16 year old Karol Sanchez, who was abducted yesterday and forced into a car in front of her mother, has been found.

According to WABC:

Police say Karol Sanchez walked up to her relative’s Bronx apartment building. She met with police and is now on the way to the local precinct.

Further details of her safe return are unknown at this time, and more information will be posted as it becomes available.

Check back for updates as this is a developing story.

UPDATE 12/17/2019 2:56pm: Karol Sanchez has been FOUND.

Yesterday, 16 year old Karol Sanchez was abducted right in front of her mother on Eagle Avenue and E 156th Street in the Melrose section of The Bronx.

According to reports, at around 11:20PM, the pair were approached by a 4 door sedan where two men jumped out and grabbed 16 year old Karol and dragged her into the car and the knocked the mother to the ground before fleeing along E 156th Street.

An Amber Alert was issued for Karol this morning, almost 12 hours after the incident happened which leaves us scratching our heads as to why it took so long for the alert to go out?

Clearly this was a criminal act and kidnapping as we saw the video. We also know that the purpose of the Amber Alert is to not waste precious time when children are kidnapped and there’s credible evidence that they are in imminent danger of bodily harm and or death.

Once she’s found, we’re hoping we can investigate as to why it took so long for the alert to be issued.

Sanchez is 16 years old, 5 foot 8 and weighs approximately 150lbs. She was wearing a blue bubble jacket, white undershirt, blue jeans, black sneakers, and a white backpack at the time of her abduction according to the Amber Alert issued earlier today.

If you see her or know of her whereabouts, contact 911, 1-866-NYS-AMBER (1-866-697-2623), or NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-8477(TIPS).

Via WABC:

It’s a sad day in The Bronx today.

For the first time in 46 years, the Garabedian house in Pelham Parkway will not be lit this Christmas season.

According to CBS, the family was unable to get the house and dozens of statues ready due to health reasons.

If you recall, last year we reported that the home was uncharacteristically dark for most of the season as they got a late start also due to health reasons.

As much as we want to see the house lit, we wish them first and foremost health.

The lights are secondary but if they need volunteers to help, I’m sure there are plenty of Bronxites that will jump at the chance to help!

UPDATE: The Garabedian family has declined help to light up the home for the holidays.

A bodega in Chinatown advertises accepting SNAP benefits, Dec. 5, 2019. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

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A Trump administration rule to toughen work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits could deal an especially sharp blow to New York veterans seeking food stamps, anti-hunger experts and veterans’ groups predict.

A new rule finalized by the United States Department of Agriculture last week will require employment for “able-bodied adults” between 18 and 49 who don’t claim dependents — a demographic that describes many veterans attempting to re-enter civilian life.

“Right now, we have an increase of the amount of veterans, reservists and National Guard members that are dying by suicide. This is not the time to take one of the few benefits that was widely utilized by the veteran community away from them,” said James Fitzgerald, deputy director of the NYC Veterans Alliance.

The USDA predicted the rule would cut nearly 700,000 people from SNAP benefits nationwide. New York City officials estimate that one in 10 of those — about 70,000 people — live in the five boroughs.

The SNAP slashing scheduled to take effect April 1 also could hit The Bronx, Upper Manhattan and southeast Queens particularly hard, providers of food aid to the needy said. That’s because the new rule would cancel federal waivers exempting recipients from work mandates in those areas.

“SNAP helps people. It helps lift people out of poverty and it gives them a certain stability in their lives that can help them,” said Judy Secon, senior director of programs and operations for the New York Common Pantry, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing hunger.

“So without that, it’s very difficult to get by,” she added. “And so if they’re in an area where unemployment is historically high and they’re in a group that historically has problems getting positions, it’s going to hurt them even more.”

City Vows to ‘Fight Back’

Able-bodied adults without dependents currently are limited to receiving SNAP benefits for three months during a three-year period, unless they work at least 20 hours a week. But many states, including New York, have waived that requirement in areas that “lack sufficient jobs” or have an unemployment rate above 10%.

Such waivers exist for The Bronx, and parts of Upper Manhattan and Southeast Queens.

City Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks vowed New York would “fight back” against the Trump administration plan. Photo: Rachel Holliday Smith/THE CITY

The new rule, which the Trump administration says would save the federal government $5.5 billion over five years, will make the waivers harder to get by requiring that areas have an average 6% unemployment rate over a two-year period.

The Bronx had an unemployment rate of 5.6% in October, above the state average, according to state Department of Labor data, and after a years-long decline has fluctuated around 6% for the past two years.

City Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks said in a statement that the city would “use every tool at our disposal to fight back so that New Yorkers have the resources they need to make ends meet, including putting essential food on the table.”

Hurting Vets

Because the new rule would affect adults who don’t care for children or elderly relatives, veterans could be disproportionately hit by the benefit cuts, anti-hunger advocates said.

Fitzgerald noted that veterans often need retraining to find civilian employment after their military service.

“Taking into account some of the barriers that are already stopping our servicemen and women from getting the benefits and services — like adequate employment, housing, things of that nature — we have to take into account are we making it easier or harder for our veterans to access these benefits?” Fitzgerald said.

Those who receive disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are exempt from work requirements. But waiting for the VA to process a case and assign disability compensation can take months or even years, Fitzgerald said, recalling his own experience after being injured in Afghanistan in 2010.

Burden on Food Pantries

Cutting SNAP benefits could increase the reliance on food pantries and food banks, which would shoulder the “brunt force” of the fallout, Fitzgerald said.

Charity organizations shouldn’t “take the place of strong public-sector programs” said Gregory Silverman, executive director of the nonprofit West Side Campaign Against Hunger.

“It would be much better if all these people could actually be able to go to the grocery store,” Silverman said. “Why do I have to set up a parallel structure because the safety net in this city and this country is completely lacking? Each time we make one of these cuts, it’s kind of like cutting another loop in the safety net to make it fray more.”

Food pantries operators already have found themselves responding to a surge in demand from undocumented immigrants as some unenroll from government benefits over concerns that using them could hurt their prospects for permanent legal status, Silverman added.

Last November, 192 new households sought the West Side Campaign Against Hunger’s services, he said. That figure has risen to 247 this November, which means more fundraising and staff getting “stretched thinner,” Silverman said.

“What we are seeking to do is to build self-sufficiency in people and help them to not really need our services anymore — to be able to get themselves into a place where they don’t have to rely on us,” said Secon. “But we’re here as the safety net and SNAP is all part of that, so cutting it is shortsighted.”

Are you an “able-bodied adult” between 18 and 49 — without dependents — who receives SNAP benefits? Are you a veteran who fits the above description? Are worried about losing your benefits? We want to hear from you. Email THE CITY’s Josefa Velasquez: JVelasquez@TheCity.NYC

CORRECTION (Dec. 10, 2019, 12:21 p.m.): An earlier version of this story stated the number of new households that sought the West Side Campaign Against Hunger’s services as per year, but the numbers are for the month of November.

We’re pretty sure that most of our readers will not find this shocking: The Bronx is the coldest borough in NYC.

According to a new report by Renthop, not only is The Bronx the reigning champ five years running as the coldest borough, but the top six New York City neighborhoods with the most heat related complaints are in our borough.

And the coldest neighborhood?

That unfortunate distinction goes to Mount Hope which registered 751 complaints so far during the 2019-2020 heating season which began on October 1st.

The top ten buildings with the most heat related complaints in The Bronx so far this season are:

You can read the full report over at Renthop.com.

It’s that time of the year again when Titi Maria is making her amazing coquito and abuela is making her pasteles from recipes passed down over the generations from Puerto Rico to The Bronx and across the globe.

Apartment buildings throughout our borough smell of pernil, the delicious roast pork seasoned with tons of garlic that’s a staple for the Christmas season throughout the Puerto Rican diaspora.

And of course, it’s time for the Puerto Rican answer to Christmas Caroling, the parranda.

Join the Bronx Music Heritage Center and the local community in their annual Melrose Parranda on Saturday, December 21st at 6pm which winds its way through the neighborhood before ending at Rincon Criollo aka Casa de Chema community garden on St Ann’s and E 157th Street.

This year the parranda will start at Bronx Commons at 443 E 162nd Street, the future home of the Bronx Music Hall at 6PM and meander around with stops at local community gardens along the way.

So mark your calendars and get ready to have some holiday fun, Puerto Rican style with a Bronx twist!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Check out our video from two years ago:

The Endangered Language Alliance recently released a map of the approximately 800 languages spoken in the New York Metropolitan Area and with 637 languages and dialects spoken in NYC alone, it makes us the most linguistically diverse city in the world and maybe even in history.

This linguistic diversity is ever present in The Bronx and shouldn’t be a surprise as our borough was declared as the most diverse county in the country by the Census stating that there is over an 80% chance that two random people in The Bronx speak different languages other than English.

Looking at this map, you’ll notice some things that aren’t surprising Italian English in Morris Park, Albanian along Pelham Parkway, Puerto Rican Spanish across Melrose, Hunts Point, and Longwood, and of course, Italian, specifically the Barese, Calabrese, and Sicilian dialects in Belmont.

But what may surprise you, as it did us, is the rich diversity of indigenous languages of Latin America, particularly Mexico, like Tlapanec, Mixtec, and Zapotec throughout Mott Haven, or that Yiddish is still spoken in The Bronx up in Norwood.

Anywho, take a look at the map on their website where you can zoom in and if you want a copy, you can contribute to this important body of work and get one delivered to you!