The City Council's vote this week on a new skyscraper in Midtown could have impacts further downtown, where two office towers at the redeveloped World Trade Center will only reach their planned height if there's sufficient commercial demand.

By an overwhelming vote of 47-1, the City Council voted to allow a skyscraper to be built within four blocks of the Empire State Building in Midtown.

The City Council voted 47-1 to approve a new skyscraper that would be just a few blocks from, and nearly as tall as, the Empire State Building.

Will plans for a skyscraper near Penn Station that would be almost as tall as the Empire State Building "ruin" New York's skyline? Matthew Schuerman, WNYC Radio reporter, discusses the development.

The Long Island Rail Road canceled nearly 50 trains for the second evening in a row as crews work around the clock to recover from Monday's fire in a signal tower. What's more, officials say this modified schedule will likely continue for several days. But the railroad is about to undertake an upgrade that -- had it taken place earlier -- would have likely made the recovery faster.

It’s controversial enough whenever the MTA tries to raise fares, but the public hearing notice that began appearing in newspapers yesterday just made matters worse by mentioning fare increases far greater than those announced at its board meeting last month.

A picture is worth a thousand words—and millions of dollars. Those are the stakes for which two midtown real estate giants are playing in the fight over 15 Penn Plaza, a proposed 1,216-foot skyscraper that would be constructed within a quarter mile of the Empire State Building.

Two major property owners in the 34th Street area are facing off at a City Council hearing today. Vornado Realty Trust wants to build a 1,200-foot tower at 33rd street and 7th avenue. But the owners of the Empire State Building, three blocks away, are objecting, saying the new tower would ruin the iconic view of their building on the skyline.

Frank Gehry's design for the Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan elicited a wide range of responses when its designs were circulated two years ago. Among them: Just how will the shiny steel surface fit in among lower Manhattan's stone towers?

While the building is still several months away from completion, the stainless steel siding appeared to have reached the top of the 76 floors this week, giving passersby a chance to assess it.

The owners of the Empire State Building are objecting to a proposed 69-story skyscraper that would be built two blocks away. The new building, called 15 Penn Plaza, would go where the Hotel Pennsylvania is currently located, at 32nd Street and 7th Avenue, and would rise to about 1200 feet -- or just 25 feet lower than the top floor of the Empire State Building.

A number of private bus companies and van drivers are trying to pick up the slack left by this summer's MTA's service cuts. They're thinking private enterprise could operate those routes more efficiently than the public sector -- and even make a profit.

Will the Nets keep their promise and put "Brooklyn" in their name when they move to their new arena?  Matthew Schuerman, WNYC Radio reporter, gives us an update.

For years, New Yorkers have been complaining about “the hole in the ground” at Ground Zero. But now, if you look hard and from the right locations, One World Trade Center is beginning to take its place in the New York City skyline.

A team spokesman confirms that the team submitted an application to change its name. But the spokesman wouldn’t specify what the desired name would be or whether it would use “Brooklyn” or “New York” as the geographic name.

Almost 150 employees of the MTA earn more in overtime than from their base salaries, according to an audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The report assails the MTA's lax attitude towards overtime and calculates that the Authority spent nearly $600 million last year paying employees time-and-a-half.

To see how support for a union at the E-ZPass customer service center on Staten Island has fallen off this year, all you have to do is show up on a Thursday. That’s the day when workers there, as well as at other places where there are workers represented by the Communications Workers of America union, wear red shirts to show their solidarity. And what does it look like there?

Almost 150 employees of the MTA earn more in overtime than from their base salaries, according to an audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The report assails the MTA's lax attitude towards overtime and calculates that the Authority spent nearly $600 million last year paying employees time-and-a-half.

To see how support for a union at the E-ZPass customer service center on Staten Island has fallen off this year, all you have to do is show up on a Thursday. That’s the day when workers there, as well as at other places where there are workers represented by the Communications Workers of America union, wear red shirts to show their solidarity. And what does it look like there?

It used to be that straphangers late for work or school because they got stuck on the subway could call or write a letter to the MTA New York City Transit. The transit agency would write back -- in about three weeks or so -- with a note detailing whether a delay occurred on a specific line at a particular time.

In Staten Island, police have made one arrest and are expected to make another shortly for last weekend's assault on an 18-year-old high schooler who was heading home from his job busing tables early last Saturday morning.