wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

More than half are in Brooklyn, with large numbers in Queens and Manhattan. Local sources of pollution include Brooklyn's Pfizer Plant and Navy Yard, Long Island City's Keyspan Power Station, and New Jersey refineries.

But EPA Regional Spokesman Elias Rodriguez says the newspaper's findings are limited, because it simply merged school ...

Governor Paterson says there's a new timetable to deliver long-delayed donations to hurricane victims in Haiti three months after four heavy storms hit the Caribbean nation.

He says 40 tons of water, food and medical supplies that have been stored in a Brooklyn Armory will be put on planes and cargo ...

With the city facing a budget deficit that’s expected to balloon to $4 billion over the next two years, city agencies have been instructed to cut 7.5 percent of their budgets. Everything from daycare slots for low income families to dental clinics for kids, have been put on the chopping ...

City ambulances will be taking a new tack with patients struck by cardiac arrest. Starting next year, EMS paramedics will take many heart attack victims to certain hospitals where their bodies can be cooled down, even if those hospitals with specialized cooling equipment are farther away.

Doctor Stephan Mayer is head ...

The debate rages on at City Hall as to whether the city should go forward with its planned modernization of the more than 300 senior centers around the city.

Many elderly New Yorkers and their advocates worry that the plan to update centers, or potentially lose funding could lead to scores ...

New York City ambulances will no longer automatically take heart attack patients to closest hospital. Instead, they will only go to facilities with special body-cooling units. As WNYC's Fred Mogul reports, the technology is relatively new but early research indicates a big boost in survival rates.

Lowering the body temperature for ...

The number of New Yorkers seeking food at pantries and soup kitchens jumped 28 percent this year, compared to last year, according to the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. The group says this uptick was a further increase from last year's survey, which found a 20 percent hike in ...

City health officials are defending their plan to eliminate dozens of public dental clinics that serve 17,000 children.

Commissioner Thomas Frieden says the $3 million cut is necessary, because the department needs to trim the budget.

FRIEDEN: We did not make this proposal lightly. we wish we did not have to make ...

The City Council is fighting back over a proposal to eliminate dozens of public dental clinics for the poor, most of them based in schools.

In hearings today, Health Commissioner Doctor Thomas Frieden said the proposal was not as dire as it may sound, because the clinics serve a small number ...

First it was cigarettes. Then trans-fats. Now, Mayor Bloomberg is targeting salt shakers. Well, some of them. Speaking yesterday at a food policy conference presented by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, the mayor said he and Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden are putting together a plan to reduce salt consumption and ...

Gov. Paterson heads to Washington today, hoping for more success with Congress than he had yesterday with state lawmakers. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

REPORTER: Top on Gov. Paterson's beltway agenda will be shoring up the state's unemployment trust fund so it can handle the jump in jobless New Yorkers. In ...

For more than a month, New York lawmakers in Albany were bracing themselves for a brutal, budget-cutting session. But the governor called it off when it became clear he'd get no cooperation from key lawmakers. Karen DeWitt has more from Albany.

A Brooklyn hospital will continue delivering babies and caring for children. Long Island College Hospital provoked a community uproar by trying to shut down maternity, pediatric and other departments to cut costs. State health officials now say those facilities must remain open. WNYC’s Fred Mogul reports.

REPORTER: The state has broad ...

A relatively new vaccine appears to be succeeding at protecting children against a virus responsible for widespread and virulent childhood illness. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: Few people have heard of rotavirus, but it's the source of dangerous diarrhea that lands more children under age five in hospitals than any ...

With New York state leaders slashing the budget to shrink the deficit, many programs are in jeopardy. Here’s what it could mean for the $600 million fund for stem cell research.

REPORTER: President Elect Obama’s transition chief, John Podesta, said the new administration would likely reverse President Bush’s ban on new ...

State authorities are going after health care providers for over-billing the New York State Health Insurance Program. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says audits uncovered widespread abuses. He says $14 million in reimbursements were linked to inflated claims.

DINAPOLI: These medical providers misled patients and engaged in abusive practices, significantly driving up ...

The first study of children from the World Trade Center Health Registry suggests more of them have asthma than children elsewhere in the nation. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: The parents of 3,200 children were asked whether health professionals had ever told them they had asthma. The resulting asthma rate ...

The medical staff at one of Brooklyn’s oldest hospitals is in a fight with the hospital’s owners. Continuum Health Partners announced plans to trim operations and shrink Long Island College Hospital to half its current size. WNYC's Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: Continuum, which also runs St. Luke’s-Roosevelt and Beth Israel ...

Senator Charles Schumer says the high number of Long Island Rail Road employees collecting disability payments may be due to dishonest doctors.

With four separate investigations underway into such payments to LIRR retirees, Schumer and Long Island Congressman Tim Bishop met privately today in the city with members of the Railroad ...

The Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs most of the clinics, says the medication known as "the morning after pill" is widely available. They claim the problem is mis-information provided by phone operators.

Public Advocate Betsey Gotbaum's staff compiled the report after calling them anonymously.

HHC pledges to improve its communications, and ...