Norwood Muslim Community Celebrate Eid al Adha

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Local residents, Mahfuja Chadani, Madiha Madani and Nusrat Tasnim, took a stroll through Williamsbridge Oval Park on July 31 to celebrate the Muslim holy festival of Eid al Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice. This year, the holiday was observed from sundown on Thursday, July 30, to sundown on Friday, July 31. Chadani said typically the Muslim community have two big celebrations each year. The earlier festival of Idul-Fitr (Eid Al-Fitr) is celebrated among friends and family to mark the end of Ramadan, a month-long period during which Muslims fast during daylight hours, while offering up additional

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Every year, each of the City’s five boroughs hosts an arts festival at the school year’s end to celebrate and highlight student achievement in the arts, from kindergartners to high school seniors. In the Bronx, the celebration is usually held at Lehman College, with a performing arts showcase at Lehman Center, and a visual arts exhibition at the Lehman College Art Gallery. This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the exhibition, just like the Lehman College campus that hosts it, went virtual. The City’s department of education officials who produce the festivals, worked with Lehman on this year’s event.

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

Future and current generations of scholars, historians, and anyone else interested in learning how COVID-19 has affected the borough will find a well-researched resource in, “The Bronx COVID 19 Oral History Project“. The work is conducted under the auspices of Fordham University’s Bronx African American History Project. The goal of the online project, which is still ongoing, is to gather a wide variety of testimony from Bronxites, through both video and audio interviews, describing how their lives have been disrupted by the global pandemic. The student-run project is putting a face and adding a voice to the people who

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), 13-member Climate Justice Working Group will hold its initial meeting on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 3 p.m. Established under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (2019), the Group is tasked with establishing criteria for identifying disadvantaged communities to reduce co-pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, compile regulatory impact statements, and manage the allocation of investments pursuant to the Act. The Act is among the most ambitious climate laws in the world and requires New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030, and no less than

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Dear Readers, Hope you’re well. As if we hadn’t enough to contend with already, what with the ongoing pandemic, a global recession, stifling humidity, a rise in gun violence, and random shark-sightings in New York City, it seems we’re also set to be hit with the tail end of Tropical Storm Isaias later this evening, August 3, so batten down the hatches, hang tight, and check out this year’s ninth and latest edition of the Norwood News. Following the arrest earlier this month of Ghislaine Maxwell on charges relating to human trafficking, which she denies, our cover

By DAVID GREENE

After being shut for several months during the global coronavirus pandemic, the staff of the Dominguez Expert Martial Arts School on East 204th Street have restarted Tae Kwon Do classes. More than a dozen young students were taken outside of the Norwood school, for their first resumed Tae Kwon Do class since the shutdown, ensuring adequate social distancing and more access to fresh air. The youngsters were spotted on the open field of Mosholu Parkway at Bainbridge Avenue, throwing punches and kicks on Friday, July 24. According to Wikipedia, Taekwondo, Tae Kwon Do or Taekwon-Do is a Korean

By DAVID GREENE

In a pre-dawn raid on July 22, City officials reported that members of the NYPD moved in on the fifty or so remaining demonstrators who were part of the larger group of protestors to have occupied City Hall Park since June 23, and removed them from the area. As reported previously by Norwood News, the demonstrators vowed not to leave until the NYPD’s budget was slashed. On June 30, the much-anticipated vote on the revised $88.2 billion City budget was presented and passed by 32 votes to 17 in the City Council. Local elected Bronx councilmen Fernando Cabrera,

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

Next year, residents of New York City’s 14th District will vote on a new representative. Incumbent Councilman Fernando Cabrera has reached the end of his last term. He has represented the district, which extends from just south of the Cross Bronx Expressway to Kingsbridge Heights in the north, since 2010. In June 2020, Pierina Sanchez, 32, announced her candidacy to replace Cabrera with a focus on improving permanent housing and education, among other issues. “With 70 percent of our residents unable to afford their rents, I want to work to improve that number,” Sanchez said. “I want more

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The Fresh Air Fund, in response to COVID-19, has created Fresh Air Summer Spaces, fun, free and safe play spaces for New York City children, ages five through 13. Fresh Air Summer Spaces provides children the chance to enjoy safe, supervised outdoor summer activities where they can laugh, smile, play and make new friends. Fresh Air staff supervise arts and crafts, interactive games and even dance parties! Summer Spaces would not be possible without the support of the local community. Fresh Air Youth Employment program participants will assist at sites. The Fund is helping to fill the gap