement and inspection/screening systems equipment: active shooter training and security training for employees or congregation members: response exercises, and contracted security personnel.

In New York, the state’s UASI-designated high-risk urban area is the New York City Metro Area. Specifically, this consists of New York City, as well as Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. In 2023, New York leads the nation in both total funding and number of awardees in a UASI-designated area, with $33.3 million being awarded to 174 nonprofit organizations. The remaining $4.7 million in federal funding will be awarded to nonprofit organizations throughout the rest of the state.

About the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services

The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) provides leadership, coordination, and support to prevent, protect against, prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate disasters and other emergencies. For more information, follow @NYSDHSES on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly known as Twitter) or visit dhses.ny.gov.