Bill to Allow Worship in Schools Advances in Senate

A bill that would amend the state’s education laws to allow houses of worship to use public school space for services during non-school hours was passed by the Senate’s Education Committee yesterday, bringing it one step closer to passage.

Free Tax Prep Help in the Bronx

A number of groups and organizations are providing free tax prep help at locations throughout the Bronx this tax season.

Bronx Council District 11 Race Gets a Runner

Cliff Stanton, a Kingsbridge Heights resident who is involved with parents’ associations at PS 24 and Bronx High School of Science, is moving ahead with plans to run for the Council District 11 seat currently occupied by Oliver Koppell, Stanton told Politicker NY. Koppell’s district, which include Norwood, Kingsbridge Heights and Riverdale, will be up for grabs in 2013.

Packed Classrooms Cramp Learning, Students Say

Editor’s Note: The following story was originally published in Bronx Youth Heard, a publication of the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative, a free journalism program for Bronx high school students run by the Norwood News. We are currently accepting applications for our spring semester. To find out more about the program and how to apply, click here. The Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative is supported by the North Star Fund, the Johnson Family Foundation Fund, and City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, and is run in collaboration with CUNY’s College Now program at Hostos Community College. By Leila Nombre At Jonathan Levin School for

Monday Bronx Links

Here are some news stories we’re following this morning on Breaking Bronx.

Bronx Breakdown: Star Bronx Teacher Banished to Basement & More (Updated)

This week on the Bronx Breakdown we break news about Discovery High School teacher Steve Ritz whose successful program somehow landed him in the basement and unable to continue the work he started. Plus, speaking about the unspeakable violence over jackets, the Bronx’s famous new resident and what you should do this weekend.

Aspiring Young Actors, Dancers and Musicians Wanted for Mind-Building

Madaha Kinsey-Lamb, a former public school teacher, started Mind-Builders in 1978. The nonprofit program that uses professional, working performing artists to share their expertise and instruct the next generation has grown into a thriving organization with a $600,000-a-year budget. Mind-Builders is scheduled to move into a newly-renovated building on the corner of White Plains Road and East Gun Hill Road this fall. But for now is using an annex building at St. Brendan’s School in Norwood as a temporary home. On Tuesday night, Kinsey-Lamb, still the program’s executive director three decades after its founding, was doing the dirty work of

The VIP Café, on the corner of Rochambeau Avenue and East Gun Hill Road, recently reopened after a fire in early July left its doors closed for four months.

Bronx Science Students, Alumni Protest Against Principal

A group of current and former students from the Bronx High School of Science, organizing under the name “Take Back Bronx Science,” rallied across the street from the prestigious public school last Thursday, protesting administrative policies they say are harming the school’s reputation and causing a number of teachers there to resign or retire prematurely.