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As the city targets where to keep subsidized child care and after school programs, public housing developments in wealthy neighborhoods are getting overlooked, according to a report by United Neighborhood Houses.

Last Monday, as most elected officials returned home, one state senator spent the night out… at a homeless shelter. Former New Jersey Governor Richard Codey is now a state senator from Essex and Morris Counties. On Monday night, disguised with a pasted-on gray beard and some effective make-up, the man who once ran New Jersey slept at the Goodwill Mission in Newark. His night out marked the end of a four-month investigation into the state’s services for the mentally ill. New Jersey, like a number of states across the country, has been hit with severe budget cuts in the wake of the financial crisis. Codey was determined to find out just how these service cuts have affected citizens in his district. 

WNYC senior reporter Bob Hennelly discusses Gov. Christie's budget proposal as well as how Federal budget cuts may affect local services.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is expected to announce plans this week to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the Pentagon's budget. The cuts, precipitated by both the United States' fiscal situation and a deal passed to raise the debt ceiling last summer, will shrink the military so it will no longer be able to sustain two ground wars at once. The Pentagon will trim about $450 billion, or about 8 percent of its budget. However, it may be forced to cut an additional $500 billion if lawmakers on Capitol Hill go through with deeper reductions. Defense hawks say cutting $1 trillion from the Pentagon's budget would have a deleterious impact on national security.

Even though the housing bubble burst nearly five years ago, local governments are only now beginning to feel its repercussions with significantly lower tax revenues. Many municipalities across the country have chosen to bridge this gap by cutting services, specifically in police departments. In 2011, there were fewer cops on patrol than there have been in 25 years. This precipitous drop coincided with a 13 percent increase in the number of officers killed in the line of duty.

It’s back to school season, so The Takeaway is doing a special series on educational issues in America. Many school districts are facing deep budget cuts, while also feeling the pressure to raise student achievement. That puts a lot of pressure on teachers, students, and administrators alike. Today, two students whose school choir lost funding due to budget cuts last year are speaking out. Rather than throw in the towel, the students went to great lengths to try saving the choir — as well as several other extra-curricular programs at their school.

The state will continue to offer Regents exams to high school students in January, thanks to a fundraising effort by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The tests are offered three times a year and the new state budget had cut the winter exams to save money.

The debt deal President Obama signed into law yesterday may bring about the end of years of huge Pentagon budgets. The Pentagon will need to slash $350 billion from the defense budget over the next decade, and that number could potentially increase to $600 billion. If the joint bipartisan committee created under the debt plan fails to reach an agreement on future spending cuts, a "trigger" mechanism will force across-the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion over the next decade. While supporters say this is these cuts are overdue, critics and defense hawks argue they will undermine national security.

American Sign Language could be a dying form of communication, thanks to dwindling education funding and technological alternatives. Many deaf people are adamant that sign language will always be essential, but state budget cuts are threatening to close schools that teach it. This adds to the existing debate in the deaf community, between those who communicate with sounds and high-tech cochlear implants, and those who utilize sign language.

At a press conference on Thursday, Mayor Bloomberg and Seth Pinsky, the president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said that the South Street Seaport Museum should work on getting private sector, as well as public sector, funding to keep its museum afloat.

The Department of Education said between 75 and 100 schools were represented at a recruitment fair held at the Brooklyn Museum on Tuesday. Teachers looking for work in New York City attended the fair.

Thousands of city workers rallied outside City Hall on Tuesday, following a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed budget cuts to teachers, childcare, parks and library workers.

Forty years ago, E.B. White – the author of "Charlotte’s Web," "Stuart Little", and many other beloved children’s books – wrote a letter to the children of Troy, Michigan, at the request of a librarian in Troy’s new public library. "A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered." White was just one of the famous authors and public figures who responded to librarian Marguerite Hart’s request for letters to urge the children of Troy to read.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg stood behind his plan to close 20 fire companies saying firefighting has advanced over the years, and that modern technology in building construction and the proliferation of sprinklers means the city will survive with fewer firefighters.

Mayor Cory Booker made cuts that are still rippling throughout the city. Libraries closed. City workers were furloughed. Bulk garbage piled up around town after the sanitation department stopped collecting it. But nothing has Newark residents more upset – and worried – than the cuts to police. And Wise never imagined how personal they might get.

Good afternoon. It’s great to be back at GW. I want you to know that one of the reasons I kept the government open was so I could be here today with all of you. I wanted to make sure you had one more excuse to skip class. You’re welcome.

More than 300 senior citizens and their advocates showed up at City Hall Friday to protest proposed state cuts that would reduce funding to senior centers. If passed, the city said it would have to close 105 centers across the five boroughs.

Democrats in the New York Assembly have a message for Speaker Sheldon Silver: don't cut education - tax the rich.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand discusses the new White House report on the status of women and House Republicans' budget cuts.

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Melissa Harris-Perry, a columnist at The Nation magazine and associate professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton University, discusses how women and women's issues are affected by budget cuts.

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