Last issue, the Norwood News began its annual school preview. This issue, we were able to speak with two more schools about their plans for this year and beyond.

Though not in Yankee-Red Sox territory just yet, a fledgling local rivalry was permanently forged last Saturday in the woods of Van Cortlandt Park.

Check out all the entertaining and interesting events and performances happening in the northwest Bronx.

With the walls decorated with orange balloons for Halloween weekend and more than 100 community supporters in attendance, St. Philip Neri Church and School at Bedford Park hosted its first annual dinner dance fund-raiser Saturday night with the help of hit freestyle artist George Lamond.

The Bronx Assembly delegation that overwhelmingly supported the city’s plans to build a water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park is now calling on state and city officials to investigate and hold hearings on the project’s escalating cost overruns and other problems.

The mall and recreation complex coming to the Kingsbridge Armory will undoubtedly host well-known retail stores and provide more goods to local shoppers, but it is unclear if this kind of new business will provide good jobs for Bronx workers.

With the chill of fall finally taking hold after an extended summer in New York City, the Norwood News is back with our annual school preview. As in recent years, school communities are dealing with a mind-boggling slate of changes in the system.

So far in 2007, according to police statistics for the 52nd Precinct, graffiti complaints are up 45 percent and arrests are up 31 percent. That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s more graffiti, says Lieutenant Steve Phalen, the special operations officer for the 52nd Precinct, but it does mean people are being more vocal about their disdain for it.

The New York City Water Board’s proposal for an 18 percent rate increase was met with stiff opposition from Bronx Council Member Oliver Koppell.