Jose Rodriguez gets ready to do battle with a fallen tree in Williamsbridge Oval Park following a vicious Sunday afternoon storm that uprooted, knocked down and ripped the limbs off dozens of area trees.

Woodlawn Cemetery has contracted out an independent review to investigate racism and favoritism allegations made by employees who claim the cemetery has ignored past complaints and has done little to improve their work environment.

Over a veggie burger and fries at the Bedford Café in Bedford Park, Julie Wallach loudly, almost theatrically, retells the highlights of her Bronx childhood.

The multi-talented Wallach, whose burgeoning career in show business is pushing her toward midtown Manhattan, still resides where she grew up.

A local man was shot dead two weeks ago inside of Williamsbridge Oval Park, apparently after a dispute involving an iPhone.

State Senate candidate Gustavo Rivera has picked up significant support in his bid to topple incumbent Pedro Espada, Jr. in the 33rd Senate District. The Working Families Party and the New Roosevelt Initiative have gotten behind Rivera, and the latter promises to independently spend $250,000 on his behalf.

Meanwhile, Daniel Padernacht, a Kingsbridge Heights housing lawyer, and Fernando Tirado, the district manager of Community Board 7, are committed to staying in the race, despite pressure to withdraw so Rivera can take on Espada one-on-one.

Bill Samuels has pledged $250,000 to help get Gustavo Rivera elected in the 33rd Senate District, though he’s only ever met the man for 30 seconds, total. Samuels, a businessman whose family has political roots and founded the plastics company Kordite (think Hefty Trash Bags), is on a mission to get State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., voted out of office.

While there’s been no shortage of talk about the candidates running in the 33rd State Senate District-the seat currently occupied by Pedro Espada, Jr.-we thought we’d provide a rundown of who’s competing in myriad other local races.

In the article “Big Bellies, Big Environmental Boost” (June 17-30, 2010, p. 9), we failed to mention that a substantial amount of reporting in the story was taken from an article written by Peter Jackson in the Hunts Point Express, one of Norwood News’ sister papers and a member of the Bronx News Network. In the article “Gustavo Rivera Get Anti-Espada Backing” (July 15–28, 2010, p. 2), we wrongly stated that U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is running for “re-election.” In fact, Gillibrand was appointed by Gov. David Paterson to replace Hillary Clinton in 2009. She is now running for the

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The owners of the Foodtown supermarket on 204th Street in Norwood that burned down in a horrific fire last winter say they have successfully navigated the city’s building bureaucracy and are poised to begin construction on a new facility. Now, all they need is the steel that will form the framework of the structure.