Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial Congestion Pricing plan, which would charge drivers $8 to pass into Lower Manhattan, passed through the City Council on Monday by a vote of 30 to 20. Every Bronx council member voted in favor of the plan, except Helen Foster, who was absent and did not vote.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz scored two legislative victories in his push to combat teen pregnancy. On March 14, legislation that Dinowitz sponsored called the "Healthy Teens Act," passed the State Assembly. The Act establishes a grant program for sex education. In addition, on March 20, the Assembly passed a Dinowitz-sponsored bill that will allow emergency contraception (EC), commonly referred to as the "morning after pill," to be dispensed without prescription.

On the 5th anniversary of the Iraq invasion, Congressman Jose E. Serrano issued a stinging rebuke of the ongoing military engagement.

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

At a community forum attended by city agency representatives, Norwood residents came out in force last week to demand improvements to Williamsbridge Oval Park, a social and recreational hub for thousands of locals.

I first met Anna Rogovin almost 20 years ago, quite by accident. It was on the day of my son’s eighth birthday and he and I were outdoors, me with a camera in hand, looking for a good place to use as a backdrop to photograph him to commemorate the occasion. We found the perfect spot when we got to a corner store loaded with beautiful colorful flowers on display on the sidewalk outside the shop. As I took my son’s picture, a woman I didn’t know came up to me and volunteered to take a picture of my son

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Vicar Robert "Bob" Rainis, the new part-time spiritual leader of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Norwood, was a law enforcement officer for 24 years before realizing his calling to ministry. Some might say going from being a cop to a preacher would be a rough transition, but Rainis says the two jobs have more in common than one might imagine.

The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) honored Don Bluestone, the executive director of the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, for his work with inner city children and youth in the Bronx by presenting him with the Lewis Hine Award on March 31.

Immigration remains among the most complicated and contentious issues our nation faces. Congress failed to act in a comprehensive manner last year, leaving the problem to worsen for everyone involved. It will not be solved by fences or walls and it won’t get fixed from the mean spirited rantings of Mitt Romney or Lou Dobbs. We’ll make progress when we look at what causes people to risk their lives and often leave their families in order to find work in the United States, and what their prospects are when they arrive.

Oppressive governments drive thousands to seek asylum here, but many of our underlying immigration issues are economic. Congress needs to look at a variety of failed economic policies, especially as they affect our own country and our nearest neighbors in Latin America. Free trade has too often shifted well paying jobs in the States to become poor paying jobs in other countries. As long as our own economic policies contribute to leaving millions destitute nearby, we have to expect some of those millions to seek jobs here.