WNYC News

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg took an opportunity during his weekly radio show today to apologize to drivers who got thousands of parking tickets this week, because alternate side parking rules were not suspended after Tuesday's nor'-easter.

BLOOMBER: Sorry for the inconvenience, people that moved their cars. It did ...

New York, NY —

Jet Blue has offered refunds and free flights to passengers who were stranded on airplanes for at least 3 hours during Wednesday's snow and ice storm. The airline has been criticized for leaving hundreds of passengers on its planes for up to 10 hours on ...

New York, NY —

New York City officials are defending their response to this week's nasty weather. Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty says people with complaints about their local streets not being cleared need to look at the big picture.

DOHERTY: You can't expect that the sanitation department cover 6200 miles ...

New York, NY —

Education advocates are thrilled that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn called for universal pre-K in her state of the city address yesterday. Gail Nayowith, of the Citizens Committee for Children, says working parents and their kids would benefit greatly from an expanded pre-Kindergarten program.

NAYOWITH: We ...

New York, NY —

Senators Robert Menendez and Charles Schumer are calling the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey "greedy" for demanding at least $30 million from a prospective buyer of port operations. Dubai Ports World warned that its deal to sell off 6 major city port ...

New York, NY —

New York car owners are frosted over the city's insistence of keeping alternate side of the street parking rules in effect, even though their cars were trapped in mounds of frozen snow. Mayor Bloomberg was not sympathetic. He says cars need to be moved so ...

New York, NY —

REPORTER: There's less than a week left before a special election for 2 open city council seats and candidates in Staten Island and Brooklyn are working to get out the vote. 10 council hopefuls in central Brooklyn's 41st district gathered earlier this week at an ...

New York, NY —

REPORTER: The day after the winter storm, dozens of schools are opening late this morning - and some are closed. The main roads are plowed, sanded and salted. But some secondary roads are still covered with ice and snow, and don't have all lanes cleared. ...

New York, NY —

REPORTER: The city has approved a plan to renovate the parks of Randall's Island using money from private schools. Under the plan, 20 private schools will pay at least $52 million to fix up existing sports fields and build new ones. In return, the schools ...

New York, NY —

New York assemblyman John Lavelle represented part of Staten Island for more than 5 years before his death last month. His son, Daniel Lavelle hopes to keep the seat in the family. He told a local paper, the Staten Island Advance, that he plans to ...

New York, NY —

Dubai Ports World says its deal to sell off major port operations in six US cities may fall apart.That's because the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is demanding compensation for improvements they made to the Port Newark Container Terminal.

In a letter to ...

New York, NY —

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is delivering the State of the City address this hour, laying out the council's budget priorities. She's proposing a $300 tax credit for the two-thirds of city residents who rent. Quinn says renters haven't benefited from the tax relief enjoyed ...

New York, NY —

Transit advocates are calling on the city to steer more money toward the extension of the 7 subway line to Manhattan's West Side.

The MTA says it will not pay for any cost overruns during the project, and transit advocacy group, the Straphangers Campaign, says that ...

New York, NY —

This morning's commute won't be as ugly as yesterday's, when the season's first major snowstorm featured snow, ice, freezing rain and sleet. But it will be icy and cold.

The weather has already caused countless traffic accidents and contributed to 2 deaths, on Long Island and ...

New York, NY —

REPORTER: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says New York renters need a break. The Manhattan democrat is expected to lay out the council's budget priorities during today's state of the city speech. Included is a proposal that would give about 1.1 million renters a $300 ...

New York, NY —

The number of homeless families seeking shelter in New York City is increasing. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

REPORTER: About 3,000 families showed up at a homeless intake center during the first 4 months of this fiscal year. The number is a 24% increase over the ...

New York, NY —

REPORTER: Parent advocates and elected officials have called on the Bloomberg administration to pause before re-organizing the school system this fall. The city comptroller and Manhattan Borough president support mayoral control of the city's schools, but say Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein moved too ...

New York, NY —

REPORTER: A winter storm has dumped about 1 to 3 inches of snow and freezing rain on the New York City metro area. Most of the precipitation has been sleet. New York City Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty has some advice for those on the roads ...

New York, NY —

REPORTER: Today, a city panel votes on a plan to refurbish the parks of Randalls Island by using funds from 20 private schools. Students from those schools would get preference on some of the sports fields. But Jane, an 11th grader at the Dalton School, ...

New York, NY —

A railroad industry group wants to develop the first national safety standards for dealing with dangerous train platform gaps. The American Public Transportation Association says that could accelerate change toward safer rail platforms.

The Federal Railroad Administration has also said it will study the idea of ...