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The New York Times •

State Facilities’ Use of Force Is Scrutinized After a Death

In one of Darryl Thompson’s last photos, he is wearing a blue cap and gown and gripping a rolled-up diploma from Public School 360 in the Bronx. A proud smile dents his cheeks and big fake diamonds glint from his ears.

It is a sweet face tinged with mischief, not a bad reflection, his friends say, of how he lived his life.

That life ended on Nov. 18 in Johnstown, N.Y., in a bathroom of the Tryon Boys Residential Center, a juvenile rehabilitative center where he had been sent after a string of crimes, including burglary and robbery.
The New York Times •

Shelter Closes, Residents Move on and Fortunes Diverge

A few weeks ago, the last resident of what was once New York City’s largest homeless shelter, Camp La Guardia, packed his bags and left.

To Robert V. Hess, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Homeless Services, the shelter’s closing was “a milestone in the city’s history.” The 1,001-bed facility, 70 miles northwest of Manhattan in a bucolic part of Orange County, is no longer needed because the number of homeless adults is declining, Mr. Hess said.

Of the 748 men who were at Camp La Guardia in December, 492 moved in with relatives or into other housing, while 256 were transferred to city shelters.
Newsday •

For some vets, a home isn't waiting

After 10 months of washing laundry and setting up showers in Iraq, Army reservist Wanda Borders couldn't wait to get back to the Bronx. She figured she'd stay with her grandmother for a few months until she found a place of her own. But without a paycheck, landing an apartment in New York's tight rental market proved nearly impossible. For more than a year, she and her young children bounced among relatives' homes, often sleeping on couches or floors.
Chalkbeat •

At NAACP hearing on charter school moratorium, foes and fans find common ground

When the NAACP called for a moratorium on charter schools last fall, the group’s president and CEO Cornell Brooks said the group wanted a “reasoned pause,” not a “doomsday destruction” of charters.

Still, it ignited a firestorm among charter school supporters and sparked a series of hearings nationwide, the last of which was held Thursday in New York City. But rather than a heated debate, the panelists and public speakers took pains to find common ground.
The New York Times •

The Giant in the Courtyard Awaits Its Fate

Beneath the courtyard of the Mansion House, a stately Brooklyn Heights co-op, lies a tangled mess of roots that has prompted a tangled mess of local politics.

The roots belong to a towering American elm that stands in the garden courtyard of 145 Hicks Street, a brick building with about 100 units. The tree’s roots are making it hard to repair two leaks in the building’s foundation, and residents are split over whether the tree should live or die.
The New York Times •

In New State Law, a Wait-Free Return to Medicaid Rolls After Prison

When Rufus Dantzler was released from a New York State prison in 2004 after serving 14 years for murder, he was ordered by the state’s parole office to get treatment for alcoholism and marijuana abuse.

But when he arrived at the program, which was run by Greenwich House, a nonprofit group in Manhattan, he was told that he would have to pay for treatment because his Medicaid coverage had not yet started.

Without a job, that was simply not an option, said Mr. Dantzler, who was convicted of killing a family friend in Harlem in 1989. “I just walked right out,” he said.
The New York Times •

From the Projects to Yale, Just a Lacrosse Toss Away

It was a rainy and windswept Saturday in Rockaway Park, but nothing could keep the twins off the field. Eleven years old, tiny and virtually indistinguishable, Troy and Troyvon Young had traveled more than hour to southern Queens from Louis Pink Houses, a crime-plagued public housing project in East New York, Brooklyn, to practice their favorite new sport: lacrosse.

Although it has gained broader popularity in recent years, lacrosse is still typically played by well-heeled middle- and upper-middle-class youngsters who have grown up in places with wide-open fields of green. On this day, a very different population was getting a crack at the game.
The New York Times •

For Bright Beacons, a Murky Future

For decades, they floated over Second Avenue near East 12th Street like twin stars guiding tipsy East Villagers home: “Jade Mountain” in glowing pink bamboo-style letters, and above it, in rosy neon, a smaller, two-sided sign bearing the words “Chow Mein.”

But these days, the name of the old-school chop suey house is obscured by a giant “For Lease” poster. Jade Mountain closed in February, five months after Reginald Chan, its 60-year-old owner, was hit by a truck and killed while making a delivery on a bicycle. As Mr. Chan’s family, which owns the building, looks for a new tenant, neighbors fear that the vintage neon signs, like the restaurant, will soon disappear.
City Limits •

Saying goodbye to last chance high: City shutters troubled program

The green chalkboard still held the smeared shadow of a global studies lesson: “Aim: What are the countries and cities in North America?” But all the desks were empty. Textbooks and art supplies were packed up in cardboard boxes, and the school’s final student—ever—had just gone home.

“It’s weird,” said teacher Rachel Matthews. “Nostalgic, sad. I guess we’ve come full circle.”
City Limits •

Cruel to be Kind

Every few minutes, Jacquene Miranda closes her eyes and puts a hand on her stomach, wincing. She’s having contractions, and her husband, Angel Correa, hovers attentively nearby.

Miranda tried to go to the hospital this morning but wasn’t dilated enough to be admitted. So she returned to the Brooklyn homeless shelter where she and her family were staying, only to learn that their temporary placement had ended.

Now she and Correa, with two children and several bags in tow, are back where they started a month ago, at the Emergency Assistance Unit (EAU), the city’s intake center for families reapplying for shelter.