Nothing comes easy these days for Haile Rivera, a University Heights resident who gave up a relatively comfortable life in the Bronx two months ago to go on the road working for peanuts as a political foot soldier for the Obama campaign.

DeWitt Clinton’s men’s tennis team roared through its regular season schedule this year, finishing without a single blemish on its record. The team has managed its incredible run on the backs of savvy play by veteran juniors and seniors, good coaching, and help from an unexpected source – a retired businessman who lives over an hour from the Bronx.

Going into their final match against arch rival Christopher Columbus High School (9-1 going into the match), Clinton’s players gave some credit to the high school varsity gods, who gave the players an unseasonably windy and cold afternoon that warranted wearing their brand new varsity sweatshirts while they played.

In light of problems identified with the City Council’s distribution and designation of “member items,” Council Member Oliver Koppell reported major changes instituted by Speaker Christine Quinn in the Council’s budget allocation process.

Assemblyman Jose Rivera went to Washington, D.C. this week to attend the national ALS Advocacy Day with his daughter Diane Rivera-Riportella, who was recently diagnosed with the condition. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, affects 30,000 Americans. It damages the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and is fatal, on average, in two to five years after diagnosis.

U.S. Representative Joe Crowley (D-NY), along with representatives from California, Kentucky, and Illinois spearheaded legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Aung San Suu Kyi, an imprisoned Burmese leader. Kyi has been crusading to end the human rights-abusing military dictatorship in Burma since the 1980s.

The Class of 1973 celebrated its 35th anniversary by raising $6,000 in honor of deceased classmates Regina Lambeau, Kathy O’Shea, Marian Collier, and Mary Smith. The funds went toward the installation of a new bench at the school and the establishment of a scholarship fund in the class name.

Last year, Congressman Eliot Engel introduced legislation to ban the Belgian FN Five-seveN pistol, a weapon that can currently be purchased legally and has the ability to penetrate police bulletproof vests "from two football fields away," according to Engel. The gun is advertised as being able to cut through 48 layers of Kevlar, the synthetic fiber used in most bulletproof vests, at 50 meters. After the same type of gun was recently used in a Philadelphia shooting in which a man was shot in the hand and a child cut by flying glass near a car detail shop owned by NFL All-Pro receiver Marvin Harrison, Engel renewed his battle to get his legislation, the PLEA Act, through Congress.

A listing of public and community meetings in the northwest Bronx.