SEE VIDEO: Solar Eclipse a Moment for the Ages in Norwood

By DAVID CRUZ

With a pair of special solar eclipse glasses, Ashley Abril peered up in the shaded sky at Williamsbridge Oval Park, paused for a moment and did something few have thought to do: she made a wish. It was her hope that the rarity of the solar eclipse, the first for the Bronx since 1978, would make her wish come true. “It’s something special,” Abril said after witnessing the celestial event. She didn’t have special eclipse glasses of her own. They were on loan from the Norwood News, which found few Norwood residents ready to look up. Many seized the moment

WWE Stars Visit Sick Children at Montefiore

By DAVID GREENE

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstars Becky Lynch, “Bayley,” Xavier Woods and the “Big E” joined WWE ambassador Dana Warrior as the group paid a special visit to sick and chronically ill kids at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in Norwood. The special event was held at the Bainbridge Avenue hospital on Aug. 16, ahead of WWE’s SummerSlam, held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Aug. 20. Passing doctors and nurses snapped cell phone photos of the wrestlers as they spoke with the children, posed for pictures and signed autographs. Jhenlyva Vargas of Westchester County, who would turn 18 the

Out & About: Enjoy a Weekend Walk in Norwood

Editor’s Pick: Free Events at Oval Park Williamsbridge Oval presents the following free events: Outdoor Movie, “La La Land,” Aug. 18 at 8 p.m. (held indoors if inclement weather); Back-to-School, Aug. 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring school supplies giveaways, library presentations, cooking demo, and fitness demos; and Splash From the Beach, Aug. 23 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., featuring sandboxes, water tables, beach games and more. For more information, call (718) 367-3657. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE WEEKEND WALKS AT EAST 204TH STREET FEATURED IN THE PRINT VERSION OF OUT & ABOUT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL SEPT.

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

MMCC Trip Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) offers an overnight trip to Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Oct. 5-6, with a visit to the National African-American History & Culture Museum. Stay includes one-night hotel and several meals. For more detailed information and rates, call the MMCC Senior Center at (718) 798-6601. Job Expos Employer pop-up recruitment expos are taking place at the following libraries from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. and Belmont Library, 610 E. 186th St., both on Aug. 30; and Eastchester Library, 1385 E. Gun Hill Rd. on Aug. 24. For more

BCC to Remove Confederate Statue at Bronx Hall of Fame

Following the massive condemnation of demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va, Bronx Community College (BCC) plans on removing the sculpture of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson from its much visited Hall of Fame, school officials announced. The move comes several days after neo-Nazi and white supremacists converged onto Charlottesville over the removal of a statue bearing Lee’s image from public spaces. The violent protests resulted in the death of Heather Hayer, who was killed by a car that appeared to have deliberately run over counter-protesters by alleged driver James Alex Fields, Jr. “For 60 years, Bronx Community College

The Bronx Develops: Luxury Student Housing Rises in Bronx’s Little Italy

By JAKE SHORE of WFUV

The Norwood News, in partnership with WFUV and BronxNet TV, brings you a four-part series on development projects happening across the Bronx and its impact on community residents. For Fordham University students, living off campus is a respite from on-campus housing prices and its rules. It’s worked for Brendan Batcheller, a senior at Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business. The public accounting major said living off campus is markedly cheaper than living within Fordham’s gates. “The cost of a year’s rent for us is less than nine months’ worth of living in a dorm,” Batcheller said in an email. “There is

Dear Fellow Readers, After four weeks on a nice break, the print version of the Norwood News is back with plenty of community news you can use. We begin with page one and some news on a possible homeless shelter arriving to the neighborhood. This hasn’t sit well with residents who want the New York City Department of Homeless Services to reconsider a site on Webster Avenue, directly across the street from a public school. Read about the alternative location DHS is looking at and why it’s a viable and realistic option. We then spend pages two and three talking about

This week we asked readers if they plan on voting for Mayor Bill de Blasio in the upcoming election and whether they believe his proposed millionaire’s tax would bring enough funds to overhaul the New York City transit system. I can’t recall if I voted for him initially, but I don’t think I’d vote for him now because I feel he’s a little biased overall, even though his wife is a woman of color. I think he’s a biased person and I don’t think he does enough for the community. The tax would have to be substantial. But would the

On a drizzly Monday morning, several hundred mourners gathered to pay their respects for Andrew Sandler, the former district manager for Community Board 7 who had died two days before. It was hard to peg the numbers. There were 200, perhaps close to 300 people at Sandler’s funeral, with elected officials on the city and state level personally paying their respects. The large numbers seemed to reflect the respect he carried across communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, and Riverdale. It could also be what Sandler symbolized: the unsung heroes who operate in government. Sandler was cut from that cloth, spending