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Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer called on Verizon to return $800,000 it promised to repay to the city's Department of Education back in April, after an investigation revealed that a contractor had defrauded the schools by jacking up the costs of technology upgrades.

As Verizon and the unions representing its employees clash over a new contract, some New Yorkers are suffering collateral damage.

Steven Greenhouse, New York Times labor and workplace correspondent and author of The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, discusses the increasingly bitter national strike against Verizon, which began on August 7.

As the Verizon strike continues into its second week, both sides say negotiations toward a new contract are ongoing — albeit at a sluggish pace.

Verizon and picketing workers are accusing each other of not bargaining in good faith, as a strike enters its second week.

Thousands of striking workers from Verizon Communication Inc.'s landline division joined picket lines and rallies Monday at the company's offices from Massachusetts to Virginia, according to a union official.

Two unions that represent workers for Verizon announced an immediate strike on Sunday, demanding better treatment after a lack of progress in negotiating contracts. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the unions representing Verizon, last went on strike in 2000. Verizon union membership has shrunk by nearly in half since then, and is much weaker than before. Can union members still exert their influence in a strike?

Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgraded the U.S.'s credit rating for the first time in history on Friday, causing jaws to drop across the country, and raising the blood-pressures of leaders worldwide as many held emergency meetings to fend off any backlash this news might create. President Obama will be preparing this week for his upcoming bus tour to reconnect with voters in the Midwest. Meanwhile, News Corp. will release their fourth quarter results on Wednesday, the PGA Championship kicks off on Thursday, and Dennis Rodman will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday.

Thousands of area Verizon workers went on strike on Saturday night as contract negotiations broke down. They are part of a total of 45,000 Verizon workers now on strike across the country.

First, I hacked my own voice mail. Then, when colleagues came around to see, several volunteered their phones, too. The alleged phone hacking at the heart of the scandal at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid can be performed here in the U.S. — and easily.

A Department of Education consultant illegally billed the city for an extra $3.6 million connecting public schools to the Internet, and then used the money to pay for luxury cars and Long Island real estate, the U.S. attorney's office claims.

Countless iPhone and other smartphone users have been waiting for years for this week to arrive. Verizon, which operates the nation's largest wireless network, is finally offering its version of the vaunted iPhone. But, now that the time has come, is it the right move?

Siva Vaidhyanathan, associate professor of media studies and law at the University of Virginia and msnbc.com contributor, talks about the relationship between Google and Verizon and possible threats to net neutrality.

Earlier this week, The New York Times discovered that Google and Verizon were working on a backdoor deal which, as many online activists worried, would threaten the future of “net neutrality.” In essence, “net neutrality” means that the Internet carries traffic as quickly as it can, regardless of the source. If this neutrality were to end, particular websites could pay ISPs to carry their traffic faster than their competitors.

In theory, the Internet provides a level playing field for businesses and consumers alike. That’s because, since its creation, the Internet has been built around the principle of “net neutrality”: all traffic online travels as quickly as it can, given the technology and congestion it encounters along the way.  According to an article published by our partner The New York Times, however, a backdoor deal may be nearing between Google and Verizon, which could give a speed advantage to those websites who are willing to pay more.