Back-to-School Book Bag Giveaway Event Offers Good Start for Students

By DAVID CRUZ

Students got a good head start in preparing for school with a recent back-to-school book bag giveaway event sponsored by state Sen. Gustavo Rivera. The first of three events happened at Slattery Playground in Mt. Eden, with dozens of children picking up a backpack ahead of the new school year, which is slated for Sept. 5. The event was one of three events sponsored by Rivera’s office. Another events are scheduled for Aug. 15 and Aug. 22. Families living within Rivera’s 33rd Senate District are welcome to receive a backpack and obtain a free health screening. For more information, call

City & State Leaders Look to Reduce Hot Car Deaths Following Kingsbridge Incident

By DAVID GREENE

City and state officials are mobilizing in reducing hot car-related deaths following an incident where a pair of twins died from heatstroke after they were left in a car in Kingsbridge Heights for hours last month. The pair was left behind by their father. Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose district represents the neighborhood where one-year-old twins were left in a hot car for hours by their father, announced legislation aimed at preventing the deaths of children left to bake in unattended vehicles. Exactly a week after one-year-old twins Luna and Phoenix Rodriguez were left for eight hours, as their father went

A sandwich has always been an easy go-to option for lunch that is easy to make on your own, or to buy anywhere in the city. For many of us, the most famous is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich we grew up eating, as it was packed in our lunch box, or offered as a quick afternoon snack. As we grow older, the sandwich is still a staple lunch item for a lot of us, but we may look for a far more “sophisticated” version than our childhood PB and J. We have options of different meats, type of

By JEROME GUN HILL BID

Mosholu Optical has been a neighborhood fixture in the Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement District (BID) since it first opened in 1948. Originally owned by Dr. Irwin Kaskawits, Mosholu Optical has been serving patients and shoppers in the Norwood community for over 70 years. Ed Greenspan, the current owner, has been a part of the business since 1968 when he began working for Dr. Kaskawits. Ed first got his start in the optical business at the original location of Moscot eyewear in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, now one of the oldest businesses in New York City. By 1985 Ed took

By DAVID CRUZ

It was a big day for Antonia Ramos, who attended a health fair sponsored by state Sen. Gustavo Rivera and Assemblyman Victor Pichardo on July 26 at Monroe College’s Mintz Auditorium.

Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s sixteenth edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of interesting community news stories to read and share. We have 28 pages packed full of news from this corner of the Bronx, capturing a good chunk of it. And as usual, we’ll start with page one! For our front-page story, we dive into the issue of loud partying at Van Cortlandt Park. Residents are so upset that after logging 165 noise complaints this year that were not heard, they penned and signed a letter of complaint to elected officials. Inside the cover you’ll find

Fighting Pediatric Asthma With a Personal Touch in the Bronx

By SÍLE MOLONEY

A new asthma-free Bronx program aims, within five years, to reduce asthma-related emergency room visits by 50 percent and asthma-related hospitalizations by 30 percent among children aged 5 to 17 at three of the Bronx’s public hospitals – North Central Bronx (NCBH), Jacobi, and Lincoln hospitals, which collectively serve about one third of all Bronx kids with asthma, a borough hardest hit by asthma. Each year, approximately 20,000 children in New York City end up in the emergency department or are hospitalized due to asthma. About 40 percent of these children live in the Bronx with black and Latino communities

Montefiore Wakefield Campus Hails Decade in Neighborhood (Web Picture)

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

As the thermometer hit 96 degrees, visitors to the Montefiore Wakefield Community Health Fair on July 20, were glad to see plenty of bottled water, cooling fans, and an invitation by hospital officials like Toni Hayes to rest inside the air-conditioned lobby. “Be sure to stay hydrated,” Hayes reminded visitors. The oppressive heat, however, did not keep elected officials and hospital administration from celebrating Montefiore’s 10th anniversary managing the Wakefield campus. The hospital located at East 233rd Street near the Bronx River Parkway was formerly known as Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center. Montefiore officially took over the former hospital

Anti-Vaxxers Follow Jeffrey Dinowitz to the Bronx for Town Hall Protest

By JOSEPH KONIG

When Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s bill eliminating the religious exemption for childhood vaccinations passed the Assembly in June, angry anti-vaxxers shouted and cursed at him from the viewing gallery above the assembly floor. “We’ll be back Jeffrey,” they promised. Over 100 anti-vaxxers delivered on that promise with their protest outside the Riverdale YM-YWHA on July 16. Inside the building, Dinowitz and state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi were hosting a town hall on the achievements of the recent legislative session, including Dinowitz’s vaccine bill signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month. “My kids, my choice,” the protestors chanted. At least two