Various stories, including: Showdown for Speaker, Tenant Voting Flap, Rivera’s Queens Office, and School Funds.

The city is dragging its heels in initiating an independent evaluation of the Meals on Wheels pilot program launched in the Bronx a year ago. The city Department for the Aging (DFTA) has yet to begin the study, though it had promised to do so by now. The pilot completed its first year on Oct. 1 and is moving into its second cycle.

At the groundbreaking for the new playground in Van Cortlandt Park’s southeast corner, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said something very interesting. The improvement of Bronx parkland in exchange for alienating a chunk of Van Cortlandt, sets a “precedent.”

Ashley Diaz is 11. Last year she missed 41 days of school. Since last December when site preparation for the Croton water treatment plant began across the street from where she lives, Ashley was admitted to the hospital to treat her asthma a dozen times.

For 10 years, Rocio Bravo sold homemade tamales and tacos outside her North Fordham apartment, just as she had done in her native Mexico. She amassed a dedicated clientele, along with plenty of summonses for running a street business.

Just because the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory is stalled indefinitely, doesn’t mean nothing can be done to give the grounds outside the armory a makeover.

If you grew up in our neighborhood in the 1950s and ’60s, you’ll love Robert Klein’s new book, "The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue." But even if you don’t remember egg creams, stickball, Spaldeens, or hanging out on Mosholu Parkway, you’ll enjoy Klein’s reminiscences. (The subtitle of the book is "A Child of the Fifties Looks Back." It could just as easily be called "A Child of the Bronx…"). The book is more than a name-dropping celebrity memoir; it’s the story of how a life is shaped by family, environment, experiences and drive.

A landlord who recently acquired dozens of Bronx buildings has a track record of aggressively raising rents, suing tenants to recoup extra fees, and evicting people, according to residents.

Charlie Shayne, the executive director of the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, remembers touring the Kingsbridge Armory in 1986 or 1987 with the young district manager of Community Board 5 – a young fellow named Adolfo Carrión (now the borough president).