The parish of the Church of St. Brendan in Norwood wrapped up its centenary celebrations last Sunday with a multilingual standing-room-only Mass that included a homily by Cardinal Egan and drew the attendance of over two dozen guest clergy and about 1,100 worshippers.

Lost, or at least partially obscured, in the tussle over term limits is the reality that the incumbents who are now eligible to run for a third term, including the mayor, have to actually run. Many local insurgent candidates launched Web sites and have been fund-raising for months, meaning some spirited and competitive races may be coming next fall.

With mere days remaining in the presidential campaign, Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel spent some time campaigning for fellow Democrat Barrack Obama in Florida.

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión wants to make the Bronx the most bike-friendly borough in the city. By increasing the number of bike racks in the Bronx, Carrión hopes to encourage more commuting and recreational riding throughout the borough.

A listing of public and community meeting in the northwest Bronx.

The Norwood News spent the past six weeks calling our local public schools to see what’s going on this year and get a glimpse inside our varied campuses. Many are introducing new programming and faculty. Many are dealing valiantly with overcrowding problems. All are trying to challenge the minds of our youth.

In the excitement over the presidential race, local races have been somewhat obscured to say the least. But there are local races for Assembly, state Senate and Congress, despite their low profile and the usual lack of competitiveness in a heavily Democratic borough. Here are all the candidates for these offices. Incumbents are noted and candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Don’t forget to vote on Nov. 4!

78th Assembly District: Robert Lupo (C); Jose Rivera (D-incumbent); Jose Torres (R)
80th A.D.: Louise DeLucia (R); Patrick McManus (C); Naomi Rivera (D-incumbent)
81st A.D.: Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-incumbent); Jeffrey Klapper (C)

33rd Senate District: Pedro Espada (D); William Sullivan (C)

16th Congressional District: Ali Mohamed (R); Jose Serrano (D-incumbent)
17th C.D.: Eliot Engel (D-incumbent); Robert Goodman (R)

Voter information

For more info on these candidates, go to the League of Women Voters Web site at: lwvny.www.capwiz.com/election/guide/ny. Don’t like any of these candidates? Well, then you have the right to write in the candidate of your choice. There are instructions on the far left side of the ballot that explains how to do this. They are a little complicated. If you need help, ask a poll worker to show you.

To find your polling place, go to www.vote.nyc.ny.us and click on the poll site locator button (second button at left). To make sure you’re registered, check www.canivote.org (a national site that checks local registrations across the country). And www.866ourvote.org has tons of information state-by-state on your voting rights and what to look out for.

Important phone numbers:

(866) VOTE-NYC. Board of Elections hotline. Call to check your registration status or have any problems on Election Day.
(866) OUR-VOTE (connected to the Web site listed above). Largest national election protection hotline. For Spanish, call (888) VE-Y-VOTA.
(212) 822-0282. This NYPIRG hotline has specialists trained in NYS election law available to assist voters from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

Out of 311,000 residents, less than 8,400 citizens voted in the Democratic primary for the 33rd Senate District. We must question the legitimacy of such an election by any democratic standards. Who, exactly, is represented by a candidate with so few supporters?

My husband recently found an anonymous note on our front gate challenging the "Catholics for Obama" sign in our window. The challenge is based on Obama’s being pro-choice.