The Annual "Taste of Harlem" kicks off this week and The Harlem Tea Room on Madison and 118th street is participating in the event.

REPORTER: Its Harlem born and bred owner, 32-year old Patrice Williams, says tea has had a special place in her life.

WILLIAMS: Well the funny story is I ...

A year ago, four cultural institutions were selected to take up residence at the World Trade Center site. Then this past May designs for a building to house the Drawing Center and the International Freedom Center, were unveiled. Soon after, critics began to question the legitimacy of those institutions' programming.

We've ...

Thousands of civilian and military workers at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey now face a daunting choice to uproot their families, or find a new job.

REPORTER: A federal commission voted to close the base and move some of its 5,000 jobs elsewhere. Local commander Colonel Ricki Sullivan says the decision to ...

Four candidates seeking the democratic nomination for the City's Public Advocate faced off in their first debate. The challengers spent most of their time attacking the incumbent Betsy Gotbaum. WNYC's Richard Hake reports.

Public Advocate Gotbaum defended her track record at standing up to the Mayor and acting as the government ...

Starting immediately, the MTA says it will start installing one-thousand high-tech security cameras to monitor subway platforms and tunnels.

REPORTER: It's part of a $212 million dollar security upgrade by defense contractor Lockheed Martin that includes motion detectors and what the MTA calls "intelligent video software" that identifies unattended packages. MTA ...

Queens Congressman Anthony Weiner knows he is the least recongnized of the Democratic hopefuls who want to unseat Mayor Bloomberg. But the former city councilman and aide to Charles Schumer has done well in the first two debates. And now, one survey puts him in a three-way tie for second ...

Opening hydrants to cool off in the summer is dangerous and wastes water. That is the message that the city's Department of Environmental Protection had for children they visited in a Washington Heights' day camp yesterday.

REPORTER: The talk left seven-year-old Lilianna Rosario with some questions.

ROSARIO: If you leave the water ...

The owner of one of the most run-down buildings in Manhattan has agreed to make hundreds of thousands of dollars of repairs in a unique agreement forged by housing advocates, tenants and a bank.

REPORTER: Citibank, which had given a $3.8 million mortgage to owner Gadi Zamir, helped persuade him to ...

The first official debate for the candidates seeking to be the city's Public Advocate is tonight. Incumbent Betsy Gotbaum and her challengers are all democrats which means the September 13th primary will decide the winner. WNYC's Richard Hake has a debate preview.

Gotbaum, is trying to fend off a long list ...

A judge has ordered the city to allow a party this week where artists will spray-paint graffiti on models of subway cars. The party is being promoted by fashion designer Marc Ecko. Lawyers for the city argued that the event would encourage people to vandalize actual subway cars, and revoked ...

This fall the City will start redeveloping Staten Island's Fresh Kills Landfill into a sprawling park for both passive and active recreation. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

REPORTER: For fifty years after World War II the Fresh Kills Landfill was where New York City dumped an ever increasing volume of garbage ...

Mayoral hopeful C. Virginia Fields said today she wants more specialized high schools, earlier vocational education and a focus on math and science.

REPORTER: Fields' education plan include also an audit of the city's budget to find ways to pay for her proposal.

FIELDS: We are saying that a 14 billion dollar ...

Amtrak says service between New York and New Haven may be suspended tonight and tomorrow. A freight train derailed in the South Bronx this morning, blocking some tracks and damaging overhead lines that provide power to Amtrak's trains.

There were no injuries. But service has been suspended between Penn Station and ...

A debate over whether West Indian American Day parade participants can wear plain old t-shirts has been resolved. Organizers of the Brooklyn parade have agreed to repeal a ban on t-shirts that was designed to preserve the event's traditional character.

REPORTER: The parade originated in Trinidad and Tobago, but Darlae Gervais ...

WNYC is taking a closer look at the five candidates running for mayor. The first up in our series is the man who holds the job now, Mayor Bloomberg. He won last time as the billionaire underdog who had two strikes against him: he was a registered Republican originally from ...

Congressman Anthony Weiner, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer met Sunday in their second televised live debate.

The candidates strove to highlight the differences in their campaign platforms, while remaining unified in their message that a second term for ...

A judge has ordered the city to release information on its program to subject subway riders to random searches of their belongings.

Several plantiffs, along with the New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the city, contending the program is unconstitutional and ineffective.

A judge approved their request for details including ...

Just two days after Democratic mayoral hopeful Fernando Ferrer attacked Mayor Bloomberg for not building affordable housing, the Mayor made a major housing announcement in Brooklyn. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

REPORTER: Mayor Bloomberg came to East New York to announce the city was letting developers use the last of the ...

Former Massachusets Governor William Weld met with New York's Republican party chairman today to say he will run for Governor of New York. The Long Island native currently works at a Midtown investment firm. WNYC's Dan Blumberg reports

The liberal Republican won election in largely Democratic Massachusets in 1990 and 1994 ...