Elaine Rivera

New York, NY —

Sen. Hillary Clinton received a rousing ovation from New York State Delegation as she told them that the Democratic Party is united and she will make every effort to help her former rival Barack Obama get to the White House.

WNYC's Elaine Rivera reports from Denver:

REPORTER: ...

New York, NY —

The New York state Democratic delegation - with 289 members - will be sending the second-largest number of delegates to the Democratic National Convention later this month. WNYC Elaine Rivera spent time with two of them - one who will attend a convention for the ...

New York, NY —

New York City graduation rates made a modest increase in the past two years. In 2007 the rate rose by about 5.7 percent. WNYC's Elaine Rivera reports.

REPORTER: Both education advocates and the Bloomberg administration applauded the graduation rate increase, which rose to 56 percent. Advocates ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is lauding some new success in high school graduation rates which have reached a new 52.2 percent on average, that number goes up some if you count August graduates, too.

Education advocates, including the teachers union, agreed that the modest increases are promising.

United ...

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg administration has released a report that recommends a major overhaul of the city's 21 vocational schools. It says technical schools haven't been meeting industry demands for highly skilled employees, and have been seen as a dead end by students.

The report's recommendations include: integrating ...

New York, NY —

Heads of 20 top state agencies will hold a town hall meeting in Queens this evening to get input from the public on how the sagging economy is affecting their lives.

The officials, part of state's Economic Security Cabinet, will hear from families, advocates, employers and ...

New York, NY —

Congressman Charles Rangel defended his fund-raising efforts for a new academic center at City College that will bear his name. And he urged the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether he's done anything wrong, for two reasons.

RANGEL: One is to make it clear to every ...

New York, NY —

Rep. Charles Rangel continues to make headlines as he defends himself twice in a week against critical stories questioning his ethics.

A report in the Washington Post accuses Rangel of using congressional stationary to solicit nonprofit groups and foundations for a new City College library to ...

New York, NY —

Rape kits are typically used on sexual assault victims, to collect physical evidence for law enforcement officials to use to get convictions. Now, rape kits will also be used on rape suspects, to document bite marks, bruises, and DNA.

REPORTER: It's part of an expansion of ...

New York, NY —

Congressman Charles Rangel says there's nothing wrong with paying about half the market rate for four rent-stabilized apartments at a prestigious Harlem address.

RANGEL: I don't see anything unfair about it and I didn't even know it was a deal.

Rangel, speaking at a news conference outside ...

New York, NY —

The disclosure that Congressman Charles Rangel has four rent-controlled apartments hit a sensitive nerve among New Yorkers. In Harlem, residents were divided about Rangel's living accommodations.

At a press conference outside of Rangel's Harlem apartment complex, fellow resident Lance Smith challenged the congressman saying he failed ...

New York, NY —

It's been 100 days since Gov. David Paterson took over the top job in New York State government, following Eliot Spitzer’s spectacular fall amidst a call-girl scandal. WNYC’s Elaine Rivera is here to talk about the roller coaster ride Paterson has had so far.

New York, NY —

Gov. David Paterson says while strides have been made in connecting women and minority-owned businesses in construction and communications to state contracts, there has been a real lack of progress for financial firms.

WNYC's Elaine Rivera reports:

When Paterson appointed attorney Paul Williams to head the Dormitory ...

New York, NY —

After giving the commencement speech for Harlem's Frederick Douglass Academy graduates, Governor David Paterson expressed his full confidence in the newly-selected Republican State Senate Majority Leader, Dean Skelos.

REPORTER: Paterson says they've had a good working relationship in the past. The governor dismissed reporters' questions that ...

New York, NY —

The Department of Education is holding public hearings across the boroughs this week on the city's controversial contracts for excellence school funding proposal. The public will get to chime in on Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's proposed $450 million in cuts. WNYC's Elaine Rivera has more.

REPORTER: ...

New York, NY —

More than 100 public school teenagers and members of student groups rallied in front of City Hall to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed $450 million budget cuts. The students say the mayor's plan will adversely impact their schools.

Education activists, parents and students argue that while ...

New York, NY —

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is calling on the Department of Education to overhaul its centralized pre-kindergarten admissions process. She contends that her office has received numerous complaints from parents who say their children were unfairly shut out of schools of their choice.

At a press conference, ...

New York, NY —

Con Edison has filed a lawsuit against the city and a private company over last year's midtown steam pipe explosion.

Con Ed says the city and Texas-based Team Industrial Services were negligent in maintaining sewer and water lines.

Queens Councilman Eric Gioia, an outspoken critic of ...

New York, NY —

Food commercial workers and city residents rallied at City Hall yesterday to protest the closings of supermarkets in their neighborhoods.

Bruce Both is president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. He says the proposed closing of a Key Food in the Soundview section ...

New York, NY —

As that deadline looms, dozens of daycare workers, parents and elected officials rallied at City Hall yesterday to protest the closing of daycare centers.

They claim the Administration for Children Services does a poor job of tracking enrollment of spots at daycare centers, resulting them ...