In 2006, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a report with alarming news for the Bronx community of Highbridge. In almost every health category: premature death, HIV infection, heart disease, drug and alcohol abuse, etc., this community has the worst record in the entire city.

Your recent editorial opinion expressing your conviction that President Bush fails to recognize the importance of a free press or an independent Congress is quite remarkable – not because your assumption is accurate, but rather because it demonstrates, in a way I’m quite sure you never intended, that so much of the press in general, and your editorial staff in particular, has abdicated any pretense at impartiality or journalistic integrity.

I’ve been a resident of the Bedford Park/Bainbridge area for over 25 years. I love this neighborhood for all the beautiful trees in this environment and the wonderful buildings and homes that we have. One thing that I’ve been doing some advocacy about is the situation with the underpass under the Grand Concourse at Bedford Park Boulevard that leads to the D train entrance.

As a resident of Bedford Park for over 40 years, a member of the Board of Directors of the Scott Tower Cooperative and a member of the Jerome Park Conservancy, I attended the June 21 meeting of the Croton Facility Monitoring Committee.

There are spots available at Bronx Community College’s Project Hire, a 20-week program that prepares people to enter construction unions. Candidates must be between 18 and 60, low-income and a citizen or resident alien. No construction experience is necessary. There’s also a free GED preparation class beginning in June, for which citizenship is not a requirement. Sign up for one or both at the Department of Environmental Protection office at 3660 Jerome Ave., Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (718) 231-8470.

Aleisha Smith pleaded guilty on June 19 for her role in the beating death of her 4-year-old son, Quachaun Browne, last January in her Kossuth Avenue apartment.

This fall will bring changes in the District 10 leadership, as district offices are re-opened with 32 new community superintendents responsible for evaluating the schools in their districts.

Michael Alvarez presides over a spectacularly successful Bronx Library Center. But, as he is quick to say, he could not have done it without his staff.

A former cartographer for The New York Times, Janet Norquist-Gonzalez of Norwood made maps for 22 years. Then one day, four years ago, “I noticed I was just staring at the screen,” she said.