Bob Hennelly

New York, NY —

A top Hudson County official says last week's rail bridge fire over the Hackensack River would have been put out faster if the area had marine fire fighting ability. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

REPORTER: Hudson County's head of Emergency Management, Jack Burns, says the current ...

New York, NY —

Negotiations over when and how the Port Authority will return to the World Trade Center site are being complicated by reluctance among the agency's employees … who don't want to return to the place where dozens of their co-workers died.

A spokesman for Governor Pataki denies ...

New York, NY —

The Republican candidates to be governor of New Jersey, have had their first major televised debate.

All seven of the GOP candidates blasted the state's Supreme Court. They said it overstepped its Constitutional authority on issues ranging from land use to mandating hundreds of millions more ...

New York, NY —

Jersey City's mayor wins in a landslide, there's a runoff in Hoboken and tragedy strikes the Hackensack city council election. WNYC'S Bob Hennelly has more on New Jersey's nonpartisan municipal elections.

Jersey City's incumbent Mayor Jeremiah Healy racked up three quarters of all the votes cast, ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to put the NYPD in charge of hazardous materials emergencies was criticized yesterday by fire officials from New York and other cities yesterday. WNYC's Bob Hennely has more.

REPORTER: Experts who took aim at the policy included New York City's first Office of ...

New York, NY —

Today the City Council will hear from a top fire department chief who has been sharply critical of Mayor Bloomberg's new emergency response plan.

FDNY Chief of Operations Peter Hayden has said the plan which puts police in command of a suspected hazardous materials emergency is ...

New York, NY —

Today is the last day for public comment on the plans for the memorial at the World Trade Center. WNYC's Bob Hennelly spoke to commuters in Lower Manhattan this morning after a week when plans for the site were in flux.

There was no consensus at ...

New York, NY —

New Jersey has enacted a law to increase information sharing and require background checks at health care facilities. The change was spurred by the sensational case of a nurse convicted for killing 24 patients.

From 1987 to 2000, Nurse Charles Cullen managed to get fired from ...

New York, NY —

The amount of money paid out by the city to settle civil suits against the police jumped by over 60 percent in 2004 over the previous year.

In 2003 the city settled nearly 650 civil suits brought against the police and paid out over $26 million ...

New York, NY —

Private security guards in Midtown will get an anti-terrorism course from the NYPD. Their union hopes it will spur higher standards across the industry.

REPORTER: The 40-hour seminar will be paid for by the private guards' union, SEIU 32 BJ. The curriclum will go well beyond ...

The new president of the nation's largest medical school will go ahead with a controversial innauguration today even as questions about the institution's finances continue to mount.

New Jersey's University of Medicine and Dentistry's troubles started with the disclosure that it had paid $75,000 to a fundraiser for former Governor McGreevey, ...

New York, NY —

The chairman of the Mayor's Commission to Combat Police Corruption is stepping down. Mark Pomerantz, who was in the post for a year and a half, has been critical of the police department.

Pomerantz says he is leaving because demands from his private law practice at ...

New York, NY —

New Jersey Transit is expected to approve today a double-digit fare hike on its bus and train lines.

Early this year, the agency said it had a $60-million shortfall due to increased health care, fuel and security costs. Commuter Louise Genawine said she wouldn't mind paying ...

New York, NY —

Last winter thousands of housing activists descended on City hall to vent their frustration over the lack of affordable housing. Yesterday, hundreds returned, but the mood was far different.

This time the Housing Here and Now Coaltion came to cheer. Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Democratic ...

New York, NY —

This Tuesday, just a fraction of New Jersey's eligible voters are expected to bother to cast a ballot in their their local school board elections.

In addition to selecting their local boards of education voters in over 550 districts will get to weigh in on the ...

New York, NY —

In the aftermath of the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo, Fernando Ferrer was arrested as part of a massive civil disobedience protest. But when he addressed the a group of police sergeants one month ago , Ferrer said the shooting of the unarmed Diallo was ...

New York, NY —

The City Council will present its alternative to Mayor Bloomberg's budget today. Councilmembers want tax cuts for small buinsesses, more police and an expansion of the city's earned income tax credit.

The proposed budget calls for an across the board 5% cut of city business taxes ...

New York, NY —

Today New Jersey Acting Governor Richard Codey will sign into the law the first major hike in the state's minimum wage since 1991. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

Starting October 1st, New Jersey's minimum wage workers will see their salaries rise a dollar to $6.15 an ...

New York, NY —

Just half way through New Jersey's week long bio-terrorism drill several issues about the region's readiness have surfaced. WNYC's bob hennelly has more.

Under the simulation, the pneumonic plague attack originated at Kean University in Union County. Nearby Union Hospital, a small 200 bed facility became ...

New York, NY —

A task force appointed by Acting New Jersey Governor Richard Codey is calling for a comprehensive over haul of the state's mental health care system.

After hearing from hundreds of witnesses the panel found New Jersey residents have a hard time getting mental health care, and ...