NEWS STORIES OF 2020
COURIER LIFE, DECEMBER 25-31, 2020 5
MARCH
First coronavirus case
and death: The severity of
coronavirus pandemic began
to hit home in early March
when the fi rst fi rst Kings
County case was confi rmed
on March 5, and the fi rst death
in Brooklyn was confi rmed on
March 14, when an 82-year-old
advanced emphysema patient
in Bushwick passed away.
State bans plastic bags:
New York State banned singleuse
plastic bags, prompting
businesses around Brooklyn
to swap the environmentallydamaging
bags with paper
ones .-
Brooklynites raise thousands
for dog injured in
southern Brooklyn crash:
Southern Brooklyn denizens
rallied to raise thousands of
dollars for a beloved dog who
survived a car crash that
killed her 66-year-old owner.
Stormy and her owner, Frank,
were walking near 101st and
Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge
when they were struck by a
speeding driver. Despite traumatic
injuries, Stormy managed
to make it home before
collapsing on the ground.
Brooklynites foster pets
en masse amid COVID-19
outbreak: Pent-up Brooklynites
started fostering fourlegged
friends en masse during
the fi rst weeks of COVID-19
quarantine, with some shelters
having to turn away some
fur-crazy would-be pet owners
due to the high demand.
Ample Hills fi les for bankruptcy:
Prospect Heights-born
Ample Hills Creamery fi led
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on
March 15. Shortly after selling
the bankrupt creamery to
an Oregonian manufacturer
in June, its husband-and-wife
founders announced they were
leaving the company. Schmitt
Industries closed the $1 million
purchase of the chain on
July 10 and promised to keep
open the scoop shop’s 13 locations
and Red Hook factory.
APRIL
Coney Island Hospital
workers given one face mask
per week: Emergency room
workers at the city-run hospital
in southern Brooklyn said
that they were given only one
face mask per week and little
to no other protective gear
while COVID-19 was spiking.
Some healthcare workers
claim they had to come
in even when they didn’t feel
well, because of the increase
in patients.
Woman arrested for killing
elder over social distancing:
Cops collared a Crown
Heights woman for manslaughter
after she allegedly
shoved an 86-year-old woman
for not keeping a distance of
six feet at Woodhull hospital.
The victim hit her head on the
ground and later died inside
the hospital.
Non-binary political candidates
sue Brooklyn Dems:
A group of non-binary political
candidates sued the Brooklyn
Democratic Party and the
city’s Board of Elections because
their ballot petitions
only allowed for male or female
gender designations, demanding
the party drop gender parity
rules originally intended
to bring more women into the
political sphere. The judge
tossed the petition on a technicality
later that month, but the
action prompted Democratic
Party Boss Rodneyse Bichotte
to convene a task force to address
the gender issues.
Brooklyn cemeteries
struggle to keep up as
COVID-19 deaths mount:
Cemeteries across the borough
struggled to keep up with the
substantial increase in deaths
due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
which prompted an infl ux of
burials and cremations.
MAY
Authorities shut Flatlands
funeral home for storing
bodies in U-Haul trucks:
Health offi cials shut down a
Flatlands funeral home on May
1 after decaying bodies were
found stored inside a U-Haul
truck outside of the home, and
were said to have been decomposing
on the fl atbed for weeks.
Police said the home’s storage
practices while appalling were
not criminal, but families of the
deceased fi led a lawsuit for the
alleged mistreatment of their
loved ones.
Southern Brooklynites
blast city for face mask distribution
snub: The mayor’s
initiative to supply thousands
of free masks to Brooklynites
at dozens of the borough’s
parks entirely left out southern
Brooklyn — leaving some
locals fuming for the apparent
snub. Shortly following
the backlash, the mayor announced
the program would
be expanded to distribute
7.5 million masks at grocery
stores, ferry stops, NYCHA
buildings among other locations
that included sites in
southern Brooklyn.
Police crackdown on social
distancing mostly affects
Brooklynites, people
of color: In the beginning of
the pandemic, the city tasked
the NYPD with enforcing social
distancing guidelines and
mask-wearing ordinances.
Brooklynites received more
summonses than any residence
of any other borough,
and people of color 93 percent
of all coronavirus-related arrests.
The crackdown led to a
number of widely-criticized
police encounters that went
viral on social media, prompting
DA Eric Gonzalez to
launch an investigation into a
string of violent and “disturbing”
arrests.
Out-of-towners hold antimask
protest in Williamsburg:
A handful of mostly
out-of-state protesters held
a small rally outside a barbershop
in Williamsburg
calling on the city and state
to end the coronavirus shutdown
so they could return
to their regularly-scheduled
yoga classes and nail salon
appointments. The bizarre
event marked one of the first
COVID-skeptic protests in
the borough and the city.
Over 200 arrested as protesters
clash with police over
George Floyd killing: The
end of May marked the start
of the protests in reaction to
the killing of George Floyd,
a Black man whom a Minneapolis
police offi cer killed by
kneeling on his neck. During
one of the fi rst protests outside
the Barclays Center, violence
broke out, with protesters
throwing debris at police and
cops pepper-spraying peaceful
attendees.
A woman received a test for
COVID-19 (top left), animal shelters
connected Brooklynites with foster
pets as they quarantined at home
in April (top right), and Ample Hills
fi led for bankruptcy in March (bottom).
Brooklyn Papere fi le Photos
Continued on page 6