Governor Paterson introduced legislation today that would make New York the fifth state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. The bill is the same one introduced by former governor Eliot Spitzer in 2007, where it passed in the Assembly...but died in the Senate, where majority Republicans never brought ...

It's April 15th and plenty of New Yorkers who waited till the last minute are rushing to get their taxes in on time. At the Farley Post Office on eighth avenue and 34th street, WNYC caught up with Walter Elliot, who was in the midst of preparing his forms:

ELLIOT: I ...

The family of a mentally ill man who was hospitalized after a confrontation with police this weekend say they will press charges against the NYPD.

Gamalier Reyes is schizophrenic. His sister Zully De La Cruz says he refused to take his medicine and his social worker called 911. But, she says, ...

Mayor Bloomberg was in Virginia Monday, to urge that state's lawmakers to close a loophole that allows private sellers at gun shows to skip full background checks. Bloomberg was joined by survivors and victims family members of the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. He unveiled a 30-second ad, featuring one ...

Twenty-two people have been arrested for occupying a New School building near Union Square. The group wants President Bob Kerrey and the school's COO to resign.

But not all students at the university were happy with the protesters. David Eisenhauer, a senior who organizes around sustainability issues, says when a protest ...

A whale spotted near the Verrazano Narrows Bridge this morning has headed towards more open waters near Coney Island. Spokeswoman Terry Frady with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this is whale migration season and it's not unusual to see them in New York. She has some advice for ...

New York City is launching a nearly $2 million marketing campaign called the "Rainbow Pilgrimage" to attract more gay and lesbian tourists. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the conflict between gay New Yorkers and the NYPD that sparked the modern gay pride movement. Fred Dixon, ...

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau unsealed a sweeping indictment of a fugitive Chinese businessman, who he says is illegally funneling money through New York City banks, to sell materials to Iran for making nuclear weapons.

MORGENTHAU: Seventy percent of the world's business is done in dollars, so it's a traditional way ...

On this gorgeous spring day, students from the Waldorf School in Brooklyn are using today's good weather to stretch their legs and shed their winter gear. Six-year-old kindergartener Zisi Blades drew an airplane in the dirt in Fort Greene Park. He says he was saving his energy for after school, ...

Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes has indicted 43 people involved in what he calls a $2 million drug ring. The 26-year-old accused of running the sophisticated drug operation, Eric "Fat Eddy" Rodriguez, was arrested on March 20th when he was heard on a phone tap ordering the killing of another ...

In an effort to encourage transparency and accountability, Councilman Bill de Blasio has introduced legislation that would require all New York City recipients of federal stimulus funds to report exactly how the money will be spent, and what impact it will have on the economy.

DEBLASIO: The public has a right ...

Orthodox Jewish leaders and the Brooklyn District Attorney's office are launching a new initiative to fight sexual abuse in their community, after a sharp rise in reported cases. DA Charles Hynes says the initiative is called Kol Tzedek, "Voice of Justice."

Hynes: In the book of Deutoronomy, we are told "Tzedek, ...

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government may consider cost when deciding if Indian Point and other nuclear power plants must upgrade. Alex Matthiessen is president of Riverkeeper - among the groups that sued the EPA over the plants cooling system. He says they should be required to ...

City lawmakers say the Department of Education should follow the same standards as other agencies when awarding contracts. At a hearing today, lawmakers criticized the department for taking money away from the city's small businesses in favor of larger out of state companies. But the DOE's Chief Operating Officer Photo ...

A five-cent refundable deposit will be tacked on to the price of bottled water and other non-carbonated bottled beverages under Governor Paterson's budget proposal. The expansion of New York's bottle bill means consumers can get those five pennies back if they return their bottles to vendors, instead of tossing them ...

Thirteen year olds Talia Weisberg and Thomas Harkins, New York City eighth graders, spelled their way to trophies this week. The New York City spelling bee champions competed against 88 other students from all five boroughs, ranging from fifth to eighth grade. The two-day competition ended this morning in Hunter ...

A new report says there's been a 70 percent surge in the number of public high school graduates entering the City's Community College system over the past seven years. Mayor Bloomberg also points to a 37 percent growth in enrollment at CUNY's four-year colleges, and he says it comes even ...

State Senate Democrats have unveiled their OWN plan to rescue the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and it does NOT provide the kind of funding called for by former MTA chairman Richard Ravitch. The plan provides for a payroll tax, but at a reduced rate, and there's no tolls on East River ...

Students, teachers, and community groups are urging Governor Paterson to reinstate $2 million for Adult Literacy Education, which was cut from his proposed budget. John Hunt, assistant director at the Center for Immigrant Education and Training at Laguardia College, runs English as a Second Language classes for immigrants who have ...

A custodian at West Side High School in Manhattan is accused of organizing a payroll scheme in which he stole nearly $100,000 from the Education Department. The Special Commissioner of Investigations for the city schools claims Philip Portelli clocked two fellow custodians for overtime and lunch breaks they didn't earn ...