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Housing officials say the federal housing bill poised to become law will help address more than just New York's foreclosure crisis. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: About $4 billion will be distributed nationwide to help localities buy and renovate foreclosed properties. The money will go to the hardest hit areas.

In New ...

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority formally presented its proposed 2009 budget yesterday. It would raise tolls and fares by 8 percent starting next July, followed by another 5 percent hike in January of 2011. But that meeting was just the first step on a long journey. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman reports.

REPORTER: Over ...

New York is suing banking giant UBS for fraud, saying the company promoted auction-rate securities to its clients, even as the $330 billion ARS market was collapsing last fall.

REPORTER: Eric Corngold is a deputy with State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and says bank executives were pulling their own personal investments ...

Two new studies look at the health of the Hudson River, and have found mixed results. WNYC's Ilya Marritz has more.

REPORTER: Scientists at SUNY-Stony Brook analysed concentrations of methyl mercury in Hudson River fish bellies. They found today's levels are two to three times lower than they were in 1970.

Jeffrey ...

New York's Public Integrity Commission says four members of former governor Eliot Spitzer's administration broke the law when they compiled travel records on former State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. Karen DeWitt has more.

REPORTER: Commission spokesman Walter Aires says the probe took a full year to complete because Spitzer's aids ...

Holding picket signs and chanting, critics of the Chinese government tried to disrupt broadcast of "The Today Show" this morning.

REPORTER: Jodi Jacobson, director of the American Jewish World Service, said her group wanted to bring attention to the dwindling media coverage of China's relationship to the Sudan.

JACOBSON: Our research has ...

Governor David Paterson has addressed growing public concerns about an expected boom in gas drilling in upstate New York by ordering a full environmental review.

The move was announced as the governor signed into law a measure to simplify the permit application for energy companies seeking to drill for gas. WNYC's ...

MTA Executive Director Lee Sander presented the MTA board with his proposal to ask the state, city and riders for more money next year.

REPORTER: The proposal would include an 8 percent fare and toll hike and $300 million from city and state budgets.

For the most part, the board was sympathetic, ...

State officials say a New York City garment manufacturer that made clothing for Macy's, the Gap and other retailers cheated more than 100 workers out of a fair wage.

REPORTER: Factory workers allegedly put in 12-hour days, six or seven days a week, but weren't paid overtime or a proper minimum ...