Friday News & Notes is a new regular feature we’re implementing on Breaking Bronx as a way to report news tidbits, preview weekend happenings, and point out some of the stories you may have missed earlier in the week. Like Breaking Bronx, this will be an evolving feature.

— “Master carver” Ray Villafane will be at the Botanical Garden this weekend carving up the world’s largest pumpkin, which weighs in at 1,818.5 pounds. The photo above, by Adi Talwar, is from last year’s giant pumpkin carving extravaganza at the Garden. Click here for more of Adi’s pumpkin carving photos.

— The Norwood News talked with Councilman Fernando Cabrera for an article about the sector stats legislation he introduced two weeks ago. This didn’t make it into the story, but he called the Norwood News the “instigator” and the “conscious awakener” of the bill.

— Speaking of neighborhood crime stats, we recently interviewed longtime NYC crime reporter Murray Weiss, who spearheaded an amazingly thorough new crime statistics database on dnainfo.com. Check back for our interview with Weiss next week on Breaking Bronx. And look for our detailed crime statistics analysis of all 15 sectors in the 52nd Precinct in the next edition of the Norwood News print edition, Nov. 3.

— Spoke with new Community Board 7 Vice Chair Adaline Walker-Santiago this morning. Walker-Santiago narrowly defeated Parks Chair William Francis, 16-14, at Tuesday night’s meeting to take over for the late great Ozzie Brown. Walker-Santiago, a former city and DOE employee, is fast becoming one of the most active members of CB 7. She was instrumental in implementing a new free course for students at MS 80 (the Mosholu Parkway school on the chopping block after years of low performance) that will give students concentrated help in studying for the entrance exams into specialized high schools, like Bronx Science. (More on this next week and in the next print edition.) During a speech at the first-ever Bronx Education Summit, Boro Prez Ruben Diaz, Jr. commented on the lack of Bronx kids in specialized schools, “Our flagship school — the Bronx High School of Science — barely has any Bronx students within its walls.”

— The Tour de Bronx is Sunday! Get your ride on, Bronxites.