A listing of programs and services for our readership in the northwest Bronx.

It took nearly two months for the first murder to happen in the 52nd Precinct. It took just two days, during one noisy weekend a couple of weeks ago, for that number to triple. Though murder numbers are still down – from four during this time last year to three this year – violent crime is picking up after a welcomed slow start to 2008.

The city Department of Transportation has been working for almost two years to make the express bus that runs along Fordham Road a little faster. This summer the program will hit the streets.

Half a dozen rakes scraped along the dirt where Aqueduct Walk meets Fordham Road, last Saturday. Their spindles, leaving in their wake manicured soil, dragged paper, glass, and other odd bits of trash to piles where the garbage would eventually be bagged.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial Congestion Pricing plan, which would charge drivers $8 to pass into Lower Manhattan, passed through the City Council on Monday by a vote of 30 to 20. Every Bronx council member voted in favor of the plan, except Helen Foster, who was absent and did not vote.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz scored two legislative victories in his push to combat teen pregnancy. On March 14, legislation that Dinowitz sponsored called the "Healthy Teens Act," passed the State Assembly. The Act establishes a grant program for sex education. In addition, on March 20, the Assembly passed a Dinowitz-sponsored bill that will allow emergency contraception (EC), commonly referred to as the "morning after pill," to be dispensed without prescription.

On the 5th anniversary of the Iraq invasion, Congressman Jose E. Serrano issued a stinging rebuke of the ongoing military engagement.

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

At a community forum attended by city agency representatives, Norwood residents came out in force last week to demand improvements to Williamsbridge Oval Park, a social and recreational hub for thousands of locals.