Here’s what’s happening Today in the 914, according to Westchester Woman:?Hastings Director Brings Awareness to Missing Black Women in New Film; Pipeline Expansion Not Going Well in the US; MORE.
1.) Being a director that is a woman of color is a rarity in itself, however Melody Cooper works in the science-fiction genre making her even more unique.
For a woman to make a film is a radical act, the Hastings-on-Hudson resident recently told lohud.
Cooper recently won an AMC Networks Shudder Labs fellowship?and a spot in?Meryl Streep’s Writers Lab for her film “The Sound of Darkness.”
Video: Hastings director Melody Cooper shoots film in Westchester
Director Melody Cooper was chosen for the Meryl Streep funded program, The Writer’s Lab, to develop her “The Sound of Darkness” script. Cooper talks about the super natural thriller that she hopes to make into a feature film, Sept. 8, 2016.
Cooper just spent four days shooting?in Dobbs Ferry,?Rye and the Bronx for her movie which?is about a blind musician and a deaf sculptor who follows clues to help find a missing girl. She’s partnering with the?Black and Missing Foundation?(BAMF) #HelpUsFindUs to raise awareness about the issue.
There are 64,000 black women and girls currently missing?in the U.S., says Cooper. We have to spread the word because these cases aren’t taken seriously and I think that needs to change.
Read more about Cooper and her project below:
Hastings director headed to Meryl Streep Writers Lab
Melody Cooper’s feature puts a spotlight on women of color in the science fiction genre Film director Melody Cooper is something of a rarity. She’s a woman of color working in the science-fiction genre.
Here’s the kickstarter fund for her project:
THE SOUND OF DARKNESS
Melody Cooper is raising funds for THE SOUND OF DARKNESS on Kickstarter! Supernatural thriller about the 64,000 Black women and girls missing in the U.S. who no one is paying attention to.
2.)?Pipeline construction in the U.S. isn’t going very well for the corporations aiming to build them, as Americans are rallying to protect the environment and our natural resources from being destroyed.
The Federal Energy Regulation Commission recently put a stop work order on the Spectra’s Algonquin Pipeline, a fracked-gas pipeline, which would run through Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties on its way to New England.
FERC Slams Algonquin Pipeline over Serious Violation on the Hudson River
CORTLANDT, NY – Algonquin Pipeline officials have seven days to tell the Federal Energy Regulation Commission why they disregarded a federal monitor’s instructions and excavated a wetland outside their construction zone needlessly while struggling with a problem that was a noise nightmare for the neighbors.
Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, an oil pipeline, is also seeing opposition after thousands of Native Americas and activists are protesting the construction which they say threatens their water supply and sacred lands. President Barack Obama ordered that project to be halted on Friday.
Obama administration overrules judge, halts work on North Dakota pipeline after violent protests
The Obama administration took the drastic step Friday of temporarily blocking work on a North Dakota pipeline after violent clashes between protesters and security guards, overruling a federal judge’s order allowing work to proceed.
3.) Today’s headlines:
Westchester Forensic Sciences Division Receives National Grant
WHITE PLAINS, NY – The Westchester County Division of Forensic Sciences will be receiving a $205,741 grant from the National Institute of Justice DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction Program, Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, D-Harrison announced Friday. Lowey, the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, said that law enforcement agencies have used forensic science to develop effective and cutting edge investigative techniques.
Yonkers may pay $25,000 for false arrest of candidate
Jodi Faulkner, an attorney, was arrested on Sept. 28, 2007 at her home and charged with second-degree harassment, a misdemeanor. The charge was dismissed less than a month later by a judge. The Yonkers City Council may pay $25,000 to a former council candidate who accused the city of ruining her reputation by falsely arresting her.
The Heroin Epidemic In Westchester Just Keeps Getting Worse
Westchester’s heroin epidemic has had a busy 2016 and it might be getting busier. Health officials have now warned Westchester and the Hudson Valley of a fatal batch of heroin that might be coming in from the Midwest, News 12 reported. The fatal batch of heroin is laced with elephant tranquilizers, which is 10,000 times…