Annmarie Fertoli

The New York City Parks Department has some good news for beach-goers. Commissioner Adrian Benepe said all city beaches will be open on Friday, just in time for the Labor Day weekend.

Officials have warned Westchester residents not to come in contact with the Hudson River because of a sewage spill in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.

New York City officials are keeping a close eye on one of the steeples of a more than 100-year old church in Brooklyn, following Tropical Storm Irene.

The U.S. Open, the final tennis major of the year, begins in New York City at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Monday despite minor damage from Tropical Storm Irene.

New York State is making good on a promise to closely examine the financial records of state-funded nonprofit organizations. A newly-created task force has asked non-profits to provide detailed information, including salaries of top executives earning over $100,000, annual revenue and how much money they pay out to grant recipients.

On August 6, 13 and 20, New Yorkers will have access to about seven-miles of Park Avenue, without cars, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park.

Each summer, weather forecasters start tell their audiences how hot it is according to the thermometer and how much hotter they feel, based on the heat index.

Following in the footsteps of Fiorello LaGuardia, Rudolph Giuliani and David Dinkins, Mayor Michael Bloomberg will conduct the Encores! Orchestra at the re-opening of New York City Center on October 25.

Nassau County voters have defeated a plan that would have allowed the county to use $400 million to redevelop the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and surrounding area on Long Island, which is home to the New York Islanders hockey team.

Federal health officials have announced new regulations that would require insurers to cover a range of preventive care services for women without co-payments or deductibles, including contraception. The new rules would go into effect in January 2013.

The Brooklyn Philharmonic has unveiled its 2011-2012 season, with performances in Brighton Beach, downtown Brooklyn and Bedford Stuyvesant, under its new artistic director, Alan Pierson.

City officials have re-opened Sea Gate in Brooklyn, one of four city beaches that was closed following a raw sewage spill from water treatment plant.

The city has now closed four beaches — one in Brooklyn and three on Staten Island — after a wastewater treatment facility dumped hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Hudson River following a four-alarm fire last week.

A 10-year-old Brooklyn girl died as a result of the record-breaking heat wave last week, the city medical examiner's office said.

The Long Island Philharmonic has been performing for more than 30 years, but it's now one of many local music organizations left grasping for funds during a time of dwindling support from the government and local organizations.

The Long Island Philharmonic has been performing for more than 30 years, but it's now one of many local music organizations left grasping for funds during a time of dwindling support from the government and local organizations.

The metropolitan area is under an excessive heat watch through Friday evening — and Con Ed is telling New Yorkers to brace for heat-related power outages.

A non-profit group has found that the city's financial bonus program for teachers hasn't improved student achievement.

A state Senator from the Bronx — home to some of the highest asthma rates in the country — is teaming up with the city's Department of Education and health care professionals for a new citywide asthma initiative.

Some New Jersey lawmakers want to toughen the penalties for failure to report a missing or deceased child by making them crimes felonies in the wake of the high-profile Casey Anthony case.