Out & About: Bronxites Show Borough Pride

Editor’s Pick Bronxites Show Borough Pride The public is welcome to show its Bronx pride at the free closing event of Bronx Week on May 21 at noon, featuring celebrities, marching bands, community organizations, schools, sports teams, and civic groups as they march along Mosholu Parkway, highlighting the best of the borough. The reviewing stand is at Mosholu Parkway East at Van Cortlandt Avenue. For more information, visit www.ilovethebronx.com. Onstage The Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd., features Rapunzel presented by the Lehman College Music Department, May 13 at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., free but reservation is required.

The latest edition of the Norwood News is out, serving the Bronx community with plenty of news to use. We begin with page one and the local 52nd Precinct’s efforts to squash the heroin culture that continues to sweep the borough. It’s at the precinct, serving Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Fordham, and University Heights where officers are noticing an uptick that’s related to the use of fentanyl, a dangerous narcotic. We delve into just what the Police Department is doing to combat this sad epidemic. Behind the front pages you’ll find a related story on the Drug Enforcement Administration charging

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

Fresh Air Fund Registration is open for the Fresh Air Fund, which offers free summer experiences for children from low-income communities throughout the city for ages 7 to 12 with volunteer host families and sleep-away camp for ages 8 to 15. For more information, visit www.freshair.org or call (800) 367-0003. Safety Summit Residents living within Norwood, specifically Webster Avenue from East Mosholu Parkway North to Jerome Avenue; Jerome Avenue to Bainbridge Avenue; Bainbridge Avenue to East Gun Hill Road and down to Webster Avenue, are encouraged to attend a “Safety Summit” meeting on June 6 at 7 p.m. at 3400

Lack of Elite Screened High Schools, A Tough Call for Bronx Parents

By DAVID CRUZ

While screened high schools are widely available in the Bronx, many of the admissions standards fall below the academically ambitious.

Cinco de Mayo Place Unveiled on Cinco de Mayo

COUNCILMAN FERNANDO CABRERA celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a street renaming fittingly named after the Mexican holiday. Cinco de Mayo Place (May Fifth Place) can be found at the corner of Jerome Avenue and East 193rd Street in Kingsbridge. Cabrera sponsored the bill that saw the street renaming become law. He joins in celebrating the occasion with members of the Mexican Coalition that include (l-r) President of Migrant Affairs Committee Estado Puebla Mexico Maritz Marin, an unidentified woman, Consul General of Mexico ambassador Diego Gomez, secretary of Migrant Affairs for Estado Puebla Mexico Ernesto Leyva, President of the Mexican Coalition

Bronx Week to Induct Four to Walk of Fame

By TATYANA TURNER

The annual Bronx Week celebration, an 11-day extravaganza underscoring the borough’s strengths, is under way in the Boogie Down. At a media preview three days before, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. presented this year’s inductees to the Bronx Walk of Fame, which include a celebrated doctor, actress, DJ, and musician. Roughly 100 guests gathered inside Bronx Borough Hall for a media preview of inductees who’ve achieved significant success in their fields. Their names will be etched along the 106 names that make up the Bronx Walk of Fame, running along Grand Concourse south of 161st Street. This year’s honorees

By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked readers their thoughts on this week’s rollout of new NYPD body cameras to be worn by patrol officers. Honestly, I think it could go either way, but there are cameras all over. Basically, the NYPD has cameras on every corner, but the body cameras can be used in police brutality cases as evidence of what actually happened at a crime scene as the video shows what happened before or after an event. I think it could cause some privacy issues and people will feel like their rights are being violated. It’s a fact that they sometimes

52nd Precinct Tackles Heroin Amid Fentanyl's Rise in Popularity

By DAVID CRUZ

The commanding officer of the 52nd Precinct stunned his audience with a familiar topic that came with a twist: the local precinct ranks first in fatal heroin overdoses out of all 11 Bronx precincts. Compounding the problem is the mix of heroin with fentanyl, a powerful narcotic described as putting heroin on steroids. “It is so bad that our undercovers and narcotics officers don’t want to touch it without any kind of gloves,” Deputy Inspector Peter Fiorillo, commanding officer of the precinct, said at the recent 52nd Precinct Community Council meeting on April 27. “And it’s very hard for undercovers

Participatory Budget Funds Allocated for Tech Upgrades to Precincts and Schools

By ADELINE HANSSEN and DAVID CRUZ

For Rosalina Garcia, this year’s Participatory Budgeting (PB) process within the 11th Council District, which covers Norwood, was her first. And it was an eye opener and one she proudly described as a “very interesting journey.” “You see how the [council members] want to spend the money to help the community, and that’s rare because usually politicians like to fill their own pockets,” said Garcia. On April 26, Council Member Andrew Cohen, one of 31 council members participating in PB, announced the results of the yearly PB to volunteers and District 11 residents in front of the 52nd Precinct. PB,