Bob Hennelly

Federal prosecutors allege that New York City was the victim of a massive case of contract fraud known as the CityTime scandal. It's a cautionary tale of what can happen when the city...

The City Council voted to pass the $66 billion budget on Wednesday — a plan that avoids 4,000 teacher layoffs and the closure of 20 fire companies but will hit both education and social services.

Right now the only sign of adult bipartisan leadership and forward momentum is coming from the states, local officials and average citizens who sense the country's dire condition. — ...

Bob Hennelly, WNYC senior reporter and Erin Einhorn, political reporter for the Daily News, talk about the latest with the New York City budget. Mayor Bloomberg announced late Friday night that he'd reached an agreement to avoid teacher layoffs, but other deep cuts are expected.

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Fresh off his legislative victory curbing state worker benefits, New Jersey governor Chris Christie talks about his bi-partisan strategy to put the deal together, the future of the ...

WNYC senior reporter, Bob Hennelly, the Wall Street Journal's Lisa Fleisher, and Ester Fuchs, professor of international and public affairs and political science at Columbia University and former advisor to Mayor Bloomberg, discuss the labor deals in New York and New Jersey and what they mean for working people. 

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was met with cheers and jeers a town hall in Fair Lawn on the even of a historic vote in the state Assembly on a controversial rollback of public employees.

In Trenton, protesting public workers hope to evoke the imagery of George Washington's come from behind win at the Battle of Trenton when they cross the Delaware behind a detachment of Revolutionary War re-enactors.

Today, New Jersey’s state Senate is expected to pass bipartisan  legislation backed by Gov. Chris Christie that would require the state's public workers to pay a lot more for their health and pension benefits.

When Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker threatened the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin’s public sector employees earlier this year, large scale protests assembled almost overnight as the eyes of the world descended on the Badger State. It was déjà vu in the Garden State last week, when the New Jersey State Senate approved a bill which would radically change the health care, pensions and bargaining rights of over 500,000 public sector employees. Just a decade ago, a move against pensions would be political suicide. So why are voters and lawmakers changing their state budget tactics now?

The city paid $520.6 million to settle thousands of personal injury and property damage lawsuits in fiscal year 2010 — with the NYPD, Health and Hospitals Corp. and Department of ...

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a preliminary victory lap on Thursday evening, celebrating the passage in committee earlier in the day of a public employee benefit reform plan he said would generate $122 billion in savings over the next 30 years for the state's beleaguered pension system. The Governor spoke during a call-in show hosted by WNET and WNYC.

In a major setback for New Jersey's state public unions, the Democratic legislative leadership has committed to significant changes to state pension and health care benefits backed by Governor Chris Christie.

Bob Hennelly, WNYC senior reporter, discusses his reporting on lawsuit settlements by the New York Police Department, which last year paid $136 million in settlements.

With the City budget deadline looming, the City Council is trying to find the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to prevent teachers layoffs and fire company closures. One are...

The Democratic-controlled New Jersey legislature is debating Governor Chris Christie's proposal to have WNET take over the programming of New Jersey Network, the state's public TV station. Christie said the move will save $11 million dollars annually. But Rutgers Political Science Professor Ross Baker said historically, New Jersey public affairs have been neglected by New York broadcasters.

With the city paying out tens of millions of dollars every year on police misconduct cases, that cries out for some very close accounting and some very close accountability and we hav...

Tuesday's primary marks the first time voters will be selecting candidates based on the new state district map that tries to incorporate the trends picked up by the 2010 Census. The C...

Last night a hearing was held to discuss the future of Indian Point. WNYC reporter Bob Hennelly, discusses what's in store for the power plant, located 40 miles from New York City.

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A Nuclear Regulatory Commission forum on safety at Indian Point nuclear facility in Westchester County Thursday night will be used by critics as an opportunity to protest a proposed 20-year extension of the plant's operation.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is coming under fire for traveling to his son's high school baseball game in a state police helicopter. Although Christie had no public schedule on Tuesday, he did have an evening event after the ballgame - a dinner in Princeton with Iowa GOP donors.

Democrats in the state legislature called the move an improper and even illegal use of state resources for Christie's personal convenience, not official business. Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) says Christie crossed an ethical line and perhaps even a legal one.