Arun Venugopal

New York, NY —

ELMO: Hi everybody, I'm so excited for Elmo's neighborhood Sesame Street to grow.

REPORTER: Sesame Street's Elmo yesterday helped Mayor Bloomberg break ground on a 40,000-foot expansion of the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. City and state officials say a 35 percent tax credit for film ...

New York, NY —

Patricia Kaufman heads the governor's office for film and TV development.

She says the state's decision to increase its tax credit for production costs, from 10 to 30 percent, has resulted in a spike in productions seeking to film here.

KAUFMAN: So I think it's pretty safe ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg is denying accusations that he's abusing his power in order to drum up support for his bid to change term limits.

BLOOMBERG: We're out there, promoting, trying to rally people to support the administration's position. That's what we're supposed to do. But we do ...

New York, NY —

Our latest count has 17 city council members in favor of Mayor Bloomberg's bid for a term limits extension. Nineteen are against and 15 remain undecided. Opponents of the plan were out in full force this weekend, including Comptroller Bill Thompson, who's planning to run ...

New York, NY —

You've heard of the 42nd Street subway shuttle, being covered in ads? Well, how about garbage trucks and street sweepers?

It's something Council Speaker Christine Quinn is proposing, as a way of raising more money for the city to bridge upcoming budget gaps.

Quinn told members of ...

New York, NY —

It may feel like a late-summer day but it's ice skating season. The rink at Rockefeller Center opened for business today. Pam Simpson from Aberdeen declared the ice was "absolutely brilliant."

SIMPSON: I'm just so excited to be on Rockefeller Center and skating, because I've come ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg has some advice for individual investors who think they can play the market: Don't.

The mayor says it's best to leave that to the experts.

BLOOMBERG: If you want to be a trader go to Las Vegas, buy some chips. That's exactly what you're doing. ...

New York, NY —

The city still has 6,000 of its 58,000 seats available in its pre-K programs, and wants parents to sign their kids up by the October 31 deadline. The seats are open to children who turn four by year's end. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says pre-K ...

New York, NY —

With its 21 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is one of the most highly-contested battleground states.

And, with the McCain campaign’s decision to pull out of Michigan, the battle over Pennsylvania is likely to get even more fierce.

Today is the deadline for registering voters in Pennsylvania and yesterday ...

New York, NY —

Today is the last day for voter registration in Pennsylvania. Over the weekend, hundreds of New Yorkers headed out to the battleground state. WNYC's Arun Venugopal tagged along to North Philadelphia with some Obama volunteers.

REPORTER: The bus empties out in the 11th Ward of Philadelphia, ...

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg administration has been widely praised for its efforts in promoting bicycling. All across the city new bike lanes are being built and more riders are being drawn to biking. But one group of riders continues to be at odds with the city - ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg says there's no telling how far Wall Street might fall, but he thinks the city can weather the storm with a combination of spending cuts and, possibly, property tax increases.

BLOOMBERG: I don't think we will get to the point of layoffs. I don't ...

New York, NY —

The financial crisis is likely to have a direct impact on many of the city's nonprofits, which rely on corporate gifts. Fran Barrett is the executive director of Community Resource Exchange, which works with hundreds of nonprofits, including soup kitchens and housing programs. She says ...

New York, NY —

The city's elementary and middle schools have received their second annual progress report cards from the Department of Education. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more. REPORTER: The progress reports suggest that the city's schools are doing far better this year, with half as many F's and ...

New York, NY —

The NYPD started cracking down on motorists who block the box last week, but the measure has some police officers upset. Anthony Miranda of the National Latino Officers Association says traffic agents are not trained to stop moving cars and issue summonses, the way police ...

New York, NY —

In the wake of Lehman Brothers' collapse and the ongoing chaos on Wall Street, Mayor Bloomberg had a few words for a room full of reporters, namely- "Fear Not." WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more. REPORTER: As an extremely successful businessman who also happens to govern ...

Arun Venugopal, WNYC reporter, covers the 9/11 memorial service in Lower Manhattan.

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg says the redevelopment of the World Trade Center is going too slowly...and he's asking Governor Paterson to dismantle the Lower Manhattan Development Authority, and give its tasks to the city.

He says the LMDC may have been a good idea at the time....

BLOOMBERG: And ...

New York, NY —

Don't block that box. At noon today, the city made it much easier to ticket drivers who clog up intersections.

REPORTER: Earlier only police officers could hand out the $115 tickets, but over the summer the governor signed a law allowing all traffic enforcement agents to ...

New York, NY —

Gov. David Paterson says there may be more to those jokes Republicans have made at Barack Obama's expense where, they poked fun at his early work in Chicago's poor neighborhoods.

Paterson says he heard overtones of racial coding.

PATERSON: I think the Republican party is too smart ...