Saturday, 28 April 2012

Carrot salad at Colonie

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS (WABC) -- If they can be farmed together, they taste really good together. That's the idea behind much of the food at Colonie.

The year old restaurant in Brooklyn Heights was actually opened in part thanks to a kickstarter campaign where community members donated funds. Now neighbors have a spot for farm to table dining. There's a bar area, tables and an open kitchen

The menu is season with plenty of local produce, recently a carrot dish from sous chef Bryan Redmond. The recipe is below.

You can find more about Colonie at colonienyc.com.

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Recipe:

Carrot Salad

Baby Carrots - 1 tray
Garlic - 2 Heads
Thyme - 1 Bunch
Greek Yogurt - 8 oz
Zest and Juice of 1 Orange
Sunflower Seeds - 1/2 Pint
Sunflower Oil - 1/2 Pint
Confectioners Sugar - 1/2 pint

Procedure: Dress the Carrots in extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and lay them on a baking tray with the garlic and thyme. Roast Carrots for about 45 min or until tender in a 400 degree oven.

Combine in a mixing bowl 8 oz Greek yogurt and the juice and zest of 1 orange. Season with a pinch of salt.

Toast your sunflower seeds in a 350 degree oven for about 15 min or until golden brown. Let cool. Cover with Sunflower oil.

Peel and rough chop 1 head of garlic. Toss in confectioners sugar and fry in a pot of canola oil at 275 degrees until golden brown while stirring almost constantly. Strain and cool.

Plating: Toss cooled roasted carrots with sunflower seeds, oil, salt, pepper and candied garlic. Arrange on a plate with a few dollops of orange yogurt. Garnish with sunflower shoots.

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recipe, brooklyn heights, neighborhood eats, lauren glassberg

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Christmas Offer in New York Airlines

Monsey child found alone on lawn of burning home

  Eyewitness NewsMONSEY, New York (WABC) -- A four-year-old boy was found sitting alone just outside his burning home in Rockland County.

The fire broke out in a home on West Central Avenue in Monsey, Friday afternoon.

Good samaritan Saul Katz and a Spring Valley DPW worker went to the back. The young child was spotted and pulled to safety. The child was found by fire officials sitting on the lawn of the burning home. The fire chief said the boy was left alone by the father for just a few minutes.

LINK: VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE

He was not hurt.

The home was destroyed.

It's not clear what started the blaze, but fire officials do say that it appears that the house was split up into four illegal apartments.

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Bank Forgives Dead Student's Loan After 6 Years

Six years after the death of Christopher Bryski, a 23-year-old student at Rutgers University, Key Bank has agreed to forgive his student loan. But Bryski's family is not stopping there: It's now fighting to change the laws in the hope of sparing others the trauma it endured as lenders continued to hound it for payment on its dead son's debts.

Christopher Bysksi died on July 16, 2006, after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a fall that left him in a coma for two years.

Because his father had co-signed his student loan from Key Bank, he was obligated to continue to make payments under the terms of the private loan agreement. He paid more than $20,000 of the $50,000 debt, coming out of retirement to make the monthly payments, according to Ryan Bryski, 34, Christopher's brother.

But Ryan Bryski, an Air Force veteran, said various lenders continued to call the family and ask to speak to Christopher, despite the family informing them of, first, Christopher's vegetative state, and later, his death.

Bryski said the family lawyer sent "threatening letters" to two credit card companies to put an end to the continual postal mail, always addressed to Christopher, and phone calls requesting payment. Bryski said the credit card companies eventually forgave those debts. And Christopher's student loan from Sallie Mae was forgiven upon his death, according to the federal lender's policies.

But Key Bank, which held the private student loan, ignored requests to pardon the loan, Bryski said.

On April 18, the family started a petition on Change.org after the online petitioning platform contacted the Bryskis. With a petition signed by more than 81,000 individuals requesting to "discharge" the student loan debt, bank executives reached out to the family on April 23 and a settlement was reached on Wednesday, according to Megan Lubin, communications manager at Change.org. Change.org was also behind the petition that got Bank of America to cancel its proposed $5 debit card usage fee.

"My family is very grateful for Key Bank finally contacting us and doing the right thing," Bryski told ABC News. "It's just unfortunate it took eight years and 80,000 signatures to get their attention."

"First and foremost, we are so sorry for the tragic loss of Christopher Bryski," David Reavis, a spokesman for Key Bank, said in a statement.

The bank said that, by law, it could not comment on matters involving an individual client or clients, but that it "regularly and continually reviews its practices, policies and procedures to ensure they are aligned with best practices and a constantly changing environment.

"Going forward, we will evaluate any similar situation involving a deceased student with outstanding loans – and we sincerely hope there are none – on a case-by-case basis," the bank's statement read.

Though the family is relieved that its own ordeal has been resolved and a bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives proposing more transparency for families who co-sign loans, Bryski is still hoping for change in other areas of death and disability policies of financial service companies. The family has also set up a website to provide updates about some of these issues.

"I asked myself what my brother would do. If he had the opportunity to help other people even if it didn't help him, he absolutely would. He was always helping others," said Bryski. "It's unfortunate that we lost him so young."


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Woman coughs up seed that led to cancer diagnosis

See it on TV? Check here.  Eyewitness NewsFLORIDA (WABC) -- A woman from Florida is feeling very fortunate Friday after growing problem in her lungs led to a suspected cancer diagnosis.

For 28 years, Blanca Riveron had breathing problems, and doctors recently told her that a tiny spot on an X-ray could be cancerous.

She had been treated several times for asthma and pneumonia, but after she coughed up blood in December, her daughter took the 62-year-old to the doctor's again. This time, doctors found a mass in her lung.

Then, she remembered she had inhaled a fruit seed nearly three decades ago.

Blanca managed to cough up the seed while sitting at a traffic light and is now breathing much easier.

She is breathing much better and will head to the doctor next week to get the exact diagnosis.

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Sunday, 22 January 2012

Police search for 2 suspects in spa robberies

  Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- It was anything but a relaxing time at a couple of spas in Manhattan that were robbed.

Police say the men caught on surveillance go into spas, pretend they are police and then rob the clientele.

Two women were hurt during the robberies in December on the Lower East Side and in Washington Heights.

The suspects got away without any money after the workers refused to give it to them.

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Saturday, 21 January 2012

Exclusive jailhouse interview with Ramrattan

NEW YORK (WABC) -- For the first time since he was sentenced to up to 32 years for raping and then framing his ex-girlfriend a Queens man is talking to Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter Sarah Wallace. And there's a dramatic twist, his longtime link to law enforcement as a confidential source, an informant.

It's impossible to know when Jerry Ramrattan is lying and when he's telling the truth, but if even a fraction of what he says is real about his role as a confidential source for law enforcement for years. Defense attorneys in those cases may be running back to court to try to get convictions overturned.

"You're called a schemer, a diabolical liar, a rapist," Wallace said.

"Not true," Ramrattan said.

In a jailhouse interview with Wallace on Rikers Island, Jerry Ramrattan vehemently denied concocting a brazen scheme to frame his ex-girlfriend, Seemona Sumasar, for armed robbery because she had accused him of rape.

"They portrayed me to be such an animal and none of this is true," Ramrattan said.

But a Queens jury believed that Ramrattan, bent on revenge, tried to set up Sumasar, and very nearly succeeded, she spent seven months in jail before Ramrattan's plan unraveled. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to up to 32 years in prison for convictions on Rape and perjury.

"If I'm a schemer and a liar, why did they allow me to do all those cases then," Ramrattan said.

He's talking about his longtime secret role as a confidential source for law enforcement. Eyewitness News has confirmed he indeed worked for various law enforcement agencies, sometimes paid, sometimes not.

"You've been paid by the NYPD, by the Brooklyn DA, by the Queens DA," Wallace said.

"Correct. They can't do no damage control for what they've done, because the minute they put it out there that I'm a liar, who is to say what I lied on, correct? Even if I told the truth, who is to believe me," Ramrattan said.

Eyewitness News obtained where the Brooklyn and Bronx District Attorney's offices noted that Ramrattan's testimony before grand juries helped win convictions.

"How many cases would you say you testified in before a grand jury?" Wallace asked.

"Hundreds," Ramrattan answered.

"You worked as a paid informant for how long?" Wallace asked.

"Paid source," Ramrattan clarified.

"Paid source, informant, whatever. How long?" Wallace asked.

"For years," Ramrattan answered.

He was continually evasive on specifics, but Eyewitness News obtained this document as part of an appeal in a Brooklyn 1997 rape case where Ramrattan testified. It indicates he received $4,000. In another Brooklyn case, that of the infamous Sweet Cherry Strip Club in 2005, a source confirms Ramrattan's claim that he worked as a paid undercover operative.

"I was able to go inside and infiltrate the group where they were was laundering money and promoting prostitution," Ramrattan said.

The Brooklyn DA refused comment about Ramrattan's work as a source saying only: "If these claims raise a legal issue, they will be looked into." Other DA offices declined to discuss Ramrattan publicly. But Attorney Ron Kuby, who's followed this case closely, thinks anyone who's used Ramrattan as a source.

"Given the sophistication of what he was doing and given the extensive nature involving other people of what he was doing, every case needs to be re-investigated. Doesn't mean that everybody he helped convict is an innocent person, but it's a huge warning sign, danger, danger, you have to go back to the very beginning," Kuby said.

A number of legal experts we spoke with believe the Attorney General should consider appointing a special prosecutor to coordinate any re-investigation by district attorneys.

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If you have a tip about this or any other issue you'd like investigated, please give our tipline a call at 877-TIP-NEWS. You may also e-mail us at the.investigators@abc.com.

Follow Jim Hoffer on Twitter at twitter.com/nycinvestigates and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jimhoffer.wabc

Follow Sarah Wallace on Twitter at twitter.com/swinvestigates and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sarahwallace.wabc

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investigations, sarah wallace

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