WNYC News

New York, NY —

The Croton water treatment plant in the Bronx is overdue and running at double its original budget. That's according to audits by city comptroller Bill Thompson. Thompson, who's also running for mayor, says the public was misled about the costs of the project, now at ...

New York, NY —

The city's recent efforts to help start up businesses get off the ground has been in such demand, officials are expanding the program. Mayor Bloomberg says the city will spend an additional $800,000 to open four more so-called "incubators," where entrepreneurs can rent office space ...

New York, NY —

Sales tax revenues in New York City plummeted 10 percent in the first seven months of this year and the rest of the state is not far behind, with sales taxes down 8.9 percent from the year before. State Controller Thomas DiNapoli says local governments ...

New York, NY —

With some 4,000 prisoners across New York HIV positive, advocates want the state health department to play a greater role in preventing the spread of infectious disease. They held a rally outside Governor Paterson's midtown office today, They're calling on Governor Paterson to sign a ...

New York, NY —

Four fatal shootings of livery car drivers in recent months have prompted hundreds to sign up for a program that allows the NYPD to randomly pull them over for safety checks. Drivers are given a decal to put on the back windshield of their black ...

New York, NY —

This weekend's Brooklyn Soul Festival honors soul legends and highlights under-the-radar artists like Hermon Hitson and Maxine Brown. Festival organizer Richard Lewis.

LEWIS: It's not that Al Green or Aretha Franklin's records aren't great, cause they are. It's just that there is so much other music ...

New York, NY —

Muammar el-Qaddafi is coming to New York for the U.N.'s general assembly next month, and he and his traveling tent are allegedly planning to drop their stakes in Englewood, New Jersey. Libya owns a mansion in the suburban enclave, but his neighbors are protesting the ...

New York, NY —

Court papers filed Wednesday claim that government agencies, more than construction workers, are to blame for the deaths of two firefighters at the former Deutsche Bank building.

The documents were filed on behalf of three construction supervisors and a demolition subcontractor. They also claim prosecutors withheld ...

New York, NY —

As the eighth anniversary of September 11 approaches, some New Yorkers are gearing up to observe the date by volunteering their time to community service projects. David Paine, founder of MyGoodDeed.org is helping to organize the event.

PAINE: We really do believe that ...

New York, NY —

Area elected officials are offering their condolences to the family of Senator Edward Kennedy.

REPORTER: New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Kennedy "fearlessly challenged this country to be better."

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd said this:

DODD: For decades to come history will talk about his legislative accomplishments ...

New York, NY —

The Independent Budget Office says the city's new funding process for arts groups has led to more grants going to small arts organizations.

REPORTER According to the IBO report small theater groups did the best under the new process, instituted last year by the Department of ...

New York, NY —

The NYPD issued citations today against seven street vendors operating in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many of the vendors are disabled veterans who claim the right to operate freely in areas where others can't. Sean Basinski, director of the Street Vendor Project ...

New York, NY —

More questions are emerging about Congressman Charles Rangel's personal finances. This after he filed an amended report this month that shows he failed to disclose up to a half-million dollars in assets in 2007.

The Harlem Democrat is the powerful chairman of the Ways and Means ...

New York, NY —

A coalition of immigrant advocacy groups says authorities have begun deportation proceedings against an estimated 13,000 inmates held at Rikers Island since 2004.

The groups say they obtained the data through a Freedom of Information Act request and that it shows how the city's Department of ...

New York, NY —

The city may have been slow to enter the recession but Mayor Bloomberg claims it will also be quicker to come out of it.

REPORTER: The mayor says the city hasn't experienced the same job losses as other places in the nation and has managed to ...

New York, NY —

The Department of Cultural Affairs is partnering with the city's Department for the Aging in an effort to improve the city's livability for older New Yorkers.

Visual artists will be placed in studio spaces at senior centers throughout the city. In return for free work space, ...

New York, NY —

Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James wants to see Michael Jackson honored at the subway station where the star made a music video for his 1987 hit, "Bad."

James wants a plaque placed at Brooklyn's Hoyt-Schermerhorn station - or even to have "Jackson" added to the name.

A Metropolitan ...

New York, NY —

A 42-year-old livery cab driver, Jose Pena-Seguira, was shot inside his cab while working in the Bronx late last night. A suspect was arrested in a nearby park and police say they've also recovered a .25-caliber handgun.

REPORTER: It was the second time in a week ...

New York, NY —

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney will not challenge Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the state's Democratic primary.

Maloney says in a statement to be released Friday that she plans to stay in the House of Representatives. She says her decision was based on ...

New York, NY —

Immigration officials have outlined a series of steps to transform immigration detention from a criminal to a civil system and improve conditions at detention centers.

Local reaction to today's announcement has been cautiously optimistic. Amy Gottlieb is the regional director of the Immigrant Rights Program for ...