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The MTA is reporting that a truck hit an elevated structure at 172nd Street and Southern Blvd. in the Bronx and that there temporarily was no service in either direction on the 2 or 5 trains between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and East 180th Street Station.

The MTA says it's all ...

President Barack Obama, faced with mounting criticism of his administration's response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, is set to travel to the region on Friday. Before he does, though, he will address the press and ...

Policemen and street vendors have been applauded for their quick reaction to Saturday's bomb scare, but how did the shops and businesses in Times Square respond? WNYC's Ailsa Chang has been talking to officials at hotels and businesses in the area to answer some questions about what kind of security ...

Times Square had a very close call this weekend. An SUV packed with improvised explosives failed to go off, but officials say that if it had, it may have caused significant damage to the surrounding area, which was filled with tourists. The police and federal investigators are currently examining the ...

Despite the car bomb discovered in Times Square last night, and the resulting police presence and 10-hour closure of several major thoroughfares, by early this morning traffic had been restored and crowds were thronging the area.

Rita Kirkpatrick and her husband were in town from Massachusetts. They missed a play ...

(Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

(by Stephen Nessen)

Uptown bound straphangers riding the C or D lines will need to adjust their routine this week. The MTA has announced that C trains will run express after Canal St. and D trains will be ...

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The MTA put up on its Web site a revised list of service changes that's more targeted than the list it put out last month (which was itself ...

The earthquake in Haiti has affected an estimated 3 million people, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Thousands are feared dead. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says Haiti is facing a "major humanitarian emergency."

If you want to help, below is a list ...

A bill to legalize gay marriage was defeated in New Jersey's state Senate on Thursday. The vote, 14 for and 20 against, is a blow to gay marriage advocates, who were trying to get the measure passed before Gov.-elect Chris Christie, an opponent of gay marriage, takes office on January ...

Gusty winds and low temperatures are pushing the wind chill into the single digits or lower across New York state.

A wind advisory is in effect until 7:00 p.m. in the city, where winds are gusting up to 50mph ...

The New York State Senate, by a count of 38-24, has voted down a landmark bill that would have made New York the sixth state in the nation to legalize gay marriage.

The floor debate and vote came after months of delays and behind-the-scenes arm-twisting of Senators who were ...

As soon as I heard of the helicopter and plane crash near Hoboken, I immediately took the train into the city to find out what happened. Getting off the train at the Hoboken terminal and walking about a half mile towards the crash site nothing seemed unusual or abnormal. Joggers ...

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police are asking members of the public to come forward with any information regarding the theft of $120,000 worth of jewelry stolen in Grand Central Terminal.

Two employees of a jewelry company were passing through the lower level of Grand Central Station one month ago today around 6 p.m. They were transporting about 800 pieces of gold and diamond jewelry including rings, neck chains, bracelets, earrings and pendants, and about $2,000 in cash, in a black duffel bag. The employee carrying the bag set it down momentarily to discard some garbage.

At that moment, the employee’s co-worker was approached by two men who created a diversion by dropping a $10 bill on the ground and informing the co-worker that he had dropped it. As the co-worker was occupied, a third man took the duffel bag and replaced it with a nearly identical bag that was weighted down to appear have the same weight as the bag containing the jewelry. After the bags were switched, the three suspects left the area separately.

All three suspects were wearing light blue uniform-type shirts and dark colored work pants. The two suspects who created the diversion are described as being Asian or Hispanic men and in their mid to late twenties. The prime suspect, who is believed to have taken the bag, is described as a white or Hispanic male with dark crew-cut hair and a thin to medium build. Surveillance video images of the prime suspect taken shortly before the theft appear in the attached wanted poster, which also contains images of examples of some of the stolen property.

A group of unidentified handcuffed men are walked outside FBI offices Thursday, July 23, 2009, in Newark, N.J.. to a waiting bus for transport to court hearing as part of a major corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe. (AP/Mel Evans)

As part of an ongoing, 10-year investigation, FBI agents arrested dozens of people this morning, including the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, as well as the deputy mayor and council president of Jersey City.

A federal prosecutor says the money-laundering arrests include several rabbis in Brooklyn and New Jersey. A congregant of a synagogue in Deal, New Jersey, says he witnessed FBI agents removing boxes from the Deal Yeshiva this morning.

In addition to the corruption and money laundering charges, is one detailing a kidney-trafficking racket. The accused trafficker, Brooklyn-based Levy Rosenbaum, allegedly obtained kidneys from Israeli donors at the cost of $10,000 apiece and sold them for as much as $160,000.

A cooperating witness who had been charged with bank fraud in May 2006 was named in all 29 of the criminal complaints released by the U.S. District Court.

WNYC reporter Bob Hennelly discusses the arrest on All Things Considered.

A group of unidentifed men are walked outside FBI offices Thursday, July 23, 2009, in Newark, N.J.. to a waiting bus for transport to court hearing. (AP/Mel Evans)

U.S. Attorney's Office Press Release (PDF)

Some of those charged:

• Peter Cammarano III, the newly elected mayor of Hoboken and an attorney, charged with accepting $25,000 in cash bribes, including $10,000 last Thursday, from an undercover cooperating witness.

• L. Harvey Smith, a New Jersey Assemblyman and recent mayoral candidate in Jersey City, charged along with an aide of taking $15,000 in bribes to help get approvals from high-level state agency officials for building projects.

• Daniel Van Pelt, a New Jersey Assemblyman, charged with accepting a $10,000 bribe.

• Dennis Elwell, mayor of Secaucus, charged with taking a $10,000 cash bribe.

• Anthony Suarez, mayor of Ridgefield and an attorney, charged with agreeing to accept a $10,000 corrupt cash payment for his legal defense fund.

• Louis Manzo, the recent unsuccessful challenger in the Jersey City mayoral election and former state Assemblyman, and his brother and political advisor Robert Manzo, both with taking $27,500 in corrupt cash payments for use in Louis Manzo’s campaign.

• Leona Beldini, the Jersey City deputy mayor and a campaign treasurer, charged with taking $20,000 in conduit campaign contributions and other self-dealing in her official capacity.

• Eliahu Ben Haim, of Long Branch, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, N.J., charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

• Saul Kassin, of Brooklyn, N.Y., the chief rabbi of a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

• Edmund Nahum, of Deal, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

• Mordchai Fish, of Brooklyn, N.Y., a rabbi at a synagogue in Brooklyn, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity. His brother, also a rabbi, was charged as well.

Names, ages, charges for each defendant (PDF)

Complaints: (PDFs)

U.S.A. v. Daniel M. Van Pelt

U.S.A. v. Peter Cammarano III, Michael Schaffer

U.S.A. v. Jack Shaw, Edward Cheatam, Leona Beldini

(Getty Images)

Supreme Court nominee judge Sonia Sotomayor (R) with Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) (L). Confirmation hearing for Sotomayor start July 13. ...

Continental Airlines Flight 61 landed safely at Newark Airport this afternoon, after the plane's pilot died in flight. Two co-pilots landed the plane, which originated in Brussels. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reported from Newark Liberty Airport.

Most people ...

New York is a little bit greener today -- or at least more aware -- with the launch of the world's first real-time carbon counter. The almost 70-foot high billboard outside of Madison Square Garden shows the running total of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The current number displayed on ...

The State Assembly is poised to vote on a bill today preserving Mayor Bloomberg's control of the city schools when the 2002 law expires on June 30th. But even if Republicans and Democrats in the state Senate could bridge their great divide and hold a session, they're a long way from agreeing on mayoral control of the schools.

Today, John Sampson of Brooklyn - who was installed on Monday as co-leader of the Senate Democrats - told a handful of reporters in Albany that he wasn't happy with the Assembly bill. Sampson has been critical of the current system of mayoral control of the schools. In fact, he co-sponsored a bill that would dilute the mayor's power over the Panel for Educational Policy.

"The school governance bill that I sponsored I would like to put forth, or look at their [Assembly] bill and look at our bill and see if there can be some compromises," Sampson said, according to the Daily News and New York Post websites.

But with the clock ticking, Sampson was asked if there was time to get a bill passed in the Senate. "You shouldn’t ask me that question, you should ask Senator Skelos that question," he told the reporters, referring to the Republican who took control last week and refuses to give it up.