Speaker Wants to Raise Smoking Age to 21

Joined by health and anti-smoking advocates, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced last week that the Council would introduce legislation that ups the minimum age requirement on tobacco purchases from 18 to 21. If passed, New York City will become the first major city in the United States to hold a 21 years of age minimum.

Video: Bronx Group POTS on 60 Minutes

In case you missed it Sunday night, here’s the 60 Minutes piece on the Robin Hood Foundation, a deep-pocketed anti-poverty group. The piece features a profile of one of the foundation’s grantees, Part of the Solution, or POTS, a soup kitchen and multi-service organization on Webster Avenue in the Bronx that aims to get struggling people back on their feet. They opened up a beautiful brand new facility last year, thanks in part to Robin Hood.

Bronx Pols Start Picking Sides in Mayoral Race

With the crowded race for mayor beginning to pick up steam this spring, Bronx elected officials are starting to divide into separate Democratic camps. So far, mayoral hopefuls Christine Quinn, Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson have each received public support from Bronx politicians.

Bronx Notes: English Conversation Skills

Speakers of any language (all levels) are invited to join English conversation classes at LIFT-the Bronx, 2381 Belmont Ave., between 187th and 186th streets, Wednesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Topics will range from current events to sports. For more information, call (718) 733-4061 or email liftenglishconversation@gmail.com.

Smoky Wakefield Fire Destroys Shops, Mosque, Injures 10

Investigators continue to sift through the ashes from a devastating fire that wiped-out an entire city block, leaving a row of stores and an apartment building in a pile of ash and rubble.

Out & About in the Bronx

Our Out & About feature is a guide to what’s going on in the Bronx in arts, entertainment and recreation.

‘Serious’ Vacca Protege Making Waves in Crowded Bronx Council Race

Ritchie Torres is so young that his mother named him after seeing “La Bamba,” a movie about Mexican-American pop singer Ritchie Valens who died in a plane crash in 1959. The movie, staring Lou Diamond Phillips, was released in 1987.

Kingsbridge Reacts to Ice Center Plans for Armory

Plans to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into the world’s largest ice sports complex, which were announced last week, drew a mix of reactions, most of them positive, from local residents, business owners, and students interested in the future of the Armory’s neighborhood. Rose Mangubat, who lives near the Armory on University Avenue, said the city’s plans to turn the building into the Kingsbridge National Ice Center will bring the borough economic success. But a local resident who identified herself as Jackie R. said that even though the future ice center will bring the Bronx a financial boost, she stressed that

A couple of days after the mayor announced that the Kingsbridge Armory would be transformed into the world’s largest ice sports complex, Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter sat across the street from the vacant building in a bustling diner and tried valiantly to stay awake.