WNYC Newsroom

by Alex Goldmark and Janaya Williams

Meet the Mayor of Columbia Street, Brooklyn.

We know, we know, Mike Bloomberg is the mayor of New York, and Cory Booker presides over Newark, New Jersey. But we’re talking more local than that! So ...

Hazel Dukes, President of the NAACP New York State Conference, discusses the one hundredth anniversary of the NAACP, the organization’s history and future on the Leonard Lopate Show.

Bernstein rehearsing with singer Marian Anderson at Lewisohn Stadium, New York. June 1947. (Music Division)

The Police Athletic League is closing off a street in Harlem today for this summer's first "Play Streets" event. Kids were playing sidewalk games, like double dutch, hopscotch and tug-of-war under the hot sun, until they were joined by Manhattan District Attorney and league chairman Robert Morgenthau, who helped ...

Pictures of important members and events that celebrate the NAACP's centennial.
Thanks to the NAACP for help in sourcing photographs.

Hundreds of ethnic media organizations across the country are organizing to demand action on federal immigration reform. New America Media, an association of ethnic news outlets, has produced an editorial calling on the White House and Congress to enact a "just and humane" reform package.

Marcelo Ballve, contributing editor of ...

Department of Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith is traveling throughout New York State encouraging businesses to take advantage of three government programs. Smith says these programs can help employers and workers survive the recession.

The Shared Work Program

If a business ...

In March 16, 1961, JFK sits in ...

The New York Public Library is offering a special viewing of the original copy of the Declaration of Independence this July Fourth weekend. The full-text version of the Declaration is one of only two fully intact copies. It's 233 years ...

“They say that competitive eating is the battleground upon which God and Lucifer wage war for men's souls, my friends, and they are right! For the battle that will occur on July 4 is a battle for the ages, a battle of the titans!”

Otherwise known as Nathan's International ...

Unemployed mother Janet ...

The law that gave Mayor Bloomberg control of city schools expired at midnight. That means the Board of Education is back. Earlier this morning, the five borough presidents gathered at Gracie Mansion to determine their appointees; the mayor also makes two appointments. The newly reconstituted board's first meeting is expected ...

The City Council is urging the Bloomberg Administration to add two Muslim holidays to the public school calendar. Councilwoman Annabel Palma supported the resolution that passed this afternoon.

"This is not just another day off. This is a city embracing yet another culture, a city saying the Muslim community needs ...

Former New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer has some advice for Governor Paterson on dealing with the chaos in the New York State Senate. Spitzer says Paterson should encourage his constituents to use their 2010 voting power to eliminate uncooperative senators from the legislative body. Spitzer says that elected officials ...

Report from Karen DeWitt in Albany:

Governor Paterson has ordered all 62 state senators to come together for another special session today. The session held earlier this morning ended in 20 minutes, with no legislative action, after Republicans refused to acknowledge a Democrat as the presiding officer.

"These people, who for some reason want to play political games, when they really need to be standing up for the public, should hang their heads in shame. They are now the do nothing Senate and should be known that way until they come in and begin to discharge the business of the people."

On Paterson's "Senate to do list" -- renewing mayoral control of the city's schools. The current law expires at midnight, reverting the school system back to a Board of Education. Mayor Bloomberg says Joel Klein will still be at the helm.

"The chancellor is still in charge of the school system, he has a contract and we will honor that contract, and we've started to work to see what we have to do."

All 62 of New York's state senators met together for the first time in three weeks, because a judge had ordered them to do so. But the feuding Democrats and Republicans failed to act on any of the key measures ...

(Jocelyn Aponte)

Famed fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi spoke with one of our producers about what the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots means to him. Mizrahi also offers his thoughts on ...

Forty years ago this weekend, America mourned the death of Judy Garland. Among the saddened were denizens of a West Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. On June 28 of that year, New York City police raided the bar, ...