Frigid temperatures and the promise of rain were not enough to stop parishioners and visitors from attending Fordham United Methodist Church’s seventh annual production of George Frederic Handel’s "Messiah" last Sunday evening.

After an eight-month search, Montefiore Medical Center’s board of trustees chose a home-grown veteran executive, Steven Safyer, to replace Spencer Foreman, MD, who is retiring at the end of this year after almost 22 years, as its president and chief executive officer.

A team of ambitious local educators are in the final stages of creating an innovative new school in the northwest Bronx. After receiving city approval in October, all the school needs is a go-ahead from the state and a place to call home.

Two weeks after parishioners at a North Fordham church were angered by the absence of police brass at a packed meeting about area crime, the 52nd Precinct’s commander, his top lieutenants, a narcotics detective and captain showed up to take their lumps, answer questions and generally make amends.

Earlier this month, the House passed a bill that Democratic proponents say will save 23 million middle-class families from paying higher taxes. But President Bush is once again threatening to veto the bill as Congress continues to remain locked in a bipartisan stalemate.

State Senator Jeff Klein, who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester, continues to lead the charge against the mortgage lending crisis ripping through the Bronx and the rest of the United States, and causing many people to lose their homes.

Council Member Oliver Koppell recently co-sponsored a bill that would provide free legal representation in New York City housing court to elderly low-income tenants. Koppell, a lawyer by trade, said in a statement that, according to legal advocates, the proposed law would be the first of its kind.

Last issue, the Norwood News reported that local immigrants were in agreement that Governor Eliot Spitzer’s revised three-tiered licensing plan was not only a copout, but it would be bad for immigrants and national security. Hours before the story hit northwest Bronx newsstands, Spitzer announced in Washington, DC, he was abandoning the plan, citing widespread opposition.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a member of the Health and Mental Health committees, spent a recent Friday morning as "Resident for a Day" at New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Allen Pavillion.