Indoor Dining Slowly Returns to Bedford Park & Norwood, yet COVID is not the Only Problem

By DAVID GREENE

Following the return of indoor dining at 25 percent of normal restaurant capacity, on Friday, Feb. 12, at least one Bedford Park restaurant owner was hopeful that it was a sign of things slowly, and hopefully, returning to normal. Maria Torres is the manager of Bedford Café and Restaurant, located at 1 Bedford Park Boulevard which, until Feb. 12, had been closed since Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued his executive “PAUSE” order on March 16, 2020. The order restricted all, on-premises consumption of food and beverages at eating and drinking establishments, statewide. Eleven months later, on Tuesday, Feb.

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

On a cold but bright and sunny afternoon, members of Masjidus Sabur set up a table on Bainbridge Avenue in Bedford Park for their annual winter coat and essentials drive. Masjidus is the Islamic term for mosque. Iman Alprentice Talibudeen McCutchen helped manage the event on Feb. 5 in front of the mosque, located at 2975 Bainbridge Avenue. “In today’s event, we’re giving away [free] coats for children as well as teenagers and adults… and book bags,” McCutchen said. A group of four to five volunteers joined McCutchen in manning a folding table surrounded by multiple boxes of coats

By DAVID GREENE

A couple celebrating St. Valentine’s Day, who wanted to give back to elderly residents of Fordham Manor, spent some of the day attempting to hand out eight $25 gift cards at their local supermarket to surprised and grateful shoppers. Early on Sunday morning, Feb. 14, Joseph Riley and his wife of ten years, Monique Ferguson-Riley, showed up at the Food Universe on East 194th Street, between Marion Avenue and Bainbridge Avenue, and handed out the $25 Visa gift cards to customers walking down the aisles, or at the checkout line. Ferguson-Riley was born in Miami and raised in

By DAVID GREENE

This week, we asked readers how they planned to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “I do have plans with a special guy this year for Valentine’s Day. We talked about the possibility of going out to a restaurant for this day, and we both decided it’s best to just stay at his place, and he’s going to cook for me. It is because we are choosing not to be around too many people, and who knows if restaurants are going to get crowded on Valentine’s Day, due to reopening of indoor dining on this holiday. I

By DAVID GREENE

As much as six inches of fresh snow fell across the borough, but that didn’t stop Bronxites from continuing with their daily routine of biking, shopping or getting their COVID-19 inoculations amid the ongoing pandemic, as the second major winter snow storm of the season battered the Northeast of the country for most of the day on Sunday, Feb. 7. As reported by Norwood News, on Saturday, Feb. 5, the New York City Emergency Management Department (EMD) issued a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday, Feb. 7, and the National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Warning for New York

By SÍLE MOLONEY

In what may be a first, 44 neighborhood organizations representing New York City’s five boroughs have joined forces to deliver messages of love and support to small businesses throughout the city, all in time for St. Valentine’s Day. The 44 associations are a combination of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), chambers of commerce, merchant associations and other community-based development organizations. Each of the 44 participating neighborhood associations will customize the “St. Valentine’s Day Sweethearts Shop Local” program to the individual neighborhoods across the city, with the following common messages to New Yorkers: Shop local Order direct Write a positive review

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Freshman, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who represents New York City’s 16th congressional district in the Bronx, was formally and unanimously elected by colleagues on Monday, Feb. 8, to be vice chair of the U.S. Congressional Committee on Education and Labor for the 117th Congress. A spokesperson for Bowman confirmed to the Norwood News on Tuesday, Feb. 9, that the congressman’s placement on the committee and his election to vice chair was unrelated to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent removal from it. “He was named to the committee in December prior to his swearing-in,” Bowman’s spokesperson said. The New York congressman

By SÍLE MOLONEY

On Saturday, Feb. 5, the New York City Emergency Management Department (EMD) issued a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday, Feb. 7. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for New York City which will be in effect from 6 a.m. Sunday through 9 p.m. According to the latest forecast, a winter storm is expected to bring steady light to moderate snow to the area beginning early Sunday morning through the afternoon, before tapering off in the evening. The heaviest period of snow is forecast between sunrise Sunday and early Sunday afternoon. Snowfall rates of an inch

By RACHEL DALLOO & SÍLE MOLONEY

Editor’s Pick Black History Month Lecture Series Presented by the Lehman College Art Gallery, the program covers two of the most important authors to contribute to the North American slave narrative genre: Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. Collective Black Fugitive Practices in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl will take place onThursday, Feb. 4, at 2 p.m. Eve Eure, an assistant English professor at Lehman College, will discuss Harriet Jacobs’s slave narrative—the first book-length fugitive slave narrative published by a Black woman in the United States. Focusing on the means by which Jacobs navigates the legal and social enclosures of slavery,

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Out and About

Indoor Dining Slowly Returns to Bedford Park & Norwood, yet COVID is not the Only Problem

Bedford Park Mosque Organizes Coat Drive

Couple Share the Love on Valentine’s Day, Hand Out Gift Cards to Seniors

Inquiring Photographer: Thoughts on How to Spend St. Valentine’s Day

Bronxites Push Forward Through Snow Storm Despite Pandemic, as More Snowfall is Promised on Feb. 10

Update: Jamaal Bowman Joins House Education, Energy Committees, Does Not Replace Marjorie Taylor Greene

City Issues Hazardous Travel Advisory ahead of Snow Storm on Sunday, Feb 7 from 6 a.m.

Out & About: Norwood Farmstand, Black History Month Lecture Series & More