Brooklyn

Jay-Z appears ready to dive head first into his new role as sports agent, with Yahoo! Sports reporting the rapper/businessman is looking to divest his share of ownership with the Brooklyn Nets. That move would free the cultural icon to pursue certification with the National Basketball Players Assn. as an agent. NBA rules state that no one with an ownership stake in a league team can be affiliated with a player representation company. Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, owns less than 1% of the Nets but has been a high-profile figure as the team made its move from New Jersey to Brooklyn.

MTV's Video Music Awards is packing up from Los Angeles and headed to the East Coast. The always irreverant video fete is returning to New York City for the first time since 2009 for the ceremony that turns 30 this year (yes, you are as old as you think you are), the network announced Monday.   Brooklyn's Barclays Center will host the spectacle, which airs live Aug. 25. PHOTOS: Iconic rock guitars and their owners “From a vibrant musical scene for up and coming artists to epic concerts by today's biggest stars and the triumphant return of pro sports to the borough after nearly 60 years, Brooklyn has re-emerged as a cultural capitol where music, sports and entertainment history is made every day,” Stephen Friedman, president of MTV, said in a statement.  MTV teased the new location with a batch of cute photos of the show's Moonman statue traveling from L.A. to New York.

NEW YORK - Until last year, Café Grumpy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was mostly known as a destination for the serious coffee drinker, the type of place where each modestly sized cup is individually brewed and goes for $4 a pop. Now, thanks to "Girls," the polarizing HBO series in which Lena Dunham stars as Hannah Horvath, a self-involved writer and reluctant Café Grumpy barista, and Alex Karpovsky as Ray, her angsty, thirtysomething boss, the shop...

VS. BROOKLYN When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980, 1330. Records: Clippers 47-22, Nets 40-28. Record vs. Nets: 0-1. Update: The Clippers are looking to win back-to-back games for the first time in March. They have won seven of their last eight games against the Nets in L.A. Meanwhile, the Nets, in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, have won seven of their last nine road games.

NEW YORK -- The mother of a 16-year-old boy whose death amid a hail of police gunfire has sparked clashes in a Brooklyn neighborhood called Thursday for an investigation into the shooting, which has raised  tensions in an area  community leaders say is “under siege” by overzealous cops. “Right now, today, I'm fighting for all black kids,” a tearful Carol Gray said as she insisted that her son, Kimani Gray, was not a gang member and would not have been carrying a loaded .38-caliber revolver with him last Saturday night.  “He's not the public's angel, but he's my angel,” she said, holding up a photograph of her hugging Kimani at his junior high school graduation two years ago. Police say two plainclothes officers on patrol in the East Flatbush area of Brooklyn late Saturday spotted a group of males standing outside.

The man sought in connection with a tragic hit-and-run accident that ended the lives of a Brooklyn family of Orthodox Jews has returned to New York after surrendering to officials in Pennsylvania. Julio Acevedo, 44, arrived in Brooklyn in the afternoon after waiving extradition. He was being held in Brooklyn pending arraignment, perhaps as  soon as Thursday night, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney's office told the Los Angeles Times by telephone. Still to be decided are exactly what charges Acevedo will face, the spokesman said.

The man who surrendered to police in connection with a weekend hit-and-run accident that left an Orthodox Jewish family dead has waived extradition from Pennsylvania and will be heading back to New York to face charges, officials said on Thursday. Julio Acevedo, 44, agreed to be returned to Brooklyn after about a 10-minute hearing before Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kelly Banach, her spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times by telephone. Acevedo was returned to the county jail to await transportation back to New York City, according to a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman.

The man wanted in a Brooklyn hit-and-run that took three lives was arrested in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, about 90 miles west of where the crash occurred. The local ABC affiliate, WABC, showed video of Julio Acevedo in a blue hooded jacket and athletic pants surrounded by police officers as he was taken into custody. WABC reported that Acevedo had surrendered there because he thought it would be safer.  Acevedo, 44, had been expected to give himself up, according to a friend who has been contacting various New York news media outlets.

The reward for the man wanted in connection with the tragic hit-and-run accident in an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn has risen to $12,000, police said on Tuesday, as authorities searched for the man who fled the scene where a family was killed. “The reward has risen to $12,000,” Sgt. Lee Jones told the Los Angeles Times by telephone. “We are searching and still seeking the suspect, Julio Acevedo.” Acevedo, 44, is wanted in connection with the traffic accident in the early hours of Sunday in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, home to the largest community of the Satmar Orthodox Jewish sect outside of Israel.

NEW YORK -- A suspect in the hit-and-run deaths of a pregnant woman and her husband has been identified, hours after the death of the premature baby the woman was carrying, New York police said Monday. Police said they were looking for Julio Acevedo, 44, believed to be the driver of a BMW that hit a livery cab carrying the couple, Nathan and Raizy Glauber, both 21. The BMW hit the taxi with the Glaubers at a Williamsburg intersection in Brooklyn in the early hours of Sunday. The Glaubers were rushing to a hospital after Raizy Glauber complained that she wasn't feeling well.