DOE Announces 9/11 Curriculum

With the start of a new school year arriving just days before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Department of Education unveiled a new classroom curriculum last week to help students understand the history and emotional weight of the event.

Investment in Infrastructure Will Bring Jobs, Engel Says

As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his much-hyped “jobs” speech this Thursday night, Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel says that investing in transportation construction is the key to creating more jobs.

Pedestrian Countdown Signals Installed On Concourse; Response to Injuries, Fatalities

A Concourse that is grand shouldn’t rack up nine fatalities and 411 pedestrian injuries in five years. But that’s the record of the borough’s most famous thoroughfare, which has prompted the city to identify a way to make Bronxites safer when crossing it.

Toxins Send PS 51 to Crotona

At a tense public hearing in late August, the Department of Education announced it will be moving Bedford Park elementary school PS 51, known as the Bronx New School, to a new building two miles south—the result of a discovery earlier this summer that its current site contains hazardous levels of a chemical toxin linked to cancer.

Corner Named for Fallen Traffic Agent

The northeast corner of East 188th Street and Webster Avenue will permanently be marked by tragedy. Earlier this month, the corner was conamed Donnette and Sean Sanz Place, in honor of a city traffic enforcement agent who was struck by a speeding van while seven months pregnant.

Tracey Tenants Rage at Rent Hike Proposal

Citing poor management that has led to deteriorating conditions, tenants at Tracey Towers argued against a proposal at a public hearing last month that would hike their rent by over 60 percent over the next three years.

Espada’s Health Clinics, Banned from Medicaid Program, Likely to Close

On Aug. 10, the State Department of Health terminated the network of health care clinics run by former Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr. and his son from the state’s Medicaid program–a move that will essentially mean closure for the five medical centers of the Soundview Network, which operate almost entirely on reimbursement funds from Medicaid patients.

Schools Must Teach Sex Ed, City Says

New York City high school and middle school students will be required to take sex education classes starting this fall, the schools chancellor announced last week, the first time the city has broached such a mandate in over two decades.

Gillibrand Bill Targets Unemployed City Youth

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand met with a number of Bronx clergy leaders and local lawmakers last week to promote legislation she’s sponsoring to reduce the number of unemployed young people in urban areas.